The editor and publisher of the newspaper in rural northwest Nebraska looked in amazement at the resume for her newest reporter, A. Marie Hamilton: multiple degrees from a well-known journalism school. Seventeen years working for the . Several statewide awards for her coverage.

“We were all super excited,” Perez said of the April 2023 hire. “Like, wow, why would someone with that much experience, why would she be here?”

Slowly, though, Perez realized that not everything was as it seemed. Hamilton had a problem with authority, Perez said, and ruffled feathers with the town’s police chief and school board. She appeared to sometimes sleep in the office. Nobody ever met her husband, who she said was a district manager for a local cable company.

“We heard so many different things,” Perez said. “It turned out to be this melange of (expletive).”

In fact, A. Marie Hamilton wasn’t even her real name. Those bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Arizona State University? Never attained. No evidence exists that she worked for 17 years at USA Today-affiliated newspapers.

“In seeking truth, you have to get both sides of the story,” Hamilton said in her at the Nebraska paper, citing the quote .

This is the other side, a story rife with inconsistencies, false claims and, now, a slew of felony charges that could land her in prison for decades. A. Marie Hamilton is actually April Marie Morganroth. Before that, she was April McClellan. At various points in her career, the journalist reinvented herself to start fresh in new states, including Colorado.

Wyoming prosecutors last month charged Morganroth, 40, with 20 felonies in two separate criminal cases in which she is alleged to have falsified documents and lied under oath — charges that relate to her alleged acts as a private citizen, not as a journalist. But Morganroth’s previous stops in at least four states and numerous publications were also marked by falsehoods and fabrications about her background, The Denver Post found.

She was fired from a Boulder newspaper for inventing quotations and misrepresenting the stories of sources she had interviewed about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In Arizona, she was convicted of forgery after authorities said she falsified documents as she sought housing. In Wyoming, she claimed to be a muckraking reporter with a Ph.D. who was also in law school. She never sought either degree.

Now she’s facing decades in prison, leaving the communities she covered wondering: Who was April Morganroth?

“There are people who are liars, people who are chronic liars, and then there is mental illness,” Perez said.

Two journalism ethics experts told The Post that while there have been high-profile examples of reporters caught ���ǰ���, they had never heard of someone committing these ethical violations and then altering their identity to continue practicing the trade elsewhere.

“It’s safe to say this is historically unprecedented in the modern era,” said Mark Feldstein, the Richard Eaton Chair of Broadcast Journalism at the University of Maryland.

None of the editors interviewed by The Post who worked with Morganroth outside of Boulder said they found fabrications in her work, and the newspaper could not independently fact-check all of her published stories.

Morganroth, who is free on bail in the two criminal cases, did not return messages from The Post seeking comment.

‘It was always the perfect story’

In her writings and website biographies, Morganroth extolled the virtues of freedom of speech, of seeking the truth no matter the roadblocks and of adhering to strong ethical values.

She wrote that she harps on honesty and accuracy as a foundation for earning and maintaining public trust. Her work must be consistent and principled, fair and independent.

“I aspire to bring truth, integrity and a personal touch to American journalism, unlike what we’ve seen since its early conception,” Morganroth once wrote on her .

But peel back the lofty rhetoric, and a different side of Morganroth emerges.

In 2007, Morganroth — then known by her birth name April McClellan — was charged with cashing a $5,000 welfare check in Arizona meant for her brother, according to court documents. She failed to respond to the bank’s efforts to seek restitution, authorities said, and attempts to locate her were unsuccessful.

“She then withdrew the $5,000 and disappeared,” investigators said in a criminal complaint.

McClellan pleaded guilty to one count of forgery, a class four felony, and was sentenced to probation.

In March 2008, McClellan was charged with three counts of felony forgery after Arizona authorities accused her of forging a court document, a Department of Corrections employment statement and a document from her previous landlord as she sought an apartment for rent, according to an arrest affidavit.

She pleaded guilty to one count and received probation.

McClellan, after her marriage to Scott Morganroth, started going by April Morganroth.

Bethany Barnes met April Morganroth around 2010 when the two worked at a Sears department store in the Phoenix suburbs, and the two quickly became close friends.

Over time, however, Barnes realized that it became hard to trust her friend’s word. Morganroth said things about her family that Barnes later learned were false. She would say she couldn’t hang out for a certain reason, only for Barnes to find out that Morganroth was somewhere else.

“She was always making herself look bigger than what was actually the case,” Barnes told The Post. “It was just a little bit of everything. You could tell she was being dishonest.”

These larger-than-life tales grew harder to tolerate, Barnes said. Eventually, the two lost touch.

“It was always the perfect story,” she said. “She did it very well. She lied very well.”

Morganroth graduated from , a community college, in December 2013 with an associate’s degree in digital photography. At the same time, she was finishing her first full semester at Arizona State’s .

On her blog, Morganroth promoted her services as a commercial and wedding photographer, showcasing her work in local galleries.

During her school years, she accumulated bylines for ASU’s student newspaper, appeared on the school’s radio station and did a , the state’s largest news organization, covering a variety of breaking news stories, including fires, floods and crime. A university spokesperson told The Post that Morganroth was enrolled at ASU at one time but never completed her degree.

