@Denverheadlines 11/16

• Saturday Mostly sunny, with a high near 59. Southwest wind 6 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

• In a national first, a federal prosecutor in Denver has acknowledged in court that the case against a terror defendant rests in part on information gleaned from warrantless wiretaps.

• Snow is expected in the Colorado mountains over the weekend, with a slight chance of snow or rain in Denver Saturday night and Sunday morning.

• Colorado regulators have begun surveying marijuana businesses about the price of pot, in an effort to implement a new excise tax that voters passed earlier this month.

• The results of Broomfield's anti-fracking measure -- which appeared to have failed by a slim margin on Election Day -- flipped late Thursday night, but the five-year hydraulic fracturing ban's approval was so narrow that a recount is mandatory.

• A judge postponed a hearing Friday for a Denver couple to enter pleas on charges of child abuse for allegedly starving their four young sons and keeping them in a filthy apartment.  No reason was given for the delay, which was announced after a brief discussion among the judge and attorneys. Their comments weren’t audible to others.

• Police in Nebraska counties along the Colorado border are fighting to keep medical marijuana from crossing state lines.  It’s a problem they fear will grow worse when it becomes legal to buy marijuana for recreational use in January.

• A long fight over water rights between ski areas and the federal government appears to be settling down.  Over the past decade, the U.S. Forest Service has tried to change the rules on water rights four different times, but many say the most over-reaching measure happened nearly two years ago.  The government didn’t offer to buy the water rights, it just asked that they be handed over.

• The Weld County Sheriff's Office has cited three suspects for their involvement in alleged animal abuse on newborn calves, released on video this week by an animal rights group.

• Police on Thursday evening arrested a 14-year-old Longmont boy on suspicion of auto theft out of Mead.

• Police say a teen who was pepper sprayed by police threw "bodily fluid" on an officer at a Colorado Springs hospital.
• A parolee accused in the recent kidnapping of an 8-year-old Aurora girl had a history of sexual misconduct in state prison, documents obtained by 7News

• The Federal Emergency Management Center is closing its Lyons Disaster Recovery Center at 6 p.m. on Monday. FEMA officials have announced.

• An outbreak of whooping cough has Colorado health authorities urging people to make sure their vaccinations are up to date.

• Both luxury home sales and median sale prices in the Denver metro area moved higher in October compared to a year ago, according to a report released Friday by Coldwell Banker
• How did Mars lose its air, water and possible life? It’s a Martian mystery that NASA hopes to solve with a new spacecraft that was built in Colorado.  NASA will launch a spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Monday to try to answer that. It’s called the Maven Orbiter, and it was built by Lockheed Martin in Colorado. The $671 million NASA mission is being led by the University of Colorado Boulder.
• Boulder police have arrested a woman on a warrant for cruelty to animals after investigators said she failed to get veterinary treatment for three-month-old puppy when it suffered broken legs and burns.
• The Longmont Ice Pavilion began rebuilding Friday from about $20,000 of damage caused when someone put "ice melt" on the ice.

@Denverheadlines 11/15

• FridayMostly sunny, with a high near 59. South southwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the afternoon.

• A civil lawsuit was filed Thursday against the City of Commerce City and several officers over the death of a dog shot and killed in November 2012.

• Metropolitan State University of Denver has sold the naming rights for its new athletic complex to The Regency.

• Several significant new developments are wrapping up or just getting underway in the River District just north of Old Town Fort Collins. The River District is the new name for the oldest part of Fort Collins

• Tax credits for homeowners that conduct wildfire mitigation and a death benefit to wildland firefighters are among bills that Colorado lawmakers will introduce next year. The tax credit would cover half of the costs of mitigation done by homeowners. Another bill would give families of seasonal wildfires $10,000 to help pay for funeral costs if their loved one dies in the line of duty.  A committee on Thursday voted to introduce the bills during the session that begins in January. The committee also gave the go-ahead to introduce legislation that strengthens counties' authority to prohibit agriculture producers from conducting burns on their property during high fire danger. Lawmakers also want to budget $3.25 million annually for five years for grants to help firefighters buy better equipment.

