Le Journal

Boys basketball competition for the local high schools is underway and there have already been some noteworthy games and news to kick off the 2025-26 campaign. Here is a group of teams to keep a close eye on this season and a list of players that are poised to make big impacts this year. *Teams and players are listed in alphabetical order. TEAMS TO WATCH Campbell Hall: Head coach David Grace, who had been with Vikings for the past two seasons, was unexpectedly let go just a few weeks before the start of the season. New coach Vonn Webb takes over a team that is loaded with young talent including sophomores Chris Paul II and Kyle Sanders, a transfer from Bishop Montgomery. Veteran players who were on varsity last year, Nikita Kochnev, Deuce Newt and Christian Rogers, return to help lead Campbell Hall. Cleveland: The Cavaliers, led by veteran coach Dagem Asfaw, boast a talented and deep roster that should contend for a City Section Open Division title. Sergine Deme, a 6-foot-8 center, leads Cleveland in the middle, with a bevy of talented impact players including transfers TJ Wansa, Charlie Adams, Chasen Pejoro and Emmitt Claiborne. Crespi: The Celts launched their 2025-26 campaign with a bang, defeating Cleveland 81-44 last Monday. Five players scored in double figures, providing a small snippet of how well-rounded this Crespi team is. The Barnes twins, Carter and Isaiah, have gotten noticeably bigger and stronger, and lead a tenacious Celts defense. Christian Tshina-Nzambi, Cayman Martin, Phoenix Smith, Nickon Daei will all be regular contributors, plus the addition of transfer Jasiah Williams will add an extra punch to an already deep roster. Golden Valley: The Grizzlies missed out on the playoffs last year because of a coin flip and their returning team is motivated to make sure their postseason hopes don’t lie in the hands of chance again. Coaches in the Foothill League said junior Donovan Webb could be the best player in the league and seniors Wyatt Printz, Zach Christoffersen and Alex Villejo round out a well-balanced team. Villejo, who just committed to Rose-Hulman University, was second in California in made 3-pointers last year. Harvard-Westlake: Texas commit Joe Sterling didn’t have to wait long to display his crunchtime clutch ability, hitting a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer to defeat San Gabriel Academy in the season opener. Along with Sterling, the Wolverines are loaded with seniors Amir Jones, Dominique Bentho and Barron Linnekens. Juniors Pierce Thompson and Cole Holden have been on varsity since they were freshmen, and both will look to make big leaps forward this year. Notre Dame: The loss of the No. 1 recruit in the nation Tyran Stokes dominated the headlines, but it shouldn’t take away from the fact that the Knights still have one of the most talented teams in the state. San Diego State commit Zach White is one of the most versatile players in the Mission League and NaVorro Bowman Jr. and Josiah Nance are two of the most skilled juniors in the area. Sierra Canyon: The Trailblazers are coming off a CIF State Division 1 title last year and have their eyes set on an Open Division championship this season. Returners Maxi Adams and Jordan Askew have already made an immediate impact, with the latter hitting a buzzer-beating layup to lead Sierra Canyon to a 67-65 win over Millikan in the season opener. Sierra Canyon also brought in a ton of talent via transfers Brandon McCoy, Brannon Martinsen and Delan Grant. St. Francis: The Golden Knights went winless in the Mission League last year, but things can change quickly. St. Francis, led by one of the most respected coaches in the area,is Todd Wolfson, is poised to make a leap this year and contend in league. Sophomore point guard Luke Paulus got a lot of playing time last year as a freshman, which will only help his progress. Cherif Millogo, a 7-foot-3 newcomer to the team, is already proving to be a force. Thousand Oaks: The Lancers had a down year last season…

