 Good evening. I'm Herman Hansen, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. And I'm Aranda Lerarar, and this is Puppet News. These are This Week's Stories. A 95-year-old Colorado man accused of shooting and killing a maintenance worker at his assisted living center told police he was tired of staffers stealing money from him and decided to shoot the man to make the theft stop, according to a court document released Thursday. Oki Payne was arrested in his room at Legacy Assisted Living in Lafayette, 22 miles north of Denver on Wednesday. Investigators say he shot Ricardo Medea Rojas after confronting him about $200 he said was missing from his wallet. Medea Rojas, who Payne said mumbled something before he shot him once in the head, was taken to the hospital and died later in the day. An arrest affidavit from police says Payne said he confronted another man about the money he noticed was missing from his wallet on Monday, but that man, whose name was redacted from the report, did not reply to him. On Wednesday, Payne told investigators that he was sitting in the center's lobby watching people and thinking about how to get attention and stop the thefts when he saw Medea Rojas arriving for work and decided he would shoot him. He also told investigators that he should have waited to talk to another man whose name was redacted and shot him instead. Still, he said he is glad the thievery will stop. Payne was being held on suspicion of first-degree murder as well as menacing for allegedly waving his handgun at two people who tried to help the victim after he was shot. It's not known if he has a lawyer yet. He is due to make his first court appearance Friday. Fuller County supports most of the proposed COVID-19 dialed dashboard changes suggested by Governor Jared Polis. However, there remain some areas of concern. Polis, in a call on Saturday, introduced the proposed changes to mayors, city managers, county commissioners, and local public health agencies seeking feedback. The dial currently features six color-coded levels based on the rate of new COVID infections, test positivity rate, and the rate of new hospitalizations in a given county. Fuller County is currently at orange on the dial, two steps down from the most restrictive purple extreme risk level, and three steps up from the least restrictive green protect our neighbor status. The proposed changes to the dial include raising the case rate threshold that would force a county to implement mitigation measures such as curfews or move to a more restrictive level dial. The change would mean many counties would move to less restrictive levels. For example, the incident rate for the yellow level, a step down from orange would change from 100 to 175 new cases per 100,000 people over two weeks to 100 to 300 new cases per 100,000 people over one week. Boulder County as of Monday reported 282.4 new cases over the past 14 days, according to Boulder County public health data. A move to yellow would allow restaurants, gyms, and fitness centers, personal service businesses, offices, indoor and outdoor event venues, and non-critical manufacturers to operate at 50% capacity instead of the 25% cap imposed at the orange level. Measuring the rate of new cases every week instead of every two weeks. So the state can move more quickly respond to local conditions requiring a lower test positivity rate for the yellow and orange levels, which means some counties might have to increase testing before they can qualify for a new less restrictive level. Boulder County as of Monday had a 14 day positivity rate of 3.5%, which places it the least restrictive green level on the current dial, adding special consideration for counties with fewer than 20,000 people since just a few new cases could increase their incident rate enough to change the status on the dial. Jeff Zajak, executive director of Boulder County Public Health and the weekly COVID community update said the county supports most of the proposed changes. However, he said he is concerned about how the changes could impact the way local school districts operate, as well as populations most at risk for the virus. He also said the county is seeking clarification on how hospital metrics such as sufficient staffing, number of transfers and whether COVID cases exceed capacity. Zajak said he does believe the change from a 14-day incident period to a 7-day period will be a positive for the county. Polis in an interview with Colorado Newsline said that he is hopeful the new dial system really takes into account a lot of actual data from the last few weeks and months. He hopes that this hits a little closer to the mark and he is looking forward to continuing to work to keep Colorado safe while keeping our economy open. Zajak said residents can expect more changes to the dial in the months in front of us as more vaccines are distributed. A New Mexico Teachers' Union is opposing legislation that would extend the school year to make up for learning that was lost during the coronavirus pandemic. Children are facing unprecedented setbacks amid online instruction and court rulings are pressuring state leaders to improve student outcomes, which were some of the worst in the nation even before the virus hit. This is one way to help those students gain back what they've lost and