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Denver Cuts Costs With Targeted Staff Reductions Amid Budget Crisis
Local, Approved, kdvr.com

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
kdvr.com, Approved, State

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
State, Approved, kdvr.com

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
Local, Approved, kdvr.com

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
Local, Approved, kdvr.com

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. ...
Legal Battle Erupts After Arrest of La Plata Jail Commissioner
kdvr.com, Approved, Local

Legal Battle Erupts After Arrest of La Plata Jail Commissioner

By Maddie Rhodes | KDVR FOX31 DENVER (KDVR) — A federal class action lawsuit was filed against La Plata County, the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office and several others after the former La Plata County jail commissioner was arrested for allegedly watching inmate strip-searches for his sexual gratification. On Wednesday, the attorneys filed a lawsuit for several people who said they were victims of Edward Aber, the former La Plata jail commissioner, who faces charges on 117 counts of invasion of privacy for sexual gratification and one count of first-degree official misconduct. The lawsuit claims that Aber allegedly watched videos of at least 117 different female inmates during their mandatory strip-search for his own sexual gratification. Many victims were nude in these videos. ...
Wildfire Relief Effort Scales Up Across Western Colorado
kdvr.com, Approved, Local

Wildfire Relief Effort Scales Up Across Western Colorado

By Heather Willard | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — Hundreds of thousands of acres in Colorado have been scorched from wildland fires raging on the Western Slope, and officials are sharing how you could help. The Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management shared resources on social media on Wednesday, as did the city of Craig on Tuesday. “Thank you to all who have offered resources and support- we are profoundly grateful,” the Colorado agency said on X. “You can help those impacted by the Lee and Elk wildfires by donating to the Yampa Valley Disaster Recovery Fund; tax-deductible donations are being accepted for disaster relief and recovery efforts.” You can donate here to the Yampa Valley Disaster Recovery Fund. You can also sign up to volunteer or&...
Families Declare Colorado Court Competency Laws Broken
kdvr.com, Approved, State

Families Declare Colorado Court Competency Laws Broken

By Jared Dean | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — Joel Lang was in court, accused of hitting, dragging and eventually killing Kirsty Kerst at a Monument McDonald’s drive-through in 2024. Lang, who turned himself in after police sent out a bulletin with his vehicle in the image, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. His charges were dropped after he was found incompetent to stand trial earlier this month. “This really has changed our entire lives. There is no going back to normal for us. This is our normal. We’re standing up to fight against injustice, and that’s not a small thing,” Kerst’s daughter Britany Visage said. The Kerst family is now part of an advocacy group asking for a change in Colorado’s competency laws. “I don’t want this to keep happening to other peo...
ICE Could Open 1,250-Bed Detention Center in Rural Colorado in 2025
kdvr.com, Approved, Local

ICE Could Open 1,250-Bed Detention Center in Rural Colorado in 2025

By Shaul Turner | KDVR Fox 31 HUDSON, Colo. (KDVR) — A new immigration detention center will open in Colorado as President Donald Trump strengthens his immigration enforcement plan. The new facility will open in Hudson, about 30 miles northeast of Denver, at a state prison that is currently closed. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tells FOX31 it has run out of room in the Aurora detention center after making more arrests so far this fiscal year than in all of 2024. The 1,250-bed facility in Hudson was privately owned and closed in 2014. It was operated by the GEO Group, which also runs ICE’s Aurora detention facility. Hudson has approximately 1,600 residents. FOX31 spoke with some who fully support the use of the closed prison as an ICE facility. “If they can use it ...
Resilience Tested Again in Meeker Wildfire: 87-Year-Old Man Faces 2nd Fire Tragedy
Local, Approved, kdvr.com

Resilience Tested Again in Meeker Wildfire: 87-Year-Old Man Faces 2nd Fire Tragedy

By Alliyah Sims | KDVR Fox 31 MEEKER, Colo. (KDVR) — It’s an incredible story of resilience coming out of the fire zone near Meeker, where 87-year-old Bob Kydd has now survived two major fire disasters. Last week, on Aug. 3, the Elk Fire destroyed his home, decades after he escaped the explosion at a famous lodge near Meeker back in 1991. Bob chose to keep his privacy and did not want to speak on camera for an interview, but we spoke with neighbors who know him well. They say Bob is a quiet and independent man. The community’s response to his recent loss has been an outpouring of support. A fundraiser raising more than $14,000 in less than a day. The loss is overwhelming for Bob. His home, a place of memories and solitude, now reduced to rubble and ashes. “Bob’s...

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