• Police say eight businesses in Northwest Denver have been the victim of a burglar who breaks in overnight.  Authorities say the burglar uses a rock to smash in the front doors before trying to make off with the cash at each of the businesses which are mostly restaurants. At the family owned La Casita restaurant, located at 36th Avenue and Tejon Street, security cameras captured footage of the burglar in action.

• A $415 million project to build a wastewater treatment plant and a seven-mile pipeline will support growth in north metro Denver for decades.

• A anti-bullying campaign at a school in Fountain is causing controversy. The school is putting stickers on students’ shirt collars so that other students will shun them from all interaction.  The goal is for the students to find out what it’s like to be left out.

• Colorado Republicans have mile high aspirations for 2016.  The state GOP says they will make a bid to have Denver host the 2016 Republican National Convention.

• Tax credits for homeowners that conduct wildfire mitigation and a death benefit to wildland firefighters are among bills that Colorado lawmakers will introduce next year.

• Construction of the new hotel and transit center at Denver International Airport is making visible progress every day. The floods in September delayed work as crews were sent to help in the flood recovery process. The DIA construction site itself also had to be drained and cleared out. Now, the warm November weather is working in their favor and crews are back on track to finish the project by the fall of 2015.

• Longmont police investigating a rash of vandalism Tuesday night that left windows bashed on about 60 vehicles throughout the city are comparing notes with police in neighboring cities on similar crimes.

@Denverheadlines 11/13

• TodayMostly sunny, with a high near 68. Southwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming calm in the afternoon.

• The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Denver has issued an alert for a man agents say has been seen on video sexually abusing children.  The same graphic videos are providing clues that could help the FBI hunt the man down.  “This is horrible and this does happen,” Kendra Dunn with Prevent Child Abuse Colorado said.  The FBI doesn’t know who the man is. They call John Doe 27. He’s been seen on video engaging in sexually explicit activities with a child. The images are being circulated on Internet child pornography forums. Agents worry there may be more victims.

• Officials battling the spread of a destructive beetle in Boulder County have quarantined firewood and ash.  The Colorado Department of Agriculture on Tuesday announced the quarantine Tuesday.  The move means firewood and ash products cannot be moved from one of the quarantined counties unless permitted by state regulators. Officials say most infestations have been started by people accidentally moving infested firewood, nursery plants or sawmill logs.

• Gas prices are headed down, especially in Colorado. In some places it’s below $3 a gallon.  An Aurora gas is $2.97 at the Sam’s Club on South Aurora Parkway. In Boulder it’s $3.15 at the Everyday station on 13th and Pleasant. In Centennial it’s $3.04 at the Corner Store on East Smoky Hill Road. In Denver it’s under $3 on Briargate Boulevard.  The price has dropped seven weeks in a row and gas in the Denver area is less than the national average of $3.21.

• Denver International Airport is at the top of the list when it comes to healthy airport eating. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine checked out the dining options at several airports. DIA got the top ranking because 86 percent of the restaurants in the terminal and on the concourses offer at least one plant-based, fiber packed entree.  Across the nation only about 57 percent of airport eateries offer at least one healthy option.

• Denver police hope someone will recognize a man they say robbed a Subway sandwich shop with a knife.  The robbery happened last Wednesday evening at the store located on 38th Avenue near Quivas Street.  The clerk was not hurt.  The suspect is described as a light-skinned Hispanic man in his 50s, approximately 5-foot-11 and speaks with a Hispanic accent.

• A family in Fort Collins has filed a complaint with the state’s veterinary medicine board after a veterinarian made a house call and the family’s dog ended up dying.  The dog’s death happened during a routine operation. The vet’s 16-year-old daughter was performing the anesthesia while the dog was on a kitchen table.  Most states license vet assistants, but Colorado chose not to.  Colorado looked at licensing veterinary assistants back in 1994 but found there weren’t any incidents that justified it. Now a family has a case they say is worth taking a new look.