Fabricated quotes and a retraction

In 2020, Morganroth moved with her husband and three children to Colorado, where she got a job in the joint newsroom of the Boulder and , newspapers owned by , which also owns The Post.

Her author page shared little in common with reality: She claimed she had been a newspaper journalist for nearly 20 years — even though she was just 35 at the time. She referred to her role at the Arizona Republic as a “full-time writer and multimedia journalist,” but an archived version of the from that time doesn’t show her name. Morganroth, on her , called it an internship.

She said she graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State.

On Sept. 11, 2021, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Daily Camera and Times-Call by Morganroth featuring reflections from locals who had been impacted by the day’s horrors.

Morganroth interviewed three Boulder residents, including a naval intelligen­ce analyst who recounted a harrowing story in which, she wrote, he watched Marines perform a heroic rescue of children from a nursery in the Pentagon. She quoted a flight attendant who, she said, was scheduled to work on 9/11 but switched her plans at the last minute. And she detailed the supposed experiences of a mental health clinician who, she wrote, didn’t know whether his daughter was alive or dead on Sept. 11.

It turned out that the three individuals said very little of what Morganroth wrote.

A few weeks after its publication, the Daily Camera , saying in a lengthy editor’s note that the story “substantially misrepresented” statements from the three subjects and fabricated many of the quotations attributed to them. One of the sources called his purported quotes “fictional.”

“I was absolutely horrified — like blood-pressure-spiked horrified,” said Mark Pfundstein, the former naval intelligence analyst, in an interview with The Post. “I thought, ‘My God, what will my colleagues think about this?'”

Morganroth, after the retraction, was fired, according to a from one of her colleagues. Mitchell Byars, who covered courts and crime for the paper, called for more due diligence in the hiring process.

“I feel there were some frankly easily identifiable red flags that I brought up with editors after her hire,” he wrote. Byars did not identify those warning signs on social media and declined to be interviewed for this story.

Colleagues, though, had noticed that Morganroth frequently retweeted far-right conservatives on social media, including U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert. Standard social media policies at newspapers forbid this type of political activity.

John Vahlenkamp, one of the editors who retracted the story, declined to comment on his investigation into Morganroth’s work or her tenure in Boulder.

An incident like this could have ended Morganroth’s journalism career. Instead, she pivoted.

New state, new name

In 2022, Morganroth popped up in the Wyoming journalism scene under a new byline: A. Marie Hamilton.

She worked for the , a newspaper in a small community in southeast Wyoming near the Nebraska border, for roughly a year, according to a review of her bylines on the site. Current ownership could not confirm her exact employment dates.

Morganroth’s father, in text messages with Barnes, the friend from Arizona, suggested that he knew that his daughter was running from trouble.

Child protective services “from Colorado was on April; she ran to Cheyenne this time,” Bill McClellan wrote to Barnes in June 2022, according to texts reviewed by The Post. “She thinks it’s okay to keep pulling her lieing (sic) and (expletive). Not working for her, I’d say.”

A few months later, McClellan told Barnes that “they will catch her soon enough.” McClellan died in 2024.

In April 2023, Morganroth took the job in Sidney, Nebraska.

Perez, the editor and publisher there, said Morganroth appeared to be “super knowledgeable” with professional writing chops. The editor said she never worried about the content of her reporter’s work — and only recently learned about what happened at the Daily Camera.

Still, Morganroth was difficult to manage, Perez said.

“Nobody knew what she knew,” Perez said. “Her attitude was: everyone was stupid.”

Many details about her life, though, just didn’t add up. The cable company that her husband supposedly worked for advertised in the paper. So Perez asked about him. The company said they had no idea what she was talking about.

Only four months after getting to the state, Morganroth said she was putting in her two-week notice. Perez didn’t fight her. On her way out, Morganroth told colleagues that the Nebraska newspaper company was starting a new outfit in Cheyenne and that they had asked her to be the editor, Perez said. None of this was true.

“That level of lying and thinking you’ll get away with it that goes beyond telling falsehoods,” Perez said. “That’s where you live in your own reality.”

A slew of felony charges

Once again, Morganroth started anew.

She returned to Wyoming, landing a job at the in southeast Wyoming, an hour north of Cheyenne.

Her listed accolades just kept growing: She now boasted more than 25 years of journalism experience, despite being under 40. The paper, in its , said she previously worked for National Public Radio and iHeartMedia. The Post could find no evidence of these employment stints.

Morganroth, still going by “Marie Hamilton,” earned the nickname “Little Miss Fact-Checker” by her peers at Wyoming Press Association conventions, the paper said, for “always providing clarifying and enriching accurate information about various news topics in our state.”

She again falsely claimed to hold both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Arizona State, and said she was in the midst of obtaining a law degree from the University of Wyoming. A university spokesperson said she was never enrolled there.

After the Record-Times briefly ceased publication, Morganroth launched her own media outlet called the , an “independent, community-centered” news organization focused on southeast Wyoming.

Its stated values: honesty and accuracy, integrity, ethical and watchdog journalism. Its motto: “Independent. Local. Unafraid.”

“I am unafraid to hold the accountable — accountable — and I have faced my fair share of credible threats, attempts to intimidate, blackmail and discredit because I refuse to allow elected officials to have a get-out-of-jail-free card,” she wrote.

