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07_03_25_am_headlines Ainsley Coogan
Pearl Street attack suspect’s family can be deported
A federal judge in Texas has cleared the way for the deportation of the family of the suspect in last month’s Pearl Street attack.
Hayam El Gamal and her five children have been detained since June 3, two days after the attack on peaceful demonstrators on Boulder’s Pearl Street mall. Her husband, an Egyptian national, was arrested at the scene and is facing a host of felonies stemming from the attack, including first degree murder and hate crimes.
On the day the suspect’s family was detained, the White House posted on social media that their deportation was imminent. That led a judge in Colorado to issue an emergency order blocking their deportation.
The family is now in regular deportation proceedings. In dismissing the emergency order, District Judge Orlando L. Garcia said that means there is no longer any need to block deportation. One of the family’s attorneys said they hope to get the family released while the regular deportation proceedings continue.
The Pearl Street demonstrators were trying to bring attention to Israeli hostages who have been held in Gaza since the October 2023 attacks by Hamas.
NOAA funding cuts
A Trump administration budget proposal for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would cut funding for climate and earth sciences, close four Colorado-based research labs and end federal funding for two other research institutes.
According to a NOAA document made public on Monday, the budget would eliminate the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.
These cuts are local to Boulder, as well. The Chemical Sciences Laboratory, the Global Monitoring Laboratory, the Physical Sciences Laboratory and the Global Systems Laboratory would close. All are based in Boulder’s Earth System Research Laboratories.
The labs focus their research on improving weather and wildfire forecasting, studying air quality, and monitoring greenhouse gases and water availability.
These cuts would also impact the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at CU Boulder and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University.
If the budget is approved by Congress, the cuts would go into effect at the beginning of the 2026 fiscal year on Oct. 1.
Mt. Blue Sky challenge
A Colorado group is asking the Trump Administration to step in, and help them get the name of Mt. Blue Sky changed back to its original name.
Advance Colorado says the name change, from Mt. Evans to Mt. Blue Sky, was based on a false record about John Evans, a 19th century territorial governor of Colorado. The name change was made because of Evans’s presumed role in the Sand Creek Massacre. Many historians believe that role was allowing the massacre to happen. But Advance Colorado argues that he had no role at all, according to the Denver Gazette.
The massacre itself is not in dispute. It happened on November 29, 1864, when Colorado militia troops attacked and slaughtered Cheyenne and Arapahoe villagers camped along Sand Creek in the southeastern part of what was then the Colorado Territory.
Evans denied playing any role in the massacre, although a Congressional investigation found otherwise, and demanded his resignation, according to the Gazette. The actual attack was led by Colonel John Chivington.
Mt. Evans was renamed Mount Blue Sky in 2023, on the recommendation of Colorado’s Geographic Naming Advisory Board.
The request for Mt. Blue Sky’s name to be changed back, comes several months after Trump signed an executive order called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Critics have called the order an attempt to whitewash truth.
Safeway strike
The weeks-long strike against Safeway has expanded to include workers at at least forty-three of the grocery chain’s stores.
Colorado Public Radio says that includes the Boulder stores at 28th and Iris, several Denver stores and its distribution center there, stores in Fort Collins and Greeley, and throughout the state.
The strike began last month over what the union says are unfair labor practices. They want improved staffing levels, guarantees that health and pension benefits will be fully funded, and a wage hike, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7.
The walkout began with just a few stores, but the number has steadily increased.
Albertsons, the parent company of Safeway, has said all along that they want to reach a fair settlement.
Salvation Army contracts
The City of Denver is allowing the Salvation Army to continue operating three homeless shelters, approving $19 million in contracts Monday.
The contracts will provide services to Stone Creek, the Tamarac Family Center and The Aspen, three of the city’s largest shelters.
The contract approvals, which are really extensions, come as the Salvation Army has been criticized for the way it operates the facilities, according to the Denver Gazette. Residents of The Aspen have complained about rodent infestation and mold, among other things.
But officials with the faith-based Salvation Army said that as shelter operators, the most they can do is report concerns to the city. One spokesperson dismissed criticism of their operations as “false claims and misinformation,” saying they are focused on helping those in need.
They added that the “sheer volume” of homeless people in Denver remains a challenge.
Wolf reintroduction cost
The program to reintroduce gray wolves to Colorado is turning out to be more expensive than originally thought.
When voters approved the reintroduction plan in 2020, budget analysts estimated the program would cost about 800-thousand dollars a year. But Colorado Parks and Wildlife told a legislative committee this week that the expense over the last year alone has been three million dollars.
That includes more than $400,000 paid in compensation to ranchers whose livestock has been killed by the wolves, according to Colorado Politics.
Wolves preying on livestock has been a problem all along, and mitigation efforts have added to the expense.
The reintroduction program involves bringing 10 to 15 wolves a year into Colorado, over a three to five year period.
Fourth of July events
A number of fireworks displays are scheduled in Boulder County for tomorrow’s Independence Day celebration.
There won’t be any at Folsom Field in Boulder, after the traditional Ralphie’s Independence Day Blast was permanently canceled last year. This year, Folsom Field will host three nights of concerts by the jam band Phish. They’ll perform tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday.
For those looking for the rocket’s red glare tomorrow night, there are other options. You can find fireworks displays in Erie Community Park, in downtown Longmont, and at the Coal Creek Golf Course in Louisville. All of these fireworks displays will begin once it’s dark enough, usually no later than about 9:30 p.m.
The Boulder Symphony will perform in the Boulder Bandshell tomorrow night at 7pm. Other activities include the Boulder Juggling Festival, July 4th through the 6th, at the Boulder Circus Center.
This is all according to Boulder Reporting Lab.
