ReportWire

Tag: Denver

  • Broncos WR room in good hands with Courtland Sutton, an improvement ‘thief,’ leading the way

    [ad_1]

    The Broncos’ 2025 wide receiver corps has a high ceiling because of the upside several players in the room possess.

    Perhaps just as important: The group has a pretty stable floor because of Courtland Sutton, the trusty veteran and No.1 option.

    Sutton is coming off perhaps the best year of his professional career in 2024, is newly signed to a four-year, $92 million contract extension, and is primed to carry on into 2025 as the top option for second-year quarterback Bo Nix in the passing game.

    None of that seemed like a guarantee when the 2018 second-round pick got off to a slow start with Nix last year, but over the course of the season, their connection continually strengthened.

    By the end of Week 18, Sutton logged career highs in catches (81) and targets (135), topped 1,000 yards for the first time since 2019, and set himself up to be part of Denver’s long-term future.

    “He’s been a captain,” head coach Sean Payton said this summer. “If he didn’t say a word, the young guys watch his preparation and his work ethic. Yet, obviously, his experience (helps) with all of those players. It really starts with his preparation in (the building) and on to the field.

    “He’s everything you want in a pro.”

    In 2024, he started slow but turned himself into everything Nix needed as a rookie trying to navigate his first NFL season.

    Sutton finished third in third-down catches (30) and led the NFL in both third-down yardage (452) and first downs generated (27), according to Football Database data.

    At 6-foot-4 and 215-plus pounds, Sutton gave Nix a big target to trust down the field and in traffic.

    According to Next Gen Stats, Sutton accounted for 45.7% of the Broncos’ downfield targets, which was the second-highest share on throws of 10-plus air yards in the league.

    That led to a lot of good (812 yards on downfield throws between Nix and Sutton), some bad (six interceptions on such attempts), and a clear trust built between the two.

    Payton said this summer that Sutton reminds him of former New Orleans receiver Marques Colston, a seventh-round pick who went on to log six 1,000-yard seasons, 9,759 total receiving yards and 72 touchdowns over a 10-year career.

    “Marques was maybe a little quieter, but day in and day out, so consistent in their performance,” Payton said. “And then on gamedays, they were very similar. They both played split end, strong hands in traffic, really, really good football instincts. …

    “When you get to know (Sutton), he doesn’t have too many bad days. Those guys with the right energy, there’s a lot to be said for that because you’re going to hit some tough times and you’re going to hit some walls during the course of any season. He’s one of those guys who is part of the solution. Always.”

    Sutton turns 30 in early October — he’ll celebrate the big, round number while the Broncos are in London preparing to play the New York Jets — but has shown no signs of slowing down. Even in 2024, when he skipped the voluntary portion of Denver’s offseason in protest of his contract status, Sutton showed up to training camp in terrific shape.

    This year proved no exception.

    “Courtland has been having a really good camp,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said recently. “He looks to me even better than he did last camp.”

    Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton talks to Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton (14) and QB Bo Nix (10) during training camp at Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit in Centennial on Thursday, July 31, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

    [ad_2]

    Parker Gabriel

    Source link

  • One Book One Denver resumes this fall with a Pulitzer-Prize winning adult title

    [ad_1]

    If you’ve dropped by a public library in Denver recently and, like more than a thousand other people, were offered an orange and yellow paperback book for free, it wasn’t a fluke.

    It’s part of a reading program led by the Denver Public Library that has been reinstated this year after taking a hiatus. The program is called One Book One Denver, and it’s intended to get people out of post-COVID isolation and reading the same book – one that could spark connection and community-building. 

    Most recently, it was a program for young people, but this year, it’s returned with an adult title: “Stay True,” a page-turner of a memoir set in the 1990s by Hua Hsu, who is the son of Taiwanese immigrants and works as a college professor in New York. Now in his late 40s, he spent 20 years working on the book, which was published in 2022 to great acclaim. It won a Pulitzer Prize and was a best-seller.

    “Stay True” author Hua Hsu.
    Courtesy of Denver Public Library
    The cover of the book Stay True by Hua Hsu
    The cover of “Stay True” by author Hua Hsu.
    Courtesy of Denver Public Library

    It takes a microscope to a friendship between Hsu and another Asian student named Ken while they attend college together in Northern California. Hsu is more of an introvert who writes a ‘zine, listens to hip-hop and shops in thrift stores, while Ken is more outgoing, taking dance classes in public and finding ways to befriend a wide swath of people. 

    The two bond despite outward differences because they both enjoy some of the same things, including underground film Berry Gordy’s “The Last Dragon” and smoking cigarettes on balconies. About two-thirds of the way through, the plot twists when an unexpected act of violence takes Ken away from their friend group.

    The library gave out 1,500 copies of that book — 100 of them in Spanish, to the surprise and delight of the author, who declined interviews but provided the library with a statement: “It’s so great that this city-wide reading program is back, and I feel honored to be a part of its return. I wrote Stay True for quite personal reasons, not imagining the reception it’s gotten over the past few years. Witnessing how it has resonated with strangers has been such an amazing surprise. I hope it’s a book that brings people together in discussion and friendship.”

