The man was in a group of four skiers who left the resort at the Peak 6 backcountry access point just before noon, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

The group was planning to ski the K Chute of the Sky Chutes, which are steep avalanche paths on the west side of the Tenmile Range.

After the man triggered the avalanche, he was swept down the path for about 1,100 feet and lost his skis, according to an accident report from the CAIC.

He was able to escape the still-moving debris field as the avalanche slowed down and was helped off the mountain by the other skiers, one of whom skied down the mountain, found an extra pair of skis and hiked back up so the injured man could ski down.

He was treated for unspecified injuries at St. Anthony Summit Hospital in Frisco.

Two other groups came across the avalanche later that day and called 911 after finding the man’s skis as they descended.

Six other people have been caught in Colorado avalanches so far this month, including two climbers at St. Mary’s Glacier, but none reported injuries, according to the avalanche center.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — With the Trump administration expected to reverse a controversial 2023 decision on the permanent location of U.S. Space Command, a review by the Defense Department inspector general could not determine why Colorado was chosen over Alabama.

The inspector general’s report, issued Friday, said this was in part due to a lack of access to senior defense officials during the Biden administration, when the review began.

The location of U.S. Space Command has significant implications for the local economy, given the fast growth in national defense spending in space-based communications and defenses.

In 2021, the Air Force identified Army Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, as the preferred location for the new U.S. Space Command due to cost and other factors. But a temporary headquarters had already been established in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and after multiple delays President Joe Biden announced it as the permanent headquarters.

Alabama’s Republican congressional delegation accused the Biden administration of politicizing the decision. But Colorado, which has Republican and Democratic lawmakers, is home to many other Air Force and U.S. Space Force facilities.

As recently as last week, Rep. Mike Rogers House, an Alabama Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, told a panel at Auburn University he expects the decision to be reversed by the White House before the end of April.

The location of Space Command would be one of many decisions that have swung back and forth between Biden and President Donald Trump. For instance, Biden stopped the construction of the border wall that began during Trump’s first term, only to have Trump now vow to complete it. And Trump is again seeking to ban transgender troops from serving in the military, after Biden removed Trump’s first-term limitations.

The controversy over the basing decision began seven days before Trump’s first term expired, when his Air Force secretary announced Alabama would be home to Space Command, pending an environmental review.

That review was completed about six months into Biden’s term and found no significant impact with hosting the command in Alabama. But the new administration did not act on the decision.

Instead, a year later, the Biden White House said it was keeping the headquarters in Colorado Springs, citing the time that would be lost relocating staff and the headquarters to Huntsville.

The report said interviews has been requested with Biden’s Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to understand why Huntsville was not named, but the Biden White House would only allow the interviews if administration lawyers were present. The inspector general rejected that condition, saying it could affect its unfettered access to information.

Bystanders called 911 about 10:23 a.m. after finding the man “in medical distress,” Manitou Springs officials said in a news release. He was approximately 150-200 steps up the Incline, spokesperson Cassandra Hessel said.

People on scene started CPR, but the man was unresponsive when emergency crews arrived. He was later pronounced dead.

The man’s cause of death is under investigation, city officials said.

The Incline is a famously challenging hike with more than 2,000 feet of elevation gain in less than a mile. It draws an estimated 250,000 hikers every year, according to the city.

“City officials remind all climbers, especially those traveling from out of state, to thoroughly assess their physical condition, understand the difficulty of the climb and come properly prepared,” Manitou Springs officials said in a statement.

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NEW YORK (AP) — The latest government waste touted by billionaire Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency is hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment claims it purportedly uncovered.

One problem: Federal investigators already found what appears to be the same fraud, years earlier and on a far greater scale.

In a post last week on X, the social media site Musk owns, DOGE announced “an initial survey of unemployment insurance claims since 2020” found 24,500 people over the age of 115 had claimed $59 million in benefits; 28,000 people between the ages of 1 and 5 collected $254 million; and 9,700 people with birthdates more than 15 years in the future garnered $69 million from the government.

The tweet drew a predictable party-line reaction of either skepticism or cheers, including from Musk himself, who said what his team found was “so crazy” he re-read it several times before it sank in.

“Another incredible discovery,” marveled Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who repeated DOGE’s findings to President Donald Trump in a Cabinet meeting last week.

Chavez-DeRemer’s recounting of the alleged fraud, including claims of benefits filed by unborn children, drew laughter in the Cabinet room and a reaction from Trump himself.

“Those numbers are really bad,” he said.

But Chavez-DeRemer needn’t look further than her own department’s Office of the Inspector General to find such fraud had already been reported by the type of federal workers DOGE has demonized.

