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WEEK OF MARCH 6, 2025
VOLUME 159 | ISSUE 10
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Bill would create duty to report misconduct at state crime lab JEFFCO RESIDENTS TOUR P2 FUTURE LIBRARY
BY SARA WILSON COLORADO NEWSLINE
able tubes are not. There are separate shuttle services during tubing season for those who want to tube along Clear Creek. Additionally, Ore Cart riders are asked to leave non-service animals at home. Matt Wempe, principal planner for the city, said some riders expressed interest in using the Ore Cart on Sundays. However, Mines and Golden couldn’t do so until recently due to the number of vehicles and drivers. But once they had both, the Ore Cart expanded to Sundays. The Ore Cart is funded by a combination of Mines student fees and general funds, city funds and federal dollars the city has received.
Colorado lawmakers are running a bipartisan bill to set expectations for reporting misconduct in the state’s crime laboratories, an effort that comes in the wake of revelations that a former forensic scientist allegedly mishandled thousands of DNA tests over her career. “We are here because of due process and fairness — the idea that if a (Colorado Bureau of Investigations) employee sees data malfeasance going on, they have a duty to report and disclose, so that district attorneys can make a decision whether or not to act and whether it would impact their cases,” said Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican sponsoring the bill. He is running the bill alongside Rep. Yara Zokaie, a Fort Collins Democrat, Sen. Lisa Frizell, a Castle Rock Republican and Sen. Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat. Former CBI scientist Yvonne “Missy” Woods was charged with 102 felonies in January over allegations that she manipulated DNA test results during her career. Prosecutors worry that over 1,000 cases could have been affected by dubious evidence she processed. “We never want to see something like this happen again,” Soper said. “We want to address some of the issues that have occurred here so that we have integrity back in our state lab.” House Bill 25-1275 would require crime lab employees to report a wrongful action they witness to their supervisor within two weeks. That is defined in the bill as
SEE ORE CART, P9
SEE MISCONDUCT, P5
‘DETOUR’ MAKES WAY THROUGH DENVER ART SCENE P12 Travis Taylor rides on the Ore Cart shuttle as it passes the Colorado School of Mines campus Feb. 26. Taylor said the Ore PHOTO BY CORINNE WESTEMAN Cart’s Tungsten Route is a great resource when he takes RTD’s light rail into Golden.
Golden’s free shuttle expands to Sundays, adds bike racks
All Ore Cart routes around Mines campus, across Golden now run seven days a week
EX-NFL PLAYER JOINS P18 PRO DISC TEAM MINES BBALL TEAMS CELEBRATE SENIOR NIGHT P18
BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CWESTEMAN@COLOROADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Anyone who needs to get around Golden on Sundays now has another option: the free Ore Cart shuttle. The Ore Cart, which is a partnership between the City of Golden and Colorado School of Mines, now operates three routes seven days a week.
Center, the Mines campus and downtown Golden All routes run from 7 a.m.-6:30 p.m. on weekdays, with shuttles approximately every 15 minutes; and then from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, with shuttles approximately every 30 minutes. The Ore Cart doesn’t operate on designated Mines holidays, according to the city website. Golden also recently announced that, in addition to being ADA-accessible, all Ore Cart shuttles are now equipped with bike racks. Officials hoped this would provide more options for cyclists, particularly for those who bike to the RTD light rail, ride the W Line into Golden and then use the Ore Cart to reach their destination. While bikes are welcome, inflat-
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It has: • The Gold Route between downtown and the Iowa Neighborhood Commercial Center in north Golden; • The Silver Route, which circulates around the Mines campus; and • The Tungsten Route, which runs between RTD’s W Line station at the Jeffco Government
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