    The title was selected with deliberate care, according to Jessie de la Cruz, who coordinated the project as Program Manager for Civic and Literary Initiatives.

    When asked what made DPL select “Stay True,” she said: “We were going off of some surveys from adults and looking at circulation trends, and we saw that a lot of our adult readers gravitate towards non-fiction.”

    Another reason, she said, is that the book touches on things everyone experiences: friendship, loss, grief and coming-of-age.

    Several people crowd around a printing station at an event some hold up posters they made
    One Book One Denver visitors hold up posters they’ve made.
    Courtesy of Denver Public Library

    “I think when I read this book and I came across it, I felt that it had a lot of universal themes that would be applicable to all backgrounds, to all genders, to all identities,” she said. “I think we can all relate to that version of ourselves … that was awkward and clumsy, and trying to figure out who we are, those new friendships that you develop in college on top of trying to understand and grapple with your identity and your independence.” 

    The program originally began in 2004, with the focus being children’s books for part of the time, and interest seemingly fizzling out, leading to the program’s end a dozen years ago.

    Then came a request:

    “Last year, the Mayor’s Office approached Denver Public Library about reviving One Book One Denver,” said library spokesperson Alvaro Sauceda Nuñez in an email. “Denver Public Library programs, such as the Silent Pages Society, showed us that adults in Denver are hungry for meaningful, low-pressure ways to engage with books and with each other. OBOD is a response to that need.”

    He also noted that research has shown that adult reading for pleasure is in steady decline, especially among younger adults and their internal program showed patrons were hungry for meaningful ways to engage with books and each other without pressure. “In relaunching OBOD, we intend to spark curiosity and engagement—not just among our regular customers, but also among adults who may not see themselves as ‘readers’ right now.”

    Community activities

    Besides making 20 copies of the book available for free to rent and unlimited copies available to download, the library also came up with suggested conversation questions for use in group discussion sessions. But de la Cruz saw a bigger opportunity to bring the book and the project into a larger context.

    She designed some other engagement opportunities at different branches, such as:

    • An opportunity to explore storytelling through ‘zine creation – one of Hsu’s passions – on Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Bob Raglan Branch;
    • A creative writing workshop during which participants will use objects to tell stories, on Sunday, Sept. 28, at the Ross-University Hills Branch; and
    • A chance to make a mix tape, like the ones Hsu and his friend Ken exchanged, on Friday, Sept. 12, at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library.

    “It was really important that this program didn’t just exist within the library, but how do we activate and bring it out into the city?” said de la Cruz. “How does it spill out of the library into the city streets?”

    Expressing books visually

    Another way she found to connect people with the book’s themes was to link up with the Colorado Photographic Arts Center, located near the library’s main branch. The center found a way to use photography to express the ideas in the book visually. 

    Samantha Johnston, curator and executive director of the arts center, put together an exhibit called “What Remains.” It includes photos by three photographers, two from Colorado, whose images “explore complexities of identity, fear, memory, and the solace that can be found through art,” according to the center’s promotional documents.

    Work by Emily “Billie” Warnock in the “What Remains” show at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center on Lincoln Street. Sept. 4, 2025.
    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

    During a recent visit to the center, Johnston led a tour of the exhibit. “All the work is part of the ‘What Remains’ exhibition, but each artist has their area,” she said, pointing out four walls with the work that will be displayed until the end of the month, by photographers Carl Bower, Dana Stirling and Emily (Billie) Warnock. 

    Among the most arresting is a photo essay on fear by local photographer Bower, featuring stark images of people looking intensely at the camera, alongside a written answer the subject provided about what they fear.

    Work by Emily “Billie” Warnock in the “What Remains” show at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center on Lincoln Street. Sept. 4, 2025.
    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
    “Veronica” by Carl Bower in the “What Remains” show at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center on Lincoln Street. Sept. 4, 2025.
    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

    She said fear is a common theme in Bower’s photos as it is in Hsu’s words. “It’s where Hua Hsu speaks to that loss of Ken and also that the fear of … forgetting those memories of his friend and who he is, and again, all tying differently, but underlying connections into how I curated the work.”

    “Stay True” author Hua Hsu will speak on Friday at Denver Public Library’s Central branch, and on Saturday, Lighthouse Writers Workshop is holding an event at the arts center, during which people will look at the exhibit, then use it and Hsu’s book for inspiration for a creative free-writing session.

    “Communities form when we listen to and share with one another,” Hsu said in his statement. “I hope reading about my friends and I inspires others to think about the bonds that run through their lives, the everyday stories worth cherishing, and the visions of community they hope to find in the real world.”

    The “What Remains” show at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center on Lincoln Street. Sept. 4, 2025.
    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Wildfire smoke, ozone causes air quality alert for Front Range, Denver metro

    [ad_1]

    Hot, dry weather and wildfire smoke from out-of-state fires will contribute to lower air quality across the Front Range and Denver metro through Friday afternoon, Colorado public health officials said.