“They’re trying to spin this narrative of, ‘Oh, government is inefficient and government is stupid and they’re catching these things that the government didn’t catch,’” says Michele Evermore, who worked on unemployment issues at the U.S. Department of Labor during the administration of former President Joe Biden. “They’re finding fraud that was marked as fraud and saying they found out it was fraud.”

The Social Security Act of 1935 enshrined unemployment benefits in federal law but left it to individual states to set up systems to collect unemployment taxes, process applications and mete out support.

Though states have almost complete control over their own unemployment systems, special relief programs — most notably widely expanded benefits enacted by the first Trump administration at the outset of the COVID pandemic — inject more direct federal involvement and a flood of new beneficiaries into the system.

In regular times, state unemployment systems perform “very well, not so well and terribly,” according to Stephen Wandner, an economist at the National Academy of Social Insurance who authored the book “Unemployment Insurance Reform: Fixing a Broken System.” With COVID slamming the economy and creating a flood of new claims that states couldn’t handle, Wandner says many more were “quite terrible.”

Trump signed the COVID unemployment relief into law on March 27, 2020, and from the very start it became a magnet for fraud. In a memo to state officials about two weeks later, the Department of Labor warned that the expanded benefits had made unemployment programs “a target for fraud with significant numbers of imposter claims being filed with stolen or synthetic identities.”

That same memo offered an option for states trying to protect a person whose identity was stolen to fraudulently collect unemployment benefits. To preserve a record of the fraud but keep innocent people from being linked to it, states could create a “pseudo claim,” the memo advises.

Those “pseudo claims” led to records of toddlers and centenarians getting checks. The Labor Department’s inspector general tallied some 4,895 unemployment claims from people over the age of 100 between March 2020 and April 2022, but another departmental memo explained that the filings stemmed from states changing dates of birth to protect people whose identities were used.

“Many of the claims identified … were not payments to individuals over 100 years of age, but rather ‘pseudo records’ of previously identified fraudulent claims,” the 2023 memo says.

A Labor Department spokeswoman did not respond to questions about Musk’s findings and DOGE gave no details on how it came to find the supposed fraud or whether it duplicates what was already found.

Though DOGE ostensibly looked at longer timeframe than federal investigators previously had, it tallied just $382 million in fake unemployment claims, a tiny fraction of what investigators were already aware.

In 2022, the Labor Department said suspected COVID-era unemployment fraud totaled more than $45 billion. The Government Accountability Office later said it was far worse, likely $100 billion to $135 billion.

“I don’t think it’s news to anyone,” says Amy Traub, an expert on unemployment at the National Employment Law Project. “It’s been widely reported. There’ve been multiple congressional hearings.”

If DOGE’s newest allegations have an air of familiarity, it’s because they echo its prior findings of about Social Security payments to the dead and the unbelievably old. Those were false claims.

That makes DOGE an imperfect messenger even when fraud has occurred, as with unemployment claims.

Jessica Reidl, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank The Manhattan Institute, is a fiscal conservative who so champions rooting out federal waste she has written 600 articles on the subject. Though she believes unemployment insurance fraud is rife, she has trouble accepting any findings from DOGE, which she says has acted ineffectively and possibly illegally.

“When DOGE says impossibly old dead people are collecting unemployment in huge numbers, I become skeptical,” Reidl says. “DOGE does not have a good track record in that area.”

Traub said the burst of pandemic-era unemployment fraud led states to implement new security measures. She questioned why Musk’s team was trumpeting old fraud as if it’s new.

“Business leaders and economists are warning about a national recession, so it’s natural to think about unemployment,” says Traub. “It’s an attack on the image of a critically important program and perhaps an attempt to undermine public support on unemployment insurance when it couldn’t be more important.”

Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky.

Culshaw’s company, Shea Properties, purchased the four-story, 124,000-square-foot building at 4340 S. Monaco St. in the Denver Tech Center for $12 million on Thursday, according to public records.

The deal, for about $97 a square foot, paves the way for the region’s first post-pandemic conversion of a large office building into residences.

“Call me crazy,” Culshaw quipped.

The deal is the culmination of a year and a half of securing financing, finalizing plans and even warding off some opposition from neighbors. But with the building under his firm’s ownership, Culshaw now expects to fashion it into 143 income-restricted apartments in about a year.

The deal is financed through a combination of private equity, $29 million in Denver-issued private activity bonds and an additional $4 million in federal and state tax credits. Culshaw said he sold the bonds at the start of April, right before markets were jolted by President Donald Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement.

“I think it’s a mixture of luck, and we thought it was a good time to do it,” Culshaw said.

The building lends itself well for a conversion, he added. It has few columns and wide-open spaces with huge glass windows that host what he called great views.

“You’re starting with kind of a blank slate, which I think makes it a whole lot easier,” Culshaw said.

