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Letters: Inspired by Native resilience displayed at Denver March Powwow

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

Inspired by Native resilience displayed at PowwowRe: “Denver March Powwow: ‘Culture is alive and well’,” March 20 news storyThis was my first time at a Powwow. I spent three days viewing and experiencing this special event at the Denver Coliseum. What I saw was beautiful and joyous. It was an expression of Native love, tradition, and unity. Their dance to the beat of drums, their energy and joy was a sight to behold. Yet, I felt something much more profound. Their sound was not a soft compliant drumbeat. The pounding of the drums expressed their anger and defiance. It was powerful. The singing that accompanied the beats was one of anguish and crying out for life.The dancers were all so beautiful with their colorful regalia and feathers. Mothers and fathers held their babies as they danced together. The young children danced enthusiastically and proudly. The elders, who danced slower, expressed their deep-rooted feelings for the love of their culture.I appreci...

Is Colorado ready to serve English learners under new universal preschool?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters. Leer en español.Every morning, students in the Early Excellence Program in north Denver start their day with a song in Spanish and English. Story time and reading circles also happen in the two languages. Kids are encouraged, but never forced, to speak both.These are some of the ways teachers at this highly-rated preschool try to give students a strong foundation in their home language as they prepare for school — something researchers agree is helpful for young bilingual learners.As the state prepares to roll out universal preschool, a new taxpayer-funded program starting in the next school year that offers preschool hours for free to all 4-year-olds and some younger children, officials have given priority to children who don’t speak English at home. The state will offer those children more hours of tuition-free preschool and is promising — for the first time — that program...

From tiramisu croissant knots to sourdough loaves, artisan bakery’s business is on the rise

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

When bakery owner Zach Martinucci moved to Denver about five years ago, people told him there were plenty of bakeries in the area.“I was like, ‘Oh, no, there’s so much room,'” Martinucci replied. “I had come from San Francisco, where there was a bakery on every street corner and you could still open more because of the love of good bread.”Since starting Rebel Bread, an artisan bakery, Martinucci has seen more bakeries and coffee shops open in the Denver area. As the worst of the pandemic passed, his wholesale business surged to meet the rising demand for scones, muffins and croissants to go with all those cups of coffee.“We’ve always done wholesale. It’s been our priority for a while now,” Martinucci said.But the number of the bakery’s wholesale accounts approximately has doubled since November.“We’re now serving about 60 different accounts, up from 30. They’re mostly independent coffee shops in Denver, so...

Western Colorado safest region in country against rising tide of natural disasters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

Rodney King heads up emergency management efforts in Conejos County and plans ways to protect residents from the worst-case scenarios. But when it comes to having to act on those plans, not much catastrophic happens in this off-the-beaten-path border region south of Alamosa.“We have no hurricanes and we have no tornadoes, although we do get high winds, the kind that can knock over power poles. We get some hail, usually pea-sized and sometimes it will get to marble-sized,” he said. “We do have earthquakes, usually along the Sangre de Cristo Range, but they are so mild that we don’t ever feel them.”Snow is plentiful higher up, but lower down, where most residents live, paralyzing dumps aren’t common. Winter temperatures can get bitterly cold and storms do knock the power out about twice a year up in the canyons. But locals are used to burning wood and coping until the power comes back on.The county was among the first in Colorado to record a severe pine b...

East High shooting spotlights tenuous balance between school safety, “moral obligation” to educate kids

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

The shooting inside Denver’s largest high school last month by a student who administrators had been checking daily for weapons raises a stark question: How do you balance a child’s right to an education with the need to keep students and school staff safe?Parents and community members are left wondering why Denver Public Schools enrolled Austin Lyle — the teen who shot and wounded two administrators while being searched at East High School — after he was expelled by the Cherry Creek School District and while on probation for a weapons charge.Educators and others have criticized DPS’s broader record on student discipline, describing the district’s policies as too tolerant and administrators too hesitant to expel students. But activists and other teachers worry the outcry over the March 22 violence — and a fatal shooting near the school in February — will disrupt the progress the district has made in combatting the school-to-prison pipeline, especi...

