Fort Lupton Press February 27, 2025

NEW BRIGHTON OFFICES OPEN P2

Court rules oil/gas company must pay $1.9M fine

Operator of lowproducing wells had 148 violations since 2020

BY MARK JAFFE

THE COLORADO SUN

Troubled oil and gas operator

K.P. Kau man was rebu ed by a state court judge in its bid to avoid a $1.9 million ne and the prospect of being shut down by Colorado oil and gas regulators. e Denver-based company has been plagued with violation notices — 148 since 2020, according to state records — and has been legally sparring with the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission

for the past two years.

In August 2023, the ECMC reimposed a $1.9 million ne that had been waived pending the cleanup of sites, and suspended the ability of the company, known as KPK, to sell its oil and gas.

KPK said it could not pay the ne and suspending its socalled certi cates of clearance would be “business-ending.”

e company took the commission to court with a long list of arguments, including invoking the Eighth Amendment, which shields against excessive nes and cruel and unusual punishment.

Denver District Court Judge Andrew Luxen rejected each of the half-dozen arguments KPK made.

“ e court nds that, under the circumstances and based on the record, the penalties imposed on KPK, while drastic, are not grossly disproportionate to the gravity of KPK’s underlying o enses,” Luxen wrote.

Kristin Kemp, a ECMC spokesperson, said that “everything pre-lawsuit is back in effect, so KPK has to pay the ne and lose their certi cates.”

In a news release, KPK said it was “disappointed” in the decision and that it “intends to vigorously appeal the orders … and is evaluating procedural options for doing so in both the district court and court of appeals.”

KPK operates 1,200 largely low-producing oil and gas wells, primarily in Weld, Adams

and Jackson counties. In 2024, KPK wells produced the equivalent of 14,836 barrels of oil and gas. at is equal to 12 barrels per well, though some produce more and some none.

e ECMC has had repeated concerns with KPK operations.

In April 2021, 87 wells were ordered shut and 29 sites cleaned up after a litany of violations, ranging from fouling farm elds to covering the road in front of a high school with oily waste.

In November 2021, the ECMC issued another notice for additional violations. KPK and the commission struck a compliance plan agreement to clean up and remediate 78 sites over ve years.

King Soopers strike ends with vow to work on deal

BY TAMARA CHUANG THE COLORADO SUN

More than 10,000 supermarket workers involved in a two-week labor walkout will return to their jobs at King Soopers stores Feb. 18 after the labor union and the Colorado grocery chain reached an agreement late Monday to stop picketing and get back to work.

ere’s no new contract yet, but the two sides plan to resume negotiations to work out their di erences. ey agreed to a “100-day period of labor peace, ensuring negotiations continue in good faith and without further disruptions,” according to King Soopers ofcials.

e strike ended at midnight, two days earlier than the planned two-week walkout.

“We have taken a big step forward and ensured that Kroger knows that sta ng is a key concern to workers and customers alike,” said Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7, in an emailed statement. “ is strike was about thousands of everyday grocery store workers, collectively standing together and facing one of the largest corporations in America and saying ENOUGH. Our strike was just the beginning of this e ort and elevated sta ng in grocery stores to a national level with more workers and allies joining together.”

Brighton opens new Municipal Service Center

STRIKE

Joe Kelley, president of Kroger-owned King Soopers, called workers “the heart of King Soopers” and said the goal is to reach a “fair agreement that honors their hard work while ensuring we continue to provide fresh, a ordable groceries for the families who rely on us.”

Local 7 represented the 77 Denverarea stores that went on a planned twoweek strike starting Feb. 6, just before Super Bowl weekend. Two stores in Pueblo joined a day later.

Negotiations had stalled after Jan. 16, more than a week after many Denver contracts expired. More stores were expected to join as their contracts expired Feb. 15. But the Colorado Springs stores, which had voted last month to authorize a strike, never participated.

e contentious dispute had both sides ling unfair labor practice claims against one another. Kroger-owned King Soopers also led for a temporary restraining order to limit picketing at stores and led a federal lawsuit against the union for forcing it to bargain with out-of-state labor unions instead of the workers themselves. A judge on Friday granted the retraining order but not completely. e judge just told union workers to not block delivery trucks or impede pedestrian tra c to stores.

BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A new public works facility north of Brighton’s downtown will give sta modern facilities to work in, dedicated space to work across departments and could help cut down costs during in ationary times, City Manager Michael Martinez said Feb. 18.

“As you all know, we have rapid in ation challenges so ensuring costs remain manageable while driving a high quality facility was paramount,” Martinez told a crowd of sta and residents at the ribbon cutting for the new Michael Woodru Municipal Service Center. “Our sta worked closely with our partners to create a space that is not only functional and efcient, but is built to meet our needs today and in the future.”

e City broke ground on the center at 503 Madison St. in June 2023. e facility is named after former Public Works Director Michael Woodru , who led design work on the project early on. Woodru retired from the City of Brighton in 2023 after a long career in local government. He passed away in October 2023, following a battle with cancer, but was able to witness the groundbreaking of the center.

His widow Jennifer Woodru and granddaughter Gentry O’Keefe helped cut the ribbon to o cially open the

facility. e team from FCI Constructors, the city’s contractors on the project, also presented the family with an American ag that was put up over the project while it was under construction.

“ is wasn’t just an 18-month-old project. We’ve been discussing the need for it for 15, 20 years,” Martinez said.

Councilors approved the $26.1 million contract with FCI Constructors to build the new home for most public works functions. e facility comprises two buildings totaling 67,668-square-foot of space on 15.5 acres the city owns Northwest of Main and Denver streets, surrounding the Tractor Supply store. e two buildings are surrounded with parking for city plow trucks and other heavy equipment. e buildings contain several bays big enough to do maintenance on most of the city’s eet, separated by departmental o ce space.

It provides new accommodations for sta from several departments, including eet, parks and open space, public works and utilities — which were operating out of separate, aging facilities. It also houses a substation for the Brighton Police Department, which provides o cers workspace on the north side of the City.

“Today, we are able to provide our employees with modern amenities, functional work spaces and a facility that expresses the value and dedication that our city has for our employees,” Martinez said. “Many of the buildings our em-

For employees, the issue was partly about money but also about sta ng. Union workers said sta ng shortages often resulted in long checkout lines for customers, and unstocked shelves or mispriced products that overwhelmed workers juggling customer service duties.

ployees worked in were sometimes older than 40-years-old and quite frankly no longer adequate for today’s needs.”

Martinez noted Brighton had about 12,000 residents when some of those buildings rst came into use 40 years ago.

“Fast forward to today and we are right around 50,000 residents, so you can imagine how we’ve grown,” Martinez said. “ But as we’ve grown, our facilities have not grown, so I’m honored to be in front of you in a facility that actually meets the needs of our residents.”

Brighton’s Fleet Department Manager Patrick Rome took over leadership on the project after Woodru retired and he took the ceremony as a chance to thank everyone involved, from City nance, legal, IT, Utilities and Engi-

neering departments to the architects, contractors and sub-contractors.

“All these little players were part of this whole, big organization of movement,” Rome said. “My task was the keep things moving forward and, through all my allies here internally, I was able to do that. It was monumental.”

Martinez credited Rome, saying he was amazing to watch and noted the project came in under budget.

“ e total cost of this building was right around $32 million, for the whole facility,” Martinez said. “So, a big shout out to everybody who was involved because our taxpayers rely on you to make everything we do responsibly. And this is the epitome of that. We are under budget and we delivered a wonderful facility for our e orts.”

But the threat of striking workers losing their health care coverage because they hadn’t worked enough hours during the week is probably what brought the union back to the table. King Soopers mentioned this on Monday.

“Securing this agreement was about restoring certainty, not just for our business, but for the people who make it possible. It also ensures that eligible associates who were unable to meet hourly requirements due to the work stoppage will continue to receive their industryleading, a ordable health care coverage, fully funded by the company to maintain continuity,” Kelley said.

A ected King Soopers stores and their pharmacies will return to normal business operating hours ursday.

Kim Cordova, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union Local 7, ready to picket on Feb. 6, 2025, the rst day of the King Soopers worker strike. (Tamara Chuang, e Colorado Sun) e return-to-work agreement also stipulated that King Soopers’ “Last, Best, and Final o er” from Jan 16 won’t be its last, according to the union.

King Soopers o ered raises to boost store clerks’ hourly wage by $4.50 over four years, with top clerks earning above $27 an hour by 2028. Adding in health care and pension bene ts, that would be $29.48 an hour. e current wage is $22.68, the company said.

Not all King Soopers are unionized, including locations in Brighton, Castle Rock, Erie, Firestone and two stores in ornton. Union stores outside of Denver remained open in Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont, Loveland and four stores in the Grand Junction area.

is story was printed through a news sharing agreement with e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned nonpro t based in Denver that covers the state.

Brighton o cially opened its new 67,668-square foot Municipal Service Center just north of Brightons’s downtown, near the Tractor Supply store.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT TAYLOR

Brighton City Manager Michael Martinez greets the crowd gathered to help open Brighton’s new Municipal Service Center on Feb. 18. PHOTOS BY SCOTT TAYLOR

New facility will make an impact, city o cials claim

As

Cities Deal With

Homelessness

Two weeks ago, this column was about Colorado’s new law requiring jurisdictions to facilitate the construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on parcels zoned single-family.

& Affordability, Look for a Greater Focus on Manufactured Homes

portant factor is solving our housing shortage.

houses in a factory seemed impractical. However, with our patented shipping technology, merging housing with assembly line mass production could be a game changer.”

Toward the end of that column I promoted two companies, Verdant Living and Boxabl, which sell ADUs which are factorybuilt and assembled onsite.

This week’s topic was inspired by the following statement contained in an email last week from Boxabl: “Did you know that car factories, like Ford, can output one car per minute? Why hasn’t anyone done that in the housing industry?

“It’s shocking to hear that homelessness in the U.S. reached an all-time high last year. At Boxabl, we’re committed to making a difference. We’re working hard to solve the problems that have stopped factory-built housing from gaining market share.

“Before Boxabl, the concept of building

Buyers

Need

In earlier columns I have written about modular and manufactured homes by other companies, including my Oct. 12, 2023, column featuring Dvele (Norwegian for “dwell”) whose website (www.Dvele.com) boasts that it has already delivered nearly 300 “modules” of “precision engineered sustainable homes.”

