LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Arkansas is expanding the eligibility for COVID-19 vaccine boosters to anyone aged 18 and older, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Monday.
The state joins several others that are making the additional shot available to more people. California, Colorado and New Mexico have also expanded eligibility for the booster in recent days.
The state previously made the booster available for people 65 and older, who work in high-risk settings or had underlying health conditions.
Hutchinson called the previous guidelines for the booster shot “somewhat confusing and limiting.”
“We want to make sure everyone 18 and over is eligible and is encouraged to get the booster,” Hutchinson said at his weekly news conference.
Under the new g
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DENVER — Facing a surge in coronavirus infections that threatens to overwhelm Colorado hospitals, Gov. Jared Polis defied federal guidance on COVID-19 booster shots Thursday by issuing an order allowing all state residents 18 and older to get them.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules allow booster shots for those 18 and over who are at high risk of exposure to the virus. The FDA also permits boosters for people 65 and older, and adults with special medical conditions. Polis’ order declares all of Colorado at high risk of infection, significantly expanding the number of residents eligible.
“Because disease spread is so significant across Colorado, all Coloradans who are 18 years of age and older are at high risk and qualify for a booster shot,” the Democratic governor said in his order.
Requests for comment from the FDA were not immediately returned on Thursday, a federal holiday.
But at a White House briefing on Wednesday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, emphasized the importance of getting boosters to those already eligible under the federal guidelines. She also stressed the importance of vaccinating children ages 5-11.
“As you likely know, FDA is currently looking at the data for expanding boosters to all populations,” Walensky said.
Pfizer asked U.S. regulators Tuesday to allow boosters of its COVID-19 vaccine for anyone 18 or older, a step that comes amid concern about increased spread of the coronavirus with holiday travel and gatherings.
The Biden administration had originally envisioned boosters for all adults, but FDA scientific advisers in September rejected extra Pfizer doses for everyone. The panel wasn’t convinced that young healthy people needed another dose and instead recommended boosters just for certain groups.
People who are fully vaccinated are still strongly protected against hospitalization and death from COVID-19. But immunity against infection can wane over time, and the extra-contagious delta variant is spreading widely. U.S. health authorities want to shore up protection in at-risk people who were vaccinated months ago, though they emphasize that the priority remains getting the unvaccinated their first shots.
Polis has emphasized vaccinations as a top tool in fighting the latest surge that officials worry could overwhelm the state’s hospital capacity by the end of the year. He’s also expressed frustration in the past with the federal government’s authorization of vaccines and their distribution.
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The Denver-area Christian website designer seeking to block Colorado from compelling her to design websites with same-sex messages violating her beliefs got some powerful support Friday as supporters — including 45 lawmakers such as Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas — asked the Supreme Court to review her case.
The attorneys general of sixteen states also asked the high court to take up the matter. Led by Arizona and Nebraska, the roster includes Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
Lorie Smith, who owns 303creative.com, went to the high court at the end of September following the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals’ rejection of her challenge to having certain provisions of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, also known as CADA, applied to her business.
Ms. Smith creates websites for individuals and businesses, and hopes to specialize in websites for engaged male-and-female couples, in keeping with her religious beliefs about marriage. WeddingWire.com, in a 2020 survey, reported that 79% of such couples created a website for family and friends to track the progress of their upcoming nuptials.
“I have served and continue to serve all people, including those who identify as LGBT, I simply object to being forced to pour my heart, my imagination, and talents into messages that violate my conscience,” Ms. Smith said at a news conference announcing her appeal.
She added, “Artists must be free to create and speak messages consistent with their convictions without the threat of unjust punishment.”
Her appeal to the Supreme Court came after the majority of a three-judge Tenth Circuit panel said allowing Ms. Smith to refuse same-sex couples seeking a wedding website would assign such clients “to an inferior market” if they cannot avail themselves of Ms. Smith’s “unique services.”
The 45 members of Congress who asked the Supreme Court to intervene rejected that argument from the court of appeals.
“The Tenth Circuit’s reasoning makes clear the true purpose of CADA’s speech compulsions—to compel dissenters to mouth views with which they disagree and to silence opposing viewpoints,” they wrote. “After all
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School teachers in a Colorado Springs school district are reportedly forcing middle school students to tape masks to their faces to stop them from wearing masks below the nose.
Academy School District 20 will interview over 100 students and staff members to investigate the credibility of these allegations after a picture of a sixth-grader from Chinook Trail Middle School with a mask taped to her face went viral on social media over the weekend.