‘This tragedy was avoidable’: New records show how Hayward police found 8-year-old Sophia’s Mason — but it was already too late

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

Newly-obtained documents in the killing of Sophia Mason show that Hayward police – after getting a missing person’s report about the 8-year-old in March 2022 – swiftly determined what Alameda County social workers had failed to see for more than a year: The girl was in danger and needed immediate help.But by the time officers found Sophia just three days later, it was too late. She was already dead, decomposing in the bathtub of a house where her mother and the mother’s boyfriend had lived in Merced.At a home where 8-year-old Sophia Mason’s body was found in March on the 500 block of Barclay Way in Merced, Calif., a curbside memorial remains outside the now empty house, Tuesday, May 31, 2022. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) The documents, compiled by police and obtained after this news organization successfully sought a court order, confirm the findings of ongoing reporting by the Bay Area News Group detailing how Alameda County’s Department of Children and Family Servi...

From buried grottos to mysterious orbs, could this Santa Cruz Mountains property be the next Fatima or Lourdes?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

BOULDER CREEK – Brut Farris moved into a cottage among the towering redwoods overlooking the Boulder Creek deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains about 15 years ago because it was scenic — not sacred.It didn’t hurt that there was plenty of space for him and his friends to shoot their bows and park their Harleys.So when he stumbled upon a toppled-over statue of the Virgin Mary in a stone enclosure while helping extend the driveway to the edge of a hillside, he didn’t think much  about chucking it into a sinkhole with other debris.Cora Evans, who died 56 years ago, has been declared a “Servant of God” by The Catholic Church, the first step on the path to sainthood. (Courtesy of family) He had no idea back then that the property’s previous owner, the late Cora Evans who died here in 1957, was a candidate for sainthood in the Catholic Church. He hadn’t heard the stories that she was considered a mystic and fell into deep trances and wrote thousands of pages about walks with G...

Will the 49ers move up from historic low entry point in the NFL Draft?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

SANTA CLARA — On the last Friday of this month, the 49ers finally will be “on the clock” at the NFL Draft, after 98 picks have come and gone. That is the current order, at least.Pick No. 99 marks the 49ers’ lowest entry point ever in the NFL Draft. Not exactly Friday Night Lights excitement, is it?Armed with 10 other picks, they certainly can and likely will move up the queue.How high should they go — and how much can they offer — for those one or two players envisioned as finishing touches for this winter’s Super Bowl push?The first round is likely out of reach for a second straight draft, having dealt those selections to the Miami Dolphins in the 2021 haul for the No. 3 overall pick, quarterback Trey Lance.Trey Lance, San Francisco 49er’s quarterback, speaks to reporters in the locker rooms in Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group) Come Friday, April 28, the Niners will be in pla...

Baby born on I-270 in Montgomery Co., officials say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

A baby delivered by first responders on Interstate 270 in Montgomery County, Maryland, early Friday morning is expected to be OK.Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesperson Pete Piringer said the birth happened at around 2 a.m. while the pregnant mother was heading south on Interstate 270 near Ridge Road.Piringer said first responders got to the family and helped deliver the newborn before getting them to the hospital.“Mother & newborn child were transported,” he said in a tweet. “Everyone is reportedly doing well.”The baby is one of many born along I-270 in the past decade, according to reports from WTOP.These include baby Amir Mason in 2013, baby Atticus in 2014, Jacob in 2015, two more babies in 2019 — just after New Year’s Day and right before New Year’s Eve in the same year — and a Thanksgiving surprise in 2022.ICYMI (~2a) child birth on SB I270 between Route 121 and near Route 27 (Ridge Rd) @MCFRS_EMIHS A735 responded & family w/ ...

AMA’s first gay president to take over at tumultuous time

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The first openly gay person to lead the American Medical Association takes the reins at a fractious time for U.S. health care. Transgender patients and those seeking abortion care face restrictions in many places. The medical judgment of physicians is being overridden by state laws. Disinformation is rampant. And the nation isn’t finished with COVID-19.In the two decades since Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld first got involved with the AMA as young medical resident, the nation’s largest physicians’ group has tried to shed its image as a conservative self-interested trade association. While physician pocketbook issues remain a big focus, the AMA is also a powerful lobbying force for a range of public health issues.Two years ago, the AMA won widespread praise for announcing a plan to dismantle structural racism within its ranks and the U.S. medical establishment. It has adopted policies that stress health equity and inclusiveness — moves that inspired critics to accuse it of “woken...