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Speculation is mounting that the story of six-year-old American boy Falcon Heene who was feared to have floated away on a home-made weather balloon was a hoax organised by his family to gain publicity.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The 6-year-old Colorado boy thought to have floated off in a homemade balloon has raised questions whether it might have been a family stunt. During a live interview on CNN, Falcon Heene said he heard his family calling his name as he hid in the rafters of their garage. At the time, there was a frantic effort to bring down the balloon safely. Falcon's father asked, "Why didn't you come out?" The boy answered, "You had said we did this for a show." After the CNN interview, the father said he didn't know what his son...

So far, Colorado has released 10 prisoners early as part of a plan to save $19 million, including a man previously convicted of a child sex-assault case. Gov. Bill Ritter has said that no sex offenders, kidnappers or sex offenders would be released early. Fifty-one-year-old Benny Joe Rael was convicted of a child sex-assault case back in 1982 although that's not the crime he had been serving time for.

She said she just heard on the radio that a 6 year old child had accidentally taken off in some kind of experimental aircraft in Larimer County, CO. Cannot find news article on this. Do you know anything?

Rescuers are tracking and chasing a "homemade flying saucer" that is in flight with a 6-year-old, by himself, on board. The incident started this morning in Fort Collins when the boy got into the balloon-like device, which was built by an adult, and it came loose from a tether, according to the Larimer County Sheriff's Office. The contraption could rise as high as 10,000 feet, the sheriff's office said. The home-made flying saucer was last seen in flight over Weld County. The sheriff's office is working the Federal Aviation Administration to determine how to best get the boy down. The...

David Kelly's home office in Briargate is a typical middle-aged guy's hideout. It has a computer, two desks, books stacked floor to ceiling and maps on the walls. But at the foot of one desk sit a couple boxes filled with buttons and bumper stickers promoting Sarah Palin as a 2012 presidential candidate. The full-time library district worker spends up to 20 hours a week collecting money and mailing political paraphernalia as part of his federal political action committee's effort to persuade Palin to run.

School wants $52,000 for expenses related to suit against former professor. The University of Colorado is asking for more than $52,000 from Ward Churchill to recover costs the school incurred fighting a lawsuit filed by the former ethnic studies professor. The total tab, filed in Denver District Court last week, includes individual expenses ranging from $2 for courthouse parking to $22,095 for "in-trial video and visual exhibits." "The university believes that what we've filed is both fair and appropriate for some of the expenses that we incurred during the trial," said Ken McConnellogue, spokesman for the University of Colorado system....

Colorado Democrats plan to take another run at a bill that would provide reduced tuition to the children of illegal immigrants by creating a new class of tuition that would not require state subsidies. Sen. Paula Sandoval, D-Denver, said the measure, billed as the "Workforce Development and Unsubsidized Tuition Act," is a compromise that would avoid the pitfalls of the four or five previous failed attempts at passing legislation by creating a new, third tuition rate. Miklosi said the act would create educational opportunities for 200 to 500 children of illegal immigrants the first year and thousands more over the...

Proposed wilderness designations for parts of the Colorado mountains could threaten the Army's only high-altitude training site for helicopter pilots, an Army officer said Tuesday. The proposed "Hidden Gems" wilderness designations would put all of the high-altitude landing zones used by the High-Altitude Army Aviation Training Site off-limits, said Col. Joel Best, senior aviation officer for the Colorado Army National Guard. "We really can't afford to lose any of that land for the security of this nation," Best said. He spoke at a briefing for Colorado county commissioners and legislators. The site, known by the acronym HAATS, is the only...

Did President Obama deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? Yes Maybe someday but not yet Don't know No

Dylan Klebold's mom speaks in "O" magazine "No inkling" of plans for Columbine massacre By The Denver Post Posted: 10/10/2009 Susan Klebold wrote an essay in the November issue of O magazine. (Denver Post file photo )An essay by the mother of Columbine killer Dylan Klebold says she had "no inkling" of her son's inner turmoil, and her examination of his journals has prompted her to learn about suicide in an effort to understand the school shooting. The essay by Susan Klebold, which appears in the November issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, explores her son's role in the 1999...

