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First Lady Michelle Obama arrived in Aspen on Friday afternoon and is here with her daughters for a ski vacation. Few details about her trip were available. Sources said she is staying at the home of Jim and Paula Crown, owners of the Aspen Skiing Co. She is reportedly skiing at Buttermilk today, where the Crowns, of Chicago, own a home on the Tiehack side. Several people have known about the “low-key” vacation, with the Secret Service in town for the past few days scoping out places for the family to relax and enjoy what the resort has to offer....

Fox News segment. A Colorado student who refused to sing a song praising Allah quit the choir this week. This morning FOX and Friends reported that James Harper quit school in Grand Junction after receiving death threats. Harper received the death threats after the story broke this week. The school defended its decision to sing the song to Allah. Hat tip to Gateway Pundit

A Colorado high school student says he quit the school choir after an Islamic song containing the lyric "there is no truth except Allah" made it into the repertoire. James Harper, a senior at Grand Junction High School in Grand Junction, put his objection to singing "Zikr," a song written by Indian composer A.R. Rahman, in an email to Mesa County School District 51 officials. When the school stood by choir director Marcia Wieland's selection, Harper said, he quit. "I don’t want to come across as a bigot or a racist, but I really don’t feel it is appropriate for...

AURORA | No matter the season, the year, or the weather, customer interest in the rack of guns at Pasternack’s Pawn Shop in Aurora rarely changes. Typically, the shop on East Colfax Avenue near Dayton Street sells 25 guns each month, said Scott Pasternack, the owner. And while the last six months have seen a spike, Pasternack said reasons for it are a mystery. “I think it’s just the uncertainty of times we’re in, predictions like the Mayan calendar, world ending, all kinds of different things,” Pasternack said with a laugh. But six miles west at the State Capitol, the...

A Colorado high school student quit the school choir after an Islamic song containing the lyric "there is no other truth except Allah" made it into the repertoire. James Harper, a senior at Grand Junction High School in Grand Junction, put his objection to singing "Zikr," a song written by Indian composer A.R. Rahman, in an email to Mesa County School District 51 officials. When the school stood by choir director Marcia Wieland's selection, Harper quit. "I don’t want to come across as a bigot or a racist, but I really don’t feel it is appropriate for students in a...

A Colorado high school student quit the school choir after an Islamic song containing the lyric "there is no other truth except Allah" made it into the repertoire. James Harper, a senior at Grand Junction High School in Grand Junction, put his objection to singing "Zikr," a song written by Indian composer A.R. Rahman, in an email to Mesa County School District 51 officials. When the school stood by choir director Marcia Wieland's selection, Harper quit. "I don’t want to come across as a bigot or a racist, but I really don’t feel it is appropriate for students in a...

A Denver woman claims she couldn’t board a flight from Wyoming to Denver because of her gender. Jennifer Winning makes the flight from the small airport of Rock Springs, WY to Denver often, but on January 29th it was different. “They wouldn`t let me get on the plane because I`m female,” Winning said. She said she checked in and arrived at security about 35 minutes before the scheduled departure of her United flight. “They asked if I was on the flight to Denver, I said yes, they said that they couldn`t screen me because they sent all the female TSA...

DENVER — Republicans moved forward with a proposal to let businesses use deadly force against intruders, one of a handful of GOP proposals being heard Thursday aimed at expanding gun rights.

DENVER -- Denver police say a home intruder was shot and killed and a resident was wounded as the two men struggled over a gun early Wednesday. Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said a man was awakened about 2:20 a.m. by an intruder in his home at 3469 W. Ninth Ave. As the resident and the intruder struggled over the gun, several shoots were fired striking both men, Jackson said. It wasn't clear who owned the gun. Quantcast The intruder died at the scene, Jackson said. The resident, who was wounded in his lower torso and leg, was transported to...

Santorum Delivers a GOP Stunner Former Senator Wins in Minnesota, Missouri; Romney Campaign Plays Down Nonbinding Contests By NEIL KING JR. And DANNY YADRON DENVER—Rick Santorum jolted the Republican presidential race Tuesday by winning nominating contests in Missouri and Minnesota, puncturing Mitt Romney's claim to be the unstoppable front-runner. Mr. Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, was running neck and neck with Mr. Romney in preliminary returns from Colorado, a state Mr. Romney won by a wide margin in 2008. With about 70% of the Colorado vote counted, Mr. Santorum had 38%, to 36% for Mr. Romney. Four years ago, Mr....

