Two Aurora paramedics violated every step of their training when they made the decision to inject Elijah McClain with ketamine after a struggle with police without taking steps to make sure giving him the sedative would be safe, a state prosecutor said Wednesday.

But defense attorneys for the paramedics now facing trial for McClain’s 2019 death argued they had to make decisions quickly based on information from Aurora police officers that McClain was incoherent, showing extreme strength and aggression and was “on something.”

An attorney also said the fire medics didn’t have authority over the situation while police officers kept McClain handcuffed on the ground and controlled the scene. They urgently began administering medical care as McClain was uncuffed and loaded into an ambulance, according to defense attorney Shana Beggan.

Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Lt. Peter Cichuniec face charges in Adams County of reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and three counts each of second-degree assault. They have pleaded not guilty.

The assault charges include assault causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon (ketamine) and illegally administering the sedative without consent.

The attorneys made their opening statements in the paramedics’ trial in an Adams County courtroom filled with family members and firefighters supporting Cooper and Cichuniec. Supporters of McClain present included Auon’tai Anderson, the outgoing Denver Public Schools Board of Education vice president.

Cooper had authority for medical decisions at the scene, while Cichuniec had the administrative responsibility for scene safety. Cichuniec requested the ketamine dose from Falck Rocky Mountain, a private ambulance company that contracts with Aurora Fire Rescue, and Cooper administered the injection.

Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson said during her opening statement the two fire medics failed their responsibility toward McClain as their patient by not examining him or talking to him. Instead, she said, they stood by for several minutes waiting for the ketamine to arrive, while McClain visibly deteriorated, and then administered the drug after he had turned mostly unresponsive.

The 500 milligrams given to McClain was the maximum authorized for anyone, and about a 50% overdose for his 140 pounds, Stevenson said.

“This wasn’t just a tragedy or an accident. It wasn’t just careless or sloppy. It was cruel,” Stevenson said.

McClain, 23, went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing within a few minutes of receiving the ketamine. A doctor declared him brain dead in the hospital three days later.

Beggan, representing Cooper, said McClain’s symptoms mentioned by police at the scene are signs of “excited delirium,” a condition which obligated the paramedics, according to their training, to administer ketamine.

Even if someone appears to have calmed down, that person may still have dangerous internal symptoms, such as a rapid heartbeat and high levels of acid in the blood, she said.

Excited delirium is a controversial diagnosis. The National Library of Medicine notes that neither the American Psychiatric Association nor the World Health Organization recognizes excited delirium as a medical or psychiatric diagnosis. The American Medical Association said in 2021 it had adopted a policy opposing it as a diagnosis, saying "excited delirium" is “disproportionately cited in cases where Black men die in law enforcement custody.”

Body-worn camera footage from police officers at the scene captured McClain repeatedly saying he could not breathe while on the ground, telling officers he was an introvert and saying things such as “I don’t do any fighting.” His last words were, “Please help me.”

Stevenson said the only attempt the paramedics made to assess McClain was asking the police if he spoke English, and they did not monitor his vital signs or make sure he was in a position to have a clear airway after the injection.

“They don’t take a single vital sign until he has none.”

During her opening statement, Beggan notably did not argue whether any information relayed from the police officers was true, instead focusing on what the fire medics believed based on that information.

She said the paramedics were never told Elijah had said he was just going home and pleaded that he could not breathe while on the ground.

Going into the situation, the paramedics only had information from 911 dispatch notes, she said. When their fire engine approached the scene, the road was so choked with police vehicles that they had to park more than a block away.

“It’s concerning about ‘what are we walking into?’ It’s concerning about safety,” Beggan said.

The fire medics aren’t doctors and can’t make diagnoses, and are trained to look for patterns to determine appropriate medical treatment, she added.

“In their brain, they’re flipping through a Rolodex” to determine which protocol to follow, she said.

