An 8th-grade Colorado Jewish student was called a ‘stupid k***’ while being strangled by a laptop charging cord, in one of many antisemitic assaults by other students described in a Title VI complaint to Boulder Valley Public School District.
Colorado
After a week of destructive Colorado wildfires, crews make progress toward containment
Firefighters battling three wildfires along Colorado’s Front Range continued to make significant gains in containment Sunday as more mandatory evacuation orders were lifted across Larimer, Boulder and Jefferson counties.
The Alexander Mountain, Stone Canyon and Quarry fires have burned nearly 12,000 acres, forced thousands of people to evacuate, damaged or destroyed 51 structures and killed one person over the last week.
But fire officials on Sunday spoke optimistically about firefighting efforts and the days ahead.
The Stone Canyon fire burning north of Lyons reached 100% containment Sunday night and Boulder County officials lifted all evacuation orders for people living near the 1,557-acre blaze.
The fire, which killed one person and destroyed five homes since it started burning Tuesday, is being investigated as arson.
Containment on the 472-acre Quarry fire burning near Deer Creek Canyon increased to 35% on Sunday, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Mark Techmeyer said at an afternoon briefing.
The fire, which forced nearly 600 homes to evacuate after it started burning late Tuesday night, has not destroyed any structures.
Fire crews are focused on proactive burning along the fire’s western edge to increase containment, Techmeyer said. There will be planned power outages in the mandatory evacuation area Monday as part of that effort.
Scattered showers on Sunday did not make an impact on the fire but provided a much-needed morale boost for the 190 firefighters on the ground, Techmeyer said. Most of the personnel on the fire are volunteers, he said.
“We’re really happy (with) where we are,” Techmeyer said. “It was a whole different situation on Wednesday and Thursday. Everything has worked out in our favor, and we’re going to get this thing done.”
Techmeyer did not release any additional details about the arson investigation.
“There’s nothing I can share, but we’re working on it,” he said. “We want this person as bad as everyone.”
Jefferson County officials hope the remaining mandatory evacuations will be lifted in the next few days, Techmeyer said.
More than 500 firefighters battling the Alexander Mountain fire 10 miles west of Loveland gained 54% containment on the 9,668-acre fire as of Sunday afternoon, county and federal officials said in a briefing.
Damage assessment teams finished surveying burned areas this weekend and found 26 homes and 21 outbuildings destroyed, Larimer County Sheriff John Feyen said at the briefing. Four homes sustained minor damage in the fire.
It’s possible more structures were damaged or destroyed that county officials don’t know about yet, Feyen said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Investigative teams this weekend found signs of human activity and multiple lightning strikes where the fire started, Feyen said.
Larimer County officials lifted more mandatory evacuation orders Sunday morning and will meet with people at evacuation centers to verify addresses and distribute credentials so residents can return to their neighborhoods this week.
U.S. 34 will likely remain closed for another week so utility crews can repair infrastructure, Feyen said.
More than 1,000 contacts are still on mandatory evacuation status, Feyen said. Households often have multiple contacts.
The Alexander Mountain fire is contained on the eastern and southern edges, and fire officials attributed the containment gains to good decisions by fire crews and an influx in resources.
“We asked for the resources, it took them a little while to get there but because of the threat, because of the values around this fire, we were able to get what we needed,” said Southwest Area 1 Incident Commander Carl Schwope.
“Right now we’re at a good place for resources and that’s why you see the progress that you see, a lot of good folks doing a lot of hard work,” he added.
Some resources will likely start being released to respond to more critical fires in the coming days, Schwope said.
Crews fighting wildfires on Colorado’s Western Slope also saw containment gains this weekend, with the 193-acre Currant Creek fire burning near Cedaredge and the Grand Mesa in Delta County fully contained on Saturday.
The Bucktail fire burning across 3,515 acres northeast of Nucla in Montrose County was 5% contained as of Sunday afternoon, according to fire officials.
No structures are threatened and no evacuations are in effect, though the fire has shown “very high spread potential and is exhibiting active to extreme fire behavior,” fire officials said in an update.
The ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) has filed a federal civil rights complaint with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, alleging that Jewish Student A was subjected to repeated antisemitic bullying, slurs, and physical assault by multiple fellow students at Southern Hills Middle School (SHMS) throughout 7th and 8th grade.
In one incident, students in Student A’s PE class attempted to play a game called “Jew touch tag” and said Jews were “dirty” and “contaminated.”
In another, in December 2025, a classmate reportedly fashioned a Chromebook charging cord into a lasso, threw it around the student’s neck and dragged him backward from a chair while calling him a “stupid k***.” This was deemed severe enough that the Boulder Police Department was called in to investigate.