Her journalism, in practice, often blurred the line between objective news coverage and her own opinions.

On social media, Morganroth frequently posted her thoughts on gun rights, supposed corruption in the Democratic Party and President Donald Trump.

Morganroth took a particular interest in a planned near the town of Chugwater in southeast Wyoming. She published a on Nov. 25 — which she called an “investigation” — in which she falsely drew links between solar and wind farms and disabilities in children.

The story, published under a “Wyoming Sentinel Staff” byline, quoted a “Marie Hamilton” numerous times as an advocate for children with disabilities. Hamilton is listed on the news outlet’s website as the owner, publisher and managing editor. There’s no indication anyone else worked there.

Her involvement in the project, though, was about to get much more serious after she personally lobbied against the wind farm.

On March 9, prosecutors in Platte County, Wyoming, arrested Morgranroth and related to her opposition to the Chugwater energy project. Authorities allege the local journalist concocted letters of support from two area residents expressing their supposed objections to the project and lied under oath during a public hearing held by a state panel considering the proposal.

In a pre-hearing statement, she asserted she held three degrees from Arizona State, was pursuing a law degree, owned an unspecified local brand and operated various family ranching businesses in several states, an arrest affidavit states. She introduced herself as “Dr. Marie Hamilton.”

Two weeks after the initial charges, prosecutors in the same district against Morganroth. Authorities say she forged documents purporting to show that she had prequalified for a federal loan as she attempted to purchase a home in Chugwater, according to an arrest affidavit cited in local media reports.

Morganroth also claimed that she and her husband had been approved for a federal grant to do construction on the property to allow them to qualify for the loan, prosecutors alleged, submitting to the sellers supposed invoices from two companies for the work. Both companies told investigators and The Post that they never did jobs on this property.

“It was so impressive,” Jessica Logue, owner and CEO of Cowgirl Demolition and Excavating, told The Post. “She used my logo, faded it with an opaque excavator, and had all the verbiage right. I was like, ‘Who is this?'”

‘Detrimental to journalism’

Up until the arrest, people in southern Wyoming knew her as Marie Hamilton. When the news broke, editors at the papers she worked for expressed their disappointment and confusion.

Klark Byrd, managing editor at the Casper-based , said Morganroth covered the state legislature for a month this year, but she never filed paperwork with human resources to get paid. Despite numerous reminders, he said in an interview, the reporter wouldn’t submit her forms.

Boyd said he fact-checked her work and it was always clean.

“It’s always detrimental to journalism when someone in the profession breaks that kind of trust,” he said. “It wasn’t just public trust; she broke the trust of colleagues. It floored me when all the pieces finally came together.”

Lying about a journalist’s true identity calls into question what else they might have fabricated in their stories, the two journalism experts said, calling trust a bedrock principle for the industry.

“You expect this maybe out of priests who get bounced from parish to parish or doctors who get their licenses pulled in one state and move to another,” said Feldstein, the University of Maryland ethics expert. “But I’ve never heard of a journalist doing that.”

Publicly advocating on a topic you’re also covering as a reporter is a clear violation of journalism ethics, said Bob Steele, a former professor and director of the at DePauw University in Indiana. Since Morganroth served as the Wyoming Sentinel’s publisher, editor and reporter, there’s an even greater obligation to be honest, independent and fair in her reporting, he said.

Quoting oneself in the third person, meanwhile, breaks every rule of journalism, both experts said.

“It’s astounding,” Steele said. “It’s problematic to the nth degree.”

Steele and Feldstein said it’s important to characterize Morganroth’s behavior as an extreme outlier in the industry. The public, they said, should not see this as all that’s wrong with journalism. Even Pfundstein, the intelligence analyst whose story Morganroth mispresented in the 9/11 remembrance, said the incident did not shake his confidence or trust in the media.

Those who knew Morganroth previously said they weren’t entirely surprised by her alleged actions. They were just surprised she got caught.

“Part of me thinks she’ll wiggle out of this; that is her forte,” said Perez, the Nebraska editor. “Getting out of things is kind of her milieu. I’m popping some popcorn to see how she’ll get out of this one.”

As the videos play, my chest tightens with shock, fear, and indignation. This is not the first, second, or third time I’ve witnessed someone’s death on my phone.

Brutality at the hands of ICE agents is all too common, completely normalized, and people are dead as a result. These aren’t isolated incidents: this is the predictable outcome of a system built for force and funded to grow at all costs.

I was a college freshman at Yale when America was engulfed in fear and panic after the unspeakably horrific terror attacks of 9/11. My mom was worried because I  was just a short drive from New York City. Fellow freshmen spent hours frantically trying to reach their loved ones in Manhattan, but phone service was down, and almost no one had cell phones. The terror was palpable.

After 9/11, fear metastasized into a new, massive federal agency: the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Its mission was to “protect the homeland,” and in service of that mission, DHS normalized the idea that some communities — Muslims, noncitizens, or anyone who dissented — should live under permanent suspicion in order to prove their Americanness.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was formed inside that new DHS bureaucracy, and from the beginning, it pursued a vision that was neither modest nor targeted. Their 2003 strategic plan, “Operation Endgame,” treated deportation as the golden measure of success, pushing the agency toward maximum enforcement and maximum churn.

