Month: January 2026

KCNC

By Karen Morfitt

Click here for updates on this story

    COLORADO (KCNC) — Despite efforts to deter them, thieves in Colorado are continuing to steal credit cards, checks, ballots and even prescription medication from mailboxes.

CBS Colorado has reported on the issue of mail theft several times over the past several years. More than a year ago, top officials within the U.S. Postal Inspection Service told CBS Colorado steps were being taken to address it, specifically upgrading locks across the Denver metro area.

“This is a problem right now, but it won’t be a forever problem,” Melissa Atkin told CBS Colorado investigative reporter Karen Morfitt in the fall of 2024.

The issue has persisted for some time after those assurances.

Investigators know where the thefts are happening and how they are happening, and they have the ability to stop it by changing locks. But USPS has said changing locks will be a long, expensive process.

“I don’t think we realized the magnitude of it initially,” said Karen Hagans.

Hagans has lived in Denver’s Lowry neighborhood for about 20 years. Recently, she said her mail began disappearing nearly every day.

“All of the boxes where they put packages were open. There was stuff thrown on the ground on the street, and you realized that if you didn’t go get your mail the minute it was delivered, you couldn’t trust that it was there,” Hagans said.

Frustrated by the pressure to beat thieves to her mail, Hagans rented a post office box, one of the only solutions offered by the USPS. But she said she then had trouble forwarding her mail and was mistakenly identified as having moved away.

“They called me and said, ‘We see that you moved. Do you want service at your new location?’ I said, ‘What do you mean I moved?’ Hagans said.

Her experience is not unique, nor is the Lowry neighborhood.

Federal court records show thieves with master keys have been targeting cluster mailboxes for years.

“It’s the same master key used throughout the Intermountain West,” said Mary Carr, executive director of the Lowry Community Master Association. “Some of Lowry’s mail was recovered in Wyoming and vice versa because the folks robbing the kiosks are moving up and down the I-25 corridor.”

Carr said the association is legally responsible for securing the mailboxes, but it has no control over the locks, which are USPS property.

“There’s no pattern to when they hit the boxes — at night, in the middle of the day — there’s no pattern to it,” Carr said. “We are at a loss.”

After making repeated phone calls, sending emails and visiting in person to local postal offices, Carr says their efforts to work with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service went nowhere. They then turned to lawmakers for help.

“There really isn’t anywhere to go except the Postal Inspection Service,” Carr said. “They committed to Congresswoman (Diana) DeGette’s office that they would be replacing the master key system with a scannable key.”

However, Carr said they have not received a timeline for those upgrades but were told areas with the highest number of thefts will be prioritized.

They have since outfitted every kiosk with a QR code, allowing residents to make immediate theft reports.

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease, so the more reports we have of mail theft, the more attention it will get,” Carr said.

While Lowry waits for locks to be upgraded, investigators say another crime happened: A mail carrier was robbed and a “piece of USPS property” was stolen. The USPS is offering a reward of up to $150,000 for information.

“I don’t think that’s really going to address the problem,” Hagans said. “If these keys are out there, maybe it’s one person or maybe it’s many. They need to think about the integrity of the system.”

In response to questions from CBS Colorado, a USPS spokesperson sent the following statement:

“The Postal Service has been implementing a series of nationwide security enhancements, including the deployment of high-security collection boxes and upgraded cluster box units. These upgrades are part of a broader, multiyear initiative to reduce opportunities for mail theft and limit criminals’ ability to misuse stolen arrow keys.

To protect the integrity of these security measures, USPS does not disclose specific locations, quantities, timelines or operational criteria related to where or when upgrades occur. This includes information about how many boxes have been upgraded, how locations are selected or any thresholds related to theft activity. These safeguards are in place to prevent criminals from identifying vulnerabilities or targeting specific neighborhoods.

USPS continues to explore and pilot enhanced access control technologies, including electronic key systems. These efforts are ongoing, and details about deployment locations or timelines are not publicly released for security reasons.

USPS maintains strict internal controls for the issuance, tracking and use of arrow keys. While we cannot discuss specific numbers of keys or internal accountability procedures, we can assure you that USPS has reinforced policies and training to support proper key handling and reduce opportunities for misuse or theft. Any incident involving a stolen or misplaced key is immediately reported to USPIS for investigation, as applicable by USPIS and/or the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Karen Morfitt

Click here for updates on this story

    COLORADO (KCNC) — Despite efforts to deter them, thieves in Colorado are continuing to steal credit cards, checks, ballots and even prescription medication from mailboxes.

CBS Colorado has reported on the issue of mail theft several times over the past several years. More than a year ago, top officials within the U.S. Postal Inspection Service told CBS Colorado steps were being taken to address it, specifically upgrading locks across the Denver metro area.

“This is a problem right now, but it won’t be a forever problem,” Melissa Atkin told CBS Colorado investigative reporter Karen Morfitt in the fall of 2024.

The issue has persisted for some time after those assurances.

Investigators know where the thefts are happening and how they are happening, and they have the ability to stop it by changing locks. But USPS has said changing locks will be a long, expensive process.

“I don’t think we realized the magnitude of it initially,” said Karen Hagans.

Hagans has lived in Denver’s Lowry neighborhood for about 20 years. Recently, she said her mail began disappearing nearly every day.

“All of the boxes where they put packages were open. There was stuff thrown on the ground on the street, and you realized that if you didn’t go get your mail the minute it was delivered, you couldn’t trust that it was there,” Hagans said.

Frustrated by the pressure to beat thieves to her mail, Hagans rented a post office box, one of the only solutions offered by the USPS. But she said she then had trouble forwarding her mail and was mistakenly identified as having moved away.

