Rocky Mountain Voice

Local

Denver school board considering lowering public comment time limits, restricting topics to agenda
Approved, Chalkbeat Colorado, Local

Denver school board considering lowering public comment time limits, restricting topics to agenda

By Melanie Asmar | Chalkbeat Colorado The Denver school board is considering a new approach to community engagement that would limit one way parents, teachers, and others can address the board while adding another. The new limits would apply to the board’s monthly public comment session, where speakers can sign up to address the board for three minutes. Under a proposed policy, each speaker would get just two minutes instead of three. But the biggest change would restrict speakers to talking about the topics on the board’s meeting agenda. No such topic limit exists now, and speakers often talk about a variety of issues ranging from the broad, such as school safety or mental health, to the specific, such as changes to their child’s bus route or a bullying incident at their sch...
‘This is troubling’: Aurora officials heavily redact landlord eviction records, citing ‘work product’
Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

‘This is troubling’: Aurora officials heavily redact landlord eviction records, citing ‘work product’

By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette Aurora officials heavily redacted public documents related to the eviction of 300 people at the Aspen Grove apartment complex last month, claiming the emails — to and from the city and the landlord’s lawyer — represented “attorney work product.” Under the Colorado Open Records Act or CORA, government agencies can assert certain privileges to withhold information. Examples include proprietary information, personnel issues, for a law enforcement investigation, or "work product," such as drafts. Will Trachman, general counsel for Mountain States Legal Foundation, doesn’t see how Aurora can claim a “work product” exemption on behalf of the landlord’s attorney. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
Child trafficking educational summit in Colorado Springs to present solutions
Approved, Colorado Springs Gazette, Local

Child trafficking educational summit in Colorado Springs to present solutions

By Debbie Kelley | Colorado Springs Gazette Each year thousands of children in the United States are preyed upon, exploited, held captive, forced into labor and sold into sex and human trafficking markets. And with some half a million unaccompanied minor immigrants crossing the southern border and being released to adult sponsors under what critics call a fairly lax system, more are ending up in the same situation. “There’s a serious problem,” said Tara Lee Rodas, who recently became a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services whistleblower, when she reported that children were being handed over to gang members and people with criminal convictions. “I don’t believe people know there’s a problem, and the reason I can say that with confidence is that I had no idea what was going ...
Scott Aviation CEO Kyle Scott dies in ag airplane crash
AgAir Update, Approved, Local

Scott Aviation CEO Kyle Scott dies in ag airplane crash

By AgAir Update The founder and CEO of Scott Aviation and later CO Fire Aviation, Kyle Scott, lost his life during an aerial application flight Thursday, Sept. 5, while flying his AT-602 in Colorado. Scott, who founded and operated Scott Aviation, which operates several ag aircraft, also began aerial firefighting operations with a new start-up in 2019 with CO Fire Aviation, a successful aerial firefighting company providing SEAT aircraft on contracts in Oregon, Washington, and Colorado over the last several years in addition to his ag operation and FBO based at Fort Morgan Airport in Colorado. READ THE FULL STORY AT AGAIR
‘That’s a takeover’ Cindy Romero says in describing how she lived under Tren de Aragua rule
Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

‘That’s a takeover’ Cindy Romero says in describing how she lived under Tren de Aragua rule

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice Cindy Romero was a legal tenant of an apartment complex in Aurora she says was taken over by the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, a takeover some say is just a figment of her imagination. "I don't know what your definition of takeover is, but there's no managers on the ground, no maintenance workers allowed on the property, the housekeepers were getting harassed," Romero said. And then members of the gang began changing the locks to the building, she says. "If the owners aren't there, managers aren't there and they changed the locks on the outside of the building, that's a takeover," Romero said. Romero shared her story of surviving the Tren de Aragua takeover of her apartment building Friday during a roundtable discussion...
Former Larimer County chief district attorney pleads guilty to sexual assault of court intern
Approved, CBS Colorado, Local

Former Larimer County chief district attorney pleads guilty to sexual assault of court intern

