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11_4_24_Headlines Jack Dawson
Colorado District Attorney removed from office
11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley was removed from office on Friday, effective immediately, by the Colorado Supreme Court. The decision comes after officials found a series of ethical violations, many of which were tied to her handling of the murder of Suzanne Morphew.
Stanley allegedly withheld evidence related to that case from prosecutors, which led to a secret investigation. She was also accused of talking to journalists and true-crime podcasters about other cases she had been prosecuting.
Stanley already lost her law license when she was disbarred back in September. She appealed the decision, claiming she needed the job to help pay for the legal bills that disbarment would bring.
The courts have temporarily filled Stanley’s position with Jeff Lindsey – the only candidate running for the position in the upcoming election. 9News reports that Lindsey is expected to take on the role permanently in the new year. The 11th Judicial District covers Fremont, Chafee, Custer, and Part Counties.
Wolves tracked along I70 for the first time
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said biologists have tracked wolves moving south – the furthest south they’ve gone since being reintroduced to the state.
CPW says some of the GPS-tracked collared wolves have made it as far as south of I-70 for the first time.
According to a press release by CPW, the wolves are “currently exploring” the Colorado landscape, and are establishing new territories as their population grows. Wolves can live in a variety of areas. If there is prey available to them, they are likely to move there.
They added that this kind of wildlife activity was expected, according to 9News, and that the public Wolf Activity Map on CPW’s website will be updated with the latest movements in the coming days.
CPW asks anyone who believes they’ve seen a wolf to fill out the wolf sighting form on CPW’s website.
Boulder County resident reported its first case of a rare insect born disease
Boulder County has reported its first confirmed case of the year of tularemia – a rare insect-borne disease.
A Boulder County resident first saw signs of tularemia on October 2nd, according to a press release from the county. The resident reported a fever, which quickly progressed to an altered mental state as well as fluid in their lungs. The individual was then diagnosed with pneumonic tularemia, a rare respiratory form of the disease.
The most common way to catch tularemia is through insect bites, such as ticks and deer flies. Symptoms include fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, and respiratory problems similar to a cold or the flu. The bacteria can also be carried by larger animals like rabbits or outdoor pets.
The Boulder resident couldn’t confirm if they’d recently been bitten by an insect, but officials say that remains the possible infection source.
Public health officials recommend that people avoid wild rabbits and rodents and try to keep their pets from hunting them. They also suggest avoiding untreated water from streams or lakes and staying away from sick or dead animals. That’s all according to The Denver Post.
You can still register to vote up to Election Day
If you still need to vote, or haven’t registered, there is still time. You can head to a Colorado DMV office, armed forces recruitment office, or a federal, state, or local government office to register.
There are 19 forms of accepted ID that can be used to register.
The mail-in ballot option is no longer viable, and officials highly recommend you drop your ballot off to a dropbox instead. You can drop off your ballot to any registered dropbox in the state and it will get back to the county you are voting in.
The Colorado Secretary of State’s office has a ballot drop-off locator you can access on their website.
You can register to vote, and vote in-person, up until 7 pm tomorrow – Tuesday, November 5th. Wednesday, November 13th is the last day to fix any issues with your ballot before it is counted.
Cloned black-foot ferret gives birth for the first time
A cloned black-footed ferret with roots in Colorado has birthed two healthy babies at the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Virginia. These are the first successful live births from a cloned endangered species on record.
The adult ferret, named Antonia, was cloned from DNA of a ferret that lived in the 1980s. Antonia has a twin named Noreen, another cloned ferret that lives at the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center in Carr, Colorado.
The Colorado Sun reports that the births are a landmark in Colorado-based reintroduction efforts, as they prove clones can reproduce safely and could therefore be used to restore severely endangered ferrets and other species.
The births are considered a win for a federal ferret recovery program based in Northern Colorado.
Black-footed ferrets were thought to be extinct, before a dog dropped a recently-deceased ferret on a home doorstep in Wyoming back in the ‘80s. Scientists found a nearby colony, and took them into captivity to start a conservation breeding program.