When your job is numbers, every person becomes a statistic and a justification in pursuit of their end goal. No matter their pending immigration application, their U.S. citizen children, their ties to their community, or their payment of taxes, for a noncitizen, any contact with law enforcement – even for a traffic offense – results in being labeled as a “criminal alien.”

The fear-driven othering feeds the deportation machine.

Over the ensuing two decades, both Democrats and Republicans served as willing cheerleaders, giving ICE ever-more resources for immigration enforcement, detention, and surveillance. Immigration detention funding ballooned more than 400% , according to a budget analysis done by The Forum.

The GEO Group pioneered for-profit immigration detention in Aurora in 1987, and in December 2025, ICE awarded GEO a no-bid contract to open a second facility in Hudson.

Corporations like Flock and Palantir, which contract with governments to provide surveillance for immigration enforcement, now also celebrate their record profits. While justifying ICE’s endlessly-expanding budgets, politicians from both parties routinely claim that those resources prioritize immigrants with criminal histories, and that as long as you are a law-abiding, “good” American, you have nothing to fear. The murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti tell us otherwise.

It simply doesn’t have to be this way. ICE is escalating its cynical politics of cruelty and fearmongering, pitting Americans against each other and lying to the public to justify billions in annual immigration-enforcement spending. Stopping this madness will take everyday Coloradans speaking up and pressuring elected officials to change course.

Now’s an important time to remember that the Constitution protects us all, regardless of immigration status. Download a Know Your Rights card, and add the Colorado Rapid Response Network’s phone number (1-844-864-8341) into your phone in case you witness ICE activity.

This session, the Colorado legislature will consider Aurora Sen. Mike Weissman and my bill, Senate Bill 5, to ensure civil remedies are available to Coloradans when their constitutional rights are trampled upon by immigration enforcement entities.

Congress is now contemplating giving ICE even more funding in a cynical ploy to avoid another government shutdown. The Colorado Congressional delegations’ votes fell along party lines, and both of Colorado’s senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, have indicated their intentions to vote no. However, a “no” vote on giving ICE a blank check is not enough.

This moment requires leaders with backbone who will not sell out Americans’ freedom, and instead advance actual solutions. Congress must extract the profit motive from immigration detention and surveillance, restore due process to the immigration system, create pathways to citizenship, pass strict standards on the use-of-force, and ensure that immigrants have access to legal counsel.

This rogue agency has no legitimacy left; the only answer that remains is to abolish ICE, and instead build an immigration system worthy of a nation that claims to believe in justice, dignity, and the rule of law.

Colorado state Sen. Julie Gonzales is a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, and currently represents north, west, and downtown Denver in the Colorado General Assembly.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

Thursday-Dec. 24. ‘Tis the final season for the 23-year-old theatrical tradition known as “Santa’s Big Red Sack,” which is returning with “nonstop sketch comedy, music and technology bursting at the seams,” according to its creators. It’s celebrating its last year of offensive glee, so buy a shot and make sure to leave your propriety at the door. (Note: This bawdy production is not, as you may have guessed, for kids.)

It takes place at various times and dates from Dec. 4 to Dec. 24 at The People’s Building, 9995 E. Colfax Ave. in Aurora. Tickets are $39.10 via.

Magical Winter Nights

Through Jan 4. When it comes to holiday light displays in City Park, Denver Zoo Lights tends to have it covered. But don’t count out the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, also located in City Park. The institution this year has launched Magical Winter Nights, its very own holiday celebration running through Jan. 4, 2026. The “dazzling winter wonderland” has “glowing savannah skies, shimmering northern lights and cozy cocoa (to) create memories that will last a lifetime,” according to the museum.

“This experience takes you on a journey through select areas of the museum, specifically the West Atrium and third-floor diorama halls,” organizers added. “These spaces have been transformed into a series of enchanting winter worlds just waiting to be explored. Under sparkling stars and through a series of immersive scenes, there’s something for everyone in this adventure designed to delight all ages.”

The first entry is 4:15 p.m. daily, with 21-and-up nights on Dec. 4, 11 and 18. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for ages 3-18, and $22 for seniors. 2001 Colorado Blvd. in Denver. Call 303-370-6000 or visit for more.

Fly, Moonlight Elves!

Through Dec. 7. Denver’s always-curious (in a good way) Starry Night Productions and Theatre Artibus this year are debuting “Moonlight Elves,” which they dub “a circus-immersive holiday extravaganza,” playing Nov. 26-30 and Dec. 3-7 at Savoy Denver.

The show blends comedy, circus, interactive games and theatrical spectacle, according to Starry Night’s Amber Blais, with “dazzling aerial artistry, juggling, magic acts, and playful audience participation … costumes and elf ears are encouraged” (ears are, of course, available for purchase on site). Audiences can arrive early for interactive lobby fun, including arts and crafts, holiday drinks from the bar, and special visits from Santa (James Brunt) on Saturdays and Sundays, she added.

The all-ages shows take place at 7 p.m., with matinees at 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, at 2700 Arapahoe St. in Denver. Tickets: $35 via

U.S. history, from George Washington to 9/11

Open now. “Our story was never inevitable,” History Colorado writes. “We shaped it at every turn.” But how, exactly? The state’s historical society answers that with a new exhibition as Colorado’s and America’s dual anniversaries approach. “Moments That Made Us” displays rare artifacts that enlighten “nearly 50 turning points in American history from a variety of perspectives,” highlighting “both challenging and celebratory times, from Mesa Verde to Valley Forge to Ebbets Field,” curators wrote.

