Colorado
6 teenagers arrested after breaking into Parker home and throwing party
PARKER, Colo. – Six teenagers have been arrested and could face charges in relation to a large party they allegedly threw at a man’s home while he was having dinner with a friend last Friday night.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the teens’ arrests Wednesday, but did not provide further details of their charges. The sheriff’s office did not name the teens because they are juveniles.
Mike Cox, who owns the home and had recently put it on the market for sale, said he was at a friend’s home for dinner that evening, and that when he returned home about two hours after he first left, he found sheriff’s deputies and teenagers.
Dozens of them had somehow gotten into Cox’s home and thrown a party. According to authorities, photos and videos posted on social media, the teenagers brought beer to the party and drank some champagne Cox already had in his home.
“I think we were targeted because our house was for sale on the market, and somebody saw it online and thought it was going to be empty. But it wasn’t,” Cox told Denver7 earlier this week.
The teens left a broken window in the home’s basement and broken glass in a shower.
“You can see on the floor—they were squirting champagne from standing on our counter top and squirting it all over the house. It’s on the ceiling, on the floor, on our furniture. Everywhere,” said Cox.
He told Denver7 earlier this week he hoped the teens would be prosecuted.
“They don’t value anything. They don’t value people’s hard work, their property – any of it,” he said.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office tells Denver7 it is still looking to identify additional suspects.
Denver a major target in latest FBI sex trafficking operation
DENVER – FBI agents and the Rocky Mountain Innocence Lost Task Force recovered dozens of trafficked children, including several in Denver, in this year’s annual operation to break up sex trafficking rings across the country.
The 11th-annual “Operation Cross Country” wrapped up on Oct. 15 after four days of arrests, and netted 120 alleged sex traffickers and 84 victims. Continue reading
Michael Bennet pitches public option as bipartisan senators say they have deal to fund ACA subsidies
DENVER – U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet on Tuesday pitched a public option health care measure as a bipartisan panel of senators he’s been part of announced it had reached a deal to fund insurer subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that President Trump has stopped paying for the time being.
Bennet had scheduled an informational call for Colorado journalists regarding his and Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia’s “Medicare-X” measure, but the deal reached by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., took precedent on the call. Continue reading
Democrats out-raise Republicans in quarterly fundraising for 2018 Colorado governor’s race
DENVER – Democratic candidates for Colorado’s governorship in 2018 far out-raised most Republican candidates in the third quarter of 2017 fundraising, though two political action committees are making splashes in the race already as individual fundraising tops $7.3 million.
All five Democratic candidates out-raised their Republican counterparts this quarter, which covers the period between July 1 and Sept. 30. Continue reading
New 2018 House model shows pickups for Democrats, a possible challenge for Mike Coffman
DENVER – New modeling for 2018 shows Democrats have a better chance than they did in recent weeks of picking up some seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and that there might be a chance a Democrat knocks off Republican Mike Coffman in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District.
Decision Desk HQ put out a new model Monday for the 2018 House midterms, which forecasts that Democrats will end up with 208 seats in the House, up from 194 currently in the House.
Most of its forecasts for Colorado aren’t much of a surprise, as incumbents are expected to remain in their seats, lest they be ousted in a primary by a challenger from their own party.
But the 6th Congressional District, which Coffman is currently representing for the sixth time, might be in play, according to the models.
They show that Democrats have a 60.7 percent win probability in the district and that Democrats will take 52 percent of the vote.
That would in theory bode well for the Democrats in the field, which currently include Jason Crow, Levi Tillemann and David Aarestad, who are trying to unseat the Republican Coffman in a district that Hillary Clinton drew 55 percent of the vote in last year.
But the district was also considered as being “in play” for Democrats last year, when Coffman defeated Democratic challenger Morgan Carroll 50.9 percent to 42.6 percent.
Some conservatives scoffed at the idea that Coffman might be an early underdog Monday, seeing as how Coffman hasn’t been seriously-challenged since 2012, when he narrowly defeated Joe Miklosi.
“[Democrats] should sue Decision Desk HQ & others for tricking them into spending so much [money] in #CO06 every cycle,” said Americans For Prosperity Senior Director of Issue Education Michael Fields.
