Colorado State News

One killed, two injured in crash on Berthoud Pass, U.S. 40 reopens

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 21:38:15 +0000

One person was killed and two people injured in a head-on crash on Berthoud Pass, closing U.S. 40 in both directions until 9 p.m. Friday, according to the Colorado State Patrol.

The two-vehicle crash at mile point 251 was reported at 3:20 p.m., said Trooper Gabriel Moltrer. One person died in the crash and two others were taken to a hospital with unknown injuries, Moltrer said.

The highway reopened at 9 p.m., according to CDOT.

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DU defenseman Sean Behrens signs three-year entry-level contract with Avalanche

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 20:12:12 +0000

The Colorado Avalanche and Sean Behrens finally made it official.

Behrens signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Avs, the team announced Friday, allowing the University of Denver defenseman to join the franchise that selected him 61st overall in the 2021 NHL draft. The deal begins in 2024-25, but he will join the Colorado Eagles in the AHL for the remainder of the 2023-24 season on an amateur tryout.

Behrens took part in the Avs’ development camp in back-to-back years in 2022 and ’23. He comes to the Avs following a junior season at DU that saw him post career numbers in goals (4), assists (27), points (31) and games played (44).

He is a two-time national champion, helping the Pioneers win their 10th NCAA championship just a week ago and their ninth in 2022 when Denver defeated Minnesota State.

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One killed, two injured in crash on Berthoud Pass, U.S. 40 closed

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 19:16:19 +0000

One person was killed and two people injured in a head-on crash on Berthoud Pass, closing U.S. 40 in both directions with no estimated time of reopening, according to the Colorado State Patrol.

The highway is closed between Winter Park and Interstate 70, according to a Colorado Department of Transportation alert.

Drivers seeking an alternate route should take I-70 westbound to Silverthorne and then Colo. 9 north to U.S. 40.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Lakers’ LeBron James on Nikola Jokic: “He’s one of the best players to ever play this game.”

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 18:25:14 +0000

From Tim Duncan to Kevin Garnett and Steph Curry, LeBron James’ 21-year NBA career has featured postseason matchups against some of the best to ever do it. For the Lakers forward, Nikola Jokic is right there among them.

“He’s one of the best players to ever play this game. It’s that simple,” James said after practice on Friday at Ball Arena.

James said he feels healthier than last year when Los Angeles got swept by the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. And that’s essential when trying to match Jokic’s physicality for 40 minutes on the court.

James, a four-time MVP and the league’s all-time scorer, called Jokic a “damn good” basketball player that can do everything on the floor. But what stands out to Bron the most is how Jokic makes the players around him better.

“He changes the way his teammates think about their own play,” James said. “When you are able to inspire your teammates at a level that they don’t feel like they can play at, that’s a true testament.”

The Lakers understand they have to be mindful of Jokic’s ability to score around the rim and effortlessly find teammates for buckets. James is also mindful of Jokic’s pedal-to-the-medal energy in transition, an element that might be overlooked in his game.

“He has a great motor,” James said. “We know that. The players that play against him know that. That’s just a horrible narrative.”

Defending Jokic is not as simple as having Lakers forward Anthony Davis guard him for an entire game. By doing so, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said they would risk Davis getting into foul trouble. They have to wait for the right moment to throw one of the league’s best defenders on the two-time MVP.

Ham added that Jokic is good at developing a rhythm for whatever defensive scheme an opponent utilizes, which means his team has to throw multiple looks at him.

“It’s only a matter of time before he figures things out,” Ham said. “He and (Nuggets guard) Jamal (Murray). You just want to change up your pitches. Sometimes that not only includes your coverages but matchups are involved in all of that too.”

Davis said defending Jokic requires balance. He mentioned that the team has scenarios in place for when it’s time to trap Jokic in a double-team or guard him one-on-one.

Davis knows Jokic is good at crashing the glass for defensive rebounds and quickly pushing the ball down the floor, which forces him to have to make the decision as to whether to go after the offensive board or just get back on defense to slow down the Nuggets star in transition.

“If I’m in the vicinity, I’ll crash (the glass) to give my team an extra possession. But it’s tough,” Davis said. “If I’m in a position where I think I can get (a rebound) and I don’t, someone is going to have to pick (Jokic) off.

“It’s not going to be perfect and you’re not going to be able to get to your man every time in transition, especially the way they play with Jokic pushing the ball.”

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Colorado home sales: Prices continue to climb, days on market drop

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 18:16:25 +0000

Colorado’s spring housing season started quickly in March as the single-family listings statewide increased by nearly 18%.

The Colorado Association of Realtors’ latest housing trends report shows that statewide median sales prices and pending/under-contract listings climbed while the average number of days on the market dropped from 63 to 56.

“We have entered the spring buying and selling frenzy. Well-priced homes in good condition are being quickly purchased, usually with multiple offers. We still have an inventory shortage,” said Sunny Banka, an Aurora-area realtor.

The median price for single-family homes hit $576,945, up 3.7% from February and 4.1% from last year.

In March, the seven-county Denver metro area reported 4,411 new listings for single-family homes, an increase of more than 16% compared to February but a decline of 3.8% compared to last year.

The pending/under-contract listings for single-family homes in the Denver area rose by 35.5%, while the number of days on the market dropped from 52 to 44.

“The monthly supply of homes for sale within Denver has climbed more than 15% since the beginning of the year to 2.2 months, but it doesn’t seem the market has shifted in favor of buyers quite yet,” said Denver-area realtor Cooper Thayer.

The average percentage of the list price received by sellers increased last month to almost 100%, the highest level seen since last summer.

Sellers still have strong bargaining power in transactions, while buyers remain financially stable despite high prices and interest rates.

As a result, buyers continue to spend more on homes.

“Buyers seem to have acclimated to the new norm in terms of interest rates, and sellers are recognizing that their home prices have not appreciated in the last year and they need to be aggressive in order to sell. All in all, a good time to be a buyer in this spring market,” said Kelly Moye, a Boulder/Broomfield-area realtor.

Banka recommends buyers not wait for interest rates to drop.

“With the low inventory, home prices continue to rise, perhaps not as much as we saw two years ago, but enough that being a homeowner is still proving to be a sound investment,” she said.

Despite the national real estate market waiting for a change in federal interest rate policy, Denver’s market remains strong, which is a testament to Denver’s continuing desirability.

“Despite recent years introducing higher property taxes, higher mortgage rates, higher home prices, and higher maintenance costs, Denver’s compelling attractiveness and high quality of life wards off struggles in the broader real estate market,” Thayer said.

The news and editorial staffs of The Denver Post had no role in this post’s preparation.

Analysis: Why star Nathan MacKinnon is going to win MVP honors

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 17:49:33 +0000

Nathan MacKinnon did not become one of five players to ever record 100 assists in an NHL season. He did not score the most goals in the league in nearly 30 years.

He is still going to win the Hart Trophy or the Ted Lindsay Award (or both) as the NHL’s most valuable player for the first time in his career, and will do so despite going up against one of the greatest fields of candidates the league has ever seen.

There are four candidates — MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid and Nikita Kucherov — who had extraordinary seasons, and all would be worthy winners. There’s a second tier of players that goes at least four deep who would have a great case to finish in the top three of a normal year. One of those guys — Sidney Crosby, Connor Hellebuyck, Quinn Hughes and Artemi Panarin — is going to finish no better than eighth in the voting.

How does MacKinnon end up at the top of such a crowded field? He doesn’t have a singular argument, but MacKinnon checks the most boxes. He doesn’t need to earn the most first-place votes, because the Big Four are going to split them.

This fight is going to be won in the details — namely who voters place second, third and fourth. And it’s a good bet that No. 29 is going end up at No. 2 on many of the ballots where he isn’t the winner.

MacKinnon’s raw statistics are certainly MVP-worthy. He has 51 goals and 140 points, which only 10 players have accomplished in a season. He didn’t score the most goals (Matthews had 69) or the most points (Kucherov had 144). But among the top MVP contenders, MacKinnon is second in both.

There are two areas where MacKinnon leads the pack: Consistency and offensive volume. MacKinnon had the second-longest home point streak in NHL history. He became the first player to ever have two 19-game streaks, regardless of venue, in the same season.

The biggest knock against McDavid’s case is his slow start. MacKinnon was the most consistently great player all year.

Colorado scored 100 goals at 5-on-5 when MacKinnon was on the ice this season, six more than any other player and 10 more than McDavid. He played 1,386 minutes at 5-on-5, 18 more than teammate Mikko Rantanen and 81 more than the next forward on the list (Kucherov).

When MacKinnon was on the ice, the Avs were plus-35 at 5-on-5. The Maple Leafs were plus-38 with Matthews on the ice. Among the MVP candidates, MacKinnon was second.

Matthews’ case is built around goals and defense. He had the most goals since 1995-96, and he’s a legitimate Selke Trophy candidate, awarded to the best defensive forward. His defensive rating, per Dom Luszczyszyn, is the best of the Big Four.

Want to guess where MacKinnon ranks? Second. Notice a theme developing here?

We can dig as deep as anyone would like on statistics, but the people who vote on these awards — the Professional Hockey Writers Association for the Hart, the NHL players for the Lindsay — are human. Narratives swing voters. Big moments, big highlights, an intangible feeling … all sway voters.

MacKinnon does not deserve an MVP award just because he’s never won and the other three have. But … that’s been part of the narrative. Voter fatigue might be a real issue for McDavid, who even MacKinnon has said several times is the game’s best player. Matthews didn’t have enough assists for some voters. Kucherov is not a center and has the least impactful defensive numbers. He also had the weird behavior at the All-Star game in Toronto. He shouldn’t be knocked for that, but some voters will.

Think of all of MacKinnon’s big moments: He shredded the Maple Leafs in Toronto. He tore apart the Flyers in Philadelphia. He had the highlight-reel goal in New York. The last-second effort play in Edmonton to win the game of the year. The hat trick of breakaways against Minnesota that practically broke Hockey Twitter.

So many factors, so many boxes to check that will have likely swayed the voters. If they didn’t put him first, here’s betting that most of them placed MacKinnon no lower than second.

And that’s why MacKinnon will be an NHL MVP, and a deserving one at that.

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Former Jefferson County high school paraprofessional charged with child sex assault

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 17:08:32 +0000

Lakewood police arrested a 31-year-old former Brady Exploration High School paraprofessional on suspicion of child sex assault by a person in a position of trust, sexual exploitation of a child and other charges.

Imagine Ewer was arrested Jan. 9 and charged with child sex assault, sexual exploitation of a child, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and unlawful electronic sexual communication, according to court records. All of the charges are felonies.

Brady Exploration High School staff and families were notified of Ewer’s arrest Friday through an email from Jeffco Public Schools.

Ewer was hired as a paraprofessional at Brady in August, placed on leave Nov. 15 and fired Dec. 16, according to the letter.

School district officials cited state law in sending out the email Friday, three months after Ewer’s arrest, stating the law “requires notice to the community only after the court finds probable cause based on a formal preliminary hearing.”

“This balances the rights of the community, victims and the accused,” school district officials wrote.

Ewer’s preliminary hearing was delayed multiple times and she finally waived her right to a preliminary hearing Friday, according to district officials. She is set to appear in court May 28.

Ewer was released from jail on a $25,000 bail in February, according to court records.

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U.S. 40 over Berthoud Pass closed after fatal crash

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 16:43:17 +0000

U.S. 40 over Berthoud Pass is closed in both directions after a fatal crash, according to the Colorado State Patrol.

The highway is closed between Winter Park and Interstate 70, according to a Colorado Department of Transportation alert.

Colorado State Patrol officials confirmed the crash in a post on the social media site X at 4:26 p.m., describing it as a head-on crash with a confirmed fatality.

There is no estimated time of reopening, according to the agency.

Drivers seeking an alternate route should take I-70 westbound to Silverthorne and then Colo. 9 north to U.S. 40.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Hanging Lake reservations will be even harder to get this summer due to reconstruction project

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 15:39:23 +0000

Reconstruction and trail improvement on the iconic Hanging Lake trail in Glenwood Canyon and the nearby Grizzly Creek trail will begin in May, resulting in frequent closures through the summer hiking season.

Those projects, which have been planned to repair damage from the Grizzly Creek wildfire in 2020 and resulting debris flows in 2021, were previously announced. Details regarding trail availability were revealed on Friday by the White River National Forest and Visit Glenwood Springs.

The Hanging Lake trail will be closed on weekdays and some weekends, according to a news release from the White River National Forest. Construction is expected to continue into the fall. Limited reservations will be available through visitglenwood.com with available dates and times released every Tuesday at 8 a.m., beginning April 30.

The trail’s seven bridges will be replaced to provide more clearance over the creek, and a boardwalk will be built from Hanging Lake to Spouting Rock, which is a short walk above the lake. Most of the Grizzly Creek trail, which is located four miles west of the Hanging Lake trail, will be closed indefinitely once trail work begins there.

The Grizzly Creek fire was ignited on Aug. 10, 2020, resulting in a 13-day closure of Interstate 70 through the canyon. It burned more than 32,000 acres and left hillsides susceptible to debris flows and mudslides, some of which caused extensive damage to the Hanging Lake trail and the interstate a year later.

John Meyer, The Denver Post

Bridge No. 1, the first of seven bridges on the Hanging Lake trail, was knocked off its abutments in 2021 by a mudslide. Restoration crews were able to reposition it in 2021, and the trail reopened after an 11-month closure. The trail will undergo reconstruction and modernization this summer, resulting in frequent closures. (John Meyer/Denver Post file)

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CU Boulder nearly doubles number of female engineering students in two decades

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 15:34:55 +0000

In 2023, 30% of all undergraduate engineering students were female at the University of Colorado Boulder, compared to 18% in 2003. Of the freshmen that came into engineering during the fall of 2023, 41% were female, up from 14% two decades ago.

CU Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences announced these increases as its engaged in efforts during the past decades to improve gender diversity.

