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Private messages with St. Louis official reveal issues, little funding for warning sirens

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:13 GMT

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - In a private online conversation, a top St. Louis official acknowledged not only a failure in the city's outdoor warning siren system, but little money dedicated toward maintaining the system.In a 2021 conversation on Facebook, City of St. Louis Emergency Management Commissioner Sarah Russell told a citizen that there were areas of the city that were difficult for coverage with the warning system. Local musician killed in Soulard fire, friends say "We have an annual budget of $20,000 to manage the sirens. I have a deductible to pay for one siren that was knocked off its pole which is $5,000 and annual battery replacement is $17,000. That leaves $0 for other maintenance and repairs. This is an ongoing conversation I have been having with my director and throughout the budget process. Right now, there isn't a great answer for how to fix it. The parts are getting harder and more expensive to get and we just aren't getting more budget to keep up with it."City of St. L...

Crews respond to fire in south St. Louis City

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:13 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Emergency crews are at the scene of fire at an abandoned home in south St. Louis City.Our Nissan Rogue Runner reporter Nic Lopez captured footage of flames coming from the home located on the 3800 block of Texas Avenue. The cause of fire has not been revealed. Tucker’s Place responds to trend of ‘dine and dashers’ So far, no injuries have been reported. FOX 2 will update this story with more information as it becomes available.

Confirmation vote on new St. Charles County prosecutor happening today

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:13 GMT

ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. - The St. Charles County Council will vote on whether to confirm Joseph McCulloch as the new prosecuting attorney.County Executive Steve Ehlmann appointed McCulloch to the job. He replaces former prosecutor Tim Lohmar, who suddenly announced his retirement last month. Local musician killed in Soulard fire, friends say If confirmed, McCulloch would hold the position until the end of 2024. He is the brother of former St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch.

After Colorado voters cracked down on payday loans, lenders found loopholes. A new bill would try to close them.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:13 GMT

Sifting through receipts and debts, Matt McCune can look back through the financial debris of his bankruptcy clients’ lives. In the wreckage, he often finds a common accelerant.“Basically what I see, the people that are struggling will go to do these short-term loans to get through the day, through the week, meet the bills that need to be met,” the Denver attorney said. “When it comes time to pay the loan plus the (interest), they don’t have it, so they do another loan. So now they’re financing the original principal and the interest on another loan. It’s like reverse exponential growth.”The clients who fall into these spirals, McCune said, often need money for emergencies: brake replacements, an immediate medical bill, rent that backed up. A recent national study found that fewer than half of American adults could afford to pay a sudden $1,000 charge out of their savings.For years, Coloradans in these situations turned to payday loans ̵...

Denver mayoral runoff: Kelly Brough and Mike Johnston each have a path to victory, but progressives could be key

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:13 GMT

Denver voters may have chosen two of the more centrist contenders for the mayoral runoff, but that doesn’t mean Mike Johnston and Kelly Brough are mirror images of one another.In the next six weeks, key distinctions are likely to emerge between the well-funded candidates — as will new endorsements, consolidated coalitions and fine-tuned campaign messages that together will determine which one becomes Denver’s 46th mayor.Though several self-identified progressive candidates failed to make the June 6 runoff, including third-place Lisa Calderón, their voters could determine the outcome. That is among the big X-factors that experienced Denver political operatives and observers say give both Brough and Johnston viable paths to victory.“I think it’s a mistake to assume they are identical,” said City Councilwoman Robin Kniech, who’s finishing up her third and final term as an at-large member and has stayed neutral in the race. “We need to look more close...

The state of ticket-buying is in flux as bots and third-party sellers enrage music fans

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:13 GMT

Scoring tickets to concerts at Red Rocks Amphitheatre is harder than ever, music fans have complained. And a statement fired off last week by ticket-seller AXS — which peddles the majority of tickets to Red Rocks shows — did not chip away at that perception.“We’re trying to prevent rampant scalping and rampant re-selling and get these tickets into people’s hands,” said Don Strasburg, co-president and senior talent buyer at Denver-based promoter AEG Presents Rocky Mountains, whose parent company Anschutz Entertainment Group also owns AXS. “But what happened with the Skrillex show is relatively rare.”Last week, AXS took the unusual step of “sweeping” tickets for the April 29 Red Rocks concert from dubstep artist Skrillex due to what officials said was fraudulent activity. That meant recovering passes that had already been sold, then re-selling them through the company’s lottery system.“What Zach Bryan did at Red R...