    [ad_2]

    Katie Langford

    Source link

  • Waymo’s next stops for its robotaxis are Denver and Seattle

    [ad_1]

    Waymo is preparing to launch in two more markets. The company announced today that it will expand into both and . It will begin testing with humans behind the wheel this week, bringing up to a dozen vehicles to each location, according to . The rollout will include a mix of the brand’s fully electric Jaguar iPace and Geely Zeekr autonomous vehicles.

    “We will begin driving manually before validating our technology and operations for fully autonomous services in the future,” a representative told CNBC.

    This has been a busy year for the Alphabet-owned Waymo, which said in January that it planned to introduce its autonomous vehicles to during 2025. The company partnered with Uber for its launch in June and also rolled out a teen account option in July. Waymo received permits to begin testing its cars in New York City last month.

    [ad_2]

    Anna Washenko

    Source link

  • CU Denver just opened an easier path to college for thousands of Denver students

    [ad_1]

    FILE, The University of Colorado Denver campus on Monday, March 13, 2023.

    Hart Van Denburg/CPR News

    Thousands of Denver Public Schools students are set to receive admission letters from the University of Colorado Denver in the coming months — even if they didn’t apply.

    For the first time, CU Denver is granting automatic admission and fee waivers to all DPS seniors with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Juniors can also apply, but must maintain their GPA.

    If students apply by Nov.1, they will receive an official decision by mid-November for the next year’s fall semester, university officials told Denverite.                                                      

    The new pathway is the result of an agreement between DPS and CU Denver, which went into effect with a signing ceremony on Tuesday afternoon.

    “Denver Public Schools is deeply committed to expanding higher education opportunities for our students,” DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero said in a press release. “Higher education is one of many paths for our students after high school, and this partnership with CU Denver is a milestone that provides accessible, quality education, empowering them to thrive personally and professionally in Colorado.”

    According to CU Denver, in 2024-25, nearly 1,500 degree-seeking undergraduates enrolled from DPS schools to their institution. Of these, more than 475 were new enrollees last year. CU Denver officials are anticipating an increase with the DPS agreement.

    It builds on other automatic admission programs in the state. CU’s undergraduate schools in Boulder, Colorado Springs and Denver already grant automatic admission to qualifying Colorado Community College students. The University of Northern Colorado admits qualifying 3.0 students from schools across the state, and Colorado School of Mines is making a similar offer to certain Jeffco graduates with a 3.8 GPA.

    Christensen said in a release that the partnership will make higher education more accessible.

    “As Denver’s premier public urban research institution, today’s announcement reinforces our deep commitment to the city and, most importantly, to the students of Denver Public Schools,” Christensen wrote. “Guided by our public service mission, we are proud to expand pathways to CU Denver and help drive economic mobility for DPS students, their families, and their communities.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • 1 killed, 4 injured in Denver hit-and-run crashes since Saturday

    [ad_1]

    One person died and four others were injured in hit-and-run crashes across Denver between Saturday and Monday, according to the police department.

    A bicyclist was hit in the 4800 block of West 14th Avenue, near Yates Street, at about 1:34 a.m. Saturday. Police announced Monday that the unidentified victim had died at the hospital.

    Investigators are searching for a larger, dark-colored sport utility vehicle, according to a crime alert. The vehicle may have damage to the front bumper and undercarriage.

    Two people were hit on a scooter less than an hour after, at about 2:12 a.m. Saturday, police said. Both were taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

    That crash happened near the intersection of 18th Street and Welton Street, and a Nissan Murano SUV was spotted fleeing the scene, according to a crime alert.

    No hit-and-run crashes were reported Sunday, but two more people were injured on Labor Day in Denver.

    A bicyclist was injured in a hit-and-run near 40th and Walnut streets Monday evening, according to a 7:26 p.m. post from the Denver Police Department. Paramedics took the bicyclist to the hospital with serious injuries.

    Another person was injured earlier that morning in a hit-and-run that temporarily shut down northbound Federal Boulevard at Sixth Avenue, police said at 5:04 a.m. Monday.

    [ad_2]

    Lauren Penington

    Source link

  • Broncos CB Pat Surtain II checks in at No. 10 on NFL’s countdown of best players

    [ad_1]

    If Pat Surtain II were choosing, he’d have been nine spots higher.

    As it stands, though the Broncos’ star corner and reigning defensive player of the year is in heady company.

    Surtain checked in at No. 10 on the NFL’s countdown of the best players in the league.

    “If I had to write a text book on cornerback play, it’d be Pat Surtain,” Baltimore cornerback and fellow 2024 Associated Press first-team All-Pro Marlon Humphrey said of Surtain in a video published by the NFL. “… There’s very few people that move that smoothly at his height, his size. It’s like poetry in motion. It’s honestly beautiful to see when he’s in press man, which is what he’s best at. It’s really impressive.”

    Surtain was ranked No. 52 last year by fellow NFL players and vaulted up the list after putting together as dominant a season as a corner can author. Surtain regularly shut down opposing teams’ top receiving options and likely cemented his grip on the DPOY award when he went toe-to-toe with Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase and held him in check while guarding him in a late-December matchup.

    “Having a guy that you can go out there and put on any receiver and you don’t hear about them the rest of the game, that does wonders for a D-line,” teammate Nik Bonitto, who himself was ranked No. 38 on the countdown, said in the video.

