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Palestinian Coloradans mourn family losses as they watch Israeli war devastate Gaza

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:13:05 GMT

Nadia Zuaiter can track the devastation that’s unfolding in the Gaza Strip through increasingly desperate messages from family members who are trapped there.At first, she said, she wrote to make sure everyone was OK, and they asked if she knew what would happen next: Was it safe to move south? Was there any news about an invasion?But as the bombing by the Israeli military has escalated, fewer messages have arrived, and at times they’ve stopped altogether, as Israel took out local communications services. At least 47 members of Zuaiter’s extended family have been killed, she said. Food and water are running short. One aunt is rationing insulin. Her newly married cousin, pregnant and volunteering in a south Gaza hospital, wrote that she expects to die. She just hopes it will be quick.“Numbness. It leads to them having hopelessness,” said Zuaiter, who works as a bookkeeper in Lone Tree. “There’s no point to be hopeful, for them.”As the latest surge of violence in Gaza enter...

A year out from Lauren Boebert’s next election, plenty of voters have had enough. Can she win them back?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:13:05 GMT

SILVERTON — In a town of fewer than 700 people perched at 9,300 feet in Colorado’s San Juan mountains, Scott Fetchenhier isn’t shy about expressing his repugnance for U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert.Scott Fetchenhier, San Juan county commissioner, stands in the Silverton Mining Museum, a building he had a hand in creating, in Silverton on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. (Photo by Nina Riggio/Special to The Denver Post)“She’s in it to make these outrageous comments,” suggested Fetchenhier, a Democrat who owns Fetch’s Mining & Mercantile on Greene Street in Silverton and also serves on the San Juan County commission. “Even Republicans are getting tired of the shenanigans.”Meet Thomas Moore Jr., who voted for Boebert in 2020 and last year.“She’s vitriolic, she’s sensationalistic, she draws attention to herself,” said Moore, a Pueblo native and loyal Republican who’d just left that county’s courthouse on a w...

Colorado’s Sierra Space turning dream into reality with winged spacecraft set to launch in ’24

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:13:05 GMT

The dream of reviving winged space flight is close to reality as employees at Sierra Space put the finishing touches on its Dream Chaser craft in the company’s Louisville facility and get it ready to send to NASA for final tests before a launch planned for 2024.The 15-foot cargo module that will attach to the end of the 30-foot Dream Chaser is already undergoing tests at the Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. The spacecraft will follow soon, said Sierra Space officials, who are keeping a close wrap on the timing and logistics because of security concerns.The Dream Chaser’s first mission for NASA will be to ferry supplies to the International Space Station and bring back items. The craft, which won’t have a crew, will be the second to ride atop United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket, following the rocket’s scheduled debut on Christmas Eve.Angie Wise, Sierra Space’s chief safety officer and senior vice president for mission ...

Boys and Girls Club offers children a safe and fun after-school haven

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:13:05 GMT

In a world where video screens and devices increasingly leave children isolated, the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Denver offers an old-school antidote — face-to-face human interaction.“I make new friends here every day. I get snacks and play games,” said Ivory, an 8-year-old attending the Arthur E. Johnson Boys and Girls Club at 3325 West 16th Ave. in Denver on a Tuesday afternoon in October.Season to Share logo 2023. (The Denver Post)The nonprofit has offered Denver-area children a safe place to hang out after school since 1961. Children interact with peers and adult staff, explore potential interests and build new skills. Bouncing back from the pandemic, the nonprofit revamped or added seven locations this fall, bringing its total number of locations to 25.The program reaches about 28,000 kids in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Brighton, Commerce City, Lakewood and Westminster, and has a goal of growing to 30 spots in the not-so-distant future.“We want to keep grow...

Turmoil at CU Denver as faculty targets provost over mental health failings, financial aid problems

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:13:05 GMT

Discord is brewing at the University of Colorado Denver as the faculty considers censuring the campus provost over the controversial firing of a dean, concerns that students are withdrawing over financial aid mismanagement, and the discovery of a highly critical review of the school’s mental health services the university hadn’t planned to make public.CU Denver’s Faculty Assembly aired its conflicts publicly last month in a notice of intention to censure Provost Constancio Nakuma, who is tasked with overseeing academic and student affairs. Ultimately, faculty representatives voted last week to postpone their censure vote until February, giving Nakuma time to address their concerns.The assembly’s censure resolution called Nakuma out for having “diminished the university’s reputation and financial position, the well-being of faculty, staff and students… and the trust and cooperation necessary during a period of crisis and transition.”The...

