Jumat, 14 Agustus 2026

Bear Law, Llama Rescue, and Impostor Produce

Friday, August 14, 2026

Good Morning! On this day in 1874, U.S. explorers made the first recorded ascent of Blanca Peak, a fourteener in the San Luis Valley. Much to their surprise, the explorers found a manmade stone fortification at the summit, possibly left by the Ute people.

What's your favorite Colorado-grown produce? Vote in our Poll or hit reply to let us know. Then head to Business to learn about the new state law designed to crack down on out-of-state imitators.

What if the hours you already spend on your phone could actually earn you money? Today’s sponsor, Mode Mobile, is building technology to do just that, and more than 66,000 investors have already backed its vision. Learn more below, and watch for a special message later today about the technology behind its “EarnPhone” and the opportunity to invest.

Gun Law Faces Challenge

The Colorado State Shooting Association (CSSA) filed a federal motion Tuesday seeking a preliminary injunction against the state's new firearm permit-to-purchase law.

Senate Bill 25-3 requires prospective buyers to pay for a background check, apply for an eligibility card with a sheriff, take a safety course, and pass a written exam.

The filing argues the permitting process is burdensome and rests on incomplete administrative infrastructure. Teller, Montezuma, and Bent counties are not accepting the required applications.

The group and five individuals have had a broader court challenge pending since last September. CSSA says 21 counties have no approved instructor for the required course.

New Bear Law Kicks in Amid Surge

A new state law took effect Wednesday making it a misdemeanor to knowingly leave food or edible waste in the open where it could lure a wild bear.

House Bill 26-1342 repeals the requirement that a first offense draw only a warning and raises the maximum fine for a third or subsequent violation from $2,000 to $5,000.

Gov. Jared Polis signed the measure in May, lowering the burden of proof from intentionally to knowingly luring bears with misplaced or mismanaged food and trash.

Mesa County bear reports jumped from 28 to 257 between April and early August compared with last year, and officials blame extreme drought for pushing bears into towns.

Stubborn Llama Refuses Rescue

Larimer County Sheriff's Office deputies recently responded to a report of an abandoned llama on Comanche Peak Trail.

Deputies found the llama lounging comfortably in a wooded area, where it had been hitched to a tree. Attempts to coax the llama down the trail were slow going—the animal frequently stopping to rest for long periods—and eventually put on pause for the night.

Returning the next morning, deputies encountered the owners, who explained how the llama had refused to budge mid-hike, forcing them to leave it hitched while they worked on a solution.

Working together, the llama’s owners and the deputies were able to lure the animal back to civilization. See photos here.

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They saw a company with:

$107M+ invested to date
$115M+ lifetime revenue
$1B+ earned/saved by users

They saw a company already profitable before going public.

They saw 32,481% three-year revenue growth which ranked #1 in software on Deloitte’s fastest-growing companies list.

And they saw an opportunity to invest while Mode was still private.

Over 4 trillion hours are spent on smartphones each year. Mode is building ways to turn that screen time into income.

Over 66,000 investors are already in. You can still join them at $0.52/share before the price changes.

⚠️ Last chance to invest at $0.52/share. Price changes today.

➤ Statewide: Six traffic safety laws took effect Wednesday, including Magnus' Law, which requires officers to offer a voluntary breathalyzer test to drivers suspected of fault in serious crashes. (More)

➤ Fort Collins: The city has dropped plans to charge for downtown street parking after pushback. On-street spaces will remain free with a strict two-hour time limit. (More)

➤ Pueblo County: The Sikes Ranch Fire north of Colorado City was 100% contained at six acres Wednesday evening, roughly 15 minutes after mandatory evacuation orders were lifted. (More)

➤ Aurora: Officer Michael Gallagher resigned rather than be terminated after an internal investigation found he allegedly ingested narcotics seized as evidence during a traffic stop. (More)

➤ Alamosa County: Operation Sand Dune, a two-day operation targeting violent and wanted offenders Aug. 10 and 11, led to five arrests and 19 warrants cleared, according to a U.S. Marshals release. (More)

➤ Grand Junction: Police arrested a man on charges that he deliberately started a fire at a Mansfield Court home on Wednesday. (More)

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➤ The Colorado Rapids transferred 18-year-old defender Lucas Herrington to English Premier League club Hull City this week for a reported $17 million, the largest fee ever paid for a defender from an MLS club. (More)

➤ Colorado football opened practice to fans and media this week but banned all reporting, recording, and cell phone use. The school warned that violations could result in credential revocation. (More)

➤ Broncos backup center Michael Deiter suffered a season-ending quad injury in practice this week, leaving Denver thin at the position with both starting center Luke Wattenberg and top backup Alex Forsyth also banged up. (More)

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➤ A former Keenesburg coal mine now holds 16,000 solar panels expected to produce 7.2 megawatts and supply about 7% of the annual electricity demand at Molson Coors' Golden Valley operations. (More)

➤ City Market has completed an $18.5 million expansion in Montrose, adding 20,000 square feet and more than 20 jobs and bringing the store to 83,000 square feet. (More)

➤ House Bill 26-1031 took effect Wednesday, barring sellers from marketing produce as Colorado-grown or using the Colorado Proud logo unless the product is actually grown in the state. (More)

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This is a paid advertisement for Mode Mobile Regulation A+ offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.modemobile.com/ *Mode Mobile recently received their ticker reservation with Nasdaq ($MODE), indicating an intent to IPO in the next 24 months. An intent to IPO is no guarantee that an actual IPO will occur. *Mode cumulative revenue includes full year revenue of businesses acquired in 2025.

