No Injuries Reported After Driver Crashes Into Freakys Store In ParkerNo one was injured on Tuesday night after a driver crashed into the Freakys store in Parker. More Avalanche, Nuggets Fans Can Attend Playoffs At Ball Arena, Capacity Increased To 10,500More fans can head to Ball Arena for the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets playoff games. Capacity has been increased to 10,500 fans. After Scoring Barrage By Damian Lillard, Aaron Gordon Told Denver Nuggets Coaches At Halftime 'I Got Him'The Nuggets had a problem: they had no answer for the barrage of shots Damian Lillard was making. It wasn't until Aaron Gordon spoke up at halftime that things changed. Michael Porter Jr. Comes in Third In Voting For NBA's Most Improved AwardDenver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. came in third in voting for the NBA's Most Improved Award. WATCH: Shaq Tries To Address Nikola Jokic In Serbian During Postgame InterviewThe Inside The NBA analyst took a shot at congratulating Jokic in his native language. It had mixed results. 'Numbers Don't Lie': Former Denver Nugget Star Fat Lever Pulls For Nikola Jokic As MVPNikola Jokic is one of three finalists for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award.<doc-sep>GOLDEN, Colo. (CBS4)– JeffCo Public Schools, Denver Public Schools and Douglas County Schools were among the first school districts in the Denver metro area to announce Wednesday they will reopen schools on Thursday. This comes after learning there was no longer a threat to schools across the Front Range on Wednesday morning. There was a Denver metro area wide school closure of 19 school districts and 500,000 students out of school on Wednesday due to a threat. Schools will have extra security measures in place when students return on Thursday. “We did not wish to have one person hold all of the schools of the front range or the state hostage,” said Superintendent Dr. Jason Glass. Jeffco Public Schools has 157 schools and around 85,000 students it has to consider when making the call to close for the day. Administrators told CBS4 earlier Wednesday, before the FBI announced their suspect was found dead, that they were waiting for as much information available on Tuesday night before making their decision. The woman from Florida came to Colorado and made comments that she was “Infatuated” with the shooters at Columbine. It was almost midnight before the district sent out notifications that school would be cancelled. “How do we change school on a normal day to how does school look like under this threat?” Glass said. District leaders started the day planning for a possible second day of school cancelled but also considering how they could reopen all of their campuses if the threat was still there. Changes to the programs in place would affect transportation, procedures for students to arrive to school, how they lock doors, and the food services they provide each day. Law enforcement agencies and school safety experts are consulted but JeffCo staff say they often do not get any other additional details than what the public learns, they may get it sooner to help them make a decision. They have to weigh what they know and the possibility of learning more information with the impact of cancelling school on short notice and the impact that will have on families. Glass says the experience of this threat, which many leaders have said felt different than the others they’ve experienced, prepared them for a similar situation that they will likely face again. “We see copycat versions of threats more commonly so we are developing systems and procedures on how we will react to situations like this in the future,” he said. Schools in Jefferson County will reopen on Thursday and all district events scheduled through the weekend will take place as planned. The Douglas County School District sent out a statement that reads in part, “Our schools will be open tomorrow, Thursday, April 18, with heightened safety and security measures in place. We do not share all of our security details with the public, but please know that staff will be extra vigilant. As always, our security team is working with our local law enforcement partners to provide adequate security and increased presence at all schools.” Other schools reopening Thursday include the Boulder Valley School District, Littleton Public Schools, Westminster School District, Poudre Schools and others that were closed on Wednesday.<doc-sep>^ Keep Westword Free Support Us Local Community Journalism I Support Support the independent voice of Denver and help keep the future of Westword free. Support Us Editor's note: Sol Pais has been reported to have died. Get additional information about her in our post "Columbine Threat Suspect Sol Pais Reportedly Dead" and "What We Know About Columbine Threat Suspect Sol Pais." Continue for our previous coverage. Sol Pais, an eighteen-year-old Florida woman said to be obsessed with the Columbine High School shooting, remains at large, and because she reportedly purchased a shotgun shortly after arriving in Colorado, she's considered armed and dangerous. Because of this threat, sixteen school districts across the Denver metro area will be closed today, April 17, three days prior to the twenty-year mark of the April 20, 1999, Columbine shootings, which killed twelve students and a teacher. The districts include Jefferson County Public Schools, which encompasses Columbine. At 12:01 a.m. today, the Jeffco district sent out this tweet: "In collaboration with other Denver-metro area school districts, all Jeffco Public Schools will be closed on Wednesday, April 17 due to the ongoing safety concern. All facilities and programs are closed for the day — no employees are to report." This secondary message followed: "There will be no afternoon activities or athletic competitions. We will continue to keep families updated on this situation before the end of the day on Wednesday." Denver Public Schools tweeted a message nearly identical to the first one above at 5:03 a.m. That this communication was delivered so