Three Aurora police officers stopped McClain the night of Aug. 24 as he walked home from a convenience store because a 911 caller had reported a suspicious person when he spotted McClain, who waved his arms while listening to music and wore a black mask covering most of his face. McClain, seemingly caught off guard, initially tried to keep walking and told officers he was going home.

He was unarmed and had not been accused of any crime.

The district attorney for Adams County at the time declined to pursue charges in McClain's death because the forensic pathologist who performed his autopsy initially listed his cause and manner of death as "undetermined," later amending the cause to an overdose of ketamine.

Wednesday also included testimony from the owner of the convenience store where McClain bought iced tea right before the encounter, the 911 dispatch worker who took the initial call, a fire dispatch worker who sent the medical response to the scene and the administrator of the Aurora Police Department’s body-worn camera program.

A Littleton man charged in August of sexually assaulting three unconscious women he had met at bars could have more victims, the 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a Thursday news release.

Christopher Kenny Jackson, 63, faces six counts of sexual assault for the alleged incidents that happened between December 2004 and February 2008.

Investigators found video of Jackson assaulting the women while reviewing files seized during a February 2023 search of his Littleton home. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office searched the home after the Colorado Internet Crimes Against Children task force linked his IP address to alleged pornography uploads, the DA’s office said.

Investigators seized computers, phones and an external hard drive during the search. Jackson was not cooperative during the search, according to an arrest affidavit.

On Jackson’s electronic storage device, investigators found footage of four different adult women who were partially naked being sexually assaulted while they appeared unconscious in what they believe to be Jackson’s living room.

Investigators identified the four women, though one of them is now dead, the DA’s office said.

In interviews with investigators, two of the women identified Jackson, according to the affidavit. One knew him and “speaks to him on occasion,” and the other only recognized him as a “‘creepy’ guy who hung out at the same bars she did.”

Jackson could be seen in the videos sexually assaulting both women with objects, according to the affidavit.

The third woman did not recognize Jackson but identified herself on one of the videos being sexually assaulted in Jackson’s living room.

None of the women had any memory of the incidents on the videos, and investigators found the women had likely been in contact with Jackson at bars in southern Jefferson County.

Prosecutors filed the charges on Aug. 18, and Jackson was taken into custody on Aug. 23. He later posted a $150,000 bond.

According to the arrest affidavit, investigators also linked Jackson to a Drive account that Google reported had been uploaded with seven sexually explicit and a few abusive images of children no older than 12 years. Prosecutors initially charged him with one count of sexual exploitation of a child but district attorney’s office spokeswoman Brionna Boatright confirmed the charge has since been dismissed.

Anyone who may have seen or interacted with Jackson in circumstances like these allegations can contact First Judicial District Attorney’s Office Investigator Kim Holmes at 303-271-6915.

Denver’s trigger point for activating extreme weather shelters during winter lags behind other frigid cities with large populations of homeless residents — 20 degrees Fahrenheit, up from a 10-degree threshold last year.

But a medical expert and advocates are pressing Mayor Mike Johnston to open shelters at 32 degrees and cancel sweeps of street camps when temperatures dip below freezing. New York, Seattle, Minneapolis and other cities have set thresholds at 32 degrees while also, like Denver, factoring in wind chill and snowfall.

Johnston wasn’t available to discuss the matter Tuesday but his administration issued a statement saying the mayor’s office is open to “re-evaluation.”

Hundreds of homeless metro Denver residents end up in hospitals for emergency treatment of hypothermia and frostbite, according to Dr. Joshua Barocas, an internal medicine and infectious disease physician at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus who sees homeless patients at the Denver Health Medical Center.

At one metro Denver hospital where an informal study was done during a cold month last winter, 49 patients were treated for hypothermia and frostbite, Barocas said. The costs of such treatment at hospitals around the city exceed $5 million a year, above the cost of a new, fully-staffed cold weather shelter, Barocas said, noting “it is incredibly frustrating that we have a system set up that allows people to get frostbite or hypothermia and suffer.”