Thank God John McCain lost the election. Citizen activists are now energized to defeat Obama's Marxist radicalism – with no help from McCain's anemic pragmatism. Eight months into the Obama presidency the Republican opposition is suddenly thriving because of the patriotic reawakening provoked by Obama's Marxist agenda. But this Republican revival will be short-lived if party leaders ignore the real message of the tea party protesters and 9/12 marchers. We are witnessing a grass-roots rediscovery of our constitutional traditions and a principled resistance to the expansion of entitlement spending. This resurrection of principled conservatism could never have happened if John...

Regulators have shut Warren Bank in Warren, Mich., and two small banks in Colorado and Minnesota, boosting the number of failed U.S. banks this year to 98 as loan defaults rise in the worst financial climate in decades. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Warren Bank, with about $538 million in assets and $501 million in deposits as of July 31. The Huntington National Bank, based in Columbus, Ohio, agreed to assume the deposits and about $83 million of the assets of the failed bank. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition. Warren Bank's six branches...

VAIL VALLEY, Colorado — Matthew Volk said he was working at Edwards Liquors Thursday when the night took a strange turn. “Next thing I know, I see this guy come in and he's got a gun in my face,” he said. The man with the gun shouted at Volk to give him money from the register. That's when Volk noticed the gun looked fake. “I realized right away it was not a real gun because of the barrel shape,” the 42-year-old Army veteran said. “I was not as scared as if it had been a real gun.” Volk said he...

Cameron Aulner doesn't think of himself as a hero. The wheelchair-bound Colorado resident says he just did what anyone else would do when he saved a little girl from a child molester right in the Walmart where he works. Witnesses say a man sexually assaulted a young girl inside a Walmart in Westminster on Sept. 19, picked her up and then tried to flee the store, KDVR FOX 31 TV reported. Aulner, 22, was working at the Comcast table in the front when he heard the commotion. He tackled the suspect, 34-year-old Kevin Salyers, before he could escape and held...

A Loveland man was arrested Thursday for the attack on two women ... Larimer County sheriff's spokeswoman Eloise Campanella named the suspect as James Bondsteel, 38, of Loveland. He was booked into the Larimer County Jail on charges of kidnapping, attempted sexual assault, first and second-degree assault and menacing with a deadly weapon. The attack occurred on Sunday, Sept. 13, when the two women were confronted by a man with a knife on the Signal Mountain Trail in Poudre Canyon. He apparently tried to sexually assault them, but the women fought him off with a hiking stick...

A Colorado man faces charges that he helped a wealthy Democratic fundraiser cheat banks out of hundreds of millions of dollars. Federal prosecutors said Friday that Shahin Kashanchi, of Telluride, provided fake documents that let his brother-in-law Hassan Nemazee defraud three banks of more than $290 million. Nemazee was the national finance chairman for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. He later raised money for Barack Obama.

Friday, September 25, 2009Play will put spotlight on workers' woes ccasey@greeleytribune.com The immigration raids of December 2006 and last year's fracas over prayer time for Muslims — both incidents at the same beef plant — are recent examples of workplace turmoil in Greeley. A play that examines worker struggles through the past 100 years of U.S. history will be performed Saturday at the University of Northern Colorado. “Which Side Are You On? Voices From the Workers Struggle,” a production of the Romero Theater Troupe in Denver, will be staged at 7 p.m. at Lindou Auditorium, in the lower level of...

According to billboard owner Phil Wolf, Denver’s “birther boards” will go up mid-day today at Kipling and I-70 on the north side of frontage road. West-Denver commuters will be treated to compelling over-sized double-sided evidence that Americans love a distraction. The ominous and compelling message: “Where is the birth certificate?” The billboards are the work of talk radio host Peter Boyles, World Net Daily, and Mr. Wolf. They are part of nationwide right-wing campaign to force Pres. Obama to produce his original long-form birth certificate. Experts have repeated time and again that the documents presented to the country and campaign...

Here is a video we made for our local 9.12 Greeley Colorado group.