Get up close with a silver spoon made by Paul Revere, a set of spurs worn by President George Washington at Valley Forge in 1777, one of the first Mexican editions of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo from 1848, Jackie Robinson’s baseball bat, a firefighter helmet from 9/11’s Ground Zero in 2001 and — this one’s pretty cool — the tape recorder used by President Richard Nixon at the center of the Watergate Scandal in 1973, the museum said.

It runs through Oct. 18, 2026, at History Colorado Center, 1200 Broadway in Denver. Included with admission. Call 303-447-8679 or visit for more details.

Re: “Release the Epstein files, and let’s get rid of the ‘Epstein class’,” Nov. 19 commentary

Anita Chabria makes a good point about the oligarchy, their arrogance, and not-so-innocent interaction with girls. It is time to out those folks and get them off the public stage.

She acts as if publicizing the files is a Democratic coup. Why didn’t they do this when they had the majority?

This vote is a victory for decency and common sense. And let us hope it is a sign that Congress is finding its spine.

Stan Moore, Lakewood

I am amazed that I now consider Rep. Lauren Boebert and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to be heroes. They met with the Epstein victims and have resolutely stood solid with the victims since. No Republican congressmen can say that. If any of the congresswomen had caved, President Donald Trump would not have been forced to back the bill. Yeah, Boebert!

Daniel Badher, Denver

Trump’s ‘Quiet, piggy’ remark demonstrates insecurity

On Friday, President Trump’s asking about the Jeffrey Epstein files — pointing a finger and snarling “Quiet, piggy” — was more than rude. It was a blatant attempt to silence a journalist simply doing her job.

We’ve seen hostility toward the press before, from Nixon to Agnew, but this level of contempt makes those moments seem mild. Finger-pointing, name-calling, and mocking a reporter’s legitimacy are not signs of strength — they are signs of insecurity and disregard for transparency.

America should welcome tough questions. Journalists are not intruders or “piggies”; they are essential to holding power accountable. When the leader of our nation dismisses a question with personal insult, it undermines the democratic ideals we claim to uphold.

Civility in public discourse matters. Respect for the press matters. And in this case, “Quiet, piggy” should matter to every American concerned about the health of our democracy.

Dan Wilinsky, Englewood

Saudi prince doesn’t deserve Trump’s celebration

Re: “,” Nov. 19 news story

Just what do our long-term allies think now? Presidents and prime ministers from around the globe have crossed the threshold of the White House, yet none of them have received the pompous greeting that President Donald Trump gave to Mohammed bin Salman.

This is the man who has been identified by our country for ordering the assassination of a journalist working for the Washington Post. He is also the ruler of the nation from which many of the 9/11 attackers came to kill thousands of our fellow Americans. It was so obvious that Trump was gleeful. This open affection has never been shown to any other leader. None of them has been given such a dinner.

We all know the Trump family has multiple businesses in Saudi Arabia. What exactly is going on?

Barbara Wells, Aurora

Time running out for Colorado delegates to help extend health tax credits

I know how it feels to hear the words, “You have cancer.” The sentence sucks the air out of the room. Your mind sprints to all the plans you had for your future. Everything hangs on that next question: Is it treatable? The answer has a lot to do with whether you have health insurance.

Cancer care is expensive. Without comprehensive health insurance, it����ap out of reach.

For the hundreds of thousands of Coloradans who rely on enhanced health care tax credits to afford their health insurance through Connect for Health Colorado, Congress currently holds the answer to that next question. You see, some of these health care tax credits are set to expire at the end of this year. But Congress can do something about that by extending these enhanced tax credits.

With open enrollment underway, Coloradans are seeing their premiums skyrocket for next year’s plans. If the enhanced health care tax credits aren’t extended, millions of people, including cancer patients, will lose access to lifesaving care.

I’m urging Rep. Gabe Evans and Rep. Jeff Hurd to consider the people who are depending on these tax credits to access health coverage. Work with your fellow members of Congress to extend them now. Time is running out.

Sabrina Wright-Hobart, Aurora

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

Most Coloradans are already prepared for the new federal security requirement, adopted in the wake of 9/11 and effective Wednesday, after state officials implemented the change to driver’s licenses at the end of 2012.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem told a congressional panel Tuesday that 81% of American travelers already have IDs that comply with the REAL ID requirements, which are designed to create a more secure form of identification.

In Colorado, that number is closer to 96%, spokeswoman Jennifer Giambi said Tuesday.

Giambi said that, as of April 2025, more than 4.6 million of the 4.9 million active driver’s licenses and permits issued by the Colorado DMV were REAL ID compliant.

It����ap unknown how many Colorado residents don’t have licenses and how many who moved here recently are holding onto old licenses from other states. , there were roughly 4.9 million people living in Colorado in 2023 who were at least 15 years old and eligible for a state license or permit. That number has likely grown.

REAL IDs in Colorado are marked with a star in the upper right corner. If they were issued before 2020, the star was gold. IDs issued after 2020 have a black star.

