FLORENCE

Federal inmate with longest solitary confinement dies

An inmate at the “Supermax” prison who had been held in solitary confinement longer than any other federal prisoner has died at the age of 67.

Thomas Silverstein, who was held in solitary confinement for 35 years, was admitted to a suburban Denver hospital in February to undergo surgery and died in intensive care recently.

He entered prison in 1978 on an armed robbery conviction and was later found guilty of killing two inmates and a prison guard.

With no federal death penalty in place at the time of the guard’s slaying, the Bureau of Prisons instead put Silverstein in indefinite solitary confinement, where he remained until he was hospitalized.

He was moved to “Supermax” in Florence — officially known as the United States Penitentiary Administrative-Maximum Facility — in 2005 and was housed in a soundproof cell.

DENVER POST

FORT COLLINS

Council will not go to Supreme Court on topless ban

The Fort Collins City Council has decided not to seek a U.S. Supreme Court review of a ban on women going topless in public.

The 4-3 vote leaves the city an option to seek a Supreme Court ruling if settlement agreements with advocacy group Free The Nipple-Fort Collins fail.

Activists sued the city in 2016 after the council updated its public indecency ordinance in 2015 but preserved a ban on topless women in public.

Activists say the ban treats women and men differently under law.

A federal district court ordered an injunction in 2017 prohibiting the city from enforcing the ban.

The federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the city in February, applying the decision to seven states.

COLORADOAN

LA PLATA COUNTY

BP fined $68K for byproduct spills

BP America Production Co. has been fined $68,000 for three spills of an oil and gas byproduct in southwestern Colorado.

BP has agreed to spend about $12.5 million by 2022 to repair or replace 17 miles of pipelines in La Plata County.

State records show cracked pipelines caused produced water and other substances to be released in the county in April 2018, November 2018 and April 2019.

A BP attorney told the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission that pipelines are cracking from the stress of ground movement.

DURANGO HERALD

HIGHLANDS RANCH

Construction workers find dinosaur fossils

Construction workers have unearthed fossils that experts say could be from a rare horned dinosaur.

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science said that it is exploring the construction site near a retirement community in Highlands Ranch where a dinosaur’s lower leg bone and several ribs were found.

Fossil expert Natalie Toth said the fossils could be from a torosaurus – a dinosaur similar to the triceratops but differentiated by three bones.

Toth says the fossils seem to be intact, so crews are hoping to uncover the entire dinosaur.

The fossils are embedded in a 66- to 68-million-year-old rock layer.

Toth says fossils in the formation are from dinosaurs that were among the last “walking around before the big extinction.”

KDVR-FOX31

SUMMIT COUNTY

Cluster of mumps cases confirmed

Health officials have confirmed a cluster of mumps cases among employees and their associates at the Arapahoe Basin ski resort.

The first case of mumps connected to the resort surfaced in April, and five others were confirmed in the last few weeks.

Sara Lopez, Summit County’s public health nursing manager, says the risk of contracting the disease at A-Basin or elsewhere in the county is minimal, but people should be vaccinated.

Mumps spreads through saliva, meaning it can be transmitted by touching contaminated surfaces and through coughing, sneezing and kissing.

A-Basin representatives say the ski area is working with state and county health officials to keep guests safe.

SUMMIT DAILY

STATEWIDE

Colorado drought-free with heavy mountain snowpack

A heavy mountain snowpack has helped Colorado shake free of drought that covered much of the state just months ago.

The Department of Agriculture’s latest update of drought conditions shows a fraction of 1% of the Colorado is still experiencing drought. In February, more than two-thirds of the state was experiencing drought.

Mountain snowpack levels are high statewide and particularly in the southwest.

As the snow melts, more water will be available for agriculture and for cities and towns to store in reservoirs.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS