For some victims of the Fourmile Fire that ravaged the hills of western Boulder County the week of Sept. 6, 2010, this has been the “year of the phoenix.” Others are still waiting to rise from the ashes.

A homeless man in Boulder has decided to run for city council. Ron Chase, who says he is one signature shy of qualifying for the ballot before today’s 5 p.m. deadline, is running on a platform that includes expanding employment opportunities for the homeless, reining a Boulder police force that he says is too aggressive, and rescinding the city’s anti-camping ordinance that prohibits homeless people from sleeping under a blanket or tarp.

Only two of the nine members of a county cropland advisory group believe genetically modified foods should not be grown on local open space lands.

Some Boulder County employers are airing concerns about Groupon and similar group discount programs, citing costs that they say can be debilitating to small businesses.“It’s been the single worst business decision I’ve ever made,” Rachel Bacchus, owner of Boulder-based ELDO Esthetics and Waxing, says of her experience with Groupon.

Xcel Energy announced today that talks with City of Boulder officials about a new franchise agreement have broken off because of a disagreement about what questions to put on the ballot.

Before talks between Xcel and the city broke off Thursday, battle lines had been drawn for what would have been a momentous Boulder City Council meeting on July 19 regarding the company''s proposal for a 20-year franchise agreement heavy on wind energy.

As Boulder leaders ponder whether to put a symbolic measure opposing “corporate personhood” on the ballot this fall, Longmont officials may again be facing a real-life uphill battle against well-funded corporate interests when it comes to an election initiative.

A Department of Justice official has issued a new memo that seems to place medical marijuana dispensaries square in the crosshairs of federal agents.

Kathleen Chippi, a Nederland resident and former dispensary owner, says that within the next week, she plans to file a constitutional challenge to legislation such as HB 1284, which sets up strict regulations and surveillance systems for dispensaries and other medical marijuana operations in the state.

On June 3, Boulder County Public Health (BCPH) announced that a domestic cat and a dead squirrel tested positive for plague. The cat lived in the 2500 block of 6th Street, and the squirrel was found at 8th Street and Maxwell Avenue.