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“Holly,” the conversational AI platform, may take your next burger order

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

Fast-food restaurants wrestling with finding workers are turning to a helper named Holly, who is being deployed by a Denver technology company. Her specialty is taking drive-thru orders and she sounds just human enough to do it smoothly while signaling that customers are talking to a robot.Valyant AI’s conversational artificial intelligence platform, “Holly,” is taking orders at some Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. restaurants in Colorado and four other states. Four of the fast-food restaurants in Colorado are using the technology and 19 more are under contract to add Holly, Valyant AI CEO Rob Carpenter said.The company struck a deal to provide CKE Restaurant Holdings, the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., with its AI platform. CKE is working with two other companies to automate its drive-thru orders.The agreement reached last week allows Valyant AI to start selling to CKE’s franchisees, Carpenter said. “So it’s 3,000 potential locations ac...

Do you have the right lawn for where you live in Colorado?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

Trends in fashion, design and pop culture come and go. Some circle back after a few decades.One garden trend that is getting a lot of attention lately is replacing water-thirsty lawns with a more water-thrifty landscape. More people are paying attention to their outdoor water use and seeking ways to be better stewards of our natural resources.This trend is a keeper.Water-aware landscapes are becoming a preferred practice for homeowners, municipalities and homeowner associations as respect for conscientious water consumption continues to take root in the entire Rocky Mountain region.Popular replacement alternatives include installing native grass turf or other types that require less water. Another option is to reduce the lawn area for a different use like a patio or vegetable garden. A style that is also gaining popularity is to replace lawns and add plants with a focus on native, prairie or adapted plants that require less water along with the bonus of attracting plant pollinators ...

Aurora sent police to Denver during 2020 protests. Which city should pay for officers’ alleged misconduct?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

Aurora is asking a judge to force Denver to pay the full cost of lawsuits that include the city and the police officers it lent to its larger neighbor during the massive 2020 racial justice protests.Attorneys for Aurora filed a lawsuit against Denver on Friday, alleging that city’s officials have not said whether they’ll meet their obligation under Colorado law to pay for legal costs, settlements and jury awards against Aurora officers who worked in Denver during the 2020 protests.“Aurora has repeatedly asked Denver to confirm that it will indemnify Aurora or otherwise assume responsibility for these claims as required by state law and the parties’ longstanding practice and agreement,” the lawsuit states. “Denver has refused, and so Aurora now seeks a declaration establishing that Denver does, in fact, have that obligation.”The legal fight between two of Colorado’s largest cities comes three years after thousands of people marched in downtow...

Colorado’s last horse track says tax policy could close it

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

The only horse racing track in Colorado said it could close in the near future if a Centennial judge does not stop a state agency from reinterpreting its tax policy.“It will be the death knell for horse racing in Colorado,” Arapahoe Park in Aurora said.The track and the Department of Revenue have been at loggerheads since August 2021 over how much money the track is supposed to pay in taxes for wagers that are placed on Arapahoe Park races from out-of-state betting locations. The track said it receives only 3 percent of revenue from those bets, yet the state is trying to tax the track as if it received 100 percent of the revenue.In May 2022, a temporary agreement was reached between DOR, Arapahoe Park and the Colorado Horse Racing Association, a trade group. That agreement allowed Arapahoe Park to pay taxes on only a small percentage of out-of-state bets, as it has for decades. With a signed agreement in place, the 2022 horse racing season went on as planned in Aurora.The question n...

Jupiter will vanish Wednesday — but then reappear within minutes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

If you want to see the largest planet in the solar system disappear and then reappear less than an hour later, grab your binoculars, set them next to your alarm clock and wake up early on Wednesday morning.Between 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., an “occultation” of the planet Jupiter by the moon will take place, meaning the path of the moon will cross in front of Jupiter. At first, Jupiter will appear to the left of the moon. After the occultation, Jupiter will appear to the right.It could be difficult to see, because it will happen low in the eastern sky near sunrise, and also because the moon will be just a thin crescent. That’s why you may need the binoculars to find the moon and to locate Jupiter, because the planet will appear as a bright object near it. Related ArticlesOutdoors | First solar eclipse in six years tops list of the best celestial events you can see in Colorado in 2023 Jupiter is usually the second-brightest planet in the sky. Only Venus is...

