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“Everything Was Gone”: Colorado Victims Speak Out After Crime Ring Arrests
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CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

“Everything Was Gone”: Colorado Victims Speak Out After Crime Ring Arrests

By Sarah Horbacewicz | CBS Colorado Victims in Colorado are sharing their stories after the Boulder County Sheriff's Office announced arrests in a crime ring spanning at least 18 months. As CBS Colorado reported, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office executed several search warrants on Wednesday morning that are part of a grand jury investigation into an organized crime ring targeting the Front Range. Five arrests have been made, and one suspect remains at large. According to the 20th Judicial District Attorney's Office, they executed the search warrants as part of a criminal case. Boulder officials said a crime ring is responsible for 26 burglaries and 15 motor vehicle thefts, and many other offenses. Last July, Rich Caudill woke up to find his truck ransacked, at first not know...
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License Plate Readers Expand Across Colorado, Raising Privacy Concerns
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

License Plate Readers Expand Across Colorado, Raising Privacy Concerns

By: Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Police across Colorado say they make communities safer, but privacy experts have a different opinion about license plate readers. While license plate readers have been around for decades, the cameras now capture, not just license plates, but vast troves of information. That information is fed into a national database, where it can be combined with other surveillance to develop detailed travel patterns of millions of people as they go to a political rally, or an abortion clinic, a house of worship, or a gay bar. The cameras are so prolific that it's difficult to avoid them in many cities. Boulder software engineer Will Freeman is the first to begin mapping them. A year ago, he didn't even know what license plate readers looked like, let alone w...
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Colorado Wolf Reintroduction May Have Violated Federal Law
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Wolf Reintroduction May Have Violated Federal Law

By: Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado A plan to import 15 more wolves to Colorado from Canada may violate federal law.  Wolves are listed as an endangered species here, so Colorado Parks and Wildlife needs a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to relocate wolves here from other states. The permit issued by USFWS in 2023 lists six states where Colorado can source wolves. It doesn't list Canada, where CPW got 15 wolves last year and plans to get another 15 wolves this year. Former congressman and current gubernatorial candidate Greg Lopez says USFWS dropped the ball by allowing CPW to import wolves from Canada, which he says is a clear violation of its federal permit.  "The terms and conditions are that they can only get wolves from the Northern Rocky Mountains. They...
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Douglas County Candidates Debate Safety, Fairness in Sports, and a Teachers’ Role
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Douglas County Candidates Debate Safety, Fairness in Sports, and a Teachers’ Role

By: Olivia Young | CBS Colorado In two weeks, Douglas County voters will weigh in on who will shape the next chapter of public education in their Colorado community. Eight candidates are vying for four open spots on the Douglas County School District RE-1 Board of Education. While the race is nonpartisan, one slate of four candidates is more conservative, and another slate of four candidates is more progressive. The board is comprised of seven members in total. Clark Callahan, a charter school administrator, former teacher and father of three DCSD students, is part of the progressive Community's Voice, Community's Choice slate, along with Kyrzia Parker, Tony Ryan and Kelly Denzler. "I really want to help create a system that works for all kids," Callahan told CBS Colo...
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Denver’s Budget Crisis Deepens Amid $2 Million Rent Default
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Denver’s Budget Crisis Deepens Amid $2 Million Rent Default

By Brian Maass | CBS Colorado The city of Denver's largest tenant, the leaseholder for the Denver Post building at 101 West Colfax Avenue, stopped making its monthly $650,000 rent payments to the city in August. And with late charges, the leaseholder is now about $2 million behind in rent, according to an exclusive CBS News Colorado investigation. "It is a large amount of income for the city, and if we cannot recover that, we will have to turn around and find more budget cuts," said Denver City Councilwoman Sarah Parady. The city of Denver bought the Denver Post building in early 2024 for $88.5 million, saying the 303,000 square foot building would eventually be needed to house Denver's court system. The Denver City Council approved the purchase by a 9-4 vote but several council m...
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Aurora School Resource Supervisor Arrested in Federal Child Exploitation Probe
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Aurora School Resource Supervisor Arrested in Federal Child Exploitation Probe