    Surtain’s part of a deep and talented Broncos secondary that added first-round pick Jahdae Barron and safety Talanoa Hufanga this offseason.

    [ad_2]

    Parker Gabriel

    Source link

  • Renck: Broncos’ Super Bowl champion Glenn Cadrez pulls man from burning car: ‘I am not a hero. I just wanted to help’

    [ad_1]

    Had it happened on another day, Glenn Cadrez figures he would be dead.

    The former Super Bowl champion Broncos player was driving home from a pizza party after his 14-year-old son Kannon’s Pop Warner game on Aug. 23. He was two miles from his exit around 9:30 p.m. on Interstate 15 in California, when a huge cloud of dust caught his eye in the northbound lanes.

    Seconds later, a black BMW M4 sailed through a concrete divider, veered into the southbound lanes and smashed into an oncoming car, according to a Los Angeles Times report citing the California Highway Patrol.

    “It happened so quick. I was like, ‘What the (heck) was that?’ Then it slammed into the car, maybe two seconds in front of me. Just boom!” Cadrez recalled from his Temecula home Sunday night. “Normally, I would have been in that left lane. But I wasn’t on a Saturday with my kids in another car following me. I was driving slower in the middle lane. Thank God. I don’t think I would have survived.”

    What happened next has caused Cadrez multiple sleepless nights. He said he swerved left to avoid the wreck, jumped out of his truck and ran to the scene. He saw a man hunched over outside the Nissan Sentra that was struck, so he raced to the BMW that was on fire. When he pulled open the door, his face became engulfed in black smoke and flames.

    “I couldn’t see really anything in the car, not even the passenger seat, just the silhouette of the driver. I grabbed and felt his body and began pulling him out,” Cadrez said. “It looked like he had a compound fracture in his leg, and he was in a lot of pain. … I was able to get him out, and another guy showed up and we moved him away. A few seconds later, the car was fully engulfed.”

    Cadrez’s two sons arrived with their mother not long after — and braced for the worst. When they saw his truck stopped on the shoulder, they thought he had been hit. Cadrez was overjoyed to see them, but struggled to make sense of the scene. How did that car end up here, going the wrong way?

    The 25-year-old man Cadrez removed from the vehicle sustained major injuries and charges are pending, the L.A. Times reported. But he was alive.

    Three others in his car — a 23-year-old woman in the passenger seat and a 14-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl in the backseat — were killed, the L.A. Times reported. The news hit Cadrez like a thunderbolt.

    “It was really hard to hear that. Those are the ages of my sons. It’s so sad,” Cadrez said of the crash that also took the life of the driver in the other car, according to the CHP.

    “When I got there, I was yelling to see if anyone was there. I was asking the driver if anyone else was in there. I never heard anything. No voices. Maybe I couldn’t have saved them. But I wish I could have done more to help. It hurts.”

    His mind and heart racing, Cadrez barely slept in the days following the wreck. It never entered his mind, however, not to do something.

    “I have got kids. Everything I do is with them in mind. I would like to think if they were in trouble, someone would help them,” Cadrez said. “So my only thought was, ‘I have to get this guy out.’ I just wish I could have been there maybe a few seconds sooner. It just torched so fast. The heat was unbelievable. I thought it was going to blow.”

    Glenn Cadrez attends Big Game Kick-Off Event, hosted by Jay Glazer, Merging Vets And Players, at Academy LA on February 09, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images)

    Cadrez, 55, served as a critical special teams member in 1997 and a starting linebacker in 1998 during the Broncos’ back-to-back Super Bowl championships. We like to think that we would all be good Samaritans. But let’s be honest, it takes a special person to run toward a fire.

    When news spread of Cadrez’s actions, his former teammates were not surprised. This is how they described him.

    “Glenn was an absolute rock star teammate. He showed us what it means to be tough and committed,” said former star fullback Howard Griffith. “He made sure we were all on the same page. And he always put the team first.”

    Cadrez called Hall of Famer Steve Atwater not long after the crash. About 30 Broncos from those glory days remain in a group chat as a way to stay in touch.

    “He saved a young man’s life!” Atwater said. “… Glenn was an awesome teammate, a great player.”

    [ad_2]

    Troy Renck

    Source link

  • Denver man arrested on suspicion of bar shooting that killed 2, wounded 2

    [ad_1]

    A Denver man wanted on suspicion of murder in a 2023 bar shooting that killed two people and wounded two others was arrested Friday night, one day after the FBI announced a $10,000 reward for information in the case.

    [ad_2]

    Katie Langford

    Source link

  • 3 injured in Denver hit-and-run crashes involving bicycle, scooter

    [ad_1]

    Three people were injured in hit-and-run crashes in Denver’s West Colfax and Central Business District neighborhoods early Saturday morning, according to police.

    [ad_2]

    Katie Langford

    Source link

  • Denver school’s all-gender bathrooms violate Title IX, Education Department finds

    [ad_1]

    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    The U.S. Department of Education said on Thursday that it found Denver Public Schools violated Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in education, by establishing all-gender bathrooms and allowing students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity rather than their biological sex.

