State Letter Grades Won't Change After All, At Least Not Yet

Giant easel-sized sticky notes hung on the walls of Nicole Saab’s classroom. On each, Saab had written a student’s name and a simple prompt: Ask me about banning books! Ask me about cyberbullying! Ask me about children and video games! The topics had been chosen by her eighth grade literacy students at Denver Green School Southeast.

Semi-automatic guns with detachable magazines are a unique threat to public safety, having been designed specifically to unleash bullets rapidly while reducing reloading time to seconds. Colorado lawmakers have a clear and compelling interest in limiting mass casualty events by banning the sale of these “assault weapons,” and House Bill 1292 would save lives. The bill, which has passed the Colorado House but now faces a tough road ahead in the Senate, defines “assault weapon” generally as a semi-automatic gun (both pistols and rifles) that has a detachable magazine and one other feature in a list of things designed to make the gun easier to wield in an active-shooter environment.

Suzanne Morphew, the Chaffee County woman whose remains were discovered in September more than three years after she went missing, died by homicide with a cocktail of pharmaceuticals used in human and veterinary medicine found in her body, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The CBI announced the 49-year-old’s manner of death Monday morning, saying investigators determined it was “homicide by undetermined means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone and medetomidine intoxication.” Butorphanol is a synthetic opioid nasal spray used to manage severe pain, including for the treatment of migraines, according to the National Institutes of Health. Azaperone is used as a tranquilizer in veterinary medicine and often is used to sedate pigs, and wildlife resource officers to sedate large animals.

A shooting involving a Greeley Police Department officer during a traffic stop on Sunday is under investigation by the 19th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team, according to a news release from the judicial district. About 2 p.m. Sunday, an unidentified Greeley Police Department officer conducted a traffic stop in the 2300 block of Alpine Avenue in Greeley.

Between devastating hail storms and catastrophic wildfires, homeowners are getting pummeled by rising property insurance rates. Colorado has the sixth-highest average premiums for a standard homeowner’s policy and some insurers aren’t renewing policies or writing new ones in certain areas. Reporter Judith Kohler would like to talk to people who have experienced big increases in their home insurance premiums, haven’t been able to renew their policies or can’t get a new policy. If you’re interested in sharing your experience for an article, please fill out the information below. [contact-form] Get more real estate and business news by signing up for our weekly newsletter, On the Block.

Billie Eilish has already had a top-tier year, winning awards at both the Grammys and the Oscars for her song “What Was I Made For?” featured in the “Barbie” movie. But she’s not slowing down. The singer recently announced a new forthcoming album and. on Monday, also announced a supporting tour, which comes to Denver this fall.