Denver Post beat reporters Parker Gabriel, Ryan McFadden and columnist Troy Renck break down the Broncos’ 26-7 win over Tampa Bay, weigh the impact of losing ILB and captain Alex Singleton for the season to a torn ACL and give the latest on Sean Payton’s team from West Virginia.
What do Parker and Troy think of The Greenbrier and the surrounding rolling hills of West Virginia? And can the trip help Denver get an upset win Sunday against Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets?
All that and more on the latest edition of the 1st & Orange Podcast.
Playing at a hitter’s paradise, better known as Coors Field, the Rockies’ offense continues to underperform.
The Rockies had nine mostly empty hits in a 5-2 loss to the Cardinals on Wednesday night. They were 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position and struck out 11 times.
Fireworks came late with Brenton Doyle’s leadoff homer in the ninth off lefty reliever Matthew Liberatore. It was Doyle’s 23rd homer of the season, but his first since Aug. 29.
Colorado, on course for its second straight 100-loss season, has scored three runs or fewer 35 times at home this season, extending a franchise record. The old mark was 31 times in 2011.
“Offensively, it hasn’t been the year that we had hoped for,” manager Bud Black said. “When you start the season, you have expectations for your group. We had some guys take a step back, but we also had some guys take a step forward.
“But this season … there haven’t been enough guys have the type of season we anticipated.”
Black hopes the younger players will continue to grow, but knows the whole team needs to improve.
“We have talked about this a lot,” he said. “We have to cut down on our strikeouts and we need a better two-strike approach. (Our) situational hitting needs to improve.
“Tonight, again, we had double-digit strikeouts. We have to make sure that (improving the offense) is a huge priority going into next year, whether it’s personnel or whether it’s major adjustments.”
With a 60-98 record, the Rockies must win three of their four remaining games to dodge 100 losses. Last year’s 103-loss season was the worst in franchise history.
Cardinals right-hander Erick Fedde was in command for seven innings, scattering six hits, allowing one run, and fanning 10.
Rockies starter Austin Gomber wasn’t great in his final start of the season, but he wasn’t as bad as the black-and-white box score will show: Four runs allowed on seven hits over five innings. He struck out three and didn’t walk any.
Gomber took pride in the fact that he “went to the post” all season and his rigorous offseason routine kept his back healthy.
“Compared to the last couple years I feel great,” he said. “My back feels great. Not one day this year did I wake up with a sore back or anything. That was nice and it shows that the adjustments I made paid off.”
Wednesday night, the left-hander was victimized by a few hard hits balls and several hits that rolled to daylight.
St. Louis scored a single run off Gomber in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings:
• Thomas Saggese’s RBI double to drive in Ivan Herrera was the key hit of the second.
• Masyn Winn led off the third with a triple off the right-field wall and scored on Brendan Donovan’s sacrifice fly.
• Singles by Nolan Arenado, Saggese and Pedro Pages produced a run in the fourth.
• In the fifth, Winn scorched a leadoff double off the right-field wall, advanced to third on Donovan’s groundout to second and scored on Paul Goldschmidt’s sacrifice fly to right.
Gomber finished his season 5-12 with a 4.75 ERA over a career-high 30 starts and a career-high 165 innings pitched. He walked one or fewer batters in his last five starts, finishing the season with a career-low 2.07 walks per nine innings.
“I’m proud of the fact that Austin got to 30 starts and pretty much answered the bell all season,” Black said. “He held up his end of the bargain, in the big picture.”
Colorado’s lone run off Fedde came in the third, but the inning could have been more bountiful. Jacob Stallings led off with a single and Nolan Jones followed with a double to left-center that nearly cleared the wall.
Second baseman Aaron Schunk, filling in for Brendan Rodgers who’s still nursing a tight right hamstring, drove in Stallings with a single to left.
But Schunk was thrown out trying to steal second and then Charlie Blackmon scorched a line drive straight into Goldschmidt’s glove at first, and Goldschmidt threw across the diamond to double-up Jones at third base.
Given some consistent playing time, Schunk has delivered. He extended his career-best hitting streak to seven games, during which he’s hit .526 (10 for 19).
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM, 94.1 FM
After a terrible four-game start to his season, followed by a two-month stint on the injured list with a left elbow strain, Freeland has been solid. He’d certainly like to finish his season strong, especially after not pitching particularly well in his last start in Los Angeles where the Dodgers tagged him for four runs on seven hits over six innings. The lefty has fared well at home, going 2-1 with a 3.75 ERA in nine starts at Coors Field. Freeland has faced the Cardinals six times in his career, going 0-3 with a 4.54 ERA, including 22 strikeouts and 13 walks. Freeland last faced St. Louis at Coors on April 11, 2023, allowing two runs on six hits in across six innings.
Gibson will make his fifth career start vs. Colorado. He last faced the Rockies on June 8 at Busch Stadium, allowing three runs over six innings in the Cardinals’ 6-5 loss. He has not allowed a home run in two starts (12 1/3 innings) at Coors Field, where’s 1-0 with a 3.65 ERA. Gibson was charged with a loss last Friday when the Cardinals lost, 5-1, to Cleveland. He gave up four runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks over six innings. He struck out two.