    The department’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation in January, shortly after President Donald Trump returned to the White House, into Denver’s East High School after the school district converted a girl’s bathroom into an all-gender restroom while leaving another bathroom on the same floor just for boys. 

    The district has said the change was made after a student-led process and that the bathroom had 12-foot-tall partitions around the toilets for privacy and security.

    TRUMP ADMINISTRATION THREATENS TO PULL FEDERAL FUNDS FROM VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN GENDER POLICY DISPUTE

    The U.S. Department of Education said it found Denver Public Schools violated Title IX. (AP)

    A second all-gender restroom was later on the same floor, which the district said was done to address concerns of unfairness. The district said at the time that students would also continue to have access to gender-specific bathrooms and single-stall, all-gender restrooms.

    The federal government said it sent the district a proposed resolution that includes four conditions to which it must agree within the next 10 days to resolve the matter and avoid facing the risk of “imminent enforcement action.”

    “Denver Public Schools violated Title IX and its implementing regulations by converting a sex-segregated restroom designated for girls in East High School to an ‘all-gender’ facility and by allowing students to use the high school’s intimate facilities on the basis of their ‘gender identity’ rather than their biological sex,” Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary of the department’s Office for Civil Rights, said in a statement.

    GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY VIOLATED TITLE VI WITH ‘UNLAWFUL DEI POLICIES,’ EDUCATION DEPARTMENT SAYS

    East High School's clocktower

    The district has said the all-gender bathrooms were created after a student-led process. (AP)

    “As a result, the District is creating a hostile environment for its students by endangering their safety, privacy, and dignity while denying them access to equal educational activities and opportunities,” he continued. “Denver is free to endorse a self-defeating gender ideology, but it is not free to accept federal taxpayer funds and harm its students in violation of Title IX. The Trump Administration will work relentlessly to hold accountable school districts that harbor the ideological fanatics and policies that sully students’ educational experience with sex discrimination.”

    The proposed resolution would require the district to redesignate all-gender bathrooms back to sex-designated multi-stall restrooms, scrap any policies or guidance allowing students to access bathrooms based on gender identity rather than biological sex and adopt “biology-based definitions” for the words “male” and “female” in all policies and practices related to Title IX.

    The district must also issue a memorandum to its schools affirming that they must provide access to bathrooms that “protect the privacy, dignity and safety of students and are comparably accessible to each sex.” It is also required to state that Title IX compliance ensures girls may not be discriminated against in any education program or activity.

    Fox News Digital reached out to Denver Public Schools for comment.

    Education Department

    The federal government said it had sent the district a proposed resolution to which it must agree within the next 10 days to resolve the matter. (J. David Ake/Getty Images)

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Under the Trump administration, federal officials have sought to target school districts for policies allowing students to use bathrooms or participate on sports teams that correspond with their gender identity.

    The president signed an executive order in February to block transgender girls from participating on sports teams that do not match their biological sex.

    Earlier this week, House Republicans introduced legislation to prohibit transgender girls from bathrooms or sports teams or restrooms that align with their gender identity and not their biological sex.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Feds say all-gender bathroom at Denver’s East High School is a Title IX violation

    [ad_1]

    Denver news

    In December, East High School converted a second-floor multi-stall restroom designated for girls into a restroom for both sexes.

    Denver’s East High School, March 11, 2023.

    Hart Van Denburg/CPR News

    The federal government found Denver Public Schools violated the Title IX civil rights law by converting a girls’ bathroom to one that is for all genders, which the federal government calls “discrimination” against female students.

    The investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights was launched in January over an “all gender” bathroom at East High School and DPS’s broader policy that allows students to use facilities that align with their gender identity rather than biological sex. It was one of the first actions of the new Trump administration directed at the school level as part of its promise to eradicate “woke” ideology.

    In a statement, acting assistant secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor said the school district’s actions have “created a hostile environment for its students by endangering their safety, privacy, and dignity while denying them access to equal educational activities and opportunities.”

    “Denver is free to endorse a self-defeating gender ideology, but it is not free to accept federal taxpayer funds and harm its students in violation of Title IX,” he said.

    In a statement, DPS said it has just received the findings from the Office for Civil Rights and is determining its next steps.

    Why the bathroom caught federal attention (and a second one didn’t fix it)

    In December, East High School converted a second-floor multi-stall restroom designated for girls into a restroom for all genders. The school said the change was made at the request of students and has 12-foot-tall partitions for privacy.

    “This restroom serves all students, including those who may feel uncomfortable in gender-specific facilities and aligns with our values of supporting every student,” DPS said earlier this year.

    The federal Office for Civil Rights concluded that the conversion left female students without a single-sex bathroom on that floor, while male students retained a separate, exclusive restroom. The office determined the district violated Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination by placing the burden only on females to seek an exclusive restroom elsewhere.

    Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools, states that districts “may provide separate toilet, locker room, and shower facilities on the basis of sex, but such facilities provided for students of one sex shall be comparable to such facilities provided for students of the other sex.”

    The school later converted the boys’ restroom on the same floor into an “all-gender” facility. DPS said the new restroom was meant to address any disparity.

