Comment on Feds warn Mercy's Springfield hospital on health, safety

EVERGREEN – Highway crews detonated 4,400 pounds of explosives packed into 150 holes drilled into Clear Creek Canyon west of Denver on Tuesday, blowing up clouds of dirt and loosening 5,000 cubic yards of rock above Interstate 70 as they ramped up work on Colorado’s $800 million project to straighten some of  I-70’s tightest and most treacherous curves. Colorado Department of Transportation coordinators working with local police stopped traffic.

An arraignment for a Colorado funeral home owner accused of keeping a woman’s corpse in the back of a hearse for over a year and improperly stashing the cremated remains of at least 30 people has been delayed again, this time because prosecutors have filed additional charges. Miles Harford had been scheduled to enter a plea Monday to two counts of forgery, one count of abuse of a corpse and one count of theft during a court hearing in Denver that had been delayed four previous times. Last week, prosecutors filed additional charges against Harford including three more counts of abuse of a corpse for treating bodies or remains “in a way that would outrage normal family sensibilities.” The names of the victims were redacted from the motion to add the new charges, but the crimes date back to 2019. Harford also faces four more theft charges, including two involving at-risk victims. There were no other details in court documents on the new charges, including how much money was allegedly taken from the four victims, how it was taken or in what way the three other corpses were abused. Harford, 34, is represented by lawyers from the state public defender’s office, which does not comment on its cases to the media.

Denver city officials hope new lighting guidelines for city parking lots will curb hundreds of downtown auto thefts and vehicle break-ins. The Denver Municipal Code requires that city parking lots have “proper illumination.” However, before today, there was no guidance on what exactly that meant. “If we wanted to go out and identify a parking lot that didn’t meet regulations without these guidelines and standards, we wouldn’t have anything to hold the parking lot companies accountable to,” said Molly Duplechian, executive director of Denver’s Excise and Licenses Office. Duplechian said the Denver Police Department first raised the issue of poorly lit parking lots roughly six months ago, citing higher crime rates in areas with darker lots, especially in downtown Denver.

By Linda Gassenheimer, Tribune News Service Horseradish mixed with mayonnaise makes a zippy and creamy topping for snapper fillets. The fillets take about 5 minutes to cook on a sheet pan under the broiler. Related Articles Restaurants, Food and Drink | Does this Highlands Ranch pizzeria’s dough taste like New York’s? Restaurants, Food and Drink | Bison mortadella will be on the menu at Restaurant Olivia’s forthcoming sister concept Restaurants, Food and Drink | 6 Denver Chinese food favorites hit Yelp’s “Top 100” restaurants list Restaurants, Food and Drink | Holiday baking: Matriarchs and memories of strudel, Ischl Torte cookies Restaurants, Food and Drink | York Street Yards bringing people, business, entertainment to former Army medical depot I was delighted to find prewashed arugula at the market.

By DEE-ANN DURBIN Albertsons is giving up on its merger with Kroger and it is suing the grocery chain, saying it didn’t do enough to secure regulatory approval for the $24.6 billion agreement. The move came the day after two judges halted the merger in separate court cases. U. S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson issued a preliminary injunction blocking the merger Tuesday after holding a three-week hearing in Portland, Ore.

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and MARK SCOLFORO ALTOONA, Pa. — The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare made it clear he wasn’t going to make things easy for authorities, shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court and then objecting to being taken to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance Tuesday weren’t expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, the leader of the United States’ largest medical insurance company.