Dvele defines the problem thus: “We’re facing multiple crises in housing, availability and affordability, energy, security, health issues, and a changing weather system. With Dvele, we sit at the intersection with our mass produced, high performance, health centric homes. And they’re improving the future for everyone.”

Dvele claims that by manufacturing homes in a factory and assembling them onsite, they reduce construction time by 80% — an im-

On May 18, 2023, I wrote about another company, Liv-Connected, which specializes in small homes that are “ready to ship and install within 12 weeks. These are small homes, although they offer versions up to 2,500 square feet, including a 2-story model. Homes can be delivered on standard flat-bed trailers and can be installed onsite in as little as a day, once site preparation (foundation, etc.) is complete. Like Boxabl, they also sell a model that is on wheels built to RV standards. Their website is www.Liv-Connected.com

With prices as low as $165,000 for a 500square-foot home, Liv-Connected’s singlefamily Conexus model (pictured at left) has been selected by Hawaii and Texas for disaster response initiatives, according to the website.

I look forward to hearing more about manufactured housing in the future, especially as it relates to homelessness.

U.S. Farmers Are Turning Less Soil

Modern, mechanized tillage had become an ecological disaster, killing all that was alive in the soil while worsening erosion and runoff. But this is all changing, primarily because farmers recognize the economic benefits — less fertilizer and diesel fuel to buy, lower labor costs, higher crop yields and profits — that can come with no-till farming or reduced tillage…

The shift has been gradual, but sweeping over time. In 1973, 82.2 percent of U.S. cropland was managed by conventional tillage, according to the Agriculture Department, and only 2 percent was managed by “no-till” methods, with the remaining 15.8 percent using reduced tillage. Half a century later, only 27 percent of U.S. cropland uses conventional tillage, with 38 percent now using no-till and 35 percent using reduced tillage, according to the USDA’s 2022 agricultural census, released last year. The acreage under conventional tillage dropped by 8 percent between 2017 and 2022 alone.

—Dana

Millbank, Washington Post

and Deserve Professional Representation, But Here’s Why They Shouldn’t Have to Pay for It

It should be clear by now that “not much has changed” regarding sellers compensating the buyer’s broker in most real estate transactions. What has changed is that buyer agents must use other means than the MLS (e.g., calling the listing agent) to find out what compensation is offered for each listing.

First, let me outline the important services that are required in any transaction. Let’s start with all transactions, whether or not the buyer is taking out a mortgage loan.

Although the purchase contract can move some of these expenses to the seller’s side, that is rare, because it will make the purchase offer less attractive, with the buyer losing out:

For All Home Purchases:

Recording the deed with the county

Tax certificate

State document fee

Half of the closing services fee

Appraisal (if ordered)

HOA fees (if applicable, per contract)

Water & sewer adjustments

Additional Costs with a Mortgage:

Mortgage title policy & endorsements

Mortgage closing fee

Recording the deed of trust with county

Tax service (if charged by lender)

First year’s insurance premium

2 to 3 months’ insurance reserve (escrow)

1 to 2 months’ property tax reserve

Loan origination and discount fee

Survey (if required by lender)

Credit report

Interest on loan (based on closing date)

Mortgage insurance (if over 80% LTV)

Flood certificate & insurance if required

How much do these closing costs add up to for the buyer? In the cash scenario, they are not that much, and just over 20% of closings

are for cash nowadays. For closings that involve mortgage financing, however, those costs can really add up. My buyer who closed on a $630,000 purchase two months ago paid $7,144 in closing costs, which computes to 11.3%. If she had to pay my commission that would have been 14.1% The seller’s closing costs on the same transaction came to $2,834, which computes to 4.5% of the purchase price. Paying my commission raised the seller’s cost to 7.3%, still far lower than the 11.3% paid by the buyer without paying me anything for my services representing her.

From a purely cash standpoint, it should be remembered that the seller is the only one walking away with cash from the transaction. In the above case, not counting the deduction for property taxes and mortgage payoff, the seller netted $591,444.74, or about 94% of the purchase price, even after paying both agents’ compensation.

Buyers’ agents perform a variety of important services, which someone has to pay for, but the seller is the only party coming away with money, and the buyer is already stretched by those other expenses detailed at left.

The services provided by a buyer’s agent are important and significant, but the plaintiffs in the class action suit a year ago asserted that compensating the buyer’s agent should be added to the buyer’s other significant closing costs. The 2024 survey of buyers and sellers by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) asked what services buyers most appreciated from their agents:

Helped them understand the process (61%)

Pointed out unnoticed features/faults with the property (58%)

Negotiated better contract terms (46%)

Provided a list of good service providers, such as inspectors (46%)

Improved buyers’ knowledge of search areas (45%)

Negotiated a better purchase price (33%)

Shortened their home search (23%)

Expanded their search area (21%)

I contend that it is appropriate that sellers compensate the buyer’s agent, and that this is common in other industries besides real estate. Look at Amazon. When you purchase a product through that website, Amazon is your agent for the vendor, which pays Amazon 8% to 45% as a “referral fee.” When you purchase something through an app on your

iPhone, you pay the same price as on the vendor’s website, but Apple keeps 30% of the purchase price as a commission. If Amazon or an app were to charge you a fee on top of the list price… well, it simply wouldn’t work. If you hire an auto broker (as I did in 2012 for a hard-to-find car), the dealership, not you, pays the auto broker a commission. Likewise, virtually every new home builder offers a 3 percent commission, typically, to the agents who represent buyers. To offer less puts them at a competitive disadvantage. Why should it be different in the resale market?

Golden Real Estate lists and sells residential properties across the entire metro area.

Aims automotive students go to state championship

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Aims Community College Automotive and Technology program students from the Windsor campus were scheduled to compete for national honors at the SkillsUSA Regional Championship.

Mike Hanscome, an Aims automotive instructor and advisor for the SkillsUSA team at Aims, said professionals from Denver, Cheyenne, and Northern Colorado were on hand to judge the students’ work and pro ciency in various aspects of automotive renishing technology.

“ e judges are looking to see how the student performs tasks and their pro ciency in performing them,” Hanscome said. “ ese competencies are what the industry deems necessary for a student to get a job.”

e contest took place at the Windsor Campus at the Automotive and Technology Center. en, the students entered an auto body and repair skills competition at Morgan Community College in Fort Morgan.

Aims Community College Skills USA was founded in 1965. According to o cials, it is a nonpro t partnership and industry established to enhance its nation’s skilled workforce.

Aims Community College students have participated in the SkillsUSA program for 13 years with a record of a national medal count of 15 podium nishes and nine national championships, according to o cials.  Ten automotive students

competed, and seven placed to move on to the state competition. e Aims students compete in two divisions: secondary high school and post-secondary college. According to o cials, the three primary categories in the contest are collision repair, re nishing, damage appraisal, and estimating.

e top nishers in each category will attend the state competition, the Colorado Leadership and Skills Conference, on June 23-27.

e students who made it to state competition:

Collision|Post-Secondary:

Mario Saenz, First place; Javier Rascon, Second place; Logan Stahl, ird place place.

Re nishing | Post-Secondary: Jesse Manuel, First place; Teagan Quinby, Second place; Israel Arteaga, ird place.

Damage Appraisal | PostSecondary: Cloud Kline, First place.

“Participation in this competition is about students investing in themselves and their futures because this is an extracurricular event,” Hanscome said. “ ey’ve chosen to do this, and the instructors have chosen to give time to help these students.”

According to o cials, the Aims Community College automotive degree programs are nationally recognized and certi ed in secondary and post-secondary education.

It’s the National Automotive Technicians and Education Foundation accredited them. e Aims Automotive & Technology Center is on the Windsor Campus.

Young science wizards vie in Aims B.E.S.T. competition

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Aims Community College is hosting its fourth annual Battle of Energy, Science, and Technology competition this June, according to a news release on Feb. 2025.

Dave Sordi, Aims chair and instructor of Industrial Technologies and Energy Studies, said the competition – referred to as B.E.S.T. – resembles the tournament in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  “ ere are two essential di erences between the challenge described in the story and the B.E.S.T. program,” Sordi said. “Instead of selecting an individual to participate, students work as a team. ose teams who work best together will be the most successful, but no magic is involved, sorry.”

e B.E.S.T program, a team-based learning program, is open to students aged 14 to 18. It will run, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily from June 9 to 12.

Students will learn with hands-on experience while developing critical thinking skills using cutting-edge technology.

After students complete their assigned missions, they are divided into teams focused on programming, electronics, robotics, design and games. is includes bridge building, a scavenger hunt, participating in the Shark Tank competition to develop business ideas and creating paper airplanes for a ying contest.

In addition, o cials say the teams have opportunities to receive trophies when they complete challenges within a short time frame. ese awards recognize students for their accomplishments and teamwork.

Sordi said Aims continues to build on the program’s success. Everyone at Aims has a great time exploring technology, he said.

“I’m passionate about young people interested in STEM and the potential career opportunities in industrial technology,” Sordi said, noting that he can’t wait to see what this year’s participants accomplish.”  Space is limited, and registration is on a rstcome, rst-served basis. Students are not charged to attend. For more information and to register, please visit aims.co/BEST.

The Aims students entered an auto body and repair skills competition at Morgan Community College.

Cities say they won’t follow new laws on housing

BY NATHANIEL MINOR CPR NEWS

Leaders of a growing number of Colorado cities are indicating they don’t intend to comply with recently passed state laws that will pre-empt local governments’ control of parking, housing density and other land use issues.

Local governments in Colorado and across the U.S. have historically had domain over the rules that shape their growth. State legislators took a swipe at that last year, passing a suite of bills aimed at increasing the state’s housing supply and boosting transit use by requiring some cities to allow more accessory dwelling units, apartments, townhomes, duplexes and other multi-family dwellings, and less parking in certain areas. Now, as various compliance deadlines loom, cities including Boulder, Broom-

eld, Fort Collins, Longmont and Denver, are moving to reshape local rules and codes to conform to the new state laws.

