GRANITE, Colo. (KKTV) -A recent federal court ruling could increase the cost of rafting on the Arkansas River. Colorado river outfitters, including Arkansas Valley Adventures, have lost their legal fight to avoid paying state-mandated minimum wages to their raft guides.

The decision, handed down on April 30 by the federal court, upheld a $15 per hour minimum wage, following an appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year.

The outfitters argued that the wage increase would escalate their operating costs, potentially leading to higher prices for customers and fewer available trips. The government contends that higher wages will boost worker productivity and improve service quality.

“You know, we’re going to pay you twice as much but guess what, we don’t have any work. It wouldn’t help us. We didn’t want that. We wanted an exemption. We wanted to understand our situation, and that just didn’t happen,” said Arkansas Valley Adventures owner Duke Bradford.

For those planning to go water rafting, expect some changes. Increased labor costs may lead outfitters to raise their rates, and some may reduce the number of trips offered, affecting the availability of rafting adventures.

“We work very hard to pay our staff as best we can. And I think you know, when you work closely with people you want that right. This isn’t about that, but we also don’t want to lose the ability to do overnights because the federal government, the Department of Labor, steps in and mandates a rule that would do away with that,” said Bradford.

The state’s rafting outfitters association Executive Director David Costlow says the need for Congress to legislate rather than leaving it to government agencies and affirmed their intention to continue the legal battle.

Click here to read the court’s decision.

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Families caring for loved ones with memory loss know they can often wander. The Aurora Police Department says at-risk missing person cases come through almost daily. A grant received by APD has allowed them to give out free safety devices to residents caring for someone who needs special attention.

The device is called AngelSense. The GPS tracking system helps families and law enforcement find adults and children living with Alzheimer’s disease, Down syndrome, autism and other related disorders.

It’s a small, fob-style device worn by at-risk individuals that notifies loved ones of their location through GPS. When they get lost, the trackers use receivers to locate the signal and find them. It provides a detailed timeline of their day and sends proactive alerts to the caretaker’s phone.

Det. Virgil Majors with Aurora Police SVU has been delivering them to families and showing them how to use it.

“The caregiver also has the ability to send the police department their live location when they can’t retrieve their loved one themselves. It’ll cut down on resources that we use, and it’ll cut down on the time they’re away from the caregiver as well,” said Majors. “Without this device, they’re hard to track down.”

He says missing at-risk individuals are often non-verbal, or can’t remember their address, phone number or name. Personal information is registered to the device that allows police to identify them if found.

“When we get that alert, we know exactly who they are, we know what they’re diagnosed with, how to approach them, and how to best help them,” explained Majors.

Majors brought one to Elizabeth Johnson last week. Her 2-year-old son has autism.

“He’s ran away from me in the grocery store, and I couldn’t find him. That was really scary,” said Johnson. “It gives me so much more confidence in being able to locate him and knowing that he’s okay. I’m actually able to find him without screaming his name.”

While CBS Colorado was speaking with Majors about the device, APD received an alert about a missing man with Alzheimer’s disease. Richard was eventually found several miles from his home, about a four hour walk away. His daughter, Allison, was relieved he made it back safely.

“Sometimes you don’t have happy endings in cases like this,” said Allison. “It’s very scary. If he can’t communicate where he lives or what his phone number is, he can’t get in contact with us.”

APD delivered an AngelSense device to their home and showed his family how to use it.

“I’m just grateful to all the police officers and everybody that was involved and helped find my father today. I’m eternally grateful for this device,” said Allison. “He will not go that far again.”

APD still has several AngelSense devices available to give out. The grant also covers a 3 month subscription for the cellular service it requires, and they’re working to get more funding to extend that free coverage.

Caretakers interested in a device must live in Aurora and fill out an application to make sure their loved one is eligible.

For more information contact Aurora SVU at 303-739-6229.