Jasleen Batra, a student in electrical and computer engineering at CU Boulder, said she has noticed an increasing number of female engineering students.

“My major is really, really tiny already, so we don’t have a lot of women engineers. But every single time I look at the years before me, I always see more and more women in the room, and it just makes me really, really happy to see them all come together,” Batra said.

The increase resulted in CU Boulder achieving a top spot in 2022 for the highest percentage of female freshmen in engineering from the American Society for Engineering Education.

“We’re just thrilled at the growth we’ve seen in the number of women engineers,” Keith Molenaar, dean of the College of Engineering, said. “I know it’s a recent story, but we’ve really been working on it for more than 20 years and been dedicated to recruiting, retaining and graduating a diverse set of engineers.”

Ada Forsner said she loves being an aerospace engineering student at CU Boulder. But, being a female in engineering has been challenging, and she has felt a need to succeed to be noticed.

“I don’t see myself as a female. I see myself as another student, and I want to be seen for my achievements and things that I do, not for what’s different about me,” Forsner said

The Society of Women Engineers estimates that, in 2023, the percentage of women professionals in architecture and engineering is 16.7% compared to 9% in the 1990s.

Batra said it’s important to have diversity in engineering programs so people can have their experiences validated by people who understand.

“As a woman of color, I have been discriminated against a lot, and in engineering it’s kind-of hard to go through this major without experiencing it,” Batra said. “And just knowing that there’s other folks who I can talk to … is a really big thing.

“That means there are more people who recognize that this is a real thing, and there are more people who can get something done by trying to address the problem rather than having one voice.”

Molenaar said one challenge with recruiting diverse students for engineering is competition with other universities like the School of Mines and Colorado State University.

“But more so, it’s the societal norms we’ve had over the past century where it’s been not as welcoming to women-identifying students because it has, honestly, been a male-dominated industry for so many years,” he said. “And so this is why we’ve taken not just a one year approach to this but we’ve been dedicated more than 20 years and we’re going to be continuing to dedicate efforts toward this into the future because it is what we need to do in the engineering profession to better serve our society”

Molenaar said recruitment begins by working with K-12 students and letting them know engineering is more than just being good at math and science. Students are shown they can make a difference through creating clean water systems, being part of biomedical engineering solutions or creating buildings that are more energy sustainable, for example.

This year’s graduating class will surpass 50,000 graduates from the College of Engineering. Molenaar said he’d love to see some female graduates partner with CU Boulder to continue reaching and inspiring the next generation.

“Engineers truly serve society and create technical solutions to some of our biggest challenges,” he said. “So it’s important that we have a diverse set of engineers to come up with solutions that serve our diverse society.”

Rockies series opener against Mariners postponed, to be made up on Sunday as part of split doubleheader

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 15:23:27 +0000

The Rockies series opener against the Mariners on Friday at Coors Field is postponed due to inclement weather.

Friday’s game will be made up on Sunday as a split doubleheader. Game 1 begins at 1:10 p.m., while Game 2 begins at 6:10 p.m.

Friday night in LoDo is supposed to be around 40 degrees and cloudy at first pitch, with a chance of slight snow later in the evening.

Saturday is also supposed to be cold, but the anticipation is the 6:10 p.m. game will be played as the series opener.

This story will be updated.

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Colorado governor signs “for-cause” eviction protections into law. Here’s what they’ll do.

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 14:58:51 +0000

Gov. Jared Polis signed “for-cause” eviction protections into law Friday, making Colorado the sixth U.S. state to enact the policy that’s aimed at blunting displacement of vulnerable tenants.

The law, passed by the legislature late last month, effectively gives tenants a right of first refusal to renew their leases. That protection, supporters say, will insulate renters from discriminatory or retaliatory nonrenewals from landlords, who may want to rid themselves of a tenant who complained about an apartment’s condition.

“This is the right thing to do,” said Democratic Rep. Javier Mabrey, who sponsored the bill this year with House Majority Leader Monica Duran and Democratic Sens. Julie Gonzales and Nick Hinrichsen. “In working on this legislation, we heard from families who have seen firsthand the lack of basic protections can have on families … who are removed based on the color of their skin or because they’ve made valid complaints about problems in their homes.”

What does the law do?

Broadly, the new law gives tenants a right of first refusal on whether to renew their lease or not. State law already requires cause — like failure to pay rent — before a tenant can be evicted during their lease. This new law covers the expiration of that lease and who gets to decide whether to renew it.

Why is the new law important?

The law is among the most significant tenant protections passed in Colorado in recent memory, as lawmakers seek solutions to the state’s housing crisis and the tens of thousands of evictions it causes every year.

While Polis has pursued land-use reforms that seek to spur denser development, progressive lawmakers have sought more immediate protections to reduce evictions and displacements.

The for-cause evictions bill represented the most prominent policy within that approach, which also included efforts to improve the safety of housing, improve tenants’ access to eviction proceedings and regulate the contents and requirements of lease agreements.

Like Polis’ land-use measures, the for-cause bill’s passage has been a months-long fight.

How did the bill get to Polis’ desk?

Last year, a similar but more sweeping version of the bill, also backed by Mabrey and Gonzales, cleared the House but stalled in the Senate amid opposition from moderate Democrats.

That attempt died a procedural death on the penultimate day of the 2023 legislative session, as Mabrey and other supporters watched on from the Senate lobby. Its death sparked criticism from progressive legislators and advocates that state leaders hadn’t prioritized renters or done enough to protect them.

How did legislators change their approach?

This year, lawmakers brought a more narrowly tailored version of the policy, removing more controversial elements like a requirement that landlords pay tenants’ relocation costs in some circumstances. Duran, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, joined as a co-sponsor, and House Speaker Julie McCluskie declared that the policy was a priority of the chamber during her opening-day remarks in January.

Still, supporters had to fend off opposition from landlord groups and legislative Republicans, as well as a late attempt by some senate Democrats to hijack the bill.

“We did everything we possibly could to make sure we could get this to the finish line, so that our members and our working families and our renters who are (from minority groups), who are impacted by the evictions and displacements, could have these protections,” Cesiah Guadarrama Trejo, the co-chair of Colorado Homes for All, the coalition backing the bill, said after the vote.

What’s this law supposed to stop?

Proponents’ goal is to reduce displacement of renters. The right of first refusal offered by the for-cause protections is important, those supporters argue, because landlords can use expiring leases to displace tenants for a variety of nefarious reasons, like for discriminatory purposes or if a tenant has complained about an apartment’s condition. Mabrey, an eviction defense attorney, has said he represented a tenant who faced explicit racial discrimination and was displaced by her landlord.

A nonrenewal then requires tenants to pay the upfront costs of relocating, like deposits, application fees or moving costs.

Meanwhile, landlords and property owners who’ve opposed the bill have argued that an expiring lease lets them move on from “problem” tenants they can’t otherwise evict.

Are there exemptions?

Yep. The law gives property owners and landlords various reasons to pull the plug on a lease renewal. Those exemptions include if the property owner is planning to demolish or substantially renovate the unit, if they or a family member want to move into the unit themselves, or if they intend to take it off the long-term rental market.

Other exemptions include the tenant refusing to sign a new lease, or if the tenant has a history of not paying rent in the past. The bill does prevent property owners from increasing rent to retaliate against a tenant or otherwise get around the law’s protections.

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Former Poudre school paraprofessional sentenced to more than 12 years for assaulting disabled students

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 14:36:23 +0000

A former Poudre School District paraprofessional was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison and two years in jail after pleading guilty to assault on an at-risk person, harassment and child abuse for hitting disabled students as they rode the school bus.

Tyler Zanella pleaded guilty on Jan. 29 to seven counts of third-degree assault on an at-risk person, two counts of child abuse and two counts of harassment. The assault charges are felonies while the child abuse and harassment charges are misdemeanors.

Zanella, 37, was arrested in May after police found evidence he hit a non-verbal autistic child on the bus route he worked. Investigators later found bus surveillance video that showed him abusing 10 more children, according to the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Zanella initially faced more than 160 charges of child abuse, harassment and assault. He pleaded guilty to the top charge for each of the 11 victims, the district attorney’s office said in a news release.

In a statement, prosecutor Laura Hinojos said Zanella believes “he did not cause any long-term effects to these children, and much like most things he says – this is a lie.”

Zanella was sentenced to two years in the Larimer County Jail and 10.5 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections on April 12.

Zanella is facing a civil lawsuit by six Poudre School District students and their guardians for the abuse that occurred during the 2022-2023 school year.

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Broncos mock draft: What happens if Denver leans toward adding offensive playmakers?

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 14:35:48 +0000

With the draft merely days away, there’s still no clear idea of what the Broncos will do at No. 12 overall in the first round. Denver is open to doing anything, whether it’s trading up, down, or standing pat with its eight draft picks. Since doing this mock draft exercise, we’ve explored each scenario and how Denver could capitalize from them.

In the final Broncos’ seven-round mock draft, we look at what happens if the team invests in adding playmakers on offense.

(Previous mock drafts: Aggressively pursuing a QB | Trading back in first round | Post-combine mock draft | Strengthening the OL)

First Round (No. 12)

TE Brock Bowers, Georgia

Denver could address its need at left tackle, edge rusher or cornerback. But instead, the Broncos decide to take the best player available. Bowers is a dynamic pass-catching threat Denver lacked at the tight end position in 2023. A two-time John Mackey Award winner, Bowers recorded 2,538 receiving yards and 26 touchdowns in three seasons with the Bulldogs.

Brock Bowers ability to stretch the field is unique for the position. His speed manipulation release here is nice, and then the strong hands and ability to take the contact at the catch point is excellent. pic.twitter.com/AFNLXTJMEt

— Jeremy (@PopesFFH) April 9, 2024

He is an exceptional athlete with good ball skills and is dangerous after the catch. Broncos coach Sean Payton could utilize Bowers anywhere on the field, even as a ball carrier. In 2022, Bowers rushed for 109 yards and three touchdowns on nine carries. He even had a 75-yard touchdown run against Kent State. Bowers has a chance to be a star for years to come.

“(Bowers is) a premier player,” NFL draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said. “If I was looking at Bowers versus one of these other positional players, I might (lean) towards the best player available.”

Third Round (No. 76)

WR Ja’Lynn Polk, Washington

Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton missed the first day of voluntary workouts. And though Payton and general manager George Paton downplayed Sutton’s absence, he is seeking a new deal from Denver, according to NFL Network. Sutton, 28, has only $2 million in guaranteed money over the next two seasons. He led the team with 10 touchdown receptions but ranked 44th in yards (772) and 38th in yards per catch (13.1).

Sutton seems to be a part of Denver’s current plans. But the future is uncertain, and the Broncos could target a young playmaker to add to their receivers room. Polk was Michael Penix Jr.’s second option, totaling 1,159 receiving yards and 10 total touchdowns in 2023. He had a stretch during the middle of the season when he recorded at least 100 receiving yards in three straight games, including a 148-yard and two-touchdown performance against Stanford. Polk has good size and length. He is a willing blocker and can make catches in traffic. Polk had a contested catch rate of 54.2%, according to Pro Football Focus.

Ja'Lynn Polk using all of his 6'1/203 lbs frame

Because Washington's offense was so vertical, just 25 of 113 targets last season were 1-9 yards downfield

He'll get more 'easy' stuff in the NFL, but he can do the difficult pic.twitter.com/kvZZirSP6V

— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) April 12, 2024

Fourth Round (No. 121 via Dolphins)

QB Michael Pratt, Tulane

The Broncos haven’t landed a veteran quarterback yet. And the remaining options in free agency do not move the needle. By drafting Pratt, Denver gains a quality backup with starter upside. He was a four-year starter at Tulane, throwing for 9,611 yards, 90 touchdowns and 26 interceptions. He improved each season, showcasing his accurate passing skills and ability to scramble with 447 carries for 1,147 yards and 28 touchdowns.

Fifth Round (No. 136 via Panthers through Browns)

EDGE Jalyx Hunt, Houston Christian

The last mock draft had Denver taking Hunt at No. 136. The narrative will continue for this exercise. At this point in the draft, there won’t be a ton of edge rushers who can make an immediate impact as a rookie. But the Broncos could benefit from Hunt’s explosiveness and athleticism and help develop him into a quality NFL player.

.@HCUFootball @jalyx_hunt has my attention. I think his best football is in front of him. Lots of defensive coaches would love the opportunity to coach and develop JH. #nfldraft #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/08ejyJC19O

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) April 15, 2024

Fifth Round (No. 145 via Jets)

DT Justin Eboigbe, Alabama

After suffering a season-ending injury in 2022, Eboigbe had a productive senior year. He had 64 tackles (11.5 for loss) and seven sacks in 14 games. Denver spent the offseason trying to improve its defensive line, signing run-stopper Malcolm Roach and nine-year veteran Angelo Blackson. Eboigbe could be another rotational player up front who can help the Broncos in the pass rush.

Fifth Round (No. 147)

RB Isaac Guerendo, Louisville

Running back is a sneaky need for Denver. Outside of Javonte Williams and Samaje Perine being free agents in 2025, the Broncos averaged four rushing yards per attempt and recorded less than 100 yards in three of the last four games of the regular season. Guerendo battled injuries throughout his career at Wisconsin. It wasn’t until he transferred to Louisville in 2023 that he showcased his potential with 810 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns in 14 games. He also caught 22 passes for 234 yards. Guerendo made his first career start against USC in the Holiday Bowl, recording 161 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries.

4.33u for @LouisvilleFB RB Isaac Guerendo after putting up a 41.5" vertical sixth U.S. state to enact the policy that’s aimed at blunting displacement of vulnerable tenants.

The law, passed by the legislature late last month, effectively gives tenants a right of first refusal to renew their leases. That protection, supporters say, will insulate renters from discriminatory or retaliatory nonrenewals from landlords, who may want to rid themselves of a tenant who complained about an apartment’s condition.

