“The criminal case against Joe Tumpkin, the former University of Colorado assistant football coach accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend, has stalled as attorneys fight over how much access his defense team should have to the woman’s cellphone records,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “Tumpkin, 45, is charged with five counts of felony second-degree assault, and was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Thursday in Broomfield. But that hearing was canceled after Tumpkin’s attorneys asked the Colorado Supreme Court to weigh in on their conflict with the prosecution over evidence in the case — a move that could hold up proceedings for months.”
“Prosecutors have asked a judge to dismiss two of the nine counts against ex-El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, paring down his case less than a week before his trial on corruption charges begins,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “A motion to dismiss charges of kidnapping and false imprisonment, both felonies, was filed Tuesday ahead of trial, scheduled for June 27, according to a source with access to the information. A restricted court record shows no evidence that 4th Judicial District Judge Larry E. Schwartz has officially tossed the charges, though experts say such an order is likely a formality.”
“EPA Superfund officials trying to stop toxic mine contamination of the Animas River headwaters are preparing to close an underground dam, aiming to block a 300 gallon-per-minute discharge equal to a Gold King Mine disaster every week,” reports The Denver Post. “Shutting this Red and Bonita Mine bulkhead has emerged as a huge test on mountains here, where miners who penetrated fissures and groundwater pathways left behind the geologic equivalent of Swiss cheese.”
“An off-duty nurse, a pregnant surrogate mother, an Army veteran, a natural gas worker, a machinist, a high school student and a McDonald’s employee were among a crowd of good Samaritans who saved lives and homes after a horrific wreck on Interstate 70 Tuesday afternoon,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “Many of the details of the wreck remain unknown, but police said a man driving a passenger car the wrong way in the eastbound lanes of I-70 collided with a sport-utility vehicle near the 27 Road bridge west of the Horizon Drive exit.”
“About seven weeks ago, residents in the area of Ogallala Road — a few miles south of Longmont and north of Boulder along Left Hand Creek — started noticing a whole lot of ladybugs,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “We all thought, ‘Gee, there’s a lot of ladybugs this time of year.’ They were everywhere,” said Mike Janeczko, who lives on 15 acres right near the creek. Then the ladybugs started voraciously munching his cottonwood trees and his willows. “Turns out they’re not ladybugs, we realized,” he said.”
“The Colorado Supreme Court will not hear Adams County’s appeal over a recreational marijuana tax case that pits the county against three of its cities, but local government officials say the case does not impact Pueblo County because of a new state law signed last month,” reports The Pueblo Chieftain. “The court’s decision upholds a 2016 ruling by the Colorado Court of Appeals, which concluded that Adams County had been improperly collecting a 3 percent tax on recreational pot sold in Commerce City, Aurora and Northglenn. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed House Bill 1203 in May, which calls for counties and municipalities to come to agreements on sharing pot tax revenue.”
“When MyCherie Hickman heard the news of an accidental shooting in the Red Feather Lakes area, her heart dropped,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “The Berthoud resident spent the weekend in a dispersed camping area there with her husband and friends and heard gunshots throughout the day and night. What she saw concerned her. Details about the non-fatal shooting remain murky, and the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office hasn’t identified any suspects. But a helicopter and law enforcement officers were dispatched to the unassuming dispersed camping area in the woods Saturday night.”
“An 18-wheeler semitruck carrying loads of garbage crashed in the Big Thompson Canyon on Wednesday afternoon on its way from Estes Park to the Larimer County Landfill,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “The semi’s driver suffered minor injuries in the single-vehicle rollover accident that occurred near mile marker 69 on U.S. 34 at about 12:45 p.m.”
“The man who allegedly set another man who was sleeping in his car on fire in March has requested a sanity evaluation be ordered,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “Michael Scavarda, 34, of Cañon City is being charged with criminal attempt to commit murder in the first degree, assault in the second degree, two counts of assault in the first degree, reckless endangerment, first degree criminal trespass, fourth degree arson and six counts of committing a crime of violence. According to a news release from the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, Scavarda allegedly broke the glass out of Jason Crowder’s back window while Crowder was asleep to throw gasoline on him.”
“Forensic firearm examination, as this process is known, is nothing new. But southern Colorado law enforcement were able to use new access to a national database, set up by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, to track the suspected guns across multiple shootings,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “This collection, known as the crime gun intelligence center, gives smaller police departments access to the ATF’s computer system, which tracks guns the way DNA databases track people. It’s a new collaboration, and police have used it in Denver and Colorado Springs for a few years. The system will soon become available to police in northern Colorado as well, and the Greeley Police Department is the first local agency to begin work with the ATF on the project.”
