Celeste Springer
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Several lanes are closed on I-25 northbound due to a crash, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT).
CDOT says the crash is between Exit 138 (Lake Avenue/Circle Drive) and Exit 139 (Martin Luther King Jr Bypass). Drivers should expect heavy traffic. The accident is near Mile Point 138.5.
Details are limited at this time, but this article may be updated.
News-Press NOW
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — The YWCA of St. Joseph, St. Joseph NAACP and Missouri Western State University are calling for nominations for the Kelsy Beshears Racial Justice Award.
Kelsy B. Beshears is recognized as one of the most “influential figures in the Civil Rights Movement” in St. Joseph.
The Kelsy Beshears Racial Justice Award can be presented to an individual, group or organization that embraces Beshears’ commitment to promoting racial justice and eliminating racism.
Nomination forms and a list of past award recipients can be found at ywcasj.org/day-of-commitment.
Submissions must be sent to rfrost@ywcasj.org no later than Thursday, Aug. 14.
The award will be presented at the 29th Annual Day of Commitment to Eliminate Racism Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 12, in the YWCA Terrace Room, located at 304 N. 8th St.
Charles Christian
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — An upcoming free lunch and learn event at Benedictine Living Community in St. Joseph will help caregivers prevent burnout.
Maleah Hess of Aseracare Hospice will give a one-hour presentation especially designed for caregivers that addresses self-care and burnout prevention.
Lunch will be served from 11:30 a.m. to noon on Monday, Aug. 11, at the Benedictine Living Community, at 1202 Heartland Road, in St. Joseph.
Hess will then present her workshop from noon to 1:00 p.m. Both the lunch and the seminar are free.
Sales and Marketing Manager Karen Cannon said this event is part of a long-running monthly series seeking to address the needs of senior adults and their caregivers in the community.
For more information about the series, or to register for the Aug. 11 presentation, contact Karen Cannon at (816) 671-8542, or by email at Karen.Cannon@benedictineliving.org.
The September Lunch and Learn will take place on Monday, Sept. 8, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and will address issues regarding retirement and social security.
Jarrod Zinn
BUELLTON, Calif. – With the Gifford Fire churning through the Los Padres National Forest, air quality has become a top concern for people throughout Santa Barbara county.
There’s an opportunity for folks to get n-95 masks.
The Hitching Post 2 in Buellton is one of two places Direct Relief is handing out masks, as smoke from the wildfire is spreading across the county.
The Gifford Fire started near highway 166 and is now pushing south and to the east, releasing plenty of smoke and particulates into the air.
“We have an air quality alert that is in effect for the Cuyama area and an air quality watch that is in effect for the rest of Santa Barbara County,” says Lyz Bantilan, spokesperson for the Air Pollution Control District of Santa Barbara county.
In Santa Maria and further north, the air may not look as bad as it has during other wildfires, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any smoke drifting in that direction.
“Air quality, even miles away from the fire, can really affect community members, particularly elderly, children, people with respiratory issues like asthma, as well as workers who are outside,” says Alexandra Kelleher, senior program manager of emergency response for Direct Relief.
A dark trail of smoke has been seen amid the clouds before it concentrates into the valleys, and residents in the Santa Barbara area have been dealing with smoke and ash.
“I did notice over the weekend, the plume at various points over the weekend did seem to be sort of wrapping around the county,” says Bantilan.
Those who are sensitive to unhealthy air quality may benefit from using n-95 respirator masks, and these are being handed out for free today and tomorrow by Direct Relief.
“As we have had a lot of experience with masks from COVID all the way until now, we chose these N95 respirator masks because they have the full seal around and they’re really able to protect from the irritants that are in the air,” says Kelleher.
Distributions for the free n-95 respirator masks are located at Direct Relief’s main office on Wallace Becknell Road in Santa Barbara and at The Hitching Post 2 on Highway 246 in Buellton.
If you missed them Monday, they’ll be handed out from noon to five pm on Tuesday.
In addition to these sites, Direct Relief has hand delivered masks and air purifiers to various evacuation centers and emergency facilities.
Air quality is expected to remain in the yellow zone for Cuyama and surrounding areas for the next few days.