Pitching probables
Friday: Dodgers TBA at Rockies RHP Cal Quantrill (8-10, 4.72), 6:10 p.m.
Saturday: Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-2, 2.96) at Rockies RHP Antonio Senzatela (0-0, 3.38), 6:10 p.m.
Sunday: Dodgers RHP Landon Knack (3-5, 3.74) at Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (3-10, 4.66), 1:10 p.m.
Regional Transporation District buses will replace part of the light rail’s W Line near Lakewood during weekend repairs, according to RTD officials.
The W Line will be closed down between the Garrison and Sheridan stations from 11:30 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Sunday as crews repair overhead wires damaged by vandalism last month, RTD officials said in a news release.
The last three trips of Friday night’s normal W Line train schedule will be canceled this week, RTD officials said. The last trains will leave Union Station around 11:22 p.m. and the Jefferson County Government Center/Golden Station around 11:24 p.m..
The W Line will be closed all day Saturday between the Sheridan and Garrison stations, RTD officials said. Buses will replace trains between the two stations.
Riders can board the buses at:
Sheridan Station at 10th and Ames streets: Riders can board at eastbound and westbound Route 9 bus stops.
Lamar Station at 13th and Lamar streets: Riders can board at eastbound and westbound Route 9 bus stops.
Lakewood/Wadsworth Station: Riders can board next to the light rail platform.
Garrison Station: Riders can board next to the rail platform.
RTD officials said the first three normally scheduled W Line trips will be canceled on Sunday, with full service returning around 6 a.m.
On cue, that old Blackmon magic showed up Tuesday night at Coors Field, but the Rockies’ chances of beating the Cardinals disappeared with the return of late-inning pratfalls.
St. Louis scored a run in the seventh and four more in the eighth to turn a tight game into a 7-3 cruiser.
Colorado lost when leading after six innings for the 15th time this season (a 43-15 record), the second-most such losses in the National League behind the Mets (61-16).
A day after announcing his retirement, 14-year veteran Charlie Blackmon swung his magic wand and gave the Rockies a short-lived 3-2 lead in the fifth with an RBI triple into the right-center gap.
Blackmon is 38, but he still has the wheels of a much younger player, and he burned up the basepath on his way to third. The triple was Blackmon’s team-leading fifth of the season and the 68th of his career, the most in franchise history and the most among all active major leaguers.
Blackmon also led off the eighth with a double, but the Rockies failed to bring him home. Colorado has now scored three runs or fewer 34 times at home, extending a franchise record. The old mark was 31 times in 2011.
The Cardinals turned four hits and a walk into four runs in the eighth off right-handed relievers Angel Chivilli and Jake Bird. The clutch hits were RBI singles by Jordan Walker and Victor Scott off Chivilli and a two-run double by Masyn Winn off Bird.
“When you elevate the ball, you are putting yourself in danger,” Rockies manager Bud Black said, referring to Chivilli. “You look at the changeups to Walker and they were all elevated. That gave them the go-ahead run, at 4-3. And then they got the seeing-eye groundball from Scott — that’s baseball.”
St. Louis tied the game, 3-3, in a bizarre seventh inning.
Rockies starter Ryan Feltner, working on a fine game, left with cramping in his pitching arm while facing leadoff hitter Lars Nootbar. Feltner said after that game that he should be fine and expects to make his final start on Sunday in Colorado’s season finale against the Dodgers at Coors.
Right-hander Victor Vodnik replaced Felnter in the middle of the at-bat and walked Nootbar before striking out Walker.
Then pinch hitter Matt Carpenter crushed a double to right-center, advancing Nootbar to third. Winn hit a shot back to Vodnik, who caught Nootbar in a rundown, but the Rockies botched it when they failed to tag Nootbar and second baseman Aaron Schunk failed to cover the second-base bag. As Nootbar scampered back to third, Scott (pinch-running for Carpenter) scooted back from third base to second, and Winn ended up on first on a fielder’s choice.
The Cardinals then cashed in on Alex Burleson’s RBI groundout to short.
St. Louis struck first when they rocked Feltner for two runs on four hits in the third. Michael Siani led off with a single and stole second. Siani waltzed home on Winn’s two-run homer to left on Feltner’s hanging slider.
The inning could have gotten away from Feltner — he gave up a one-out single to Paul Goldschmidt and a two-out single to Brendan Donovan — but Feltner struck out Nolan Arenado and got Ivan Herrera to fly out to right to put down the St. Louis rally.
Feltner said he handles dangerous innings like that much better than he used to.
“Those are situations where offenses can get a little bit more aggressive, and I had the tools, but I just didn’t have the consistency or wherewithal in terms of where we are in the game,” Feltner said. “I need to know that I have to make a pitch here, or that this guy will be aggressive here. Little things like that add up, so just having been through those experiences has helped me.”
Colorado countered in the bottom of the third on Schunk’s solo homer off right-hander Michael McGreevy. It was Schunk’s second homer of the season. Schunk also hit an RBI infield single in the fifth, extending his hitting streak to six games. He’s batting .400 (10 for 25) through his last nine games.
Feltner made another quality start, his third straight in September. He pitched six innings, allowing two runs on six hits. He walked only two. He has a 2.22 ERA in September and has posted a 3.21 ERA through 14 starts since June 26.