“This is the right thing to do,” said Democratic Rep. Javier Mabrey, who sponsored the bill this year with House Majority Leader Monica Duran and Democratic Sens. Julie Gonzales and Nick Hinrichsen. “In working on this legislation, we heard from families who have seen firsthand the lack of basic protections can have on families … who are removed based on the color of their skin or because they’ve made valid complaints about problems in their homes.”

What does the law do?

Broadly, the new law gives tenants a right of first refusal on whether to renew their lease or not. State law already requires cause — like failure to pay rent — before a tenant can be evicted during their lease. This new law covers the expiration of that lease and who gets to decide whether to renew it.

Why is the new law important?

The law is among the most significant tenant protections passed in Colorado in recent memory, as lawmakers seek solutions to the state’s housing crisis and the tens of thousands of evictions it causes every year.

While Polis has pursued land-use reforms that seek to spur denser development, progressive lawmakers have sought more immediate protections to reduce evictions and displacements.

The for-cause evictions bill represented the most prominent policy within that approach, which also included efforts to improve the safety of housing, improve tenants’ access to eviction proceedings and regulate the contents and requirements of lease agreements.

Like Polis’ land-use measures, the for-cause bill’s passage has been a months-long fight.

How did the bill get to Polis’ desk?

Last year, a similar but more sweeping version of the bill, also backed by Mabrey and Gonzales, cleared the House but stalled in the Senate amid opposition from moderate Democrats.

That attempt died a procedural death on the penultimate day of the 2023 legislative session, as Mabrey and other supporters watched on from the Senate lobby. Its death sparked criticism from progressive legislators and advocates that state leaders hadn’t prioritized renters or done enough to protect them.

How did legislators change their approach?

This year, lawmakers brought a more narrowly tailored version of the policy, removing more controversial elements like a requirement that landlords pay tenants’ relocation costs in some circumstances. Duran, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, joined as a co-sponsor, and House Speaker Julie McCluskie declared that the policy was a priority of the chamber during her opening-day remarks in January.

Still, supporters had to fend off opposition from landlord groups and legislative Republicans, as well as a late attempt by some senate Democrats to hijack the bill.

“We did everything we possibly could to make sure we could get this to the finish line, so that our members and our working families and our renters who are (from minority groups), who are impacted by the evictions and displacements, could have these protections,” Cesiah Guadarrama Trejo, the co-chair of Colorado Homes for All, the coalition backing the bill, said after the vote.

What’s this law supposed to stop?

Proponents’ goal is to reduce displacement of renters. The right of first refusal offered by the for-cause protections is important, those supporters argue, because landlords can use expiring leases to displace tenants for a variety of nefarious reasons, like for discriminatory purposes or if a tenant has complained about an apartment’s condition. Mabrey, an eviction defense attorney, has said he represented a tenant who faced explicit racial discrimination and was displaced by her landlord.

A nonrenewal then requires tenants to pay the upfront costs of relocating, like deposits, application fees or moving costs.

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Meanwhile, landlords and property owners who’ve opposed the bill have argued that an expiring lease lets them move on from “problem” tenants they can’t otherwise evict.

Are there exemptions?

Yep. The law gives property owners and landlords various reasons to pull the plug on a lease renewal. Those exemptions include if the property owner is planning to demolish or substantially renovate the unit, if they or a family member want to move into the unit themselves, or if they intend to take it off the long-term rental market.

Other exemptions include the tenant refusing to sign a new lease, or if the tenant has a history of not paying rent in the past. The bill does prevent property owners from increasing rent to retaliate against a tenant or otherwise get around the law’s protections.

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Rockies place Kyle Freeland on 15-day injured list with left elbow strain

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 13:55:05 +0000

Colorado placed Kyle Freeland on the 15-day injured list on Friday with a left elbow strain, a move retroactive to April 16.

In four starts this season, Freeland is 0-3 with a 13.21 ERA.

In his last start on Sunday, the Thomas Jefferson product allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings in a 5-0 loss in Toronto.

He then hurt his right shoulder pinch-running in a 2-1 loss to Philadelphia the next day when Phillies right-hander Jeff Hoffman landed on him in a play at the plate in the ninth inning. Friday’s IL designation is unrelated to that play.

This is the latest blow to a club that’s reeling through the first month of the season and is off to a franchise-worst 4-15 start.

In a corresponding move, the Rockies recalled Noah Davis from Triple-A. Davis will presumably take Freeland’s scheduled start on Saturday at Coors Field against the Mariners.

This story will be updated.

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Sign of the times: NCAA approves coach-to-player helmet communication for 2024 football season

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 13:49:07 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — College football is ready to put the signs away.

Following a sign-stealing scandal that rocked the sport and hung over Michigan’s championship run in 2023, the NCAA’s football oversight committee approved Friday the use of coach-to-player helmet communications in games for the 2024 season.

The football rules committee last month made a recommendation to allow — but not require — teams at the highest tier of Division I to use radio technology similar to what NFL teams use.

Only one player for each team will be permitted to be in communication with coaches while on the field. A green dot on the back of the helmet will be used to identify that player.

The communication from the coach to the player will be turned off with 15 seconds remaining on the play clock or when the ball is snapped, whichever comes first.

The rules committee had been moving toward coach-to-player communication in recent years, but it was slow to be implement because of concerns that not every school could afford to do it in an equitable way.

During last year’s bowl season, teams were permitted to experiment with helmet communication if both sides agreed to it. But no team was forced to use it and that will be the case going forward.

Teams can still chose to signal in plays.

Sign stealing during games is not illegal under NCAA rules, unless it is done with the use of electronic technology.

The NCAA investigated Michigan for using an elaborate impermissible in-person scouting scheme to aid its sign-stealing operation. That case is ongoing, but the Big Ten punished the school by suspending then-head coach Jim Harbaugh for the final three games of the regular season.

Michigan finished 15-0 and won the national championship.

The NCAA’s football oversight committee also approved the the use of computer tablets to view in-game video in coaching booths, on the sideline and in locker rooms.

All team personnel will be allowed to view the tablets during the game.

The oversight committee said the rules committee will continue to examine the use of wearable technology that would also allow coaches to send in play calls to the field through an small LED screen that could be wrapped on around a player’s wrist.

Proposals for experimental usage of wearable tech much be submitted to the oversight committee by June 15.

The oversight committee also approved implementation of an NFL-style two-minute warning at the end of the second and fourth quarters.

___

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Ukraine and Israel aid advances in rare House vote as Democrats help Republicans push it forward

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 13:45:43 +0000

WASHINGTON — With rare bipartisan momentum, the House pushed ahead Friday on a foreign aid package of $95 billion for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian support as a robust coalition of lawmakers helped it clear a procedural hurdle to reach final votes this weekend. Friday’s vote produced a seldom-seen outcome in the typically hyper-partisan House, with Democrats helping Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan advance overwhelmingly 316-94. Final House approval could come this weekend, when the package would be sent to the Senate.

It was a victory for the strategy Johnson set in motion this week after he agonized for two months over the legislation. Still, Johnson has had to spend the past 24 hours making the rounds on conservative media working to salvage support for the wartime funding, particularly for Ukraine as it faces a critical moment battling Russia, but also for his own job as the effort to oust him as speaker grew.

“Ukrainians desperately need lethal aid right now. … We cannot allow Vladimir Putin to roll through another country and take it,” Johnson told the conservative host of The Mark Levin Show about the Russian president’s invasion of Ukraine. “These are very serious matters with global implications.”

Johnson said after the vote that while it wasn’t “perfect legislation,” it was the “best possible product” Republicans can get given their thin majority in one chamber of Congress.

After months of delay, the House worked slowly but deliberately once Johnson made up his mind this week to plough ahead with a package that matches, with a few alterations, what the Senate passed in February. President Joe Biden sent a swift endorsement of the speaker’s plan and, in a rare moment, Donald Trump, the Republican presumed presidential nominee who opposes most overseas aid for Ukraine, has not derailed the speaker’s work.

“The world is watching what the Congress does,” the White House said in a statement. “Passing this legislation would send a powerful message about the strength of American leadership at a pivotal moment.”

In an extremely rare step, the members of the House Rules Committee joined forces late Thursday in a near midnight vote, the four Democrats giving their support on a procedural step, to push past the Republican majority’s three hardline holdouts to send the package to the House floor for debate on a 9-3 vote. It was a moment unseen in recent House memory.

Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said that he spoke with Johnson on Thursday night to ensure the bill would clear the Rules Committee.

“It’s long past time that we support our democratic allies,” Jeffries said after the vote.

“House Democrats have once again cleared the way for legislation that’s important to the American people.”

Johnson will need to rely on Democrats again Friday to clear the next procedural vote and turn back amendments Republicans have offered that could kill the package. One from hardline Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene would reduce spending for Ukraine to zero.

Greene has filed a “motion to vacate” the speaker from office, and it drew another supporter Friday as Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, co-sponsored the motion. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, another co-sponsor, suggested others could follow before the House breaks next week to pressure Johnson to step down.

Rep. Eli Crane, a hardline conservative from Arizona, also said he was “open” to joining the move to oust Johnson.

“I definitely sense that there’s a souring to Republican leadership,” he said.

Greene could launch a bid to evict Johnson from the speaker’s office, should she call it up for a vote, much the way Republicans booted Kevin McCarthy from the position last fall. Jeffries, the Democratic leader, remained noncommittal to helping Johnson keep the speaker’s gavel.

With one of the most narrow House majorities in modern times, Johnson can only afford to lose a single vote or two from his Republican ranks to pass any bill. That dynamic has thrust him into the arms of Democrats as he searches for votes to pass the package.

Without his Republican majority fully behind him, Johnson cannot shape the package as the ultra-conservatives demand lest he lose Democratic backing. It has forced him to leave behind tough security measures to clamp down on migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and other priorities.

At best, Johnson has been able to carve up a Senate-passed version of the bill into separate parts, as is the preference among House Republicans, and the final votes will be on distinct measures — for Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific allies.

The package would also include a fourth provision that includes many Republican priorities that Democrats endorse, or at least are willing to accept. Those include proposals that allow the U.S. to seize frozen Russian central bank assets to rebuild Ukraine; impose sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organizations that traffic fentanyl, and potentially ban the video app TikTok if its China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake within a year.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the vote showed “the world that Democrats understand the world and our allies. That we’re going to stand by them and make sure that we give them the support and the aid that they need, that we care about humanitarian concerns.”

He added that in his 26 years in the House, he had never seen one party have to help the other like Democrats did this week.

“It just shows how the Republicans cannot manage the House and the House floor to get things done,” Meeks said.

Republicans, even those who supported the process, were severely disappointed it had come to this.

“I’m concerned,” said Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., who voted for the procedural step but, was nevertheless displeased with the process. “This is reflective of the controversy in the country: How much aid?”

Passing each bill, in votes expected Saturday, will require Johnson to form complicated bipartisan coalitions on each, with Democrats for example ensuring Ukraine aid is approved, but some left-leaning progressives refusing to back military aid for Israel over the destruction of Gaza. Still, Jeffries said that a majority of Democrats would vote Saturday for the packages of aid for Ukraine, Israel and allies in Asia.

The components would then be automatically stitched back together into a single package sent to the Senate where hardliners there are also planning procedural moves to stall final approval.

Coban Porter, brother of Nuggets’ Michael Porter Jr., sentenced to prison in fatal DUI crash

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 11:16:50 +0000

Coban Porter, the brother of Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr., was sentenced to six years in prison Friday for killing a woman in a drunk-driving crash last year.

Porter, 22, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and vehicular assault in February on the condition that he would be sentenced to no more than eight years in prison. He could have faced up to 12 years in prison without the plea agreement.

“All I can really say is that I’m sorry,” Porter said in a Denver courtroom Friday. “I know that I’m never going to be able to right that wrong… I never thought I’d be standing here. I thought I was invincible. It wasn’t the first time I chose to drink and drive… I’m so sorry.”

Porter was driving drunk just before 2 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2023, when he ran a red light and crashed into another vehicle at the intersection of South University and Buchtel boulevards in Denver. The other driver, Kathy Limon Rothman, 42, was killed, and a passenger in her vehicle was seriously injured.

Prosecutors on Friday said Porter was driving 50 mph in a 30 mph zone and his blood-alcohol level was .19, more than twice the legal limit of .08. Rothman, mother to a young son, was working as an Uber driver at the time.

Connie Johnson, Rothman’s mother, said in court Friday that her life ended in the crash along with her daughter’s.

“This pain and trauma have become my worst reality,” she said. “…Every part of my life that brings joy and happiness is met in tandem with the anguish of her absence. …His choice caused my grandson to grow up without a mother. Caused my son-in-law to be a widower, and caused my husband and I to lose a child.”

Many people spoke both for Rothman’s family and in support of Porter during the emotional hearing in Denver District Court on Friday. Michael Porter Jr. described how he was the first in his family to learn about the fatal crash, when a police officer called to tell him around 7 a.m. that morning.

“He said, ‘Coban has been in a fatal accident.’ He didn’t specify if Coban was the one who died or if it was someone else,” Michael Porter Jr. said, turning to Rothman’s family. “I understand your family’s pain and hurt. When he didn’t specify what it was, I felt that. I know that if I were in your shoes and it was reversed, I would have a lot of feelings as well.”

He and others described Coban Porter as a man of quality character, a hard worker full of remorse for his actions.

“I truly don’t think I’d be in the position I am today as a professional basketball player without a brother like Coban pushing me every day,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “He would get up earlier than me, work out harder than me. I know it’s not often that a big brother looks up to a younger brother, but that is how it was for me.”

Prosecutor Austin Leighty asked District Court Judge Erica Englert to give Porter the maximum eight years in prison on the vehicular homicide conviction, and asked for six years on the vehicular assault conviction. He noted that the red light Porter ran was red for at least 23 seconds before Porter drove through it, and said Porter did not take any action to slow down until a half-second before the fatal collision.

“This was not an accident,” Leighty said. “This was a series of decisions that led to a fatal crash. …He drank and he drank. If he would have left his home and gotten a ride, none of us would be here. But he didn’t. And after he drank and drank and drank, he got into his car to drive.”