Help us make this grassroots effort successful. Step 1: Follow the link to the Denver Colorado event Step 2: RSVP. Step 3: Invite your local contacts.

If Najibullah Zazi had any doubts he was a prime suspect in a terror investigation, authorities say, they were quickly erased by a local imam. "They came to ask me about your characters," the Queens imam, Ahmad Wais Afzali, told Zazi in a Sept. 11 phone conversation, according to a secret recording. "They asked me about you guys." The "they" referred to in a recently unsealed criminal complaint were New York Police Department detectives who had considered Afzali a reliable ally. At least one works for a division that operates independently from an FBI-run terrorism task force. Afzali's alleged tipoff...

Memo to President Barack Obama: It's a tax. Obama insisted this weekend on national television that requiring people to carry health insurance — and fining them if they don't — isn't the same thing as a tax increase. But the language of Democratic bills to revamp the nation's health care system doesn't quibble. Both the House bill and the Senate Finance Committee proposal clearly state that the fines would be a tax. And the reason the fines are in the legislation is to enforce the coverage requirement. "If you put something in the Internal Revenue Code, and you tell the...

DENVER, Colo. -- Fall officially starts Tuesday at 3:19 p.m., but it will feel a little more like winter in some spots. Tuesday will start off chilly. Temperatures will dip into the 30s in some spots, spurring a FREEZE WARNING for the western slope and Palmer Divide. This warning is in effect until 9 a.m. Tuesday. A strong cold front roared into Colorado on Monday morning and brought an abrupt end to the lovely summer weather over the weekend. Temperatures took a dive from the 80s to the upper 30s over the Metro area and rain was mixed with snow....

COLORADO SPRINGS - The state will start saving your money Tuesday, just as Governor Bill Ritter and state lawmakers learn another $240 million will have to be cut. The plan to release prisoners early to save tax dollars begins Tuesday with eight prisoners getting out. The state estimated about $19 million in savings, by releasing 3,400 prisoners early this year, with another 2,900 next year. By June 2011, 6,400 prisoners may be release early. "Certainly the savings potential to the state is something that is factoring into the board taking a second look at them.

Snowfall in the mountains was heavier than forecasters had expected today, leaving travelers and road crews to scramble with an inch or more of early winter weather on the last day of summer.

Reporting from Washington and New York - Federal authorities have tied as many as a dozen people to a suspected Al Qaeda-linked bomb plot on U.S. soil as they continue to gather evidence to indict on terrorism charges the young Afghan immigrant at the center of the case, law enforcement officials said Monday. Authorities said that they did not know the exact number of potential suspects or many of their identities, but that they had been connected through electronic intercepts, surveillance, seized evidence and interviews. A federal law enforcement official and others, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the...

A New York City Muslim imam, who acted as a police informant, betrayed his handlers by tipping off a terrorism suspect... Ahmad Wais Afzali, of the New York borough of Queens, was among three men arrested during the weekend in connection with an alleged bombing plot... The documents show that Zazi, 24, of Denver, abruptly left New York and returned to Colorado after having wiretapped phone conversations with the imam, which the FBI alleges contained talk of how police were interested in Zazi... Zazi attended an al-Qaida terrorism training camp in Pakistan and was arrested in possession of notes detailing...

  2009 IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial International Association of Fire Fighters honors those who have fallen in the line of duty. No Greater Love... Indebted Never Forget

  Constitution Day Colorado Springs Rocks Constitution Day 2009 with a Tea-Party Americans, Pledging Allegiance Rejects Obamacare...... ...therefore, must be a Racist. (LOL!) Kenny Giordano Keep on Rockin' in the Free World! He has the right... Santa? Over 40 - OUT OF THE POOL! Ranger On - CHARLIE MIKE! Over 40 - OUT OF THE POOL! Kent Lambert Rocks! Purple - it's the New RED, Comrades. Obama Supporter Discourse Useful Idiot? Useful Idiots - reliving their 60's "Glory Days" You Rock, Colorado

AURORA, Colo. — Djilali Kacem tugged at his beard and surveyed the warehouse of Islamic books he helps oversee near Denver International Airport. “The government should know better by now,” said Mr. Kacem, an imam at a local mosque. “It has been eight years since Sept. 11 and our government still overacts sometimes when it comes to Muslims.” As an investigation into a possible terrorist plot against New York City focused increasingly last week on a local Afghani shuttle bus driver, some Muslims in and around this Denver suburb have grown uneasy, saying they are concerned that law-enforcement officials are...