Denver City Council members Shontel Lewis and Sarah Parady have proposed changing the city’s threshold and ban sweeps when temperatures drop below freezing, Denverite reported Monday. A hearing is set for Dec. 20. Denver’s current 20-degree mark reflects lobbying last year that led to a compromise to open cold weather shelters if the citywide capacity for sheltering homeless people is exhausted and National Weather Service forecasts include a wind chill advisory and more than two inches of snow or an overnight low temperature of 20 degrees or lower.

The threshold aligns with the average overnight winter low temperature in Denver, the city’s Cold Weather Shelter Plan says; about half the nights between December and March typically drop below 20 degrees.

But prolonged outdoor exposure to temperatures of up to 40 degrees can lead to frostbite and hypothermia, said Barocas, who recently briefed city leaders at a council meeting.

The first symptoms include an altered mental state: confusion and slurred speech easily misdiagnosed as intoxication. Body movements slow, sometimes with shivering. At the worst stages of hypothermia, people sit down as their heartbeats and breathing diminish.

Homeless advocates favor swift action before temperatures turn colder. A cold spell after Thanksgiving prompted city officials to open shelters. Denver police reported four deaths of people living on streets, and city health officials on Tuesday said drug overdoses likely were the cause. Opioids, in particular, can exacerbate the impacts of cold weather.

The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless supports the change, spokeswoman Cathy Alderman said. “It will save lives,” she said. “It will take pressure off the broader shelter system, which is at capacity.”

Last weekend when city officials directed their contractor, Bayaud Enterprises, to open cold weather shelters, more than 200 people came in, below a capacity of around 500, said Tammy Bellofatto, Bayaud’s director. “We don’t force people to come in.”

Staffers are available should the city direct a larger deployment, Bellofatto said.

A statement emailed by Johnston’s press secretary Jordan Fuja addressed the cold weather sheltering.

“Winter in Denver brings dangerously cold weather, and the city is committed to saving lives by bringing people indoors,” the statement said. “Last year, the city increased the threshold for emergency cold weather sheltering from 10 degrees to 20, and we are always open to continued re-evaluation of our policies to better serve Denver residents.”

Shelters around the city currently house more than 4,000 people, officials said, “and city outreach teams and first responders work through the night on cold nights to connect unsheltered residents to warm, safe shelter beds.”

Fuja added in a follow-up email that, “We are constantly re-evaluating our programs. As we evaluate the city’s cold weather sheltering plan, we have to consider the availability of city resources like staffing, space, and funding.”

The man shot and killed by Denver police on Nov. 20 after chasing people in Commons Park with an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle and shooting at officers had more than 400 rounds of ammunition on him, Denver Police Department officials said Wednesday.

Police responded to calls of a man with a rifle yelling at a group of people and chasing people near 16th and Platte streets at 3:40 p.m. on Nov. 20.

Officers located the man, later identified by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner as 42-year-old Joshua Mitchell, sitting on a park bench with the rifle, Cmdr. Matt Clark said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Officers in two police vehicles parked approximately 100 feet from Mitchell, one on a hill and one on a nearby path, Clark said. Body-worn camera footage shows the officer on the hill commanding Mitchell to drop his weapon before Mitchell started firing at the officer, who returned fire.

Two officers fired seven rounds during the shooting, Clark said. Mitchell was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators have not found evidence that Mitchell had a larger plan, Clark said, but are still working to obtain information from his cell phone and social media accounts.

is bright as fuck and that Avalanche ad it plays legitimately needs an epilepsy warning.

You might find this useful, especially in wintertime.

Many migrants, including families, are living on the streets of Denver after reaching the stay limit at city shelters.

Freiman Esescorcia and his wife, Naidelis, are from Columbia and Venezuela respectively. They arrived in Denver about a month ago.

The couple found shelter at a hotel on Speer Boulevard and Zuni Street in Denver's Highland neighborhood. But their time at the shelter is close to an end.