“I have had a lot of help with (catcher Jacob) Stallings behind the plate, guiding me,” he said. “He’s helping me use my stuff in the best way possible. Also, I’m just feeling super sharp with all of my pitches and I’m able to land them or put them in the dirt for a chase. Throughout the season I think I’ve just gotten more sharp.”
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM, 94.1 FM
In Gomber’s final start of the season, the lefty will attempt to bounce back from one of the worst starts of his career. Facing Arizona at Coors Field, he allowed six runs (five earned) in just two innings. It was the shortest start of his season. Gomber, part of the 2021 trade that sent Nolan Arenado to St. Louis, is 1-1 with a 6.55 ERA in five career games (three starts) against the Cardinals. He received a no-decision in Colorado’s 8-5 loss at St. Louis on June 7, giving up four runs on six hits with one walk and four strikeouts over five innings.
Fedde will make his fifth career start (sixth appearance) vs. the Rockies but his first as a Cardinal. His previous outings came as a member of the Nationals. In his last start at Coors Field, on May 3, 2022, he limited Colorado to one run over seven innings in Washington’s 10-2 victory. He gave up six hits, walked two and struck out three. In his start last Thursday, Fedde allowed one run on four hits and one walk while striking out three over six innings in a no-decision against the Pirates. It was the right-hander’s first quality start since Aug. 25 and just his second over his past 10 games.
One person was injured in a crash involving six motorists on the westbound side of Interstate 70 on Monday, Denver police announced.
The injured person has been taken to the hospital with serious injuries, the Denver Police Department wrote in a post on X.
The crash occurred on westbound I-70 where it crosses Havana Street on the east side of the city. Police are warning commuters to expect delays in the area.
No further information about the cause of the crash was immediately available.
A pedestrian was killed in a crash near South Parker Road near Interstate 225 on Sunday morning, according to the Aurora Police Department.
Southbound lanes of South Parker Road are closed at South Peoria Street because of the crash investigation, Aurora police said in a post on X. There is no estimated time of reopening and drivers should seek alternate routes.
The crash occurred around 6 a.m., according to police officials. Additional information about the crash was not immediately available.
BOULDER — LaJohntay Wester knows college football heartbreak.
Wester had a fantastic career at Florida Atlantic, but he’s watched his Owls lose on a walk-off field goal in El Paso. He watched another team celebrate bowl eligibility on the final game of a lost season.
Now Wester knows pure, uncut college football joy.
Wester was on the receiving end of what instantly becomes one of the most famous passes in Colorado football history Saturday night. He corralled a Hail Mary from Shedeur Sanders after time expired in regulation to force overtime in a 38-31 victory against Baylor at Folsom Field.
“Me being in college for a while, I’ve always been on the other end of the stick,” Wester said. “They rush the field after they beat us and we’re just trying to hurry off the field. This time I got to enjoy it and actually connect with some of the fans, take pictures. That’s great, man. It was an amazing feeling. There’s nothing like it.”
On a wild night befitting Colorado’s return to Big 12 play, the Buffs could have tied the game on the play before. Sanders heaved the ball toward the same corner of the Baylor end zone, but it deflected off Will Sheppard’s hands on a contested play.
The clock still read :02. Colorado had a second chance, and the Buffs didn’t waste it.
Three wide receivers — Wester, Sheppard and Omarion Miller — lined up to the left of Sanders. Travis Hunter, by design, split out by himself to the right.
Hunter might be the best college football player in America. On this play, he was the best decoy.
“I told coach, ‘Let me go to the side by myself,’” Hunter said. “I knew there would be more people on me, and that would give our guys backside a one-on-one opportunity. They did exactly what we thought. They had three people on me. I just know sometimes you got to step back and let the team go ahead and play their role and let them come down with a good play. So I trusted the process.
“I just wanted us to have a chance. It’s 50-50, but with our receiver corps it’s more like 80-20. I mean, you can’t get any better than our receiver corps.”
Sanders took the shotgun snap and rolled to his left. The Baylor pass rush hounded Sanders all night, sacking him eight times and pressuring him on dozens of his nearly 60 dropbacks.
Getting him out of the pocket was also by design, but two Bears nearly converged on him at midfield as Sanders sent the ball toward the front-left corner of the end zone.
Wester found the ball in the air and reacted, hauling it in just after Baylor defensive back Caden Jenkins fell down and well before the safety help could arrive. It was the fourth catch of the game on seven targets for Wester.
He wasn’t happy with at least one of the non-catches earlier in the game. Then he atoned.
“You’re not going to be perfect,” Wester said. “You’re going to have mistakes out there, but it’s just next play man and making up for it. As long as you make up for it, everybody is going to forget about those drops.”
The improbability of the play was amplified by everything that led up to it. Sanders was sacked on four out of Colorado’s first six plays after Baylor took a 31-24 lead. At one point, it was second-and-24 with 54 seconds to play and 69 yards to the end zone.
Then there was the near-miracle to Sheppard. In the end, Baylor called its defense for the final play. Bears coach Dave Aranda said its name was Victory Cigar.
Then it was Sanders and Wester who lit up Folsom Field.
“I always have confidence in Shedeur. He’s the reason I came here,” Wester said. “He came and got me and I told him, ‘I’m not going to let you down.’ I came here for a reason. He brought me here for a reason. He didn’t bring me here to drop balls and miss assignments. He brought me here to do what I do, and tonight I did what I did.”