WASHINGTON — Rick Santorum faced an important opportunity Tuesday to become the chief conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, as he was poised for possibly strong showings in Republican presidential contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, was expected to remain the front-runner for the GOP nomination whatever happened Tuesday, thanks to his huge advantages in campaign cash and organization and his impressive earlier wins in New Hampshire, Florida and Nevada. But late polls showed Santorum surging, although polls are notoriously weak at forecasting caucus results, because caucus turnout tends to be low and to require unusually...

Rick Santorum won the Colorado GOP presidential preference straw poll, according to the Colorado Republican Party. The victory means a trifecta tonight for the former Pennsylvania senator, who also won in Minnesota and Missouri. It is a significant defeat for front-runner Mitt Romney, who took 60% of the vote in the Colorado’s 2008 nominating contest. John McCain, the eventual nominee, won just 18%.

(Reuters) - Former U.S. senator Rick Santorum rejuvenated his presidential hopes on Tuesday with a shocking sweep of the three nominating contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, dealing a blow to wounded front-runner Mitt Romney. Even though Romney still holds strong advantages in financing and organization, his campaign will now have to refocus to fight back the challenge from the surging conservative Santorum...

Open for discussion.

The US Bureau of Land Management published a draft programmatic environmental impact statement and possible land use amendments for federally administered oil shale and tar sands acreage in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. It also opened a 90-day comment period on the proposals on Feb. 3. The draft PEIS analyzes several land allocation and resource management alternatives, the US Department of the Interior agency noted. It said if it decides to adopt the preferred alternative, 461,965 acres would be available for research and development of oil shale (35,308 acres in Colorado, 252,181 acres in Utah, and 174,476 acres in Wyoming), and...

DENVER — The Republican presidential race could be headed for another reshuffle Tuesday as Rick Santorum, who has lagged behind since his surprise Iowa victory, is once again challenging the dominance of front-runner Mitt Romney. Polling over the past week shows Mr. Santorum statistically tied with Mr. Romney in Minnesota, besting him in Missouri, and running second to him but ahead of rival Newt Gingrich in Colorado, all of which hold contests Tuesday. Mr. Romney’s camp took notice, firing the kinds of broadsides it generally has aimed at Mr. Gingrich. Romney surrogates on Monday accused Mr. Santorum of pork-barrel spending....

The Bureau of Land Management on Friday proposed scaling back a George W. Bush-era plan for development of oil shale and tar sands on Western lands, drawing the ire of Republicans and industry groups. The plan would reduce the available acreage for oil-shale and tar-sands development by about three-fourths in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming in an attempt to protect environmentally sensitive areas. It also would pull back the Bush-era proposal to make oil-shale leases available for commercial development, instead continuing to lease them only for research-and-experimentation purposes. BLM announced last year it would redo the Bush-era plan as part of...

LAS VEGAS — Newt Gingrich is wooing NASCAR voters. As he charts a possible course to the Republican nomination, aides say Gingrich will paint frontrunner Mitt Romney as the candidate of the PGA golf tour while the former House speaker pursues the blue collar mantle of Dale Earnhardt. It’s a strategy that exploits the class warfare Gingrich professes to oppose. Still, it could pay dividends once the GOP race again swings South. Gingrich sees delegate-rich Texas as a firewall in April. But he must slog through more than 30 contests before that....

Hot on the heels of Mitt Romney’s big win in Nevada come two more caucuses and another primary on Tuesday, in which no delegates will get directly assigned to any candidate. However, both offer opportunities to shape the media coverage of the overall primary campaign, and for Rick Santorum, this might mean some good news. PPP’s latest and final polls from Colorado and Minnesota give bad news to Newt Gingrich, however: Last night’s results in Nevada were bad news for Newt Gingrich and PPP’s first day of polling in Colorado and Minnesota indicates things may only get worse for him...

Public Policy Polling surveys Tuesday's caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado and finds good news for Rick Santorum: Last night's results in Nevada were bad news for Newt Gingrich and PPP's first day of polling in Colorado and Minnesota indicates things may only get worse for him in the coming days. In Colorado Mitt Romney looks primed for another big Western win to match his one in Nevada. He leads with 40% there to 26% for Rick Santorum, 18% for Gingrich, and 12% for Ron Paul. Minnesota looks like a toss up with any of the four candidates having some shot...