But other local governments are pushing back. O cials in Westminster, Arvada, Colorado Springs, and Northglenn have at least suggested, and in some cases explicitly said, that they won’t follow some of the laws. ey cite varied issues like inadequate infrastructure, unreliable transit service, and the loss of neighborhood character.

ere’s one common objection, too: the loss of local control.

“Folks, this is insanity,” Westminster Mayor Nancy McNally said during a City Council meeting earlier this month in which she and other members directed city sta to not to comply with three of the new laws.

“I believe this is total overreach by our state government who should have a bil-

lion other things to be looking at, not how we run our cities,” she added.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Gov. Jared Polis said the state and local governments should work together to solve Colorado’s housing a ordability crisis.

“We would expect local leaders to of course follow the law, help deliver more housing now, and save people money. Local governments must follow the laws of Colorado,” Eric Maruyama wrote in an email.

It’s unclear whether the con icts will escalate to legal action, though some cities have already discussed the possibility of suing the state over the laws. How the disputes shake out could help determine where development powers rest in Colorado, and how its residents live and move through it in the future.

SEE HOUSING, P15

BY VICTORIA CALTON

SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

As President’s Day rallies across the country called out President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging executive orders, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado met at Westminster’s College Hill Public Library on Feb. 17 to urge residents to speak up.

“Really what we are seeing, here, is local people-power,” said Ellen Flenniken, deputy director of policy, government a airs and advocacy at the ACLU. “As our communities are under attack, as our neighbors are under attack…we do have the power to protect our communities from what we’ve been seeing, these abuses of power from the federal government.”

e ACLU hosted the Presidents Day People Power Action event on Feb. 17 to encourage Westminster residents to take action against house bill 32, which targets sanctuary jurisdictions who nancially support illegal immigration, and the Department of Government E ciency’s (DOGE) attempts to access citizen’s private data and tax information.

e ACLU rallied support against H.R. 32., labelling the house bill the “Defund Our Communities Act”. Supporters call it the “No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act.”

e H.R. 32 bill seeks to end all federal funding provided to sanctuary jurisdictions for food, shelter, healthcare services, legal services, and transportation for

“illegal” immigrants.

e bill de nes sanctuary jurisdictions as any state that refuses to provide any information on citizenship as well as lawful or unlawful immigration status to the federal government. House bill 32 targets sanctuary jurisdictions that do not comply with the Department of Homeland Security’s request to detain an individual or notify the DHS of an individual’s release from custody.

ACLU members encouraged Westminster residents to call their representatives, including Representative Gabe Evans of Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, urging them to vote no on H.R. 32.

“Rep. Gabe Evans won with a very narrow margin, and it’s important that he hears from his constituents and his community and he feels the pressure,” Flenniken said.

DOGE concerns

ACLU members also shared concerns about DOGE’s growing access to personal data and information from federal organizations; such as the IRS, the federal Integrated Data Retrieval System and the Department of Treasury. ey urged residents to demand Congress protect citizens’ private data.

“Our data is protected by laws that can limit who can access our data and how they can access it,” said Julian Camera, lead organizer at the ACLU of Colorado.

“DOGE is forcing its way into the government’s most protected systems without

ACLU hosts Westminster rally against ‘overreach’

considering the long standing privacy safeguards mandated by Congress.”

Tonya Dillon, an organizer for a Colorado Red, Wine & Blue chapter, was surprised by the Trump administration’s ability to elevate Elon Musk and DOGE employees to bureaucratic positions within the federal government.

President Donald Trump rebranded the U.S. Digital Service as the U.S. DOGE Service through an executive order on Jan. 20. e Trump administration later claried Musk is not a federal employee, but a “special government employee,” which

does not require Congress’ approval to work for DOGE, according to CBS News. All executive nominations must be approved by the U.S. Senate, including cabinet nominations, ACLU members said. e creation of a new bureaucratic o ce under the Trump administration and the addition of DOGE employees in other federal departments without Senate approval has brought many lawsuits against DOGE and the Trump administration.

“ e Constitution needs to be defended…and the rights of its citizens need to be defended,” Dillon said.

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The City of Westminster, with Mayor Nancy McNally at the helm, is one of several Colorado municipalities that say they won’t follow new laws on housing. FILE PHOTO

Harnessing technology while doing the work

Technology and arti cial intelligence (AI) are accelerating growth across industries, revolutionizing personal and professional development at an unprecedented pace. From AI-driven tness equipment to sales enablement tools, we are surrounded by innovations designed to enhance performance, automate tasks and drive eciency. But while technology is a powerful enabler, it does not replace the need for e ort, discipline, and the fundamental work required to achieve real results. Finding the right balance between leveraging technology and doing the work ourselves is key to maximizing success. Take tness, for example. e latest AIpowered gym equipment can personalize workouts, monitor progress, and even provide real-time coaching. As someone who appreciates the newest advancements in the gym, I love the insights and structure these tools o er. However, no machine can push me beyond my limits quite like I can. Sometimes, I need to set aside the AI recommendations and pick up free weights, relying on my own discipline and intensity to achieve growth. e same principle applies in business, particularly in professional selling, where technology enhances performance but does not replace the core

fundamentals of success. In the sales world, thousands of AI-driven tools exist to support prospecting, pipeline building, research, pre-call planning, and customer relationship management. Managers, too, have access to sophisticated software that helps them track performance, analyze behaviors, and coach their sales teams more e ectively.

ese tools provide a distinct advantage, equipping sales professionals with datadriven insights and e ciency-enhancing capabilities.

However, no technology can replace the human element of selling, the preparation, the practice, the role-playing, the prospecting, and the relationship-building that separate top performers from the rest.

Consider AI-powered sales assistants that can generate email templates, predict customer needs, and recommend next-best actions. While these tools undoubtedly streamline processes, they do not replace the necessity of meaningful human interactions. A well-crafted AIgenerated email is helpful, but it cannot

replicate the authenticity and nuance of a personalized message tailored from experience and genuine understanding of a client’s needs. Likewise, AI can analyze call recordings and provide feedback on tone and word choice, but a salesperson still needs to practice, re ne their delivery, and build con dence through real conversations.

e key is to work smarter, leveraging technology where it provides the greatest advantage while ensuring we remain actively engaged in the work that truly drives success. Sellers who rely too heavily on AI to do their jobs for them may nd themselves outpaced by those who blend AI’s capabilities with traditional sales fundamentals. e highest performers in sales are those who embrace technology as an enhancement rather than a substitute for e ort.

is principle extends beyond sales into all aspects of work and life. Whether it’s using AI to automate tasks, relying on machine learning to optimize strategies, or integrating smart tools into our daily routines, technology o ers an undeniable advantage. But ultimately, we must put in the time, e ort, and dedication required to achieve exceptional outcomes. AI can assist in writing a business proposal, but it cannot replace the deep

thinking and strategic vision required to craft a truly compelling pitch. It can analyze market trends, but it cannot build trust with a client. It can provide workout recommendations, but it cannot physically lift the weights for us.

As AI continues to evolve and integrate into every facet of our lives, the most successful individuals will be those who master the art of combining cutting-edge technology with a strong work ethic. ose who work hard and work smart, harnessing the power of AI while still putting in the sweat equity, will achieve accelerated growth both personally and professionally.

At the end of the day, success is not just about having the best tools; it’s about knowing when and how to use them while never shying away from doing the work that truly matters. I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@gmail. com, and when we can increase our slight edge in everything we do, it really will be a better-than-good life.

Michael Norton is an author, a personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Finding lessons for life, one brushstroke at a time

During the initial pandemic shutdown there were six adults living together in our house. Five of us had jobs that occupied several hours of our days, but we still found ourselves with many hours of time that had always been lled doing things outside of the house.

As a family, we seized this unique opportunity to learn new skills. We learned sign language, cooked amazing meals, played di erent instruments, and even tried watercolor painting.

My youngest daughter, Carly, an art major with a psychology minor and a creative perspective on life, taught us the basics of watercolor painting. On the day of our rst lesson, she handed out the supplies we needed and began by telling us to create a base of water over the area on our paper where we wanted to paint. As we created our water foundation, she explained that the base makes all the rest of the painting possible. With the base in place, she told us to take a tiny bit of paint and begin to create whatever we wanted to design. For my rst piece, I wanted to paint a co ee cup with steam rising from the drink. I established my base, took my rst color, and brushed it onto the page. As I applied the paint, I was amazed that it actually began to resemble a cup. About 15 minutes into the lesson, Carly stopped me, gave me a quick compliment, and said, “To improve this, you need to add dimension and depth.”

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

She explained that to achieve this e ect, I needed to manipulate the paint that was already on the page.

Following her advice, I lightly wet my brush and began to move the existing color, adding to some areas and reducing others. e result was a cup that had depth—something I could genuinely be proud of as a novice. As I worked on this art project, I was struck by the wisdom of needing to start everything we do with a good base. e water on the page starts everything o right. In our lives the base is equally critical — faith, family, friends and many other things can be central to that base. Everyone’s base is di erent, but we all must have that foundation to be successful.

Beyond the base, I found the idea fascinating that all the color I needed was already present on the page. When I rst examined what I had on my paper, I thought Carly was mistaken; there was no way I had the necessary color. However, she was right. To create something with depth, I just needed to manipulate what was already there. In our everyday lives, it’s easy to feel like we lack the things we need. In reality, while we may

need to rearrange “the colors,” everything we require is so often already available.

I encourage you to take some time to notice, re ect on and celebrate the areas of your life that are vibrant and full of color. When you look closely, you can nd those wonderful aspects of your life — whether it’s your relationships, family, friends, routines or cherished memories. All that vibrancy can be applied to the areas where you feel a struggle or where the color seems too faint.

Moving that color might involve asking for help or taking time for a conversation. It could also mean nding opportunities to assist others or trying something new. Whatever approach you choose, it can be as simple as adding a little water to your brush and blending those colors as needed. e rich colors of your life make a di erence, but before

you can move them, you need to see them.

You have got this.

I hope my words inspire you, and that you will share them with those who need encouragement. ank you to everyone who has shared their stories with me so far; I truly appreciate hearing about the valuable ideas you nd in these columns and how you use them to uplift those around you.

