• Three federal firefighters were killed while battling wildfires in western Colorado. The firefighters were part of a team assigned to the Snyder-Mesa fire, a 28,000-acre fire that was the result of the convergence of four separate fires.
• Colorado‘s primary elections were Tuesday, and it was a tough night for “establishment” politicians. Fifteen-term U.S. Rep. Diane DeGette lost her bid for re-election to a Democratic Socialist, three-term U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet lost his bid for the Democratic nomination for governor to AG Phil Weiser, and Barb Kirkmeyer, who has served as an elected official for more than 30 years, is losing her bid to be the Republican nominee for governor to Victor Marx, a ministry leader who may be the most dishonest and unqualified nominee in the history of the state.
• Meanwhile, Gov. Jared Polis’ campaign to completely shred his legacy as his term ends continues. After commuting election denier Tina Peters‘ sentence because she “showed remorse,” only to have her immediately hit the MAGA talk-show circuit to make the same claims as before, Polis has now fired two members of his clemency review board who shared publicly that the board was unanimously opposed to releasing Peters and that Polis skipped over more deserving candidates.
• It’s no fun to learn that Grandma was a Nazi, but that is what some Germans are dealing with thanks to a new online searchable database of official German records. “Given my mother’s entire character, mentality and political convictions as a liberal Catholic, it was actually inconceivable that she would have joined the (Nazi Party) in 1940 at the age of 23,” said a surprised university research professor who searched the records for his parents. “But it is documented in the card index …. She never mentioned this within the family.”
• What greater tribute to America’s 250th anniversary is there than … accidentally blowing up your own home because an unattended cigarette ignited 700 pounds of illegal fireworks in your basement. To quote Trey Parker and Matt Stone‘s movie Team America: World Police: “America … F–k Yeah!”
• “The average life expectancy of a new Russian recruit—from arrival at a training ground to death in a combat zone—lies somewhere between 10 days and three weeks. Once sent onto the battlefield, they survive an average of 20 to 35 minutes.“
• NPR’s Nina Totenberg has been breaking stories since the 1970s, but the 82-year-old’s mistake this week in incorrectly reporting that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito had retired risks overshadowing much of that storied career. NPR retracted and apologized for the story, but not before it was published by other public radio members that were then forced to remove the article and issue their own retractions. Was it an embargoed story that accidentally got published too soon? We may find out tomorrow in a holiday Friday news dump.
  • Meanwhile, ESPN has formally retracted an article it says “contained errors” alleging that NFL player Michael Pennel had a relationship with a woman who was found dead on property he owned in the Dominican Republic.
• The prosecutors of Charlie Kirk‘s alleged killer seem to be going out of their way to make a conviction harder. The judge in the case issued a contempt of court ruling against the top prosecutor for violating a court order by speaking to media about the case, a move that almost caused the judge to take the death penalty off the table.
• Peak Colorado–Nebraska animosity took place in the early 1990s when Bill McCartney and Tom Osborne were head football coaches. While things have cooled since then, a flare-up has emerged. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on Nebraska’s accusation that Colorado isn’t sending it enough water via the South Platte and Nebraska’s attempt to eminent domain land in Colorado to build a canal to alleviate the alleged shortage.
• Uruguay failed to win a single game at the FIFA World Cup (they had two ties and a loss), so its national soccer governing body canceled the team’s charter flight home and made them fly commercial. If they had lost all three games, Uruguay probably would have also assigned all the players middle seats.
• The Colorado Supreme Court struck a blow against Democratic hopes to gerrymander Colorado in response to similar efforts in red states. In a 7-0 decision, the court rejected five ballot measures that would have allowed the state’s congressional districts to be redrawn because they violated the state’s single-subject requirement.
• Volkswagen will reportedly cut as many as 100,000 jobs globally over the next few years, which represents 15% of its global workforce. Industry analysts point to U.S. tariffs and increased competition from electric cars from China as the cause.
• One more reason to avoid big cruise ships: the latest ocean cruise trend is elaborately decorating your cabin door like it is a sorority pledge binder.
• The Buffalo Bills are relocating to a new stadium this fall, but one element of the previous stadium will not make the move: a tribute to disgraced former Bills running back O.J. Simpson that has been part of the team’s “Wall of Fame.” A Bills representative said, “We have made an organizational decision that he is not a fit to display inside our new stadium and family circle.”

Who won the week?

• SchroderHaus has added McKinzey Crossland Saig, Katrina Froelich and Danielle Aires to its team.
• GroundFloor Media promoted Lauren Noser and Becky Cole to the roles of vice presidents.
• Dovetail Solutions promoted Jack Holleran to Director of Client Services.
• Melissa Draper has retired from her role as Senior Director of Internal Communications at VF Corporation.
• Beatty & Wozniak added Kristin Merikangas Dalmy as Director of Marketing & Business Development.
• 9News weekend evening anchor Jennifer Meckles is switching to anchoring weekend mornings, a move she says is more family-friendly.
• Happy Independence Day, America. It hasn’t always been easy – we’ve survived a civil war, two World Wars, slavery, an internment, a depression, dozens of recessions, four presidential assassinations and one presidential resignation, among other things – but over the past 250 years we have survived and grown to be a world superpower. No matter how many hits we take, we always get off the mat. Here’s hoping that applies to the next 250 years, too.