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Volunteers bring America’s 250th birthday party to Grand Junction’s fairgrounds
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Volunteers bring America’s 250th birthday party to Grand Junction’s fairgrounds

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice July 4 has always meant fireworks in Grand Junction. This year, a group of local volunteers think it should mean something more. Liberty on the Lawn – America 250 comes to Mesa County Fairgrounds/Lions Club Park on July 4, noon to 7 p.m. It's free. Bring a chair, a cooler and the kids. Austin Dewitt, the event's coordinator, had one goal going into it. "I wanted Liberty on the Lawn to be more than just another Fourth of July celebration,” he told RMV. “I wanted to create something that brings people together, honors America's 250th birthday, and reminds us that even with different backgrounds and perspectives, we share a lot more in common than we often realize." How it came together About a dozen community membe...
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Federal Officials Say Jeffco Must Change Transgender Policies or Lose Federal Funds
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Federal Officials Say Jeffco Must Change Transgender Policies or Lose Federal Funds

By: Matt Kyle | The Denver Gazette The U.S. Department of Education on Friday warned Jeffco Public Schools it has 10 days to correct alleged Title IX violations over the Colorado district’s transgender policy or lose federal funding. The Notice of Impending Action is the latest development in an ongoing saga between the district and the federal government that started last year, when the DOE’s Office of Civil Rights started an investigation into Jeffco over alleged Title IX violations relating to the district’s policies regarding transgender students. The results of the investigation, released in March, alleged that the district had 61 “male students” participating in girls’ sports and allowed access to restrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations bas...
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Repeated Brush Fires Near Aurora RTD Station Spark Arson Investigation
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Approved, CBS Colorado, Local

Repeated Brush Fires Near Aurora RTD Station Spark Arson Investigation

By Michael Abeyta | CBS Colorado Over the last two weeks, fires have popped up in an open space area in the eastern part of the Denver metro area very close to homes. Aurora Fire Rescue says they are being investigated as intentionally set fires. The fires are happening near RTD's Dayton Station just north of Interstate 225. Aurora Fire says they and the Denver Fire Department have responded to several vegetation fires in the area recently because the City of Aurora, City of Denver and City of Greenwood Village share jurisdictional boundaries around the RTD station. Aurora investigators believe the first fire happened around 5 p.m. on June 10. On that day there were two or three separate fires burning. The most recent incident was a fire on Friday June 19. There...
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Jefferson County Brothers Accused of Stealing $12 Million From Medicaid Program
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Jefferson County Brothers Accused of Stealing $12 Million From Medicaid Program

By: Matt Kyle | The Denver Gazette Two Jefferson County men have been indicted on a slew of charges alleging they fraudulently obtained $12 million from Medicaid. James Andrew Heath, 33 and Jared Parker Heath, 37, were indicted on June 12 in Denver District Court. They are accused of defrauding Colorado’s Medicaid optical program by falsely billing Medicaid for glasses and other materials through their business QuickSpex LLC, according to a news release from Attorney General Phil Weiser. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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Boulder prepares for Sundance as housing rules face a real-world test
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, Local

Boulder prepares for Sundance as housing rules face a real-world test

By Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado There are few things more satisfying to watch than socialists getting mugged by reality. The Sundance Film Festival is invading my hometown of Boulder early next year. Sundance drew 85,000 attendees last year in Park City, Utah. Boulder’s hotel room inventory is about 2,900. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when Hollywood’s anti-capitalist elite collide with basic supply and demand, we’re about to find out. When things don’t go as planned, the planner-class doubles down on its religion: more planning. When restrictions, rules, permits and fees don’t produce the desired outcome, more restrictions, rules, permits and fees are needed. Sundance is an event for and by well-heeled, artsy, socialist elites. So, Boulder is perfe...
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Colorado Man Charged in Alleged Medicaid Kickback Scheme at Adult Daycare
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kdvr.com, Approved, Local

Colorado Man Charged in Alleged Medicaid Kickback Scheme at Adult Daycare

By Adam Rosen | KDVR DENVER (KDVR) — A Colorado man faces 12 charges relating to a Medicaid fraud scheme concerning an Arapahoe County adult daycare center, according to a pair of releases. Attorney General Phil Weiser and Peter McNeilly, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, announced that Mohamed Elias Omer faces 12 counts of offering and paying illegal remuneration, or illegal kickbacks, to convince Medicaid beneficiaries to attend Nadina Adult Daycare Center LLC. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT KDVR
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Ex Jeffco Schools Security Guard Faces Dozens of Child Sex Abuse and Exploitation Charges
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Ex Jeffco Schools Security Guard Faces Dozens of Child Sex Abuse and Exploitation Charges

By Matt Kyle | The Denver Gazette A former security guard for Jeffco Public Schools was arrested Monday over charges of child sexual abuse. Brian C. Richie, 67, was arrested by Longmont police and booked into the Boulder County jail. He faces several charges, including sexual assault of a child by a person in a position of trust, 12 counts of sexual exploitation of a child by possessing videos, 16 counts of sexual exploitation of a child by possessing photos, invasion of privacy for sexual gratification of a person under 15 and invasion of privacy for sexual gratification, according to the jail log and Richie’s arrest affidavit. Richie’s LinkedIn and Facebook pages showed he was employed by Jeffco as a “patrol sergeant” from April 2015 to February 2026, when he ...
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Citizen Movements Across Colorado Gain Ground at City Hall
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Local

Citizen Movements Across Colorado Gain Ground at City Hall

By: Mike Krause | Complete Colorado In a recent episode of  Independence Institute’s public affairs tv show, Devil’s Advocate, host Jon Caldara sits down with Brandon Wark, creator of Free State Colorado, to look a the the rise of citizen activism, and how ordinary Coloradans can influence local government. The two dive deep into the idea idea that meaningful political change often begins not under Colorado’s gold dome, but at city councils, school boards, and local ballot boxes. You can see the entire episode on YouTube. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT COMPLETE COLORADO
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Poudre Schools Cut 182 Positions as Enrollment Declines
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DENVER7, Approved, Local

Poudre Schools Cut 182 Positions as Enrollment Declines

By: Adria Iraheta | Denver7 District officials say some cuts reflect unfilled vacancies — but parents say fewer educators mean kids pay the price. FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Poudre School District is eliminating 182 educator positions heading into the next school year, citing budget issues as the driving force behind the cuts. The move comes after months of conversations about declining enrollment, forcing Poudre School District to consider how its budget could reshape schools across the district. PSD is projected to have 654 fewer students in its schools next year, citing fewer school-aged children in the area due to declining birth rates and fewer younger families moving into the area due to housing costs. Denver7 was there as parents brought their co...
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What our fathers taught us
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

What our fathers taught us

Compiled by Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice We put a single question to some of the writers you read here: what's the best thing your father taught you, or the thing you didn't understand until much later?  Nobody sent us a speech. They sent us a memory. Some are about work. Some are about faith, or grit, or a sentence a man said once and never repeated. Much of what these dads handed down came through more than instruction. Your father taught you most in ways he probably didn't plan. Most of us figure that out later. Here are their words, on Father's Day. My father was part of "the greatest generation," a WWII veteran. After the war he was a traveling salesman for the Quaker Oats company for 30 years or so. He taught me the importance of being there. Whenever my d...
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