Jim Roome lives in Arvada with his wife, Beth. He spent 34 years in public education. Lessons learned from the one two punch of being diagnosed with MS shortly before his best friend was diagnosed with terminal cancer led him into a new pursuit as a freelance writer and speaker. He uses his life experiences and love of stories to inspire, educate and encourage local, national and international audiences. Contact him at jim.

The e ects of taking away DEI e recent removal of DEI has sparked the attention of many and is a problem that should not be overlooked. It’s an act of discrimination and several people’s jobs and businesses will be at stake.

ere are many bene ts that come with DEI. Representation in the workforce bene ts both the employee and the business. Statistics have shown that with DEI, employee engagement has gone up 45% and a reduction with a turnover risk. Diversity leads to a more stable working environment and may encourage others to work there. is removal discriminates against many and bias will start to play in the hiring process. Managers will start to favor one candidate over the other even with the same amount of skills. Both businesses and people affected by the removal of DEI would miss out on unknown opportunities. Well known companies have recently gotten rid of DEI or are planning to get rid of it will be a ected negatively sooner or later. ese companies are Amazon, Mcdonalds, Target, Walmart, Google, and way more. People have begun to boycott and reputation is key to having a well running business. Instead of progressing as a modern society, we are going backwards in time. In order to strive for change, everyone should get the same amount of equality.

So a Cervantes Quezada, Commerce City

Abstract watercolor landscape. Silhouette white snowy mountain n light sky. The shape of fir forest. A tall beautiful Christmas tree. Winter season. Gradient sky. Hand drawn watercolor illustration SHUTTERSTOCK

Jim Roome

As part of the agreement the bulk of a $1.9 million ne was deferred if the plan was successful in cleaning up the site.

However, by February 2023 the ECMC sta and commissioners felt that insufcient progress had been made. e commission issued an order for the company to pay the full ne by Aug. 1, 2023. At the same time the ECMC revoked KPK’s certi cates of clearance. e company continued to sell its oil and gas.

In July 2023, KPK got a district court injunction to block the ECMC actions. e case was heard in May 2024. KPK has led two more lawsuits against the ECMC. In January 2024, the company sued the commission over its order to provide nancial guarantees, required under new rules, that 1,089 of its wells would be properly plugged.

‘We don’t have the liquidity’

Cash-strapped KPK had proposed a $13 million plugging fund for the wells. e ECMC ordered that over time KPK must put up $133 million. In January 2024, the company sued to block the order.

“We don’t have the liquidity to write a check for nancial assurance in whatever your amount,” John Jacus, an attorney representing KPK, told the commission at the time.

In December 2024, the commission imposed another ne and moved to suspend the clearance certi cates at six locations. is past January KPK led a

Our Family Helping Your Family

lawsuit to block it.

Kemp, the ECMC spokesperson, said the commission could not comment on pending litigation or o er any additional comment on Luxen’s ruling.

In that case KPK argued that the actions by the ECM were “arbitrary and capricious,” violated the state’s Administrative Procedures Act, that the record did not support the action, and that the ne was excessive.

For this last point, the company cited the excessive nes clause in the Eighth Amendment.

Citing case law and the legislation giving the ECMC the power to levy nes, Luxen said “the commission possessed authority to impose such a penalty under the relevant and applicable statutes and regulations.”

e judge rejected all the other arguments as well.

“ e court cannot substitute its judgment for the commission and nds that the commission made an e ort to reasonably apply the relevant legislative standards in terminating the CPA (compliance plan agreement) and imposing other penalties,” Luxen said.

KPK has said that the steep nes and restrictions on its business could lead to all of its wells ending up in the ECMC’s orphan well program with the state responsible for the cleanup and plugging.

“ECMC’s termination of its contract with KPK, imposition of crippling penalties, and suspension of the company’s authorization to engage in its business will have profoundly negative consequences,” KPK said.

is story was printed through a news sharing agreement with e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned nonpro t based in Denver that covers the state.

Phyllis Dessie Berger, passed away peacefully of natural causes on February 5, 2025, at the age of 95 at home in Brighton, Colorado. Born on August 5, 1929, in Wel eet, Nebraska, Phyllis was a woman whose life was marked by her enduring creativity and her zest for life. She was a loving mother and grandmother and cherished time with her family.

projects she created. Sewing and crafting were not just hobbies for her; they were a way to express her creative soul and to spread warmth and joy to those around her. Dancing was another of Phyllis’s passions, a love that gave her many happy hours in her youth and middle years.

Gravel roads get fix work thanks to $800,000 grant

BY BELEN WARD BWARED@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Two gravel roads in Eaton will get a new layer of pavement after an $800,000 grant from the Colorado Department of Local A airs.

e grant will help the town and Weld County pave sections of Weld County Roads 72 and 76, according to the news release February 6.

“Each year, we look for ways to improve our transportation infrastructure,” said Perry Buck, Weld County Commissioner Chair. “Doing so does have an expense, however, and anytime we can secure a grant to alleviate a portion of the expense, it’s a good thing.”

e Weld County Board of Commissioners accepted the $800,000 grant from the Energy and Mineral Assistance Fund of the Colorado Department of Local A airs at the end of January.  e funds would pay for paving Weld County 76, between Weld County Road 29 and Weld County Road 31, and Weld County 72, between Weld County 31 and Weld Road 35.

According to o cials, the budget for each project combined to nearly $2.2 million, so the grant would o set a portion of each project.

Curtis Hall, director of the Weld Department of Public Works, said that the county will pave the driving surface of each road and strengthen it by applying Geogrid, a synthetic material used to re-

inforce soils and similar materials before asphalt is put down. e utilities under the roads are not buried deep enough for the roads to use the cement-treated base process the county always uses, according to the Hall.

“Also, when converting a gravel road to a paved road, the subgrade and base under the pavement must be strengthened; the Geogrid will reduce cracking and potholes,” Hall said,

Hall said the improvements to each road bene ts the traveling public and make them better suited as detour routes for future projects in the area.

“When determining detours, we choose paved routes built to withstand additional tra c and limit inconvenience. ese improvements will serve an immediate need and bene t the traveling public in the future,” Hall said.

e work is expected to be completed by an outside contractor that will be selected in the comings months. e work is projected to begin in June, with road closures approved.

e board approved a temporary road closures through March 27 to prepare for the paving work. During the approximate three-month closure, utility relocations will occur along with irrigation structure relocations and ditch work.

All Weld County construction detours can be viewed on Weld County’s Road Advisory Map at https://apps.weld.gov/ publicworks/roadadvisory/

After graduating from high school with a teaching certi cate, Phyllis embarked on a diverse career path. She was not only a small business owner but also held various jobs throughout her lifetime, each re ecting her versatility and her willingness to embrace new challenges.

Phyllis’s interests were as colorful and varied as the

ose who knew Phyllis would describe her as loving and generous. She had an open heart and an open door, always ready to welcome friends with a warm embrace and a kind word. Phyllis’s legacy is one of love and laughter. Her journey on earth may have come to a gentle close, but the impressions she left on the hearts of her siblings, friends, children and grandchildren will continue to resonate.

BERGER

Phyllis D. Berger August 05, 1929 - February 05, 2025

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

hat started with an old video camera in a French resort and a syndicated kids’ program about ocean conservation has become an award-winning Colorado-based commercial video production company, claiming high-pro le national brands like Apple, Disney, Under Armor, Noodles and Co., and Seagate Technology as clients.

And now, Boulder’s La Storia can put breaking the sound barrier on the company’s resume.

“My brother and I started the company in North Carolina mainly because we had a couple contacts there who we thought might be interested in videos,” said La Storia cofounder RC Walker. “

“We were two brothers from Aspen with no background in lmmaking. ankfully, we met incredible people early on who believed in us, plugged us in, and helped us get connected. We’ve learned and evolved from there.”

e Boulder couple behind La Storia Productions, Walker and his wife Molly McKinney-Walker, made history this past January when their company was hired to document Boom Supersonics’ XB-1 aircraft breaking the sound barrier — the rst civilian company to do that — over the Mojave Desert.

“Our partnership with Boom has been unique. We essentially have served as a key creative partner for the brand overseeing many of their photo and video campaigns and 3-D animation,” Walker said.

“ e Boom event itself was a phenomenal milestone for aviation, but working with the engineers and ground crew on the team was such a fascinating experience for us as lmmakers. ey’re the lifeblood of operations like this, so it was empowering to see this mission through their eyes and build that into the story we were telling in front of a live audience.

e La Storia crew used 18 cameras — seven on the ground and 11 in the air — to capture every angle of the historic moment with Boom’s Supersonic XB-1 experimental aircraft.

Trading accounting for adventure

Walker said he was a nance accounting graduate from the University of Colorado looking for adventure when he got interested in lmmaking.

“After graduating from CU Boulder with a degree in Finance, I decided to play ‘hooky’ and spent a few years living in Hawaii before going to France. I worked in the Alps, where I had an old camcorder, and my roommates and I started making short lms. Films had always inspired me, but this moment of creativity behind the lens ignited a deep love of cinematography and changed my life trajectory.”

“But my brother had been working in North Carolina for a non-pro t, so he at least had a small network of connections. So in 2013, I moved to Charlotte, and we o cially launched La Storia Productions out of our tiny apartment,” Walker said.

“ ankfully, our love and passion for storytelling, along with lots of hard work, introduced us to some incredible people who we still consider some of our closest friends, and they helped us tremendously,” Walker said.

“ ey connected us with the Charlotte creative community and helped us collaborate with like-minded clients. But the best of these introductions during this time was that Geo and I each met our wives on our own lm sets and still get to work alongside them today.

Meanwhile, his future bride made a name for herself on children’s television. Molly McKinney-Walker said her background started in television with a commercial when she was three.

“I got into the industry at an early age and was incredibly blessed to have had the positive experiences I’ve had. My rst big opportunity was at seven years old when I was cast to host the TV, Aqua Kids, an environmental children’s TV show about protecting marine and aquatic environments,” McKinney-Walker said.

“I continued to host this show until I was 24 years old, and I learned so much during this time, both as a talent in front of the camera and lmmaking behind the camera.”

LEFT: RC Walker is filming on location for a La Storia production with American Airlines.

From left: RC Walker, Paulie Meehan, & Brian Bell are on set discussing the next shot for a commercial with Noodles & Co. and the Fortnight Collective agency.