By Jack Lowenstein | CBS Colorado Aurora Police Sgt. Aaron Bunch was arrested Wednesday after a warrant was served at a Denver home. Bunch faces charges for online sexual exploitation of a child, both Aurora Police Department and FBI Denver confirmed. According to APD's press release, Bunch was being investigated and subsequently arrested by FBI's "Child Exploitation Task Force" for charges that involve the electronic exchange of child exploitation material through the internet. The FBI confirmed a search warrant was being served at a home in the evening related to the case in a Denver community west of Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. Bunch was originally hired by APD in 2005. He was serving as a school resource officer supervisor. According to the release, "At...
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Supreme Court to Weigh Colorado Ban on Therapy for Gender Identity Counseling
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Supreme Court to Weigh Colorado Ban on Therapy for Gender Identity Counseling

By Anna Alejo | CBS Colorado On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on a case set to determine if Colorado's ban on so-called "conversion therapy" for minors violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment. The Lee family in Wellington filed an amicus brief in support of overturning Colorado's ban on the therapy. A Colorado law passed in 2019 restricts therapists from trying to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of kids under the age of 18. They opposed the law after they say it limited access for their daughter to receive therapy that met their family's needs. "They are forbidden by law from going down that path of helping a child through their gender confusion versus further into that confusion and so there's been lots of paren...
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Denver School Board Debates to Stream Live Oct. 7 Ahead of Crucial Election
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Denver School Board Debates to Stream Live Oct. 7 Ahead of Crucial Election

By Anna Alejo | CBS Colorado Denver voters will decide the direction of Denver Public Schools as four of seven school board seats are up for grabs in the Nov. 4 election. A series of four school board debates will be livestreamed on the CBS Colorado YouTube channel on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. CBS Colorado is working with Chalkbeat Colorado, Educate Denver, and Regis University to present the debates before in-person and online audiences. CBS News Colorado anchor Michelle Griego and Chalkbeat Colorado Bureau Chief Melanie Asmar will serve as co-moderators. They will develop the candidate questions and receive additional questions from the public, including from DPS students. The first debate will feature candidates in the At-Large race, to be decided by all of Den...
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Ethics board clears DIA execs’ $100K Madrid trip—but blasts ‘appalling’ public spending
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Ethics board clears DIA execs’ $100K Madrid trip—but blasts ‘appalling’ public spending

By Brian Maass | CBS Colorado Denver's Board of Ethics on Friday cleared Denver International Airport and its Chief Executive Officer, Phil Washington, of an ethics violation related to a trip to a conference in Madrid earlier this year. That trip was the subject of a CBS Colorado Investigation, but the board said it was "appalled by both the amount of funds that were expended for this conference and by Mr. Washington's seemingly cavalier attitude in responding to this complaint." Washington and eight of his top executives flew in April to the three-day airport conference in Madrid, with all of the executives flying either first class or business class for every leg of the trip, both to and from Madrid. CBS Colorado found that one of the tickets was over $19,000, and another cost nea...
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$640M Xcel settlement brings closure—and uncertainty for Marshall Fire survivors
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

$640M Xcel settlement brings closure—and uncertainty for Marshall Fire survivors

By Sarah Horbacewicz | CBS Colorado Survivors of the Marshall Fire are waiting to see their offer of the $640 million settlement from Xcel Energy announced on Wednesday. Jenn Hart in Louisville is one of the more than 4,000 plaintiffs in the suit. She says her home was torn down to the studs after smoke damaged her home. Now, family photos are some of the few remaining pieces of Hart's former home. Reflecting on those that were saved when they evacuated, and those that were left behind, she described an engagement photo, "It was sitting in this corner on a cabinet, and it wasn't blue before the fire," she said. Now, more than three years after the fire, she's settling back into her home and seeing a payout from Xcel.  "It's bittersweet, right? So it's not what we were h...
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