The young student’s mother, Stephanie Butler, told Fox21 she posted the photo online to determine if other parents heard of the taped mask policy and if other students were impacted. According to Butler, her daughter sent a picture of herself wearing a mask with tape on it, which is when Butler began her inquiry.
Butler explained that her daughter received only one warning to keep her mask above her nose before she had the mask taped to her face. Additionally, according to the sixth-grader, her teachers have been enforcing the new policy for weeks.
“It’s a type of a restraint to me,” Butler added. “With the mask mandates and everything … she likes them because they hide her face cause of acne or whatnot. What really made me sad was that she didn’t see what was wrong.”
Investigation underway after alleged claims teachers were taping masks to students’ faces at a Colorado Springs schoolhttps://t.co/Xq73no2MbM
“Your face is you, you know — that’s how people know you. They are just doubling down on hiding you and not letting you breathe. It’s conformity to the extreme,” said Butler.
Other parents have reported stories similar to Stephanie Butler’s. Tori Skeldum, a parent of an 11-year-old at the middle school, told Fox21, “[my daughter] said the teachers were wearing the masking tape around their wrists like bracelets, and whenever someone’s mask would fall down, they would tape them.”
The school district addressed the situation in a statement, saying, “currently, we do not ha
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DENVER | A Catholic church in Boulder County was defaced this week by extensive vandalism, including pro-abortion graffiti such as “Jesus [loves] abortion,” as houses of worship in Colorado and nationwide continue to see a surge in attacks.
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office is investigating damage done at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday by vandals who smashed windows, threw eggs, trampled crosses, slashed tires and spray-painted abortion-related messages across the property of Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church.
Youth director Mark Evevard said the church has been targeted before, but “never to this extent.”
“We’ve had so many people come in and say, ‘This was wrong,’” Mr. Evevard told The Washington Times. “I had a woman who said, ‘I’m pro-choice, but this is not how you express your views.’”
The messages spray-painted in red, black and white on the building include the anarchist “A;” “No wire hangers ever;” “Bans off our bodies;” “Jesus [loves] abortion;” “Your church is dying LOL;” “My body, my choice;” and “No gods, no master.”
The sandstone sign in front the church founded in 1873 was defaced with the message, “Hands off my uterus,” while the white parish work truck was tagged with red graffiti and had its tires slashed.
Many of the thousands of small white crosses symbolizing abortions in the field next to the church were knocked down and broken, as shown on photos posted by Mr. Evevard on his Facebook page. He said authorities believe the late-night attack was carried out by a group of five to seven people, and that about a half-dozen figures were captured on the church surveillance cameras.
He added the damage could have been worse: The pastor, who lives next door, heard noises that night and turned on his light, which may have scared off the perpetrators.
The attack comes shortly after another Boulder County church, St. Louis Catholic Church in Louisville, was vandalized Sept. 5 with similar pro-abortion graffiti.
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Colorado’s independent redistricting commission officially adopted a new congressional map Tuesday that could actually help Republicans, even as the state has trended reliably Democratic.
The map still requires final approval from the Colorado Supreme Court, which is set to do so in the coming days. But while Democrats have won two presidential elections and flipped a House and Senate seat in the past five years, the new map creates an opportunity for Republicans to control half of the state’s congressional seats in a favorable year. (RELATED: The First State In The Nation Just Passed Its New Congressional Map. Here’s What It Looks Like)
Colorado’s new congressional map. (Colorado Independent Redistricting Commissions)
Under the plan, Democrats would have four safe seats in the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th districts, while Republicans would have two safe seats in the 4th and 5th districts and a likely seat in the 3rd. The new 8th district, which was announced in April with the release of the decennial Census data, would be competitive, with former President Donald Trump carrying it in 2016 and President Joe Biden carrying it in 2020. (RELATED: Census Drops Long-Awaited Redistricting Data)
With the new seat being the most competitive, Colorado’s seven House incumbents could all run in a relatively favorable environment in 2022.
This is the first time Colorado has used an independent commission to create its maps. It was approved with over 70% support in 201
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Four teenagers allegedly prepared for an attack on Dunmore High School in Pennsylvania to honor the 25th anniversary of the Columbine massacre.
Jake Danna Stevens/The Times-Tribune via AP
A group of Pennsylvania teens has been arrested for allegedly plotting a Columbine-style attack in their high school to mark the 25th anniversary of the Colorado massacre, reports said.
One of the busted teens was described by her mother as “obsessed with Columbine,” reports said.
The girl, 15, allegedly stockpiled dozens of Molotov cocktails at her home, and had bomb making materials along with handwritten lists of guns, ammunition and tactical gear, according to ABC News.