LA STORIA

She began trading her spot in front of the camera for a producing role, where she interviewed scientists and animal educators on camera.

“ is is actually how I fell into becoming an Executive Producer, since it started making sense to plan and pre-interview the scientists and animal educations I would eventually be working with on-camera,” McKinney-Walker said.

After graduating college and moving on from the show, she started freelancing, producing at La Storia for nine months before she was hired full-time.

After graduating college and moving on from the show, she started freelancing, producing at La Storia for nine months before she was hired full-time.

Both McKinney and Walker settled in Charlotte, North Carolina for a while but relocated to Boulder just before COVID-19 hit. McKinney-Walker said they got the Boulder o ce and nished remodeling it in December 2019 but couldn’t use it for a few months due to COVID-19.

“We had a brick-and-mortar location in North Carolina and planned on keeping it and opening a second mid-west location to compete with the Los Angeles market, but as with so many other industries, COVID-19 changed that plan for us,” McKinney-Walker said.  e La Storia team had even built a whole new set for a major tech company client on their campus in San Jose, Calif., but they never used it due to the pandemic. “It was beautiful with painted wood walls and a multi-functional background,” Walker said. “But with COVID, we couldn’t get into the o ce, so we ended up pivoting and rebuilding the entire set in our home basement to lm the content our client needed. I guess that’s one of the perks of a cinematographer and a producer being married and quarantining together. We were able to utilize our available resources and help our clients solve problems,” Walker said.

The story behind La Storia

Walker said they came up with the name La Storia early on.

“We wanted to choose a name with international

air. I had spent time living in France but phrase story had a complex spelling in French, so we aimed for simple and memorable,” Walker said. “My brother had spent time living in Italy, and in Italian, the translation for ‘ e Story’ has a dual meaning. It captures history and modern-day storytellers, sharing the importance of timeless stories that must be told.”

McKinney-Walker said one of La Storia’s longeststanding clients, Seagate Technology, one of the largest tech companies that makes hard drives in the world, has worked with their company for almost 11 years.    McKinney-Walker said being a creative partner is something they can o er their high-caliber clients.

“I think our high client retention rate with high pro le clients re ects the relationship and partnership mentality we have with our clients. Ironically, as a production company that provides photo and video marketing solutions for our clients, we’ve never done marketing for ourselves. We truly operate on a word-of-mouth referral system, which works for us. I always say when think about our clients, we take their brands on as our own,” McKinney-Walker said.

“It de es a typical traditional agency model with established brands; we already have a strong in-house marketing team,” she said. ” We can provide triage support when they are overworked or need help scaling up for something they don’t have the in-house resources for, like the project we traveled to the Mojave Desert for recently, to lm Boom Supersonic.”

Walker said it was fascinating working so closely with the Boom team and getting the honor of telling their story, learning and understanding the process, cadence of the tests, crew safety, and camera angles.

“I’ve worked in daily communication with Kaden Colby, Head of Creative Production and Events at Boom Supersonic, for over a year to prepare for their supersonic test ight. is was the sixth ight we’ve shot for them,” Walker said.

McKinney-Walker said Boom wanted to be authentic and live on the day of the shooting, so they wanted people to feel like they were there. Event coverage had not been done to the extent their team pulled it together, with many partners involved, to make that possible from a story brand standpoint.

“As a company specializing in creating 30-second commercials for many of the brands we work with, getting to have a project like Boom’s supersonic ight was

taxiing out,” is a massive moment for this team, but it’s often not shown in the movies.”

McKinney-Walker said that for them, it’s never just about showing up and doing a job; they felt the emotion of getting to know them for a year. When they handed the aircraft over to Geppetto, it was uncertain whether he would return from that ight. It’s about life and visually communicating these people’s trust in each other and the unknowns from pushing innovative boundaries.

“With clients like Boom who are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, it’s a contagious energy that encouraged us to push the realm of what had been done for our industry as well for events like this,” McKinneyWalker said.

“ e Boom event was unique, and we wanted to capture the immersive moment. However, we’re responsible for ensuring no safety issues present or distract the ground crew from performing their duties,” Walker said.

“We took tremendous care in the choreography of our cameras so they could do their job, ignore us and stay focused. From a safety standpoint, they knew when our cameras were in position, where our guidelines were, and most importantly, after a year together, they trusted us.”

For more information about La Storia, visit https:// lastoriaproductions.com/

General Inquiries:  info@lastoriaproductions.com

Interested in Hiring La Storia:  molly@lastoriaproductions.com

For information about LSP Film Rentals, Cyc studio, Cinema Camera Rental House & Prep Space, please visit https://www.lsp lmrentals.com/.

Studio and Rental Inquiries:  cheers@lsp lmrentals. com

LEFT: RC Walker and Molly McKinney-Walker owners of La Storia Production.

RIGHT: Molly McKinney Walker and Alfredo Jones were on-location at Mojave Air and Space Port, documenting the first supersonic flight of the XB-1 aircraft for La Storia client Boom Supersonic.

House cats with bird flu could pose risk

Some pets died after drinking raw milk, midnight prowls

BY SARAH BODEN KFF HEALTH NEWS

More than 80 domestic cats, among many other types of mammals, have been con rmed to have had bird u since 2022 — generally barn cats that lived on dairy farms, as well as feral cats and pets that spend time outdoors and likely caught it by hunting diseased rodents or wild birds.

Now, a small but growing number of house cats have gotten sick from H5N1, the bird u strain driving the current U.S. outbreak, after eating raw food or drinking unpasteurized milk. Some of those cats died.

e strain of bird u currently circulating has not adapted to e ciently spread among people. And there have been no known cases of cat-to-human transmission during the current outbreak of H5N1.

Still, there’s always been the risk that cats, which are arguably only semi-domesticated, could bring home a disease from a midnight prowl.

“Companion animals, and especially cats, are 100% a public health risk in terms of the risk of zoonotic transmission to people,” said virologist Angela Rasmussen, who studies disease progression in emerging viruses at the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization. is is because we snuggle with and sleep in bed with our cats. When we’re not looking, cats drink from our water glasses and walk on kitchen counters. So, cat owners should be aware of the ongoing spread of bird u. “By reducing the risk to your cats, you reduce the risk to yourself,” Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen doesn’t think pet owners should be afraid their cats will give them bird u but said taking precautions is good for pets, and for public health.

Signs of bird u in cats include runny nose and discharge around the eyes, explained Michael Q. Bailey, presidentelect of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

H5N1 also causes neurological problems like dizziness and seizures, which are symptoms of rabies, too. Rabies is almost always fatal, and it poses a threat to

human health, so any animal suspected of having the viral disease must be euthanized. Bailey encourages people to ensure pets are up-to-date on their vaccinations.

Veterinarian Jane Sykes, who specializes in infectious diseases in cats and dogs at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, said people should not assume it’s bird u if their cat is sick — even if their animal spends time outdoors or eats a raw diet. Upperrespiratory illnesses are common in cats, while H5N1 is “still pretty rare.”

Sykes gives her indoor cat, Freckles, regular kibble exclusively. She told NPR and KFF Health News she has no concerns about Freckles getting H5N1 because the heating process of making dry or canned pet food kills viruses.

More cases in cats, more risk to humans

Some people feed their pets raw meat or unpasteurized milk because they think it’s a more nutritious or natural diet.

e American Veterinary Medical Association’s website discourages this due to foodborne pathogens like salmonella and listeria, and now the highly pathogenic H5N1.

State and local public health agencies, including those in Los Angeles County and Washington state, have issued similar warnings against raw food diets for pets.

Concerns for human health are partly why the FDA announced last month it is now requiring cat and dog food companies to update their safety plans to protect against bird u.

Veterinarians also warn pet owners not to allow cats unsupervised time outside as there’s the risk of them getting H5N1 by interacting with other animals that might carry the disease.

“ is is a very scary virus, given that it can infect so many di erent host species,” said Bruce Kornreich, director of Cornell University’s Feline Health Center.

At least one instance of a cat infecting a person with bird u occurred in 2016. As NPR reported, a veterinarian in New York City caught the virus after having close contact with infected cats. e vet experienced mild symptoms and quickly recovered.

ere isn’t a lot of research on transmission of bird u from companion animals like cats or dogs to humans, though Rasmussen agreed it’s de nitely a concern: e more infections you have in animals,

“the more your luck is potentially going to run out.”

Most people who have caught H5N1 are agricultural workers who had direct contact with infected poultry or cattle. Of at least 67 con rmed human cases of H5N1 in the U.S., there’s been one fatality in an immunocompromised person who had contact with birds.

Chances for mutation

Part of the concern with this H5N1 outbreak is that bird u viruses change. Just a few mutations could make this strain adept at spreading between people. And the more people who catch H5N1, the more likely it would adapt to be more efcient, said Suresh Kuchipudi, a virologist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, where he researches zoonotic diseases. Kuchipudi has studied H5N1 in cats.

Another concern is something called reassortment. If an animal or person is infected with two viruses at once, the viruses can trade genetic material, creating something new. is is common in in uenza, so virologists are on the lookout for a case in which the bird u reassorts to make a virus that’s far more contagious, and potentially more virulent.

Kuchipudi said that reassortments are

relatively rare events, but the outcome is completely unpredictable. Sometimes the results are benign, though it was likely a reassortment that involved an avian virus that led to the 1918 u pandemic, which killed an estimated 50 million people. In the century since, virologists have established a global surveillance network to monitor in uenza viruses. Scientists say continued investment in this network is key to preparing for and hopefully preventing another pandemic. Rasmussen and Kuchipudi caution there isn’t enough research to know for sure how much virus cats shed, or even how they shed the virus.

e Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was poised to release a new study about H5N1 in cats, but that was delayed when the Trump administration paused the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. at investigation, revealed through emails obtained by KFF Health News in a public records request, found that house cats likely got bird u from dairy workers.

Scientists and public health agencies should question previously held assumptions about bird u, Kuchipudi urged. He noted that 20 years ago nobody would have predicted that bird u would infect dairy cattle the way it is now.

Cats are at high risk of transmitting bird flu to humans because owners snuggle with and sleep with cats. When we’re not looking, cats drink from our water glasses and walk on kitchen counters.

