Headlines Tuesday, July 7, 2026
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Upcoming heatwave could worsen ongoing wildfires; GOP primary for governor still too close to call; Confirmed measles case in Larimer county prompts exposure alert KGNU News
Upcoming heatwave could worsen ongoing wildfires
Firefighters have nearly fully contained a wildfire on the Colorado-Utah state line, a week after it took the lives of three firefighters.
But hundreds of thousands of acres are still burning across both states, putting stress on firefighting infrastructure.
For web: Due to hot and dry conditions and prolonged drought, wildfires have been behaving in extreme ways.
The Gold Mountain Fire grew over a thousand acres in a day and caused evacuations in Ouray, as well as Montrose and Gunnison counties.
The Aspen Acres Fire in Custer and Pueblo counties has produced pyrocumulus clouds, essentially creating its own weather system.
And at the Babylon Fire in southeastern Utah, officials say they’re now deploying firefighters overnight to try to contain the blaze.
There’s also the Ferris Fire in Dolores County, which has triggered power shutoffs so firefighters can work safely. Here’s Brad Pietruszka the fire’s incident commander, states:
“As fire activity continues across the state, in anticipation of dry lightning not just here, it might be the case that our priority drops. And so our ability to get more stuff and more things might drop.”
He says there are fire crews coming from California this week to help in Colorado and Utah, but there will likely be more competition for resources like people, aircraft, and equipment.
Forecasts are showing a heatwave in the next week to ten days, which could intensify fire weather.
GOP primary for governor still too close to call
Colorado’s Republican primary for governor is still too close to call.
Following the state’s primary election last week, ministry leader Victor Marx is leading state Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer by about two-thousand votes. That’s with 97 percent of votes counted, according to the Associated Press.
State Representative Scott Bottoms is in a distant third. Whoever wins will face Attorney General Phil Weiser in November.
Republicans haven’t won a statewide race in Colorado since 20-16 — and the last GOP candidate for governor lost by nearly 20 percentage points in 20-22.
Confirmed measles case in Larimer county prompts exposure alert
Colorado health officials confirmed a case of measles in an unvaccinated Larimer County teenager who was likely exposed during international travel.
Authorities are warning that visitors to Longmont United Hospital and Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora last week may have been exposed to the highly contagious virus.
The potential exposure windows occurred at Longmont United’s emergency department on the afternoon of July 1st, and at Children’s Hospital from July 1st through the afternoon of July 2nd. Anyone who visited these locations during those times is advised to monitor for symptoms like fever, cough, and a rash for up to 21 days.
Officials state that unvaccinated individuals may reduce their illness risk by getting the MMR vaccine within 72 hours of exposure.
Those who develop symptoms are urged to call ahead to their healthcare provider before seeking in-person care to prevent further spread.
Conservative law firm sues DPS over voting map
Conservative law firm, Public Interest Legal Foundation, claims the Denver Public Schools’ voting map was “drawn with illegal racial intent,” according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.
In 2024, the Denver Public School board, DPS, had to redraw its districts to ensure all districts had the same number of residents – District 4 had too many and District 2 too few.
The lawsuit argues that DPS “intentionally and brazenly drew district boundaries to ensure Black and Latino racial majorities achieved race-based representation over Denver’s increasing White population.”
The lawsuit claims DPS’ actions violated the Fifteenth Amendment and the federal Voting Rights Act passed in 1965 during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
The lawsuit quotes former DPS board president Carrie Olson saying, “adopting the map was an act of resistance and empowerment in the face of the gentrification that has affected many Denver neighborhoods.”
The lawsuit comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision, which set a much higher standard for using racial considerations in drawing voting maps.
But Justin Levitt, an election law expert and former Biden advisor, said the decision does not prohibit racial considerations. “Talking about race is fine,” said Levitt, “Race cannot predominate among other factors.”
Whether Denver crossed the line is “going to depend on more facts than are laid out in the complaint.”
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