move ahead academically in the future, said Senator Mimi Stewart and Albuquerque Democrat and retired teacher who sponsored the bill. It's money that we have. It's two evidence-based programs that are already being used all over the state. Those programs offer state funding to extend elementary school calendars by 25 days and upper grades by 10 days. Teachers who normally unpaid during summer months effectively get a 6-14% raise when they participate. Union leaders and lawmakers like Stewart agree that extended learning is good for students, citing several studies that have documented 20% improvements in academic performance, but only a third of school districts participated in the programs in the 2019 through 2020 school year. During the pandemic, participation fell even further among elementary school programs, leaving over $100 million allocated by the legislature unused. School officials say teachers often don't want to work the extra days and cite staffing as the primary challenge to offering the extended learning. Mandating the program would restrict teachers' summer vacations too much according to New Mexico Leaders for the National Education Association, the union representing teachers from the largest number of districts in the state. The union is organizing members to lobby against the bill. Teachers need a break. Our districts are going to work until mid-June. They would have two weeks off and then we'd have to start K-plus, NEA Bernalillo president Jennifer Trujillo said, referring to the elementary age extended learning program. If teachers aren't happy and supported and have everything at their fingertips, they're not going to be successful. Trujillo says she welcomed a portion of Stuart's bill that allows districts to decide when to add the extra days, including in the spring or summer 2022. Other union officials say the extended learning requirements could hurt teacher retention, especially among those who aren't tied to New Mexico. For some of these communities that depend on teachers from other countries like, we also have teachers from the Philippines, right, that are just dying to go back to their country to spend a summer, NEA New Mexico spokesman Steve Sianes said. Stuart said she is working some additional flexibility into the legislation after hearing from superintendents and teachers, but that the state will still need educators to participate. The senator said she understands how they feel. A trio of Boulder County area legislators were asked by city officials Wednesday night to back a proposal for a 191 mile long passenger rail system between Fort Collins and Pueblo that would serve Longmont residents. The rail line would mimic the Northwest Rail line between Boulder and Longmont, long promised under the regional transportation districts 2004 fast tracks plan. But cost overruns have pushed the completion of the Northwest Rail to 2050. The new CEO and general manager of RTD Deborah Johnson recently drew fire from city officials, as well as from Governor Jared Polis for saying the Northwest Rail line may never be completed. During a video meeting with state Senator Sonia Jacous, Lewis and state reps Tracy Burnett and Karen McCormick, city leaders asked the lawmakers to support an alignment proposed by the Front Range passenger rail commission that would make stops in Longmont. I think this new alignment would provide the best chance to get passenger rail in Longmont, said Phil Greenwald, Longmont's transportation planning manager. He told lawmakers Longmont taxpayers have paid five million a year for the fast tracks plan. We feel we want to get something out of the cost, he said. A letter asking for legislators support was sent to them after Wednesday's session. The lawmakers accepted the letter without comment. The letter signed by Mayor Brian Bagley states in part through the work of the Front Range passenger rail commission to date. The Colorado Front Range communities are beginning to envision a future where commuter passenger rail can be a reality in the next five to 10 years rather than 30 plus years. A draft report to the Railroad Commission states the first phase of the rail service could cost $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion. Officials say a key funding source could be Amtrak, the National Passenger Rail Service. The company is eyeing a national $25 billion modernization program to develop shorter passenger rail routes. The global consulting firm McKinsey & Company agreed to pay nearly $600 million in its role for advising businesses on how to sell more prescription opioid painkillers amid a nationwide overdose crisis. We deeply regret that we did not adequately acknowledge the tragic consequences of the epidemic unfolding in our communities. McKinsey Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader said in a statement Thursday, noting the company cooperated with investigations. With this agreement, we hope to be prior to the solution to the opioid crisis in the U.S. Most of the money is in a $573 million settlement reached with 47 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories. But the company said it had deals with a total of 49 states. Washington's Attorney General announced a separate $13.5 million deal, and West Virginia announced a $10 million settlement with the New York-based company. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrissey said the state went with their own lawsuit to avoid the potential of only receiving a measly settlement tied to the population of the state, one of the hardest hit by overdoses. He said he aimed to work with state lawmakers to direct the money toward addiction recovery. The only remaining state that has not announced a deal with the company is Nevada where the Attorney General's office said it is continuing an investigation of McKinsey and speaking with the company about its concerns. Most of the payments will come within the next two months under the multi-state agreement. The payments are earmarked for abating the raging overdose and addiction crisis that has deepened during the coronavirus pandemic. Opioids which include prescription drugs and illegal substances such as heroin and illicit fentanyl have been linked to more than 470,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000. Somewhere in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains of California, a coyote playfully bows to an American badger just before both duck into a culvert. Is that three animals? Clack! Does the duck count? Clack. How does one count a duck? Anyway, somewhere in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains of California, a coyote playfully bows to an American badger See, badger is also a verb, but coyote is not. We have two noun-verb words and only one that is just, you cannot coyote. Unless you're talking, maybe that's the act of taking human contraband across the southern border of the United States. Say coyote, some immigrants, and you duck from the badger who's been badgering the coyote for mistreating. Oh, I'm sorry, the director is getting testy. So all right, back to the story. Somewhere in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains of California, a coyote playfully bows to an American badger just before both duck into a culvert under a highway. The coyote casually trotting along with the badger, waddling close behind. Just to be clear, the duck was not, it's the coyote waddling, or the badger, not the duck waddling. That just, did you write this story? When the Peninsula Open Space Trust and Pathways for Wildlife shared a remote video of the crossing online in early February, it went viral. The video is part of the project to help wild animals move around safely in high-traffic, dangerous areas, something critical to maintaining populations genetic health. I greatly admire this work. However, what makes this particular crossing exceptional to me as a behavioral ecologist are the deeper implications of the video itself. Whose voice am I reading in right now? Was this an editorial piece? No. Oh. This is something that's got done. The thing that excites me, whoever me is, maybe it's a duck, maybe it's a coyote, maybe it's a virus. Is virus alive? Who knows? The thing that excites me, though, is that it allows the charisma of this partnership to reach a broad audience. You could say the same thing about long-long public media. Just saying. Scientists have observed coyotes and badgers worked together before. One study even demonstrated that both species have an easier time catching prey when they hunt together. But the more the general public sees the playful social side of the two extremely persecuted carnivores, the better. I will never stop sharing videos of coyotes playing with dog toys or domestic animal companions or scaling crab apple trees for a snack. Crab is also an adjective. The second thing that excites me is what the video means for animal research, management and behavioral ecology. There isn't a consistent natural rule that coyotes and badgers get along. In fact, the two species sometimes kill and eat one another. Ew. This demonstrates the flexibility in natural processes. Humans, many scientists included, are often guilty of thinking animal behavior must follow hard and fast rules. Stimulus A elicits behavior B always. I can see this a lot when people ask me about canine behavior or crow calls. A wagging tail doesn't always indicate a happy dog, for instance. And certain crow calls mean very different things in different circumstances, much the way the intention behind a human's worst of the word, hey. It varies with tone, inflection and context. If you want to know about, hey, ask a horse. He might have a s- or she. Or it. Are there gender-fluid horses? Experiments and rules that eliminate context often end up framing animal behavior and ecological associations as coded, robotic and inflexible. People tend to think of animal actions as simply instinct, denying the role of thinking, plasticity, and decision-making in other creatures' lives. Scientifically, we are finally emerging from a dark period of studying nature as simply as a stimulus and instinct-driven movie that humans can observe, the kind of thinking used to justify government-funded calls and mass indiscriminate killing of native species. Recent research demonstrates the cognitive and cultural capabilities of non-human animals, as well as the importance of their pro- as well as the importance of their proclivities and personalities, and more data keep piling up. And that's all we have time for. For Puppet News, I'm Herman Hansen. And I'm Aranda Lerr. Good night.