But the 6th was the only 2018 Colorado district Decision Desk said was moderately in play in Monday’s release.
According to their analysis, Rep. Diana DeGette (D) has a 100 percent chance of winning re-election; a Democrat is 98.5 percent-likely to win the 2nd district that Jared Polis currently holds; and Republicans have a 73.5-percent chance to win the 3rd district where Scott Tipton is trying to get re-elected.
Republicans have a 94.2 percent chance to hold Rep. Ken Buck’s 4th district seat, and a slightly-better chance of holding the 5th Congressional District that Doug Lamborn currently represents.
Rep. Ed Perlmutter has a 93-percent chance of holding onto Colorado’s 7th Congressional District, according to Decision Desk.
The new forecasts come on the last day that candidates have to report their quarterly earnings to the Federal Election Commission. The filings are due by the end of the day, and the subsequent reports should provide more insight into who is challenging whom in the various districts ahead of next spring’s primaries and caucuses.
Sen. Michael Bennet to unveil public option health plan aimed at rural areas this week: ‘Medicare-X’
DENVER – U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet will unveil legislation this week to bring a public option to the federal health care system that is seen as a middle point between those pushing for a single-payer system and possibly some Republicans who are on the fence about repealing and replacing the law altogether.
Bennet and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., first unveiled the plan Monday in a Washington Post story, and are expected to further elaborate upon the plan on Tuesday afternoon. Continue reading
Opioid-related deaths fell 6.5% after recreational marijuana legalized in Colorado, research finds
DENVER – Opioid-related deaths fell by more than 6 percent in Colorado in the two years after the state started selling recreational marijuana, according to new research published in November’s edition of the American Journal of Public Health.
The researchers who conducted the study found the 6.5-percent reduction represented “a reversal of” a 14-year increasing trend in opioid-related deaths in Colorado since 2000. Continue reading
Colorado premiums will rise by 6% on top of existing hikes after Trump ends CSR subsidy payments
DENVER – Health insurance premiums being offered by insurers in Colorado in 2018 will go up by an additional average of 6 percent – beyond the increases already in place – because of President Trump’s decision to stop making cost-sharing reduction subsidy payments.
The state’s insurance commissioner, Marguerite Salazar, made the announcement Friday afternoon, and like Gov. John Hickenlooper, called Trump’s decision “cruel and irresponsible.” Continue reading
Colorado insurance commissioner warns Trump health care order could spell end of employer coverage
DENVER – Colorado’s insurance commissioner said Thursday afternoon that President Trump’s executive order aimed at solving his promise to repeal and replace the federal health care law will “cause problems” for the state’s health insurance market and warned it could end employer-provided coverage in the state.
“Expanding association health plans and short-term health insurance without [Affordable Care Act] protections will fracture the individual and small group markets,” Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar said. Continue reading
Arapahoe Basin opens, kicking off Colorado’s 2017 ski and snowboard season
SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. – Wax up your skis and boards everyone, Colorado’s 2017 ski season is officially underway!
Arapahoe Basin was the first ski area in Colorado to open last year, and was the last to close in June. And they were back open Friday—again the first in Colorado and among the first in North America.
More than two feet of snow fell to start October, and cold temperatures made for good snowmaking conditions.
This year’s Oct. 13 opening day topped last year’s Oct. 21 opening day, as well as 2015’s opening date of Oct. 29.
“Everyone is so excited to get their first turn in, so that’s why I come and battle the crowds and ski one run—to share the opening day with everybody,” said Anna Marie Migl.
Thousands of skiers and snowboarders packed the A-Basin lift lines Friday morning. The queue for the Black Mountain Express lift line went halfway up the bottom half of the High Noon run to start the morning.
“I took the day off and I’m just stoked for the season. We heard it was Friday, and I was like, ‘Hell yeah!’” said Wren Manning, who switched shifts at work to take some runs Friday morning. “The plan is get a couple of good laps and hit the park for a little bit, and do some hiking back up to get some of the features.”
The infamous Nate Dogggg was among the group of four on the first chair up. Arapahoe Basin says snow crews are already working to get Ramrod open as well.
Loveland is the next ski area slated to open, which is expected to happen sometime this month. Most of the rest of Colorado’s ski resorts are expected to open sometime in November.