    But the Office for Civil Rights determined that change didn’t resolve the violation. It stated that “males are still allowed to invade sensitive female-only facilities.”

    The office reported the school received several complaints from students and parents. A female student reported that when her friend used the restroom, “boys kept staring at her, looking her up and down, kind of taunting her.” The student reported feeling “very uncomfortable” and that her “privacy and [her] rights has [sic] just been taken away” after male students began using the restroom, according to the office.

    Another complainant shared concerns about a male teacher frequently entering the space to check on things and asked that it be a female teacher, according to a statement from the office.

    The office also found the district is not in compliance with Title IX because of its online “Denver Public Schools LGBTQ+ Toolkit,” which states that “transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students have the right to use facilities … that match their gender as consistently expressed at school.”

    The office said that violates the law because it allows males into sensitive female-only spaces (and vice versa).

    An executive order on “Gender Ideology” signed in the first week of the new administration mandates that the federal government recognize only two biological sexes: male and female. The order states that “federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology.”

    Scott Skinner-Thompson, an associate professor of law at the University of Colorado Boulder who focuses on LGBTQ issues, told Chalkbeat that the Trump administration’s argument was legally weak.

    “Title IX has never required identical facilities. It’s only ever required comparable facilities,” he said. “Creating an all-gender restroom doesn’t exclude anyone.”

    Resolution proposed:

    Under a proposed resolution agreement, the district has 10 days to voluntarily comply or face “imminent enforcement action.” The agreement would require DPS to:

    • Revert all bathrooms that were converted for all-gender use back to single-sex facilities.
    • Rescind any policies or guidance that allow students to use private spaces like restrooms based on gender identity rather than biological sex, including parts of the “Denver Public Schools LGBTQ+ Toolkit.”
    • Issue a memo to all schools that they must provide private and safe bathrooms that are equally available to male and female students.
    • Adopt biology-based definitions for “male” and “female” in all policies and practices related to Title IX.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Denver breaks daily precipitation record last set 81 years ago, more storms ahead

    [ad_1]

    Denverites still drying out from Tuesday’s deluge can take some comfort that they did not survive any ordinary downpour – the storm broke the daily rainfall record for Aug. 26 that was last set 81 years ago, according to the National Weather Service.

    Forecasters recorded 1.38 inches of precipitation on Tuesday, breaking the record for Aug. 26 of 0.95 inches last set in 1944.

    [ad_2]

    Katie Langford

    Source link

  • Ground delay issued at Denver International Airport for low visibility

    [ad_1]

    A ground delay was issued Wednesday morning at Denver International Airport for “low visibility,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

    The traffic management program started at about 7 a.m. Wednesday. By 7:30 a.m., 126 flights headed in and out of DIA had been delayed, and three were canceled, according to flight tracking software FlightAware.

    FAA officials said the ground delay is scheduled through 1 p.m., but it could be lifted earlier if conditions clear up.

    As of 7:30 a.m., flights were being delayed an average of 40 minutes. Those delays were expected to jump to more than an hour between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., according to the federal agency.

    [ad_2]

    Lauren Penington

    Source link

  • Colorado’s legislature has filled a third of budget shortfall by slashing tax breaks. Here’s what comes next.

    [ad_1]

    More than $250 million down, another $530 million to go.

    That’s how much of a projected $783 million state budget hole the Colorado legislature filled by the time a special session called to address the impact of the federal tax bill ended Tuesday afternoon — and the larger amount that still remains. Erasing the rest of the red ink will fall to Gov. Jared Polis, who plans to rebalance this year’s budget in the coming days through a mix of cuts to state funding and a big dip into the rainy-day fund.

    Over six days, the legislature’s majority Democrats fulfilled their part of a plan worked out with the governor’s office: to pass legislation that is expected to generate enough revenue to close about a third of the shortfall projected for the state’s budget in the current fiscal year, which began July 1. They ended tax breaks and found other ways to offset declining state income tax revenue, while leaving spending cuts largely for Polis to decide.

    “What we did here in this special session is soften the blow,” said Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Greenwood Village Democrat who chairs the legislature’s budget committee. “But when the federal government cuts $1.2 billion in revenue from the state with a stroke of a pen, after we’ve already cut $1.2 billion (from the budget) in the regular session, that’s a tough deficit to come back from in a way that doesn’t impact the people of Colorado.”

    The special session ended with 11 bills going to Polis for final approval. Five sought to fill the budget gap, largely by ending tax incentives for businesses and high-income earners.

    The single largest revenue-raising measure, House Bill 1004, will auction off tax credits that can be claimed in future tax years for a discount. Backers expected that bill to bring in an additional $100 million to state coffers this year, at the expense of about $125 million in future years.

    Together, those measures add up to $253 million in revenue to reduce the projected deficit — money that Democrats say represents averted cuts to Medicaid, schools and hospitals.

    “Colorado legislators stepped up and helped protect children’s food access and minimized the devastating cost increases to health insurance premiums across the state, to the best of our ability,” Polis, who signed two of the new bills earlier Tuesday, said in a statement.

