West
Columbine shooting victims to be honored at 25th anniversary vigil in Denver
- A vigil will be held on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting to remember the 12 students and one teacher who were killed.
- The vigil will be the main public event commemorating the anniversary.
- Nathan Hochhalter, whose sister was paralyzed in the shooting, is expected to speak at the vigil.
The 12 students and one teacher killed in the Columbine High School shooting will be remembered Friday at a Colorado vigil on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the tragedy.
The gathering, set up by gun safety and other organizations, is the main public event marking the anniversary, which is more subdued than in previous milestone years.
Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who began campaigning for gun safety after she was nearly killed in a mass shooting, will be among those speaking at the vigil. So will Nathan Hochhalter, whose sister Anne Marie was paralyzed after she was shot at Columbine. Several months after the shooting, their mother, Carla Hochhalter, took her own life.
SCHOOL SHOOTING PROTOCOLS CHANGED AFTER COLUMBINE TO AN ‘EVERY SECOND COUNTS’ APPROACH: EXPERTS
The organizers of the vigil, which will also honor all those impacted by the shooting, include Colorado Ceasefire, Brady United Against Gun Violence and Colorado Faith Communities United Against Gun Violence, but they say it will not be a political event.
People visit the Columbine Memorial, April 17, 2024, in Littleton, Colorado. The 12 students and a teacher killed in the Columbine High School shooting will be honored on April 19, 2024, in a vigil on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the tragedy. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
Tom Mauser, whose son Daniel, a sophomore who excelled in math and science, was killed at Columbine, decided to set up the vigil after learning school officials did not plan to organize a large community event as they did on the 20th anniversary. Mauser, who became a gun safety advocate after the shooting, said he realizes that it takes a lot of volunteers and money to put together that kind of event but he wanted to give people a chance to gather and mark the passage of 25 years since the shooting, a significant number people can relate to.
“For those who do want to reflect on it, it is something for them,” said Mauser, who is on Colorado Ceasefire’s board and asked the group to help organize the event at a church near the state Capitol in Denver. It had been scheduled to be held on the steps of the Capitol but was moved indoors because of expected rain.
COLUMBINE SURVIVOR WARNS CRUMBLEY PARENTS’ SENTENCING SETS ‘DANGEROUS PRECEDENT’: ‘HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING’
Mauser successfully led the campaign to pass a ballot measure requiring background checks for all firearm buyers at gun shows in 2000 after Colorado’s legislature failed to change the law. It was designed to close a loophole that helped a friend of the Columbine gunmen obtain three of the four firearms used in the attack.
A proposal requiring such checks nationally, inspired by Columbine, failed in Congress in 1999 after passing the Senate but dying in the House, said Robert Spitzer, professor emeritus at the State University of New York-Cortland and author of several books on gun politics.
Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore ran on a gun safety agenda against Republican George W. Bush the following year, but after his stance was mistakenly seen as a major reason for his defeat, Democrats largely abandoned the issue for the following decade, Spitzer said. But gun safety became a more prominent political issue again after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, he said.
Without much action nationally on guns, Democrat-led and Republican-controlled states have taken divergent approaches to responding to mass shootings.
Those killed at Columbine included Dave Sanders, a teacher who was shot as he shepherded students to safety during the attack. He lay bleeding in a classroom for almost four hours before authorities reached him. The students killed included one who wanted to be a music executive like his father, a senior and captain of the girls’ varsity volleyball team, and a teen who enjoyed driving off-road in his beat-up Chevy pickup.
Sam Cole, another Colorado Ceasefire board member, said he hopes people will come out to remember the victims and not let the memory of them fade. The students killed would now be adults in the prime of their lives with families of their own, he said.
“It’s just sad to think that they are always going to be etched in our mind as teenagers,” he said.
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San Francisco, CA
Oakland, California, airport can use ‘San Francisco’ in name after settlement
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco has settled a two-year legal fight with its neighbor across the bay that will allow the city of Oakland to include “San Francisco” in its airport’s name if it doesn’t highlight the two words in any way.
The settlement announced Tuesday allows Oakland’s airport to be called “Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport,” but it bars the city from spotlighting “San Francisco” or “San Francisco Bay” in fonts, highlights, different colors or any other way. It also requires Oakland to use the word “bay” right after “San Francisco” and bans it from using the word “International” in the airport’s name, even though it provides international flights.
The spat began in 2024 after Oakland, a diverse port city often seen as the underdog in the Bay Area compared to its richer neighbor to the west, changed its airport’s name to “San Francisco-Oakland Bay Airport,” prompting San Francisco officials to sue over what they said was a trademark violation.
The two airports are across from each other on the San Francisco Bay and about 30 miles (48.28 kilometers) driving distance.
Oakland officials said the name modification was necessary to help travelers unfamiliar with the region place the city in the Bay Area. They said visitors often fly into San Francisco’s airport even if their destination is closer to the Oakland airport. The airport’s three-letter code OAK did not change.
“We’re proud Oakland fought for, and preserved the right to retain our airport’s full name that puts Oakland first and recognizes OAK’s location on the San Francisco Bay,” Mary Richardson, attorney for the Port of Oakland, which manages the airport, said in a statement.
San Francisco argued having “San Francisco” in Oakland’s airport name would confuse travelers, especially those flying in from abroad and those unfamiliar with the Bay Area. But on Tuesday, San Francisco officials had a friendlier tone.
“We are grateful to have reached a resolution in this matter,” San Francisco International Airport Director Mike Nakornkhet said. “This agreement provides clarity for travelers to make informed decisions about travel through our respective airports.”