Johnson on Friday said she wanted to see justice done, but didn’t ask for a specific sentence. She and other family members asked Porter to use his status to speak publicly about the dangers of drunk driving.

“I do not wish hate upon Mr. Porter,” she said. “He is a young man with a bright future ahead of him who made a selfish and reckless choice.”

Porter has not drunk alcohol or driven a vehicle since the crash, said Harvey Steinberg, his attorney. He asked the judge to fashion a sentence that required Porter to speak to young people in schools about the dangers of drunk driving.

Members of Porter’s family sobbed as he was handcuffed and taken into custody after the sentencing, some telling him they loved him and one person calling out that he would be OK.

Rothman’s family and the passenger in her car, Jason Blanch, this year sued Porter and the bar where he drank that night. The lawsuit alleges staff at the Crimson and Gold Tavern, a sports bar that caters to University of Denver students, overserved Porter that night. The crash happened less than a mile from the bar.

Porter was at the time a student and basketball player at DU; he left the school in early 2023.

Porter’s older brother, 24-year-old Jontay Porter, also made headlines this week when he was banned from the NBA after a league investigation found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors about his health, and limited his own participation in games for betting purposes.

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12 students and teacher killed at Columbine to be remembered at 25th anniversary vigil

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 10:59:20 +0000

The 12 students and one teacher killed in the Columbine High School shooting will be remembered Friday in a vigil on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the tragedy.

The gathering, set up by gun safety and other organizations, is the main public event marking the anniversary, which is more subdued than in previous milestone years. It’s scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church 1373 Grant St, in Denver, after being moved from the state Capitol.

Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who began campaigning for gun safety after she was nearly killed in a mass shooting, will be among those speaking at the vigil. So will Nathan Hochhalter, whose sister Anne Marie was paralyzed after she was shot at Columbine. Several months after the shooting, their mother, Carla Hochhalter, took her own life.

The organizers of the vigil, which will also honor all those impacted by the shooting, include Colorado Ceasefire, Brady United Against Gun Violence and Colorado Faith Communities United Against Gun Violence, but they say it will not be a political event.

Tom Mauser, whose son Daniel, a sophomore who excelled in math and science, was killed at Columbine, decided to set up the vigil after learning school officials did not plan to organize a large community event as they did on the 20th anniversary. Mauser, who became a gun safety advocate after the shooting, said he realizes that it takes a lot of volunteers and money to put together that kind of event but he wanted to give people a chance to gather and mark the passage of 25 years since the shooting, a significant number people can relate to.

“For those who do want to reflect on it, it is something for them,” said Mauser, who is on Colorado Ceasefire’s board and asked the group to help organize the event at a church near the state Capitol in Denver. It had been scheduled to be held on the steps of the Capitol but was moved indoors because of expected rain.

Mauser successfully led the campaign to pass a ballot measure requiring background checks for all firearm buyers at gun shows in 2000 after Colorado’s legislature failed to change the law. It was designed to close a loophole that helped a friend of the Columbine gunmen obtain three of the four firearms used in the attack.

A proposal requiring such checks nationally, inspired by Columbine, failed in Congress in 1999 after passing the Senate but dying in the House, said Robert Spitzer, professor emeritus at the State University of New York-Cortland and author of several books on gun politics.

Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore ran on a gun safety agenda against Republican George W. Bush the following year, but after his stance was mistakenly seen as a major reason for his defeat, Democrats largely abandoned the issue for the following decade, Spitzer said. But gun safety became a more prominent political issue again after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, he said.

Without much action nationally on guns, Democrat-led and Republican-controlled states have taken divergent approaches to responding to mass shootings.

Those killed at Columbine included Dave Sanders, a teacher who was shot as he shepherded students to safety during the attack. He lay bleeding in a classroom for almost four hours before authorities reached him. The students killed included one who wanted to be a music executive like his father, a senior and captain of the girls’ varsity volleyball team, and a teen who enjoyed driving off-road in his beat-up Chevy pickup.

Sam Cole, another Colorado Ceasefire board member, said he hopes people will come out to remember the victims and not let the memory of them fade. The students killed would now be adults in the prime of their lives with families of their own, he said.

“It’s just sad to think that they are always going to be etched in our mind as teenagers,” he said.

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Colorado lawmakers defeat supervised-drug use sites bill for third time in a year

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 10:33:26 +0000

Colorado lawmakers have again rejected a bill that would have allowed supervised drug-use sites to open in willing cities — the third time in a year legislators have killed the proposal.

On Thursday night, two Democratic senators joined with the Senate Health and Human Service Committee’s three Republicans in voting to kill House Bill 1028, two weeks after it passed the House. The measure would’ve allowed the facilities — where drug users could ingest illicit substances under the supervision of medical personnel — to open in Denver. In the state’s capital, fatal overdoses surged 30% last year compared to 2022.

“This bill offers the opportunity for our community to utilize this life-saving tool,” Sen. Kevin Priola, a Henderson Democrat, told fellow senators. He sponsored the bill with Rep. Elisabeth Epps, a Denver Democrat. “To be clear, there is no mandate. Let’s (put) local control in the hands of the communities that know best how to reduce overdose deaths.”

A similar bill also passed the House last year before dying in the same Senate committee. Another attempt, a more moderate approach crafted in an interim committee, was shelved in October after Gov. Jared Polis — a noted opponent of the policy — issued an early veto threat.

That same interim committee advanced four other bills intended to address substance use; all four have advanced to various stages of approval in the Capitol, though none has fully cleared the building yet.

Sen. Lisa Cutter, a Littleton Democrat, said Thursday that her niece died from an overdose in the back of a car.

“We created this problem,” she said, “and now we just want to shove these people away and say, ‘You’re a drug addict. You’re worthless.’ ”

The same two Democratic senators who sank last April’s vote — Sens. Kyle Mullica and Joann Ginal — again doomed the policy Thursday. Both said they hadn’t been convinced that research or data backed the use of such sites, which are open in New York City and have reported zero overdose deaths among drug users at the sites.

Had the bill passed, it most immediately would have affected Denver. The city adopted an ordinance six years ago allowing a supervised drug-use facility to open, so long as the legislature signed off first.

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FAA investigating after Rockies coach plays pilot on United charter flight

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 10:17:07 +0000

A viral video showing a Colorado Rockies baseball coach in the cockpit of a United Airlines charter flight from Denver to Toronto sparked a federal investigation, officials confirmed Friday.

The video, originally posted to social media by the Rockies’ hitting coach Hensley Meulens, appears to show Meulens sitting in one of the plane’s two pilot seats while the flight was en route to Canada.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the story.

“Had some fun in the cockpit on our flight from Denver to Toronto,” Meulens wrote in the caption. “Thanks to the captain and the first officer of our United charter that allowed me this great experience.”

The coach can be heard in the video joking about landing the plane while pretending to take over the plane’s controls. At one point in the video, a second member of the coaching staff enters the cockpit.

The video has since been deleted.

“We’re deeply disturbed by what we see in that video, which appears to show an unauthorized person in the flight deck at cruise altitude while the autopilot was engaged,” United spokesperson Russell Carlton said in an emailed statement to the Denver Post Friday.

Carlton said allowing the coach into the cockpit violated the airline’s safety and operational policies, and the airline reported the incident to the Federal Aviation Administration.

United Airlines has removed the pilots from service during the investigation, Carlton said.

The FAA confirmed Friday that officials are investigating the incident, as an unauthorized person allowed access to the flight deck violates federal regulations, an FAA spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement Friday.

“We do not comment on the details of open investigations,” the spokesperson wrote.

The Rockies said Friday morning that they have no statement about the incident at this time.

This is a developing story.

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Taylor Swift drops 15 new songs on double album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology’

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 10:10:46 +0000

By MARIA SHERMAN (AP Music Writer)

NEW YORK (AP) — Could there be a Taylor Swift new album rollout without a few additional surprises?

No.

On Friday, the pop star released her 11th album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” an amalgamation of her previous work and reflecting the artist who — at the peak of her powers — has spent the last few years re-recording her life’s work and touring its material, filtered through synth-pop anthems, breakup ballads, provocative and matured considerations.

But that was midnight. At 2 a.m. Eastern, she released “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology,” featuring 15 additional songs.

“I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you, so here’s the second installment,” Swift wrote in an Instagram caption. “And now the story isn’t mine anymore… it’s all yours.”

The songs are a natural continuation of the first half of the album; many return to her “evermore” and “folklore” sound, with an assist from her collaborator Aaron Dessner.

This is not Swift’s first time surprising her fans, and certainly not her first time doing so with a surprise album release. A few months after “folklore” was released in 2020, she announced “evermore” would arrive at the midnight the same day. And speaking of midnight, she dropped a “3am” edition of “Midnights” featuring seven new tracks in 2022 a handful of hours after the original release.

Nuggets Journal: Back surgeries firmly in his past, only a shoelace prevented Michael Porter Jr. from playing all 82 games

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 10:03:23 +0000

Unthinkably, Michael Porter Jr. would be made of iron, if not for some faulty string.

On Feb. 9 in Sacramento, the Nuggets were embarking on a two-game weekend road trip. They were mercifully one week away from the All-Star break, a much-needed breather for a team that had played 102 games the previous season en route to a championship.

Porter, in particular, was pushing himself physically more than any season yet in his NBA career. He hadn’t missed a single game. An upcoming vacation in Mexico was going to work wonders for him, if he could just … make it … to the break.

Then, a shoe debacle.

“The shoes that I had packed — the laces were torn, and I just didn’t feel safe playing in them,” Porter said last Sunday. “I brought the wrong shoes, really.”

So MPJ sat that night in Sacramento, a 135-106 blowout loss that began a three-game skid going into All-Star weekend. He didn’t miss another contest. In fact, he returned from Mexico with a mild sunburn and a blazing 3-point stroke. He shot 50.9% from the field, 40.4% beyond the arc and 90.7% from the foul line in Denver’s last 27 games of the regular season, a 21-6 stretch for the team.

“The one game I missed was because I didn’t have the right shoes,” Porter said, smiling.

Lacing them up (safely) for 81 of 82 isn’t too shabby, especially given Porter’s extensive injury history. He’s had three back surgeries since the Nuggets drafted him 14th overall in 2018, missing 70 or more games in multiple seasons. His previous career high in games played was last season, when he appeared in 62, plus all 20 playoff contests. In Denver’s title defense, his regular season alone almost equalled the combined total from 2022-23.

“After everything I’ve been through,” he said, “that probably means the most to me out of everything.”

Porter’s evolution into a pillar of durability represents his team’s sturdiness. The Nuggets are entering their first-round series against the Lakers with a starting lineup that played 958 minutes together in the regular season. No other five-man lineup in the league played 800 minutes. The last time a five-man unit played more than 958 minutes together in any regular season was 2017-18, when the Jimmy Butler-featured Timberwolves used a lineup that surpassed 1,100 minutes.

In addition to being consistently available, this Nuggets starting five was nearly unstoppable. Its net rating for the season was 13.6.

Porter has been critical, stepping up and embracing his role as a second scoring option whenever Jamal Murray has been out due to various leg injuries (the only persistent health problem Denver’s faced all season).

“I told Michael he deserves so much credit,” coach Michael Malone said. “The reason he dropped to us on draft night was because there were concerns about his health and his back. For him to get to this point where he’s playing 81 of 82 games and playing at a high level is just incredible.”

Michael Porter Jr. (1) of the Denver Nuggets dunks over Jalen Brunson (11) of the New York Knicks between knocking down threes during the second quarter at Ball Arena in Denver on Thursday, March 21, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

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Nikola Jokic on Nuggets-Lakers playoff rematch: “Strategy-wise, I think it’s gonna be really interesting”

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according to Dom Luszczyszyn’s Net Rating. The Jets are very deep up front — they have 13 forwards with double-digit goals in the NHL this season. Tyler Toffoli and Sean Monahan have been strong additions. The analytics don’t love some of their best guys though — Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor both are sub-46% in expected goals for. Where Nikolaj Ehlers plays has been a season-long storyline. Colorado might finally be healthy, so will its depth hold up? Or will the Avs get Kraken’d again?

Edge: Avalanche

Defensemen

What to make of the Jets defense corps is a fascinating question and might swing this series. Josh Morrissey is either very good or elite, and Dylan DeMelo has been underrated for much of his career. But their expected goals numbers compared to the on-ice ones this season scream being propped up by the Vezina Trophy favorite behind them. The Jets have seven or eight guys who could play, and the underlying numbers say not playing Nate Schmidt would be a mistake. The Avs, on paper, have the best defense corps in the NHL. Are they getting weighed down by their goalie, or are a few guys not quite at their best of late? Colorado needs this to be a big edge, not a slight one.

Edge: Avalanche

Goaltenders

This is the biggest disparity in any category leading into the series. If it ends up being the biggest disparity, the Jets will likely advance. Connor Hellebuyck is going to win the Vezina Trophy. He’d be an advantage in any series, but Alexandar Georgiev’s recent wobbles exacerbate things. Georgiev was 12-4-2 with a .916 save percentage from late January to late March, but he allowed four-plus five times and was pulled twice in the six starts after that run. The Avs will need Justus Annunen at some point in this series if this mini-slump continues. Hellebuyck is probably going to steal at least one game. If it’s more than that, and Georgiev is still wobbly, the Avs will be in serious trouble.

Edge: Jets

Power play

Which version of the Colorado special teams is going to show up? The Avs have a top-10 power play over the course of the full season. Over the last month? It’s closer to 20th than 10th. It seemed like missing Valeri Nichushkin was the issue, but his return from a lower-body injury has not flipped a proverbial switch. The Jets use PP2 more than the Avs, but the mainstays on PP1 are Morrissey, Scheifele and Connor and two of Monahan, Toffoli and Gabe Vilardi. If Hellebuyck gets rolling in this series, the Avs are going to need to solve him when they have an extra guy on the ice.

