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Behind closed doors: Leaked memos reveal how Durango 9-R Schools avoided a DEI lawsuit—until now
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Local, Top Stories

Behind closed doors: Leaked memos reveal how Durango 9-R Schools avoided a DEI lawsuit—until now

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Durango School District 9-R changed its hiring policy this spring without a public announcement—but the move didn’t go unnoticed. According to a new federal civil rights complaint filed by Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) and authored by its general counsel, William Trachman, the district had for years pushed a race-conscious hiring agenda, encouraged by internal equity committees and shielded by carefully worded legal guidance.  Now, MSLF says those practices violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act—and that scrubbing the language in 2025 wasn’t enough to undo the damage. This filing is one of three separate federal complaints MSLF has submitted since late June. The others challenge a district policy that endorses race-based ...
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Registered Sex Offender Breaches Colorado School Grounds in Alleged Kidnapping Attempt
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Local, Approved, CBS News

Registered Sex Offender Breaches Colorado School Grounds in Alleged Kidnapping Attempt

By Austin Erblat | CBS News MONDAY UPDATE: Parents are livid at the response of school staff during and after the alleged kidnapping attempt. A Colorado man is in jail after attempting to kidnap a boy at Black Forest Hills Elementary School in Aurora, police say. Solomon Galligan, 33, walked onto school property and approached several children on Friday afternoon and tried to grab a boy before leaving the area, an Aurora police spokesman told CBS News Colorado on Sunday. It wasn't immediately clear what prompted him to leave, but Aurora police say officers found a man matching the description of the one reported and arrested Galligan. A request for an arrest report was pending Sunday. Galligan has been charged with one count of attempted kidnapping and is being held i...
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Flood tragedy in Texas stirs old memories—and resolve—at Colorado’s Cheley Camps
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CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Flood tragedy in Texas stirs old memories—and resolve—at Colorado’s Cheley Camps

By Olivia Young | CBS News Colorado Among the victims of the devastating flooding in Texas are at least 27 campers and counselors from a girls summer camp, Camp Mystic. A thousand miles from Camp Mystic, the tragedy hits close to home at another summer camp nestled in the Rocky Mountains. This summer, the camp spirit is persisting at Cheley Colorado Camps, a family-owned summer camp with its own history of dealing with extreme weather. "Our great-grandfather, Frank, started camp in 1921 and he set up an amazing foundation and built most of the lodges that we use today," said Jeff Cheley, fourth-generation owner of Cheley Colorado Camps. "We feel that we have this wonderful opportunity to really make a difference in the lives of young people and create this space for them to ...
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Boulder Weekly shuts down publication for first time in 32 years amid internal revolt
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Substack, Approved, Local

Boulder Weekly shuts down publication for first time in 32 years amid internal revolt

By Corey Hutchins | Inside the News in Colorado, Substack The news behind the news in Colorado This week, as the nation’s annual conference for alternative weekly newspapers was convening in Madison, Wisconsin, one of its Colorado members was imploding. Shay Castle, who had been editor of Boulder Weekly for just under two years, said on July 2 that the paper’s owner, Stewart Sallo, had fired her. A week later, things utterly collapsed at the free alt-weekly that has served the city since 1993. “The newsroom is gone,” Castle said over the phone this Tuesday. “All four of us are gone.” While the paper typically comes out on Thursdays and populates news racks around Boulder County, this week those racks are empty for the first time in 32 years. No Big Goodbye, no...
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Garbo: Sheriff Darren Weekly is the exception that proves the GOP’s problem
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Garbo: Sheriff Darren Weekly is the exception that proves the GOP’s problem

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice In 2022, Darren Weekly wasn’t supposed to win. At least not according to the self-appointed gatekeepers of Republican purity in Douglas County. Branded a “RINO,” derided as “Tony 2.0,” and accused of being soft on Second Amendment rights due to the endorsement of outgoing Sheriff Tony Spurlock, Weekly was the target of aggressive intra-party attacks. The purist wing of the GOP put its full weight behind John Anderson, another outstanding, articulate, and Constitution-minded candidate whose campaign centered on resisting the Red Flag law and defending liberty.  I was among Anderson’s vocal supporters - endorsing, donating, campaigning, and even hosting events on his behalf. But Weekly won. By just over one percentag...
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Lightning-sparked fires top 1,600 acres overnight at Black Canyon National Park
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denvergazette.com, Approved, Local

Lightning-sparked fires top 1,600 acres overnight at Black Canyon National Park

By Nick Smith | Denver Gazette Reaching 1,640 acres in size, the wildfires in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park continue to burn with no signs of containment after two lightning strikes sparked the blazes Thursday. Evacuations for the park remain Friday, and there is no estimated time for reopening, according to fire and incident information agency InciWeb. The agency stated in a late-night news release Thursday that dry, receptive fuel aided by warm temperatures and wind has made for great circumstances for the fire to burn quickly. Incident Management Team San Juan Team 8 took command of wildfire containment operations early Friday. Lori Rome, a spokesperson for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, said one fire started near the Kneeling Camel Overlook, and the other wa...
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Jeffco Kids First: Court sides with defamer, silences truth in heartbreaking reversal
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Jeffco Kids First, Approved, Commentary, Local

Jeffco Kids First: Court sides with defamer, silences truth in heartbreaking reversal

Lindsay Datko | Commentary, Jeffco Kids First The sharp sting of brutal injustice cuts deep, searing the soul. Your time spent reading this is my measure of justice, and for that, I am profoundly grateful. “In reviewing the record, the Court identifies instances of Defendants’ conduct that a trier of fact could find as clear and convincing evidence of their anger and hostility toward Plaintiffs to sufficiently show actual malice.” Judge Loewer On the afternoon of October 7, 2022, my phone lit up with text messages: “You need an attorney ASAP.”  “Be prepared, there’s an article that just came out.”  Everything went silent except the ringing in my ears as I read the article, the world spinning around me. I remember the exact square-footage of my kitchen I was standing in. With m...
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Denver’s $800M bond plan sparks backlash over priorities, transparency
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Denverite, Approved, Local

Denver’s $800M bond plan sparks backlash over priorities, transparency

By Paolo Zialcita | Denverite The package can still change significantly depending on actions from the mayor and Denver City Council. On Tuesday, we learned how the city plans to spend $800 million from a proposed new bond package. Members of the Vibrant Denver bond’s executive committee unveiled the project list after weeks of work to pare down ideas from city agencies, organizations and neighborhoods.  The bond process was criticized by community members and city officials for being rushed and not properly incorporating public feedback — and Tuesday’s rollout drew a strong reaction, too, with some Denver City Council members implying they could vote to block the proposal. The package will go before voters in November, though the project list could ...
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Western Slope river channel tests positive for invasive and ‘devastating’ zebra mussels—again
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, Local

Western Slope river channel tests positive for invasive and ‘devastating’ zebra mussels—again

By Michael Booth | Colorado Sun New rounds of samples for the voracious creatures keep turning up positive, complicating containment The Colorado River is now officially “positive” for invasive zebra mussels in the latest failure of containment for the voracious species, after three new samples came up with larvae July 3, from between Glenwood Springs and Silt. The main stem Colorado River discoveries piled on top of a confirmed “large number” of adult zebra mussels in a private body of water in western Eagle County, and two more positive larvae tests, at Highline Lake and Mack Mesa Lake, both near the Utah border, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said Wednesday. Sampling was redoubled throughout June after tests found a single zebra mussel larvae, or veliger, in the Colorado...
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