“In Colorado, everyone who is eligible has received a REAL ID with appropriate proof since 2013,” Giambi said. “So, another way to look at this is that 100% of those eligible receive a REAL ID — there is no choice.”

Just over 210,000 Colorado residents have driver’s licenses or permits that aren’t REAL ID compliant. However, Giambi said those people aren’t eligible for a REAL ID.

Under the Colorado Roads and Community Safety Act, undocumented Colorado residents or people who are “temporarily lawfully present” in the state can obtain a or ID card without a Social Security number.

Standard licenses are marked with a black banner and “cannot be used for federal purposes like flying, voting or federal public benefits,” Giambi said.

Federal officials originally said any travelers without a REAL ID or other form of identification approved by the Transportation Security Administration — such as a passport — would not be able to fly domestically starting Wednesday, but Noem said they will be able to — it’ll just come with extra steps.

Passengers without a REAL ID may be diverted to a different line or go through extra security, “but people will be allowed to fly,” she said. “We will make sure it����ap as seamless as possible.”

DIA officials declined to answer questions Wednesday about whether TSA will create separate lines for people without REAL IDs, considering the high amount of out-of-state travelers passing through Denver, or if they anticipate increased wait times during the beginning of the REAL ID implementation.

Besides being a requirement to fly, REAL IDs are also needed to access certain federal buildings and facilities.

When the REAL ID Act was signed into law in 2005, it enacted a recommendation from the 9/11 Commission that the government set higher security standards and require people to provide more proof of their identity when getting state-issued driver’s licenses and IDs.

“The Real ID requirement bolsters safety by making fraudulent IDs harder to forge, thwarting criminals and terrorists,” Adam Stahl, a TSA senior official, said in . “TSA will implement REAL ID effectively and efficiently, continuing to ensure the safety and security of passengers while also working to minimize operational disruptions at airports.”

The REAL ID Act was supposed to begin rolling out in 2008, “but has faced repeated delays due to state implementation challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Nina Ruggiero, senior editorial director for Travel + Leisure. “The combination of varying state processes and shifting deadlines has added to the overall confusion around REAL IDs and likely led some travelers to take the deadlines less seriously.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Meanwhile, DIA officials promise improved conditions for everyone.

Delta Airlines will build a bigger facility on Concourse A after extending its lease at DIA through 2035, airport officials said. It is expected to include a premier bar. Delta officials stayed mum about details.

American Airlines spurred competition with an upgrade of its , a Concourse C refuge overlooking runways that includes a children’s playroom, dining booths and a refreshed “regionalized menu” featuring “maple strawberry chia overnight oats” and “honey mustard pork loin with spring onion and sage.”

United Airlines contractors have begun an expansion of a on Concourse B, to open this summer, featuring wellness rooms for meditation and prayer, on-site staff to answer traveler questions, five messaging , and food such as Denver omelets, Colorado honey and pork green chile. A new bar inspired by Denver’s beer scene will serve 10 local and craft beers on tap. A vibrant blue mural by artist will celebrate the joy of discovering new places.

That expansion will bring United’s exclusive club space at DIA — including another United Club and a for grab-and-go frequent fliers — to more than 100,000 square feet, United spokesman Russell Carlton said.

The exclusive accommodations for elite air travelers align DIA with a national trend toward comfort and convenience for frequent fliers, first-classers and premium credit card holders.

Over the past two decades, the amount of time Americans spend in airports has increased, largely due to post-9/11 screening. data shows a global increase in air travel at an average rate of 5% a year since 1995 reaching a record high in 2024.

Travelers typically gain access to these clubs by amassing sufficient frequent flier loyalty points or by purchasing first-class tickets. Those with military IDs or who hold premium credit cards can enter certain lounges, as well.

Travelers also can purchase annual or day passes. For example, day passes to the for “walk-ins” cost $90 a person.

DIA’s touts a new covering 14,000 square feet in Concourse C for premium American Express credit card holders, who can savor rotating selections of locally brewed beer, “a live-action cooking station featuring a locally sourced Italian menu designed by Chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson,” and a game room. The Capital One Lounge offers showers. There’s also a lounge in Concourse A for military travelers that includes a library.

The airport sets no limits on exclusive lounges.

“We always welcome discussions with our airline partners about maintaining or upgrading these club spaces,” DIA vice president of airline and commercial affairs George Karayiannakis said.

The airline lounge expansions and renovations are happening as DIA contractors work to complete a $2.1 billion overhaul of DIA’s 2.6 million-square-foot terminal by the end of 2027, when work will begin on another $12.8 billion in renovations over a dozen years.

United officials said they’ll also install a (“spa-like shower facilities,” “daybeds,” “gentle white noise,” “soft lighting”) at DIA, catering to long-haul international travelers who fly in business class and premier Star Alliance cabins. International air travel has emerged as a driver of DIA’s overall passenger growth that last year hit a record 82.3 million travelers.

The expansion of luxury lounges is driven by “feedback from our customers” and is intended “to match the way their travel has evolved in recent years,” United director of clubs and lounges Alexander Dorow said. “We’re growing our hub in the Mile High City, and the expansion and renovation of United Club locations represents our commitment to Colorado and our customers’ experience.”

For economy travelers, DIA’s guiding principles include a commitment to ensuring comfort for everyone.