A man accused of taking a stolen shuttle bus on a joyride down Interstate 70 in Colorado last month and trying to hit first responders was arrested Friday and charged with attempted murder, according to court records. Jared Romelo Brooks, 30, faces eight felony charges, including attempted first-degree murder, second-degree motor vehicle theft, third-degree motor vehicle theft and vehicular eluding, according to court records. Brooks was also charged with reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor; reckless driving, a traffic charge; and theft, court records show. The charges stem from an Oct. 10 incident where Brooks is accused of stealing a shuttle bus in Georgetown and fleeing from police on I-70, according to a news release from the U.S. Marshals Service. Highway cameras captured Brooks swerving toward first responders, including two Idaho Springs police officers, assisting with an unrelated crash on the side of the road, according to the news release. Investigators believe Brooks swerved intentionally in an attempt to strike the group with the bus. Body-worn camera video released in October by the Idaho Springs Police Department showed the bus speeding past stopped traffic on the shoulder, veering through the crash scene, hitting the police car and narrowly missing the police officers and EMTs before fleeing. The bus was later found abandoned in Denver, police said. Police used video from inside the stolen bus to identify Brooks as a suspect and issued a warrant for his arrest on Thursday, according to the U.S. Marshals. Detectives from the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Marshals with the Colorado Violent Offender Task Force, along with local law enforcement agencies, arrested Brooks early Friday morning in Denver. The task force included officers with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, Colorado Department of Corrections, Englewood Police Department, Lakewood Police Department and Golden Police Department, federal officials said. The team watched two addresses where Brooks was believed to be staying until the man was spotted walking out of a residence in the 1300 block of Osage Street shortly after noon Friday, according to the news release. That’s when Brooks was taken into custody and the second address, in the 1200 block of Kalamath Street, was searched. Related Articles Cyberattack on CodeRED forces Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to seek new alert network Mountain lion illegally poached, dumped in Colorado canyon Colorado man gets 15 months jailtime for $200,000 money laundering scheme Northern Colorado home day care owner charged with child abuse Pedestrian struck, killed in Westminster crash Police said Brooks had active felony warrants out of Denver for failure to appear on a larceny charge and out of Jefferson County for motor vehicle theft. Brooks is being held on a $100,000 bail. His next court date was not yet available on Monday. Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.

The Broncos returned to work Monday after their bye week sitting in terrific position. They lead the AFC West by two games. They’re a half-game back of New England for the top seed in the conference. They’re 9-2 and have not lost since Sept. 21. They’re also not perfect. Far from it, in fact. When the team reconvened Monday after players had all of last week off, Sean Payton laid out the opportunity ahead of the Broncos. “He just put all the information out there in front of us to know what we have in mind,” receiver Troy Franklin said. “He just basically broke it down to us, where we can end up being. “He just laid out all the options and opportunities we have out in front of us.” Payton, though, also talked through the issues that could prevent Denver from getting where it wants to go. “It’s not like we’re at the halfway point (of the season), but nonetheless here we are in position to compete for seeding and there are two things that stand out,” Payton said. Those things: A persistent penalty problem and mediocre results so far in the turnover department. The Broncos through 12 weeks are the most penalized team in the NFL. They lead the league in penalties against (93), penalty yards (883) and total number of flags (113), which includes declined and offsetting calls, according to NFLPenalties.com. “The penalties stand out,” Payton said. “If you said what’s the low-hanging fruit that you have to clean up to improve your chances of getting the best possible seed?” They’ve improved mildly in some areas — 11 teams have more than Denver’s 29 pre-snap penalties, for example — but there are also several sore spots. Perhaps chief among them at this juncture is defensive pass interference and particularly calls against third-year man Riley Moss. He’s been flagged for defensive pass interference a league-leading nine times (seven accepted) this season for a total of 158 yards. That included twice for 86 before the bye week against Kansas City. “With Riley, sometimes it’s technique and sometimes it’s the traffic opposite of a real good corner,” Payton said Monday. “Now, Pat (Surtain II) hasn’t been healthy, but there’s things that I’m sure (Moss) will want to clean up and then there’s a few calls where we look at it and it’s tough to try to correct or clean up something if you don’t agree with it. “Overall, the penalty thing is not just one player, though.” Overall, Denver’s been called for defensive pass interference a league-leading 14 times, have benefitted from the call just six times and are minus-190 in yardage on that penalty for the season. That represents the majority of their overall minus-227 penalty yardage differential. It’s also been a driver of some monster per-game numbers for Denver. The Broncos had just four instances of incurring 121 or more penalty yards in a game over their past 10 seasons but have hit that mark three times since Week 5, including 10 for 137 yards against Kansas City. They’ve come out on the wrong end of the penalty yards battle eight times in 11 games. “It’s something that we as a collective have to get better at,” Payton said. The turnover department hasn’t yielded such extreme results for Denver, but the numbers are middling at best. The Broncos are tied for the 10th fewest giveaways at 12, but tied for the fourth-fewest takeaways at 9. That leaves their overall turnover differential at minus-3, better than only 12 teams in the NFL. Denver’s defense has thrived without taking the ball away much because it does basically everything else at an elite level. Related Articles Broncos’ Wil Lutz hopes to finish career in Denver after signing 3-year extension Broncos’ Pat Bryant carries weight of lost friends to reach new heights in Denver: ‘Loyalty comes first’ Renck: Bo Nix-Sean Payton connection will answer biggest question: Are Broncos a Super Bowl team? Around the NFL: Shedeur Sanders finally gets practice reps with Browns, and shot at redemption in Las Vegas Grading The Week: Broncos, Avs, Wil…