State gets behind bid for Stanley Hotel film center

Economic development commission approves $1M grant to boost e orts

BY SARAH MULHOLLAND CPR NEWS

Colorado is upping its stake in developing Estes Park’s Stanley Hotel into a tourist destination for horror lm bu s.

e state’s economic development commission approved a $1 million grant from its strategic fund for the Colorado Education and Cultural Facilities Authority, or CEFCA, the Colorado agency taking over the property. e cash will go toward greasing the wheels for the CECFA to issue $400 million in bonds. e proceeds will be used to transform the iconic hotel, best known as the inspiration for Stephen King’s “ e Shining,” into the Stanley Film Center.

e project, billed as a horror-themed museum and event space, has been in the works for a decade. It was approved for state funding in 2015 under Colorado’s Regional Tourism Act, a state program created in 2009 to attract out-of-state visitors following the recession brought on by the housing crisis. To qualify for funding, projects had to show they were likely to substantially increase visitation to the state.

e lm center has since run into numerous delays and struggled to raise cash. Owner John Cullen, whose Grand Heritage Hotel Group bought the property out of bankruptcy in the 1990s, announced a deal to

sell the property to an Arizona nonpro t in 2023. But that deal fell through. Now, the CEFCA is stepping in.

“We’ve come a long way in a really di cult market,” Cullen said during a meeting Tuesday

with the state’s economic development commission.

On top of the $1 million grant, to be paid out after the bonds are sold, the commission approved the early release of some taxpayer funds already allocated

to the lm center from the Regional Tourism Act. e project was awarded up to $46.3 million from state sales tax to be paid out over 30 years.

e commission also extended the deadline for completion to Dec. 31, 2028.

“Since there’ve been some challenges and delays in getting the nancing done, we want to allow the project adequate time to be completed,” Je Kraft, deputy director of Colorado’s O ce of Economic Development and International Trade, said during the meeting.

e CEFCA is a state bonding authority that issues low-cost debt to fund things like schools and museums. It was created by Colorado’s state legislature in 1981. is is the rst time it’s taking ownership of a property.

Despite its challenges, the Stanley Film Center has had some wins. Horror movie studio Blumhouse has signed on to curate the exhibit space. Last year, the Sundance Film Festival announced a partnership with e Stanley to host its Directors Lab. Colorado is currently courting Sundance to become the new home of its signature lm festival.

is story is from CPR News, a nonpro t public broadcaster serving Colorado. Used by permission. For more, and to support Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org.

LEAP helps eligible Coloradans pay a portion of their winter home heating costs.

LEAP ayuda a los residentes elegibles de Colorado a pagar una parte de sus gastos de calefacción de invierno.

The grant and a $400 million bond package will be used to transform the hotel, best known as the inspiration for Stephen King’s “The Shining,” into the Stanley Film Center. SHUTTERSTOCK

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Email linda@cotln.org if you notice a possible error you would like us to take a look at.

BRIEFS

Colorado Favorite Ghost Towns

Ron Ruho , with Ghost Town Club of Colorado, will be at the South Platte Historial Society, sharing the history of Colorado’s ghost town. It’s free and bring a dinner. After the presentation, there will be a brief meeting for members.

e event will be March 31 from 6-7:30 p.m. in the Fort Rendezvous Room at 2001 Historic Parkway, Fort Lupton. e fort is located o of Highway 85 on the north side of Fort Lupton; turn west on 14 1/2 Road. e parking will be on the right.

Space Port hosts STEM program for high school students

Colorado Air & Space Port is hosting a Higher Orbits for students from 8th and 12th grades to expand their STEM skill sets learning with teamwork, communications, research design, and leadership.

Students would get to work with an astronaut, Captain Wendy Lawerence, and work on an experiment design project during the event, learning, growing, and developing skills to succeed throughout their lives.

and guiding the bereaved in rebuilding a meaningful life intertwined with their grief.

Mz. Vendetta is powerhouse band with four incredibly talented female musicians. Established in late 2022, the band blends the classic rock vibes of the 70s, 80s, and 90s with their own music.

ey’ll be joined by Buck, a Denver-based band that’s bringing a fresh twist to the classic sounds of blues, funk, and rock. With their original compositions, Buck delivers a sound that’s both familiar and innovative.

Sponsorships start at $200, which includes a table, four admissions and drink tickets. A $500 Gold sponsorship gets two tables with eight admissions and drink tickets and access to a VIP area.

e student teams will present their project to a panel of judges who work in the Space and STEM elds. ey will choose a winner from each Go for Launch event.   e winning experiment will be launched to board the International Space Station or a suborbital ight. Michelle Lucas is the founder and CEO of Higher Orbits.

For more information about the Higher Orbits event, visit www.higherorbits.org.  To sponsor the event, go to sponsors@higherobits.org. To call for information at 281-451-5343.

Fort Lupton Public Library hosts Pancake breakfasts

do not transmit the data from the meter to the system. e meter must then be read manually.

Accounts with meters that can’t be manually read, will be estimated. If the actual amount consumed is lower than the estimated amount previously billed, then the bill will be adjusted to re ect the higher usage. When the new meter is connected, it will re ect the correct usage moving forward.

A $1,000 Platinum sponsorship gets three tables, 12 admission and tickets, VIP access and early admission for a pizza bu et.

Weld announces the Annual Youth Advancement Scholarship

e Weld County Sheri ’s Ofce will award its annual scholarship to one deserving Weld County student who intends on pursuing a degree in higher education. e scholarship will be a one-time $500.00 award.

To be eligible, the applicants must be a high school graduation senior or current college / university student, a citizen of Weld County and have been accepted at an accredited university or college.

e Fort Lupton Public Library hosts a simple pancake breakfast on the last Saturday of each month in the library’s community rooms. is month’s pancake breakfast runs from 9:30-10:30

a.m. March 29. e library is located at 370 S. Rollie Ave. e event is combined with the library’s weekly reading program, so families can enjoy a good meal while listening to popular cult classic children’s stories that never get old. Breakfast starts at 9:30, and read-aloud starts at 10 a.m. every last Saturday of the month. All ages are welcome.

Concert for a Cause at Brighton Armory

Contractors will notify residents when they will replace meters in their vicinity. For houses with meters that are outside and accessible, the contractors will let residents know when they plan to replace the meter. For houses that have inaccessible meters that are inside, in a basement or a crawl space, residents should contact Public Works to schedule an appointment.

More information can be found here- https://www.fortluptonco. gov/1240/Water-Meter-Replacement-Program.

Co ee with a cop

Fort Lupton Police set aside one morning each month to share a few cups of co ee with residents.

Blessings in a Bag

Fort Lupton’s Backpack Program helps schoolchildren in need with a backpack of healthy food. It’s an all-volunteer program and needs volunteers. If interested in volunteering or donating, call 303-718-4440.

City committees need members Fort Lupton is looking for several community-minded individuals to ll openings on several boards that advise the City Council and help run city programs.

Co ee with a Cop is a chance for police to meet with community members and discuss many topics, including parking regulations. To accommodate more people, they have changed their meeting location to the MultiPurpose Room at the Fort Lupton Rec Center!

e applicant must submit a completed application form via U.S. Mail by April 11.

Mail the form to the Weld County Sheri ’s O ce – Scholarship Committee, Attn: Rosy Soto, 1950 “O” Street, Greeley, CO 80631

e scholarship application must be accompanied by a letter of recommendation by a teacher or counselor from the applicant’s school and an o cial certi ed scholastic transcript. All applicants must also submit a 500-word essay on the following question:“What do you see as the future for law enforcement in our nation?”

e Richard Lambert Foundation will host Denver-based bands Mz. Vendetta and Buck. at 6 p.m. March 1 at the Brighton Armory , 300 Strong St. in Brighton.

Tickets are $25 and sponsorships are available online at FlutterbyGives.org.

e Cemetery Committee, Parks and Recreation Committee, Golf Committee, the Library Board, Public Safety Committee and the Senior Advisory Committee have openings. e openings consist of a two-year term running through the end of 2024. If you or anyone you know is interested in serving on a committee, please complete a committee application at https://www. fortluptonco.gov/966/I-WantTo-Apply-for-a-Committee on the city’s website.

Help for vets

Quali ed Listeners, a veteran and family resource hub serving northern Colorado and southern Wyoming, has several power chairs, scooters, and electric wheelchairs available.

e competitive selection process is based GPA, student’s need, and community involvement. Finalists will be selected by the Weld County Sheri ’s Ofce scholarship committee and will be informed by April 28, 2025.

Fort Lupton replacing water meters

e City of Fort Lupton has hired Northern Colorado Contractors to replace the water meters in town.

e same time is on the rst Wednesday of each month at Fort Lupton Recreation Center, 203 S Harrison Ave, Fort Lupton.

e next scheduled event is from 8-9:30 a.m. on March 5.

Co ee with a Cop is an easy way to get to know the men and women who serve our community and tell them about the issues that matter most to you. Remember that you can always reach our police department at our non-emergency number, 720-652-4222.

Acts of Connection seeks to lessen loneliness

Weld County and North Range Behavioral Health are working to target social isolation and build personal connections throughout the county with the Acts of Connection Initiative.

According to the group, four of ve adults younger than 24 and seniors older than 66 all reported feeling lonely at some point.

e campaign encourages everyone to nd ways to connect with others, build relationships, and promote a stronger sense of well-being and a culture of connection for all.

e VA o ers urgent care services to eligible veterans at VA medical facilities or several in-network urgent care clinics that are closer to home. To nd the closest facility to you, visit www.va.gov/ nd-locations or call 720-600-0860.

Quali ed Listeners also needs volunteers to drive veterans to and from appointments, run errands for veterans who cannot get out, handyman services, help administer veteran and family resource guide inventory in local libraries, and veterans to be trained to become quali ed listeners.

Donation time

e Fort Lupton Food & Clothing Bank is asking for donations of canned fruits and nuts, varieties of dry pasta and pasta dinners, peanut butter and canned meat such as tuna (including the pouches).

Other potential donations could include chicken, Vienna sausages, spam and salmon. e bank also needs personal items, such as toiletries and baby needs.

