Headlines Monday, July 13, 2026
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Heat advisory; Wildfire updates; Polis gets involved in Cargill labor negotiations KGNU News
Heat advisory
Boulder County is under a heat advisory today, from 10:00 this morning until 9:00 tonight.
The National Weather Service issued the advisory for all of Boulder County below 6,000 feet. With temperatures expected to reach into the upper 90s, county health officials say there is an increased risk of heat-related illness.
Chris Campbell, the emergency manager at Boulder County Public Health, said that heat advisories are issued because hot temperatures can become dangerous very quickly.
That’s especially true for people in high-risk groups. Those groups include older adults, infants and young children, pregnant women, people with chronic medical conditions, outdoor workers, athletes, unhoused people, and those without access to air conditioning.
Campbell said people should check on their friends and neighbors, and try to spend at least part of the day in an air-conditioned environment. For those whose homes aren’t air-conditioned, that could be a library or a rec center.
It’s also important to stay hydrated, and to limit strenuous activity during the hottest part of the day.
Officials are also reminding people to never leave children, older adults, pets, or anyone with limited mobility in a parked vehicle, even for a few minutes.
Weekend wildfire update
Over the weekend, firefighting crews have gotten the Aspen acres fire to being 35% contained. The fire was first reported burning at the end of June. Denver 7 reports the fire has burned near 100,000 acres less than 30 miles from Pueblo. The fire now ranks as one of the state’s most destructive, destroying 850 structures, including 350 homes. Officials told Denver 7 they expect the fire to continue burning for several more weeks despite progress in containment.
Firefighters have been fighting the Gold Mountain Fire’s northern growth toward Ouray. Close to 1,000 personnel are fighting the fire, which now sits at nearly 35,000 acres burned with 6% containment. Gunnison county has issued a mandatory evacuation for areas southeast of Montrose.
On the other side of the state, evacuation orders have been put in place for areas of Routt county near steamboat springs. The fishhook fire was first reported yesterday, traveling up Rabbit Ears pass. A picture on Denver 7’s website shows smoke pluming as a backdrop to summer views of the steamboat springs ski area. An evacuation center has been made available at SOROCO High School.
Polis says Cargill should return to labor negotiations
Governor Polis is calling on Fort Morgan’s largest employer to return to the negotiating table and end a nearly two-month-long lockout.
Polis visited the picket line at the Cargill meatpacking plant Friday and met with local union leaders. More than 1,700 workers have been locked out since May 20.
Union leaders are pushing for better pay, health care, and stronger workplace protections. Before talks broke down, Cargill’s final offer included a pay raise of $2.15 an hour over the next five years. Fort Morgan city leaders are preparing for potential budget cuts and layoffs if the lockout continues.
Boulder relocates homeless services to discourage sleeping on street
Boulder’s Community Court program, which assists people in addressing low-level homelessness-related enforcement charges, will be relocated from the Penfield Tate Municipal Building in downtown Boulder to the St. John’s Episcopal church. The relocation will happen July 23.
The relocation comes as a larger effort by the city government to curb camping near Boulder Creek Park, formerly known as Central Park. The effort to curb camping is a larger prescription given to Boulder government as part of a homelessness strategy developed by Clutch Consulting Group, which was outsourced by the city of Boulder in 2025.
The Boulder Community Court program is a weekly outdoor program run by the municipal court office that connects people with ways to address outlying nuisance-level tickets. The city justified the move by saying outdoor programs have had an undesired consequence of making enforcement of “public space management efforts” more difficult.
In May, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that the City of Boulder’s camping ban ordinance does not violate the constitutional rights of unhoused residents unable to access indoor shelter. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled to uphold the constitutionality of a similar ordinance in 2024.
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