And now Wester is going to spend the rest of his life learning about college football immortality in Boulder.
The human-sparked Pearl fire burning west of Fort Collins in Larimer County is 75% contained, fire officials announced Saturday.
The Pearl fire — a wildfire that started on private property in Larimer County on Monday — is burning on 128 acres of land near Red Feather Lakes, fire officials said. That’s nearly the same size as 97 football fields put together.
Containment isn’t the end of a wildfire, it’s merely the status of a control line being completed around the fire that can stop the flames’ spread. A wildfire can continue to burn for days or weeks after being fully contained.
Larimer County officials are still investigating what started the Pearl fire but said it was human-caused.
As rain and snow move in Saturday afternoon on northern Colorado — creating more favorable firefighting conditions — the Incident Management Team plans to reduce the number of resources assigned to the fire, according to a news release from the U.S. Forest Service.
Residents in the Crystal Lakes area living off of Pearl Beaver Road, Bear Ridge Drive, Mount Hellene Drive and near Deadman Lookout remain on mandatory evacuation orders Saturday, according to the county evacuation map.
The Forest Service also issued a closure order for the immediate fire area.
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani set a major league record by homering and stealing a base for the 14th time in the same game and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied to beat the last-place Colorado Rockies 6-4 on Friday night.
The win reduced the NL West-leading Dodgers’ magic number to four to clinch the division. Los Angeles is already assured of a postseason berth.
Ohtani’s 52nd homer and 52nd stolen base allowed him to break the previous mark of 13 games set by Rickey Henderson in 1986 with the New York Yankees.
Teoscar Hernández hit a go-ahead homer leading off the sixth inning that gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead.
The Dodgers tacked on two runs in the seventh. Pinch-hitter Tommy Edman scored on Mookie Betts’ sacrifice fly. Ohtani reached on an infield single to first base and then stole second. He was safe at third on a throwing error by center fielder Sam Hilliard and scored on Hernandez’s infield single.
Ohtani had a go-ahead homer with two outs in the fifth after Andy Pages led off the inning with a solo shot.
Ohtani gave the crowd of 49,073 some thrills after the home fans had to watch long distance Thursday night when he became the first player in major league history with 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a season at Miami.
The Rockies got home runs by Charlie Blackmon and Hilliard.
Alex Vesia (4-4) got the victory with one inning of relief. Michael Kopech pitched the ninth for his 14th save.
Colorado’s Kyle Freeland (5-8) took the loss, giving up four runs and seven hits in six innings. He struck out two and walked none.
Ryan Brasier pitched the first inning to open the bullpen game for the Dodgers.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rockies: RHP Tyler Kinley went on the 15-day IL with right elbow inflammation.
Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw (toe) threw a 30-pitch bullpen session and hopes to face hitters next week. … RHP Anthony Banda (hand) will throw a bullpen this weekend.
UP NEXT
Rockies: RHP Cal Quantrill (8-10, 4.68 ERA) makes his second start Saturday since coming off the IL. He’s 1-5 in his career against LA.
Dodgers: RHP Walker Buehler (1-5, 5.54) is looking for just his second win of the season. He got hit hard by the Rockies on June 18, giving up seven hits, seven runs and two homers.
It is not clear if Fitzgerald chose to leave his position with RTD’s internal police force or if he was fired.
“As of Sept. 20, Dr. Joel Fitzgerald is no longer employed at the Regional Transportation District,” agency officials said in a statement Friday. “RTD thanks Dr. Fitzgerald for his service to the agency’s employees, customers, and stakeholders over the last two years.”
Fitzgerald was hired in August of 2022 and put in charge of a growing police department tasked with combating issues including increasing violence and drug use in public transit spaces in recent years.
But he was placed on leave for undisclosed reasons earlier this summer, RTD board members confirmed to The Denver Post without offering specifics.
CBS Colorado was the first to report on the situation, highlighting an internal RTD memo that cited an outside investigation into “policy violations” committed by Fitzgerald.
Colorado Public Radio was the first to cover Fitzgerald’s separation from the agency on Friday. That outlet previously reported that Fitzgerald had repeatedly driven an agency SUV at speeds over 100 mph and that he did not frequently visit RTD facilities in person, according to internal agency records.
RTD plans to name an interim leader for its Transit Police and Emergency Management Department in the coming days, according to the agency’s statement Friday.
City officials did not say when or where the beetles were found or how many trees were impacted and could not immediately be reached for comment.
Ash trees infested by the beetles can be identified through “D-shaped” exit holes, splitting bark and “S-shaped” tunnels under the bark, city Forestry Supervisor Luke Killoran said in a statement.
Other signs include thinning tree canopy, abnormal shoots of growth, smaller leaves and lots of woodpecker activity.
In Colorado, the bugs were first found in Boulder County in 2013 and have since been confirmed in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield and Larimer counties. Arvada’s first beetle was discovered in 2020.
Residents may be able to protect healthy trees through preventative insecticide treatments but should make sure to use a certified arborist licensed by the Colorado Department of Agriculture as a commercial pesticide applicator.
Investigators determined the woman died “under suspicious circumstances” from an assault on Sept. 7 and identified Jasmane Taylor as a suspect through witness interviews and surveillance video.