➤ The Telluride Mushroom Festival, now in its 46th year, holds its Wild Foods Dinner today, honoring wild foods and the late lands advocate Katrina Blair. (More)

➤ Foolish Craig's Cafe in Boulder took the No. 1 spot on a list of the top Colorado restaurants once featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives—beating out The Sink and Bohemian Biergarten. (More)

➤ Eureka! McConnell Science Museum in Grand Junction is seeking local muralists to design and paint two murals along its playground walls. (More)

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The following stories are featured exclusively on The Flyover Podcast—a daily show that gives you the most important headlines in under 15 minutes. Clicking the links will take you directly to these stories:

➤ Hawaii's Big Island is under a hurricane watch as a strengthening Pacific storm threatens heavy rain and flooding. (Hear Details)

➤ Luigi Mangione is reportedly weighing a courtroom move that could upend his murder trial in New York. (Hear Episode)

➤ Tech executives are cloning themselves with artificial intelligence, and some of the digital doubles are already going rogue. (Listen Now)

What's your favorite Colorado-grown produce?

Yesterday's Results:

How often do you use rideshare apps?

Never: 36%
Rarely: 26%
Every 2-3 months: 14%
Every month: 9%
Every week: 8%
Every day: 7%

Which famous explorer named the town of Rocky Ford?

Show me the answer

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High School Football Player Dies, Apple's Houston Plant, and a New Buc-ee's

Friday, August 14, 2026

Good Morning! On this day in 1932, a Category 4 hurricane roared ashore just east of Freeport with 150 mph winds, killing 40 people. It dumped nearly 10 inches of rain on Angleton, wrecking the town's pumping station.

A Texas state representative says that starting school in August is "one of the dumbest things we do as a state." Find the story in Around Texas, and then answer our Poll question to let us know if you think schools should start up after Labor Day.

Lake Travis Football Player Dies

Odin Hensley, a 17-year-old senior offensive lineman at Lake Travis High School, died Wednesday after collapsing at the team's first football practice of the season.

He went down around 8 a.m. Monday, and suffered cardiac arrest. Travis County STAR Flight airlifted him to Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin, where he was admitted to the ICU.

Superintendent Curtis Null told families that Hensley had been in the district since Lake Pointe Elementary and was a two-sport athlete in football and wrestling. "His presence touched many lives, and he will be deeply missed," Null wrote.

About 350 people gathered Wednesday evening for a vigil at Lake Hills Church. Coach Hank Carter called it a "very difficult time for us."

Appeals Court Restores Texas Mail-Ballot Rules

A federal appeals court on Wednesday restored Texas' requirement that mail voters provide an ID number matching state records.

The 5th Circuit reversed a district judge who struck down nine provisions of Senate Bill 1 in March 2025, ruling they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 2021 law also requires anyone assisting a voter to swear that no coercion occurred.

Voto Latino, LULAC Texas, and two other groups that sued called the law "draconian" and argued it falls hardest on older Texans and people of color.

The panel found most plaintiffs lacked standing to sue. "None of these members has shown a 'substantial risk' of disenfranchisement," the court wrote.

Judge Andrew Oldham wrote that mail ballots have "long been established" as prone to fraud, and noted rejections tied to ID errors fell from 11% to 2.7%. Attorney General Ken Paxton called the ruling a "major victory."

Five Refugio Officials Indicted, Arrested

A grand jury indicted five current and former Refugio town officials on felony charges this week following a Texas Rangers investigation.

Mayor Wanda Dukes and Town Secretary Callie Shreckengost surrendered on Wednesday, each charged with misapplication of fiduciary property, a first-degree felony. Bond was $25,000 each.

Indictments accuse the pair of misusing money from the Refugio Economic Development Corporation between Oct. 3, 2023, and Oct. 29, 2025. The charging documents list 19 transactions totaling more than $1 million, including garbage collection, a police holiday party, and Fourth of July festivals.

Mayor Pro Tem Ixtlazihuatl "Lala" Vasquez and two former council members turned themselves in Thursday on charges of abuse of official capacity, a third-degree felony. Michael Rocha and Frank Hosey lost their seats in the May election.

Flying together with our sponsor

What 66,281 investors saw when they looked…

More than 66,000 investors already decided to invest in Mode Mobile.

They saw a company with:

$107M+ invested to date
$115M+ lifetime revenue
$1B+ earned/saved by users

They saw a company already profitable before going public.

They saw 32,481% three-year revenue growth which ranked #1 in software on Deloitte’s fastest-growing companies list.

