A former Poudre School District paraprofessional was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison and two years in jail after pleading guilty to assault on an at-risk person, harassment and child abuse for hitting disabled students as they rode the school bus. Related Articles Crime and Public Safety | Colorado paraprofessional arrested after police say video shows her beating autistic child on school bus Crime and Public Safety | Father of Brighton toddler who died from fentanyl overdose sentenced to 40 years in prison Crime and Public Safety | Aurora repairman arrested on child sexual assau ..read more

Gov. Jared Polis signed “for-cause” eviction protections into law Friday, making Colorado the sixth U.S. state to enact the policy that’s aimed at blunting displacement of vulnerable tenants. The law, passed by the legislature late last month, effectively gives tenants a right of first refusal to renew their leases. That protection, supporters say, will insulate renters from discriminatory or retaliatory nonrenewals from landlords, who may want to rid themselves of a tenant who complained about an apartment’s condition. “This is the right thing to do,” said Democratic Rep. Javier Mabrey, who s ..read more

Coban Porter, the brother of Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr., was sentenced to six years in prison Friday for killing a woman in a drunk-driving crash last year. Porter, 22, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and vehicular assault in February on the condition that he would be sentenced to no more than eight years in prison. He could have faced up to 12 years in prison without the plea agreement. “All I can really say is that I’m sorry,” Porter said in a Denver courtroom Friday. “I know that I’m never going to be able to right that wrong… I never thought I’d be standing here. I thought ..read more

The 12 students and one teacher killed in the Columbine High School shooting will be remembered Friday in a vigil on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the tragedy. The gathering, set up by gun safety and other organizations, is the main public event marking the anniversary, which is more subdued than in previous milestone years. It’s scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church 1373 Grant St, in Denver, after being moved from the state Capitol. Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who began campaigning for gun safety after she was nearly killed in a mass shooting, will ..read more

Colorado lawmakers have again rejected a bill that would have allowed supervised drug-use sites to open in willing cities — the third time in a year legislators have killed the proposal. On Thursday night, two Democratic senators joined with the Senate Health and Human Service Committee’s three Republicans in voting to kill House Bill 1028, two weeks after it passed the House. The measure would’ve allowed the facilities — where drug users could ingest illicit substances under the supervision of medical personnel — to open in Denver. In the state’s capital, fatal overdoses surged 30% last year ..read more

A viral video showing a Colorado Rockies baseball coach in the cockpit of a United Airlines charter flight from Denver to Toronto sparked a federal investigation, officials confirmed Friday. The video, originally posted to social media by the Rockies’ hitting coach Hensley Meulens, appears to show a member of the coaching staff sitting in one of the plane’s two pilot seats while the flight was en route to Canada. “Had some fun in the cockpit on our flight from Denver to Toronto,” Meulens wrote in the caption. “Thanks to the captain and the first officer of our United charter that allowed me th ..read more

A mix of rain and snow will sweep across the state Friday before turning into only snow overnight, according to National Weather Service forecasters. With a high of 43 degrees projected for Denver Friday, it’s a little too warm for snow to stick and little to no snow accumulation is expected before 7 p.m., forecasters said. Between 7 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday, the Denver area can expect to see up to five inches of snow, with the most snow accumulating overnight, according to NWS projected snow totals. Temperatures in the city will dip down below freezing Friday night, hovering around 31 ..read more

Colorado is experiencing an alarming spike in syphilis among newborns, leading the state to issue a public health order Thursday aimed at curbing the disease’s spread through wider testing. In 2023, 50 infants in Colorado were born with syphilis, up from only seven in 2018. So far this year, the state is halfway to last year’s total, with five infected babies who were stillborn and two who died in their first months of life, state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said. “We’ve already had 25 cases so far this year, putting us on track to have maybe 100 cases,” she said at a news conference, ad ..read more

BrewDog, the Scottish-born beer maker that was founded based on a brash attitude and big beers, has teamed up with a family-owned holding company on a new location in Denver. It’s the first time BrewDog has licensed its name and beers to a franchisee in the United States. BrewDog Denver, 3950 Wynkoop St., opens at noon Friday, April 19, in a 10,000-square-foot space with two patios, a 3.5-barrel brewing system, games and a full menu featuring burgers, giant pub pretzels, salads and wings. But there will also be a number of Mexican specialties unique to Denver based on the heritage of the franc ..read more

State lawmakers have yet to fund an $11 million effort to reform Colorado courts’ long-troubled competency system, raising alarm among supporters as the end of the legislative session looms. If funded, the bill, HB24-1355, would create a statewide diversion program aimed at shifting thousands of people with mental illness out of the criminal justice system and into comprehensive care in a first-of-its-kind effort to slow the flow of people into Colorado’s overcrowded court competency system. The state’s competency process aims to ensure people are not prosecuted for crimes if they are too sick ..read more