The teen, along with a 15-year-old boy, were both charged as adults while two other teens were charged as juveniles in the reported plan to attack Dunmore High School, near Scranton, Pa., in April 2024.
The alleged plot came to light when one of the kid’s parents found text messages from the students talking about wanting to “shoot up the school,” which they “hated,” according to WBRE/WYOU.
Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, before they committed suicide.
“I think I’m gonna go with Klebold setup. A Tech-9 and a sawed off shotgun, but instead of a double barrel, I want one like Eric shot,” the 15-year-old girl wrote in a notebook,
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A university student in Colorado was arrested Tuesday for allegedly possessing a large cache of loaded weapons on campus grounds, authorities said.
Robert James Killis, 24, a student at Colorado State University-Pueblo, was tipped off to the authorities after allegedly threatening students and staffers on campus, according to Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office.
Witnesses also reported to the police that Killis said he liked to kill people, according to the sheriff’s office.
Detectives trailed Killis on Monday and spotted an ammunition box
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Trying to give some students a taste of foreign affairs, Colorado’s Regis Jesuit High School applied for credentials to attend the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
This spring, the U.N. committee that accredits such gro
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Quite a few out-of-towners spend time in Cañon City, but not for the right reasons.
While this smallish city in south-central Colorado is within driving distance of fast-growing Colorado Springs and the former steel city of Pueblo, it is hardly a bedroom community for commuters.
Instead, many of those living here are behind bars in the 11 prisons spread across Fremont County, which takes its name from the legendary 19th-century soldier, explorer, and politician John C. Fremont. One of the most infamous inmates, Joaquin Guzman, better known as the Mexican drug lord El Chapo, is locked up at the federal supermax prison.
Those coming to Cañon City for something other than a spell in the penitentiaries often do so for the Royal Gorge Route Railroad.
The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey is open daily for tastings. (Courtesy of The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey)
Sightseeing via Train
The heritage line operates as many as four daily sightseeing trains along tracks first laid in the 1870s through the breathtakingly beautiful Royal Gorge, where granite cliffs soar a thousand feet above the Arkansas River. On weekends, a three-course dinner train runs with first-class seats in vintage cars.
A few miles west of town, roughly parallel with U.S. Highway 50, is the gorge. While the county bears the name of Fremont, the first white man to see what some today call the Grand Canyon of Colorado was Zebulon Pike in 1806.
Of course, Pike and Fremont wouldn’t have seen the pedestrian bridge—somewhat uncreatively named Royal Gorge Bridge—that has spanned the cliffs since 1929 and was for several decades in the record books as the world’s highest bridge. Numerous roadside attractions are also located here, including zip lines.
The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey was established years ago on the grounds of a now-closed Benedictine monastery. (Dennis Lennox)
Downtown
Back downtown, Cañon City feels like one of Colorado’s best-kept secrets—the kind of place that will be dramatically different in just a few years.
Revitalization is underway, starting with the landmark Hotel St. Cloud. The Second Empire-inspired building, rebuilt at its present location around 1887 after being dismantled and transported brick-by-brick from a silver mining town some 50 miles away, is slowly undergoing redevelopment. Around the corner is the stately former post office with the kind of architecture that nobody designs anymore. Today, it houses an arts center.
Downtown Cañon City’s Hotel St. Cloud, a landmark hotel from 1887, is undergoing redevelopment. (Dennis Lennox)
Wineries
And then there’s the wine, which complements the apple orchards and cideries found in the Arkansas River Valley to the east of town.
The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey was established years ago on the grounds of a now-closed Benedictine monastery. Between the Gothic revival chapel, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the long history of monks making wine, the setting feels almost medieval.
The Royal Gorge Route Railroad runs as many as four sightseeing trains every day. (Dennis Lennox)
Under the ownership of Larry Oddo these days, a broad range of wine is produced using grapes grown mostly in the Grand Valley AVA, a Colorado appellation. Among the reds are a 2018 reserve cabernet sauvignon, 2019 syrah, and 2017 cabernet franc. For whites, their latest vintage viognier, a 2019, is a change of pace from the more usual chardonnay.
Another member of Fremont County’s very fledgling wine scene is Legatum Cellars. In addition to more common varietals, their bottlings include a 2016 vintage tempranillo and an albariño from 2017. The two ancient grapes—red tempranillo and white albariño—from the Iberian Peninsula have done very well in the Colorado climate.
The streets of Cañon City. (Dennis Lennox)
If You Go
The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey (AbbeyWinery.com) is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. The annual Harvest Festival featuring wine and local food takes place Sept. 25 and 26.
At Legatum C
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