“We’ve been in Denver approximately a month — that’s the time they’ve given us to stay here," said Freiman in Spanish. "When your time is up, they kick you out. There's no help when you get out."

In October, the city adjusted the length of time migrants can stay in city shelters due to an "unprecedented" influx. Adult migrants without children can stay at a shelter for 14 days, while arriving migrants with children can stay at a shelter for 37 days.

Naidelis is seven months pregnant. The couple is worried they will end up on the streets with their newborn baby.

"A lot of people outside who have been kicked out, they have nowhere to go. So they're out here with these temperatures. It's concerning because there's kids and pregnant women like her," said Freiman.

The father-to-be is urging the city to do more to help. He said not being able to afford a work permit has been a big obstacle.

"I bet you, if they help all of these people get work permits, you wouldn't see all of this out here," Freiman said. "We're simply asking for help. We know how to work."

The city said it has not forced anyone out in the last week due to the cold temperatures. Denver also activated two overnight shelters Friday — the New Directions Ballroom on Quebec Street, which is the former Best Western Hotel, and the Denver Coliseum. Both locations will be open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Friday through Sunday.

Buses are available to take people to overnight shelters from the Saint Francis Center on Curtis Street between 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. each night.

Earlier this month, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, along with the mayors of Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and New York, sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking for federal help to manage the surge of migrants that are arriving.

“Our cities need additional resources that far exceed the amount proposed in order to properly care for the asylum seekers entering our communities," the letter said. "Relying on municipal budgets is not sustainable and has forced us to cut essential city services.”

The mayors also asked Biden for an accelerated work authorization approval process so migrants can find work.

According to the city's dashboard, 84 migrants arrived in Denver Friday, and 137 arrived Thursday. The city has served a total of 28,161 migrants, according to the dashboard. In its weekly update, the city said it has spent $32 million to shelter and support arriving migrants.

Here's how you can help refugees and immigrants coming to Denver

If you’d like to help as the city responds to this migrant crisis, you can do so with donations – either material or monetary. If opting for the former, the city is asking for the following items:

• Socks (new/unopened only)
• Bras - small/medium/large
• Women’s clothing - small/medium/large
• Men’s clothing - small/medium
• Winter hats - gender neutral and kids/one size fits all
• Winter gloves - men's, women's and kids/small and medium sizes
• Scarves - various sizes

Those items can be dropped off at the Richard T. Castro Human Services Center, 1200 N. Federal Blvd. from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The city is asking that you do not just drive there and drop off donations at the main entrance. Instead, you’re asked to call to schedule your donations drop-off at (303) 514-0643.

A Thanksgiving Day knife attack at a downtown Denver migrant camp left one man dead and another person injured.

On Thursday, the Denver Police Department investigated a stabbing in the Park Avenue and Lawrence Street area of downtown Denver near Coors Field around 11 a.m., with two people transported to the hospital with “unknown extent of injuries,” according to a tweet.

By 3 p.m., an adult male victim had died at the hospital. No arrests have been made yet, and Denver police didn’t immediately respond on Friday with additional details on the stabbing, such as confirmation of the involvement of Venezuelan migrants specifically or updates on the suspect.

But a KDVR journalist who was working on a separate story at the scene when the attack happened reported that a group of unhoused Venezuelan migrants in the area said a man with a knife had allegedly bothered them since Wednesday night, telling them that “they were not welcome here and for them to return to their country.”

The migrants said they used sticks and knives to defend themselves, and one woman said she tried to de-escalate the situation by talking to the knife-wielding man. They said the group ultimately tackled him, but two migrants were injured in the attack.

The crime scene isn’t near any of the city’s four migrant shelters. The police are asking anyone with information to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP(7867) as the investigation continues.

Denverites should savor Wednesday’s warmth before this weekend starts to feel more like Christmas than Thanksgiving.

The unseasonably warm temperatures this week will plummet starting Thursday, and forecasters at the National Weather Service in Boulder said three to seven inches of snow could fall from Thursday to Saturday.