Edge: Avalanche

Penalty kill

Just like the power play, the Avs have been the better of these two teams on the penalty kill over the course of the entire season. But lately? Woof. Colorado was 36 of 38 on the PK from the trade deadline until April 5. Then the Avs allowed nine PPGs in four games. If the Avs have more of the puck at even strength but the Jets steal a game or two on the power play, that’s the other obvious way for Winnipeg to advance beyond just frustrating Colorado with a strong defensive effort. The Jets haven’t been particularly great on the PK this season, but the goalie could certainly make it look great in a small sample.

Edge: Jets

Coaching

Rick Bowness has been an NHL head coach for parts of 14 seasons, nearly twice as many as Jared Bednar. The Avs coach has won more playoff series, but trying to wrap up Bowness’ coaching career in a sentence or two is nearly impossible. He helped the Stars get to the Stanley Cup Final in the bubble in 2020, then didn’t win a round for two years and got fired. If he goes on a deep run with this Jets team, his legacy as an NHL head coach could change completely. Bowness had Bednar’s number during the regular season — three wins, no losses, 17-4 in goals scored. Will that matter? Will Bednar change goalies at some point if the series is slipping away?

Edge: Even

Five storylines to watch

1. Lopsided season series

Judging by the results between these teams during the regular season, this is a nightmare first-round matchup for Colorado. Winnipeg started by winning 4-2 at Ball Arena on Dec. 7, then won again 6-2 on Dec. 16 at the Canada Life Centre. The topper came in a 7-0 rout over the Avs in Denver last weekend, resulting in a plus-13 margin for the Jets over three games. If the Jets didn’t have the Avs’ attention at the start of the season, it’s safe to say they do now.

2. Avs’ goalie question

Alexandar Georgiev was in net for that 7-0 disaster, allowing four goals on 15 shots in an ugly first period before being pulled. Georgiev’s goals against average is 3.02, which ranks 24th out of 34 goalies with at least 40 games played. He’s played well at times, but overall he’s been inconsistent, and if that trend in net continues the Avs could be in big trouble. By contrast, when the Avs won the Stanley Cup two years ago, goalie Darcy Kuemper had a 2.54 GAA in the regular season.

3. Colorado’s high-powered offense

The Avs ranked first in the NHL with 3.68 goals per game and first with 302 total goals;.Colorado’s also been solid on the power play, ranking fifth at 24.5%. Those stats are highlighted by an MVP-caliber season from Nathan MacKinnon, who led the team with 51 goals and was second in the NHL in total points at 140, setting a new franchise record. MacKinnon will need to continue his other-worldly play in order for the Avs to get past the Jets and make a deep playoff run.

4. Face-off ability

Neither the Jets nor the Avs have been particularly good in the face-off circle. While the league leaders were the Penguins at 54.6%, the Avs ranked 23rd at 47.9%, while the Jets were right behind them at 24th at 47.6%. It’s a detail that could be meaningful in close games. Of players who have played at least 50 games, Mikko Rantanen’s been the Avs’ best faceoff man at 53.8%. Puck possession of faceoffs in the defensive end will be key, especially considering Georgiev’s inconsistencies.

5. The Makar factor

While MacKinnon headlines the Colorado forwards, Cale Makar is turning in another career season on the blue line. He ranked second among NHL defensemen with 21 goals, 69 assists and 90 points. In a recent NHLPA poll, 56.4% of players said Makar would be the blueliner they’d want on their team in a must-win game, and he was also voted the top breakout passer by his peers. Makar, the winner of the Norris Trophy in 2021-22, is again in the conversation to win the award for the league’s best defenseman.

Staff predictions

Corey Masisak, Avalanche beat writer: Which Avalanche team is going to arrive in Manitoba this weekend? The one that looked like a war machine and ripped off nine straight wins after the trade deadline? Or the the version that lost to Edmonton, Dallas, Winnipeg and Vegas in a span of 10 days? This is, by the numbers, the closest first-round series of the eight. This core has never won a Game 7, but doing so in spite of the White Out at Canada Life Centre would be a significant accomplishment. Avalanche in seven.

Troy Renck, sports columnist: The Avs found some traction against a toothless Oilers team on Thursday. The problem? The Jets are not the Oilers. This series provides issues because of the Avs defense. The Jets outscored the Avs 17-4 in winning all three games against them this season. Is it too much to ask for Alexander Georgiev to steal a game in this series? We know Connor Hellebuyck can. The Jets goalie is favored to win the Vezina Trophy. Styles make fights. And the Avs do not match up well against the Jets. Jets in seven.

Sean Keeler, sports columnist: After that 7-0 hiding, the Avs are playing for pride, chasing a ‘chip with a chip on each shoulder. Sounds weird, right? At this point, you’ll take any edge you can get. On paper, it’s a purist’s dream: Colorado’s killer offense, led by Nathan MacKinnon, trading paint with arguably the best goaltender in the league (Hellebuyck) and a scrappy defense. But depth matters now. The regular season’s about your top two lines. The postseason’s about the bottom two. The Avs’ ’22 champs had 11 skaters who cracked double digits in goals. Winnipeg in ’24 is bringing 13 to the party. MacKinnon can’t do this by himself. I mean, he could. But he won’t. Jets in six.

Kyle Newman, sports reporter: Alexandar Georgiev will play much better than he has down the stretch of the regular season, and Nathan MacKinnon will win a couple games by himself to will Colorado past a grueling first-round opponent. The Avs defense will look more like its dependable midseason self than the sketchy version that appeared as Colorado lost four of its final six games. After this series, Colorado may not have enough gas left in the tank to win a second-round series, but a victory in Game 7 at the Canada Life Centre will be a momentum boost after how the Jets whooped them in the regular season. Avalanche in seven.

Lori Punko, deputy sports editor: The Avs have the star power in this series with Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. Unfortunately for Colorado, Winnipeg has expected-Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck in net. If the Avs can consistently score on Hellebuyck, and that’s a big if after the Jets’ 7-0 shutout last week, there is still the issue of Alexandar Georgiev and his uneven play. The series may just come down to MacKinnon vs. Hellebuyck. My money is on MacKinnon. Avalanche in six.

Series schedule

Game	Location	Date	Time	TV
Game 1	Colorado at Winnipeg	Sunday, April 21	5 p.m.	ESPN2
Game 2	Colorado at Winnipeg	Tuesday, April 23	7:30 p.m.	ESPN
Game 3	Winnipeg at Colorado	Friday, April 26	8 p.m.	TNT, truTV
Game 4	Winnipeg at Colorado	Sunday, April 28	12:30 p.m.	TNT, truTV
*Game 5	Colorado at Winnipeg	Tuesday, April 30	TBD	TBD
*Game 6	Winnipeg at Colorado	Thursday, May 2	TBD	TBD
*Game 7	Colorado at Winnipeg	Saturday, May 4	TBD	TBD

* If necessary

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Keeler: Why LeBron James’ playoff LeFlops won’t be enough to overcome Nuggets, Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 09:35:55 +0000

The best way to play a LeBron James flop? Have a Joker up your sleeve.

“Listen: To have the success that they’ve had, as great as (Nikola) Jokic has been — if you go back and look at that (Western) Conference Finals, the Lakers had no answer,” former NBA guard Greg Anthony, now an analyst with Warner Bros. Discovery and NBA TV, told me this week. “If that continues to be the case, it’s going to be a struggle for them to have in the series.”

Welcome to the NBA Playoffs, when Old Man ‘Bron suddenly turns into the best actor in Hollywood. The Denzel of dives, the Pacino of plummet.

Consider this your friendly annual public service reminder that the Lakers are about to sign a 30-day lease at the free-throw line and dare the NBA to raise its rent. Over their last 22 postseason games, four of which were a sweep at the hands of the Nuggets, the LakeShow’s averaged 25.1 free-throw attempts per 100 possessions. Their opponents, if you’re curious, went to the stripe 18.5 times.

Justice is blind. So are the zebras. Best keep the loved ones and sharp objects at a safe distance.

“Listen, if you’re Denver, I wouldn’t be concerned with the (Lakers) whistle, or anything else,” Anthony said. “(The Nuggets are) the defending champs. ‘We beat this team. We swept them in a conference final, regardless of the whistle.’ You have to feel like you have a better game.

“And so that, I think, has to be the mindset. You can play games with the officials to try to (get an edge) and be somewhere else or create a different (advantage), but ultimately, you have to go out and perform.”

You want the truth? Oh, Jack Nicholson, we can handle the truth. It’s the whistles that drive us batty. King James drew 59 fourth-quarter fouls in the ’20 and ’23 postseasons combined. Twenty of those 59 came against Denver. In just nine matchups.

“I don’t know if (the Lakers whistle) is a myth,” ex-NBA guard Jamal Crawford, now an analyst with Warner Bros. Discovery, reflected. “I haven’t heard that exact (stat).

“But obviously, (with) a guy like LeBron, the playoffs are going to be a little more physical. But you have guard him with a wall and you have to be willing to concede … is it, ‘OK, we’re gonna make LeBron try to get 50 today?’ Or, ‘We’re going to take everything away and make the other guys beat us.’

“He’s one of the great minds you’ve ever seen in basketball. You could put Joker up there as well, now. Even if you try to make him do something, he can always counter it. It may not be at quite the level he wants it to be or quite the level you want it to be, because you guys are playing that chess match within the game.”

At 39, even though he’s lost a step, ‘Bron still knows when to move his bishop. Since 2019, James has drawn a foul once every 6.39 minutes during a playoff tilt vs. the Nuggs during the second half. In the fourth quarter? Once every 4.75 minutes.

Sports Columnists |
Renck: Why are the Nuggets the Lakers’ daddy? Because L.A. has no answer for Nikola Jokic — and neither does anyone else.
Sports Columnists |
Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Lakers: Who has the edge, five things to watch and predictions
Sports Columnists |
Nikola Jokic on Nuggets-Lakers playoff rematch: “Strategy-wise, I think it’s gonna be really interesting”
Sports Columnists |
The video, originally posted to social media by the Rockies’ hitting coach Hensley Meulens, appears to show a member of the coaching staff sitting in one of the plane’s two pilot seats while the flight was en route to Canada.

“Had some fun in the cockpit on our flight from Denver to Toronto,” Meulens wrote in the caption. “Thanks to the captain and the first officer of our United charter that allowed me this great experience.”

The coach can be heard in the video joking about landing the plane while pretending to take over the plane’s controls. At one point in the video, a second member of the coaching staff enters the cockpit.

The video has since been deleted.

“We’re deeply disturbed by what we see in that video, which appears to show an unauthorized person in the flight deck at cruise altitude while the autopilot was engaged,” United spokesperson Russell Carlton said in an emailed statement to the Denver Post Friday.

Carlton said allowing the coach into the cockpit violated the airline’s safety and operational policies, and the airline reported the incident to the Federal Aviation Administration.

United Airlines has removed the pilots from service during the investigation, Carlton said.
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The FAA confirmed Friday that officials are investigating the incident, as an unauthorized person allowed access to the flight deck violates federal regulations, an FAA spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement Friday.

“We do not comment on the details of open investigations,” the spokesperson wrote.

This is a developing story.

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The Latest | Jury selection in Trump’s hush money trial shifts to picking alternates

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 08:55:41 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers in former President Donald Trump ‘s hush money case shifted their attention Friday to picking alternates as jury selection resumed for a fourth day. The proceedings began again with the questionnaire phase of jury selection and 22 possible jurors were brought in. As many as five alternate jurors must be selected before jury selection is over.

Thursday’s proceedings, demonstrated unpredictability in the jury selection of such a high-profile case, with two jurors who had been seated a day earlier being dismissed from the panel. A total of 12 jurors and one alternate were ultimately sworn in.

The judge has suggested that opening statements could begin as early as Monday, before prosecutors begin laying out their case alleging a scheme to cover up negative stories Trump feared would hurt his 2016 presidential campaign.

The hush money case is the first of Trump’s four indictments to reach trial.

At the heart of the allegations is a $130,000 payment made to porn actor Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer, to prevent her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump from becoming public in the final days of the 2016 race.

Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of those payments in internal business documents. Trump has said none of the alleged sexual encounters occurred. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Currently:

— The hush money case is just one of Trump’s legal cases. See the others here

— Judge in Trump case orders media not to report where potential jurors work

— Social media searches play central role in jury selection for Trump’s trial

— Only 1 in 3 US adults think Trump acted illegally in New York hush money case, AP-NORC poll shows

Here’s the latest:

QUESTIONNAIRE PHASE BEGINS AGAIN

The latest questionnaire round in jury selection in Donald Trump’s hush money trial began Friday with a prospective juror saying she has anxiety and isn’t sure she can serve. She said that she takes medication for the condition and that as more days pass, “I don’t think I will be able to be completely fair” and focused on the trial.

Judge Juan M. Merchan excused her.

Because 22 jurors are being questioned, Merchan granted a prosecutor’s request for five extra minutes of questioning. Instead of 20 minutes, prosecutors will have 25 questions to inquire of the group.

Another potential juror, a woman with adult children, said she doesn’t believe in watching the news. She added that her husband sends her news that seems important and that she has no strong opinions on Trump.

As potential jurors ran through the questionnaire, Trump appeared to lean over at the defense table, scribbling on some papers and occasionally exchanging notes with his lawyers.

But when another potential juror mentioned that he follows the White House Instagram account, including when Trump was in office, the former president looked up and toward the jury box.

COURT IS IN SESSION

Donald Trump shuffled through papers at the defense table Friday morning after walking into Manhattan court for the fourth day of jury selection in his hush money trial.

He turned stoic and stern as news photographers came in to snap pictures of him, as is the daily custom before court resumes.

Twenty-two possible jurors are being brought in as jury selection is set to resume. As many as five alternate jurors must be selected before jury selection is over. One alternate was already sworn in at the end of the day Thursday.