It’s not the first time the developer has worked with a blank slate at this site, though. Culshaw said he sold the land for development in June 2000 for $7.2 million. The property traded hands a couple of times thereafter. It last sold for $69.3 million in March 2006, though that deal included another office building next door. By the time Culshaw got around to buying the 4340 building, it was entirely vacant.

“I knew that building was empty, and I knew the broker that was trying to lease it really well, and so I called him up and said, would they sell it and give me a year to convert it or to plan a conversion? And we made a deal,” Culshaw said.

That arrangement includes a first right of refusal for Shea Properties to buy the office building to the south at 4350 S. Monaco St., public records show, which was rezoned along with Culshaw’s 4340 building last summer.

The Monaco project is the furthest along of the 10 proposed office-to-residential conversions BusinessDen has reported on since the pandemic. Proposals have been submitted for a slew of downtown office towers, including most recently for the two at 621 and 633 17th St.

Denver’s most recent residential conversion, which was initiated before the pandemic, was Nichols Partnership’s transformation of the former Art Institute of Colorado building in Cap Hill.

This story was originally published by BusinessDen.

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NEW YORK (AP) — A strong solar storm headed to Earth could produce colorful aurora displays across more U.S. states than usual Tuesday night.

The sun earlier this week burped out huge bursts of energy called coronal mass ejections, leading space weather forecasters to issue a geomagnetic storm watch.

Northern lights were forecast in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Parts of northern Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania may also get a view.

The strength of the light show will depend on how Earth’s magnetic field interacts with the solar bursts, said Shawn Dahl at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

Here’s what to know about auroras and how to spot them.

What are northern lights?

The sun is at the maximum phase of its 11-year activity cycle, making the light displays more common and widespread. Colorful northern lights have decorated night skies in unexpected places and space weather experts say there are more auroras still to come.

“This is going to kind of continue off and on throughout the year,” Dahl said.

Last spring, the strongest geomagnetic storm in two decades slammed Earth, producing light displays across the Northern Hemisphere. And last fall, a powerful solar storm dazzled skygazers far from the Arctic Circle when dancing lights appeared in unexpected places including Germany, the United Kingdom, New England and New York City.

Aurora displays known as the northern and southern lights are commonly visible near the poles, where charged particles from the sun interact with Earth’s atmosphere.

Skygazers are spotting the lights deeper into the United States and Europe because the sun is going through a major facelift. Every 11 years, its poles swap places, causing magnetic twists and tangles along the way.

Severe storms are capable of scrambling radio and GPS communications.

The sun’s active spurt is expected to last at least through the end of this year, though when solar activity will peak won’t be known until months after the fact, according to NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

What do solar storms do?

Solar storms can bring more than colorful lights to Earth.

When fast-moving particles and plasma slam into Earth’s magnetic field, they can temporarily disrupt the power grid. Space weather can also interfere with air traffic control radio and satellites in orbit.

In 1859, a severe solar storm triggered auroras as far south as Hawaii and caught telegraph lines on fire in a rare event. And a 1972 solar storm may have detonated magnetic U.S. sea mines off the coast of Vietnam.

Space weather experts aren’t able to predict a solar storm months in advance. Instead, they alert relevant parties to prepare in the days before a solar outburst hits Earth.

How to see auroras

Northern lights forecasts can be found on NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center website or an aurora forecasting app.

Consider aurora-watching in a quiet, dark area away from city lights. NASA’s Kelly Korreck recommended skygazing from a local or national park. And check the weather forecast because clouds can cover up the spectacle entirely.

Taking a picture with a smartphone camera may also reveal hints of the aurora that aren’t visible to the naked eye.

“Enjoy it,” said Korreck. “It’s this great show … from the sun to you.”

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The modern version of the brewery, which has occupied a high-profile space in the Auraria campus’ student union for a decade, and the organization that runs the facilities shared by three onsite colleges weren’t able to come to a lease agreement after months of negotiations, according to Devra Ashby, Auraria’s marketing and communications director.

“Since 2015, [Tivoli] has been an integral part of the Auraria Campus, contributing to the campus community and collaborating on educational initiatives until 2021,” Ashby said in a statement. “While brewing operations on campus ceased in fall 2023, the Tivoli Tap House served as a gathering space for students, faculty, staff, and the broader Denver community. We appreciate Tivoli’s contributions over the years and extend our best wishes for their future endeavors.”

Auraria is currently “in discussions” with a potential replacement, she added.

Although the taproom is closed, the brewery will continue to operate a production facility in the southeastern Colorado town of La Junta, where it primarily makes a lager called Outlaw Light. The Tivoli name is also still attached to the taproom at Denver International Airport, but the company is no longer connected to the space, which is run by an airport concessionaire called SSP America.