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Dillon Fuhrman
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – The Onvida Health Lactation team is hosting Strong Start, a free community event, this upcoming weekend.
The event, taking place at the Yuma Main Library this Saturday at 10:30 a.m., is to bring awareness of resources and services available for moms.
During the event, attendees will receive giveaways, connect with local resources and have one-on-one support with a lactation consultant.
The event will go until 2:30 p.m. and is open for all ages. To learn more about the event, click here.
Claire Elmer
(Update: Adding video, adding interview with petitioner, statement from secretary of state’s office)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — A recall effort is underway against Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, and it’s led by a Central Oregonian. William Minnix, a resident of La Pine, started the petition recently and told KTVZ News on Monday that the recall is driven by accountability.
Minnix is part of a group called Oregon for the People and filed the initial petition to recall Governor Kotek a week ago. After what Minnix claims were delays by the state, he didn’t receive approval to start collecting signatures until last Friday.
“I found out the person with the elections office was out on vacation now, and they told me I’d have to wait until August 12th,” Minnix told us. “So I did a press release stating exactly what happened, and I thought the Secretary of State was stalling. Lo and behold, 10 o’clock that day, I got my approval.”
A representative of the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office told KTVZ News that Minnix submitted the needed paperwork at 12:30 p.m. on July 31, and was told by Elections Division staff that he’d receive approval within one business day. She said It was approved at 9:12 a.m. the next day, on August 1.
Minnix says the recall effort is strictly a grassroots movement, and volunteers are already gathering signatures in every county.
“I set up two businesses for Deschutes County, which is La Pine Feed Store and Wetlands Taphouse. They have the petition. We were at the County Fair in Deschutes County, and we got well over 500 signatures,” said Minnix.
Minnix believes Governor Kotek has violated her oath of office by failing to protect property owners, over-taxing working families, and favoring undocumented immigrants over federal law.
“She took an oath to protect the people of Oregon,” he said. “By us not getting federal grants, because she’s not following federal law, that’s a violation of her oath. She’s not protecting property owners. She’s not protecting the citizens. She’s not protecting our well-being.”
Minnix will not name a favored replacement candidate and says the focus is on building momentum ahead of the midterms.
“Our big focus with Oregon For The People is to focus on the midterms, and make sure that we’re able to bring in governing people that are for the people and for our well-being,” Minnix said.
To qualify for a recall election, the group must collect nearly 293,000 valid voter signatures by October 27th. Minnix said he is confident they will not only meet but exceed that requirement.
“I’m really confident that we’re going to get well over 400,000. At this point, it’s becoming very bipartisan,” he said. “The team is really coming together. Lots of support, and a lot of us are going to be putting in long, long hours.”
If the signature requirement is met and enough are verified by the state election office, Kotek would have five days to resign before a recall election would be started.
Nationwide, recall activity is down in 2025. According to Ballotpedia, just 223 officials were targeted for recall through mid-June — the lowest number since 2020. In 2024, Oregon had the highest recall attempts rate in the nation, with 0.76 recall attempts per 100,000 residents.
KTVZ News reached out to Governor Kotek’s office for comment on the recall effort. Kotek’s campaign advisor, Thomas Wheatley, issued a brief response:
“The Governor is focused on tackling the toughest challenges facing our state — making housing more affordable, expanding access to mental health care, improving our schools, and ensuring we can pay the workers who run snowplows in the winter and keep our roads safe year-round.”
Minnix hopes to have more signing sites in the coming days. Locations and upcoming efforts will be posted to their website: OregonForThePeople.com.
Jesus Reyes
BANNING, Calif. (KESQ) – 19 people are displaced after a fire damaged seven structures Sunday in Banning.
The fire was first reported at around 12:55 p.m. on the 1100 block of W. Hays Street.
A fourth alarm was requested to support ongoing fire ground operations, CAL FIRE said. The fire was contained by 4 p.m.
A firefighter sustained a minor injury and a civilian sustained major injuries; both were treated and transported by ground ambulance.
CAL FIRE noted that 13 adults and six children are displaced.
There is no word on the cause of the fire.
Stay with News Channel 3 for any updates.
