Month in Review: Aug. 2016

A National Guard Chopper battles the Cold Springs fire. Photo courtesy of the National Guard via Flickr under the Creative Commons 2.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode

Colorado legalized rain barrels. | Erie police chief Marco Vasquez retired after 43 years of service. Police commander Kim Stewart takes over as chief in mid-September. | This month’s thing to fear: Tularemia. A Broomfield resident tested positive for the bacterial infection, which can be picked up from dead animals — in this case, dead rabbits. | Former Tour de France champion, turned disgraced and banned cyclist after failing drug test has joined the weed boom. Floyd’s of Leadville will specialize in cannabis topical creams and vapor cartridges. Landis famously blew the whistle on Lance Armstrong, who lives part-time in nearby Aspen, just a short bike ride away. | Denver added a ballot measure to make its Office of the Independent Monitor part of the city charter. As it stands now, the public oversight position is susceptible to funding cuts. | The Justice Department will review the Commerce City police department after several cases of misconduct. | Erie residents: lock your car doors! That’s the prevention advice to quell this summer’s outbreak of “vehicular trespasses.” The start of the school year may be another solution. | Lafayette added municipal broadband and a citywide EcoPass to its long list of November ballot measures. These would be funded by property taxes. | Ikea, maker of everyone’s favorite instruction booklets, is eyeing a Broomfield lot on the corner of Colo. 7 and Interstate 25 for a new store. | Donald Trump’s poll numbers have tumbled toward landslide loss, to the point where his lead over Clinton is only 6 percent over Clinton, according to Public Policy Polling. | Rockies outfielder David Dahl began his MLB career with a 17-game hit streak, which tied a 75-year-old record (and passed the club record of 16 set by Juan Pierre).

Small Talk

“When you come out of the conventions, the leader in the last 16 elections has not lost the popular vote.” — University of Texas professor Christopher Wlezien, co-author of The Timeline of Presidential Elections.

“I think the most epic time, I got on Willie Nelson’s bus. It was an interesting time because I was playing in the NFL, so I was being drug tested twice a week so I had to be careful how I did this. It was embarrassing. He smoked me under the bus. Bad. I was crawling off the bus.” — Former NFL running back Ricky Williams opening up about his marijuana use on Bill Simmons’ new HBO show Any Given Wednesday.

“Removing businesses such as Crossroads Tavern and Lunada Eatery and Cantina while moving in a huge amount of church offices is the opposite of creating an entertainment district.” — Lafayette Homebrew Supply owner George Otteni wrote in a blog post about its landlord, Flatirons Community Church, whom Otteni says increased CAM fees by nearly 500 percent.

“Resource recovery is a major industry in Colorado, providing 85,000 jobs and producing 5 percent of total economic output. Recycling is one of the clearest paths available for creating well-paying jobs in the state and building a sustainable relationship with our natural environment.” — Rep. Becker, D-Boulder emphasizing the job-creation angle of recycling since only 12 percent of Colorado residents actually recycling, compared to the 33 percent national average.

Sources: Politico.com; Colorado Hometown Weekly; Lafayette Homebrew Supply.com;

In the Numbers

528 — Acres burned during the Cold Springs Fire, which has been attributed to two Alabama men who failed to extinguish their campfire. They face up to 12 years in prison.

23% — That’s the Colorado Tourism Office’s estimate of tourists who said legal marijuana influenced their decision to visit the state, which is not the same as deciding factor.

$76,289.11 — Amount of public donations intended for the homeless that Denver spent to relocate and store the belonging of Denver’s homeless during its street sweeps and camping-ban enforcement.

6 — miles of commuter rail now forms the start of RTD’s B Line, which opened service from downtown Denver to Westminster last month. Hang in there Longmont, the train is a comin’.