DIA will provide “unique and enjoyable experiences, from rest and recharge areas to outdoor decks to a wide range of amenities to fit the needs and desires of all our passengers,” airport officials said in a statement. Upcoming construction to add new gates for airlines also will bring “state-of-the-art restrooms, nursing rooms, workstations and tabletops, and plenty of comfortable seating.”

Travelers seeking peace in Concourse A can retreat to a mezzanine equipped with recliner chairs along with plugs for charging devices. Those seeking sunshine on outdoor decks around the airport can find firepits and views of aircraft coming and going.

Expect increased public art, play areas for children, massage opportunities, and holiday celebrations for travelers as DIA expands, airport officials said in their statement.

DIA also offers where travelers who have time can practice their swing between flights, hitting a ball toward a screen. The cost is $20 for 15 minutes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A military judge has ruled that plea agreements struck by alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants are valid, voiding an order by , a government official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the order by the judge, Air Force Col. Matthew McCall, has not yet been posted publicly or officially announced.

Unless government prosecutors or others attempt to challenge the plea deals again, McCall’s ruling means that the three 9/11 defendants before long could enter guilty pleas in the U.S. military courtroom at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, taking a dramatic step toward wrapping up the long-running and legally troubled government prosecution in one of the deadliest attacks on the United States.

The plea agreements would spare Mohammed and two co-defendants, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, the risk of the death penalty in exchange for the guilty pleas.

Government prosecutors had negotiated the deals with defense attorneys under government auspices, and the top official for the military commission at the Guantanamo Bay naval base had approved the agreements.

The plea deals in the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people spurred immediate political blowback by Republican lawmakers and others after they were made public this summer.

Within days, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a brief order saying he was nullifying them. Plea bargains in possible death penalty cases tied to one of the gravest crimes ever carried out on U.S. soil were a momentous step that should only be decided by the defense secretary, Austin said at the time.

The agreements, and Austin’s attempt to reverse them, have made for one of the most fraught episodes in a U.S. prosecution marked by delays and legal difficulties. That includes years of ongoing pretrial hearings to determine the admissibility of statements by the defendants given their years of torture in CIA custody.

The Pentagon is reviewing the judge’s decision and had no immediate further comment, said Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary.

Lawdragon, a legal news site that long has covered the courtroom proceedings from Guantanamo, and The New York Times first reported the ruling.

Military officials have yet to post the judge’s decision on the Guantanamo military commission’s online site. But Lawdragon said McCall’s 29-page ruling concludes that Austin lacked the legal authority to toss out the plea deals, and acted too late, after Guantanamo’s top official already had approved the deals.

Abiding by Austin’s order would give defense secretaries “absolute veto power” over any act they disagree with, which would be contrary to the independence of the presiding official over the Guantanamo trials, the law blog quotes McCall as saying in the ruling.

While families of some of the victims and others are adamant that the 9/11 prosecutions continue until trial and possible death sentences, legal experts say it’s not clear that could ever happen. If the 9/11 cases ever clear the hurdles of trial, verdicts and sentencings, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit would likely hear many of the issues in the course of any death penalty appeals.

The issues include the CIA destruction of videos of interrogations, whether Austin’s plea deal reversal constituted unlawful interference and whether the torture of the men tainted subsequent interrogations by “clean teams” of FBI agents that did not involve violence.

___

AP writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

“From newborns to — I think our oldest climber ever was in his late 80s — there are a lot of firefighters, a lot of police officers, the military and also just a lot of people from the community that want to come spend the day with us,” said organizer and West Metro firefighter Shawn Duncan.

The Colorado 9/11 Stair Climb is in its 15th year. Thousands of participants gathered to do nine laps around the amphitheatre, which equates to 110 floors, for the number of floors on each of the twin towers of the World Trade Center that were attacked in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.

Before the participants begin their walk around the venue, participants observed a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. and marked the tolling of an Honor Bell to open the ceremony.

NEW YORK — A poignant phrase echoes when 9/11 victims’ relatives gather each year to remember the loved ones they lost in .

“I never got to meet you.”

It is the sound of generational change at ground zero, where relatives read out victims’ names on every anniversary of the attacks. Nearly 3,000 people were killed when al-Qaida hijackers crashed four jetliners into the twin towers, the Pentagon and a field in southwest Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.

Some names are read out by children or young adults who were born after the strikes. featured 28 such young people among more than 140 readers. Young people are expected again at this year’s ceremony Wednesday.

Some are the children of victims whose partners were pregnant. More of the young readers are victims’ nieces, nephews or grandchildren. They have inherited stories, photos, and a sense of solemn responsibility.

reverberates through generations, and and understanding the Sept. 11 attacks one day will be up to a world with no first-hand memory of them.

“It����ap like you’re passing the torch on,” says Allan Aldycki, 13.

He read the names of his grandfather and several other people the last two years, and plans to do so on on Wednesday. Aldycki keeps mementoes in his room from his grandfather Allan Tarasiewicz, a firefighter.

The teen told the audience last year that he’s heard so much about his grandfather that it feels like he knew him, “but still, I wish I had a chance to really know you,” he added.

Allan volunteered to be a reader because it makes him feel closer to his grandfather, and he hopes to have children who’ll participate.

