Headlines Monday October 20th, 2025
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Threats to SNAP Benefits, Unemployment Benefits During Government Shutdown, A New Colorado 14er, Colorado Earthquake KGNU News
Coloradans May Lose SNAP Benefits
Federal food assistance in Boulder County is on hold for the month of November, due to the ongoing government shutdown.
The County made that announcement in a news release Friday, adding that they will update the situation as more information becomes available.
All households receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Food Program, or SNAP, benefits, are affected. But the County said they’ll still be processing new applications, and is encouraging all new applicants to still apply. At the state level, Governor Jared Polis said that some 600,000 Coloradans who rely on the SNAP program stand to lose those benefits next month. He laid blame squarely on the Republican party, and said it is time for them to do the right thing and reopen the government. News of the SNAP losses comes as local food banks are seeing a greater demand for their services, according to Boulder Reporting Lab. The annual cost of the program is nearly 1.5 billion dollars, according to the governor’s office,, which is beyond the ability of the state to finance. The governor said the state is looking at all of its options for helping to feed families in need. He said people facing food insecurity should reach out to their local food banks or community agencies.
www.feedingcolorado.org/find-food
Furloughed Workers Offered Unemployment Benefits During Government Shutdown
The State Department of Labor and Employment set up a webpage to help federal workers navigate filing unemployment claims during the government shutdown that’s going into its fourth week. While benefits are offered, a definitive breakdown of eligibility remains challenging. Federal workers fall into three categories during the current government shutdown. According to the Denver Post, there are “furloughed workers who don’t work and don’t get paid; ‘excepted’ workers who must report to work and don’t get paid and exempted workers who work and get paid.”
Those on furlough account for about 35% to 40% of the total number of federal workers in Colorado, about fifty-four thousand three hundred workers excluding the military. All furloughed workers are eligible for Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees.
Expected workers are not eligible to collect state unemployment benefits. They account for 55% to 60% of the total, which includes the FBI, TSA and Border Patrol agents, National Weather Service forecasters, food and safety inspectors and active duty military.
Those filing for benefits must also be ready to pay the state back once they receive their unpaid wages.
Payments might not flow for up to a month.
Climbers Identify New Colorado 14er
Seattle-based engineering professor Eric Gilbertson has recorded measurements that confirm whether East Crestone and Crestone Peak are true fourteeners.
Gibertson and mountaineering friends hiked the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range in South Central Colorado to determine whether the heights of the two peaks could be official fourteeners.
The Colorado Sun reports East Crestone is 14,299.3 feet, about a third of a foot taller than Crestone Peak which sits about at 14,299 flat. The mountaineering 300-foot rule of topographic prominence means that the 4 inches that East Crestone has over Crestone Peak determines East Crestone is a true fourteener and, under Gilbertson’s measurements, Crestone peak is considered a subpeak.
While peak accuracy and measurements are subject to change some time due to melting or erosion, the Colorado Sun said at the end of their report that some challengers who seek to climb as many fourteeners might change their results if this discovery becomes official record.
Colorado Earthquake
In more geologic news, a magnitude three-point-oh earthquake rattled the Front Range Friday. struck just outside of Denver on Friday. 9News says the quake’s epicenter was near Castle Rock, south of Denver. It happened just before 1 p.m. according to 9News. The epicenter of the quake was southeast of Denver near Castlerock.
A United States Geological Survey or USGS, summary of the quake found there were at least 6 reports of shaking in the area, with the quake shaking at a shallow depth of only seven kilometers. Those reports mostly originated from El Paso County according to 9News.