Drop o donations at the food and clothing bank’s back door, 421 Denver Ave., on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Call 303-857-1096.

e Richard Lambert Foundation runs Brighton’s Family Grief & Healing Center, providing grief support groups and professional counseling with the goal of inspiring hope, facilitating healing

Over time, meters age and require replacement to ensure accurate measurement and efciency of water use. e majority of the meters in the City are reaching their useful life prompting this program. e replacement of the meters is entirely free of charge to residents. According to the city, the current meters continue to work properly, however, some meters

e group has sponsored a website at https://actsofconnectionweld.org/ to survey members of each group, o er some tips to help and take pledges to connect to the community and connect with other members of the community.

Visit the e ort’s website at https://actsofconnectionweld. org/ for more information.

Free short-term radon test kits

Weld County residents can receive a free radon test kit (one per household, while supplies last). Test kits can be requested online at www.drhomeair.com/ weld, according to a statement. Call the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment at (970) 400-2226 or visit: www.weldgov.com/go/radon.

Financial literacy becoming a high school requirement

Most get no knowledge about taxes, savings, loans or investments

BY JENNY BRUNDIN, LUCAS BRADY WOODS AND JESSE PAUL COLORADO CAPITOL NEWS ALLIANCE

When state Rep. Anthony Hartsook was a commander in the U.S. Army, he’d see soldiers try to explain why their checks bounced at the PX or Army store.

“ ey go, ‘Well, I have a credit card, right? I have checks in my checkbook’ … ey just simply didn’t understand.”

Hartsook would order the soldier to attend a nancial literacy class.

“ ey would come back and go, ‘ at class was great.’ ey learned things they simply hadn’t any experience before in life … how to deal with the expenses of living, buying a car … they understood the basics of nances that would set them up for success in the future.”

e Douglas County Republican was surprised to learn that nancial literacy is not a required course in Colorado schools. at’s when he signed on as a sponsor to a bipartisan bill to require all students to take a one-semester course in nancial literacy in order to graduate. Right now, most Colorado students go out into the world with no knowledge about taxes, savings, loans or investments. Bill sponsors said just 13 percent of students are guaranteed access to a personal nance course before graduation. And today’s students are more vulnerable than ever to online gambling, cryptocurrency schemes and other getrich-quick apps online, they say. Colorado’s largest district, Denver Public Schools, adopted nancial literacy as a graduation requirement starting with the class of 2027 after a group of DPS alumni advocated for it.

Still, just a quarter of districts require personal nance to graduate Colorado has nancial literacy standards, which were updated in 2021. ey include topics like saving, investing, debt, credit, leasing versus buying, insurance premiums, managing student loan debt, and retirement plans. While the state board strongly encourages lo-

cal school districts to require personal nance courses, only about a quarter of the state’s 178 districts include personal nance as a requirement to graduate.

“Encouraging just simply hasn’t been getting the job done,” said Hartsook. “We have red and blue states across the country that have found this to be very successful. We need kids to graduate to enter the workforce who understandnancial literacy, balance sheets, credit cards, their banks, … and just having it as a recommendation simply isn’t achieving enough of what we need to do.”

e bill would also make lling out a federal or state nancial aid form, the CAFSA or FAFSA, a condition for graduation. It would, however, allow students to opt-out.

Colorado ranks 46th in FAFSA completion. About 37 percent of high school seniors completed the FAFSA last year, well below the national average. State o cials say Coloradans are leaving an estimated $30 million on the table in unclaimed aid each year.

“A lot of low-income families qualify for free aid, and they just don’t know and they haven’t lled out these forms,” said Yanely Espinal, an advocate at NGPF Mission 2030 Fund, a non-pro t organization that has lobbied to get similar bills passed and other states and is a liated with Next Gen Personal Finance. “ e goal is to increase access to free aid for those who qualify and (access) to low interest rate loans so that students aren’t riddled with private student debt.”

One study shows a lifetime positive bene t of $116,000 per student in Colorado when they take a semester personal nance course before graduation. Bill backers also point to other studies showing nancial education’s impact on a number of factors from frequency of payday borrowing to retirement savings.

Other states

Currently, 26 states require students to take a personal nance course in order to graduate from high school. A handful of other states require nancial literacy coursework to be integrated into other subjects.

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Vic Dillahay, Guitarist: First Wednesday Jazz: Eric Ottem and Vic Dillahay @ 7pm Dry Land Distillers, 519 Main St, Longmont

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HOUSING

Westminster: Fears of Soviet-style apartment blocs

One of the marquee bills passed last session forces some cities to allow greater housing density near certain transit lines. e law requires such cities to set “housing opportunity goals,” which are calculated by using a formula that considers the amount of land near existing or planned transit stations and lines.

A map produced by the state identi es a Regional Transportation District commuter rail station, two stations on its frequent Flatiron Flyer bus route along U.S. 36, and the Federal Boulevard corridor as areas eligible for denser housing. Under the law, Westminster could choose to concentrate its more dense housing zones in only some of those areas or petition the state to put it elsewhere in the city.

After subtracting acreage exempt allowed under the law, like open space and ood plains, Westminster sta estimate the city’s housing opportunity goal is 50,506 units — just more than the 50,323 existing housing units in the city.

One Westminster city councilor took that gure as an indication that Sovietstyle apartment blocs could be in the oing.

“I want to know … who the state thinks is going to live in these 50,000 units,” said council member Kristine Ireland.

“Everyone’s going to ee this state in droves because people want single family homes,” she added. “ at’s why people are leaving this state. ey don’t want to live in apartments from birth to death. I saw this stu in Russia and it was built

Having a goal of 50,506 units, however, does not necessarily mean that 50,506 new housing units will be built.

Rather, the law requires Westminster to change its zoning to allow that many units to exist in certain areas near transit. Some housing already exists in those zones, and the city’s current zoning al-

City sta downplayed the impact its existing housing stock and zoning capacity would have on its goal, saying most land near transit corridors and stations do not have housing densities that meet the minimum of 15 units per acre and cumulative average of 40 units per acre required by the law. A neighborhood of four-story apartments would have roughly 40 units per acre.

e city, however, has already embraced high-density development in areas like its new downtown, built on the site of an old mall and near a Flatiron Flyer station. ose developments will help the city meet its goal and o er an example for what it will need to do elsewhere, said Matt Frommer, transportation and land use policy manager with the Southwest Energy E ciency Project, an advocacy group that supported the housing bills.

“ ey’re blessed with good transit,” Frommer said. “And that’s where we want to build more housing to address our transportation and climate issues and provide more a ordable housing.”

Market forces will also be a key factor in what eventually is built, Frommer said.

“You need the stars to align,” he said. “ e landowner needs to want to build housing and it needs to make sense for them nancially.”

e state Department of Local A airs, which is overseeing implementation of the transit-oriented communities law and others, and Westminster, both issued statements to CPR News emphasizing collaboration — but also staking out their respective territories.

DOLA Executive Director Maria De Cambra said the department would ensure “all actions adhere to Colorado law” and a Westminster spokesperson said the city wants a solution that “respects

home rule authority and the awareness of local control.”

e law requires a ected cities to change their zoning rules by the end of 2027.

Arvada: Stalled on the state’s new parking law

Another key law prevents some local governments from requiring parking be built with apartments and other multifamily projects close to some transit lines starting this summer.

Legislative backers and housing advocates say such local parking regulations drive up housing construction costs, rents, and contribute to sprawling neighborhoods di cult to navigate outside of a car.

In Arvada, the law would limit the city’s ability to require developers include parking for new housing near RTD commuter rail stations and ve local bus lines. While the City Council has not yet taken a formal position on the new laws, a spokesperson said, several city leaders said in a recent meeting that they would undermine the city’s character and its ability to determine its own future.

“Our [parking] code de nitely matches the character of our community,” said councilmember John Marriott, adding: “We have been exible and are willing to have conversations with our community about what this should be and balancing these competing interests. But to have the state dictate to us that this is what’s going to be, I think, is completely wrong.”

Other members said it was unfair to force the city to penalize driving when a key factor — transit service — is outside of its control.

“RTD is the most unreliable organization,” said councilmember Bob Fifer.

“Our land use as a community should not be based on an organization that can’t get their act straight to even service our community,” he added.

e on-time performance for RTD’s local buses has su ered in recent years, and during the pandemic, the agency pared back how often the G Line runs. at line stops at three stations in Arvada.

RTD’s aspirational service plan calls for restoring the G Line to 15-minute service during peak times, but in a new statement, an agency spokeswoman said there are no current plans to do so.

“ e agency closely monitors ridership trends and, when adjustments may be necessary, makes every e ort to provide a level of service that supports demand,” spokeswoman Pauline Haberman wrote in an email.

Haberman also touted the agency’s current plans to restore service across the Denver metro this year. e state will also soon begin to contribute more funding for transit operations, including at RTD.

RTD plans to increase service on a dozen routes in May, though not on any that will a ect Arvada’s parking regulations. e ve lines that will a ect Arvada’s parking regulations only run every half-an-hour at the most, RTD schedules show.

Home rule in common

e state constitution allows cities and counties to become “home rule” governments, where local ordinances generally supersede state law.

Northglenn recently passed a declaration stating that as a home rule city, its local limit on how many unrelated people can live in one home supersedes the recent state law that largely bans such restrictions. O cials in Westminster and Arvada both referenced their home rule rights in recent discussions as well.

“ is is the spot where us as home rule communities need to stand up to the state and say, ‘Look, you’ve got yours, we’ve got ours,’” said Marriott, the Arvada councilmember. “You’re in our backyard here. We don’t want you in our backyard. And maybe it’s time for the Supreme Court to decide how this goes. But I don’t see any reason whatsoever for us to roll over and just accept this out of the state legislature.”

Arvada’s city attorney told the council the city is preparing a legal analysis and speaking with other cities about the new housing laws. A city spokesperson said the council is expected to discuss them again in March.

State legislators sought to sidestep the home rule issue by declaring their bills address matters of “mixed statewide and local concern.”

University of Colorado Boulder law professor Michael Pappas said if a city were to challenge any of the state laws, the courts would likely have to decide whether local housing policies, in aggregate, amount to statewide policies.

“Is this something that is guaranteed to municipalities via home rule protections? Or is this something, that based on its e ects on the statewide housing availability, is something that is properly considered at the state level?” he asked. is story is from CPR News, a nonpro t public broadcaster serving Colorado. Used by permission. For more, and to support Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org.