“It����ap an honor to be able to teach them because you can let them know their heritage and what to never forget,” he said by phone from central New York. He said he already finds himself teaching peers who know little or nothing about 9/11.

When it comes time for the ceremony, he looks up information about the lives of each person whose name he’s assigned to read.

“He reflects on everything and understands the importance of what it means to somebody,” his mother, Melissa Tarasiewicz, said.

Reciting the names of the dead is a tradition that extends beyond ground zero. War memorials honor fallen military members by speaking their names aloud. Some Jewish organizations host readings of Holocaust victims’ names on the international day of remembrance, Yom Hashoah.

The names of the 168 people killed in the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City annually at the memorial there.

On Sept. 11 anniversaries, the Pentagon’s ceremony includes military members or officials reading the names of the 184 people killed there. The Flight 93 National Memorial has victims’ relatives and friends read the list of the 40 passengers and crew members whose lives ended at the rural site near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The hourslong observance at the 9/11 Memorial in New York is almost exclusively dedicated to the names of the 2,977 victims at all three sites, plus the six people killed in the . All are read by relatives who volunteer and are chosen by lottery.

Each is given a subset of names to render aloud. Readers also generally speak briefly about their own lost kin, frequently in touching detail.

“I think often about how, if you were still here, you would be one of my best friends, looking at colleges with me, getting me out of trouble with Mom and Dad, hanging out at the Jersey Shore,” Capri Yarosz said last year of her slain uncle, New York firefighter Christopher Michael Mozzillo.

Now 17, she grew up with a homemade baby book about him and a family that still mentions him in everyday conversation.

“Chris would have loved that” is a phrase often heard around the house.

She has read twice at the trade center ceremony.

“It means a lot to me that I can kind of keep alive my uncle’s name and just keep reading everybody else’s name, so that more of the upcoming generations will know,” she said by phone from her family’s home in central New Jersey. “I feel good that I can pass down the importance of what happened.”

Her two younger sisters also have read names, and one is preparing to do so again Wednesday. Their mother, Pamela Yarosz, has never been able to steel herself to sign up.

“I don’t have that strength. It����ap too hard for me,” says Pamela Yarosz, who is Mozzillo’s sister. “They’re braver.”

By now, many of the — such as Melissa Tarasiewicz, who was just out of high school when her father died — have long since grown up. But the attacks killed one of their parents, and are now young adults.

“Though we never met, I am honored to carry your name and legacy with me. I thank you for giving me this life and family,” Manuel DaMota Jr. said of his father, a woodworker and project manager, during last year’s ceremony.

One young reader after another at the event commemorated aunts, uncles, great-uncles, grandfathers and grandmothers whom the children have missed throughout their lives.

“My whole life, my dad has said I reminded him of you.”

“I wish you got to take me fishing.”

“I wish I had more of you than just a picture on a frame.”

“Even though I never got to meet you, I will never forget you.”

Re: “Suspected 9/11 plotter agrees to plead guilty,” Aug. 1 news story

Are you kidding me? Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 tragedy. He is suspected of not only providing money but also training the terrorists. And he gets a plea deal? I have always been under the impression when prosecutors do plea deals, they don’t have enough experience and/or evidence to fully charge somebody. Providing plea deals only pads the prosecutors’ win columns.

Leroy M Martinez, Denver

Supreme Court doesn’t need an overhaul

Re: “Biden wants term limits for justices,” July 30 news story

Anyone who passed high school civics recognizes that Congress cannot impose term limits on Supreme Court justices without a constitutional amendment.  The three branches of our government are separate and co-equal. Just as the Court could not impose term limits on Congress, Congress cannot impose term limits on the Court. This is just President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris playing to their base.

The same is true for the Biden/Harris call for supposed ethical reforms in the Supreme Court, which is an obvious effort to retaliate against conservative justices. Conservatives endured liberal decisions when the liberal wing controlled the Court, and now liberals need to do the same.

A showed that 42% of U.S. citizens believe the mindset of the Court is “about right,” with 17% stating that the Court is too liberal and 39% seeing it as too conservative. Just because the extreme left does not like some Court rulings does not mean the Court is “extremist” or needs to be overhauled by term limits, Court-packing (adding more justices), or supposed ethics rules.

Kevin Amatuzio, Englewood

Leave wildlife management to the experts

Re: “Proposed hunting ban on mountain lions, other wild cats makes ballot,” Aug. 1 news story

The constant ballot box biology going on here in Colorado needs to stop in regard to the ballot initiative to stop Mountain Lion harvesting. After big cat hunting bans had passed in California, the movement was brought here to Colorado. Please leave wildlife management to educated professionals in wildlife biology, not by vote. The current population is well-managed, and this initiative is not needed here. What is next, a ban on big-game hunting (as they are trophies also)? I urge you to have common sense and vote no on this in November.

Robert Webb, Loveland

Be truthful and call a lie a lie

Re: “Trump falsely says Harris misled voters about her race,” Aug. 1 news story

Why does The Denver Post continue to soft-pedal former President Donald Trump’s utterances?

A recent article contained “Trump falsely says …” and “former president wrongly claimed.”  Seriously, if there is any hope for this country, what’s wrong with the truth? Trump lied.

Guy Wroble, Denver

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.