“Winter comes knocking on our doorstep for Thanksgiving day, with high temperatures plummeting around 25-30 degrees relative to Wednesday in the wake of a morning cold front,” Meteorologist Bruno Rodriguez said. The high Wednesday is 67 degrees, compared to Thursday’s high of 42 degrees.

Once the cold blows in Thursday, the focus turns to the snow.

There is still some variability in the amount of snow Denver could see, Rodriguez said, but the expected timing of the snow has stayed the same.

Skies — and roads — should stay mostly dry until just after sunset, then the snow will start to fill in.

“Once snow does initiate, cold temperatures and high snow ratios should allow for a quick transition to accumulating snow on roadways and thus slick conditions for all areas during the overnight period,” Rodriguez said.

Parts of the Denver metro could see between three and seven inches, with a 74% chance of at least two inches and a 39% chance of at least four inches in Denver. Forecasters said it is still too early to determine where in the metro area the most snow will fall.

If a sizeable amount of this forecasted snow falls on Thanksgiving day, this year could be among the top ten snowiest Thanksgivings in Denver.

Thanksgiving 1928 saw a record 8.5 inches of snow, and this year would only need to see .7 inches to be in the top ten. At least two inches would need to fall to be among to top five snowiest days.

Rodriguez said the weekend’s temperatures are of more concern than snow, however.

“Regardless of the exact snow amounts, the cold remains the real kicker, and confidence is high that temperatures will not climb out of the 20s both Friday and Saturday,” Rodriguez said. “With fresh snow cover, some single-digit lows will certainly be possible for parts of the plains and urban corridor Saturday morning.”

Friday and Saturday have nearly identical freezing forecasts in Denver, with highs of 26 degrees, lows of 15 degrees and snow expected both days.

With this frigid forecast, Denver will open two overnight shelters at the former Best Western hotel at 4595 Quebec St., now called New Directions, and at the Denver Coliseum Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the city announced in a news release.

The two shelters will be open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

People needing shelter should go to the city’s “front door” shelter access points, Lawrence Street Community Center for men, Samaritan House for women, and Urban Peak for people aged 15 to 20. Those shelters will also have expanded capacity for the cold weather.

Families in need of shelter should call the Connection Center at 303-295-3366.

Source

Verity, a rescued black Labrador puppy, was in Colorado for eight days when her new foster family realized she was sick.

Rocky Mountain Lab Rescue board member Jo Schroeder heard from Verity’s foster family on Aug. 10, just one day after they had taken in the eight-week-old puppy.

Verity looked thinner and was less active, her foster family said. Her symptoms quickly worsened — goopy eyes, fever, unwillingness to eat, a cough and rapid breathing. Schroeder and the foster family took Verity to the vet, but they couldn’t figure out what the puppy had caught and referred the group to emergency services.

Verity was hospitalized for three days as veterinary staff tried to treat her symptoms and wait for test results, but she kept getting worse.

“She was just too tiny to fight it, she didn’t even have an immune system built up yet,” Schroeder said. “She was in the hospital from the 11th to the 14th of August, and the doctor said she just couldn’t fight it anymore and we had to put her down.”

An illness with similar symptoms has been officially reported in at least four states: Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon and Rhode Island. The first alarm bells were raised in August, when the Oregon Department of Agriculture began receiving reports of an “atypical canine infectious respiratory disease” circulating in the Portland metro and Willamette Valley areas.

Maggie Baldwin, state veterinarian with the Colorado Department of Agriculture, said it’s too early to say whether this is a new illness.

“We don’t know exactly what we are seeing, and we don’t know if it’s something new,” she said.

It’s not uncommon to see outbreaks of respiratory diseases in dogs, Baldwin said.

What’s different about this illness is how many dogs are being affected — Baldwin estimates it’s double the amount the state would normally see in an outbreak, though the department isn’t keeping an official count — and how long it lasts.

A typical respiratory illness might make a dog sick for a week or 10 days and will respond to treatment, Baldwin said. But with this illness, dogs are getting sick for weeks or months, and standard treatments aren’t helping.

