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Despite surprise billing laws, unexpected ambulance bills remain common in Colorado

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:48 GMT

More than a year after their daughter was treated for an eating disorder in Denver, a family is still trying to sort out thousands of dollars in bills from when she had to be taken by ambulance to nearby hospitals.Ann Sassano, of Chicago, said her daughter was taken by ambulance repeatedly while being treated in Denver last fall, with about eight round trips to three different hospitals for emergencies. Their insurance, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, said there were no in-network ambulance providers, meaning the family faced a $15,000 deductible for out-of-network care before the plan would start paying, she said.Altogether, her daughter received about $20,000 in bills, which would have wiped out her savings, Sassano said. Though their insurance ultimately agreed to pay some of the bills, her daughter is paying about $30 a month to stay out of collections while appealing the remaining ones, she said.“It’s just a very frustrating situation,” she said.Blue C...

People who call 911 in Denver can now stream live video to emergency dispatchers

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:48 GMT

People who call 911 in Denver can now stream live video from their cellphones straight to emergency call takers — part of a suite of new technology the city is testing.Denver started the free pilot in June and since then has handled about 450 emergency calls in which the caller sent live video to the 911 center, said Matt Fuller, training manager at the city’s 911 Communications Center. That’s out of about 5,000 calls that were routed through the pilot system.The pilot software also includes more precise location data, the ability to forward live video to police, paramedics and firefighters as they head to the scene, and potentially the ability to use GPS location data to streamline 911 calls during major incidents, though officials aren’t yet using the latter two functions.Now, every time someone calls 911 in Denver, the software, created by the private company Carbyne, automatically sends a text to the caller. If the user clicks the link in the text, it giv...

2023 CHSAA state football championships brackets, results

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:48 GMT

A listing of the CHSAA state football tournament brackets and results:Class 5AFirst roundAll games Friday unless notedGame 1: No. 17 Legacy (6-4) at No. 16 Eaglecrest (7-3), 7 p.m.Game 2: No. 24 Fossil Ridge (5-5) at No. 9 Castle View (7-3), 7 p.m. ThursdayGame 3: No. 20 Mullen (6-4) at No. 13 Denver East (8-2), TBAGame 4: No. 21 Arvada West (5-5) at No. 12 Rock Canyon (7-3), 7 p.m. ThursdayGame 5: No. 18 Fountain-Fort Carson (7-3) at No. 15 Fairview (9-1), 7 p.m.Game 6: No. 23 Brighton (5-5) at No. 10 Legend (7-3), 7 p.m.Game 7: No. 19 Cherokee Trail (5-5) at No. 14 Chatfield (5-5), 7 p.m.Game 8: No. 22 Douglas County (4-6) at No. 11 Grandview (6-4), 7 p.m.Round of 16Nov. 10-11Game 9: G1 winner at No. 1 Cherry Creek (10-0)Game 10: G2 winner at No. 8 Mountain View (8-2)Game 11: G3 winner at No. 4 Pine Creek (9-1)Game 12: G4 winner at No. 5 Ralston Valley (8-2)Game 13: G5 winner at No. 2 Columbine (10-0)Game 14: G6 winner at No. 7 Valor Christian (6-4)Game 15: G7 winner at No. 3 Arap...

Deadly crash involving wrong way driver stops all traffic on 405 Freeway 

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:48 GMT

A fatal crash involving several vehicles shut the northbound side 405 Freeway down early Monday morning. Initial reports indicate that a wrong-way driver may have slammed into the center divider of the northbound side of the freeway at Sherman Way shortly before 5 a.m. Passing traffic then collided with the vehicle that hit the center divider, according to KTLA 5’s Rich Prickett. Sky5 footage shows first responders surrounding one car and attempting to cut the doors off to gain access to the occupant or occupants.  "We did not see anybody being taken out of the vehicle [that crashed into the center divider] so this could turn out to be a fatality crash investigation," Prickett said. "It does not look good at this point."A crash involving several vehicles shut the northbound span of the 405 Freeway down on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. (KTLA)A crash involving several vehicles shut the northbound span of the 405 Freeway down on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. (KTLA)A crash involving...

4 shot, 1 stabbed after violence breaks out at Halloween party 

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:48 GMT

A Halloween party in Azusa turned violent on Sunday night, authorities said. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, calls of a stabbing first came in just before 10:30 p.m. in the 5400 block of Banewell Avenue.  Deadly crash involving wrong way driver stops all traffic on 405 Freeway As the caller was reporting the stabbing to the 911 dispatcher, they started to report a shooting, police said. Authorities investigating a stabbing and shooting at a Halloween party in Azusa, CA on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023. (RMGNews)When deputies got to the scene, they found four individuals with gunshot wounds and one with a stab wound. The suspects fled the scene before deputies arrived. No descriptions have been released. The victims' conditions remain unknown, and a motive for the shooting and stabbing has not been established. 

