Megan Hess and Shirley Koch, former owners of Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors in Montrose, are back in the news. A federal judge ordered Hess and Koch to pay just over $436,000 in restitution to the victims of their body-sales scam, reports the Montrose Daily Press. The United States District Judge in the case denied Hess’ bid to exclude the next of kin of decedents as victims eligible for restitution. Hess and Koch were indicted in 2020 on multiple counts of mail fraud; each pleaded to a single count last year and were in January sentenced to 20 and 15 years, respectively. They are currently in custody of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons at Waseca, Minnesota.
Colorado is the first state in the country to include gender-affirming care services in its benchmark health insurance plan for essential health benefits. According to information on the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies website, benchmark plans lay out services that insurance companies must cover for individual plans not provided by employers, as well as small group plans for small employers with 2 - 100 employees. More information is available at the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies website .The plans went into effect on January 1st.
Colorado Snowpack report released on Wednesday, shows a decent snow pack for this time of year. The San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan river basin leads the way with 139 percent of normal followed by the Gunnison River Basin at 138 percent of normal. Yampa and White at 134 percent. The Arkansas River Basin remains under normal at 75 percent.
