Colorado
Missing 17-year-old Bailey girl Maggie Long found dead inside of burned home, sheriff says
PARK COUNTY, Colo. – Maggie Long, the 17-year-old reported missing last Friday around the same time a fire burned her home, was discovered dead inside of the home, the Park County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.
Mystery has surrounded the case since Long went missing Friday. She was supposed to go to a concert Friday night at Platte Canyon High School, Park County Undersheriff Dave Wohlers told Denver7, but never showed up. Her sister started posting on Facebook that Maggie was missing.
On Saturday, the sheriff’s office said it was “working a crime scene” off of County Road 43, but said no search parties were being organized to look for Long. Continue reading
ICE removals up 145% in Colorado and Wyoming in 2017 fiscal year, arrests up 20%
DENVER – Colorado and Wyoming saw a major uptick in the number of people arrested and deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the first year of the Trump administration, according to new numbers released by the agency Tuesday.
ICE said that in Colorado and Wyoming, 2,746 people were arrested and 2,535 were removed from the U.S. in the 2017 fiscal year, which ran from Oct. 1 of last year through Sept. 30 of this year.
The 2017 numbers show an increase of 145 percent in the number of removals from the area when compared to the 2016 fiscal year, when 1,033 people were removed. Arrests were up 20 percent over the same period, from 2,284 in 2016. Continue reading
Man posthumously awarded with Bronze Star for saving Colorado man, others at Pearl Harbor
DENVER – A Navy sailor credited posthumously Thursday with a Bronze Star Medal for saving the life of a young sailor who now lives in Colorado Springs, and the lives of several others, from the USS Arizona when it was attacked while in Pearl Harbor 76 years ago was honored on the Senate floor as well.
Sen. Cory Gardner took to the floor to honor Joseph George, who was posthumously awarded with the medal at a ceremony at Pearl Harbor Thursday, for saving Colorado Springs veteran Donald Stratton that fateful day. His medal was awarded with a V device for valor. Continue reading
Former Colorado GOP chairman Steve Curtis found guilty of voter fraud, forgery
DENVER – Steve Curtis, the former chairman for the Colorado Republican Party, was found guilty Thursday by a Weld County jury of voter fraud and forgery.
Curtis, 58, was arrested in March and accused of signing his wife’s mail-in ballot for her, which is a misdemeanor in Colorado. He was also charged with forgery of a public record, a fifth-degree felony. Continue reading
Jury convicts former Mexican officer of sexually assaulting Aurora woman
DENVER – An Arapahoe County jury on Wednesday found a Mexican former law enforcement officer guilty on seven counts related to his breaking into an Aurora apartment and sexually assaulting a woman in October 2016.
Ricardo Corral-Venegas, 26, was convicted of six felony counts that include several sex assault counts, burglary and kidnapping. He also received a sentence enhancer for using a weapon in a violent crime. Continue reading
House passes bill that would allow concealed carry across state lines
DENVER – The U.S. House of Representatives voted 231-198 Wednesday to pass a bill that would allow people with concealed carry permits to carry their weapons into other states where concealed weapons are allowed—though Republican Rep. Ken Buck voted against the measure.
Buck, who cosponsored the bill in January that changed before Wednesday’s vote, was one of 14 Republicans who voted against the measure, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. He was targeted in NRA emails earlier this week urging constituents to call him and tell him to “listen to his constituents and vote for H.R. 38.” Continue reading
Colorado’s Michael Bennet on Al Franken: ‘I’m confident he’ll do the right thing and step aside’
DENVER – U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, said Wednesday he was “confident” that Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., would “do the right thing and step aside” amid multiple allegations that Franken sexually harassed or assaulted various women.
“Sexual harassment and misconduct are never acceptable,” Bennet said in a statement posted to Twitter, noting that Franken said minutes earlier he would make an announcement Thursday morning. Continue reading
Police: Colorado State Rep. Lori Saine caught at Denver airport TSA checkpoint with handgun
DENVER – Colorado State Rep. Lori Saine, R-Firestone, carried a loaded gun through security in one of her bags, which was caught by a TSA agent at Denver International Airport Tuesday afternoon, according to a probable cause statement released Wednesday.
The probable cause statement says Saine’s arrest happened shortly after 1:45 p.m. The statement says a TSA agent spotted “what appeared to be a loaded firearm” in Saine’s bag.
The statement says she “knowingly brought the handgun into the North Screening Check point.” Continue reading
Colorado State Rep. Lori Saine arrested, accused of having gun at Denver International Airport
DENVER – Colorado State Rep. Lori Saine, R-Dacono, was arrested Tuesday at Denver International Airport for allegedly carrying a weapon in a public transportation facility.
Court records and the Denver Police Department confirm Saine’s arrest, and DPD said the case will be forwarded to the district attorney’s office to determine if she will face charges. Denver jail records show Saine was booked into the Downtown Detention Center Tuesday afternoon. Continue reading
Colorado starting to decide which kids, mothers at ‘greatest risk’ should CHIP funding expire
DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said Tuesday the state was in the process of creating a list of children and pregnant mothers who are at the “greatest risk” should Congress not fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) before Colorado’s funding runs out at the end of January.
“This is probably one of the very few issues the majority of Republicans and Democrats all agree should be a priority for funding in this country,” the governor said Tuesday. Continue reading