The Home Front: A Colorado ‘moth-pocalypse,’ drone rules and robot wars

The city of Greeley, Colorado, has been hit by a “tiny moth-pocalypse,” according to this morning’s front page of The Greeley Tribune. “Oh my God, they’re everywhere,” said David Slone, the general manager at Greeley Subaru Mazda. “It was almost like ‘The Birds.’” An entomology professor at Colorado State University told the paper “this is one of the worst vagabond moth outbreaks he’s seen here in Colorado. The swarm stretches from Fort Collins, through Greeley and Windsor, down to Broomfield.” They are harmless, by the way.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel fronts a story about an 8-year-old boy who found a 140-million-year-old dinosaur skull at a Colorado quarry.

Drone controversy: “A four-minute film called ‘Above Boulder’ that showcases the majestic Flatirons, the University of Colorado’s picture-postcard campus and even the city’s vibrant downtown spread quickly across social media in recent days,” reports The Longmont Times-Call today. “But the online video, created by multimedia journalist Kjell Redal, also caught the attention of local authorities because it was shot by a drone — once again dredging up the argument of who really rules the skies.” 

The Gazette in Colorado Springs has Mayor John Suthers on the front page for a story about his State of the City speech yesterday. The city, he says, has moved from good to great in the past year. “Suthers won the loudest, most sustained applause when he called for political parties to ‘do whatever has to be done as soon as possible’ to expand 17 miles of Interstate 25 between Monument and Castle Rock to eliminate the daily logjams and improve commerce between Colorado Springs and Denver.”

The Pueblo Chieftain has a story about more local ballot initiatives for voters this fall. “The November ballot was shaping up to have every question on it except the kitchen sink — and the Pueblo County commissioners added that on Wednesday with a question about studying the consolidation of city and county government.”

The Loveland Reporter-Herald highlights a local robot-building team on that will be on an ABT TV show “Battle Bots.”

The Boulder Daily Camera has a story about an area homelessness forum where locals heard lesser-known stories about homeless families, which comprise half the homeless people in Boulder.

Want an easy way to deter bears in Durango? Harvest fruit to remove the temptation, reports The Durango Herald. “Unsecured household trash is the main reason for human and bear conflicts, but ripened fruit left on or under trees is another human food source that attracts bears that could largely be avoided.”

The Cañon City Daily Record reports on how a school district might generate money for maintenance needs. “As the district looks at ways to address $12 million worth of building repairs, it’s considering, among several options, closing a school, asking the community for tax dollars and applying for a BEST grant.”

The Denver Post fronts a piece about a new study showing Colorado’s new rules for marijuana edibles might ot go far enough. “The rules — which are being finalized and take effect in 2017 — prohibit edible pot products from being made in animal or fruit shapes. That is important because playful shapes are one of the key things that makes food alluring to kids, said Sam Méndez, the executive director of the University of Washington’s Cannabis Law and Policy Project and the author of the new report. But Méndez’s research identified other elements — such as color, smell and taste — that also make food attractive. And those are things that Colorado’s new rules do not regulate.”