Neither side admitted liability, and there was no monetary settlement.
San Francisco International Airport, known as SFO, is owned by the city, though technically located south of it.
Denver, CO
Re/Max to be sold, headquarters to leave Denver
Re/Max Holdings, the residential real estate firm that has been based in Denver since its 1973 founding, has agreed to be sold.
The Real Brokerage, a publicly traded firm based in Miami, Florida, has agreed to pay $13.80 per share for Re/Max, whose headquarters is at 5075 S. Syracuse St. in the Denver Tech Center.
“The acquisition brings together two complementary business models, uniting Real’s AI-powered, high-growth brokerage platform, proprietary software and vibrant agent community with REMAX’s iconic real estate brand and expansive global franchise network with a presence in more than 120 countries and territories and more than 145,000 agents,” the companies said.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year.
The combined company will have 180,000 agents, the companies said. It will be headquartered in Miami, although a joint news release says “significant operations” will remain in Denver.
Shareholders of Re/Max, a real estate brokerage franchisor, will have the option of being paid in cash or receiving 5.15 shares of the combined public company, which will be known as Real ReMax group.
With 20.1 million outstanding shares of Re/Max stock, the $13.80 figure values the company at about $278 million.
In the joint news release, the firms said the deal values Re/Max at $880 million, a figure that includes debt. When the deal closes, the companies said, Real shareholders are expected to own about 59% of the combined company, with Re/Max shareholders owning the remainder.
Tamir Poleg, who leads Real, will serve as CEO of the combined company.
Shares of Re/Max stock closed Friday at $7.99, up 8% year to date but down about 90% from a peak of $67.20 in October 2017.
On Monday, Re/Max shares spiked 24% but only reached $9.94 — well below the $13.80 figure. That suggests some doubt among investors that the deal will come to fruition.
Real Brokerage investors didn’t cheer the announcement. Its shares fell 24% Monday.
Re/Max was founded in 1973 by Dave and Gail Liniger. The company has been led since 2023 by CEO Erik Carlson. At the end of 2025, it had 519 employees, about half of them in the Denver area.
The company had revenue of $291.6 million last year, down from $307 million in 2024, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Re/Max has been headquartered on South Syracuse Street in Denver since 2008. The building is owned by Denver-based Kore Investments, which paid $115.2 million in 2018 for the 12-story, 242,000-square-foot structure. At the time, Re/Max leased the entire building, although it subleased multiple floors.
In 2021, Re/Max executives told BusinessDen that the company, which then had about 600 employees, was decreasing the number of floors the company used from nine to five.
Re/Max didn’t respond to a request for comment. The company’s Denver lease is up in about 18 months, a source told BusinessDen. Before Monday’s announcement, the company hired a broker to scout other local office options, with an eye on 75,000 square feet, the source said.
If the deal closes, Re/Max would be the second public company headquarters that Denver has lost so far this year. The first was Palantir, which abruptly moved its headquarters to Florida in February.
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Seattle, WA
Seattle’s drug diversion plan falters as open-air use persists in neighborhood hotspots
SEATTLE — In neighborhoods like Little Saigon, near 12th and Jackson, the drug crisis is hard to miss.
Crowds gather on sidewalks, some openly using drugs while others sell stolen goods. The area has become one of Seattle’s most visible hotspots for crime, disorder, and overdose response.
RELATED | Seattle rolls out diversion program for misdemeanor drug cases
Seattle’s drug ordinance was meant to address scenes like this. It requires police to focus on diversion, not jail, for people caught using or possessing drugs.
On Tuesday, the Seattle City Council’s Public Safety Committee received a presentation on the effectiveness of the drug law and the diversion programs officers can make referrals to instead of jail.
Under department policy, officers are encouraged to refer people to treatment or services whenever possible. Arrest is supposed to be a last resort. And programs like LEAD, or Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, are available 24/7 to divert people before they ever reach jail.
Research presented during the public safety presentation shows diversion can work. Independent studies found LEAD reduced repeat offenses by nearly 60%, cut felony charges, and significantly increased housing and employment outcomes.
However, the reality on the ground looks significantly different.
SEE ALSO | Belltown residents report rampant drug activity despite new SODA law
Open drug use remains a common sight in some of Seattle’s hardest-hit neighborhoods, even as the city’s drug law was designed to prioritize treatment over jail.
From 2024 to 2025, pre-arrest diversion dropped by 41%, and LEAD diversions overall fell by 30%. At the same time, arrests increased by 47%.
Funding cuts to LEAD in recent years had an impact on reducing its capacity, though that funding has since been stabilized.
During the meeting, Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes said diversion is still a key part of the solution, but not the only one. Barnes said officers need clearer standards for when to act, especially as the public grows frustrated seeing illegal drug use happening openly, sometimes right in front of police.
Current policy includes a broad checklist of factors before making an arrest, from a person’s behavior to their location near schools, parks, or transit. That complexity can lead to inaction.
SEE ALSO | Evaluating Seattle’s efforts against open-air drug use presents progress and challenges
Barnes also pointed to operational realities, including staffing challenges and limited diversion capacity, as factors affecting how the law is being enforced.
Meanwhile, illegal street sales continue to fuel the crisis, creating environments where drug use, theft, and violence intersect.
During public testimony at the start of the meeting, some community members said what’s needed is a more balanced approach, one that enforces clear public behavior standards while expanding access to treatment and outreach.
Without that, the system risks leaving neighborhoods unsafe while also not providing the help needed by people living with addiction.
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