    The legislature’s Joint Budget Committee expects to meet Thursday to hear Polis’ plan to address the remaining $500 million or so, including mid-year spending cuts. 

    As part of his call for a special session on Aug. 6, Polis announced a statewide hiring freeze. He said in an interview before the session started that he hoped to avoid cuts to K-12 education, but he has left all other options on the table, including Medicaid program spending. 

    The plan also factors in a significant use of reserves to offset some of the remaining gap.

    Partisan debates

    Over the past week, Republicans fought the Democrats’ bills, but strong Democratic majorities in both legislative chambers all but preordained the outcome. 

    “Not only did we increase taxes, we’re balancing the budget on the back of small businesses,” said Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican on the budget committee.

    One of the bills heading to Polis would erase a fee paid by the state to businesses for collecting sales taxes — an outdated subsidy, according to Democrats, and an unnecessary new burden now put on businesses, according to Republicans.

    Republicans said before the session that they’d likely challenge several bills in court over allegations that they violate provisions in the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights that require voter approval for tax increases. Kirkmeyer and Rep. Rick Taggart, a Grand Junction Republican who’s also on the budget committee, said bills going to the governor that would eliminate some tax credits and allow the sale of tax credits against future collections seemed particularly vulnerable to a challenge under TABOR.

    Debate throughout the special session took a distinctly partisan edge. Democrats laid the cuts on congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump and called the federal tax bill a de facto theft of benefits from the poorest Coloradans to benefit the wealthiest.

    Republicans countered that the federal bill delivered much-needed tax cuts, and they said Democrats sought to yank those away instead of cutting partisan priorities.

    Legislators begin to gather in the Senate Chambers before the start of another day of the special legislative session at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on Aug. 26, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

    Bills on wolves, artificial intelligence

    Other bills passed sought to respond to different aspects of the federal bill, formerly known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” as well as other priorities.

    Lawmakers stripped general fund money away from the voter-approved program to reintroduce wolves in the state, though releases are expected to continue this winter. They tweaked ballot language for a measure about taxes for universal school meals to allow that money to go to general food assistance, as well, if voters approve it in November.

    [ad_2]

    Nick Coltrain, Seth Klamann

    Source link

  • A new tavern is moving into the Tivoli Student Union

    [ad_1]

    Tivoli Student Union on Denver’s Auraria Campus, April 30, 2018.

    Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

    At Denver’s Auraria Campus, the age of Tivoli Brewing Company is over. The time of Quad Side Tavern has begun. 

    Quad Side Tavern will replace the spot at the Tivoli Student Union vacated by the brewing company in April after a decade-long run. Attempts by the Auraria Campus and Tivoli to renegotiate the brewer’s lease failed, which led to the taproom closing in December.

    The new tavern is set to open on Sept. 22, pending permitting and final inspections. It will be operated by Peak Beverage, a Colorado- and Texas-based catering company and liquor store. 

    An Auraria Campus press release said Quad Side Tavern will feature “themed seating areas such as a cozy scholar’s lounge, light-filled study zones, and intimate conversation nooks,” as well as programming like trivia nights and live music. 

    While the Tivoli Brewing Company will no longer be present on campus, the name of the Tivoli Student Union and the Tivoli Quad will stay the same. The two locations got their name from the original Tivoli Brewing Company, which first opened in the building that became the student union in 1864.

    Meanwhile, it appears the Tivoli brand is being phased out. Instead, the brewery is focusing its efforts on its Outlaw Lager, an attempt to break into a domestic light beer market dominated by major brands like Coors and Budweiser.

    [ad_2]

    Paolo Zialcita

    Source link

  • First batch of special session bills heads to Gov. Jared Polis

    [ad_1]

    The first round of bills from the Colorado legislature’s latest special session is heading to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk after receiving final approval from lawmakers Sunday. But work on several key bills remains.

    Lawmakers ended Day 4 of the special session having signed off on four bills: to ask voters to fund food assistance, to allow state Medicaid dollars to go to Planned Parenthood, to deem more countries tax shelters, and to require the governor to notify lawmakers about large, unexpected spending cuts mid-budget year. A fifth bill, to take general fund money from wolf reintroduction, was amended by the House and needs to go back to the Senate for reapproval.

    The other priority bills for the Democratic majority continued to move along, though they hadn’t yet crossed the finish line. Lawmakers are still debating nearly all of the bills aimed specifically at eating into the $783 million deficit facing the state following the passage of the federal tax and spending bill.

    Those bills include proposals to raise money by ending tax incentives for large insurance companies, selling tax credits for future tax years at a discount, permanently ending a tax write-off for high-income people and businesses, and ending a credit that goes to retailers for collecting sales tax.

    “Every dollar we give away through an outdated vendor discount is a dollar we take away from kids in classrooms, from seniors who need health care, from working families who depend on Medicaid and SNAP,” said Sen. Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat, referring to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

    Republicans argued at length against most of the bills. They argued the state should cut spending, not seek more tax money, to respond to the federal tax bill.

    “We are not fixing the budget with any of these bills,” Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Brighton Republican, said. “In fact, all we’re doing is making it harder for small businesses to survive.”

