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Colorado’s overdose rates stabilized in 2022 but remain near record levels

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:10 GMT

Fatal overdoses declined slightly in Colorado in 2022, newly finalized state data shows, after two years of surging deaths. But public health officials and addiction experts drew little comfort from last year’s totals, which remain near record highs amid fentanyl’s growing dominance of the illicit drug supply.“(Overdoses) evened themselves out a little bit. We have a new normal, which is terrible,” said Dr. Josh Blum, an addiction medicine physician at Denver Health. “Now we have a stable, unacceptably high death rate.”In 2022, 1,799 people fatally overdosed in Colorado, a 4% drop from 2021’s total of 1,881, according to data from the state Department of Public Health and Environment. The figures represent a bittersweet stabilization: A slight, one-year decline is still a reprieve after rates nearly doubled in recent years. The number of fentanyl-related deaths — which quadrupled between 2019 and 2021 — plateaued, and methampheta...

For Gen Z, playing an influencer on TikTok comes naturally

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:10 GMT

Rachel Aaron, a 24-year-old who works in public relations in New York, recently dressed up for a work event at Bloomingdale’s. In the era of “get ready with me” videos on TikTok, it was a golden opportunity to create content.Aaron, who has just 3,300 followers on TikTok, filmed herself chatting to the camera while selecting a black Skims dress, a blazer and a belt. Her post garnered a few hundred views and some favorable comments like “Slay mamas.”Aaron is not a major social media star, nor is she a celebrity. At least not yet. But she is part of a generation that is increasingly posting on social media in the manner of professional influencers: sharing daily routines, pitching or unboxing products, modeling clothing and advertising personal Amazon storefronts. These videos are often viewed as cool and entrepreneurial by peers (and sometimes by bemused parents). They can also lead to free stuff and extra cash.Aaron lists an email for brand inquiries on her TikTok profile and a link ...

Avalanche Journal: Connor Bedard is in Central Division and Florida Panthers are in Stanley Cup Final thanks to this regular-season game

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:10 GMT

In this week’s Avalanche journal, reflections on the Stanley Cup Playoffs and surrounding NHL topics as Colorado prepares to watch a Cup Final from home.A regular season game with all-time ripple effects: Pittsburgh vs. Chicago was a Game 82 for the history books in April. All the Penguins needed was to beat the tanking Blackhawks to reach the playoffs for the 17th consecutive season. Instead they unraveled in a 5-2 loss, allowing the Florida Panthers to sneak into the second wild card spot on the final day. Barely a month later, the No. 8 seed Panthers are in the Stanley Cup Final after knocking off arguably the three best teams in the NHL. They have won 11 of 12 games since trailing Boston 3-1. They’re 6-0 in overtime games these playoffs. It’s an all-time underdog run.In the Panthers’ wake is Toronto, which didn’t extend general manager Kyle Dubas after a dramatic and dysfunctional series of communications between Dubas and the team. Not to mention t...

Driver’s licenses, addresses, photos: Inside how TikTok shares user data

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:10 GMT

In August 2021, TikTok received a complaint from a British user, who flagged that a man had been “exposing himself and playing with himself” on a livestream she hosted on the video app. She also described past abuse she had experienced.To address the complaint, TikTok employees shared the incident on an internal messaging and collaboration tool called Lark, according to company documents obtained by The New York Times. The British woman’s personal data — including her photo, country of residence, Internet Protocol address, device and user IDs — were also posted on the platform, which is similar to Slack and Microsoft Teams.Her information was just one piece of TikTok user data shared on Lark, which is used every day by thousands of employees of the app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, including by those in China. According to the documents obtained by the Times, the driver’s licenses of American users were also accessible on the platform, as were some users’ potentially illegal con...

In battle over AI, Meta decides to give away its crown jewels

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:10 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — In February, Meta made an unusual move in the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence: It decided to give away its AI crown jewels.The Silicon Valley giant, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, had created an AI technology, called LLaMA, that can power online chatbots. But instead of keeping the technology to itself, Meta released the system’s underlying computer code into the wild. Academics, government researchers and others who gave their email address to Meta could download the code once the company had vetted the individual.Essentially, Meta was giving its AI technology away as open-source software — computer code that can be freely copied, modified and reused — providing outsiders with everything they needed to quickly build chatbots of their own.“The platform that will win will be the open one,” Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief AI scientist, said in an interview.As a race to lead AI heats up across Silicon Valley, Meta is standing out fro...

Neighborhood group demands halt to new truck-heavy distribution centers in Jefferson County

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:10 GMT

Two years after an Arvada neighborhood rose up to stop retail giant Amazon from building a distribution center in its midst, another set of neighbors a mile away is hoping for a similar outcome in their battle to derail a proposed 512,000-square-foot warehouse complex.But success is far from assured for McIntyre Neighbors United, a group of 18 homeowner associations that calls for residents to stand “shoulder to shoulder” against the development at 5950 McIntyre St. The developer is different, the project is different and the local government jurisdiction is different.Whereas Amazon had to go to Arvada City Council with an ultimately unsuccessful request to rezone the land where it sought to build a 112,000-square-foot warehouse, along with a 1,500-space parking lot for its delivery vans, there is no need for such approval from the county on the McIntyre project.Even so, neighbors took to the steps of the Jefferson County Government Center in Golden this week to demand t...

Denver-based Frontier Airlines hits turbulence, ranked last amid rancor around flights

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:10 GMT

Denver-based Frontier Airlines has hit more turbulence for troubles that, despite relatively low fares, have shaken relations with travelers.A new analysis of the nation’s 10 major airlines ranked Frontier last, citing high rates of “bumping” passengers involuntarily off flights, customer complaints, and fees for bags and changed flights. This seventh-annual report found that all airlines deteriorated in their performance with overall complaints increasing in 2022 by 87%. But Frontier’s reported data from 2022 showed that company gate agents denied boarding for more than 6,000 passengers against their wishes, an average of more than 16 every day and roughly 1 out of every 3,752 travelers, according to the report by “The Points Guy,” a travel information website. And Frontier led also in the rate of complaints with 22.6 for every 100,000 travelers in 2022 — more than twice the number of complaints reported by Spirit, the second-to-last carrier in that ca...

Amtrak, Metrolink service cleared to resume after landslide

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:10 GMT

The train tracks through San Clemente are set to reopen Saturday, allowing rail service, like the Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink, to resume through the area after a landslide shut it down last month.The landslide, which halted service through the Los Angeles to San Diego rail corridor known as LOSSAN, occurred on April 27, when the slope behind San Clemente landmark, the Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens, began to collapse. California homes teetering on edge of hillside after collapse; residents evacuated Crews have finished the bulk of the emergency work to stabilize the hillside and clear debris from the path for trains, according to Orange County Transportation Authority.All Passenger rail service -- including the Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink -- has been cleared to resume by the agency, which oversees the stretch of track."The rail line is being reopened at the start of the Memorial Day Weekend, the unofficial start to summer and a popular time for travel by all mo...

Family mourns innocent taxi driver killed in wrong-way crash; woman arrested

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:10 GMT

One person died and three others were injured when a wrong-way driver crashed into another car in the northbound lanes of the 110 Freeway early Friday.The crash happened just before 3 a.m. near Exposition Boulevard in the downtown Los Angeles area and involved a taxi and a black Chevy Cruze, according to the California Highway Patrol. Investigators say the driver of the Chevy was going southbound in the northbound lanes when she crashed into the taxi, killing the cab driver. He was later identified as Ken Balayev, 71, of Calabasas.The crash scene on the 110 Freeway on May 26, 2023. (OnScene.TV)The driver of the Cruze, identified as 23-year-old Samantha Molina, and a female passenger were hospitalized with serious injuries. The passenger of the taxi suffered minor injuries. Molina was eventually arrested. The collision forced the closure of the northbound 110 for several hours. All lanes reopened around 6 a.m. CHP is investigating whether drugs or alcohol were factors in the cra...

Sean Manaea embraces new relief role for SF Giants: ‘I think I get it now’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:10 GMT

MILWAUKEE — While running through the highlights of his bullpen’s combined shutout of the Brewers on Thursday, Giants manager Gabe Kapler began with a name that wouldn’t have belonged in the conversation when the team broke camp at the end of March.Sean Manaea.“Obviously Manaea was big for us tonight,” Kapler began. “Manaea getting back on track is going to be a pretty important thing for our season this year.”Entering in the fifth inning with runners on first and second, Manaea was making only his third appearance out of the bullpen since being demoted from the starting rotation. Before this season, he had appeared in relief only three times in 159 career games over seven big-league seasons.But it’s possible that Manaea is settling into a new role. He faced four batters, retired them all and struck out three of them. It was his second straight scoreless appearance — both in relief — after allowing a run in his all of his first 10 outings si...