There was a plane crash at the Pueblo Memorial Airport Thursday night. Apparently, a Lear jet slid off the runway during takeoff. It made it 2/3 of the way down the runway before the incident happened. Ten people were on board and are reportedly okay. There were 8 passengers and 2 flight crew. The FAA tells 11 News its unsure where the plane was headed. There is significant damage to the plane. It is unknown whether this crash was weather related. The airport is closed while experts remove the plane from the runway and try to determine a cause.

The Florida primary overnight has produced the thumping victory for Mitt Romney that the polls were predicting. But what might be worrying GOP strategists is that turnout was down sharply compared to four years ago. Florida will be one of the critical battlegrounds in November and the last thing the party wants is for Republican-inclined voters to be less enthusiastic. The New York Times's election and polling analyst, Nate Silver, has done some number-crunching using the exit poll data from the four states that voted in January and finds that there is a pattern. In Iowa the number of self-identifying...

If former House Speaker Newt Gingrich continues in the Republican primaries, not only is he doing more good than harm, he may be the only candidate left who can save the Republican Party. The Republican establishment is bound and determined that it is going to impose a Mitt Romney on us. Conservatives do not want former Gov. Mitt Romney. You see, we have danced this dance before. We had Sen. John McCain shoved down our throats in 2008. How did that work out for us? We have George W. Bush, who barely won his races, and before that we had...

Updated Full Primary/Caucus Calendar Jan 3 Iowa (caucus) 28 Delegates 28 Unbound - Allocation at State Convention Jan 10 New Hampshire (primary) 12 Delegates 12 Bound - Proportional with 10% threshold Jan 21 South Carolina (primary) 25 Delegates 25 Bound - Winner-take-all per statewide vote Jan 31 Florida (primary) 50 Delegates 50 Bound - winner-take-all per statewide vote Feb 4 Nevada (caucus) 28 Delegates 28 Bound - Allocated on results of primary Feb 4-11 Maine (caucus) 24 Delegates 24 Unbound - Convention elects delegates Feb 7 Colorado (caucus) 36 Delegates 36 Unbound - Allocated at State Convention Minnesota (caucus) 40...

Fresh on the heels of announcing January fundraising numbers in excess of $4 million, Rick Santorum's presidential campaign announced a new television ad that will begin airing Tuesday in Colorado and Nevada. The ad attacks Newt Gingrich as being too liberal for the GOP nomination by arguing that he shares many policy positions with President Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). "All three supported radical cap and trade legislation that would destroy American jobs and drive up energy costs. All three supported giving illegal aliens some form of amnesty. All three sported the government health mandates which take...

The Republican establishment is pulling out all the stops to try to keep Newt Gingrich from becoming the party’s nominee for president of the United States — and some are not letting the facts get in their way. Among the claims going out through the mass media in Florida, on the eve of that state’s primary election, is that Newt Gingrich “resigned in disgrace” as speaker of the House of Representatives as a result of unethical conduct involving the diversion of tax-exempt money. Mitt Romney is calling on Gingrich to release “all of the records” from the congressional investigation. But...

Updated Jan. 31, 2012: Support for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has remained one of the few constants during the Republican nomination race. But as contenders to Mr. Romney have emerged and then faded, the GOP still seems hesitant to embrace him. The most recent candidate to play the Anyone But Romney role is former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who recently finished first in the party’s South Carolina primary. The National Post’s graphics team takes a look at the ups and downs of the race so far. [great grapics at source]

Tampa, Fla. — If the polls are correct, Rick Santorum will not win tonight’s primary. But he tells National Review Online that he remains in the hunt for the nomination. “This is a game of survivor,” he says. “I’m under the strong belief that we are going to hang in there. You are going to see some more ebbs and flows in this campaign. We are going to get our opportunity.” Santorum sees hope to the west, from the Upper Midwest to the Rocky Mountain region. Leaving behind Florida’s air wars, where television advertising ruled, he is confident that he...

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that a federal law making it illegal to lie about being a war hero is constitutional and making false statements is not always protected free speech. ... The Colorado case involves Rick Strandlof, who was arrested after claiming he was wounded in Iraq as a Marine and had received military medals. His lawyers have acknowledged the claims were false.

Colorado --(Ammoland.com)- As you may know, Colorado state law doesn’t allow a taxpayer-funded facility to ban concealed carry (i.e. they think you shouldn’t be able to defend yourself). Based on that law, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners filed a complaint against Colorado State University two years ago, and won. This week, the same lawyer who filed against CSU again represented Rocky Mountain Gun Owners members by filing a lawsuit against Northern Colorado Medical Center (NCMC) in Greeley. NCMC is a county-owned hospital, and bans permit holders (in fact, all firearms) from entering that facility, though they do not have the required...