AS HUSH MONEY TRIAL REACHES DAY 4, TRUMP LOSES BID TO HALT SEPARATE JAN. 6 LAWSUITS

Donald Trump lost a bid Thursday to pause a string of lawsuits accusing him of inciting the U.S. Capitol attack, while the former president fights his 2020 election interference criminal case in Washington.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington denied defense lawyers’ request to put the civil cases seeking to hold Trump responsible for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on hold while a separate criminal case accusing him of conspiring to overturn his election defeat to President Joe Biden plays out.

The lawsuits brought by Democratic lawmakers and police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 seek civil damages for harm they say they suffered during the attack, which aimed to stop Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory.

‘THE GAG ORDER HAS TO COME OFF,’ TRUMP SAYS

Speaking to reporters inside the lower Manhattan courthouse, former President Donald Trump once again railed against his hush money trial, demanding Judge Juan M. Merchan lift a gag order limiting what he can say publicly about witnesses.

“The gag order has to come off. People are allowed to speak about me and I have a gag order,” he said.

Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office are currently looking to fine Trump over violating his gag order after disparaging witnesses in the case on social media. A hearing is set for next week.

TRUMP ARRIVES AT COURT FOR MORE JURY SELECTION

Donald Trump raised his right fist as he headed to his motorcade while leaving Trump Tower on Friday.

Soon afterward, the former president arrived at the court in Manhattan where more potential jurors will be questioned in his hush money case.

THIRD PANEL OF POTENTIAL JURORS TO BE QUESTIONED

A third panel of potential jurors will be questioned Friday in Donald Trump’s hush money case, drawing jury selection a step closer to completion.

After a jury of 12 New Yorkers was seated Thursday, lawyers were expected to turn their attention to picking remaining alternates who can vow to set aside their personal views and impartially judge the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Judge Juan M. Merchan has suggested that opening statements in the criminal trial could begin as early as Monday.

Trump has pleaded not guilty.

The trial will place Trump in a Manhattan courtroom for weeks, forcing him to juggle his dual role as criminal defendant and political candidate against the backdrop of his hotly contested race against President Joe Biden.

IN COURT THURSDAY, THE JUROR COUNT REMAINED SHIFTY

Jury selection in Donald Trump’s hush money case proceeded at a plodding pace Thursday when two of the initial seven seated jurors were dismissed.

But late in the day, lawyers settled on the remaining seven in quick succession, along with one alternate. Judge Juan M. Merchan has said his goal is to have five additional alternates.

Even with the roster of 12 jurors set, it’s still possible that the lineup may change as proceedings continue Friday.

TRUMP’S LEGAL ENTANGLEMENTS COULD BE A TRIAL ISSUE

Judge Juan M. Merchan was expected to hold a hearing Friday to consider a request from prosecutors to bring up Donald Trump’s prior legal entanglements if he takes the stand in the hush money case.

Manhattan prosecutors have said they want to question Trump about his recent civil fraud trial that resulted in a $454 million judgment after a judge found Trump had lied about his wealth for years. He is appealing that verdict.

Trump says he did nothing wrong and has cast himself as the victim of a politically motivated justice system bent on keeping him out of the White House. He has lashed out on social media about the judge, prosecutors and potential witnesses, prompting the district attorneys to seek sanctions for possible violations of a gag order in the criminal case.

After Thursday’s court proceedings, Trump complained to reporters that he should have been out campaigning but was in court instead for what he said was a “very unfair trial.”

“Everybody’s outraged by it,” he said. “You know the whole world’s watching this New York scam.”

The Latest | Lawyers set to focus on picking alternates as Trump’s hush money trial resumes

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 08:28:58 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) — Jury selection in the hush money trial of former President Donald Trump is set to resume Friday following a frenetic day Thursday that eventually saw all 12 jurors and one alternate sworn in after two previously seated jurors were dismissed earlier in the day.

One of those jurors was excused Thursday after expressing doubt about her ability to be fair and impartial after aspects of her identity were disclosed. A second seated juror was removed following concerns over the accuracy of his answers to questions about whether he had ever been accused or convicted of a crime.

Lawyers are now focused on picking five alternates.

The seating of the jurors brings the trial one step closer to opening statements and turns the heat up on this year’s race for the White House, placing Trump’s legal jeopardy at the heart of his campaign against President Joe Biden.

The hush money case is the first of Trump’s four indictments to reach trial. It centers on alleged payoffs to two women — porn actor Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, who said they had sexual encounters with Trump years earlier. Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of those payments in internal business documents. Trump has said none of the alleged sexual encounters occurred.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and faces up to four years in prison if convicted. It’s unclear whether the judge would opt to put him behind bars.

Currently:

— The hush money case is just one of Trump’s legal cases. See the others here

— Judge in Trump case orders media not to report where potential jurors work

— Social media searches play central role in jury selection for Trump’s trial

— Only 1 in 3 US adults think Trump acted illegally in New York hush money case, AP-NORC poll shows

Here’s the latest:

COURT IS IN SESSION

Donald Trump shuffled through papers at the defense table Friday morning after walking into Manhattan court for the fourth day of jury selection in his hush money trial.

He turned stoic and stern as news photographers came in to snap pictures of him, as is the daily custom before court resumes.

AS HUSH MONEY TRIAL REACHES DAY 4, TRUMP LOSES BID TO HALT SEPARATE JAN. 6 LAWSUITS

‘THE GAG ORDER HAS TO COME OFF,’ TRUMP SAYS

“The gag order has to come off. People are allowed to speak about me and I have a gag order,” he said.

TRUMP ARRIVES AT COURT FOR MORE JURY SELECTION

Donald Trump raised his right fist as he headed to his motorcade while leaving Trump Tower on Friday.

Soon afterward, the former president arrived at the court in Manhattan where more potential jurors will be questioned in his hush money case.

THIRD PANEL OF POTENTIAL JURORS TO BE QUESTIONED

A third panel of potential jurors will be questioned Friday in Donald Trump’s hush money case, drawing jury selection a step closer to completion.

Judge Juan M. Merchan has suggested that opening statements in the criminal trial could begin as early as Monday.

Trump has pleaded not guilty.

IN COURT THURSDAY, THE JUROR COUNT REMAINED SHIFTY

Jury selection in Donald Trump’s hush money case proceeded at a plodding pace Thursday when two of the initial seven seated jurors were dismissed.

But late in the day, lawyers settled on the remaining seven in quick succession, along with one alternate. Judge Juan M. Merchan has said his goal is to have five additional alternates.

Even with the roster of 12 jurors set, it’s still possible that the lineup may change as proceedings continue Friday.

TRUMP’S LEGAL ENTANGLEMENTS COULD BE A TRIAL ISSUE

Judge Juan M. Merchan was expected to hold a hearing Friday to consider a request from prosecutors to bring up Donald Trump’s prior legal entanglements if he takes the stand in the hush money case.

After Thursday’s court proceedings, Trump complained to reporters that he should have been out campaigning but was in court instead for what he said was a “very unfair trial.”

“Everybody’s outraged by it,” he said. “You know the whole world’s watching this New York scam.”

Israel’s long-term credit rating is downgraded by S&P, 2nd major US agency to do so, citing conflict

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 08:28:22 +0000

Israel’s long-term credit rating is being downgraded by S&P, which cited the risk of military escalation with Iran. It is the second major U.S. credit ratings agency to do so.

There was an apparent drone attack at a major air base and a nuclear site near the central city of Isfahan early Friday, which is suspected of being part of an Israeli retaliation for Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country days ago.

S&P’s downgrade was issued shortly before the strike in Iran, and almost three months after Moody’s, another major U.S. credit agency, downgraded Israel’s rating due to the “ongoing military conflict with Hamas.”

S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Israel to ‘A+’ from ‘AA-’ and the short-term ratings to ‘A-1’ from ‘A-1+.’

The long-term downgrade means Israel’s credit rating has moved from a “very strong capacity to meet financial commitments,” to “a strong capacity to meet financial commitments, but somewhat susceptible to adverse economic conditions and changes in circumstances,” according to S&P.

“In our view, the recent increase in confrontation with Iran heightens already elevated geopolitical risks for Israel,” the credit ratings agency said. “We expect a wider regional conflict will be avoided, but the Israel-Hamas war and the confrontation with Hezbollah appear set to continue throughout 2024–versus our previous assumption of military activity not lasting more than six months.”

S&P’s outlook on Israel’s long-term ratings is negative.

The cost of the war is a major drain on Israel’s budget and all three U.S. credit ratings agencies, Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch, which also has offices in London, have issued warnings on Israel’s credit standing since the surprise attack on the country by the ruling Hamas militant group.

S&P typically issues sovereign credit ratings on scheduled dates, but does break with that practice if events merit. S&P’s will issue another ratings review for the country on the date it was originally scheduled to do so, on May 10.

No Iranian official directly acknowledged the possibility that Israel attacked, and the Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment. However, tensions have been high since the Saturday assault on Israel amid its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and its own strikes targeting Iran in Syria.

US sanctions fundraisers for extremist West Bank settlers who commit violence against Palestinians

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 08:26:55 +0000

By FATIMA HUSSEIN (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday imposed sanctions on two entities accused of fundraising for extremist Israeli-occupied West Bank settlers who have harassed and attacked Palestinians, as well as the founder of an organization whose members regularly assault Palestinians.

The Treasury Department announcement comes as the West Bank has seen some of its worst violence perpetrated by extremist settlers against Palestinians since the war in nearby Gaza began.

There is also friction between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose far-right government has reacted angrily to previous sanctions imposed against West Bank settlers.

Included in the Friday sanctions are two entities — Mount Hebron Fund and Shlom Asiraich — accused of raising funds for sanctioned settlers Yinon Levi and David Chai Chasdai.

The fundraising campaigns established by Mount Hebron Fund for Levi and by Shlom Asiraich for Chasdai generated the equivalent of $140,000 and $31,000, respectively, according to U.S. Treasury.

The penalties aim to block them from using the U.S. financial system and bar American citizens from dealing with them.

Additionally, the State Department is designating Ben-Zion Gopstein, the founder and leader of Lehava, an organization whose members have assaulted Palestinian civilians.

Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said the organizations “undermine the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank. We will continue to use our tools to hold those responsible accountable.”

In February, Biden issued an executive order that targets Israeli settlers in the West Bank who have been accused of attacking Palestinians and Israeli peace activists in the occupied territory.

Colorado weather: Spring snow sweeps across the state Friday, Saturday

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 06:51:56 +0000

A mix of rain and snow will sweep across the state Friday before turning into only snow overnight, according to National Weather Service forecasters.

With a high of 43 degrees projected for Denver Friday, it’s a little too warm for snow to stick and little to no snow accumulation is expected before 7 p.m., forecasters said.

Between 7 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday, the Denver area can expect to see up to five inches of snow, with the most snow accumulating overnight, according to NWS projected snow totals.

Temperatures in the city will dip down below freezing Friday night, hovering around 31 degrees, before jumping back up to a high of 43 degrees by Saturday afternoon, forecasters said.

The mountains will also see significant overnight snowfall, with the heaviest snow accumulation happening in Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park and the foothills of Boulder, Gilpin and Clear Creek counties, forecasters said. Snow-covered roads are possible, especially along Interstate 70 southwest of Denver and over mountain passes.

Winter Park, Georgetown and Central City are all expected to get up to nine inches of snow this weekend, according to projected snow totals.

Moderate to heavy waves of snow could spread eastward onto the Interstate 25 corridor and plains Friday night, NWS forecasters said.

One to four inches of snow is likely for lower elevation areas along the I-25 corridor, and four to nine inches is projected for the foothills and east slope mountain ranges, according to a NWS hazardous weather outlook.

Slick roads and reduced visibility conditions will peak Friday night through Saturday morning but may continue through Saturday night, the hazardous weather outlook stated. Conditions will be worse along the Front Range and foothills where more snow falls, but slick spots will be possible along I-25 and into the plains.

Rain will return Saturday night following the end of the snowstorm, but the rest of the week will be warmer and drier, forecasters said. By Monday, temperature highs in Denver will return to the mid-70s, and only slight afternoon thunderstorms and rain showers will be possible throughout the week.

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Secret command center in Aurora is key to keeping Colorado wireless customers connected

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 06:03:33 +0000

Earlier this month, Xcel Energy cut electricity to about 55,000 customers along the Front Range to reduce wildfire risks from wind gusts that topped 100 mph. Another 95,000 of its customers lost power because of downed power lines from those intense winds.

Those outages, planned or forced, removed power to about 40 cellular towers that Verizon Wireless relies on. Verizon had alternate power sources in place to power the towers, part of its larger game plan to keep its network going in extreme conditions

Wires and cables connect equipment in a room at Verizon’s emergency response and command center in Aurora, Colorado on April 16, 2024. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

People could make calls or stream movies on their devices even if they couldn’t turn on the lights or watch television at home.

If Verizon, the nation’s second-largest wireless provider has its way, customers won’t ever experience a widespread network outage. And it goes further, maintaining a fleet of emergency equipment that can rush into disaster zones so cellular services can be restored or provided to emergency responders.

“Redundancy is the key,” said Blair Miller, a senior director of network assurance in Verizon’s Mountain Plains region, during a media tour on Tuesday.

In a facility tucked away in a nondescript industrial park in Aurora, Verizon employees monitor traffic on the network, changing weather conditions across the region, the status of hundreds of towers and other real-time feeds on large overhead screens.

The command room, staffed around the clock, is part of a larger switching and emergency response center, whose location Verizon keeps under wraps. The center and others like it around the country are vital to Verizon’s effort to keep its network operating under any scenario.

When a call, text or data request hits a cell phone tower from a mobile device, the signal usually moves into fiber optic lines. Locally, those signals flow into the company’s switching facility in Aurora.

Two big rooms, full of computer servers, each run at 40% to 50% capacity. If one of the two centers goes down, the traffic can flow into the other, said Jose Sanchez, a senior building engineer with Verizon.

Rows of computer servers, their flashing green lights, fill the role that human operators did in the early days of phone service when they manually pulled a line, said “please hold,” and patched a call into the right destination.

