Megan Verlee

Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, with her short, moussed hair and armloads of religious tattoos, is a bit of a Lutheran rock star at the moment (although the term makes her cringe). Her new book — a memoir on faith and her religious experience — recently made the New York Times best-seller list.

A student armed with a shotgun opened fire at a Colorado high school, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said Friday. Police said the shooter injured two fellow students at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo., before killing himself.

Investigators trying to unravel the murder of Colorado corrections chief Tom Clements seem to find many of the threads leading back to the 211 Crew. That's a white supremacist gang in Colorado's prisons. While a direct connection is still elusive, the evidence so far raises questions about the group, and the extent of their reach.

The head of Colorado's state prison system was shot and killed this week when he answered the front door at his home in Monument. The incident happened just hours before Colorado's governor signed strict new gun-control measures into law.

Colorado's Legislature is poised to pass sweeping gun reform. The House passed bills that limit high-capacity magazines and require background checks on private gun sales. The bills will now be debated in the Senate, which promises bills of its own. Colorado has experienced two of the worst mass shootings in the nation, the latest in July 2012.

Police and medical examiners offered emotional testimony during the first day in the preliminary hearing for James Holmes. The former graduate student is accused in the mass shooting at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater. The attack left a dozen people dead and injured at least 58 others.

The Waldo Canyon fire destroyed more than 300 homes in June. Some former residents are now preparing to move back — others just want to move on. One woman who lost her home is still holding on to charred relics that she recovered from her home, including a blackened Christmas ornament.

The city is surprisingly diverse, with more than 90 languages spoken in its public schools. Local officials and residents are working to turn that diversity into an economic advantage — but creating a sense of community among such diverse groups is no small challenge.

Aurora is the third-largest city in Colorado, but it's probably not one many people had heard of prior to Friday's massacre that left 12 dead and dozens more injured. Residents are reflecting on what the shootings mean for their city during a summer that already had been less than quiet.

Burro racing began in the 1940s as the offspring of another Colorado industry: tourism. It has fewer participants than almost any other sport out there. On Sunday, the world champion of pack burro racing will be crowned in Fairplay, Colo.