DENVER | A proposal to let Colorado residents carry concealed weapons without a permit failed Monday over concerns that it would make it easier for criminals and the mentally ill to have guns in public places. A Senate committee rejected the bill on a 3-2 party-line vote, with Democrats voting against it. It's the second year in a row the proposal has failed, but identical legislation is still running in the Republican-controlled House.

The self-incriminating clause of the Fifth Amendment is always a great help for defendants who want to keep their encrypted hard drives from being decrypted when prosecution asks for it, until now. A Colorado federal judge has ruled that decrypting a computer hard drive does not violate the defendant’s rights. The ruling came in a case against Ramona Fricosu, who is charged with mortgage fraud. She had argued that decrypting the data on her hard drive would require her to testify against herself, which is prohibited by the US Bill of Rights. But Judge Robert Blackburn decided differently. According to...

A legislative measure to extend in-state tuition benefits to undocumented students may get an endorsement from the University of Colorado -- key support from the flagship school that was missing last year when a similar bill was introduced. Joe Neguse, D-Boulder, said he's considering bringing a resolution forward to his colleagues on the Republican-controlled board. Tillie Bishop, a Republican from Grand Junction, could be the swing vote the Democrats need for an endorsement. Last year, Bishop told the Camera he didn't support the legislation, saying illegal students shouldn't be given tuition perks when out-of-state students in the country legally are...

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., said on Monday he is boycotting President Obama’s State of the Union address. In a tersely worded statement released by his office, Lamborn said he decided instead “to pass” on attending the speech on Tuesday night, though he will watch it on television. “Congressman Lamborn does not support the policies of Barack Obama,” the statement said. A spokeswoman said Lamborn was about to board a flight and was not immediately available to elaborate. But his office has already prepared a further explanation for constituents if they want to know more about his decision. That explanation states...

AURORA, Colo. (AP) — The FBI arrested a refugee from Uzbekistan at Chicago's O'Hare airport on charges that he planned to travel overseas to fight for a terrorist group and give up his life if necessary, an official said Monday. However, there was no evidence that suspect Jamshid Muhtorov was plotting attacks inside the United States, authorities said. Muhtorov, 35, of Aurora, Colo., was arrested Saturday by members of the FBI's Denver and Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Forces. Muhtorov, who goes by several other names, was indicted for providing and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist...

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DENVER — Colorado Republicans are reloading their holsters on attempts to expand gun rights. Some of their proposals this year are ideas that Democrats have rejected in the past. Republicans are trying to give business owners and employees the power to use deadly force against intruders. Another proposal would allow people to have a concealed weapon at schools or colleges if a person has a legal permit.

5 Unusual Sales Taxes You Need To Avoid With the economy still struggling, states are getting fairly crafty with how they charge consumers via sales taxes. It's no secret that dubious, yet all-too enforceable government laws have been with us since the dawn of the civilized world. In ancient Egypt, the pharaohs taxed cooking oil – of course, the main seller of cooking oil was the pharaoh. During the first century AD, the Roman empire taxed urine – a popular source of ammonia for common tasks like tanning hides and cleaning clothes. Then at the height of the Dark Ages...

Ever hungry for an authentic hero, Americans have turned to Tim Tebow. Greek columns and Teleprompters have schooled us on how to discern the sincere from the bogus, and with Barack Obama as the measure, Tim Tebow's gold stands in contrast to Obama's dross. [ . . . ] Tebow is the type of champion who is everything Icarus-types like Barack Obama are not and can never be. Unlike Barack, Tim has claimed to be neither "mythological" nor "legendary" and yet, without self-promotion, has proven to be a man "endowed with great strength and ability" -- none of which he...

I have officially called off my boycott of the National Football League. I do not care how many felons or frotteurs play the game. Now there is Tim Tebow to redeem it. He can pass and run. He inspires his teammates. He inspires many returning fans like me. I shall follow him through the playoffs and maybe even next year as the season resumes anew. He is an American original -- and he is controversial. I am for him. No, I shall not fall for the NFL's gimmicks. You will not see me wearing a jersey of the Denver Broncos,...

The joke in the family was that Gentry Knaub was the famous child, thanks to her years as a standout gymnast at Thompson Valley High School. It was her joke, of course, and mostly aimed at her older brother, Collin, who will give her a run for her money in April when his work to break a major case as a member of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation will be featured on 20/20. Then again, they both know by now they can't hold a candle to their little sister, Bailey. Bailey became a celebrity to her friends on Sunday when...