Amid a fierce backlash, western Democrats risk being forced to give back some of their recent gains. DENVER -- When the elected officials attending a summit of Mountain state Democrats gathered onstage for a group photo last month, they had to crowd elbow to elbow to make room for everyone. If Project New West, the Democratic research and polling firm that organized the gathering, had taken a similar class picture a few years ago, there would have been a lot more room to spread out. For Democrats, the Mountain West has been one of this decade's towering success stories. After...

Afghan-born American resident Najibullah Zazi, 24, has admitted ties to al Qaeda, according to officials investigating a home-grown terror plot against the New York subway system. Najibullah Zazi has been under investigation for almost a yearThe suspect has admitted contacts with extremists in Pakistan and may strike a plea deal over allegations that he attended a military training camp, according to US media reports of law enforcement officials. He denies involvement in any terrorist acts or plots. A car journey last week by Zazi from Denver, where he now lives, to the Queens district of New York, his previous home,...

SNIPPET: "The ties between Najibullah Zazi and al-Qaida are growing. A source who gets high-level intelligence briefings told CBS 2 HD that law enforcement officials have recorded a number of conversations between Zazi and a known al-Qaida operative in Pakistan. The key parts of the conversation? The operative told Zazi what to say if stopped by police, and there is also a reference to a "wedding," which American agents believe is a code word for an attack. Sources said the formula for the explosive TATP was found in Zazi's computer when they seized his car, and with President Barack Obama...

The Denver shuttle bus driver at the center of a federal terrorism investigation has begun to cooperate with the authorities, admitting that he had perhaps unwittingly crossed paths in Pakistan with extremists allied with Al Qaeda, according to government officials briefed on the case. The officials did not indicate whether the admissions of the man, Najibullah Zazi, made during three days of intense questioning by F.B.I. agents in Denver, clarified whether he had directly engaged in terrorist activity. And it is not known whether his account could mean he will be charged with any wrongdoing. But Mr. Zazi’s discussions with...

Najibullah Zazi, the man at the center of a probe into a suspected terror plot against a target in the New York area, has admitted ties to al Qaeda, an administration official familiar with the matter told CNN Friday.Either a plea deal or charges are possible, the official said. The terror plot that came to light this week following raids in New York may have been targeting a major transportation center, sources close to the investigation told CNN on Thursday. There was planning and preparation for an attack, presumably in the New York area, where there would be a large...

DEVELOPING: The man under FBI investigation for alleged ties to a New York subway terror plot has admitted he has ties to Al Qaeda and is in negotiations to plead guilty to a terror charge, a source familiar with the investigation told FOX News.

The Aurora man under FBI investigation for alleged ties to a New York bomb plot has admitted he has ties to al-Qaida and is in negotiations to plead guilty to a terror charge, a senior law enforcement official told ABC News. The official said Zazi had received explosives training and his possible guilty plea would be part of a deal to cooperate with the government. The 24-year-old Zazi had insisted he had "no ties, no connection to al-Qaida" in interviews with reporters earlier this week. But after two eight-hour interrogations at the FBI offices in Denver on Wednesday and Thursday,...

Najibullah Zazi, the once-chatty suspect at the center of the probe, was silent and downcast as he arrived at FBI headquarters in Denver for a second round of questioning...The day before, Zazi, 25, fielded detailed questions for eight hours from two of FBI agents. His Aurora, Colo., home was raided by feds and local law enforcement. (Zazi's lawyer, Arthur) Folsom said there was no word of any bomb-making materials being found in the apartment, although agents carried away several boxes of evidence after going through the home with bomb-sniffing dogs. Zazi had taken video with his cell phone camera inside...

