Author: reporter

Castle Rock’s attempts to stop a church from housing homeless families in vehicles in its parking lot is a violation of the church’s practice of religious freedom, a federal court has ruled.U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico issued a preliminary injunction late last week that stops the Douglas County town from using its land use regulations to bar the Rock Church from using an RV and a camping trailer parked behind its main building to provide shelter to those who need it.“The church stresses that by preventing it from allowing the homeless to live on its property, the town is precluding…

A rare orchid that gathers energy through parasitic fungi was discovered at Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms in Jefferson County this spring.Botany Research Assistant My-Lan Le found the striped coralroot orchid in the Deer Creek Natural Area in April while documenting species for the annual City Nature Challenge, a global event encouraging people to catalog plants and animals where they live.In a post for the Denver Botanic Gardens, Le said she found the orchid growing near a log under eastern cottonwoods, western chokecherries and snowberries.A striped coralroot orchid has never been documented at Chatfield Farms, and the only other time…

Even his hair was in a hurry.When coach Sean Payton walked to the podium Tuesday, there was no time to spray the spike on top of his head or mat it down. Minutes are precious. Payton arrived in shorts and a sweatshirt. A three-piece suit with a briefcase would have been more fitting. He was all business, no small talk, no opening statement.Questions!The kinder, gentler Spring Sean stayed in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on the putting green. Regular Season Sean returned from vacation with the urgency of a 9-1-1 call.While the 25-minute pressers in May and June were welcomed diversions, Payton…

A 5-year-old boy is missing after his mother was found shot to death in her Pagosa Springs home on July 2, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.Chrystal Snow, 39, was found shot to death in her Pagosa Springs home the morning of July 2 shortly after someone placed a 911 call from the house. Her son, Helliono Martinez, was later found alive with his aunt in Cortez, the CBI said in a news release Tuesday. Activation:Endangered Missing Alert – Montezuma County SO – Helliono Martinez, 5 yr old, Hispanic male, 3’05 / 75 lbs, hazel eyes & brown hair,…

Cole Bassett thought his spot in the Olympics was secure.One day, the Colorado Rapids midfielder was mentally preparing to hop on a plane and live out a childhood dream. The next, U.S. men’s soccer coach Marko Mitrović changed his mind.Rather than join the 18-man Olympic roster headed to Paris, Bassett was told he was No. 19.With only a few days to reflect on the snub before a game against St. Louis CITY on July 7, Bassett had a conversation with a close friend who provided him with a mantra anyone could get behind: “Be better, not bitter.”From his play on…

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied an emergency request from former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters as part of her effort to halt her criminal case, less than two weeks before her trial is set to begin in Grand Junction.Peters faces seven felony charges, including attempting to influence a public servant and criminal impersonation, for allegedly allowing a contractor to make a copy of an election computer’s hard drive during a software update in 2021 as she searched for proof of conspiracy theories promoted by former President Donald Trump about the 2020 election.In the emergency application for an injunction,…

Kris Bryant gets another chance to prove himself.The Rockies right fielder/first baseman, the team’s highest-paid player, returned to the lineup Tuesday night to face the Red Sox at Coors Field. He played in just 24 of the Rockies’ first 101 games, continuing a trend that has plagued him throughout his first three seasons in LoDo.Bryant, 32, was reinstated from the 10-day disabled list, where he’d been since June 6. He battled a left rib contusion and left oblique strain and missed  43 games.He started in right field and hit fifth. In the first inning, Bryant made an excellent catch, running…

By ZEKE MILLERWASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris is making her first visit to a battleground state Tuesday after locking up enough support from Democratic delegates to win her party’s nomination to challenge Republican former President Donald Trump, two days after President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid.As the Democratic Party continues to coalesce around her, Harris is traveling to Milwaukee, where she will hold her first campaign rally since she launched her campaign on Sunday with Biden’s endorsement. Harris has raised more than $100 million since Sunday afternoon and has scored the backing of Democratic officials and political groups.…

I’m sure it doesn’t feel this way to President Joe Biden now, given the fighter he is, but stepping down was the right thing for him to do.Not because members of Congress were calling for it, not because donors had started to withhold funds and certainly not because of that awful debate performance. Deciding not to seek reelection was the right thing to do because doing so fulfills a campaign promise he made to voters shortly after Super Tuesday in 2020.“Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else,” he said at the time. “There’s an entire generation…

WASHINGTON — The director of the Secret Service is stepping down from her job, according to an email she sent to staff, following the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump that unleashed intensifying outcry about how the agency tasked with protecting current and former presidents could fail in its core mission.Kimberly Cheatle, who had served as Secret Service director since August 2022, had been facing growing calls to resign and several investigations into how the shooter was able to get so close to the Republican presidential nominee at an outdoor campaign rally in Pennsylvania.“I take full responsibility for the…