Hi. Today's news roundup is a biggie but a quick read, touching on everything from the shrinking Colorado River to the gentrification effect in schools and more.
Officer-involved shooting:
Police fired into a vehicle after a car chase that began in Denver ended at a motel in Aurora. The suspect was injured. He allegedly had shown a firearm. (CBS4)
Climate change and the Colorado:
Reservoirs in the West still have not recovered from 15 years of drought on the Colorado River, the worst on record. About a third of the reduction in flow could be traced to rising temperatures and climate change, according to researchers from CSU and Arizona State University. They found that flows decline about 4 percent for every degree of warming. Denver is among many cities that rely on the river. (High Country News)
Shelter renovation:
The Dumb Friends League is planning a $40 million renovation of its Quebec Street shelter. They have $20 million from John Malone, and they're raising millions more. Kailyn Lamb reports. (BusinessDen)
Buried pipes:
Drilling companies in Colorado are not required to remove abandoned pipes from the ground. Investigators found that an open valve to one of these abandoned lines caused the fatal home explosion in Firestone. Now there are calls to better track abandoned lines or even require their removal, as Ben Markus reports. (CPR)
Schools:
Gentrification has cut the number of school-age kids by as much as 50 percent in neighborhoods that historically had minority populations. Meanwhile, the Colorado Children's Campaign says Denver has the most racially divided school district in the state. Monte Whaley reports. (DP)
Yelling and whatnot:
Someone in a mask confronted Denver Republicans at the PrideFest parade, allegedly smashing a bottle of juice and taking their flyers. The police apparently didn't respond, as Ernest Luning reports. (Colorado Politics)
Apple engineering:
The Colorado Orange is a type of ... apple. It was on the verge of extinction, but it's been rescued now from a single surviving specimen. Devin Nelly reports. (9)
Energy office:
Gov. Hickenlooper is asking the Joint Budget Committee to intervene with $3 million to save the Colorado Energy Office from layoffs, closures and delays after legislators couldn't agree to fund it. Bente Birkland reports.
Real estate:
What a million bucks gets you in Denver, and the overbids of the week, courtesy Megan. (Denverite)
Soda tax:
CU Boulder is no longer asking for an exemption from the Boulder soda tax. They say it's only going to cost them $200,000, not the expected $1 million. Or maybe it was just a bad look. (CBS4)
In other regulation news, expect to see signature collectors working on a campaign to ban smartphone sales to Colorado kids. (Denverite)
Rabbit Ears gets a clip:
The iconic rocks on the peak near Steamboat lost a bit of material to erosion. Don't worry, they still look like rabbit ears. Great use of the before/after slider in this story. (Steamboat Today)
Summer skiing:
I get so exhausted by the end of ski season that I hadn't even thought about skiing the summer. But this does seem fun... (Newschoolers)
