As Colorado becomes just the second state in the country to ban use of the term “excited delirium” on police and autopsy reports… following our yearlong investigation…

I want to take a moment to explain the motivation behind our work.

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9news.com/article/news/i… Years ago, we started examining prone restraint deaths…

Deaths that followed prolonged prone restraint.

We spent years on it and found a lot of cases that were barely covered by local media.

Why? More on that in a moment.

Here’s link:

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9news.com/article/news/i…

A THREAD

As the trial of two officers charged in the death of #ElijahMcClain gets underway...

...I would urge you to pay close attention to the term "EXCITED DELIRIUM"

Yes, I've reported on it extensively, but it also plays a BIG role in this death

Let me explain...

1/ You don't need to know much about EXCITED DELIRIUM to know it played a significant role in his death.

How can I say that? Because not long after officers took McClain to the ground, the idea of it materialized.

Right after giving ketamine, a fire paramedic said this:

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It's fair for @dps_k12 school board members to say they didn't fire McAuliffe principal Kurt Dennis...

It is NOT fair for them to suggest they have nothing to do with the story

DPS policy, supported by the Board, has been to keep potentially violent students in school

1/ It's why Dennis came to us earlier this year

DPS mandated that a student charged with attempted murder go back to McAuliffe despite repeated objections from Dennis

Here is our first story on that.


2/9news.com/article/news/i…

While working on a series of stories on the controversial term EXCITED DELIRIUM...

...I've come across some news reports that should go into the ole "maybe we could have done better" file

Let's start with this one.

Maybe "irked" isn't the right word?

A THREAD

1/ I'm pretty sure the handcuffing didn't kill him

2/

The only fame we usually get comes from the occasional, “Hey, I know you” in a grocery store

The pay, particularly early on, is much lower than viewers might ever imagine

We move. To cities we don’t know. Often far from families

Recently, people have threatened us. Berated us Accused us of bias believing we’re some sort of monolithic entity.

We’ve written countless stories in live trucks and passenger seats and Starbucks and, on occasion, on random spots of floor.

If we don’t know a specific reporter, we work with a reporter who knows that one

As a reminder…especially today…

Most journalists are local.

Most never attended elite schools. Most make far less than you might ever imagine.

Most work really really hard and almost never touch national politics. I started out making 12.5k covering city council and school board meetings in Casper Wyoming.

I graduated from a state school with a journalism degree.

I amassed large credit card debt in my first few years out of school.

If you’re a journalist and you’re interviewing ANY physician about any rx drug

and you don’t even bother to go to openpaymentsdata.cms.gov to look for potential conflicts of interest…

…you are committing journalistic malpractice.

Stop this sh— please! The website couldn’t be any more user friendly.

It’s perhaps the best government website I’ve ever seen.

Here it is. Use it. I beg of you.

openpaymentsdata.cms.gov

QUICK #CVOVID19Colorado THREAD

Headline: Wastewater really starting to see an increase in CASES.

Some spots have really started to pop.

Let's start with northern Denver metro. Highest reading since Feb.

#9news Central Denver.

Going up... not as pronounced.

We deeply want mass shooters to be simplified into something manageable

something that helps us better understand why.

But there’s a real challenge to that.

“Why” is not always discernible.

It typically involves motives as complex as the mind itself. Colorado has a long history of mass shootings.

We also have a long history of the early application of presumed and simple motivations.

Only later do we learn more.

And even then the answer isn’t always satisfying.

I have no idea what “preliminary charges” are…

We’ve got the be super clear on this.

Charges have not been filed. When they eventually are, there will likely be dozens of them.

That could happen in a matter of days.

https://twitter.com/ap/status/1594864097564233728

Charges will include 1 or 2 murder charges for each of the 5 dead.

Each would carry a life sentence should there be a conviction.

Also. Prosecutors will absolutely file attempted murder charges on behalf of, at the very least, each of the 17 with gunshot wounds.

A THREAD on COLORADO law

Want to review a CRITICAL aspect of a NEW CO law that is limiting transparency when it comes to the man now suspected of murdering 5 and shooting/injuring 17 others in Colorado Springs over the weekend

It involves this bill

leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/… HB19-1275 SAILED through the 2019 legislative session.

It was passed with good intent. A desire to keep people away from the burden of previous convictions/arrests. Particularly minor ones.

Here are some basics.

THREAD

Respiratory disease update in Colorado going on right now from CDPHE

Let's start with COVID

#9News
#COVID19Colorado
#RSVColorado Hospitalizations (covid)

"clear increasing trend" says state epi

Hey all...

So I'm about to hop on a call with @CDPHE folks... Similar to what we did with COVID.

But this time... we're talking COVID, RSV amd flu...

Details to follow below

#9news "An increasingly challenging respiratory' environment in Colorado is already underway according to Dr. Rachel Herlihy

"Unprecedented level of (RSV) transmission"

THREAD

@DenverPolice just released body cameras/HALO video of July 17 LoDo police shooting that resulted in 6 bystanders getting injured.

Let's start with HALO camera up above. Man in picture, say police, is Jordan Waddy.

He's involved in some sort of fight. Police respond. Waddy heads up Larimer. Police walk with him, on Larimer.

Journalism literacy 101

Most journalists work in local newsrooms. They are your neighbors. They gripe about some of the same things you do.

They seldom cover national politics. Routinely cover hyper local issues.

They don’t appear on cable news.

And they work very, very hard Many make far less than you might ever imagine.

Most have struggled…particularly over the last 2 years.

They’ve seen wonderful colleagues leave. For more money. Better hours. To do something else.

They’ve been barked at by strangers. Accused of “fake news”.

QUICK THREAD about what one doc told us what a scientific miracle

When you look at the lungs through an XRAY... you want to see more black. Black = air

White (when it's not bone) can equal infection

Left is not great. But it's not anything like what you're seeing on the right. Nate McWIlliams presented to Swedish Medical Center short of breath late last summer

Within days, it was clear... his lungs were so infected that he was in trouble.

Yo... Colorado...

Does it seem like you're starting to know more people getting COVID again?

A quick THREAD (look who's back baby!)

Yes... things have turned. (SEE BELOW)

#covid19Colorado CASES

We've DOUBLED cases in arond 3 weeks

Not crazy growth... but definitely growing.

Mask mandates

Do they work?

I think they do. A little.

But a lot?

Well, let's take a look at 3 Colorado counties.
Douglas, Adams, Arapahoe.

Two adopted mask mandates in late Nov. One didn't.
So.. what's happened since then?

Let's look at hospitalizations. Douglas County (in a much publicized move) elected not to go forward with mask mandates

Arapahoe/Adams

(like Denver)

elected to move forward with them (only dissolved last week)

MONDAY #COVID19Colorado update

Headline: Cases continue sharp drop. Positivity in the 12s. ICU bed crunch continues to ease.

ICU BEDS
Best I've seen in months folks. Nearly 200 (We were close to 60 a little more than a month ago)

#9news CASES

Down to 3k

(14K at peak)

Let's talk about a story you might think you know a lot about...

yet you probably don't know this.

THREAD

In 2019, a semi going 85 mph and loaded with lumber collided with car after car after car on I-70.

The driver said he lost his brakes. You know all that.

1/

#9news You also likely know that four people died that day.

At least ten others were injured.

The crash happened April 25, 2019, on I-70 near Colorado Mills.

2/

TUESDAY #COVID19Colorado update

Headline: Steep downward trend continues. Positivity dropping pretty quickly now.

CASES
5.3K

About 40% of peak Jan 10 peak.

#9news POSITIVITY

Below 18. IN 20 days its gone from 29 to 18