Following this particular incident, the Boulder Police Department opened a Juvenile Court Referral for third-degree assault.
ADL says no meaningful action taken by school district over assault
As a result of these incidents, Student A no longer wears a Star of David necklace and does not share his religious identity with anyone.
ADL and the family allege that the school took no meaningful action despite being informed of the situation on multiple occasions. For example, the complaint says the school failed to enforce the no-contact order between Student A and the classmate involved in the Chromebook assault.
The complaint also says that the burden was consistently placed on the victim, such as reassigning his study hall class rather than restricting the aggressor, forcing him to miss a school trip, and asking him to leave class early to avoid crowded hallways.
“The record here is overwhelming: written pleas from the student’s parents, formal school reports, and a police investigation all point to the conclusion that antisemitic harassment at Southern Hills Middle School was pervasive, escalating, and severe,” said James Pasch, ADL Vice President of Litigation.
“Despite the family’s pleas for help to stop the harassment, the school district failed to effectively address it, a clear violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. No family should have to fight this hard to ensure a Jewish child’s safety at school, and certainly no Jewish student should face the threat of assault or harassment because of their Jewish identity.”
Susan Rona, ADL Mountain States Regional Director, noted that 167 antisemitic incidents were recorded in Colorado in 2025, a “stark reminder that antisemitism is not something abstract – it is showing up in our communities, in our neighborhoods and even in our schools.”
ADL is requesting that the US Department of Education require the district to take steps to comply with Title VI and ensure that this student and all Jewish students feel safe and protected.
Boulder Valley School District said that while it does not comment on ongoing legal matters, “we take all allegations of discrimination and harassment seriously.”
“We continue to focus on improvements to our policies, reporting systems, practices, and education efforts – all with the goal of ensuring every BVSD student feels safe, welcomed, and a strong sense of belonging.”
When you walk inside the Conoco station at the corner of University Boulevard and Bonnie Brae Boulevard in Denver, you can’t help but notice the history on the walls.
“Here’s the 40s. The 50s and my dad and uncle in the 70s,” says owner Ken Wilson pointing to the pictures on the wall.
Ken is the third generation of the Wilson family to own the gas station and service center.
“Grandpa Ken started to lease this out in 1942. My dad bought the business from my grandpa and my uncle worked his whole career here for my dad and for me,” Ken recalls.
In all, the Wilson family has owned the Conoco station for more than 80 years.
“I started working here in 1978 when I was 12, just part time in the summers. I worked through high school and through college and then did my own thing, and I’ve been back here about 15 years,” said Ken.
“It means so much to our family. It’s been a great business.”
But Ken is the end of the road for the Wilson family ownership. In February, a for sale sign went up at the Bonnie Brae Conoco.
“We’re just looking now. We’re not in a rush. It’s not like we’re going to sell and be done this year. We’re going to get a price we want to get, and if it takes us years to do that’s okay,” he said.
Wilson has seen a lot of change during his time working at the station and service center.
“There aren’t a lot of garages anymore. They used to be everywhere. There were four of them on this block when I was a kid, he said.
When asked what he’ll miss most, Ken points to his relationship with his customers.
“I’ve had customers now where I actually waited on their grandparents. And then their parents. And now them.”
As for what his grandpa would say if he could see the place now, Ken says, “I think he’d say he was really proud of what we’ve done. Both my father, my uncle and myself. Hopefully he’s still hanging around here once in a while.”
The Colorado Buffaloes are still putting the finishing touches on their 2027 class over the next few months, but their 2028 recruiting plan continues to take shape.
Earlier this week, Deion Sanders’ staff extended an offer to one of the top prospects in the class of 2028, composite five-star wide receiver Jaylen Addai. Addai now holds 43 offers, including one from nearly every blue-blood program in the country.
247Sports’ Composite currently ranks Addai as the No. 12 overall prospect in the 2028 class, the No. 3 overall wide receiver and the top player from the state of Texas.
At 5-foot-11, 165 pounds, the Pearland, Texas native fits the mold of the modern-day receiver. He seems likely to fill into his frame given his youth. Addai is a multiple-sport athlete with elite athleticism on the field, on the basketball court and on the track.
Given how early it is in Addai’s recruitment, several teams are in contention for his commitment, with Notre Dame and Ohio State leading the way early. When the 2028 cycle picks up later this year, who really has a chance should come into focus, especially when visits begin.
Colorado’s 2028 class does not have any commitments yet, but has offers out to 28 different wide receiver prospects.
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