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Livelsberger, 37, a Colorado Springs Army sergeant, found dead inside exploded truck in Las Vegas
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Livelsberger, 37, a Colorado Springs Army sergeant, found dead inside exploded truck in Las Vegas

By Olivia Prentzel | The Colorado Sun Federal authorities have reportedly identified a Colorado Springs Special Forces soldier as the man suspected of driving a Tesla Cybertruck to the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas before it exploded. Matthew Livelsberger, 37, was killed inside the futuristic electric truck after it exploded, about 70 minutes after he arrived in Las Vegas, The Associated Press reported, citing unidentified law enforcement officials.  Livelsberger, who as a master sergeant, was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and on approved leave at the time of his death, an Army spokesperson said Thursday.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Testing of drinking water suspended at state chemistry lab following allegations of falsified data
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Testing of drinking water suspended at state chemistry lab following allegations of falsified data

By John Ingold | The Colorado Sun The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Monday suspended testing of drinking water at the state laboratory, the latest twist in an expanding water-testing scandal that’s been going on for a year. The scandal involves at least two chemists accused of cutting corners and falsifying data on quality-assurance tests — essentially practice tests run to make sure their machines are working correctly. The state says it has no evidence that public health was threatened through falsified data on tests of actual water samples sent into the lab for analysis. “At no time did we find levels that we knew would pose an immediate threat to public health,” Dr. Ned Calonge, CDPHE’s chief medical officer, said in an interview. READ THE FULL STO...
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Where will the wild horses go? BLM is looking for landowners to keep wild horses on pasture
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Where will the wild horses go? BLM is looking for landowners to keep wild horses on pasture

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun Land managers are ramping up efforts to find homes for Colorado wild horses after capturing an unprecedented number in recent years as part of a national effort to thin herds.  About 2,200 mustangs have been rounded up via helicopter and bait-and-trap operations since 2021, and now federal officials are scrambling to increase adoptions and find long-term pasture options.  The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is seeking bids until Jan. 10 from ranchers or other landowners who want to contract with the federal agency to keep wild horses for the rest of their lives. The BLM currently contracts with 38 landowners in the country — none of whom are in Colorado.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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23 Colorado cities must replace at least 20,000 lead pipes that could taint drinking water, survey finds
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23 Colorado cities must replace at least 20,000 lead pipes that could taint drinking water, survey finds

By Jerd Smith | The Colorado Sun A new statewide survey shows that 23 Colorado cities have aging lead water delivery pipes, roughly 20,000 of them, that could potentially taint drinking water.  Under federal rules, those cities must identify all contaminated pipes and replace them by 2037, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. But the initial survey, completed in October, also found that 170,000 additional water lines still need to be examined. Cities that have untested water delivery pipes are notifying customers of the risk and have November of next year to finish the identification process, according to Seth Clayton, executive director of Pueblo Water. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Historians say a Denver electrician helped spark a Christmas tradition years before it swept the U.S.
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Historians say a Denver electrician helped spark a Christmas tradition years before it swept the U.S.

By Por Jaijongkit | The Colorado Sun The tradition of hanging colored lights outside homes for Christmas originated in Denver in 1914 when a local electrician found a creative way to bring holiday cheer to his bedridden son. David Dwight Sturgeon dipped lights in red and green paint, strung them on an electric wire, and hung them around a pine tree for his ailing son to admire from his bedroom window. Soon neighbors began making their own outdoor light displays, and Denver Post coverage helped spread the practice through the city. While Sturgeon wasn’t the first person to display outdoor Christmas lights, the tradition he inspired in Denver is the first known instance of outdoor home Christmas lights becoming widespread in any city, according to History Colorado researchers.  R...
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Colorado’s budget deficit may be smaller than the $1 billion hole originally predicted
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Colorado’s budget deficit may be smaller than the $1 billion hole originally predicted

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Colorado’s state budget deficit next year is forecast to be about $250 million smaller than previously anticipated, economic prognosticators told state lawmakers Thursday, news that will make carrying out a fiscal trapeze act slightly easier.  Nonpartisan Legislative Council Staff and the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting, which presented their quarterly budget and economic forecasts Thursday to the Joint Budget Committee, said the state budget hole is more like $750 million, if not lower. That’s down from the roughly $1 billion hole originally estimated for the fiscal year that begins July 1 if the JBC maintained its current spending plans. The deficit is being caused by a number of factors, including decre...
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Coyote killed near the child attack in Colorado Springs had human DNA on its paws, wildlife officers say
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Coyote killed near the child attack in Colorado Springs had human DNA on its paws, wildlife officers say

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Human DNA found on the paws of one of two coyotes killed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife suggests the animal was the one that attacked a child in Colorado Springs on Thanksgiving.  The capture comes after weeks of CPW trapping multiple coyotes in and around the northern Colorado Springs neighborhood where the attack occurred when the girl and a friend approached the animal hoping to feed it after mistaking it for a dog.  CPW spokesperson Bill Vogrin offered no details on how the coyote’s paws still had DNA on them three weeks after the attack, citing an ongoing investigation.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Ethics complaint filed against state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis over aide allegations
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Ethics complaint filed against state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis over aide allegations

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun A constituent of embattled state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis lodged an ethics complaint against the Longmont Democrat last week, alleging that Jaquez Lewis has failed to uphold her office with integrity and the public interest by mistreating her Capitol aides.  The complaint could lead to the most serious consequences yet for Jaquez Lewis, who has already been stripped of her committee assignments and barred from having state-paid staffers at the Capitol in light of the aide allegations. If leadership in the Senate agrees to advance the ethics complaint — as they’ve indicated they will do — it would initiate a committee investigation that could lead to a recommendation Jaquez Lewis be expelled from the chamber. It takes a two-thirds vote of t...
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In race to push a landmark water bill through Congress, Colorado is one state in the way
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In race to push a landmark water bill through Congress, Colorado is one state in the way

By Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun Tribal nations, Arizona and over 30 other stakeholders have just days to get a historic water rights settlement through Congress, and they’ll have to get past pushback from Upper Basin states, including Colorado, to do it. The Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act would secure safe, reliable water for thousands of Navajo, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute tribal members in northeastern Arizona. It would give the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe a reservation. It would resolve water rights disputes, and potentially set up new funding streams for tribes. If successful, it would conclude about 60 years of work, advocates say. But some Congressional representatives have balked at the price tag: $5 billion. State officials...
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Evans: ‘America must prioritize deporting gangsters, not grandmas’
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Evans: ‘America must prioritize deporting gangsters, not grandmas’

By Gabe Evans | Commentary, The Colorado Sun In a recent viral moment, the mayor of Denver, Mike Johnston, threatened to deploy local cops and thousands of Coloradans for a “Tiananmen Square moment” to stop the next administration’s strong immigration policies.  As a Coloradan, former Denver-area cop, grandson of an immigrant family and the next congressman for Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, I strongly support a secure border and strong immigration policies, including immediate deportation for criminals or freeloaders.  For those who are contributing to our society, not causing problems, and want to legally join the American dream, I do not support immediate deportation or family separation. As the grandson of an immigrant from Chihuahua, I know that Am...
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