DENVER — Sen. Angela Giron on the first day of the new legislative session Wednesday introduced a modified version of a bill that failed last year proposing to afford illegal immigrants in-state college tuition rates. The Pueblo Democrat’s revamped proposal, SB15, mirrors last year’s bill in that it would allow Colorado high school graduates who have been in the country much of their lives and are pursuing legal citizenship to attend state colleges at the resident rate, but would not grant them state College Opportunity Fund dollars. “None of us want to create an underclass of people,” Giron said. “The...

Colorado-based Durango High School has now agreed to include the "revealing" photo of a high school senior in the yearbook after initially refusing to do so. The school officials had earlier refused to publish the controversial photo of Sydney Spies, calling it inappropriate. The officials told Spies that she had violated the school’s dress code by wearing a short yellow skirt and a black shawl as the top.

THE NFL ON CBS” COVERAGE OF DENVER’S DRAMATIC OVERTIME WIN OVER PITTSBURGH IN AFC WILD CARD GAME SCORES HIGHEST RATING IN 24 YEARS. Game Rates 25.9/43 in Metered Markets. THE NFL ON CBS’s broadcast of the AFC Wild Card game featuring the Tim Tebow-led Denver Broncos’ 29-23 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Jan. 8 was the highest-rated Wild Card game in 24 years earning an average overnight household rating/share of 25.9/43, up 38% from last year’s 18.8/37 for Baltimore at Kansas City.

Sportswriters and ballplayers have nothing in common so much as an urge to utter four favorite words: I told you so. It’s become the coin of the realm in this business. Nothing inspires such opportunistic passion as a chance to hate the doubters and doubt the haters. SNIP What happened Sunday night was more than an upset. It was more than a thrilling playoff win for the Broncos. It was an epic rebuke to Tebow’s legions of doubters. Call it Tebow 3:16... Tebow came out for the postgame presser in a knit cap and a vest, jeans and sneakers. He...

In a recent Time Magazine article Jared Polis listed Pat Schroeder as his political hero/inspiration. For anyone familiar with the Colorado political scene over the past few decades, that says much about my potential opponent. As for me, I pick Ronald Reagan as a contemporary hero, and George Washington as a historical inspiration. Votesmart.org lists 92 votes that Rep. Polis cast on the House Floor in 2011. 80% of the votes were either no, or did not vote. Among his no votes for 2011, which I would have supported are: H.R. 2 - Repealing the Federal Health Care bill H.R....

The device that exploded inside a car in Lafayette on Saturday afternoon, sending a husband and wife to the hospital with serious burns, was inside a paper bag with the victims' names written... Lafayette police this morning issued a news release with fresh details of the crime, which remains under investigation. As of 8 a.m. today, no arrests had been made, although ... investigators were looking at a possible suspect. Allyson Stone, 44, and her husband, Christopher Stone, 59, walked out of their home at 337 Lodgewood Point just before 12:56 p.m. Saturday when they saw a package "described as...

AURORA, Colo. -- One person was killed and three wounded in a gunfight at a check-cashing-tobacco store in Aurora on Friday afternoon. The gunfire erupted during an apparent robbery of the store, according to police. "Two suspected robbers were shot as well as two employees in the store," said Aurora police spokeswoman Cassidy Carlson. She said two armed men entered the business with the intention of robbery and were spotted by two employees, but it is too early to determine who fired first. A witness told 7NEWS reporter Marc Stewart that a wounded gunman fell to ground near a trash...

DURANGO, Colo. -- A teenager said Durango High School is refusing to publish one of her senior photos in the yearbook. Sydney Spies, 18, told the Durango Herald that administrators told her the senior portrait she submitted would not be printed in the yearbook because her attire in the photo violated dress code. The newspaper said the high school requires that tops "fully cover the chest, back, abdomen and sides of the student." The photo Spies submitted shows her wearing a yellow skirt with a black shawl that exposes her shoulders and midsection. "We'll get the ACLU involved if they...

DENVER (Reuters) - A 36-year-old woman was accused of causing $10,000 worth of damage to a painting by the late abstract expressionist artist Clyfford Still, a work valued at more than $30 million, authorities said on Wednesday...

Several Denver News Channels and the Boulder Daily Camera are reporting that city parks in Boulder will be closed overnight due to the Occupy protestors.Apparently, even uber-Liberal Boulderstan has had enough of the unwashed using the parks as toilet facilities, and the protesters were very savvy in having lookouts so they couldn't be caught in the act...