Workers at Cargill’s beef processing plant in Fort Morgan approved new contract, ending 89-day lockout
The Colorado Sun reports Teamsters Local 455 members overwhelmingly approved the five-year agreement Monday, with about 1,200 voting in favor and 200 against.
The vote reverses an earlier rejection of the contract by just 25 votes.
Workers will see first-year wages ranging from about 24 dollars and 20 cents to 32 dollars and 10 cents an hour, depending on their jobs. The agreement also includes changes to working conditions, including new safety language and provisions for bathroom breaks.
Cargill says workers will return in phases over the next 30 days, with the first employees expected back August 24.
The lockout began May 20, after workers rejected a proposed contract. Cargill then shut down the Fort Morgan plant and redirected cattle to other facilities.
The Colorado Sun reports the closure had a major economic impact on Fort Morgan, where Cargill is a major employer and contributor to the local tax base.
Bear shot by Paonia resident
Bear encounters are becoming increasingly common in Paonia, and the situation took a deadly turn last week when a resident shot and killed a bear in his backyard.
Residents are hearing trash cans and dumpsters slamming to the ground, and waking up to the aftermath. Bear sightings in alleys and on streets have become scarily common, as bears struggle to find food in the wild amid this year’s early bloom and summer drought.
For one resident, the situation came to a head when a bear entered his yard. Neighbor Mandy Papke told KVNF she was asleep when the bear was shot, but saw the body in her neighbor's yard the following morning.
Papke says the neighbor told her that two bears had been coming through the area regularly. He said that the two bears were in his yard, and "went out to to try to scare them away and the one wasn't leaving.”
The shooting has drawn criticism on social media, although few details about what happened have been made public. Mandy felt that though her neighbor hadn’t provided an airtight reason for shooting the bear, she didn’t want to make assumptions. She told KVNF, "I kind of had compassion for him as well, just because I didn't know exactly the situation and what he had been experiencing when it happened, when he decided to shoot it.”
Colorado law states that bears cannot be killed when they are causing damage to personal property, including pets. They can only be killed when it is necessary to prevent them from inflicting death, damage or injury to livestock, human life, real property, or a motor vehicle. Whether the shooting in Paonia met that standard is part of the investigation.
The Paonia Police Department declined to comment, saying Colorado Parks and Wildlife is leading the investigation. KVNF has also requested comment from CPW and has not yet received a response.
For now, the circumstances surrounding the shooting remain under investigation. And without more information about what happened that night, it’s unclear whether the shooting will lead to charges.
Australian and New Zealander firefighters help battle U.S. wildfires
Hundreds of Australian and New Zealander firefighters are now helping a stretched U.S. fire force with what has been a devastating season – especially in the Northwest. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Murphy Woodhouse has more from Idaho.
Take something, leave something: the news box reborn as an art exchange
A retired massage therapist in Delta County has a theory: that there is no such thing as a person who isn't an artist. And now she's testing that theory, with a bunch of old newspaper boxes. KVNF's Brody Wilson met Karen Floyd in Hotchkiss, at the first box in a project she hopes will one day reach every town in Colorado.