Taylor was arrested Friday during an unrelated investigation and is currently in custody at the Downtown Detention Center on a $1,000,000 cash bond, according to jail records.
Lawyers for Washington state will have past grocery chain mergers – and their negative consequences – in mind when they go to court to block a proposed merger between Albertsons and Kroger.
The case is one of three challenging the $24.6 billion deal, which was announced nearly two years ago. The Federal Trade Commission is currently fighting the merger in federal court in Oregon, where closing arguments are expected Tuesday. Colorado has also sued to block the merger.
But if the merger goes through, Washington residents would feel the impact more than the people of any other state. Albertsons and Kroger own more than 300 grocery stores in the state and control more than half of grocery sales there.
Under a plan to ease regulators’ concerns, Kroger and Albertsons would sell 579 overlapping stores, 124 of them in Washington, if the merger goes through. That’s the highest number among the 19 states with stores on the list. The state attorney general’s office says the proposed buyer, C&S Wholesale Grocers, has little experience running stores or pharmacies.
Washington seeks to avoid the situation it found itself in a decade ago, when Albertsons bought the Safeway chain. To satisfy regulators concerned about that deal’s potential impact on supermarket competition and consumers, Albertsons sold 146 stores to Haggen, a small grocery chain based in Bellingham, Washington.
But Haggen struggled with the expansion. Within six months, it had closed 127 stores — including 14 in Washington — and laid off thousands of workers. Haggen sold its remaining stores to Albertsons in 2016. Now, 10 Haggen stores in Washington are on the list to be sold if the merger happens.
“It’s pretty terrifying,” said Tina McKim, a founding member of Birchwood Food Desert Fighters, a group that sprang up in 2016 after Albertsons closed a store in Bellingham’s Birchwood neighborhood.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a Democrat who is running for governor, wants to block the merger not just in the state but nationwide. In its complaint, filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle, Washington says eliminating the “robust competition” that exists between Albertsons and Kroger would lead to higher prices, lower quality and, most likely, store closures.
Albertsons and Kroger say the merger would help them better compete with growing rivals like Walmart and Costco. They are trying to get the case dismissed, arguing a state court isn’t the proper venue to consider a nationwide ban.
“Under our federalist system, Washington cannot wield its antitrust law to dictate merger policy for the rest of the country,” Albertsons and Kroger said in a court filing.
Brad Weber, a Dallas-based partner with the law firm Locke Lord who specializes in antitrust issues, said the Superior Court judge could decide to halt the merger nationwide or limit his ruling to Washington. Judge Marshall Ferguson might also order the companies to make changes to their plans to divest stores to preserve competition.
Ferguson may also decide to delay the case until there’s a ruling from the U.S. District Court in Oregon. Weber said. In that case, the Federal Trade Commission has asked a judge to temporarily block the merger until it is considered by an in-house judge at the FTC.
Albertsons and Kroger insist that their plan, including the sale of stores to C&S, will lower grocery prices and preserve competition. But Washington residents like McKim remain skeptical.
In 2016, Albertsons acquired a Haggen supermarket and then promptly closed an Albertsons store about a mile away in Birchwood. When it sold its former store two years later, Albertsons included a restriction: for the next 20 years, no grocery store could open in the Birchwood shopping plaza.
Albertsons says these types of restrictions — occasionally used when there is a store in close proximity to the store that’s closing — can help grocery companies stay competitive.
But it was a huge blow to the community, McKim said. For 35 years, the Birchwood store had served older adults, students, people with disabilities and lower-income residents who suddenly had no easy access to fresh food.
“We were all really shocked by that. How is it possible to deny food access to a neighborhood?” McKim said. “It made it really hard for anyone without a car to be able to go to another grocery store.”
McKim’s group tries to fill the void by collecting food donations and bringing in produce from local farms, but “it’s nowhere near the level of access people need,” she said.
This summer, after an investigation by Washington’s attorney general, Albertsons removed the restriction on the shopping plaza. A Big Lots that moved into the former grocery store is closing soon, McKim said, and she hopes the space will attract another supermarket. But even if it does, the community may never get back the unionized jobs it lost when Albertsons shut its doors, she said.
McKim said her area does have a Walmart, but it’s even further away from Birchwood than the Albertsons-run Haggen store, which is on the list of stores that would be sold to C&S. She’s also not convinced Kroger and Albertsons need to merge to compete with Walmart.
“This city is growing so quickly, the need for food is absolutely critical everywhere,” McKim said. “When you see other stores succeed, it’s because they curate to the neighborhood’s needs.”
Initial observations from the CU Buffs’ 28-9 win over the CSU Rams in the Rocky Mountain Showdown’s return to Fort Collins and Canvas Stadium.
Changes up front: Coach Prime indicated the Buffs planned on making changes up front to solve their problems on the offensive line. The big moves? Phillip Houston at right tackle, old RT Tyler Brown to left guard and freshman Micah Welch in the backfield. The results? Quite positive. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders was sacked just once (on a slide), while Welch (nine carries, 65 yards) found room to roam off the left side (when the Buffs actually decided to run it). Whether that has more to do with a leaky CSU defense than actual improvement remains to be seen. At the very least, CU saw the general competence it needed to on Saturday. And that’s a good start.