The switching equipment handles millions of packets of data at a time and redirects them at lightning speed. And while they never ask for a lunch break, they require constant power and relief from the loads of heat they release.

Verizon senior building engineer Jose Sanchez shows a large room full of computers that is kept cool with air conditioners during a tour of Verizon’s emergency response and command center in Aurora, Colorado on April 16, 2024. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

Thermal management is key to keeping any mobile switch center running. A dozen large A/C units, most waiting on standby, cool the switching centers. Three industrial-sized chiller units outside assist the units inside.

The switching equipment and heavy HVAC systems consume huge amounts of electricity. Keeping the power on at all times is key to ensuring the data packets don’t skip a beat and end up where they need to be.

Battery backups can power the two rooms for 10 to 13 hours if needed, Sanchez said. But the batteries are mainly there to handle the tiny gap in time that generators need to kick in.

It is only three seconds. But for data packets zooming around at 186,282 miles per second, a lot can go wrong in three seconds.

Four massive generators equipped with 12,000-gallon diesel fuel tanks stand ready outside. They switch on instantly when power is disrupted. Each one can run for between 11 to 13 days before needing to be refueled.

Large generators are on standby in case of a power outage at Verizon’s emergency response and command center in Aurora, Colorado on April 16, 2024. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

The Verizon center is on Xcel Energy’s priority list should chronic power shortages ever emerge. And if electricity were cut off completely and diesel shipments couldn’t arrive to keep the generators running, the generators could keep things going for close to a month, Sanchez said.

How people would charge their devices in that kind of environment — that’s an entirely separate question.

If that isn’t enough redundancy, cellular traffic in the region could be routed to another switching center, most likely Salt Lake City, assuming that location didn’t face a similar predicament.

Despite all those safeguards, the system isn’t foolproof. Verizon has built a fiber optic network along the Front Range and other areas with concentrations of customers, allowing it greater control. But in rural areas, it relies on third parties to haul its signals.

Failures in the fiber optic network can disrupt cellular service. That happened on Dec. 27-28 in 2018, when CenturyLink, now Lumen, suffered nationwide outages because of a bad network card in Denver.

As many as 22 million CenturyLink customers across 39 states were affected. About 17 million customers across 29 states lost reliable access to 911, according to a Federal Communications Commission study of the outage.

About 93,000 Verizon Wireless customers were impacted and about 1.9 million calls were blocked or lost in Montana and Wyoming, the FCC estimates.

No amount of redundancy in switching centers will help if the data isn’t arriving or arriving in an orderly way.

Verizon Frontline

Verizon’s Aurora location isn’t just about moving calls and data packets without downtime. It also serves as the base for the company’s local emergency response service — Verizon Frontline.

While the switching center is prepared for a large-scale catastrophe, localized emergencies are more common, like the state’s frequent wildfires, rarer floods, and the occasional rock slides, which in the case of Glenwood Canyon in 2021 cut fiber optic lines.

Verizon has a fleet of vehicles designed to restore or provide service in those situations, said Jared Hilzendeger, senior crisis response manager for Verizon’s Frontline team.

Jared Hilzendeger, senior crisis response manager for Verizon’s Frontline team, turns on a generator on a mobile technology apparatus used to bring cellular service for emergency responders at Verizon’s emergency response and command center in Aurora, Colorado on April 16, 2024. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

They include cellular on wheels or COWS, trailers that can be hauled in, connected to a fiber optic line and then broadcast a cellular or Wi-Fi signal. COWs, which have generators for power, are also used to provide extra capacity at big gatherings, like outdoor concerts.

Then there are COLTS, or cellular on light trucks. A COLT helped restore service in Boulder County when cellular towers burned up in the Marshal fire in late 2021 and stayed in place for two years assisting a new tower being built, Miller said.

If fiber isn’t available, equipment with satellite access can be brought in to connect to the internet that way.

In more difficult terrain where vehicles can’t be brought in, Verizone Frontline uses drones to broadcast a signal. Tethered drones with a connected power supply can stay airborne for long periods and were helpful in the Maui fires last year.

Verizon has developed robotic devices that can move into a dangerous area on their own, like a collapsed tunnel or toxic spill zone from a train derailment, Hilzendeger said. Those signals can be used to support monitoring equipment that can provide real-time information to responders.

“We do a lot of exercises with agencies and are always asking how our stuff compares with theirs,” Hilzendeger said.

Jay Bianchi’s critics say earlier arrest on sex-assault suspicions could have saved “years” of new victims

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 06:03:32 +0000

The arrest of Denver jam-band fixture Jay Bianchi this week on suspicion of sexual assault follows three decades’ worth of other legal trouble and criminal allegations related to his businesses and personal practices. There have also been convictions for assault, drug possession and the flouting of COVID-era closure mandates.

But critics say the Denver Police Department could have done more by publicly addressing the sexual assault allegations sooner, with or without charges, and by communicating more effectively with alleged victims who have been calling for action for years. They also believe that if Bianchi had been arrested earlier, it could have saved more potential victims.

“The victims, their legal teams and the CMU pushed consistently for the Denver Police Department to move the legal investigation against Bianchi forward, with unsatisfactory and delayed results …” the Colorado Musicians Union wrote in a statement shared with The Denver Post. “While we thank the Denver Police Department for taking action, the lack of urgent response allowed for years of sexual assault to continue.”

Bianchi, 55, was booked into the Downtown Detention Center on Tuesday on suspicion of six counts of sexual assault and one count of unlawful sexual contact related to three separate cases. They include sexual assault reports stemming from a 2020 Halloween party, as well as three new charges from April 7 of this year.

Bianchi is the former co-owner of Sancho’s Broken Arrow and So Many Roads Brewery, and the former owner and operator of the Grateful Dead-themed bars Be On Key Psychedelic Ripple and Quixotes. He has repeatedly denied allegations of drugging and raping women when contacted by The Post over the last three years.

It was not clear what prompted Tuesday’s arrest, given that some of the charges stem from allegations that are more than three years old, and police officials declined on Thursday to answer questions as to the timing. They also declined to release Bianchi’s arrest affidavit, citing state laws that protect sex assault victims.

One of Bianchi’s alleged 2020 victims, Kylie Heringer, told The Post on Thursday that she didn’t know why it took more than three years for Bianchi to be arrested in connection with her 2020 assault. A former sound technician at Quixotes, Heringer moved to Los Angeles and left the music industry in 2022 partially to get away from the trauma of her experience, she said this week.

In previous interviews with The Post, Heringer and another woman, Bonnie Utter, said Bianchi drugged and sexually assaulted them in 2020. An unnamed woman on April 7 also reported a new sexual assault, according to the police report. The alleged incident happened in the 900 block of First Avenue and led to three of the current charges, all of them felonies. So Many Roads is located at 918 W. First Ave.

“I am furious about what’s happened in our scene and flabbergasted that it has taken so long to first of all arrest him but secondly to get people to listen,” said Lucy Sturgess, a Denver designer and member of the city’s jam band scene.

“He still has so many supporters,” she said. “I have seen it in the scene back east and here and the apologists make me sick. It’s either the dude throws great parties, or has good drugs, or is talented or owns a fun bar so no one cares that they are predators.”

Jay Bianchi, photographed at So Many Roads Brewery in Denver in 2021. (Photo By Kathryn Scott/Special to The Denver Post)

The Colorado Musicians Union, which organized a protest at So Many Roads in June 2021 and has criticized the Denver Police Department for not aggressively following up on the allegations, said that “because of regular delays in legal action, we’re reminded of the importance of worker solidarity, belief in victims, and the necessity to self-organize safe workplaces and places of enjoyment.”

Police have arrested or issued warrants for Bianchi’s arrest nine times in Denver and Boulder over the past three decades, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Most were for misdemeanors, such as a 1991 traffic violation and a 2007 misdemeanor assault charge, the latter of which was dismissed.

Amid more convictions — including possession of dangerous drugs (cannabis concentrate) and driving while ability impaired in 2010 — Bianchi was cited on April 24, 2020, by Denver police for opening Sancho’s in violation of the city’s COVID-19 mandates, and for “hindering an investigation.”

After closure mandates from Denver Police Department stings, Bianchi posted on Facebook that So Many Roads Brewery — where he’s been known to bartend and promote shows despite saying he was stepping down from co-ownership — would close permanently in January.

The bar has remained open, however, and still has shows booked through June, according to its website, and weekly themed nights through September.

Colorado “assault” weapons ban faces likely key vote in Senate from father of mass shooting victim

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 06:03:30 +0000

The proposed ban on the sale, transfer and manufacturing of many high-powered, semi-automatic guns in Colorado will face an uphill fight in the state Senate after clearing the state House for the first time.

The measure, House Bill 1292, would ban guns referred to as “assault” weapons by its Democratic sponsors. It now heads to a Senate committee that includes one of the most vocal gun violence prevention advocates in the state — who happens to be a longtime skeptic of the effectiveness of blanket prohibitions like the one proposed.

Sen. Tom Sullivan is also the father of a victim of one of the state’s most high-profile mass shootings, and the committee’s tight partisan makeup looks likely to position him as the key vote.

The bill, titled “Prohibit Certain Weapons Used in Mass Shootings,” would define “assault weapons” as certain semi-automatic rifles and firearms, based on whether and where they take detachable magazines and have other characteristics, such as off-hand grips or collapsible stocks. It would not ban the possession of the weapons, meaning firearms covered under the bill but already owned would remain legal to keep.

The bill would also prohibit the possession of rapid-fire trigger activators.

In a historic first for the policy, the bill passed the full House on Sunday. On Thursday, it was assigned to the Senate’s State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, which will vote by early May on whether to send the measure to the full Senate.

Democrats hold a 3-2 advantage on the committee. Two of its Democratic members, Sens. James Coleman and Chris Hansen, both of Denver, expressed general support for the concept Thursday morning, though they added that they hadn’t yet read the bill in detail.

The third Democrat — and possible deciding vote, given universal Republican opposition — is Sullivan, who lives in Centennial.

He’s been a proponent of firearm regulation since his son, Alex, was murdered in the Aurora movie theater shooting in 2012, and he’s backed several gun regulation bills in the past year alone.

But he consistently has stopped short of supporting a ban on so-called assault weapons.

He worries the policy would spur a rush to buy the newly banned firearms, inadvertently increasing the number in circulation while not addressing the leading causes of gun violence. Other policies, he has argued, would do more to stem the tide.

Sullivan did not commit to a firm yes or no vote on Thursday. He reiterated his past skepticism and said he would be “crystal clear with everybody where I am” when the committee voted.

“If I had thought (an assault weapons ban) was the way to go, I would have done it the day after Alex was murdered with one,” Sullivan said.

Assault-style weapons are displayed for sale at Capitol City Arms Supply on Jan. 16, 2013, in Springfield, Ill. A Colorado Senate committee will consider a ban on the sale and transfer of so-called assault weapons. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)

“This is a gut-check issue”

Coleman, who chairs the committee, said he was leaning toward supporting the bill because “I don’t understand why folks need” the weapons. But he said he’s also keeping Sullivan’s perspective in mind.

“If the (desired) outcome is to save lives and keep people from getting access to stuff that can cause more harm … then we should be talking about modifications to firearms, and we should be talking about much more than just one particular type,” Coleman said.

Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat who’s the prime sponsor of the bill in the Senate, said she was in active conversation with Sullivan. But she wouldn’t say how she thought his skepticism could be overcome.

“It’s a hard thing to do, when he’s also seen, firsthand, the devastation that those weapons of war have on families and communities,” she said of Sullivan’s position as a potential make-or-break vote on the bill.

Gonzales said she was still working on gauging broader support among Senate Democrats.

“This is a gut-check issue for members of the Senate caucus,” she said. “… At the end of the day, no matter what happens on this bill, I think that our voters across the state are incredibly clear about their position on the issue, and I look forward to the next step of this process, which is the Senate committee hearing.”

Rep. Tim Hernández, a Denver Democrat and one of the bill’s prime sponsors in the House, echoed that sentiment. Sullivan’s long-standing skepticism of the policy is not new, and Hernández met with Sullivan before the bill was introduced earlier this session.

“I also know that as long as our colleagues follow through on (how) voters are saying they want us to handle issues,” Hernández said, “I have no doubts that we’ll arrive at the right place and land a bill on the governor’s desk.”

Governor also is “skeptical”

Gov. Jared Polis, also a Democrat, has also not embraced a ban on the high-powered guns.

He supported a federal ban during his time in Congress, and Polis spokeswoman Shelby Wieman said in a statement in recent days that federal action was needed to prevent gun violence.

Wieman wrote that though Polis is “skeptical” of the state ban, “he will continue to monitor it as it moves through the legislative process.” She did not directly respond when asked if Polis opposed the bill or would veto it, should it reach his desk.

Sandra Mielenz, left, testifies in front of the House Judiciary Committee on House Bill 1292, the “assault” weapons ban, in the Old State Library room at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on March 19, 2024. The committee heard from hundreds of people testifying about the very contentious issue. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

Senate President Steve Fenberg, a Boulder Democrat, said he didn’t know the extent of support for the bill among Senate Democrats, though he was aware of “several no votes.” Should the bill pass its first Senate committee, it would need support from 18 of the chamber’s 23 Democrats to achieve a majority, given universal opposition from the chamber’s Republicans.

Fenberg indicated that he wouldn’t be willing to tweak a committee’s roster to ensure the bill made it to the Senate floor. Swapping members to ensure a bill’s survival or failure is uncommon, he said, and would happen only if a bill had enough support to fully pass the chamber.

“We just got the bill,” he said Tuesday, two days after it passed the House. “Honestly, I know the press and the House and Twitter has been talking about this bill ad nauseam since session started, but it hasn’t been much of a conversation in the Senate.

“I don’t think we have a great sense of exactly where people are. It just hasn’t been top of mind in the Senate like it has in the House.”

Sen. Mark Baisley, a Woodland Park Republican on the committee that will first hear the bill, said he would oppose the measure firmly both on the committee and on the Senate floor, should it make it that far.