    Meanwhile, the fight around how to change Colorado’s first-in-the-nation artificial intelligence regulations dragged on.

    Senate Bill 4, which would require more disclosure from AI companies and tighter rules to prevent discrimination, progressed to a debate among the full Senate after narrowly passing a key committee vote 4-3 Sunday afternoon.

    [ad_2]

    Nick Coltrain

    Source link

  • Broncos roster cutdown tracker: Will George Paton flip anymore Broncos for draft capital?

    [ad_1]

    This Broncos roster, both by Sean Payton‘s own admission and by plain sight, is the deepest it’s been in Payton’s three-year tenure.

    That is an undeniable positive. It also will lead to some excruciatingly tough decisions, with players who’ve put together strong camps nonetheless likely to land on the waiver wire.

    “I was taught at a young age, the most significant thing is the right 53,” Payton said in early August. “So that’s what keeps you up at night — making sure we’re finding that group.”

    Broncos 53-man roster projection: Who will make Sean Payton’s last cut?

    The Broncos’ brass will have long hours this week as cut day dawns, with teams required to reduce their offseason rosters from 90 players to 53 by 2 p.m. MT Tuesday. The team can elect to sign a maximum of 16 players to their practice squad if they clear waivers, and the Broncos have until 11 a.m. ET Wednesday to claim players off waivers who’ve been cut by other teams.

    [ad_2]

    Luca Evans, Parker Gabriel

    Source link

  • Broncos DL John Franklin-Myers focused on season after no extension: ‘We all just want to feel wanted’

    [ad_1]

    NEW ORLEANS — John Franklin-Myers may not be thrilled, but he’s ready for regular-season football.

    The Broncos defensive tackle is entering the final year of a two-year, $15 million contract he signed after getting traded to Denver last spring.

    There’s been little sign of movement toward a deal, and sources told The Denver Post the sides did not negotiate this summer. That stands in contrast to veterans Courtland Sutton (four years, $92 million) and Zach Allen (four years, $102 million), who landed major long-term agreements. Fourth-year outside linebacker Nik Bonitto doesn’t have a new deal yet, but he said recently his team and the Broncos have had productive talks and that he thinks a deal “will get done.”

    Not so for Franklin-Myers, though he said any feelings he may have about his current status are now sidelined for the next several months.

    “We all just want to feel wanted, and I think when it’s time to play football, obviously money and stuff aside, I’m under contract,” Franklin-Myers said after Denver’s preseason finale. “So football is football. Obviously, we all want what we’re worth, but until then, shoot, I’m going to play football. It is what it is.”

    Franklin-Myers’ addition last year helped turn what was one of the NFL’s worst defensive fronts in 2023 into one of its best in 2024. His ability to rush the passer not only gave offenses fits, but it also kept them from being able to turn double teams toward Allen on a regular basis.

    Allen broke out with an 8.5-sack season and led all NFL defensive tackles with 67 pressures and 40 hits.

    “Zach’s my dawg. I said it from the jump,” Franklin-Myers said. “Man, (Jets defensive lineman) Quinnen Williams was a good friend of mine, played with him for a long time, and I was happier when he got paid than when I got paid. Zach Allen is no different. You talk about somebody who shows up every day. He earned the money.

    “He makes me better, makes the team better. He deserves his money. I’m all for it, and Zach deserves all of it.”

    Now, Franklin-Myers and Malcolm Roach appear poised to enter Week 1 without contractual security beyond this year. Roach laid out a straightforward approach earlier in camp in saying that if everybody plays well, everybody’s going to get paid. It’s just a matter of whether that’s in Denver or elsewhere.

    In the meantime, the defensive line has big goals.

    [ad_2]

    Parker Gabriel

    Source link

  • Man convicted, sentenced to life in prison for murder of Denver community leader Ma Kaing

    [ad_1]

    A second man convicted of first-degree murder in the fatal East Colfax shooting of community leader Ma Kaing was sentenced to life in prison on Friday, the Denver District Attorney’s Office said.

    Pa Reh, 21, will spend the rest of his life in the Colorado Department of Corrections without the possibility of parole, the mandatory sentence after he was convicted of first-degree murder by a Denver jury in July.

    Reh was one of four men charged in Kaing’s death in the 1300 block of Xenia Street in July 2022, which sparked community outrage and calls for change in how 911 calls are handled by phone companies.

    Kaing, 42, was unloading dessert from her car outside her family’s apartment building when Reh and three others began shooting at a passing car driven by people they had a dispute with.

    She died at the scene in her son’s arms.

    Kaing’s family, friends and community have described her as a vital part of the East Colfax neighborhood, where she served on the neighborhood association’s board of directors, volunteered at a nearby food bank and was quick to help anyone in need.

    Kaing and her family had opened Taw Win Thai and Burmese Restaurant just six months before her death.

    “Her murder was an unspeakable tragedy for her family, for her immigrant community and, frankly, for all of us in Denver,” Denver District Attorney John Walsh said in a statement Friday. “…That sentence cannot bring Ma Kaing back, but it can send the powerful message that violence will not be tolerated in Denver.”

    [ad_2]

    Katie Langford

    Source link