Colorado moves one step closer to introducing more wildfire investigators to the state
More than 5,000 wildfires start each year in Colorado. The cause of most of the state’s large, human-started fires is unknown.
The cause of most Colorado wildfires is unknown. These legislators want more fire investigators to help change that
Most of Colorado’s counties, which are responsible for investigating wildfires, do not have a trained wildfire investigator on staff.
Boulder County firefighters lost crucial early minutes because they couldn’t find the start of the Marshall fire
Fire crews were quick to respond to the call, but then they weren’t able to find and attack the flames for 11 minutes. By then, it was too late.
By Ben Markus
Sports gambling takes off in Colorado, raising profits, taxes and concerns alike at casinos
October 2021 was the most active month yet in Colorado’s fledgling sports betting market.
By Ben Markus
Humans start most wildfires in Colorado. Why’s it so easy to get away with?
Some of the biggest wildfires in Colorado have cost lives and caused millions of dollars in damage. But without knowing how they started exactly, Coloradans can’t change policies to try to prevent new ones. And no one gets held accountable.
Polis signals Colorado will improve the resources given to wildfire investigations
A CPR News investigation found that state, local and federal authorities in Colorado could pinpoint the ignition source for fewer than half of the human-started wildfires in the state since 2000.
How Aurora plans to address racist policing, negative public interactions in agreement with Colorado AG
The city of Aurora and the state Attorney General have agreed on a framework for reforms of the police and fire departments.
To slow hospitalizations, Polis promotes monoclonal antibodies. But doctors say the treatment is hard to find
The state is working to expand monoclonal antibody treatment by eliminating the need for a doctor’s referral and adding five new monoclonal treatment “buses” by mid-December.
By Ben Markus
This is how we analyzed Colorado wildfire data
Data showed that fewer fires are solved in Colorado than neighboring states, so reporters then set out to try and learn why.
Humans cause most of Colorado’s wildfires, but a lack of investigative resources means few are held responsible
A CPR News investigation found that Colorado has the worst rate of any state in the West for finding the origins of human-caused wildfires.
Colorado’s biggest wildfires are mostly human-caused — and unsolved
Colorado wildfire investigators found the exact origins of just 43 percent of human-caused fires from 2000 to 2018 — the worst rate of any state in the West. As a result, policy makers are left without key data that could explain what people who cause fires are doing wrong.
Plague Confirmed In Death Of Durango Child
This is the first human plague death in the state in six years.
By Ben Markus
Plague In Colorado: First Possible Human Death Since 2015
San Juan Basin Public Health was notified of the possible case on July 7. The state is conducting more testing.
By Ben Markus
Investigating The Third Wave Of COVID In Colorado
At one point in the pandemic, the rate of nursing home deaths in Colorado was the worst in the nation. This was over several weeks last fall during the third wave of COVID-19. How the state got to that point is the subject of a CPR News investigation. Reporter Ben Markus lifts the curtain on why he began looking into this and what he found.
How Colorado Caught COVID: The Third Wave — Part 3
Seniors in nursing homes were the most vulnerable to COVID-19 until vaccines arrived in December 2020. One important way to protect vulnerable seniors is accurate and timely testing. But in Colorado, virtually every testing strategy the state tried for nursing homes failed to keep the virus out of homes, including a $90 million contract with an inexperienced California start-up.
By Ben Markus
How Colorado Caught COVID: The Third Wave — Part 2
As the COVID-19 virus got out of control in Colorado nursing homes late in 2020, help the state had promised for just that kind of scenario didn’t materialize. It left local public health leaders and nursing home operators wondering, “Why aren’t they on the ground yet?” CPR News investigative reporter Ben Markus reports on the strike force that was not really a strike force.
By Ben Markus