And they saw an opportunity to invest while Mode was still private.

Over 4 trillion hours are spent on smartphones each year. Mode is building ways to turn that screen time into income.

Over 66,000 investors are already in. You can still join them at $0.52/share before the price changes.

⚠️ Last chance to invest at $0.52/share. Price changes today.

➤ Statewide: Denton County Rep. Jared Patterson wants Texas schools to start in September and run into late May or June, calling an August start "one of the dumbest things we do as a state." A similar bill he filed died in committee. (See Details)

➤ DFW: Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport will add Islamic foot-washing stations to Terminal D restrooms by year's end, one in the men's and one in the women's. The privately funded $300,000 project is meant to keep water off restroom floors. (See Details)

➤ Tarrant County: Officials banned outdoor burning for 90 days Thursday as drought conditions push wildfire risk higher across the region. (More)

➤ Austin: Burnet and Webb middle schools drew a fifth straight F in preliminary state ratings, opening Austin ISD to a takeover that could replace its elected board. Superintendent Matias Segura said 35 campuses raised a letter grade. (See Details)

➤ San Antonio: Drivers who blow past a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing can be fined up to $1,250, and repeat offenders can lose their license, Northside ISD police say. Enforcement is ramping up as campuses reopen. (More)

➤ Rio Grande Valley: Crops are rotting in the fields for lack of workers, Rio Farms president Matt Klostermann told Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling during a tour in Monte Alto. Sonderling said fee waivers and new wage rules should save growers $2.5 billion. (See Details)

➤ East Texas: More districts, including Gladewater and Diboll, are banning energy drinks on campus this year. Some cans contain more than 200 milligrams of caffeine, twice the daily maximum the Mayo Clinic recommends for teens. (More)

Enjoy reading The Texas Flyover? Click here to share with your friends and family. ✈️

➤ Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire says the Red Raiders have been turned down by every major program they've approached for future non-conference games, including USC, Texas A&M, and NC State. (More)

➤ Baylor football added defensive lineman Traevon Mitchell from USF this week, bolstering what the coaching staff already considers one of the deepest defensive lines in the Big 12. (More)

➤ Former Rockets point guard Russell Westbrook announced his retirement this week after 18 NBA seasons, finishing as the league's all-time triple-double leader with 209. (More)

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➤ Apple's Houston plant opened an Advanced Manufacturing Center on Thursday, offering free training and lab time to small and mid-sized businesses. The same facility builds Apple's AI servers and is scheduled to start turning out Mac minis later this year. (More)

➤ Paramount's board approved a plan to leave California for Tennessee, Georgia, or Texas if the state's attorney general won't open settlement talks by Oct. 1 over the studio's $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery. (See Details)

➤ Delta Air Lines will fly nonstop from Austin to Paris starting March 27, the city's first direct route to the French capital. (See Details)

➤ Texas Children's Hospital in Austin will spend $39 million to more than double its newborn intensive care unit, from 14 rooms to 31. Work starts this fall and is scheduled to wrap up in fall 2027. (More)

➤ College Station ISD's first career and technical center opened with the school year, training high school sophomores through seniors in welding, cosmetology, auto repair, and veterinary medicine. Cosmetology students can sit for the state licensing exam as soon as they graduate. (See Details)

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ Struggling With Blood Pressure Management? This device helps monitor your vital signs accurately at home without expensive doctor visits or unreliable readings. Learn More

Flying together with our sponsor

Palantir grew 1,540% This company did 32,481%

Palantir just rocketed to $420 billion by helping companies turn vast amounts of data into value.

There’s just one group that missed out on the data boom: the people producing it.

Mode Mobile wants to change that.

By allowing users to share in the value of everyday smartphone activity, they’ve facilitated over $1 billion in earnings and savings.

With 32,481% 3-year revenue growth, they ranked #1 in software on Deloitte’s fastest-growing companies list, and investors have until August 14 to invest at $0.52/share.

Like Uber turned cars into taxis and Airbnb turned homes into hotels, Mode is transforming smartphones into EarnPhones.

🚨Last chance to invest at $0.52/share. Price changes at 5PM ET.

➤ The newest Buc-ee's opened Wednesday off I-35 at Yarrington Road in San Marcos, with Gov. Greg Abbott chopping brisket behind the counter. The 74,000-square-foot store has 128 fueling stations and is the chain's 57th. (More)

➤ Texas oil production averaged 5.75 million barrels of crude a day last year, about 42% of the U.S. total. Ranked against countries, that would put Texas fourth in the world, ahead of Canada, Iraq, and China. (See Report)

➤ A donated church lot in Lufkin will become up to 10 affordable homes after Habitat for Humanity of Deep East Texas broke ground Thursday on Denman Heights Subdivision. The congregation voted unanimously to give the land. (See Details)

➤ A Yappy Hour will be held at the 17th-floor rooftop bar at El Paso's Plaza Hotel on Aug. 26 for National Dog Day, with free "pupuccinos" from 5 to 7 p.m. Guests can bring pet supplies to donate to Rescue Runners. (More)

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