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Wolf Suspected in Livestock Losses Evades CPW Efforts
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Wolf Suspected in Livestock Losses Evades CPW Efforts

By Heather Willard | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife said that after days of searching, teams failed to kill an uncollared wolf that has been determined to be at fault in six livestock deaths in Rio Blanco County. Wildfires in the area delayed CPW’s ability to lethally remove the wolf, CPW announced on Aug. 5, which allowed another depredation event on Aug. 16, in which three lambs were found dead. Depredations, in this case, refer to a wolf stealing or killing a rancher’s product or livestock. Teams from CPW and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service-Wildlife Services were deployed on Aug. 16 to kill the depredating gray wolf, CPW said. “The decision to pursue lethal actions is never an easy one, but the events in...
Fire Departments Across State Face Major Staffing And Equipment Shortfall
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Fire Departments Across State Face Major Staffing And Equipment Shortfall

By Alliyah Sims | KDVR Fox 31 GOLDEN, Colo. (KDVR) — A new report from the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control shows that fire departments across the state are facing significant staffing and equipment shortages. While every call for help begins the same with a 911 dispatcher, a fire crew and a quick response, behind the scenes, Colorado’s fire service says keeping up with the demand is getting more difficult. The new state report shows fire departments across Colorado say they need more than 1,100 career firefighters and just as many volunteers in the next two years. Departments also say they’ll need more than 700 fire trucks, apparatuses and more than $25 million in new gear to help keep firefighters safe. “It’s always the number of vacant positions that’s alw...
Colorado House Approves Six Tax Bills During Special Session
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Colorado House Approves Six Tax Bills During Special Session

By Nate Belt | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — On Saturday, the Colorado House of Representatives passed six bills to address the state’s budget shortfall. The special session was called after a $1.2 billion loss of revenue from changes in tax laws in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which Democrats say the bills passed are a fix for what they call an unnecessary gap in the budget, while Republicans feel they weren’t given enough room to debate. “We passed a revenue package that closes corporate tax loopholes, which I think is the most responsible way to address the shortfall that we are experiencing,” said Rep. Yara Zokaie. Rep. Jarvis Caldwell tells FOX31 that the bills passed on Saturday hurt the average person. “Every single bill we’ve seen here come through during the spec...
Gas Exposure Suspected After Six Found Dead On Weld County Dairy
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Gas Exposure Suspected After Six Found Dead On Weld County Dairy

By : Brooke Williams, Heather Willard | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — Six people are dead after what is being described by officials as a “dairy accident” in Weld County on Wednesday. Around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the Southeast Weld Fire District responded to a confined space rescue at a dairy in the 32000 block of Weld County Road 18, which is the location of Prospect Ranch. In a press release on Thursday, the agency said that when crews responded, they prepared to enter the confined space to perform rescue operations. Crews ended up recovering the bodies of six people from the space. Later, the Weld County Coroner’s Office said that all of the victims were male, and that their names and ages will be released after they are identified and next-of-kin had been notified. The W...
Aurora lands in top 5 worst-driving cities in America report
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Aurora lands in top 5 worst-driving cities in America report

By Brooke Williams | DENVER (KDVR) DENVER (KDVR) — A recent report ranked Aurora among the top five cities with the worst drivers in the United States, and Colorado as a whole ranked in the top three states with the worst road rage. The report by finance website ConsumerAffairs looked into traffic fatality data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The administration estimates that 39,345 people were killed in crashes across the country last year, which is slightly down from 2023 and is the first time that the total fatalities have been below 40,000 since 2020. Some areas contributed to those deaths more than others, including Denver’s sister city, Aurora. The report ranked Aurora, Colorado, as the No. 4 state for the worst drivers in the nation....
Denver Cuts Costs With Targeted Staff Reductions Amid Budget Crisis
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Denver Cuts Costs With Targeted Staff Reductions Amid Budget Crisis

By Parker Gordon | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — The city and county of Denver announced it has completed layoff notifications to 169 employees “as part of a larger effort to balance the 2026 budget.” In a press release on Wednesday, the Denver mayor’s office said the 169 city employees were notified and that there will be no additional layoffs or furloughs for the agencies impacted this year. This comes after city workers waited for information on the layoffs when Denver Mayor Mike Johnston sent a letter to city and county employees in July that layoffs would begin on Monday. On Monday, the mayor’s office announced that the city would be eliminating 928 positions as a result of the $200 million budget shortfall. The layoffs were reportedly announced by the mayor’s office to ...
Colorado’s bike theft crisis: Third-highest rate in the nation
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Colorado’s bike theft crisis: Third-highest rate in the nation

By Spencer Kristinsson | FOX31 DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado residents are known for their love of the outdoors and active lifestyle. It should come as no surprise to see plenty of cyclists and bikes on the streets and trails around the state. What might be a surprise is how many of those bikes get stolen. A study by the cyclist training app, JOIN, analyzed the number of stolen bikes per state in the FBI database and the estimated value of the bikes stolen, which was converted into categories like median value, total value and average value. “A stolen bike is more than just a stolen asset — it’s the loss of the ability to cycle, to commute, and to train. The impacts can last for years due to the cost of replacing a stolen bike,” said JOIN in the study. The study found that C...
Weiser Defends Censorship of Conversations Between Therapists and Clients at Supreme Court
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Weiser Defends Censorship of Conversations Between Therapists and Clients at Supreme Court

By Ashley Michels | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — The state of Colorado and a licensed counselor from Colorado Springs are each preparing to argue before the United States Supreme Court. Last week, the Supreme Court set the date for when it will consider a case from Colorado involving free speech. On Tuesday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser filed the state’s merits brief, which lays out the state’s argument for why the court should rule in Colorado’s favor. “This is a broad principle and the principle that we are standing on is states have the police power right to protect our citizens against substandard care,” Weiser said in a virtual press conference. The case Chiles v. Salazar focuses on a 2019 state law banning conversion therapy for minors. Kaley Chiles, a licensed pr...
Six Outages in Weeks: Littleton Demands Answers From Xcel
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Six Outages in Weeks: Littleton Demands Answers From Xcel

By Nicole Fierro | KDVR Fox 31 LITTLETON, Colo. (KDVR) — A Littleton neighborhood is reaching out to the FOX31 Problem Solvers for help after a number of recent power outages. From businesses to families, the power outages are impacting people in different ways: wages lost, medical risks for people relying on oxygen, and no air conditioning in high temperatures. “They just redid all of our power poles and stuff and you would assume new would be even better,” said resident Kristi Myers. “And now we’re having problems.” From Kristi Myers in the Kingsley cul-de-sac to Kenneth Katzenmeier at the Columbine Bar and Restaurant on Pierce Street, power problems have been striking where they work and live a number of times since June. “Since June, we have had five or six outages,” Mye...
Budget Gaps Lead to Layoff Notices for Denver Employees
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Budget Gaps Lead to Layoff Notices for Denver Employees

By Kim Posey | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — After weeks of uncertainty, Denver employees are now finding out if they will be laid off. Mayor Mike Johnston’s office said impacted employees would be notified Monday and Tuesday. The mayor’s office announced Monday that the city is eliminating 928 positions out of about 11,000, in an effort to deal with a $200 million budget shortfall. But only 171 of those are layoffs, as another 645 are vacant positions that won’t be filled, and 92 are positions that will be transferred to alternate funding sources. Alvin Tafoya, the former deputy director of the Financial Empowerment Division, says he was one of the workers laid off. Tafoya said his department was told to work from home today, and he was let go during a virtual meeting at 9 a.m. ...