DENVER — A man identified by law enforcement as having a possible link to al-Qaida met with his attorney Thursday before a second round of questioning by federal agents. Najibullah Zazi planned to meet with FBI agents later in the day, said the attorney, Arthur Folsom. Agents questioned Zazi for hours on Wednesday. They also searched Zazi's apartment and the home of his aunt and uncle, both in the east Denver suburb of Aurora. Folsom said Zazi has never met with al-Qaida operatives and isn't involved in terrorism... Folsom said he believes the FBI would have arrested Zazi if agents...

“FBI raids Denver home in suspect Al-Qaeda plot: ABC” (AFP) – 1 hour ago WASHINGTON — SNIPPET: “About a dozen agents arrived at the home of Najibullah Zazi, 24, and one confirmed to ABC a search warrant was being executed. “Zazi’s travels to New York last weekend triggered a round of highly publicized raids in the New York area,” the ABC report said adding that “authorities told members of Congress the raids had helped to disrupt a plot to carry out a major attack on New York.” Authorities said they found 14 new black backpacks in the New York raids,...

Jared Polis criticized for "medical tourism" investment By Michael Roberts in Follow That Story, PoliticsThursday, Sep. 17 2009 @ 10:40AM Jared Polis. ​Representative Jared Polis has staged as many if not more healthcare town halls in recent weeks than any of his Colorado congressional colleagues. But the conservative CompleteColorado.com site questions his private investment in another healthcare-related enterprise: BridgeHealth International. The company's approach is typically shorthanded as "medical tourism," a term defined as "the notion of individuals traveling abroad for care and savings" amid a "What We Do" section of its website that goes on to suggest that BridgeHealth offers...

The median income for American households plummeted last year, taking the steepest dive in history. The U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report shows a 3.6% drop in median income ... The report shows middle aged Americans were hit the hardest...

Next year’s U.S. Senate race in Colorado is a lot more crowded this week, and incumbent Michael Bennet has some serious competition on hand. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Colorado voters finds Bennet trailing former Republican Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton 45% to 36%. Norton formally announced her candidacy on Tuesday. In that contest, seven percent (7%) like some other candidate, and 12% are undecided. Another newcomer, former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, is expected to announce his candidacy today (Wednesday), challenging Bennet for the Democratic Senate nomination next year. In a match-up with Norton, the highest profile Republican...

Just a few facts about our organizational efforts for this teaparty:I spent two months and approx. 205 volunteer hours planning this event. All time donated for free. I also spent $520.00 out of pocket for the sound and light system rental, batteries, and blank CD's.

according to the National Employment Law Project, unemployment benefits are set to expire for more than 1.3 million Americans by the end of the year. .. Experts say nearly 100,000 Americans have already exhausted their standard and extended benefits.

DENVER (CBS4) Coloradans who couldn't make it to Washington, D.C. held two rallies at the State Capitol Saturday to protest health care reform and other issues. One rally was held in the afternoon and one was held at night. The protesters listened to an audio recording of the nation's founding documents and rallied around the principles stated in the Constitution. They sang patriotic songs and cheered as a host of speakers spoke about the increasing deficit, rising taxes and growing government. Many of protesters held signs that read "No More Debt" and "Vote Out Clunkers In Congress." "We will not...

Saying she was "alarmed about the direction our nation is headed," former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton officially launched her bid today as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. Surrounded by hundreds of supporters in a ballroom at the Marriott Tech Center, Norton, who has been serving as the executive director of the Denver Police Foundation, said she wanted to stop what she saw as an out-of-control government in the nation's capital. "At every turn, Washington's giant hand seems to be grabbing everything in sight," said Norton, who served as lieutenant governor under former Gov. Bill Owens. "Seizing control of...

A Colorado man who's the target of a terrorism probe that led to several police raids in New York City denies he did anything wrong. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press Tuesday that the FBI had put Najibullah (Nah-JEEB'-ull-ah) Zazi (ZAH'-zee) under surveillance in connection with a suspected plot to make homemade bombs. The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly and insisted on anonymity. Zazi told The Associated Press in a Denver suburb that he had recently visited New York and knows he's under investigation. But he says he's innocent.