Legal moves on the road aren’t always considerate or safe: Roadshow

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:13:05 GMT

Q: Boy, inconsiderate driving/riding, even when legal, can trigger bad responses as I saw last Tuesday. A bicyclist was unnecessarily riding in the traffic lane and going slow. The car that came up behind the bike pulled into the well-marked bike lane and passed on the right of the bike. The car returned to the traffic lane without cutting off the bike. While the bike rider was more or less legal, that doesn’t always make you right, much less helpful.David RusselA: Yes, and the responses inconsiderate people create in others aren’t always bad ones. The situation you describe, however, could have been very dangerous.Q: Caltrans has done a decent job on the overdue repairs and resurfacing of Highway 87. The only problem that I have is that the on- and off-ramps to Capitol Expressway leave something to be desired. They could be dangerous and they are leaving themselves open to lawsuits.The approaches and on-ramp paving is more than 1 inch lower than the edges, creating a co...

State report says Santa Clara County lawyers overrode social worker decisions to remove children from unsafe homes

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:13:05 GMT

SAN JOSE – Santa Clara County’s top executive acknowledged Saturday that county agencies in charge of protecting children made mistakes in allowing a father with a history of drug abuse to care for his 3-month-old daughter Phoenix Castro, who died of a fentanyl and methamphetamine overdose in May.“The county dropped the ball,” County Executive James Williams said. “My opinion is that baby Phoenix shouldn’t have been in the care of the father – period.”Williams’ admission came during an hour-long interview as the Bay Area News Group pressed him on a newly-obtained, troubling state report that found the county’s legal office frequently overrode decisions by social workers to remove kids from unsafe homes.Williams, who until July served as the county’s lead counsel, disputed that claim, but said the county has shifted its philosophy as part of an effort to avoid splitting up families. He wouldn’t say whether that factored into the death of baby Phoenix.The report – released...

‘We have come so far’: Five years after historic Camp Fire, Paradise moves ahead with a goal to build a fireproof town

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:13:05 GMT

PARADISE — As Jen Goodlin tends the snapdragons and squash in her fertile garden, she is surrounded by a town that is a charred skeleton of its former self.It is also a blank slate, offering a fresh start to a young and energetic generation of newcomers — who vow to build a new Paradise, a smarter community that will never burn again.“We get to watch it transform,” said Goodlin, 41, who left the comfort of suburban Colorado Springs with her husband and four children to move back home to Paradise.“We have come so far,” she said. “And we still have so much to do.”When Jen Goodlin visited Paradise after the Camp Fire destroyed much of her childhood hometown, she was inspired to stay and help it rebuild. “You don’t notice the empty lots much. You just enjoy all the space and the views,” she said last month from her fertile garden behind the family’s new custom-built home. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) Five years ago, all seemed lost. On the morning of No...

49ers need stars to lead them out of losing streak after bye

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:13:05 GMT

No need to make this complicated. The 49ers are 5-3, which in past years wouldn’t be cause for alarm — except 2023 began with a 5-0 start.To get back on track in their quest for Super Bowl LVIII, the 49ers need only to look to the same players who ignited the fast start. Coach Kyle Shanahan and a number of players said after the third consecutive loss that the team had everything it needed to turn things around. Still, the 49ers went out the next day and made a trade for Washington defensive end Chase Young.Additionally, Deebo Samuel (hairline shoulder fracture) and Trent Williams (ankle), both injured three weeks ago, could be back next Sunday for the game at Jacksonville.“I’m ready to go,” Samuel said during his weekly appearance on the Kay Adams podcast.There is hope that Williams will be back at practice Wednesday. He was back within three weeks last season after a high ankle sprain deemed more serious than his current injury.Here’s a look at ...

Blinken meets Palestinian leader Abbas in surprise West Bank visit

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:13:05 GMT

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the Palestinian Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah during a surprise visit to the West Bank on Sunday, stepping up Washington’s Middle East diplomacy as the Israel-Hamas war escalates.They discussed efforts to restore calm and stability in the West Bank, including the need to stop extremist violence against Palestinians and to hold those accountable responsible, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said after the meeting, the AP reported. There were no public comments from either participant.Abbas told Blinken that there should be an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war and the delivery of aid into the Gaza Strip, according to Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian leader, Reuters reported.The call for a cease-fire echoed demands from Arab leaders in recent days. France on Sunday reiterated its urging that the hostilities in Gaza be immediately put to an end.In retaliation for ...