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EXCLUSIVE: Austin police officers cleared from indictments share story for first time

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:53 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Sergeant Joshua Blake and Detective Christopher Irwin used the word "shocked" to describe how they felt when they received news of their indictments related to actions taken during the May 2020 protests following the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Michael Ramos in Austin. They were two of the group of 19 officers indicted by a grand jury in February 2022 on charges of aggravated assault by a public servant. Twenty-one officers total would be indicted related to the 2020 protests in Austin, which responding officers said became "riotous."Earlier this month, District Attorney Jose Garza announced that his office dropped 17 of those indictments. Blake and Irwin were on that list. DA Garza ‘stands by’ dropping police indictments, asking for federal review of APD protest actions "It's been a whirlwind of emotions," said Irwin. "A constant dark cloud looming over myself and my family."The District Attorney's office is still pursuing charges against four offic...

Holiday rush in full swing at Amazon fulfillment center in Pflugerville

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:53 GMT

PFLUGERVILLE (KXAN) — With Christmas just three days away, you may be shopping online for last-minute gifts.If you place an order in the Austin-area, a package may arrive on your doorstep within a few hours.Those items are most likely arriving from the Pflugerville Amazon fulfillment center. It’s a massive warehouse, stocked with over 600,000 items.Site leader Shalini Sharma says things are busy as can be this time of year for her 400 employees."Our volume goes up by two times,” she said. “We do a lot of planning, to make sure the associates we hire to process these volumes are safe.”Conveyor belts — filled with all sorts of items — stretch across the warehouse. On average, the fulfillment center ships around 40,000 packages per day. Robots speed up shipping at Amazon fulfillment center in Pflugerville However, the holiday rush brings about an average of 50,000 to 55,000 packages per day.Sharma says their speedy shipping speed can be credited to warehouse robots, who roll out larg...

TV news legend Rick Sallinger talks retirement, Denver’s best stories, and when to take “no” for an answer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:53 GMT

Running into Rick Sallinger on the job could have been the best or worst day of your life.The 73-year-old television journalist, who’s stepping down this month after more than three decades on Denver’s airwaves, could change lives for the better by spotlighting underdogs and working-class issues. He used the power of broadcast to raise money and resources for good causes. He never ambushed anyone who didn’t deserve it, colleagues said. And woe to those who did.KCNC-TV journalist Rick Sallinger, left, and son Marc clear snow in March 2022. Marc has followed in Rick’s footsteps as a TV news reporter, this time working at 9News. (Provided by Rick Sallinger)“He would put in the time and discipline to make sure anybody impacted (by a story) would get a chance to comment early on,” said Walt DeHaven, who retired in July as general manager of KCNC-TV, the CBS affiliate also known as The Denver Channel.“But he could be equally as dogged in making su...

Foes of five-story apartment project at edge of Lakewood’s Belmar Park gear up for battle: “Hell no, it’s not done”

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:53 GMT

A raft of ducks perched and waddled on the frozen surface of a pond at Belmar Park on a recent fall morning — foreground bustle for a double-crested cormorant rookery located on a small island just offshore.This 132-acre park in the middle of Lakewood, Colorado’s fifth-largest city, is tagged as a “hotspot” on eBird.com, where birders have recorded sightings of more than 230 bird species — many of them migratory — in the park, including the Northern shoveler, the cedar waxwing and the dark-eyed junco.But according to an increasingly vocal group of city residents, this rich tableau of avian activity is under threat from a five-story, 412-unit apartment building proposed for the eastern edge of the park, at 777 S. Yarrow St.“I ride my bicycle through here to see the birds, the wildlife,” said Regina Hopkins, a Lakewood native who went to Green Mountain High School and is on the front lines of this latest fight over high-density developme...

Letters: Housing the homeless — too many Denver residents say, “Not in my neighborhood”

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:53 GMT

Housing the homeless: Too many say, “Not in my neighborhood”Re: “Hotel proposed as homeless shelter serving families,” Nov. 24 news storyI continue to be amazed and appalled by how some members of a neighborhood — just about any neighborhood where the City of Denver is trying to house homeless adults and children — are vehemently opposed to the idea. It’s a prime example of vilifying the “other” — similar to the way Trump said immigrants are “poisoning the blood of America.”The latest instance of this was in the Hampden neighborhood, in City Council District 4, where a hotel will house families with children. It brought out people’s fears of the formerly homeless bringing down property values, harming businesses, downgrading the performance of students in public schools, rampant drug and alcohol abuse — was raping and pillaging the village included?We cringe and turn away when encountering homeless e...