Dogs develop symptoms that include coughing that doesn’t get better on its own after a week or so; sneezing; nasal and eye discharge; lethargy; tiredness; trouble breathing or rapid breathing; and blue or purple gums.

Experts aren’t sure yet if the illness is viral or bacterial, but in a Nov. 16 news release, Colorado State University veterinarians said the infection has been linked to cases of severe pneumonia and has resulted in some fatalities.

Clinical findings and tests to date suggest that this mysterious illness is a virus targeting dogs’ respiratory system, leading to a secondary bacterial infection and pneumonia, according to CSU officials.

Colorado is working with CSU and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to gather advanced diagnostic data about the illness, which will help determine whether this is a new disease or something that’s already known, Baldwin said.

Lindsey Ganzer, a veterinarian and CEO of North Springs Veterinary Referral Center in Colorado Springs, said the hospital has seen around 35 cases since the end of October.

“My main concern is with all of these cases we’ve seen, they have the commonality of having been at a doggy daycare, a boarding facility or somewhere where there’s a lot of dogs in a small area,” Ganzer said.

“However it’s spreading in those close contact areas, the holidays are coming up and a lot of owners are going to be boarding their pets, and I do think we’re going to see an increase in those cases,” she said.

For Rachael Noff, a homeowner in Parker, fear of the disease means changing schedules and locations she and her “fur baby” go to on a regular basis.

While Noff used to visit the dog park and play frisbee with her dog at least four times a week, now they use an open field behind a nearby building to get their energy out.

“The other issue is we don’t know how this mysterious disease can spread,” she said. “If dogs get it when they just happen to walk through another dog’s urine or sniff their poop? It’s pretty scary.”

Other Colorado residents commented on social media that they’ve stopped putting out communal dog water for their neighborhood pets and have canceled stays at doggy daycares or trips altogether to prevent housing their dog somewhere new.

On Saturday, the Sniff Shack — a doggy daycare, boarding, and bathing service in Denver — was one of several businesses to send out an email to its customers warning them of the potentially deadly disease.

“We are deeply concerned about this illness, yet know the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday is one of the primary weeks where you rely on us to care for your dogs as you travel to be with friends and family,” the Sniff Shack wrote in the email. “We want to keep all of our beloved Sniffers healthy and we’re going to take the following proactive steps to help minimize potential exposure to this illness.”

The Shack canceled daycare from Nov. 20 to Nov. 26 to lessen the number of dogs present to just the boarders, eliminated communal water bowls in playrooms and implemented additional cleaning and sanitizing measures.

Baldwin said people should be cautious but shouldn’t panic about the illness.

Owners should make sure their dogs are up to date on their vaccines, including for common respiratory illnesses. If a dog does become sick, owners should contact their veterinarians early to figure out the best way to move forward, Baldwin said.

Ganzer said she’s advising people to avoid communal areas for dogs, like boarding and daycare.

“If owners are going out of town for the holidays, try to find someone to come to your house to take care of your pets rather than going to a boarding facility,” she said.

As of November 20, 2023, residential households in the U.S. are eligible for another order of #4 free at-home tests from USPS.com.

Here's what you need to know about your order:

Each order includes #4 individual rapid antigen COVID-19 tests (COVIDTests.gov has more details about at-home tests, including extended shelf life and updated expiration dates)

If an order has not been placed for your address since the program reopened on September 25, 2023, you can place# 2 orders now

Orders will ship free starting the week of November 27, 2023

Denver motorists who this week will be packing up the family to drive to grandma's house for Thanksgiving will have one more thing to be thankful for: plunging gas prices.

Denver gas prices continued their freefall last week and have now dipped below $3 per gallon for the first time since early January.

The average price for a gallon of gasoline in Denver on Monday sat at $2.95, according to a GasBuddy.com survey of 844 stations in Denver. The price is 14 cents cheaper than last week and 61.2 cents less than it was a month ago.