Keeping an eye on eagle couples during nesting season is a labor of love for volunteer monitors

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:13 GMT

For more than an hour, monitoring a golden eagle nest high on South Table Mountain from a roadside observation post more than 500 yards away had been uneventful, if not downright tedious, for veteran Jeffco Open Space volunteer Teresa Van. Peering through a telescope, she could catch occasional glimpses of one eagle, but it was well-camouflaged with its rocky surroundings.With little happening above and time passing slowly, important questions hung in the air. Was the resident eagle pair incubating eggs in this nest perched 500 feet above in a rocky cliff band at the top of the mesa? Or, had an eaglet already hatched, as typically happens in early April? Answering such questions was the reason Van was at her volunteer post, observing a nest she has monitored for six nesting seasons.“You kind of get invested with the couple,” Van said. “After all these years, you’re cheering them on.”Suddenly there was activity. In what is known as a “nest exchange,̶...

If you time it right, you can have this Colorado hot spring all to yourself

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:13 GMT

Like any aging millennial, I had discovered Desert Reef, a recently updated hot spring destination in southern Colorado, while endlessly scrolling.After a massive renovation beginning in 2021, the locally beloved springs in Florence, 45 minutes outside of Colorado Springs, had just reopened with overnight accommodations and a new, enticing offer: Tuesday night soaks with the pools only open to overnight visitors.Depending on the timing, that could mean just two of us in the pools or, at most, 20 people scattered around the vast property (there are 10 available rooms for booking).So with a month to go until our wedding, I asked my fiance to pack a bag one Tuesday after work and drive south with me. The plan was to soak in the hot springs after nightfall and then sleep under the stars before driving back the next day.Oh, the romance!Only on this particular evening, my fiance, Sam, had already made plans to play in his weekly virtual game meetup with friends across the country. Thankfu...

Exhibition at Museo de las Americas offers emotional tour of present-day Colombia

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:13 GMT

The best art exhibitions are sometimes the most difficult to consume. That is surely the case with “Colombia: The Corn, the River, and the Grave,” the raw and ambitious offering currently at Denver’s Museo de las Americas.The group show, featuring 15 contemporary Colombian artists, is a difficult plunge into the trauma inflicted upon the country due to its horrendous, five-decade-long civil war, which technically ended with a peace agreement in 2016 but remains unsettled in large regions. It is also the most riveting exhibition I’ve seen this year in Colorado, in terms of the individual objects hung on the wall.Erika Diettes submerges in water the clothing of people who disappeared during the Colombian Civil War then photographs the scene from above. The pieces are about how we hold onto memories of people who have left our lives. Photo by Ray Mark Rinaldi, Special to The Denver PostCurated deftly by Alex Brahim, who lives in the. remote city of Cúcuta and knows artists throug...

Latvian police foil an attempt by Russian nationals to illegally seize inheritance left in Latvia

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:13 GMT

The famous Black Pearl, one of the most expensive yachts built for Bourlakov.Latvian authorities launched a criminal proceedings against a group of Russian nationals, Forbes in Latvia reports. Sofia Shevtsova, Ludmila Bourlakova and Elena Bourlakova, as well as Ingūna Bobrovska, a notary public in Latvia, are under investigation for an alleged conspiracy to seize the assets of billionaire Oleg Bourlakov who died in 2021, and negligence on the side of the notary public. Oleg Bourlakov Latvian media report that criminal proceedings have been initiated under Part 3 of Article 177, Article 299 and Article 197 of the Latvian Criminal Code. The victims in the case are Estonian Nikolai Kazakov, 70, and his wife Vera.Oleg Bourlakov and his business partner Nikolai Kazakov once made a fortune together. They shared family ties - Nikolai is married to Oleg's sister Vera.The late Oleg Bourlakov took legal action against his former wife and children. He even openly named his daughter the organis...