The original Tivoli brewery was founded in 1900 in the same building as the new one, at 1900 Auraria Parkway. The company and its owners had brewing roots on that site dating back to 1859, however, a year after Denver’s founding. Tivoli was one of just a handful of Colorado breweries to survive prohibition and later became one of the largest beer makers in the West. It went out of business, though, in 1969, for several reasons, including a strike and a flood.

In 2012, Corey Marshall, a former Coors executive who had been a bouncer at a bar that was located in the student union building in the 1990s, began researching and collecting old Denver beer trademarks and brands from the 1800s and early 1900s. His goal — as the craft beer industry began to boom — was to update some of the beers and sell them to thirsty Denver residents.

In 2015, Marshall struck a deal with AHEC to reopen in the Tivoli building, adding modern brewing equipment, but keeping some of the historic kettles that remained as decoration. But by 2018, Marshall had left and been replaced by a new ownership group. During the COVID-19 pandemic, conditions got even worse as the campus was shut down.

In recent years, CEO Ari Opsahl has steered the company away from its historic beers and toward Outlaw Light, which has been selling well, according to the company.

Last year, Opsahl told The Denver Post that he hoped to find “a mutually amicable path forward.

“The taphouse is a cornerstone for the campus,” Opsahl said then, pointing out that the brewery and the building share a name. “We love it, but operating there is a challenge, as it is pretty dead all summer (when classes aren’t in session). We can’t even break even.

“We want to be there,” he added. “But have to find a way to make it work for both parties.”

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Miami-based Fruselva issued the recall in March for Target’s Good & Gather Baby Pea, Zucchini, Kale & Thyme Vegetable Puree, sold in 4-ounce tubs, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The packages include lot number 4167, with a best-by date of Dec. 7, and lot number 4169, with a best-by date of Dec. 9.

Consumers should not feed babies the products.

The recall is listed as Class II, which means the products are unlikely to cause serious harm, but still have the potential to result in temporary or reversible problems.

There is no safe level of exposure to lead for children, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Exposure to the heavy metal can cause developmental and cognitive problems.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Aurora police found the body under an overpass crossing Toll Gate Creek near Potomac Street and Potomac Circle on April 1, according to a news release.

Officers first learned about the body when they responded to a fight near I-225 and Sixth Avenue, according to the release. The people involved in the fight told officers there were human remains under a nearby overpass north of the intersection.

The remains belong to an unidentified Black man in his 30s who was about 5-foot-5 and about 140 pounds, according to the Arapahoe County coroner’s office.

The man had short, curly black hair and was wearing a brown leather jacket, a fluorescent green sweatshirt, a gray-and-black hooded shirt, black sweatpants, camouflage shorts and light brown boots.

Police said the remains may belong to a man named Ben who frequented the East Colfax Avenue and I-225 corridors before his death. Aurora homicide detectives and the coroner’s office have not been able to positively ID the man, and no ID was found with the body.

It’s not clear how the man died.

Anyone with any information is asked to call the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office at 720-874-3625 or Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.

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Michael Sang Correa was charged with torturing five men believed to be opponents of Yahya Jammeh following an unsuccessful plot to remove him from power in 2006.

A jury that heard the case in U.S. District Court in Denver found Correa guilty of torturing people. He also was charged with conspiring with others to commit torture while serving in a military unit known as the “Junglers,” which reported directly to Jammeh, in the latest international trial tied to his regime.

Correa came to the U.S. in 2016 to work as a bodyguard for Jammeh, eventually settling in Denver, where prosecutors said he worked as a day laborer. Correa, who prosecutors say overstayed his visa after Jammeh’s ouster in 2017, was indicted in 2020 under a rarely used law that allows people to be tried in the U.S. judicial system for torture allegedly committed abroad.

Survivors traveled from Gambia, Europe and elsewhere in the U.S. to testify, telling the jury they were tortured by methods such as being electrocuted and hung upside down while being beaten. Some had plastic bags put over their heads.

Prosecutors showed the jury photos of victims with scars left by objects including a bayonet, a burning cigarette and ropes. The men were asked to circle scars on photos and explain how they received them.

The defense had argued Correa was a low-ranking private who risked torture and death himself if he disobeyed superiors and that he did not have a choice about whether to participate, let alone a decision to make about whether to join a conspiracy.

But while the U.S. government agreed that there’s evidence that the Junglers lived in “constant fear,” prosecutors said some Junglers refused to participate in the torture.

In 2021, a truth commission in Gambia urged that the perpetrators of crimes committed under Jammeh’s regime be prosecuted by the government. Other countries have also tried people connected with his rule.

Last year, Jammeh’s former interior minister was sentenced to 20 years behind bars by a Swiss court for crimes against humanity. In 2023, a German court convicted a Gambian man who was also a member of the Junglers of murder and crimes against humanity for involvement in the killing of government critics in Gambia.

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