The most-read Colorado news of 2023, from Casa Bonita to Bigfoot and Boebert

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:53 GMT

Coloradans have very specific tastes when it comes to local news.Centennial State readers voraciously read stories about encounters with wildlife and backcountry search and rescue efforts, and even months after Casa Bonita technically reopened under new owners Matt Stone and Trey Parker (we say “technically” because you still need an invite to dine there), the Pink Palace remains one of our most-read-about topics.It’s also been a big year for Colorado sports. The Nuggets won the NBA championship in June, which set off wild celebrations throughout the city. Unfortunately, that included a mass shooting during post-game celebrations downtown, and a Denver police sergeant losing his leg after being run over by a fire truck during the victory parade. That very same sergeant later led the Legend High School football team out onto the field in a wheelchair before the Titans’ win over Parker rival Ponderosa.Deion Sanders dramatically raised the profile of CU Buffs fo...

Colorado labor market softening as year comes to a close

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:53 GMT

Colorado employers shed 700 jobs last month, a decline that would have been much worse without some decent government hiring, according to a monthly update from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.Private sector employers cut their payrolls by 2,100 positions last month on a seasonally adjusted basis, while government employers added 1,400 jobs. October’s numbers were also revised lower, taking the original estimate of 1,500 jobs down to no jobs.“I am not surprised by the decrease in employment during November, nor am I surprised by the downward revision of 1,500 jobs in October. The economy has been growing at a slower rate. More importantly, for Colorado, the private sector has been stagnant for the second half of the year,” said Broomfield economist Gary Horvath in an email.November’s monthly losses were heaviest in manufacturing, down by 1,600 positions, and in trade, transportation and utilities, down by 1,500 jobs. Other services, a catchall...

Virginia man sentenced to 25 years in prison for sex trafficking two minors, including missing Colorado girl

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:53 GMT

A Virginia man was sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday for sex trafficking two minors, including a missing 14-year-old girl from Colorado.In June, 32-year-old Denzel Akeem Loftin of Chesapeake, Virginia pleaded guilty to the felony charge of sex trafficking a minor under a plea deal, according to court documents.The deal dropped four other felony charges from his case, including sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; attempted sex trafficking of a minor; production of a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit content; and obstruction of a sex trafficking investigation.While Loftin faced a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison, on Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth Hanes sentenced Loftin to 25 years in federal prison with seven years of probation after his release, according to court documents.Loftin’s accomplice, 24-year-old Emerita Moore of Norfolk, Virginia, was sentenced to five years in jail on Nov. 7 for working as his &...

Movie review: “The Boys in the Boat” sinks, but it should have been a winner

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:53 GMT

Be warned: “The Boys in the Boat” is no “Chariots of Fire.”Sorry, George.The film, which is being released on Christmas Day, had all of the elements for a memorable movie: a big-name director (George Clooney); a handsome young leading man (Callum Turner); and a story filled with loads of inherent drama, like the Great Depression, the Olympics, Nazis, and a sweet romance.Callum Turner stars as Joe Rantz in “The Boys in the Boat.” (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc.)There is SO much there. It’s based on a 2013 non-fiction book of the same name and subtitled “Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics,” by Daniel James Brown. In it, the 1936 University of Washington junior varsity eight-oar crew team is an underdog that defeats big-name, well-funded schools for the right to represent its country in Germany on the brink of World War II.And you can guess how those games turned out.Seems like a can’t-...

New book lays out the century-long war between Denver’s daily newspapers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:53 GMT

“Colorado in the Civil War,” by John Steinle (Arcadia Publishing)Colorado in the Civil War.  By John Steinle.  Arcadia Publishing.For a small territory of just 30,000, Colorado contributed an outsized number of volunteers — some 5,000 men — during the Civil War.  And they made a significant difference in stopping the war from going west to the California gold and silver mines.  At the Battle of Glorieta Pass, Colorado volunteers, led by Maj. John Chivington, routed the Confederates and sent them back to Texas.  The engagement was known as “the Gettysburg of the West.”After distinguishing himself in that battle, Chivington, of course, went on to become the despised commanding officer at the Sand Creek Massacre. Colorado’s volunteers went on to fight the Rebels in Kansas and Missouri and confront Quantrill’s Raiders.The territory’s role in the War Between the States is summarized in “Colorado in the Civil War.”  Using early photographs, many of them rare, autho...