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Sunrise | Can’t we just pipe water in from the east side to fix the Colorado River?

Posted on by darion

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Good morning! I’d say “Happy Tuesday,” but when one of the biggest smiles in Denver sports history disappears too quickly, it doesn’t seem very happy.

Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo (yes, those are all his names) was a 7-foot-2-inch shot-blocking, community-building fire who became one of the Denver Nuggets’ superstars in the 1990s. Aside from the incredible achievement of leading the eighth-seeded Nuggets over the No. 1 Seattle Supersonics in the 1994 playoffs, Mutombo was a truly larger-than-life personality, with his famous finger-wagging and press bon mots (“Man Can’t Fly in the House of Mutombo ” etc.), helping to put Denver back on the basketball map.

Because of this, he was practically a folk hero to all the kids in my neighborhood growing up in Yuma, especially after one of the friends down the street hung the famous (to every sports fan in Colorado) life-size promotional poster that towered over us.

A life-size promotional poster of Dikembe Mutombo, which was a familiar sight in the bedrooms of Colorado basketball fans in the 1990s. (via eBay)

I could go on and on about his charitable work, the generosity he shared with the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and countless other good deeds, but suffice it to say, he left bigger shoes to fill than just size 22 Nike.

We’ve got a packed bulletin, so let’s lace up our shoes and hit the court, shall we?

Phoenix, Los Angeles, Denver and Salt Lake City wouldn’t look like they do today if it weren’t for giant water transportation systems like this pipe that’s part of the Central Arizona Project. Experts say that all possible water pipelines have already been built, and the system of bringing water from the east is too difficult to be worth building. (Courtesy of the Central Arizona Project)

The West doesn’t have enough water. The East has plenty of it. The solution seems simple, right? But like KUNC Alex Hager as he reports in the third story in our water myths series, it won’t happen for three reasons – politics, engineering and money.

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This collarless gray wolf is believed to be the fifth pup from the Copper Creek pack. (Provided by CPW)

As paperwork was filed in connection with a formal petition to delay the introduction of more wolves to Colorado, Colorado Parks and Wildlife conducted an operation to capture an uncollared gray wolf pup – believed to be the fifth member of the Copper Creek pack previously relocated due to livestock deaths. Jennifer Brown has more.

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Kroger will open a new King Soopers store at U.S. 287 and Arapahoe Road in Erie, across the street from the Safeway store, which is one of 91 Colorado stores that will be sold if the Kroger-Albertsons merger passes antitrust tests. (Doug Conarroe, “The Colorado Sun”)

While an FTC lawsuit seeking to block the proposed merger of Kroger (owner of King Soopers and City Market) with Albertsons (owner of Safeway) is ongoing, the Colorado attorney general’s antitrust lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court in Denver. Tamara Chuang includes all the highlights from day one, including Kroger’s argument that they face more competition from Amazon and Walmart than from each other.

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Elizabeth Montoya’s 12-year-old son, Timmy, died after running away from Tennyson Center for Children and being hit by a car. (Anna Hewson, 9News)

After two years of work, a state task force investigating the issue of children in foster care running away from home concluded that the lack of basic, extractable data on such runaways made it difficult to conduct “any meaningful analysis.” Jennifer Brown has more from recommendations.

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Sunset over the Indian Creek area at Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, August 14, 2016. (Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management under CC license)

Before dozens of law students in a courtroom, Wittemyer at the University of Colorado School of Law in Boulder, Utah, continued her fight to limit the president’s power to change the size of national monuments under the 1906 Monuments Act. And how Tracy Ross reports the results of this fight could impact newly designated national monuments in Colorado.

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Demonstrators march on the 16th Street Mall in Denver on June 24, 2022, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)

Continuing our series of guides to this year’s general election, we bring you stories about statewide efforts to block abortion access and pressure from animal activists to remove Denver’s last slaughterhouse and prevent new ones from opening.

What do you want candidates to talk about in the 2024 elections as they compete for your vote? Our survey is still open. Tell us what you think!

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Most of the author Dave Jilk “The Age” appears in the form of an epic poem, but this piece of prose offers a glimpse into one aspect of the imagined post-AI world, the “pastoral” part of humanity where progress is frowned upon. It also reveals how dominant AI forces deal with human outliers within this anti-intellectual template.

READ THE EXCERPT

You’ve made it this far in the newsletter, so here’s a little secret bonus: The Colorado Sun has new mugs! This time they are light enameled steel mugs that will be a perfect addition to your camping equipment or kitchen cabinets. We have limited quantities, so get them while they’re hot!

Have a nice day and see you tomorrow.

— Eric and the whole team at The Sun

Have you noticed something is wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical obligation to correct all factual errors. Request a correction by sending an email to [email protected].

Story type: News

Based on facts observed and verified directly by the reporting person or reported and verified from competent sources.