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Report: Colorado outpaces neighboring states' crime rates

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:44 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- The Common Sense Institute released its November crime snapshot report Friday, suggesting that even as crime rates fell in all seven of Colorado's neighboring states, crime in Colorado is on the rise.CSI's report compares 2012 rates to 2022, detailing what's changed in the past decade.Overall, crime has increased by 21.6%, the Institute reported. Neighboring states' crime rates appear to have fallen by approximately 28% during that same time period. CSI reported that national crime rates have fallen even more — 28.3%.“When it comes to crime, Colorado is still outpacing both neighboring states and the nation,” said CSI Executive Director Kelly Caufield. “In fact, from 2012 to 2022, Colorado is the only state among seven of its neighbors to experience a crime rate increase.” Construction to improve pedestrian safety on Federal Boulevard starts soon Colorado holds the dubious titles of third in the nation for property crime and eighth in the nation for violent crime....

Runaway driver sought for Ruby Hill neighborhood hit-and-run

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:44 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- A Medina Alert has been issued for a driver who hit a vehicle and left the scene in Ruby Hill, even as the other driver was transported to a hospital for their injuries.According to law enforcement, a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck is sought in connection to a serious bodily injury crash that occurred at about 4:45 p.m. on Nov. 10 near West Florida Avenue and South Federal Boulevard. View the latest Weather Alerts in Denver and across Colorado on FOX31 The truck is grey in color and has an orange toolbox in the bed. Police also provided the license plate: 144-TJG.The pickup collided with a red Ford F150, causing serious injury to the occupant. The Chevy truck driver then fled the scene. Witnesses told police a Hispanic man was driving the vehicle during the crash. Medina Alerts were introduced in 2014 after a hit-and-run driver killed a 21-year-old valet driver, Jose Medina. A witness followed the driver and gave police the license plate number, which led t...

Golden Girls Kitchen pop-up in Wynwood lets you step into the world of the celebrated sitcom

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:44 GMT

“The Golden Girls” have had our hearts since the iconic sitcom hit the airwaves almost four decades ago. But today, the spirit of the four leading ladies lives on at the Golden Girls Kitchen, a new pop-up restaurant where you’ll have as many good times as Blanche had first dates.Are you a Sophia?Guest 1: “This is like a dream come true. Like, I cried when i walked in.”Alex Miranda: “Did you?!”Guest 1: “I did. I was teary-eyed.”Rose…Guest 2: “My whole family has always compared me to Rose, because I’m kind of an airhead, you know?Alex Miranda: “Wait, I’m a little Rose, too.”Dorothy…Guest 3: “The sarcasm, the drama.”Alex Miranda: “Is that you, the drama?”Guest 3: “Absolutely! Everything!”Or Blanche?Alex Miranda: “Are we Blanche of the same reason?”Guest 4: “Yes. I love men.”[Alex falls to the floor laughing.]Either way, you’re probably a...

2nd Pompano Beach Drone Show Extravaganza to take over skies above Fisher Family Pier

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:44 GMT

This weekend, Pompano Beach is gonna be lit. The sky over the ocean will be filled with lights — and not the kind supplied by stars. Drones will dance above your head, and you will be thoroughly amazed.Man in “Superman” show: “Look up in the sky! It’s a bird!”Woman in “Superman” show: “It’s a plane!”It most certainly is not. It’s the second annual Pompano Beach Drone Show Extravaganza at Fisher Family Pier.Sandra King: “It’s a night of family fun, cool entertrainment.”This Saturday’s event is bound to be twice as nice as last year.Sandra King: “We added a show, so we have two shows, one at 7 p.m., one at 9 p.m.”You want more? You got it. More shows, more lights.Sandra King: “Not only are we doubling up on shows, but we’ve added another 100 drones to each show. It was 200 drones, which was amazing. Now it’s gonna be 300 drones. It is such a cool thing to watch...

Ritter: Tackling causes of chronic absenteeism

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:44 GMT

As our country reflects on the decisions made to close schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and the severe damage it did to students’ academic progress, it would be easy to assume students being out of school is a problem of the past.It would be easy, but it would also be wrong. As it turns out, while schools have reopened and returned to normal, millions of students are missing.According to a recent report from Stanford University, chronic absenteeism, defined as when students miss roughly 18 days of school year, is on the rise in 40 states across the country. In the 2021-22 school year, there were 6.5 million more students chronically absent than in the 2018-19 school year, an increase of roughly 14%.An analysis from Attendance Works and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University forecasts chronic absenteeism in 2022-23 to be roughly 28%, nearly double the pre-pandemic rate.But it isn’t just the rate of change that is different, it is also the populations of student...