"As millions of Americans gear up to hit the road for Thanksgiving, the national average is seeing its longest streak of declines in over a year, reaching a ninth straight week as gas prices fall to their lowest since January," Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a news release.

Denver last saw prices below $3 per gallon 316 days ago on Jan. 8 when the average gallon was $2.97, according to GasBuddy.com data.

The gas price website says 65,000 stations across the country are now charging $2.99 per gallon or lower and 11 states have average prices below $3. Colorado's average price for a gallon is $3.08 as of Monday, according to GasBuddy.com.

"In addition, we could see five more states join the sub-$3 club by Thanksgiving," De Haan said.

De Haan said the falling prices are mostly the result of people driving less this time of year, which weakens demand. He said prices could continue to fall for another week or two, which could mean by Christmas we'll experience the lowest prices we've seen since 2021.

The national average for a gallon of gas on Monday sat at $3.27, according to a GasBuddy survey of 150,000 stations.

In Denver, the cheapest gas station was selling gas for $2.21 on Sunday, according to GasBuddy.

The Denver Broncos, through the support of Owner Carrie Walton Penner and Head Coach Sean Payton, will sponsor the training of two service dogs in partnership with the K9s For Warriors organization.

The two 11-month-old black Labrador brothers, named Bucky and Thunder, were born in Alabama, and will travel to Denver as part of their service dog training. Once the dogs have completed their training, they will each be paired with a veteran in need.

"Through the leadership and support of Owner and Foundation Board Chair Carrie Walton Penner and Head Coach Sean Payton, we are excited to sponsor the training of Bucky and Thunder," Allie Engelken, Broncos Vice President of Community Impact, said. "Affectionately named after two iconic Denver mascots, we are excited to see them grow into passionate and hard-working service dogs that will create a lasting impact on a Colorado veteran's life."

K9s For Warriors is a nonprofit organization that is committed to ending veteran suicide and provides highly trained service dogs to military veterans suffering from PTSD, traumatic brain injury and other invisible wounds of war.

"We are incredibly grateful for the support of Owner Carrie Walton Penner and Head Coach Sean Payton as well as the entire Denver Broncos organization to further our mission to end veteran suicide," K9s For Warriors CEO Carl Cricco said. "K9s For Warriors has the privilege every day to see the impact a service dog has on a veteran. With a battle buddy by their side, the veteran returns to a life of dignity and independence. The Broncos' generosity allows us to continue changing veteran lives."

Dedicated to saving not just one life, but two, K9s For Warriors rescues a majority of their dogs for its service dog program, allowing both the K9 and veteran to build an unwavering bond that facilitates their collective healing and recovery. On average, they pair up to 16 veterans with service dogs each month. To date, the organization has rescued more than 2,000 dogs and paired nearly 1,000 veterans with lifesaving service dogs.

Bucky and Thunder will be the Broncos' first-ever "team dogs" and are excited to make their debut during the team's Salute to Service game on Nov. 19, against the Minnesota Vikings (6:20 p.m. MT kickoff).

Source

This is a summary, please visit the link for the full article:

Preventing crime is a complicated task, but local businesses are trying something new using mobile surveillance cameras— while the cameras themselves are not new, the sounds they're making are.

The music isn't coming from a stage. It's coming from a speaker, which sits high above the parking as part of a LiveView mobile security system. There are several of them planted throughout the Denver metro area.

Matt Kelley with LiveView Technologies says the music is meant to keep people from loitering in the area.

"People who hear the same looped soundtrack over and over tend to get a bit annoyed,” Kelley said. “So, they vacate the area. It's really to deter the loitering taking place in those areas."

Next to the speaker are surveillance cameras helping catch criminals in the act.

According to Kelley, the system is working well for the businesses they serve. “We’re getting feedback from our customers that this activity is not occurring,” he said. “It’s going away. It frees up their time with their associates. It makes their customers safer.”

This is from a new series by The Colorado Sun.