“It’s obvious that the Democrat side of the aisle is far more in favor of gun control than the Republican side of the aisle,” Baisley said. But he said he was hopeful that “enough of the Democrats would join us in seeing reason, in adhering to their oath of office to uphold the constitutional rights that we all hold … and vote down that nasty bill.”

The bill is one of several firearm regulations being considered in the legislature this year, though it’s the only one targeting a specific type of firearm.

Other legislation includes bills banning firearms, even with a concealed-carry permit, at polling places, schools and government buildings, though local governments could opt out; requiring specific merchant codes for firearm and accessory sales; establishing state permits for gun dealers; setting insurance requirements for gun owners; and increasing training requirements to obtain concealed-carry permits.

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Reform of Colorado courts’ competency system on chopping block at statehouse, supporters say

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 06:03:29 +0000

State lawmakers have yet to fund an $11 million effort to reform Colorado courts’ long-troubled competency system, raising alarm among supporters as the end of the legislative session looms.

If funded, the bill, HB24-1355, would create a statewide diversion program aimed at shifting thousands of people with mental illness out of the criminal justice system and into comprehensive care in a first-of-its-kind effort to slow the flow of people into Colorado’s overcrowded court competency system.

The state’s competency process aims to ensure people are not prosecuted for crimes if they are too sick or too disabled to understand the court process. But the system is overloaded and understaffed, and those who cycle through it often end up warehoused in jails and stuck in a process that loops them around in the legal system without access to mental health care, an investigation by The Denver Post found last year.

The reform effort is now on the rocks as the bill competes for a slice of limited state funding, supporters said. If not funded in the next week or so, the bill won’t have time to make it through the rest of the legislative process, and the reform effort will fail.

“There’s just tons of bills,” said Rep. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat sponsoring the competency bill. “We’re being told that bills are going to die on the appropriations calendar because there is no money to fund them.”

Legislators have $25 million on hand to fund new legislation this year, and expect the state budget to remain tight for the next few years, said James Karbach, director of legislative policy for the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender.

The bill needs just $1.7 million this year in order to launch, but the diversion program’s costs go up to $4.2 million as it expands in its second year, and then to $5 million annually when fully implemented.

The bill’s supporters say the total $11 million cost will pay off in the long run as people with mental illness are connected to care instead of being held unconstitutionally in jail while they wait for competency treatment. The state has for years been under federal court-ordered reform for violating people’s constitutional rights in the competency process, and has paid $41 million in fines for the ongoing problems.

At the end of March, 326 people were waiting in jail for competency restoration treatment even though they had not been convicted of a crime, with an average wait time of 92 days, according to a report this week from the Colorado Department of Human Services.

The cycle of competency

The Denver Post examined why hundreds of Coloradans repeatedly cycle through the state courts’ competency process, caught in the failures of both the criminal justice and mental health systems.

Part 1: Failures in Colorado’s courts, mental health system strand hundreds in “vicious cycle” of competency process

Part 2: Mentally ill people often end up in jail instead of in treatment, fueling the state’s competency crisis

Criminal prosecutions are paused while defendants go through treatment designed to restore them to competency. If a person is restored, the prosecution can proceed; if a person can’t recover, the criminal charges must be dismissed.

“Right now the highest cost of what is happening around competency is paid in human suffering,” said Lauren Snyder, vice president of government affairs at Mental Health Colorado. “That to me should be a priority for our state in making sure we are not letting people languish in jail who are there just because they have a mental health condition.”

The state has poured money into the competency system in recent years, including $68 million that Gov. Jared Polis asked for in the 2024-2025 budget to increase competency bed capacity. That money isn’t available to fund the proposed diversion program, Amabile said.

“It’s not like we didn’t ask,” she said. “That started out as a higher number and got reduced, and I think that’s part of why we’re hearing, ‘No, you can’t dip into that.'”

Jack Johnson, public policy liaison at nonprofit Disability Law Colorado, said that while increasing the state’s overall capacity for in-patient competency treatment by “surging beds” may help in the short term, it isn’t a sustainable solution.

“I think at best — truly at best — it temporarily alleviates the waitlist, and you either have to keep those bed numbers high and spend hundreds of millions of dollars to do that, or after you surge beds, you go down to close to zero and (the waitlist) goes way back up so you have to keep surging beds, and you are spending $100 million every three years to deal with this problem,” he said. “Whereas a program that is diverting people year over year, keeping people out of jail and off the waitlist, it seems like a steal at $1 million this year and $5 million going forward.”

Karbach said the diversion program, which has bipartisan support, can’t be put off.

“If the short-term tension in the budget sees this bill die because we’re worried about the next two years, we are going to get three or four years down the line and see a disaster,” he said. “A disaster we’ve already lived with for a decade. We are at a decade of human suffering, we are at a decade of systemic constitutional rights violations. We are a decade past a federal court being involved… And painful as it is and as tough as the job is to prioritize our state’s values, we can’t keep waiting on this problem.”

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25 years later, a Columbine teacher reflects on why she stayed: “We take care of each other”

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 06:00:22 +0000

Twenty-five years ago, Michelle DiManna sat in the math office at Columbine High School grading papers and talking to a colleague when she heard students screaming in terror.

Two heavily armed shooters had entered the Jefferson County school late in the morning on April 20, 1999, and proceeded to kill 12 of their classmates and a teacher, injuring dozens more in a tragedy that shocked Colorado and the nation.

The massacre, which ended with the two killers taking their own lives, reshaped school security across the United States and served as a precursor to the litany of mass killings that have taken place across the country in the decades since — so much so that the school’s very name, Columbine, remains synonymous with school shootings.

But what happened next, after DiManna fled the building with her colleagues and pupils, is also part of Columbine’s legacy, the one that, 25 years later, both current and former employees talk about the most: the resiliency and hope that persists in a community marked by one of the deadliest school shootings in American history.

“We take care of each other,” DiManna, who still teaches math at the high school, said in a recent interview. “You don’t really leave your family after trauma — and that is what Columbine is.”

And that’s why the 53-year-old, who will retire at the end of this academic year, has spent her entire career at Columbine despite such tragedy. DiManna is one of 15 current Columbine staff members who were either employees or students at the time of the shooting.

As Jeffco Public Schools marked the shooting’s 25th anniversary, officials held a media day with Columbine and district staff earlier this month to talk about the changes to school security that occurred nationwide in the wake of the shooting, such as lockdown drills and the creation of Safe2Tell, Colorado statewide anonymous reporting system for students.

Much has changed in 25 years. Those who were students at the time of the shooting have become parents and the pupils that now sit in the high school’s classrooms are too young to remember the tragedy, having not been born until years later.

One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is that at 11:20 a.m. each April 20 — around the time the shooting began — former Principal Frank DeAngelis gathers at the school with families and staff to read the names of the 12 students and one teacher who died that day: Cassie Bernall, Steven Robert Curnow, Corey Depooter, Kelly Fleming, Matt Kechter, Daniel Mauser, Danny Rohrbough, Dave Sanders, Rachel Scott, Isaiah Shoels, John Tomlin, Lauren Townsend and Kyle Velasquez.

“Columbine represents a time to remember,” said DeAngelis, who served as principal for almost two decades, and made it his mission to rebuild the school after the shooting and to help his students through the trauma.

DeAngelis retired in 2014, two years after he fulfilled a promise he made after the attack to remain as principal until all of the students in Columbine feeder schools at the time of the shooting had graduated.

“Columbine also represents hope,” he said. “Columbine is strong.”

The day has also become an annual day of service where students and staff give back to the community through volunteer projects.

“The community came together and made it stronger,” said current Principal Scott Christy, adding, “I hope Columbine is a place of hope for those who have experienced tragedy.”

On the day of the shooting, DiManna was a 28-year-old in her fifth year of teaching at Columbine, a school she also graduated from in 1989.

For DiManna, the moments after she heard screaming followed like this: A teacher pulled a fire alarm to evacuate the building. Her sister, Kim, who was a senior, found her and DiManna told her to leave — but she did not do so herself until after helping evacuate the math department’s classrooms.

DiManna found her sister again outside, where they saw an injured student near a stoplight before going into a house across the street, which is where she called her husband.

Residents opening their doors to students and staff fleeing the shooting isn’t the only thing DiManna remembers. She also recalls youth ministries helping care for students in the days that followed no matter whether they were members of their churches or not.

“I don’t know how many communities could take care of kids as ours did,” she said.

At the time, the shooting at Columbine was the deadliest at a K-12 school in U.S. history. There hadn’t yet been massacres at schools in Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, or Uvalde, Texas.

A visitor moves through the Columbine Memorial, in Littleton on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

In other words, there weren’t many people who knew what the survivors of the school shooting experienced and how it would affect them in the years that followed. They couldn’t understand how, for Columbine survivors, routine fire drills can be a trigger, how lockdown drills can create a panic, or how each year when April rolls around, so, too, comes anxiety about what might happen, DiManna said.

That’s also why DiManna stayed at Columbine. The support that the community provides didn’t end 25 years ago, she said.

Christy, the school’s principal, checks on the staff members who were at Columbine in 1999 each time there’s another school shooting or something else happens that could upset them, DiManna said.

“We just pick each other up,” she said. “You always knew if you were having one of those days, or something happened, you had someone to talk to.”

The reason DiManna returned to Columbine after the shooting is also simple.

“I wanted to teach,” she said.

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Iran fires at apparent Israeli attack drones near Isfahan air base and nuclear site

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 05:01:38 +0000

By JON GAMBRELL (Associated Press)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defenses at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan, an assault coming in retaliation for Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.

Speaking at the G7 meeting in Capri, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the U.S. received “last-minute” information from Israel about the attack on Isfahan.

United States officials declined to comment as of early Friday, but American broadcast networks quoting unnamed U.S. officials said Israel carried out the attack. The New York Times quoted anonymous Israeli officials claiming the assault, which came on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 85th birthday. Israeli politicians also made comments hinting that the country had launched an attack.

Air defense batteries fired in several provinces over reports of drones being in the air, state television reported. Iranian army commander Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi said crews targeted several flying objects.

“The explosion this morning in the sky of Isfahan was related to the shooting of air defense systems at a suspicious object that did not cause any damage,” Mousavi said. Others suggested the drones may be so-called quadcopters — four rotor, small drones that are commercially available.

Authorities said air defenses fired at a major air base in Isfahan, which long has been home to Iran’s fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcats — purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Tasnim also published a video from one of its reporters, who said he was in the southeastern Zerdenjan area of Isfahan, near its “nuclear energy mountain.” The footage showed two different anti-aircraft gun positions, and details of the video corresponded with known features of the site of Iran’s Uranium Conversion Facility at Isfahan.

“At 4:45, we heard gunshots. There was nothing going on,” he said. “It was the air defense, these guys that you’re watching, and over there too.”

The facility at Isfahan operates three small Chinese-supplied research reactors, as well as handling fuel production and other activities for Iran’s civilian nuclear program.

Isfahan also is home to sites associated with Iran’s nuclear program, including its underground Natanz enrichment site, which has been repeatedly targeted by suspected Israeli sabotage attacks.

State television described all atomic sites in the area as “fully safe.” The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, also said “there is no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites” after the incident.

The IAEA “continues to call for extreme restraint from everybody and reiterates that nuclear facilities should never be a target in military conflicts,” the agency said.

Iran’s nuclear program has rapidly advanced to producing enriched uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels since the collapse of its atomic deal with world powers after then-President Donald Trump withdrew America from the accord in 2018.

While Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes, Western nations and the IAEA say Tehran operated a secret military weapons program until 2003. The IAEA has warned that Iran now holds enough enriched uranium to build several nuclear weapons if it chose to do so — though the U.S. intelligence community maintains Tehran is not actively seeking the bomb.

Dubai-based carriers Emirates and FlyDubai began diverting around western Iran about 4:30 a.m. local time. They offered no explanation, though local warnings to aviators suggested the airspace may have been closed.

Iran then grounded commercial flights in Tehran and across areas of its western and central regions. Iran later restored normal flight service, authorities said.

Around the time of the incident in Iran, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency quoted a military statement saying Israel carried out a missile strike targeting an air defense unit in its south and causing material damage. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the strike hit a military radar for government forces. It was not clear if there were casualties, the Observatory said.

That area of Syria is directly west of Isfahan, some 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away, and east of Israel.

Meanwhile in Iraq, where a number of Iranian-backed militias are based, residents of Baghdad reported hearing sounds of explosions, but the source of the noise was not immediately clear.

The incident Friday in Iran also sparked concerns about the conflict again escalating across the seas of the Middle East, which have been seeing attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen on shipping over the war in Gaza.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center warned ships in the region that they could see increased drone activity in the skies.

“There are currently no indications commercial vessels are the intended target,” it wrote.

The Houthis have launched at least 53 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.

Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen and as shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined over the threat.

The apparent attack also briefly spooked energy markets, sending benchmark Brent crude above $90 before it fell again in trading Friday.

However, Iranian state-run media sought to downplay the incident after the fact, airing footage of an otherwise-peaceful Isfahan morning. That could be intentional, particularly after Iranian officials for days have been threatening to retaliate for any Israeli retaliatory attack on the nation.

“As long as Iran continues to deny the attack and deflect attention from it and no further hits are seen, there is space for both sides to climb down the escalation ladder for now,” said Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House.

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Associated Press journalists Nasser Karimi, Mehdi Fattahi and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; and Nicole Winfield in Capri, Italy; contributed to this report.

Iran fires at suspected Israeli attack drones near Isfahan air base and nuclear site

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 03:08:13 +0000

By JON GAMBRELL (Associated Press)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran fired air defenses at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan after spotting drones, which were suspected to be part of an Israeli attack in retaliation for Tehran’s unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.

U.S. officials declined to comment as of early Friday, but American broadcast networks quoting unnamed U.S. officials said Israel carried out the attack. The New York Times quoted anonymous Israeli officials claiming the assault, which came on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 85th birthday. Israeli politicians also made comments hinting that the country had launched an attack.