Sate Sen. Faith Winters Killed in Crash; New Boulder Student Housing will Demolish Dark Horse; Late Snowpack in the Rockies

Headlines Friday November 28, 2025

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    Sate Sen. Faith Winters Killed in Crash; New Boulder Student Housing will Demolish Dark Horse; Late Snowpack in the Rockies KGNU News

 

State Senator Faith Winter Killed in Car Accident

On Wednesday evening, Colorado state senator Faith Winter was killed in a five-vehicle crash on I-25 near Centennial. The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said that in addition, three people were injured in the crash. Winter was from Broomfield, served in the state House from 2015 to 2019, and switched to the state senate after she won a seat in the 2018 election. Governor Polis ordered that flags be lowered to half-staff in her honor.

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City Council Approves Student Rental Housing at Dark Horse Site

On Thursday, Boulder City Council unanimously approved a new student housing development that will demolish the iconic Dark Horse bar and grill.

According to the Boulder Reporting Lab, developers proposed a complex with 427 housing units, all intended to be rented by students. The complex will be right next to the Williams Village dorms.

Among the businesses set to be demolished are the Sprouts grocery store, and the Dark Horse, an iconic bar and grill operating off of Baseline since 1975. There was initial pushback to the plan in 2024 after it was proposed to city council. Patrons of the Dark Horse said Boulder is losing a beloved venue, and that it reflects their growing concern about gentrification of Boulder.

The developers of the plan, Coburn Architecture and Morgan Creek Ventures, designed the complex to include the over 400 housing units plus commercial space, swimming pools, and a village green in the center.

CU Boulder has an undergraduate student population of around 38,000 students, with about three-quarters of the undergrad population living off campus.

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Snowpack Off to a Slow Start in the Rockies, but Wetter Soils Could be a Promising Sign

Snowpack across the Upper Colorado River Basin is much lower than average for this time of year. Researchers say that’s mostly due to warmer temperatures in November. Storms in October eased drought conditions a little bit, especially in Southern Colorado and Utah, and increased soil moisture, even if they didn’t bring much snow.

Water forecasters hope that means less water will be absorbed into ground and more will flow into rivers and streams during spring melt — what Seth Arens with The Western Water Assessment calls an “efficient runoff.” He says last winter, less than 50% of the water stored in the snowpack actually made it into Lake Powell from the Upper Colorado River Basin, and if we have another winter like that, we could see historic lows for the river’s biggest reservoirs.

Those storms also increased soil moisture throughout the basin, making moisture from future rain and snowstorms more likely to run off into rivers and streams.

SNOTEL data shows that at Boulder County’s Lake Eldora, snow-water equivalent, or the amount of water stored in snowpack, is 0% of the normal amount for this time of year. This report comes from Rocky Mountain Community Radio’s rural climate reporter, Caroline Llanes.

 

You can hear daily headlines on the Morning Magazine, KGNU’s weekday morning show with coverage of local and regional public affairs and news with headlines and commentary. Click here to listen to full episodes of the Morning Magazine.

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