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• The FBI executed a search warrant on former president Trump’s Florida resort, Mar-A-Lago. The FBI has been revealed to be investigating Trump for the crimes of: “removal or destruction of government records; destroying or concealing records with the intent to impede, obstruct or influence federal government activity; and violations of the Espionage act regarding unauthorized retention of national defense information.” Agents seized 11 “classified” documents with one marked “top secret,” the highest level of classification. 
• Trump supporters were outraged by the raid. Ricky Shiffer, a well-known and outspoken Trump advocate, attempted to storm an FBI office in Cincinnati, OH armed with an AR-15 in retaliation. He was subsequently killed by police. 
• President Joe Biden announced his Student Loan Forgiveness Plan. Borrowers that took federal loans that make under $125,000 a year and received Pell Grants will be eligible for up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness. Pell Grants are given to students from low- and middle- income families. Borrowers that make less than $125,000 a year and did not receive a Pell Grant will be eligible for up to $10,000. 
• President Biden signed executive order 14076: Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Care. This is an attempt to curb some of the damage done by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It allows emergency room doctors to perform an abortion if the patient’s life is at risk and the procedure is necessary. It is also an attempt to combat restrictive reproductive State legislatures that have complicated matters of insurance and under which circumstances doctors are allowed to perform certain procedures. 
• Colorado State Senator Kevin Priola announced that he will be switching parties and becoming a Democrat. This is a blow to Republicans trying to take control of the Colorado State Senate. The Colorado GOP is now seeking a recall. 
• A 29-year-old climber visiting from Minnesota fell 35-feet in Eldorado Canyon and survived after being caught by ropes and his climbing partner. He still had a hard ground landing and sustained injuries but is expected to recover. 
• Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and other pro-gun activists filed lawsuits against Louisville and Boulder in protest of recent gun control measures. According to the group’s spokespeople, these are the first of many. 
• The Uvalde School Police Chief, Pete Arredondo, has been fired due to his handling of the May 24th mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas that resulted in the deaths of 19 children aged 8, 9, and 10, and 2 teachers. Arredondo released a statement referring to his termination as “illegal” and as an “unconstitutional public lynching.” Under Arredondo’s command, hundreds of police officers waited for an hour outside of the school before going in to stop the shooter. His termination has been called for by the families of the victims since the tragedy occurred.
• The amount of people that have been fully vaccinated against COVID continues to grow in Colorado. 72.5% of the population have received the full vaccination and 82.2% have received at least one dose.

Small Talk

“There will be another spike this fall. That’s going to happen.”

– Bob McDonald, executive director of Denver Department of Public Health and Environment speaking on the potential rise of COVID cases.

“Some of these bears learn that trash equals food. They see a trash can, they’re going to investigate. The more we can keep them from learning that trash equals food, or humans equal food, the less likely we’re going to have to get involved.”

– Joey Livingston, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Public Information Officer in regard to increasing bear euthanizations resulting from human-bear interactions

“There’s a pretty robust La Niña setting up right now, and when we look back at the last significant La Niña event, that was a very healthy snow year — not only for Colorado, but the entire western United States.”

– Sam Collentine, chief operating officer for the ski-oriented OpenSnow weather forecasting and monitoring service referring to snow predictions for the upcoming winter season

“The county is definitely excited that people can focus on the rebuild and not worry about their lot and getting it cleaned up. Everyone on the debris removal side is definitely breathing a lot easier now.”

– Andrew Barth, a spokesman for Boulder County’s public works department regarding the completion of the Marshall Fire cleanup effort.

“Our teachers and our employees desperately need this.”

– Douglas County Board of Education Director Elizabeth Hanson during a meeting where measures were voted on to pay educators higher wages to help schools retain employees and build new schools

By The Numbers