Mom, 2 young daughters killed in Mother's Day crash on 10 Freeway in Riverside County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

A 31-year-old mother and two of her daughters were killed in a tragic crash on Interstate 10 in Riverside County Sunday. Six other members of the family were injured in the wreck. The crash happened around 7:30 a.m. in Whitewater, a town located about 15 minutes northwest of Palm Springs. Officers with the California Highway Patrol responded to the scene on the eastbound 10 Freeway just west Haugen-Lehmann Way, but not before other motorists and Good Samaritans attempted to help the victims.  “When I got into that one lane, I looked ahead of me there was this kid in the fourth lane flailing around on the ground, and people were just driving around him,” Dr. Timothy Jochen told KTLA. The dermatologist pulled up to the aftermath of the deadly crash and says it’s a scene he will never forget.  “So, I stopped, parked in the median, got out of my car and ran up to the kid,” Jochen said. “I may not be the best person there. I’m not an ER physician, but I’m going to be a hec...

Walk off walk: Dodgers win in 12th against Twins; Muncy homers twice to regain major-league lead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

Chris Taylor scored on a bases-loaded walk in the 12th inning, Max Muncy homered twice to move back into the major-league lead, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Minnesota Twins 9-8 on Monday night for their sixth straight win.Trayce Thompson drew a walk on a full count with the bases loaded and two outs off Jorge López (1-1) to give Los Angeles its third walk-off victory this season.Thompson said his approach was the same as any other at-bat, despite the increased stakes.“I’m not looking to just take a pitch right there. If he throws a pitch right down the middle, and I am not aggressive, it’s tough to sleep at night,” Thompson said. “You have to take your two-strike approach and try to battle anything close. If it’s not there. it’s not there.”Will Smith also went deep as the Dodgers led 6-3 thru seven innings before the game saw three ties and three lead changes in the final five innings.Minnesota's Trevor Larnach hit a game-tying home run in the eighth inning. Jorge Polanco ha...

San Francisco security guard will not be charged in fatal shooting of suspected Walgreens shoplifter

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

By Veronica Miracle, Cheri Mossburg and Taylor Romine | CNNProsecutors will not press charges against a security guard who shot and killed Banko Brown, who was suspected of shoplifting at a Walgreens in downtown San Francisco last month, the district attorney’s office announced Monday.Surveillance video and other materials regarding Brown’s death were released Monday following an investigation by the district attorney’s office due to the “extraordinary public interest” in the case, the San Francisco DA’s office said in a statement.“Based on the criminal investigation, review of evidence, and evaluation of the case, we have determined that there is insufficient evidence to support the filing of criminal charges against the suspect in the Banko Brown death investigation,” the statement said.The San Francisco Board of Supervisors last week sent a letter asking District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to release the surveillance video showing the April 27 shooting after no charges were brought ...

Gas in U.S. is almost $1 cheaper than a year ago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

By Matt Egan | CNNFilling up at the pump might not be cheap. But gas prices are miles away from last summer’s nightmare.At this point last year, gas prices were racing toward $5 a gallon, angering Americans, alarming central bankers and threatening the entire economy.Flash forward 12 months: The national average currently stands at $3.54 a gallon, according to AAA. That’s down 21% from a year ago when the average was $4.47 a gallon and 29% from the June 2022 record of $5.02 a gallon.There are multiple reasons for the cheaper gas — and not all of them are good. But the fact gas prices are much closer to $4 than $5 is a clear positive for consumers as they gear up for the start of summer driving season and more evidence of the economy-wide inflation cooldown.“We’ve seen a lot of improvement,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “The American consumer is slightly smiling at the lower price of gasoline but I don’t think it’s a full-blown smile yet because the o...

Ex-Border Patrol agent guilty of murder of 93-year-old hospital volunteer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

A 43-year-old man has pleaded guilty to the July 22, 2020 murder of Maxine O. Callaghan, 93.Chantry Rice Chantry Rice, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a sentence agreement of 20 to 38 years in prison before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Wanda Evans.Rice had worked for several years as a Border Patrol Agent in Texas before moving to Michigan.Then-Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said the case was especially difficult when he announced Rice’s arrest in 2020.He said Callaghan was well known in her area of the community, walking her neighborhood in the 21000 block of Outer Drive daily, and also volunteering at the Henry Ford.“We lost a very revered member of our community,” he said. “We’d like to offer our condolences to the family.”He said officers were called to her house around 7:30 p.m. July 22 where they found her dead. Haddad said they found her body “injured,” but declined to say the extent of the injuries. He later said it was “blunt force.”“This was a hig...