Editorial: Feds waste billions of taxpayer $$ on empty offices

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:44 GMT

“Office Space” may be a comedy classic, but the government’s version is no laughing matter.Last month, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report on how federal agencies use — or don’t use — their headquarters. It examined 24 agencies, including the departments of Justice, Education and Transportation.It found that 17 of the 24 agency headquarters buildings “were at 25 percent capacity or less in the first three months of 2023.” Among the bottom quartile of agencies, the usage was a mere 9%. Even among the agencies that used their headquarters’ space the most, none topped 50% occupancy.This is an issue with a large footprint. The federal government owns more than 460 million square feet of office space. Maintaining it costs taxpayers billions every year. It’s wasteful to have so much unused space.One might assume this is a new problem. Perhaps the federal government has been slow to adjust to remote work and the bureaucracy just hasn’t had time to recalculate how mu...

Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ readies to end its reign

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:44 GMT

Peter Morgan’s stunning — and stunningly inventive – series, “The Crown,” which profiled the extraordinary and lengthy reign of Queen Elizabeth II, now concludes with its final two-part Season 6 beginning Nov. 16.It all began in 2006 with Morgan scripting Helen Mirren’s Oscar-winning theatrical movie “The Queen” and, more importantly, its 2013 theatrical spin-off “The Audience,” again with Mirren, which noted the passages of her reign in weekly meetings with various Prime Ministers.That notion of looking at her reign as one decades-long story led to this ambitious and extraordinarily expensive series. “The Crown” launched with Elizabeth’s 1947 marriage to Prince Philip, her first-ever televised coronation and the drama of her sister Margaret giving in to familial and religious pressure and not marrying the divorced Peter Townsend.“The Crown” continued to the dawn of the 21st century, following Princess Diana’s death and Prince Charles’ relationship with Camilla Par...

Franks: Welfare reform, abortion impact elections

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:44 GMT

Is it possible that welfare reform and my small contribution toward that effort in 1996 as the Republican chairman of the Welfare Reform Task Force may have inadvertently contributed to the election of a Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate in 2022, a Kentucky governor, and a Virginia state legislature in 2023? Sounds strange.After the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade – which returned the abortion question back to the states – the GOP has had to fend off well organized campaigns in states across the country.Is there a lesson to be learned?At the very least, Democratic women and young women have been super motivated to vote and vote Democrat. There is no wonder and no secret why Vice President Kamala Harris is leading the charge for the Biden-Harris campaign on the abortion rights issue. She has made frequent college campus stops to discuss the issue. It is paying political dividends.One of the primary goals of the Welfare Reform Bill was to break the cycle of government dep...

NEEDTOBREATHE switched on for MGM show in Boston

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:44 GMT

NEEDTOBREATHE is definitely a rock band, and its members are indeed Christians. But there are a few good reasons why they don’t like to call themselves a Christian rock band, even after a Grammy nomination in that category.“People hear that and assume that it (stinks),” says frontman Bear Rinehart. “There are a lot of very big bands out there that you could just as easily call Christian bands, and for us it really comes more from the business side — like ‘Is this song going to make it on Christian radio?’ There have certainly been songs where my faith gets into them in a natural way, and I wouldn’t say I shy away from that. I just don’t feel that every one of my songs derives from that place.”If he does write a spiritual song, he’ll probably keep it non-specific. “I decided a long time ago that I can’t tell people what to think of my songs or how to interpret them. And I think we intentionally write songs in ambiguous way. To my mind that gives people a way to connect, so they...

Why Jed Hoyer seized the opportunity to hire Craig Counsell to manage the Chicago Cubs: ‘Felt like we left wins on the table’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:44 GMT

Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer had said all the right things for months in support of David Ross.Even when scrutiny on Ross’ performance became heightened in June when the Cubs slipped 10 games below .500, Hoyer continued to believe in him. At the end of the season, after a three-week September collapse dropped them out of playoff position, he backed his hand-picked manager. Hoyer, though, has shown a willingness to make tough decisions when he believes it benefits the organization.A covert recruitment of managerial free agent Craig Counsell was the latest shrewd maneuver by Hoyer that landed the Cubs one of the best in the game for a record contract at the expense of parting ways with Ross. But that was a price Hoyer was willing to pay. The Cubs want to harness the way Counsell and the Brewers consistently outperformed expectations during his nine seasons at the helm.Counsell always seemed to get the best out of his roster.“My job is to figure o...