Some 8,000 former patients of Colorado-based dentist Stephen Stein were told by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to seek testing for HIV and hepatitis after learning that the suspended dentist had a nasty habit of reusing needles and syringes.

No matter how terrible the Colorado fires sound, a firsthand account is even more harrowing.

Colorado is fully on fire. A number of devastating blazes are currently raging across the state in various stages of non-containment. Governor John Hickenlooper is already calling this "the worst fire season in the history of Colorado."

Republicans in Colorado's House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee voted yesterday to kill a proposed bill to legalize same-sex civil unions that was expected to pass in the larger House of Representatives.

According to today's Reuters story about eagle inspections by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, if there's one thing the U.S. needs, it's more dead-but-not-rotten eagles.

A herd of frozen cows discovered by two Air Force Academy cadets in a ranger cabin near the Conundrum Hot Springs in Aspen have to be disposed of before they thaw, or else they could contaminate the water.

Kids looking forward to the annual Easter egg hunt in Old Colorado City will be disappointed this year: the popular event has been canceled. Sure, they can still celebrate the Jesus aspects of the holiday, but gone is the thrill of searching for colored eggs to earn prizes and candy. And it's not even the children's fault.

The children of Colfax Elementary school in Denver thought they were just going to hear their boring old Governor, John Hickenlooper, talk about reading. Instead, he made a hilarious blooper, introducing his Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia as a 'rising sex star' at a literacy event on Wednesday.

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We are all, by now, familiar with the mantra, "elections have consequences." This is especially true tonight. It also kind of doesn't apply whatsoever.

It's a holiday miracle: users of the popular nerd hive Reddit tracked down an adoptee's birth parents in a matter of hours. They also found and skeezed over his biological sister's topless pictures. Awkward.

Former University of Northern Colorado student Tom Mink (right) (ha, just kidding—left!) just received a $425,000 settlement from a bunch of Colorado cities for improperly searching his home and confiscating his computer after he'd created "Junius Puke," the Photoshop at right of UNC finance professor Junius Peake.

Patrick J. Sullivan Jr. was the beloved Republican sheriff of Arapahoe County, Colo., for nearly 20 years before he retired in 2002. In 2001, he was named national Sheriff of the Year. Yesterday he was arrested by the department he used to run for offering a man meth in exchange for sex.

Colorado cowboy hat-wearer David Scott says his stepbrother became addicted to meth after smoking it from one of those glass pipes with the crazy psychedelic swirls in them. So he recently smashed a bunch of similar pipes to take a stand and protest how such pipes "are ruining people's lives."

On Monday evening, an unidentified woman allegedly walked into a Denver convenience store, groped a male customer and bit him on the neck, then allegedly bit the clerk on the neck after asking for a hug. Police consider her armed to the teeth ... with teeth!

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock insisted that his city's occupation name a leader in order "to deal with City and State officials." And he got his wish! Occupy Denver has elected Shelby, a border collie, as its leader. Long live Shelby!

The worst part of any fruit salad, cantaloupe, is now the most deadly. Sixteen people are dead and 56 more people in 18 states have fallen ill after eating melons which were infected with listeria.

A pair of Coloradans have been charged with abusing a corpse, identity theft, and criminal impersonation for loading their dead friend's body into the backseat of their car, then using his ATM card to finance a night of bar- and strip-club-hopping. The cause of death has not yet been determined.

The night of August 27th must have been bittersweet for Robert Jeffrey Young and Mark Rubinson, of Denver, Colorado. It started around 11pm, when Young stopped in to see his old friend Jeffrey Jarrett, who was going to let Young couch surf at his place for a while. But Jarrett was dead when Young arrived.

Imene Nouis, a 31-year-old Colorado mom, has been cited for child abuse after leaving her baby cry and cook in the hot hot heat of the family car during a quick trip to the tanning salon. At least she had rolled up the windows and locked the doors so nobody could steal the baby, though!