By Dillon Thomas | CBS Colorado A former chief district attorney in Larimer County has pleaded guilty to sexual assault after a former intern came forward to police. Dan Quinn, who served in the Larimer County District Attorney's Office in the late 1990s, was charged with having sexual relations with a county intern years before she turned 18. As part of a plea agreement to avoid jail time, Quinn pleaded guilty Friday afternoon to one charge of sexual assault in the third degree, a misdemeanor. Before the plea agreement was reached, Quinn was being charged with sexual assault of a child by a person in a position of trust. Before a judge, Friday, Quinn and his attorney went out of their way to notify the court they were admitting guilt to the charge of sexual assault but not to the...
Leadership failures to blame for Tren de Aragua flourishing in Aurora, Fabbricatore says
Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Leadership failures to blame for Tren de Aragua flourishing in Aurora, Fabbricatore says

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice A lack of leadership exists within City Hall administration and at the police department, and it can be credited for the growth in activity by Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua in the City of Aurora, former regional ICE Director John Fabbricatore said Friday during a City Hall roundtable. Fabbricatore, who holds the Republican nomination for the 6th District seat in the U.S. House, was joined at the roundtable by two members of the Aurora City Council, two members of U.S. Congress, former federal ICE Director Tom Homan, state representatives and senators, a county commissioner and four residents of Aurora. Missing were any member of management from City Hall or the police department. "Aurora has been underserved by their leadership in the...
Man who shot at four Pueblo police officers in 2021 sentenced to 96 years
Approved, KXRM-TV, Local

Man who shot at four Pueblo police officers in 2021 sentenced to 96 years

By Ashley Eberhardt | Fox 21 News A man has been sentenced to almost a century behind bars for a 2021 incident in which he shot at four Pueblo Police officers as they were responding to a menacing call. 44-year-old James Justice was found guilty in July of several charges, including four counts of attempted first-degree murder after he fired shots at officers in January of 2021 on the northside of Pueblo near Elizabeth Street. According to the Pueblo Police Department (PPD), Justice initially shot at one officer and then ran from police to a nearby mobile home park where he shot at three more officers. None of the officers were injured. Justice was eventually taken into custody inside the mobile home park. PPD said he has been in the Pueblo County Jail since his arrest in January ...
Balloon over Johnstown, Metro Denver was ‘more sophisticated’ weather balloon
Approved, kdvr.com, Local

Balloon over Johnstown, Metro Denver was ‘more sophisticated’ weather balloon

By Maddie Rhodes | Fox 31 News An odd-looking balloon is floating across the Denver metro area on Friday morning. While it may look mysterious, the odd shaped white-clear orb in the sky isn’t a mystery – it’s a piece of technology similar to a weather balloon. On Friday morning, FOX31 viewers reported a strange balloon in Johnstown. Around 7:20 a.m., SkyFOX tracked it down in Longmont. Here’s a close-up of the balloon, taken from a FOX31 viewer’s telescope: According to World View Enterprises, a space exploration and technology company, the balloon is one of their Stratollite balloons, which is similar to a weather balloon. However, Phil Wocken with World View said weather balloons pop at high altitudes. READ THE FULL STORY AT FOX 31 NEWS
Steve Redfearn, serving in interim since January, named as new Boulder police chief
Approved, Boulder Reporting Lab, Local

Steve Redfearn, serving in interim since January, named as new Boulder police chief

By John Herrick | Boulder Reporting Lab Boulder’s city manager has appointed Steve Redfearn as the city’s next police chief, marking the latest change to the department as it faces demands for reform. Redfearn, who has served as interim chief since January 2024, joined the city’s police department in 2021. He has pledged to make policing more “equitable and effective.” “We’ll do this through a re-evaluation of our policies, best-practices training, a focus on employee well-being, and absolutely, a renewed commitment to engaging with community. That is what policing is about,” Redfearn said in a statement on Friday, Sept 6.  READ THE FULL STORY AT BOULDER REPORTING LAB

FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B[1]

Join us at RMV's Freedom Festival

Click Here for Tickets!

This will close in 0 seconds