Total control: It took Shedeur Sanders and the Buffs roughly a quarter to get warmed up, but once they did, they controlled every facet of this game. Travis Hunter (13 catches, 100 yards, two TDs, one interception) remains one-of-one. LaJohntay Wester (five catches, 80 yards) joins CU’s growing list of offensive weapons. And the defense? Let’s just say they’ve figured some things out. Since the start of the second half in Nebraska, the Buffs have allowed just nine points over six quarters. The shallow crosses that tore apart CU in 2023 were shut off from the start. Outside of a couple of long runs, the Buffs did a solid job bottling up CSU’s run game. All in all, there was a lot to like for CU as the Big 12 schedule arrives next week vs. Baylor.
What’s happened to BFN?: A year ago, this was the game that cemented Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi as the Rams’ quarterback of the future. Twelve months later, CSU fans have to be wondering what happened to that guy. The sophomore was largely ineffective in the first half, sailing a pair of third-down throws and looking indecisive out of the pocket while completing 6 of 10 passes for just 54 yards. Then he opened the second half by throwing an all-too-familiar head-scratching interception across the middle. It didn’t get much better after that. Yes, Tory Horton’s inability to stay on the field changes what CSU can do. But it shouldn’t grind the Rams’ offense to a halt. Three weeks into his second season as a starter, it sure looks like BFN has taken a step back.
Too. Many. Mistakes: As dominant as the Buffs were for large portions of this game, CSU sure gave them plenty of opportunities to find their footing. Freshman defensive lineman Andrew Laurich was lucky he didn’t get tossed for his late hit on Shedeur Sanders in the second quarter. Instead, it was just a really bad personal foul that gifted CU a first down on an eventual touchdown drive. Graduate defensive lineman James Mitchell’s facemask on second-and-21 did the same thing one Buffs scoring march later. Toss in Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi’s pick, Keegan Holles’ first-and-goal fumble and two botched snaps in CU territory, and the errors were legion. The Rams needed to play near perfect to win this one. They were far from it.
Extra point
Five years? That has to change: Green-and-Gold vs. Black-and-Gold needs to happen every fall from now until the end of time. And yet the next one of these isn’t scheduled until 2029, when the Rams visit the Buffs in Boulder. Five years is waaaaaayyyy too long for us to have to wait for another one Showdown. With the Rams set to move to the Pac-12 in 2026, and perhaps opening up a few more days, maybe something can be done between now and ’29? If there is any opening, the Buffs and Rams need to work it out. This rivalry should be renewed as often as possible.
The latest iPhones, unveiled by Apple at a marketing event Monday, look virtually identical to last year’s models. But Apple hopes that what’s underneath — new software that brings what it describes as artificial intelligence to the new phones — will persuade people to upgrade.
Apple Intelligence, the company’s new suite of AI services, automates tasks including generating images, rewriting emails and summarizing web articles. Only the iPhone 16s unveiled Monday or last year’s iPhone 15 Pro can run the new software because older models are too slow to handle those tasks, according to the company. The faster iPhone 16 devices start at $800 and will arrive in stores later this month.
But what if I told you there was another way to get the same perks?
Long before Apple introduced Apple Intelligence at a software conference in June, many apps for automatically producing text and images had been widely available. Relying on a technology known as generative AI, which predicts what words and images belong together to write a catchy poem or generate a realistic-looking image of a cat on a windowsill, for instance, these types of services have been trendy for the last two years.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
By downloading a handful of apps, iPhone owners can get similar benefits and hold on to their older devices longer. After I tested dozens of generative AI apps in the last year, here are my recommendations.
Summarizing text
One of Apple Intelligence’s most anticipated features is its ability to take large blocks of text and distill the main points into a few sentences. This capability could be useful for summarizing a lengthy web article or lecture notes.
But there’s already a popular tool for summarizing web articles: Arc Search, a free browser developed by a startup. To test it, I loaded an 8,000-word feature from ProPublica about a chemist who blew the whistle on the manufacturer 3M. When I pinched the screen, the app generated a one-sentence overview of what the article was about, followed by three bullet points summing up the highlights. While the bullet points glossed over important details you would have gotten from reading the full article, I found the summary accurate.
For summarizing notes, the free web app Humata AI has become popular among academic researchers and lawyers. By visiting Humata.ai on a web browser, you can upload a document such as a PDF, and from there, you can type requests in a window to ask a chatbot to summarize the most important points. In response, the chatbot will show a digital copy of the PDF and highlight relevant portions of the text.
Writing tools
Apple Intelligence also includes tools to rewrite text — to make an email sound more professional, for instance. Lots of free apps can handle this task proficiently.
The best known include the ChatGPT chatbot from OpenAI, along with rivals like Gemini from Google and Bing AI from Microsoft — all apps that can be downloaded in the App Store. Just paste text into the app and ask the chatbot to rewrite it in a different tone by typing, for instance, “Make this email sound more personable for a client I’ve known for many years.”
For help with writing, I prefer a lesser-known tool, Wordtune, from the startup AI21 Labs. Its interface, accessible on wordtune.com, is designed like a word processor for composing and editing text. You can type in a paragraph and click on buttons to expand, shorten or rewrite sentences to sound more casual or formal; the app will show a list of rewritten sentences to choose from.
