Estes Park Trail-Gazette

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Today is Tuesday, July 8, the 189th day of 2025. There are 176 days left in the year. Today in History: On July 8, 2000, Venus Williams beat Lindsay Davenport for her first Grand Slam title, becoming the first Black female champion at Wimbledon since Althea Gibson in 1958. Also on this date: In 1776, Col. John Nixon gave the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, outside the State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Dear Eric: A year and a half ago, I moved in with my mother. It was her idea, as I was having financial and health difficulties. I resisted at first, but eventually it became my only option. My life situation improved for a while, but I recently resigned from a stressful job at her urging. I am close to retirement age and have had difficulty finding and keeping a job since a career-ending “layoff” almost 15 years ago by an employer that was downsizing.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Your Daily Astrology: July 8 Universal Day Score: +350 Helena’s proprietary day scores give the odds for a day for everyone. Higher scores = more opportunity. Lower scores = more risk. Range = +2500 to –2500. BIRTHDAY STAR: Actor Kevin Bacon was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on this day in 1958.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Lightning sparked a new fire in Mesa Verde National Park on Monday evening, shutting down part of the park, according to the National Park Service. As of Tuesday morning, the Wetherill Mesa area was closed to the public for the wildfire, which had consumed roughly half an acre, or 21,780 square feet, according to Mesa Verde officials. The closure includes the entire Wetherill Mesa Road and the Long House and Step House cliff dwellings, park officials said.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... By RIO YAMAT U.S. airlines spent $6.66 billion on jet fuel in May, the second straight month that fuel costs topped $6 billion, according to government data released Tuesday. The May figure was 84% higher than a year earlier. Airlines spent $6.47 billion on fuel in April, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics said.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... By ANNE M. PETERSON, AP Soccer Writer VANCOUVER, British Colombia (AP) — Ruben Vargas converted his penalty and Switzerland advanced to the World Cup quarterfinals with a 4-3 shootout win over Colombia after a scoreless draw on Tuesday. Switzerland will next face defending champion Argentina on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Argentina defeated Egypt 3-2 earlier in the day.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The radiologist accused of driving his wife and two children off a cliff near Devil’s Slide in 2023 had his criminal case dismissed Monday after completing a two-year mental health diversion program tied to what defense psychologists described as a depression-driven psychotic break. Dharmesh Patel, 45, stood silently in a white shirt and red tie as San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Sharon K.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Old Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain National Park opened to vehicle traffic for the season on Saturday. The historic 9.4-mile unpaved road, constructed between 1913 and 1920, begins near Endovalley Picnic Area and climbs to Fall River Pass, where it joins Trail Ridge Road at the Alpine Visitor Center. Because of its narrow, winding design, the route is open to one-way uphill traffic only.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... George E. Johnson Sr., the onetime chemist who built Chicago-based Johnson Products Co., the nation’s largest producer of cosmetics and hair products for African Americans, died on Monday at his Chicago home. The death was confirmed in a statement by the Johnson family. Johnson had been a longtime resident of Water Tower Place in the Gold Coast, and he previously had lived in Glencoe.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... A Rohnert Park mother stopped the sale of a marijuana vape pen to her child, leading to the arrest of the alleged seller, authorities said. In a news release, the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety said a man communicated with a 12-year-old through Snapchat to set up a deal to sell a marijuana vape. The child’s mother, however, interrupted the sale at their home on July 1, authorities said.