Arvada Councilmember John Marriott speaking at candidates forum in 2024. PHOTO BY LILLIAN FUGLEI

Violent crime fell in 2024 to pre-pandemic levels

National report says biggest jump in homicides was in Colorado

Springs

BY AMANDA HERNÁNDEZ STATELINE

e number of homicides across the United States declined by 16% in 2024, continuing a recent downward trajectory, according to the latest crime trends report from the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank.

Homicides spiked during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and crime became a central focus of President Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign.

Trump insisted that FBI crime data showing declines was “fake” and claimed that crime was “through the roof.” e second Trump administration is expected to adopt a tough-on-crime approach.

State legislatures nationwide also are expected to prioritize a variety of criminal justice measures this year, including prison oversight, illegal immigration, retail theft and policing standards and procedures. Polls show most Americans see crime as a signi cant problem, though fewer than in recent years.

e Council on Criminal Justice, known as CCJ, gathers data from individual law enforcement agencies for its biannual crime trends reports, meaning the data is more recent than the FBI’s annual report. Both the think tank’s and

the FBI’s reports, however, show a similar turnaround in violent crime.

In 2023, criminal homicide — which the FBI de nes as murder or non-negligent manslaughter — was down by 11.6% from the previous year. It was the largest single-year decline in two decades, according to the FBI’s annual crime report published last year.

e CCJ report shows that the downward trend appears to be continuing, with homicides in 2024 dropping by 16% compared with 2023. at drop equates to 631 fewer homicides in the 29 cities that provided data for the category, according to the council’s report.

If this decrease holds as more jurisdictions report their data to the FBI later this year, 2024 would rank among the largest single-year homicide drops since at least 1960, the start of modern recordkeeping, according to the report.

Despite the recent decline in homicides, crime remains a politically salient issue. A majority of Americans — 56% — believe that national crime has increased or consider it an “extremely” or “very” serious problem. But public concern about crime has lessened over the past year, according to Gallup’s annual crime survey.

Perceptions of crime are heavily in uenced by political a liation. e survey found that 60% of Democrats believe crime has decreased over the past year, whereas 90% of Republicans think it has increased.

Some crime experts say that media reports, political messaging and viral social media posts may exaggerate Americans’ worries about disorder, making

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crimes such as shoplifting and public drug use appear more prevalent than they actually are. Still, some individual cities and neighborhoods may be experiencing higher crime rates, which could further explain these concerns.

“We still have problems with crime, still have problems in the criminal justice system, and even though the crime rates are improving, we should not take our focus o crime and criminal justice,” said Ernesto Lopez, the report’s co-author and a senior research specialist with the council, in an interview with Stateline.

e council analyzed crime trends in 40 U.S. cities, although not all cities had data available for every type of o ense.

Among the cities studied, 22 saw a decline in homicides last year, with Chandler, Arizona, and Little Rock, Arkansas, recording the largest decreases at 50% and 43%, respectively. Six cities experienced increases, with Colorado Springs leading the way with a 56% jump.

When comparing homicide rates between 2019 and 2024, the council’s study sample saw a 6% decline, largely driven by cities with traditionally high homicide rates, including Baltimore and St. Louis.

Homicides are still above pre-pandemic levels in some cities, including New York City and Washington, D.C. In New York City, for example, there were 382 homicides in 2024 compared with 319 in 2019. In Washington, D.C., there were 187 homicides in 2024 and 166 in 2019.

e CCJ report also examined trends in other violent and property crimes, including gun assault, carjacking, motor vehicle theft and drug o enses. Most of

these o enses were lower in 2024 than in 2023, with shoplifting being the only exception, showing a 14% increase. Shoplifting also was 1% higher in 2024 compared with 2019.

Researchers were surprised that shoplifting rates increased last year despite retailers taking more measures to combat it, such as locking up merchandise behind glass. Some experts say that the rise may re ect improved reporting efforts rather than an actual spike in theft.

Last year, state legislatures placed a strong emphasis on tackling retail theft, and this momentum is likely to continue into this year, with Maryland lawmakers already considering a bill aimed at addressing large-scale organized retail theft.

From 2023 to 2024, incidents of robbery dropped by 10%, carjackings fell by 32%, and motor vehicle theft decreased by 24%.

Violent crimes such as sexual assault, domestic violence and robbery are now below pre-pandemic levels, but aggravated assaults, gun assaults and carjackings remain higher than in 2019, according to the report.

Property crime trends over the past ve years varied. Residential burglaries and larcenies decreased, while nonresidential burglaries increased. Motor vehicle thefts rose by 53%, and drug offenses fell by 28%. is story from Stateline comes courtesy of Colorado Newsline and was made available via the Colorado News Collaborative. For more, and to support the news organization, visit coloradonewsline.com.

1. TELEVISION: e show “Happy Days” is a spino of which older sitcom?

2. LITERATURE: Which author created the character Hercule Poirot?

3. U.S. PRESIDENTS: Where is Barack Obama’s presidential library located?

4. GEOGRAPHY: What river forms part of the border between the United States and Mexico?

5. ASTRONOMY: Which planet in our solar system has the strongest gravitational eld?

6. U.S. STATES: Which four states intersect at the Four Corners monument?

7. SCIENCE: What is anemophily?

8. MOVIES: How much does an Oscar award trophy weigh?

9. WEATHER: What is a haboob?

10. MEASUREMENTS: How many millimeters are in a meter?

TrIVIa

Answers

1. “Love, American Style.”

2. Agatha Christie.

3. Chicago, Illinois.

4. e Rio Grande.

5. Jupiter.

6. Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.

7. Pollination by the wind.

8. 8.5 pounds.

9. An intense dust storm.

10. 1,000.

(c) 2025 King Features Synd., Inc.

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AI tool may be just what the doctor ordered

Denver Health program saves hours on electronic medical records

BY JOHN INGOLD THE COLORADO SUN

Dr. Daniel Kortsch is a pretty popular guy these days in the hallways of Denver Health, the hospital where he works in primary care.

Colleagues come up to him for spontaneous hugs. He’s received at least one box of chocolates.

e reason for this a ection has to do with Kortsch’s other job at the hospital — as chief medical information o cer, sort of a guru at the intersection of technology and patient care. After months of testing, Denver Health is now widely rolling out an arti cial intelligence program that helps doctors transcribe conversations with patients and then convert them into notes that can be entered into the hospital’s electronic medical records system.

Sound simple enough? Well, for doctors overburdened with tedious documentation work long after their day at the clinic is over, it is life-changing.

“It’s transformational,” Kortsch said. “I think it is the most transformational technology I have seen in my medical practice, ever.”

Arti cial intelligence has for years now been making its way into patient rooms and medical records in Colorado, whether that is to diagnose tricky conditions or

to spot health risks before they emerge. But Denver Health’s use of AI highlights another front: e potential for AI programs to make doctors’ work ow a little less clunky and burdensome.

e program Denver Health uses comes from a company called Nabla, which now counts 50,000 doctors and other medical practitioners across the globe — but mostly in the United States — as adopters. e Nabla program supports 35 languages, and it integrates directly with a hospital’s medical record system.

Because Nabla was developed specically for use in medicine, it is trained not to trip up on complex medical jargon or tongue-twister drug names, in the way that more generic AI transcription services might. If it does make a mistake, users send a note to Nabla informing the company of the goof.

“ e point is really to focus on patients, not the clinical notes,” said Delphine Groll, a Nabla co-founder and the company’s chief operating o cer.

To use the program, doctors simply click a button and then talk with their patients naturally while the program works in the background. For privacy reasons, the program does not keep a recording of the conversation, and the transcript it creates is quickly deleted.

At the end, the program produces a summary of the visit for the doctor to review. If the doctor gives the OK, those notes get entered into the hospital’s records system — looking very much like the kinds of notes on visits that doctors have long entered into patient records.

But what used to take several minutes per patient now takes a few seconds. e result, Kortsch said, is less time working in the clinic after hours to catch up on documentation and less “pajama time,” the term doctors use to describe the hours at home at night spent on digital paperwork.

“It makes everything slightly easier and slightly better,” Kortsch said.

At Denver Health’s Montbello Family Health Center, physician assistant Jessica Wallace said she typically sees 10 to 12 patients during every half-day shift. at comes out to about 15 minutes per patient.

“ e demand in terms of what we’re expected to do within primary care have increased exponentially over time, and our patients have become a lot more complicated,” she said.

A patient may come into the clinic not just to address one issue — hypertension, say — but multiple issues at a time — hypertension and diabetes and knee pain. at’s a lot to cover in just a few minutes.

Before Nabla, Wallace would walk out of a patient’s room and think to herself whether she had enough time to crank out notes to enter into the patient’s record before racing to the next appointment. If she didn’t, it meant working late or at home at night.

But now, she said, she has enough time to enter the notes and then go to the bathroom or grab a drink of water.

“It doesn’t solve all that ails primary care,” she said. “It takes away the one stupid thing that nobody loved doing and nally makes it easier.”

Kortsch said Denver Health has mainly

REVERSE MORTGAGES

presented Nabla to its medical providers as a wellness initiative — a way to help ease burnout due to the digital paperwork of an electronic medical records system. And in that sense, it appears to be succeeding.

e hospital has a little over 500 medical providers using Nabla. In an earlier pilot project, Kortsch said the hospital saw a 42% reduction in manual typing by those using Nabla. A survey found that 83% of providers using Nabla said the program has increased their desire to continue seeing patients.

But there have been other bene ts, as well. Kortsch said Nabla has been “budget neutral” for Denver Health — meaning it has allowed doctors to see more patients, which has o set the cost of the program. And patients, who are informed about the use of Nabla before each visit, also appear to like it.

Denver Health’s patient satisfaction scores have improved for providers using Nabla. One reason for that, Kortsch said, is that use of the program has appeared to increase eye contact between doctors and patients.

In other words, physicians are turning their eyes away from the computers where they had previously typed furiously during visits and turned them toward the people they are actually treating.

“ e only di erence you’ll notice,” Kortsch said, “is that your doctor looks at you more.”

is story was printed through a news sharing agreement with e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned nonpro t based in Denver that covers the state.