Author: reporter

A former Denver police officer was killed in a shootout Saturday while confronting an armed hostage-taker at a Pennsylvania hospital.Andrew Duarte worked as a patrol officer in Denver from 2017 to 2022 and participated in the Denver Police Department’s DUI Enforcement Unit, police wrote in a statement.Former Denver Police Department officer Andrew Duarte. (Denver Police Department)Police said Duarte served “valiantly” and was “highly regarded for his work,” earning recognition from Mothers Against Drunk Driving for his efforts to keep impaired drivers off Colorado roadways.Duarte joined the West York Borough Police Department in southern Pennsylvania in 2022, according to The Associated…

Nikola Jokic has not hesitated to be his own team’s harshest critic at various moments this season. The aftermath of his career-long, nine-game win streak was the latest example.“We had the nine-game winning streak against teams that were injured, and teams that were not really good or high in the standings,” Jokic said after Denver’s 123-100 loss to the Lakers at Ball Arena. “So maybe we tricked ourselves into (thinking) that we are playing good.”The Nuggets (37-20) are 10-14 against teams with winning records as of Sunday. Their nine-game surge into the second-place conversation in the West was indeed assembled…

The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office will no longer rely on a state lab for DNA testing, as the Colorado Bureau of Investigation continues to grapple with a backlog of sexual assault forensic exams.Sheriff Curtis Johnson wrote in a Feb. 10 letter to CBI director Chris Shaefer that the agency will instead send genetic material and other evidence to the Jefferson County Regional Crime Laboratory.“By no means do I want to (sever) the strong working relationship between the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office and CBI,” Johnson wrote in the letter shared by CBI spokesperson Rob Low. “I am hopeful CBI will be…

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Zac Veen arrived at spring training with long, purple hair.“I’ve wanted to do it for a few years now,” the Rockies outfield prospect said. “I just wanted to wear the team colors. Wherever I play this year, I want to show the team colors.”That means the 23-year-old will likely begin the season sporting the red of the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes or the blue and green of the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats.I would have laughed if you had told me two years ago that Veen would still be waiting to make his big-league debut. Because Veen, once the…

By MARK SCOLFOROYORK, Pa. (AP) — A man armed with a pistol and carrying zip ties entered a Pennsylvania hospital’s intensive care unit Saturday and took staff members hostage before he was killed by police in a shootout that also left an officer dead, authorities said.Three workers at UPMC Memorial Hospital, including a doctor, a nurse and a custodian, and two other officers were shot and wounded in the attack, York County District Attorney Tim Barker said. A fourth staffer was injured in a fall.Gunfire erupted after officers went to engage the shooter, whom Barker identified as Diogenes Archangel-Ortiz, 49.…

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat Colorado.Last July, families at a Highlands Ranch child care center received startling news: The center was temporarily closing following a visit from the county health department.The center’s owners failed to submit required construction plans to the Douglas County health department and get construction permits from the county’s building division.A state child care licensing inspector also found several safety violations related to the construction: emergency exits were blocked by tools and debris, and paint and construction materials were accessible to children.The renovation was the result of an ownership change: In early July, a national…

SAN FRANCISCO — In the past week, OpenAI’s Operator has done the following things for me:— Ordered me a new ice cream scoop on Amazon.— Bought me a new domain name and configured its settings.— Booked a Valentine’s Day date for me and my wife.— Scheduled a haircut.It did these tasks mostly autonomously, although I did have to nudge it along from time to time and occasionally rescue it from a loop of failed attempts.If you’re just catching up — or if you were distracted by the DeepSeek news last week, which overshadowed all other artificial intelligence news — Operator…

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI, Associated PessBANGKOK — Efforts to shut down online scam centers in Myanmar appeared to gain momentum on Monday as a top Chinese security official visited both sides of the Thai-Myanmar border ahead of expected large-scale repatriations of workers in the illicit industry.The visit by Liu Zhongyi, China’s vice minister of public security and commissioner of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, was part of a stepped-up effort by the three countries to address the online scam problem, Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters.Areas of Myanmar bordering Thailand have been serving as havens for criminal syndicates employing an…

PHILADELPHIA — President Donald Trump on Friday said he may put the U.S. Postal Service under the control of the Commerce Department in what would be an executive branch takeover of the agency, which has operated as an independent entity since 1970.“We want to have a post office that works well and doesn’t lose massive amounts of money,” Trump said. “We’re thinking about doing that. And it’ll be a form of a merger, but it’ll remain the Postal Service, and I think it’ll operate a lot better.”Trump made the remarks at the swearing-in of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. He called…

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is ramping up plans to detain immigrants in the U.S. without legal permission at military sites across the country — potentially including Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora — a significant expansion of efforts by the White House to use wartime resources to make good on the president’s promised mass deportations.President Donald Trump’s team is developing a deportation hub at Fort Bliss, near El Paso, Texas, that could eventually hold up to 10,000 immigrants as they go through the process of being deported, according to three officials familiar with the plan.Fort Bliss would serve as…