There is no good time to be forced from your home, but if more Boulder residents are forced to evacuate due to the Flagstaff Fire, finding a place to stay in the area may become an added frustration. In addition to the pending Fourth of July holiday, a softball tournament in the area threatens to make hotel rooms scarce throughout the weekend.

South Boulder residents began preparing for the worst this week, gathering belongings, packing cars, kenneling pets and staying informed in case pre-evacuation notices became mandatory evacuations for their area.

Western wildfires have dominated headlines in June — but media coverage focuses only on effects, while ignoring a major cause. We hear about an increase in the number and intensity of wildfires. And separately, we hear about ongoing global warming, like how May was the second-hottest on record globally behind only May 2010. Why aren’t those dots being connected?

Crews continued fighting the Flagstaff Fire west of Boulder on Wednesday, and local officials said they were “cautiously optimistic” that the blaze could be contained in the next several weeks, provided winds don’t flare up.

Crews of firefighters initially sent in to fight the Flagstaff Fire on Tuesday had to be withdrawn due to “extreme fire behavior,” Cmdr. Rick Brough of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office told reporters at a 4:30 p.m. news conference.

Victims of the 2010 Fourmile Fire are urging Boulder County residents to help those affected by the massive High Park Fire, and one recommended avenue is donating to an emergency fund created by the NoCo Rebuilding Network.

Planetary Resources Inc. made international news when it held a coming-out press conference in Seattle April 24 and announced 1) its goal was to mine near-Earth asteroids, and 2) it had the backing of some serious, high-profile, and deep-pocketed entrepreneurs, including Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, Google co-founder Larry Page, real estate and software developer H. Ross Perot, Jr., and filmmaker James Cameron.

Even landlocked Colorado residents are connected to the ocean — but making people here more aware of how we’re connected to the watery 70 percent of our planet and what we can do to protect the ocean from here, on land, is the mission of Vicki Goldstein, founder of the Colorado Ocean Coalition.

After filing an open records request with Pearlman’s office on June 5, Garnett’s phone log for that period was provided to BW.

Boulder County Commissioner Will Toor says someone has been attempting to mar his well-earned liberal reputation by sending right-wing groups money in his name.