[ Boulder County ]

• Boulder County Commissioners vote to approve a ten-year extension on an open space tax. This has upset many farmers and ranchers, who are dissatisfied with this decision because there is no language to protect them from the tax extension. This could lead to driving agriculture out of Boulder County..
• Erie Town Council has approved the Erie Town Center Urban Renewal Plan, which will facilitate funding the development of the  20-acre Town-owned property at the northwest corner of Erie Parkway and E. County Line Rd. in Erie Town Center.
• Daniel Bench, 88, was killed while riding his bike on August 4th. His death is the first cyclist death in 2025. According to data provided by the city, the number of severe crashes involving bicycles has remained unchanged since the 2014 Vision Zero bill, which aimed to decrease incidents by 2030.
• The City of Boulder has hired a new Transportation and Mobility Director, Blyth Bailey. Bailey is a trained architect who has previously led the first Department of Transportation in Chattanooga, TN, as well as worked to develop parks. His integration comes during the City of Boulder’s hiring freeze

[ State]

• The City of Denver has cut of Loveland’s access to the FLOCK automatic license-plate reading software after it was revealed that Loveland was sharing the data with Border Patrol.
• The bunnies are growing horns. Rabbits around northern Colorado are developing black horn-like growths around their heads and faces. This is a form of cottontail rabbit papillomavirus. This is not a dangerous disease, nor is it spread to humans or domestic pets.
• With the continued drought and overuse of water, federal officials announced that in 2026, Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico will all receive less water from Colorado. This will be an 18% decrease for Arizona, 7% for Nevada, and 5% for Mexico. There will not be a decrease for California.
• The Lee Fire, burning in Rio Blanco County, is currently the fifth most extensive fire in  Colorado’s recorded history. At 137,485 acres burned, it is 300 acres behind the 2002 Hayman Fire

[ National ]

• Under an executive order, the National Guard has been deployed in Washington D.C. to increase policing and “decrease crime.” Initially, it was stated that the National Guard would not be armed; however, Army Senior Master Sgt. Craig Clapper said that “Guard members may be armed consistent with their mission and training.”
• Donald Trump flew to Alaska to meet with Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, to push for a ceasefire in the genocide in Ukraine. However, upon the meeting’s end, Trump had changed his mind, stating a ceasefire was no longer critical.
• Stephen Colbert announced that after ten years, Paramount has decided to cancel his show, The Late Show. While Paramount reports this was purely a financial decision, it came days after Colbert criticized the $16 million settlement between CBS and the White House over a possibly edited interview with Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes.
• The state department has halted all visas for people coming from Gaza. In the statement, it was explained that there needed to be “a full and thorough review of the process and procedures” used for granting medical humanitarian visas.

[ International ]

• Hamas has informed mediators that it has approved the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal and is ready to resume negotiations to discuss ending the conflict with Israel and Gaza, which has now killed more than 62,000 Palestinians, with looming threats of famine and starvation.
• Following the US-South Korea military exercises, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced that North Korea will be building up its nuclear armament, seeing the exercises as “an obvious expression of their will to provoke war.
• Nearly 2,000 service members have been deployed to fight the wildfire burning in Spain and Portugal. The fire has covered 579 square miles and continues to burn while southern Europe experiences a severe heatwave.

Quotes

“So stick to the streets if we want to commute efficiently. Got it.” 

– Louisville resident Joe Walsh, after the announcement that speed limits on bike paths would be limited to 15 mph. This is after many bike paths were paved for easier bike commuting.

“Vladimir Putin said something — one of the most interesting things — he said, ‘your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,’ He said, ‘it’s impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections.”

– Donald Trump explaining his inspiration for trying to rid our country of mail-in voting, a tool that helps the lower and working class ensure their ability to vote.

“I am not going anywhere.”

– University of Colorado Board of Regents member, Wanda James, after her peers attempted to censure her after an investigation into her opposition to the CU-backed marijuana education campaign

“The robots are still really dumb.”

– Dr Allan Fern, robotics professor, regarding the first-ever robot humanoid games held in China.

By the Numbers

274

The number of lives lost in Buner, Pakistan, after torrential rains and flooding, with no evacuation notice from the government.

1:8 Million

The ratio of neurosurgeons to citizens in Sierra Leon. Earlier this year, Dr. Alieu Kamara became the first and only practicing neurosurgeon in his country.

500,000

The approximate number of travelers who have been stranded during the Air Canada cabin-worker strikes.

39,448

A record-setting number of students are attending CU Boulder for the 2025 Fall semester.

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