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By DAVID BAUDER NEW YORK — President Joe Biden’s fitness to serve a second term in office has been a top story since his halting performance in last week’s debate against Donald Trump, where the president at times appeared unable to complete or articulate some thoughts in the pressure of the moment. To some press critics who are now reading these stories, there’s another question: What took you so long? “It is simply astounding for the entire country, including its most seasoned reporters, to be as shocked as everyone was by the ugly and painful reality of Biden’s debate performance,” Jill Abramson, former executive editor of The New York Times, told the website Semafor this week. While it was a “super hard story to report,” she said it could have been done.

Colorado wildlife officers are on the lookout for a Patagonian mara roaming a Lakewood park, though it’s unclear how the large rodent native to South America made its way to metro Denver. Bear Creek Lake Park rangers and visitors have reported several encounters with what appears to be a Patagonian mara, an Argentine animal that looks like a mix between a rabbit and a capybara. One visitor posted a video of the animal on Reddit after coming across it on a trail while mountain biking. Maras weigh between 17 and 35 pounds and Lakewood officials believe the animal spotted on park trails may have been a pet, city spokesperson Amber Thill said in an email.

The shiny monolith that mysteriously appeared on a farm in Northern Colorado has been removed. Lori Graves, the owner of Morning Fresh Dairy Farm in Bellvue, told The Denver Post earlier this week it was a possibility after hundreds of people swarmed her property to get a look at the 9-foot-tall edifice.

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to appear on Colorado’s presidential ballot this November under an agreement struck with the state Libertarian Party, his campaign announced Wednesday. The controversial candidate will replace the Libertarian Party’s national presidential nominee in the state under a resolution passed by the Colorado Libertarians’ board Tuesday night.

An unidentified employee of a dairy in northeast Colorado is the fifth person in the U. S. with a confirmed infection of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, but he only had mild symptoms. The person, an adult man who had direct access to infected cattle, developed conjunctivitis, or pink eye, after exposure to infected cows, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said Wednesday. He took an antiviral medication as a precaution and has recovered. State officials haven’t released any other details, including the name of the farm he works at or its location, how the avian flu virus may have hopped from cows to the employee, or whether authorities tested other people who lived or worked with the man. The first person who tested positive for highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu in the United States was a poultry worker in western Colorado in 2022. The current multi-state outbreak linked to dairy cows infected one dairy worker in Texas and two in Michigan this spring. All four prior cases were mild.

NEW YORK — Former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter will be charged with a federal felony connected to the sports betting scandal that spurred the NBA to ban him for life, court papers indicate. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn filed what’s known as a criminal information sheet on Tuesday. The document doesn’t specify a court date or the charge or charges, but it does show the case is related to an existing prosecution of four men charged with scheming to cash in on tips from a player about his plans to exit two games early. The Associated Press sent voice and email messages Wednesday to Porter’s St.