Month in Review | June/July 2026

104th North Photo: Moon Over DIA By Jordan Neumeyer

[ Boulder County News ]

• Two boys, aged 14 and 15-years old, were injured when they ran a stop sign on their e-bike and were in turn hit by a truck in Boulder. Neither boy was wearing a helmet. Both were taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
• With 51% of the vote in June’s primary, Jillaire McMillan will advance to the general election as she seeks to win the seat for U.S. House District 19.
• A Boulder police officer was arrested on June 16 for allegedly threatening to break a woman’s jaw. When Erie police officers arrived to investigate the victim received a text from the Boulder officer who said he had looked up and listened to the 911 call.
• By a 6-1 vote the Longmont City Council approved a ban on hyperscale data centers. The ban applies to installations inside city limits.
• Discussion continues concerning the recent restrictions placed on burials at the Lafayette Cemetery. The halt on casket burials started when radar showed 3,500 graves in the cemetery but only 2,200 visible grave markers.

[ State News]

• Melat Kiros beat the incumbent U.S. Representative Diana DeGette in the June primary. DeGette, A Democrat, had represented the state’s First Congressional District for more than thirty years.
• Governor Jared Polis fired Azra Taslimi and Hannah Seigel Proff for what they say was their public opposition to his decision to commute the sentence of 2020 election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters who was convicted of an election security breach.
• Senator Michael Bennet lost his bid to be the Democratic nominee in November for Governor of Colorado. He was defeated in the primary race by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
• Nearly 150 acres in the state were engulfed by the Aspen Acres fire. The blaze, which is ongoing as of July 1, has destroyed over 100 structures and forced multiple evacuations.
• Across the state, on the Colorado-Utah border, the Cottonwood Fire claimed the lives of three firefighters. Members of U.S. Wildland Fire Service and U.S. Forest Service, they were overwhelmed when the fast moving fire cut off all escape routes.

[ National News]

• By an unexplainable slim 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional principle of birthright citizenship but they also issued a 6-3 ruling which kept in place a ban on transgender athletes.
• A fence was installed around the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall to keep alleged vandals away after Trump claimed during a press conference that someone made a 300 ft. gash in the lining and dumped in material to cause the large-scale algae bloom.
• NASA launched a rescue mission to save an orbiting telescope that is falling back to Earth. Scientists believe that solar storms have caused the orbital shift. 
• Representatives of the United States and Iran have entered into discussions on how to potentially bring the months-long war to a close. 
• Much of the country started July under an oppressive “Heat Dome” with temperatures hitting triple-digits on average. Many areas were planning for their hottest days in over a decade.

[ International News ]

• Israel continues its Middle East offensive. In a strike on Gaza on June 29, eight people were killed including two children.
• Venezuela suffered a massive earthquake with reports that 1,700 people (to date) were killed. The Associate Press reports that 140 of the deceased were Venezuelans who had recently been deported from the United States.
• The highest June temperatures ever were recorded in the world’s oceans last month. The United Nations declared that this was the sign of a “deepening crisis.”
• A member of the Ukrainian defense industry claims that AI-controlled drones killed Russian soldiers in a battlefield “test.” This would be the first known use of a fully autonomous “soldier” on the battlefield.
• Europeans faced a deadly heatwave in June. France alone saw an increase in deaths of nearly 30%.

[ Small Talk ]

• “I love the inflation” was President Trump’s response when asked about inflation hitting 4.2%, which is a three-year high.
• “If you’re visiting for a very large sporting event & you happen to discover RANCH while you’re here… please pack it in your CHECKED BAG on the way home.” was the message the TSA gave to World Cup spectators who came for Messi but fell in love with a dressing.
• “Sparsely attended and shockingly boring” is how the Washingtonian described the Great American State Fair taking place on the National Mall. (Maybe we’ll get it right for the 300th.)
• “Don’t die” is the advice Mel Brooks, who celebrated his 100th birthday in June, gave when asked his secret to living to 100.
• “I wish we could live in a world where we could admit that you disagree with someone, but still admit they have some good ideas,” Pastor Nick Works said when asked about today’s political climate. 
• “This is a movement, We are just getting started.” Melat Kiros said after her primary election win.

In the Numbers

• $1.2B – The amount that President Trump reported earning off of cryptocurrency alone in 2025. 
• $24 – That’s how much cheaper electricity from battery-storage is vs gas (per megawatt-hour). It’s the first time batteries have taken the top spot.
• 4.2% – The unemployment rate in June. It has been virtually unchanged for three months.
• 10,000 – The number of immigrants ICE claimed to have detained in just five days in June.
• 38% – The number of respondents in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll who do not believe the United States will exist as a single country in 250 years.
• 54 – The number of people who have died in ICE custody since 2025.

Yellow Scene’s 2026 Summer Support Drive is underway with a goal of 1,000 Sustaining Supporters by summer’s end.

For 26 years, we have remained fiercely independent, free from sponsored content and outside editorial influence.

Reader-driven support keeps local journalism unbossed, unbought, and our journalists fed. Become a sustaining supporter for $8/month and get Yellow Scene delivered to your home.

Join the Summer Support Drive and keep local journalism strong.