Image generation
Another of Apple Intelligence’s hyped features is its ability to generate fun images, such as an emoji of yourself eating pizza, to send to friends.
Many options for generating images exist, including a tool that most iPhone users are likely to already have: Meta AI, Meta’s free chatbot that is included inside Instagram, WhatsApp and its other apps. In the search bar at the top of Instagram, you can ask the chatbot to conjure images by typing “/imagine” followed by a description.
I typed “/imagine me eating steak.” Meta AI then loaded a tool to take photos of my face from multiple angles. It produced an obviously fake rendering of me salivating over a large, rare steak inside a restaurant.
Other similar tools for typing prompts to generate images include Adobe Firefly, found on firefly.adobe.com, and ChatGPT.
Photo editing
Another new Apple Intelligence tool can automatically remove photo bombers with the tap of a button.
Google has offered a similar editing tool, Magic Eraser, inside its Google Photos photo album app for iPhone and Android users since 2023. Inside Google Photos, select your photo, tap the “edit” button and select the Magic Eraser tool. You can then circle the distracting objects or people you would like to erase.
I used Magic Eraser on a photo of my corgi, Max, in a dog park — to remove a citation form from a police officer for letting Max run off leash without a permit. It replaced the maddening piece of bureaucracy with some pine needles.
Hunter Goodman was working on a nice game when he stepped into the batters’ box in the bottom of the eighth inning.
He made a career night with one more swing.
Goodman’s go-ahead grand slam was the exclamation point on a 9-5 victory Friday night for the Colorado Rockies against the Chicago Cubs in front of 38,406 at Coors Field. It was Goodman’s second home run of the game and his third hit. He had seven runs batted in, the most by a Colorado hitter since Elias Diaz had seven in a Sept. 9, 2022 game against Arizona.
The Rockies’ bullpen has been a strength of late, but Michael Busch crushed a three-run homer off reliever Victor Vodnik to pull the Cubs even in the eighth inning. Chicago had put two guys on with no outs twice since the first inning without scoring, but Busch left no doubt with a moonshot into the second deck in right field.
Adalyn Gomber’s dad didn’t work out his first-inning issues while on leave for her birth, but he pieced together an excellent outing in his first start back.
Austin Gomber allowed a pair of runs on three hits and a walk in the first inning. He’s now allowed 33 runs on 47 hits and 12 walks in 28 first innings, an ERA of 10.61.
He now has a 2.84 ERA in the 130 innings he’s pitched after the first this season.
Gomber entered the game with an MLB-high 27 home runs allowed. A big key to this one: He kept the ball in the field of play, while the Cubs pitchers could not.
The Cubs had multiple chances against Gomber after the first inning, but he induced an inning-ending double play in the fourth and then got back-to-back-to-back weak fly ball outs after the first two guys reached base in the sixth.
Goodman had the big hit during a three-run second inning to put the Rockies in front. His 430-foot, two-run homer to left field gave Colorado a 3-2 advantage. Brendan Rodgers got the Rockies on the board with a double down the left-field line that scored Ryan McMahon before Goodman’s two-out heroics.
Goodman also pushed across the club’s fourth run in the fourth inning with a soft line drive to left that plated Michael Toglia. He didn’t miss another home run by much in the sixth inning, sending Cubs centerfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong toward the wall with a 401-foot out that would have been gone in five of the 30 MLB parks.
Since hitting five homers in eight days in mid-June, Goodman had been mired in a 13-for-86 slump (.151) with 28 strikeouts and just two home runs in his past 31 contests.
Ezequiel Tovar provided what looked like insurance at the time with an opposite-field home run in the seventh to make it a 5-2 advantage. Tovar has also been slumping at the plate during the stretch run. He was hitting .196 with a .226 on-base percentage and four home runs since Aug. 1 (36 games), but singled in the second along with his 23rd homer of the year.
NOTES: Rockies manager Bud Black confirmed before the game that Antonio Senzatela will make his first start since May 10, 2023 on Monday night. Senzatela had Tommy John surgery in July 2023 to repair the ulnar collateral ligament sprain in his right elbow.
Black also said that Kris Bryant (back) is not close to returning to the lineup, and said it’s “increasingly possible” that his 2024 season is over. Bryant has two home runs in 37 games.
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 630 AM/94.1 FM
Freeland is 5-4 with a 3.36 ERA in 14 starts since returning from injury in late June. He’s been rolling of late, yielding a total of five earned runs in his past four starts. His two September outings have included nine strikeouts and no walks in 11 innings, with one earned run allowed combined. Freeland’s 3.17 K/BB ratio leads Rockies pitchers with at least 40 innings pitched.
Tallion has also allowed just one run combined in his past two starts. He struck out six in six innings of one-run ball in last start against the New York Yankees after seven shutout frames against the Pittsburgh Pirates in his first September outing. Taillon’s striking out fewer batters per nine innings (6.9) than any year of his career, but his OPS against (.689) is his lowest since 2019.
Pitching probables
Sunday: Cubs RHP Kyle Hendrickson (3-11, 6.51) at Rockies RHP Paul Quantrill (8-9, 4.63), 1:10 p.m.
Monday: Diamondbacks TBA at Rockies RHP Antonio Senzatela (0-0, 0.00), 6:40 p.m.
