Good morning, Colorado.
One of my first friends in life was Anya, a black shepherd mix so sweet and loyal and still one of the smartest dogs we’ve ever known. Before I came into the Breunlin family picture, my parents were out on their front porch with Anya one Fourth of July, when a firework popped off at the park nearby. Spooked, Anya bolted.
My parents frantically searched for her, calling her name and darting around the neighborhood, which abutted cornfields a few miles from town. After night fell and still no luck, they turned on a porch light, propped the porch door open and set out some water in hope she would return. They got up in the middle of the night to see if she had trotted back home but found the water untouched and no sign of any dog.
The next morning, the phone rang. It was my grandma, who lived at least 2 miles away in town.
“You’ll never guess what showed up on my porch.”
Anya.
She had been to my grandma’s house before, but only by car. Never on foot. How she wound her way to my grandma’s house in the dark, through a sprawling park and a maze of side streets, still confounds our family. Whether it was the power of a dog’s intuition or scent, we’ll never know.
So as we celebrate another Fourth of July this weekend, keep your dogs extra close and shower them with a few extra treats to ride out the roughest holiday of the year for many pets.
Now let’s take a thorough look at today’s headlines, shall we?
Education Reporter
THE NEWS
HEALTH
Colorado, Oregon are leading more than 20 other states in reform of psychedelic policy
With nearly two dozen states weighing legislation to deploy and study psychedelic-assisted therapies, and Colorado and Oregon rolling out pioneering psychedelic regulatory systems, the U.S. is a policy laboratory testing widely different approaches to uncovering the healing potential in long-maligned psychedelics. Jason Blevins stopped by the second Psychedelic Science conference to learn more.
WILDFIRE
Colorado’s Western Slope is dry. Here’s where you can — and can’t — start a campfire this weekend.
The three-day holiday weekend is upon us, and many Coloradans are headed to the high country for a little rest and relaxation. But if you’re heading to the hills or west of the Continental Divide, better check first about that campfire. Olivia Prentzel has the latest on where you can and can’t huddle around a fire (or shoot fireworks) and why.
WATER
Colorado finds larva of invasive zebra mussel in Colorado River for second year in a row
1 million
Eggs one female zebra mussel can release in a year
No adult zebra mussels have been found in the Colorado River … yet. That’s good news for the river. Because, as Shannon Mullane reports, once adult populations are established, eradication is nearly impossible and can cost millions of dollars. Colorado Parks and Wildlife and its federal partners are still searching for the source of the zebra mussel larvae in the river.
EDUCATION
Colorado, 15 other states sue U.S. Department of Education for axing grants funding mental health professionals in schools
955
Mental health professionals the money was supposed to fund in Colorado
Attorneys general in states suing the federal government over the $1 billion in lost grants say discontinuing the funding is illegal and unconstitutional, arguing it violates both Congress’ power to control spending and separation of powers. The AGs also say the federal government did not provide the kind of advance notice or an explanation for defunding the grants required by the Administrative Procedure Act. Education reporter Erica Breunlin has the details.
MORE NEWS
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THE OPINION PAGE
COMMUNITY
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What’s Happening
Rodeo round up. Everyone wants to be first. When it comes to the great Western tradition of summertime rodeos, Colorado has long held on to the honor of hosting the “world’s first rodeo” thanks to a cowboy competition in Deer Trail, about an hour east of Denver, on July 4, 1869. (Prescott, Arizona, and Pecos, Texas, have both disputed this title.)
Regardless of where it started, the seasonal spectacle has grown from a way to show off one’s riding and roping skills to a full-on career path, with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line for the nation’s top riders.
Over the course of this weekend and next week, four Pro Rodeo sanctioned events take place in Colorado — in Steamboat Springs, Estes Park, Colorado Springs and Gunnison — drawing in top talents vying for a spot at the National Finals Rodeo in December. Celebrate the Fourth of July with an American pastime about as old as baseball, depending on whom you ask.
Various prices; various dates; various locations
Section by Parker Yamasaki | Reporter
Have a safe Fourth of July and hug your pets a little tighter these next few days. We’ll see you back here tomorrow!
— Erica & the whole staff of The Sun
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