Putin calls meeting after mob storms airport in Dagestan looking for Israelis on plane from Tel Aviv

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:48 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin called a meeting of top security and law enforcement officials on Monday, the day after a mob stormed the airport in the region of Dagestan after a plane from the Israeli city of Tel Aviv landed there. Hundreds of angry men rushed onto the tarmac of the airport in Makhachkala, the capital of the predominantly Muslim region, late on Sunday, looking for Israeli passengers, according to Russian news reports. Dagestan’s Ministry of Health said more than 20 people were injured, with two in critical condition. It said the injured included police officers and civilians. The local Interior Ministry said 60 people were detained in the unrest. It was not clear if charges had been filed against any of them, but Russia's Investigative Committee said it opened a criminal probe on charges of organizing mass unrest. The crowd broke out onto the landing field and surrounded the airliner belonging to the Russian carrier Red Wings, with seemingly little ...

Candy corn is polarizing. Here’s how the candy’s make is trying to keep it relevant

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:48 GMT

By Danielle Wiener-Bronner | CNNNew York  — Love it or hate it, candy corn season is upon us.Everyone has an opinion on candy corn: Some love the treat, either as a sugary indulgence or a marker of the fall season. Others wonder why you would waste your time on candy corn, which they see as chalky or too-sweet, when there are so many other candy options. Either way, they’re here.The polarizing kernels start shipping out to stores over the summer, and generally stay on shelves through Halloween or a bit after.Brach’s, a candy brand which dates back to 1904, says it is the leader in the candy corn market by far. It makes 30 million pounds of candy corn each year, along with candy canes and other seasonal treats.So it’s largely up to Brach’s to keep consumers interested. In some ways, its efforts appear to have been paying off.Sales of Brach’s candy corn have been growing year-over-year from 2020 to 2022, said Katie Duffy, vice president and general manager of seasonal at the Ferrara C...

Have Bay Area students recovered from pandemic learning losses?

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:48 GMT

It’s been two years since California’s students returned to the classroom. But the Golden State’s newly released assessment test scores show that across both the Bay Area and the state, students’ performance is still lagging behind pre-pandemic levels — and the most vulnerable students continue to show the steepest losses.The Bay Area fared better than the state as a whole in 2022-23, but with just 55.4% of students from Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties passing or exceeding the standards for English, and 46.5% for mathematics. That’s according to results of the Smarter Balanced exams, an assessment given to California students in grades three through eight and grade 11 every year.But when compared to 2018-19, the year before COVID turned schools upside down, the region’s average pass rates are 3-percentage points lower in English and 4 points lower in mathematics. And for every county but San Francisco, this past year’s score...

Suspected Bay Area car thief impaled on fence

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:48 GMT

A man fleeing Vallejo police impaled his leg while trying to jump a fence and required medical assistance to get down, authorities said.An officer spotted a stolen 2018 Infiniti Q50 traveling on Tennessee Street near Vervais Avenue in the early morning hours of Oct. 16, according to a social media post by the Vallejo Police Department. When the officer tried to pull the car over, police said it accelerated away – kicking off a high-speed chase.The vehicle eventually stopped near the Cal Maritime campus and authorities said two men jumped out and took off running toward the college’s gated dorms.Both men, according to police, attempted to climb over the fence – but only the passenger made it. The vehicle’s driver wasn’t so lucky.“The Vallejo Fire Department and Medic Ambulance arrived and successfully removed the driver’s leg from the security spike,” police stated. “He was then transported to a local hospital for medical clearance before incarceration.”The other suspect got away.Rel...

San Jose targets retail theft with new police unit

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:48 GMT

(BCN) -- Thieves hoping to snatch items off the shelves of San Jose retailers may have a tougher time this holiday season.City policymakers this week launched a new police team to stop retail theft after the city saw a 25% spike in the crime from 2021 to 2022. Video: 5 suspects steal $50k in Gucci merch from San Jose store, 1 arrested The San Jose City Council unanimously approved creating the Organized Retail Theft Detail, an investigative team within the San Jose Police Department to gather intelligence and track crime statistics and patterns to identify hotspots, catch criminals and reduce the rate of retail crimes. The team will include one full time and four part-time investigators.Some shop owners say the timing is perfect with holiday shopping already underway. Jack Meir, manager of Yeti in Santana Row, said the store has lost almost $1,000 worth of merchandise after being open only two months."All we have talked about in our holiday meeting so far was trying to hire more s...