Tuesday: Diamondbacks TBA at Rockies TBA, 6:40 p.m.
The suspect in Thursday’s fatal hostage situation and shootout at Broomfield’s Arista Flats apartment complex and the woman he held hostage lived in the same apartment, property managers said.
In an email to residents, Arista Flats management said the hostage and gunman lived together, but the relationship between the two is still unknown.
“As you likely know, there was a domestic violence incident in our community early in the morning of Sept. 12, 2024, that involved a male resident firing shots inside and outside of a unit and injuring a female resident who resided in the same unit,” management wrote in the email. “The incident ended after a short stand-off with law enforcement and the resident was taken into custody.”
The hours-long standoff with police at the Arista Flats complex ended with the death of the woman hostage and police taking a seriously injured gunman into custody.
Police did not specify who shot the woman, but said Thursday at least one Broomfield officer fired his weapon at the suspect.
Police have not publically identified the gunman and the woman he’d held hostage, but Broomfield Police Department spokeswoman Rachel Haslett said criminal charges against the 34-year-old suspect “are forthcoming.”
Residents who were evacuated from Arista Flats during Thursday’s hostage situation and investigation can return home Friday, police said.
The number of residents evacuated from the apartment complex was not available Friday.
Officers set up a ladder at the scene of a shooting and hostage situation at Broomfield apartment complex Arista Flats in Broomfield, Colorado on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
The south stairwell in building 15 of Arista Flats — 11332 Central Court — remains closed for the investigation, police said. Residents can use any other entrance.
The first wave of that expansion includes four of the top athletic brands from the Mountain West: CSU, Boise State, San Diego State and Fresno State, will all four becoming members on July 1, 2026.
“We are taking control of our future at CSU by forming an alliance of six peer institutions who will serve as the foundation for a new era of the Pac-12,” CSU President Amy Parsons said in a news release announcing the move.
“This move elevates CSU in a way which benefits all our students, bolsters our core mission, and strengthens our reputation for academic and research excellence. CSU is honored to be among the universities asked to help carry on the history and tradition of the Pac-12 as a highly competitive conference with some of the nation’s leading research institutions.”
“This moment has been a long time coming,” CSU authentic director John Weber said. “I know our students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and fans are hungry for this move and are going to love what comes next as CSU charts a transformational new course as a member of the Pac-12.”
The Pac-12, which was founded in 1915, has historically been the most prestigious collegiate league west of the Central time zone. However, that prestige, and indeed its membership, were crippled by the defections of CU, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State to the Big 12; USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten; and Stanford and Cal to the ACC.
Washington State and Oregon State were left with the conference’s holdings, trademarks and media rights. Per Yahoo Sports, the remaining Pac-12 programs believe they can rebuild the brand with the likes of the Rams, Aztecs, Broncos and Bulldogs as peers.
They’re also not done looking at new members, as the NCAA requires a minimum of eight schools to qualify as an FBS conference.
CSU football plays at Oregon State on Oct. 5 as part of a scheduling alliance between the MW and the remains of the Pac-12, a partnership that Yahoo Sports reports will not continue for a second fall.
Mountain West members are contracted to pay a $17 million exit fee to leave the league.
The primary motivations for CSU are the same reasons CU left the Pac-12 this past summer — money, prestige, potential access to the College Football Playoff, and stability.
While the mass defections from the Pac-12 would denounce the latter, Yahoo Sports reports that the remaining Pac-12 members feel a new-look league would reach a media rights agreement worth more than the current or expected payouts presented to MW members.
The Mountain West has a $270 million television contract with CBS and Fox that runs through 2026.
Published reports have estimated that non-Boise members of the MW, including CSU, receive roughly $3.5 million annually from that deal, with the Broncos receiving an additional $1.8 million per year.
The Yahoo Sports report infers that the Rams could also have access to Pac-12 assets such as “monies from the Rose Bowl contract, College Football Playoff, NCAA basketball tournament units and Pac-12 Enterprises, previously the Pac-12 Network.”
CSU indicated in its announcement Thursday morning that the four new schools “will have immediate voting privileges” within the conference.
“We have nothing but the utmost respect and appreciation for the Mountain West and its members,” Parsons said. “There will be conversations going forward about the Mountain West exit fees and Pac-12 support for our transition. We are confident the path forward will not impact our current university budget and will set CSU up for incredible opportunities to come.”
However, the two-team Pac-12 recently lost its status as a Power 5/”autonomous” conference within the CFP — and it’s not clear whether supplementing the expanded league with Group of 5 programs would restore those privileges.
Police are searching for a 16-year-old cognitively impaired Commerce City boy who was reported missing Monday.
Liam Sweezey, 16, was last seen walking in the 14000 block of East 104th Avenue in Commerce City around 6 p.m. Monday, according to an alert from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
The 16-year-old is described as a white, 6-foot, 160-pound teenager with black hair and brown eyes.
Sweezey was last seen wearing a black hoodie sweatshirt, black jeans and a white hat, investigators said in the alert. The teenager was also carrying a black handbag.
Police said Sweezey has cognitive impairments and requires medication.
Anyone with information on Sweezey’s whereabouts should call 911 or the Commerce City Police Department at 303-288-1535.