late in comparison with Jeffco's is in keeping with the general tardiness of DPS when it came to dealing with the Pais matter, which was the subject of a late-night press conference streamed by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Here it is: At 2:48 p.m. on April 16, more than two hours after the Jeffco district first notified the public about the situation and instituted lockout procedures, the Colorado Department of Education tweeted: "Due to a credible threat to schools by an individual identified by the FBI, the Department of Public Safety recommends all schools in the Denver metro area conduct a lockout and controlled release immediately. More info to come." However, there appears to have been a lag of close to an hour between this alert and communication with at least some DPS schools; indeed, many of them dismissed as usual before learning about the concern. One charter school in Denver whose classes end at 4 p.m. was an exception to this rule: Staffers were all shown photos of Pais and instituted heightened security procedures when parents and guardians arrived to pick up their kids. However, teachers at that facility weren't given a heads-up until approximately 3:40 p.m. Likewise, notifications to parents in the district were slow in arriving. DPS subsequently posted this explanation on its website: "We also understand that there were technical difficulties in our communications today that delayed receipt of some of the messages sent to families via text, robo-call and email. This was not acceptable and we will be reviewing our software immediately to determine why these delays occurred in the delivery of messages." Look below to see the list of Denver area school districts that are closed today. 27J School District Adams 12 Five Star Schools Adams 14 School District Aurora Public Schools Boulder Valley School District Cherry Creek School District Clear Creek School District Denver Public Schools Douglas County School District Englewood Public Schools JeffCo Public Schools Littleton Public Schools Mapleton Public Schools Sheridan School District St. Vrain Valley Schools Thompson School District Anyone with information about Sol Pais, who was last seen in the foothills area after purchasing the shotgun and ammunition at a Littleton retailer, is encouraged to contact the FBI tipline at 303-630-6227 or denverfbitips@fbi.gov.<doc-sep>
AURORA | Aurora Public Schools and the Cherry Creek School District closed all schools and canceled all after-school events Wednesday, April 17, in response to a safety threat to Denver metro schools. All classes in both districts are canceled for the day as well as all athletics and after-school programming. Pickens Tech classes in APS are also canceled for the day. Dozens of other Front Range school districts, including Denver Public Schools, have also announced they are not holding classes Wednesday as a result of the threats. The cancellations will keep hundreds of thousands of children out of school. Cherry Creek officials on Twitter Tuesday night said that, while the decision will affect district families, Denver metro police agencies including the FBI Denver bureau have raised credible concerns about a woman reportedly obsessed with the Columbine school massacre who has threatened schools. After a metro area conf call tonight I determined that All @CCSDK12 will be closed tomorrow, 4-17, due to safety concerns related to a credible threat against schools in the area. CCSD is joining other Denver metro school districts in making this decision. Safety is the priority! — Scott Siegfried (@SuptSiegfried) April 17, 2019 The unspecified threats led Columbine and several other high schools outside Denver to lock their doors Tuesday for nearly three hours. All students were safe, school officials said Tuesday. On Tuesday afternoon, authorities in Jefferson County identified an 18-year-old woman named Sol Pais as a suspect in their investigation of the threats. Authorities said Pais recently arrived in Colorado and has made threats, which have been mostly verbal. Dean Phillips, special agent in charge of the local division of the FBI, said late Tuesday investigators have confirmed Pais, who is from the Miami area, purchased a pump-action shot gun and ammunition shortly after arriving in Colorado. “She has made some concerning comments in the past,” Phillips told reporters. “She has expressed an infatuation with Columbine and the events, the shooting there that happened tragically 20 years ago, and because of that we were concerned.” Pais has not made any specific threat to any particular school, according to authorities. Pais is believed to be 5 feet, 5 inches tall and was last seen in the foothills of Jefferson County, officials said. She is believed to be wearing a black t-shirt, camouflage pants and black boots. “She is armed and considered to be extremely dangerous,” authorities tweeted. Colorado State Patrol issued a statewide alert for Pais late Tuesday afternoon. Officials warned people who may come into contact with Pais not to approach her. Pais does not have any preexisting connection to Colorado, Phillips said. He said FBI officials are working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office as well as local district attorneys to determine possible charges. Currently, officials would not have enough probable cause to arrest Pais if they were to find her. “We will certainly hold her for as long as we can legally,” Phillips said. Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Shrader said threats referencing the Columbine massacre 20 years ago are not uncommon. “We take these threats seriously,” Shrader told reporters Tuesday night. “It’s certainly not the first threat that we’ve had that involves Columbine High School or references it, and in that regard I know that this opens a wound, especially on an anniversary week for those families who were most deeply impacted by this.” People with potential information related to Pais’ whereabouts are encouraged to contact the local division of the FBI at 303-630-6227 or [email protected]