-
play_arrow
02_05_24_headlines Franziska Stangl
Denver Mayor Johnston vetoes freezing weather sweeping ban
Denver mayor Mike Johnston has vetoed a measure that would have banned sweeps of homeless encampments when temperatures get to 32 degrees or lower – but the plan could still become law.
City council approved the ban on cold-weather sweeps in a 7-6 vote last week. It would have stopped city agencies from sweeping homeless encampments in frigid weather. Supporters say it would prevent unhoused people from experiencing hypothermia or other frost-related injuries.
But opponents think it would be a step back from efforts to bring people inside.
In vetoing the sweeps ban, Mayor Johnston said it would restrict the city’s ability to do life-saving work for approximately four months of the year, according to The Denver Post.
The measure is expected to be brought before City Council again next week. This time, however, approval would require a nine-vote supermajority.
Denver reaches financial limits, expels migrants from shelters
Denver officials will resume telling migrant families they have to leave city-funded shelters this week, as the city looks to reduce its expenses.
The influx of migrants to Denver over the last year has cost the city millions of dollars. The budget strains have led the mayor to warn there could be spending cuts on various city departments, according to Denverite.
About 140 people are expected to be kicked out of hotel shelters today, according to a city spokesperson, with hundreds more forced out later in the week.
Texas mayor Greg Abbott has sent 157,000 migrants to Denver since May, according to CNN. While many have found city-funded shelter, many more have been forced to live outdoors.
Denverite says the city is currently sheltering nearly four thousand new immigrants. But relief workers say many of them, including children, may be forced onto the street.
More than 1,600 flights delayed this weekend at DIA
All of that snow that fell on Denver Saturday resulted in more than 1,600 flight delays and cancellations over the weekend at Denver International Airport.
Most of the affected flights were on Saturday when nearly 900 flights were delayed, and 169 were canceled. On Sunday, another 707 flights were delayed, according to the tracking website FlightAware, and 42 were canceled.
Southwest Airlines and United Airlines experienced the most delays, both counting around 250 as of 8 o’clock last night.
Delta pilot sues after foot injury at Denver Airport
Delta pilot Kenneth Gow filed a lawsuit against an elevator company after the moving walkway at the Denver International Airport swallowed his foot back in November of 2022.
Gow was walking through Concourse A at the Denver airport when his foot got caught at the end of the moving walkway. The walkway was missing the protective plate. His foot, shoe, and sock were all severely damaged when his foot was trapped.
Gow is claiming over $75,000 in damages, and the case is now headed to federal court.
Colorado tries to keep Northern gray wolves separate from Mexican subspecies
Colorado wildlife officials have signed an agreement with three other states in an effort to keep Northern Gray Wolves separate from Mexican Gray Wolves.
The agreement with New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah is meant to prevent the more dominant gray wolves from taking over and upsetting the gene pool.
The agreement was signed last September and is part of an effort to protect the Mexican Gray Wolf species, which has been a decades-long project.
A 177-year-old sourdough starter in Greeley goes viral on TikTok
A video about a sourdough starter from a Greeley resident went viral on TikTok at the beginning of January.
Carl Griffith, an Oregonian, inherited a sourdough starter from his parents when they died. According to him, the starter had been in his family’s possession since 1847, when his ancestors traveled the Oregon Trail.
Griffith became known for sharing the dried starter on internet forums in the 1990s when he mailed the starter to anyone who requested it.
Although Griffith died in 2000, the starter lived on via The 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Preservation Society made up of those who continue to share and use Griffith’s starter.