Someone in southern Colorado, or who was visiting the state, hit the more than $3.2 million jackpot Saturday after buying a lottery ticket in Trinidad. The winning Colorado Lotto+ ticket was sold at an Alta Convenience Store at 731 East Main St. in Trinidad, according to a news release from the Colorado Lottery. “We won’t know who the winner is until they claim,” lottery spokesperson Rhea Phaneuf said in the release. Saturday night’s winning numbers were: 5, 10, 13, 17, 30 and 35. The lucky ticket holder, who remains anonymous and was the only person to hit the jackpot, won a total of $3,205,234 with a cash value of $1,602,617, according to lottery officials. Only three other players won prizes above $1,000, according to the lottery. Related Articles Man accused of taking stolen bus on I-70 joyride charged with attempted murder Cyberattack on CodeRED forces Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to seek new alert network Denver won’t pick up compost or recycling this week because of Thanksgiving, furloughs Mountain lion illegally poached, dumped in Colorado canyon Colorado weather: Will it snow during Thanksgiving travel? Since the Colorado Lottery began in 1983, it has invested more than $4.5 billion into Colorado’s outdoors and schools, according to the organization. Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.

By BYRON TAU and GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A number of Democratic lawmakers are questioning the legality of a U.S. Border Patrol predictive intelligence program that singles out and detains drivers for suspicious travel inside the country. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts sent a letter Monday to Border Patrol’s parent agency calling the license plate reader program an “invasive surveillance network” that “poses a serious threat to individuals’ privacy and civil liberties” and raised the possibility that the program may run afoul of the U.S. Constitution. “Such pervasive surveillance — similar to surveillance conducted by authoritarian regimes such as China — not only chills lawful expression and assembly but also raises serious constitutional concerns. Without transparency, accountability, and clear limitations, these practices erode fundamental individual rights and set a dangerous precedent for unchecked government power,” Markey wrote in a letter asking the agency for details about the plate readers and their use. A license plate reader stands along the side of a road, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, in Stockdale, Texas. (AP Photo/David Goldman) An Associated Press investigation published last week revealed that the U.S. Border Patrol, a component of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, is running a predictive intelligence program monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious. In some instances, Border Patrol concealed its license plate readers in ordinary traffic equipment. The agency also had access to plate data collected by other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies as well as from private companies. The program, which has existed under administrations of both parties, has resulted in people being stopped, searched and in some cases arrested. A network of cameras scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took. Federal agents in turn sometimes refer drivers they deem suspicious to local law enforcement who make a traffic stop citing a reason like speeding or lane change violations. Courts have generally upheld license plate reader collection on public roads but have curtailed warrantless government access to other kinds of persistent tracking data that might reveal sensitive details about the movement of individuals, such as GPS devices or cellphone location data. A growing critique by scholars and civil libertarians argues that large-scale collection systems like license plate readers might be unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from unreasonable searches. “Increasingly, courts have recognized that the use of surveillance technologies can violate the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Although this area of law is still developing, the use of LPRs and predictive algorithms to track and flag individuals’ movements represents the type of sweeping surveillance that should raise constitutional concerns,” Markey wrote. CBP did not immediately respond to a request for comment but previously said the agency uses license plate readers to help identify threats and disrupt criminal networks and their use of the technology is “governed by a stringent, multi-layered policy framework, as well as federal law and constitutional protections, to ensure the technology is applied responsibly and for clearly defined security purposes.” Related Articles Trump administration plan to reduce access to some student loans angers nurses, health care groups Judge dismisses Comey, James indictments after finding that prosecutor was illegally appointed Pentagon says it’s investigating Sen. Mark Kelly for video urging troops to defy ‘illegal orders’ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, former Trump loyalist, says she is resigning from…