“They called me and said, ‘We see that you moved. Do you want service at your new location?’ I said, ‘What do you mean I moved?’ Hagans said.

Her experience is not unique, nor is the Lowry neighborhood.

Federal court records show thieves with master keys have been targeting cluster mailboxes for years.

“It’s the same master key used throughout the Intermountain West,” said Mary Carr, executive director of the Lowry Community Master Association. “Some of Lowry’s mail was recovered in Wyoming and vice versa because the folks robbing the kiosks are moving up and down the I-25 corridor.”

Carr said the association is legally responsible for securing the mailboxes, but it has no control over the locks, which are USPS property.

“There’s no pattern to when they hit the boxes — at night, in the middle of the day — there’s no pattern to it,” Carr said. “We are at a loss.”

After making repeated phone calls, sending emails and visiting in person to local postal offices, Carr says their efforts to work with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service went nowhere. They then turned to lawmakers for help.

“There really isn’t anywhere to go except the Postal Inspection Service,” Carr said. “They committed to Congresswoman (Diana) DeGette’s office that they would be replacing the master key system with a scannable key.”

However, Carr said they have not received a timeline for those upgrades but were told areas with the highest number of thefts will be prioritized.

They have since outfitted every kiosk with a QR code, allowing residents to make immediate theft reports.

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease, so the more reports we have of mail theft, the more attention it will get,” Carr said.

While Lowry waits for locks to be upgraded, investigators say another crime happened: A mail carrier was robbed and a “piece of USPS property” was stolen. The USPS is offering a reward of up to $150,000 for information.

“I don’t think that’s really going to address the problem,” Hagans said. “If these keys are out there, maybe it’s one person or maybe it’s many. They need to think about the integrity of the system.”

In response to questions from CBS Colorado, a USPS spokesperson sent the following statement:

“The Postal Service has been implementing a series of nationwide security enhancements, including the deployment of high-security collection boxes and upgraded cluster box units. These upgrades are part of a broader, multiyear initiative to reduce opportunities for mail theft and limit criminals’ ability to misuse stolen arrow keys.

To protect the integrity of these security measures, USPS does not disclose specific locations, quantities, timelines or operational criteria related to where or when upgrades occur. This includes information about how many boxes have been upgraded, how locations are selected or any thresholds related to theft activity. These safeguards are in place to prevent criminals from identifying vulnerabilities or targeting specific neighborhoods.

USPS continues to explore and pilot enhanced access control technologies, including electronic key systems. These efforts are ongoing, and details about deployment locations or timelines are not publicly released for security reasons.

USPS maintains strict internal controls for the issuance, tracking and use of arrow keys. While we cannot discuss specific numbers of keys or internal accountability procedures, we can assure you that USPS has reinforced policies and training to support proper key handling and reduce opportunities for misuse or theft. Any incident involving a stolen or misplaced key is immediately reported to USPIS for investigation, as applicable by USPIS and/or the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By WABC Eyewitness News

Click here for updates on this story

    CHESTER, New Jersey (WABC) — As the snow piled up across New Jersey this weekend, one homeowner in Morris County decided to let a robot handle the cleanup while he stayed warm inside.

Now the video of his autonomous snow blower is going viral and racking up millions of views.

Tom Moloughney said skeptics weren’t hard to find — especially given the size of his driveway.

“I have a big driveway over 6,000 square feet, over 300 feet long up an incline,” Moloughney said. “So this is a challenging driveway. If it could do this driveway, it can do most driveways, I think.”

Instead of firing up a traditional snow blower this weekend, Moloughney, of Chester, New Jersey, put an autonomous one to the test.

But he says it didn’t come easy.

“It takes a while to set them up, I’ll tell you right now, this isn’t for people that just want to buy something, take it out of a box and use it,” he said. “I have probably 30 hours invested in assembling, programing it, walking it around my driveway. Because you have to settle the perimeters. You have to set the angle that the shoots are going to throw the snow. It’s actually a lot of setup, but there’s a big reward waiting for you at the end of that set up because it actually works.”

Once programmed, the machine works on its own, starting when the snow does.

“So you turn it on when it starts snowing and you just let it run continuously,” Moloughney said.

It ran through the night and returned to its charging dock as needed.

“I had it running all night, and when I woke up this morning, my driveway is done,” Moloughney said.

Moloughney says this is a glimpse of how technology is changing everyday chores.

“That’s how robotics and AI helps us live better lives,” he said. “Who wants to be outside clearing your driveway?”

And he believes this is just the beginning.

“This is first gen and like any tech, you know, it only gets bigger, better and less expensive as time goes on,” Moloughney said. “So I 100% can see these things eventually being used at municipalities much larger scale than what mine is.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Ryan Dickstein

Click here for updates on this story

    ELKTON, Maryland (WMAR) — An all-out community effort saved the day for one family-owned business in Elkton.

Just before 7am Monday Hannimal Farm put out a social media post stating their barn had collapsed, leaving a pregnant cow trapped inside.

With resources limited due to Sunday’s snow storm, Hannimal pleaded for help.

By 9am some reinforcements came to the rescue.

“Thank you to everyone that came out so quickly to help. Without your help, I don’t know what we would have done,” Hannimal said on Facebook. “Shout out to Patrick Campbell and the rest of the emergency services crew, Banks Lawn Service, and everyone else.”

While all animals got out alive, one cow was injured.

According to the farm’s latest Facebook post, the cow, Miss Mignon, is pregnant and a vet came out to induce labor, as she is due any day now. For her safety, they decided not to transport her to limit stress to her and the baby.

Hannimal Farm is now working to rebuild the barn roof. They are accepting donations, which can be made through their Venmo, @hannimalfarm, or Cash App, $hannimalfarm.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.