Author: Stephanie Earls
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Death in the dust: Downburst wind, dry lakebeds and disaster at milepost 92
Pueblo County Emergency Management Coordinator Josh Johnson was on the road, negotiating details of a public safety power shutoff due to high winds when the first 911 dispatch came in, just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 17. Seconds later, scanner traffic blew up across all channels of his radio. “Semi vs car.” Then, “multiple…
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Colorado hit a population milestone in 2025; numbers ‘don’t lie,’ but what do they say?
Colorado is: full Standing room only How ‘bout, More crowded than it was but less crowded than we thought? Local takeaways from the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent data drop are too complex for bumper sticker treatment, but here’s the banner in a nutshell: During a year in which the U.S. population growth rate slowed…
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Colorado experiences record number of flu hospitalizations
With almost 800 hospitalizations statewide last week, Colorado is in the throes of its worst flu surge in almost a generation, less than midway through a season of sickness doctors say they worry hasn’t yet bared its full fangs. “We’ve definitely seen an increase in the flu, and I think over the last two to…
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Lost cat sends Denver-area couple down rabbit hole of hope, heartbreak
In the waning hours of Oct. 4, a three-legged house cat named Bambi slipped out the front door of her suburban Denver home and disappeared into the night. What ensued was a frenetic two-week odyssey for the owners, desperate and willing to do anything to find her, and a dark primer on the lengths some…
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Class action suit filed against disgraced former Colorado jail commander
A former Colorado jail commander, accused of secretly viewing and replaying thousands of strip-search videos of female inmates over a five-year period, now is also facing a federal class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of his accusers at the La Plata County jail in Durango. Edward Aber, 62, was charged in July with 117 counts of…
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Colorado Springs Christian bookstore sues state over ‘gender expression’ protections
A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of a Christian bookstore in Colorado Springs is pushing back against recent legislation that expanded protections for LGBTQ+ people in the state. Signed into law in May by Gov. Jared Polis, the Kelly Loving Act made the intentional, public misgendering or “deadnaming” of a transgender person a violation…
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Tariffs turmoil: Uncertainty, higher prices, the new norm across Colorado outdoor industries
After more than a decade as a successful entrepreneur, Steve Kaczmarek had a sense for the kinetics of commerce — that invisible web of diplomacy, dollars and demand behind just about every transaction on the planet. Call it gut GPS. He listened, in 2013, when his instincts told him to take his garage-born hobby — Borealis…
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After recent years of reform, vets fear Trump cuts to VA will undo lifeline health care, research
When beloved Colorado Springs mental health counselor Michael Sunich died in March 2024, dozens of his patients — veterans who knew their “doc” had continued to treat them, even when the Department of Veterans Affairs failed to pay — faced the return to a complex system with a history of falling short of promises. Army…
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El Paso County recreational marijuana shops reflect on Colorado Springs openings
Dino Salvatori does not partake in that which he peddles at Palmer Lake’s Dead Flowers, but he’s nonetheless a devoted promoter of weed, and rock ‘n’ roll, from his stage in the tiny town northwest of Colorado Springs, where sales of recreational marijuana have been legal since 2023. No gas station, no grocery store, but…
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Colorado GOP moves annual fundraising dinner featuring Steve Bannon after Colorado Springs hotel cancels event
The Colorado Republican Party was left scrambling, looking for a new location for its annual fundraising dinner after The Antlers in downtown Colorado Springs on Monday abruptly canceled the March 28 event featuring keynote speaker Steve Bannon, a former top Trump adviser, in response to an online uproar the party blamed on “radical leftists.” By…