John Palminteri
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Old Spanish Days in Santa Barbara has lived up to its reputation as the biggest event of the year, even with concerns about more enforcement both locally and possibly with federal immigration agents.
The crowds came out. The events took place and were still very full.
There was no shortage of food, drink, and flying confetti.
Now, there is no shortage of clean up duties.
Karena Straight looked around downtown and said, “there’s going to be confetti for days. It was really. bad are they going to clean it up? We need some tooth brushes.Santa Barbara is beautiful, we gotta keep it clean.”
It was tedious work. “It looks like it was quite a party and there is going to be quite a clean up on the other end,” said Ellen Shank. Her advice was, “maybe grab a friend maybe from both sides would be the best approach,” she said while watching a worker with a blower clearing the sidewalk off towards the landscaping and street areas.
At the Antique Alley Arnold Buckner laughed at himself while using a basic broom to take on the constant confetti cleanup challenge. Instead of using a vacuum or a blower he said, “We’re not that smart!” He did say daily efforts made a big difference and that’s why it looked much better than it could have. “I would have waited but there is no way of waiting because it would have piled up like this.” He said that while holding up about a three inch measurement with his fingers.
The next few days will be especially busy. Already, De la Guerra Plaza has been cleaned up in an agreement that required it to be finished by Sunday afternoon. That included the removal of all the booths for food and retail, along with the entertainment stage.
The Big Green company on a contracted job cleaned up the plaza and power washed the streets.
The next phase of work will be essentially that same tasks throughout downtown, the Funk Zone, and waterfront for either private companies, the city crews or the business owners.
Some businesses will be saving their bunting and signs for next year’s Fiesta.
Public works crews started out early Monday morning with sweepers and hand tools. They also picked up all the cones, barricades and signage left behind.
Some business owners were out front with brooms and blowers and will be for days.
The hardest part will be the confetti in the landscaping and that will take days of work. There will also be some new ground covering that will be placed in the landscaping.
Some of the healthy intersection plants were flattened out and smashed due to vendors who were setting up street food stands and using the planters for their supplies.
Sunday the non-profit, Tidy Seas did a beach area cleanup with volunteers and picked up numerous bags and buckets full of left over trash. That included plastic cups, food scraps, boxes from beverages and leftover items brought to the parade route and never taken away. The group also did a clean up after the 4th of July in the most impacted areas. Annually it will do several cleanups each month along the immediate coast and on the Channel Islands.
The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.
Celeste Springer
DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) — Carie Hallford, a disgraced co-owner of a now-notorious Penrose funeral home, has entered into a guilty plea for federal fraud charges, according to court records.
Hallford and her husband Jon owned Return to Nature Funeral Home. Both accepted plea deals in a separate criminal case where prosecutors say they left close to 200 bodies to decay without a proper cremation or burial.
A victim told KRDO13 that sentencing for Carie’s federal fraud case is set for later this month. Jon Hallford was sentenced to 20 years for the fraud charges in June, but appealed that sentence just a month later.
Jon’s sentencing for the state charges stemming from the bodies left in the funeral home is later this month.
Barney Lerten
REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Firefighters responded to 39 new wildfire starts around Central Oregon over the weekend, burning a total of nine acres, officials said Monday. Most of the fires were kept small, at about one-tenth of an acre in size, and have been contained or controlled.
“This was the result of the quick response of initial attack resources, both on the ground and from the air. Air resources consist of not only aircraft but also smokejumpers and rappelers,” Monday’s Central Oregon fire update said.
The storms that occurred in the last few days brought light rain to the area on Friday and Saturday, with widely scattered showers and hail on Sunday. These storms also resulted in widespread lightning.
Firefighters will continue to work on suppressing the remaining fires, including the Stevens Fire, which is burning about 6 miles northeast of Sisters. It’s estimated at 7.6 acres and is 80% contained.
“Today, firefighters are prepared and well-staffed to respond to any new starts and any holdover fires from earlier in the week,” the update said.
Visit the official source for wildfire information in Central Oregon at centraloregonfire.org for wildfire updates or follow fire information on X/Twitter @CentralORfire. Call 9-1-1 to report a wildfire. For smoke and air quality information, visit fire.airnow.gov.
