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Public safety crisis? Colorado ranks 7th worst for violent crime per capita
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Fox31, Approved, State

Public safety crisis? Colorado ranks 7th worst for violent crime per capita

By Brooke Williams | FOX31 DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado has once again been ranked as one of the least safe states in the nation, according to a recent WalletHub data report. The personal finance website conducted the study using data for each state, focusing on data points that indicate how safe an area is, such as the frequency of violent events like shootings, how many drivers are insured, hate crime incidents and bullying, unemployment rates, how many first responders and law enforcement are available and others data points. The Safest States in America in 2025, according to the study, are Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Utah. The least safe states were found to be Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida and Arkansas. This year, Colorado ranked at No. 44, ...
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Texas Sends 200 Troops to Illinois as Federal Protests Escalate
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Fox News, Approved, National

Texas Sends 200 Troops to Illinois as Federal Protests Escalate

By Alexandra Koch , Patrick McGovern | Fox News Pentagon confirms 60-day mission to Illinois as Chicago mayor calls operation 'illegal and unconstitutional' Texas National Guard troops arrived in Illinois on Tuesday to protect federal personnel and property amid anti-immigration protests, the Pentagon confirmed. A Pentagon official said 200 guardsmen were mobilized for an initial 60-day period. Troops arrived in Illinois "in support of the Federal Protection Mission to protect federal functions, personnel, and property," according to a Pentagon statement. About a dozen people have been arrested near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, where anti-immigration crowds have been gathering for days. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)...
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18-Year-Old from Denver Charged Over Alamosa Airport Bomb Hoax
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kdvr.com, Approved, Local

18-Year-Old from Denver Charged Over Alamosa Airport Bomb Hoax

By Brett Yager | KDVR FOX31 ALAMOSA, Colo. (KXRM) — The Alamosa Police Department said a suspect has been arrested after police were alerted to a bomb threat to the San Luis Valley Regional Airport. According to the agency, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at around noon, police got information from the FBI about a social media post that contained a threat to detonate an explosive device at the San Luis Valley Regional Airport. The FBI also provided information on a potential suspect. Police responded to the airport and evacuated the premises. The suspect, identified as 18-year-old David Mejia of Denver, was apprehended in the airport’s lobby. The Alamosa agency said a thorough search of the airport yielded no explosive or suspicious devices. Mejia was booked into the Alamosa County Jail ...
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Chicago Gang Leader Charged for Offering $10K Bounty to Murder Federal Officer
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Just The News, Approved, National

Chicago Gang Leader Charged for Offering $10K Bounty to Murder Federal Officer

By Misty Severi | Just The News The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois charged 37-year-old Juan Espinoza Martinez, who is an alleged leader of the Chicago gang Latin Kings, with one count of murder-for-hire. Federal officers on Monday arrested a suspected Chicago gang leader who allegedly offered to pay $10,000 to anyone who killed a senior Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officer involved in Operation Midway Blitz. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois charged 37-year-old Juan Espinoza Martinez, who is an alleged leader of the Chicago gang Latin Kings, with one count of murder-for-hire. No court date has been set so far. A criminal complaint that was unveiled Monday alleged that Martinez sent messages on S...
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Colorado: Where Criminals Come to Stay and Play
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado: Where Criminals Come to Stay and Play

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The FBI recently released detailed data on more than 14 million criminal offenses from calendar year 2024, reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program by participating law enforcement agencies. More than 16,000 state, county, city, university, college, and tribal agencies, covering around 95.6% of the population of the United States, submitted data to the UCR Program through the National Incident-Based Reporting System and the Summary Reporting System. By overlaying Census Bureau population estimates on the FBI data for individual states and territories, a curious party (like yours truly) can see how many violent or property crimes occur per 100,000 people—and thus see how crime rates vary between states. Because th...
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Police Union Slams Chicago for Refusing to Help ICE, Calls It ‘Violation of Duty’
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Fox News, Approved, National

Police Union Slams Chicago for Refusing to Help ICE, Calls It ‘Violation of Duty’

By Greg Wehner | Fox News National Fraternal Order of Police condemns reports officers were told not to assist surrounded agents The nation’s largest police union condemned reports that Chicago officers were told not to help ICE agents surrounded by protesters, calling it "shocking" and a violation of law enforcement’s duty to protect fellow officers in danger. Presidents of the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and Illinois State FOP expressed shock at reports that Chicago's chief of patrol directed officers not to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as they were surrounded by protesters on Saturday. "Details are still emerging, but it appears that officers from the Chicago Police Department were ordered not to assist a group of I...
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Apple pulls ICE tracking apps after DOJ raises officer safety concerns
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Just The News, Approved, Commentary, National

Apple pulls ICE tracking apps after DOJ raises officer safety concerns

By Misty Severi | Just the News Attorney General Pam Bondi and her Justice Department raised the concern about the safety of ICE agents to Apple earlier Thursday and asked the company to remove the ICEBlock app, which uses crowdsourcing to report ICE movements. Apple confirmed Thursday that it has removed multiple Immigration and Customs Enforcement tracking apps from its app store over concern about the safety of ICE agents amid an increase in violent attacks on ICE officers. The removal comes shortly after the suspect in a shooting at a Dallas ICE facility last month allegedly researched the app before the Sept. 24 shooting. The suspect, who allegedly intended to target ICE agents, killed two detainees. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department raised the co...
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Teen survivor of Evergreen High shooting finally returns home after weeks in hospital
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CBS News, Approved, Commentary, Local

Teen survivor of Evergreen High shooting finally returns home after weeks in hospital

By Jesse Sarles | CBS News Children's Hospital Colorado says one of the teens who was being cared for at their hospital and was seriously injured in the shooting last month at Evergreen High School has returned home. Doctors released the 14-year-old from the hospital on Tuesday. For privacy reasons, the teenager's family is choosing to keep his identity anonymous. A student shot and injured two people at the school in Colorado's foothills on Sept. 10. That shooter later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Last Thursday, the family of the teen released a statement saying he has undergone several surgeries and has a "long and difficult journey of recovery" ahead. They said their son was shot "at close range" while he was confronting the gunman with anoth...
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Lawmakers Face Public Backlash After Violent Suspect Freed Under New Incompetency Law
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Colorado Politics, Approved, Local

Lawmakers Face Public Backlash After Violent Suspect Freed Under New Incompetency Law

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics A high-profile case out of Weld County involving an attempted murder has renewed debate about the state’s competency laws and public safety. The case arose from an incident last spring, in which a group of men led by 21-year-old Debisa Ephraim allegedly attacked a man and his friends in downtown Greeley. After Ephraim was found incompetent to stand trial, his charges, which included attempted murder, were dropped, and he was released from the Weld County Jail earlier this month. The office of Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams posted a video of the Greeley attack on X, saying Ephraim had been released under a 2024 law that, he said, required individuals declared incompetent and unlikely to be restored to be released from jail. “The state le...
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Residents report safer passage as Lakewood tunnel is cleaned and police increase patrols
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Fox31, Approved, Local

Residents report safer passage as Lakewood tunnel is cleaned and police increase patrols

by: Hanna Powers | Fox31 LAKEWOOD, Colo. (KDVR) — A pedestrian tunnel along Wadsworth Boulevard that neighbors recently called unsafe looks markedly different less than 24 hours after FOX31’s initial report aired Monday night. By Tuesday afternoon, construction crews had painted over graffiti, cleared trash and moved along people who had been loitering, and Lakewood police officers were on site patrolling and confiscating contraband, according to observations by FOX31 at the scene. Residents say the change is obvious. “I just feel more calm here now than … two days ago,” one commuter told FOX31 on Wednesday. “Two days [ago] I rode the bus later around 5 or 6, and I did see some of that. But at this time, I am not seeing that.” Earlier this week, neighbors described the ...
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