Latest news with #ColoradoSprings-based
Miami Herald
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
32-year-old gorilla gives birth to ‘bundle of joy' at CO zoo. See it cling to mom
A gorilla had her third baby at a Colorado zoo, and keepers are calling it a 'bundle of joy.' The zoo was filled with 'pure joy' on July 21, after welcoming the newest baby gorilla, according to a Facebook post by the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The baby's mom, 32-year-old Asha, a critically endangered Western lowland gorilla, is bonding with her new baby, and the pair 'seem to be doing well,' zookeepers said. 'Asha is sitting and lying down with the baby and gently patting its back, which is really adorable,' Ashton Asbury, the Primate World animal keeper, said in the post. 'The baby hangs onto Asha while she's moving around and she supports it with one hand. They're bonding really well, and we have seen her licking the baby's head and grooming it.' Even first-time dad Goma, 34, 'is showing interest in the baby, too,' zookeepers said. 'He seems to want to stick close to her and the baby,' Asbury said. 'I heard him making happy gorilla grumbles at them, and Asha is doing a good job of showing him the baby while keeping a comfortable distance.' Asha was born at the zoo in 1992, and Goma came in 2016 as part of the Western Lowland Gorilla Species Survival Plan, zookeepers said. The baby, who hasn't been named and whose sex hasn't been identified, is already meeting milestones, like 'nursing and clinging to its mom,' zookeepers said. Asha has had two other babies at the Colorado Springs-based zoo, and the 'goal is to let Asha take the lead on newborn care,' zookeepers said. The baby will 'likely cling to Asha for the first several weeks' as it gets to know their dad, zookeepers said. Facebook users rushed to the comments to congratulate Asha, with one person saying, 'SO PRECIOUS.' 'This is so beautiful,' another wrote. 'That baby is cuuuuuttttteeeee! **squeel!*' another said. Colorado Springs is about a 70-mile drive southeast from Denver.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Will Trump's travel and transgender athlete bans impact L.A.'s 2028 Summer Games? Here's what a U.S. Olympic official says
A top U.S. Olympic official said he's been given 'significant reassurances' that President Donald Trump's proposed travel restrictions won't keep athletes from attending the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Chair Gene Sykes told reporters Thursday he and the Colorado Springs-based organization's CEO, Sarah Hirshland, 'were quite pleased to hear that support' during meetings last week with members of Congress and the administration. What's happening with another Trump initiative, an executive order barring transgender athletes from participating in women's sports including at the Olympics, is not as clear, but it was 'one of the key topics' during Wednesday's closed-door USOPC board meeting, Sykes said. The board, he said, discussed unspecified 'feedback' from the U.S. State Department about the president's 'Keeping Men Out Of Women's Sports' executive order signed in February that targets the Olympics. 'As a board, we reaffirmed our commitment to protecting opportunities for athletes to participate in sport. We will continue to collaborate with various stakeholders with oversight responsibilities,' Sykes said, 'to ensure women have a fair and safe competitive environment.' Citing a list of international and U.S. sports entities but not the government as stakeholders, he said the board 'is dedicated to maintaining an open and ongoing dialog and we will actively engage on this topic as discussions evolve.' Trump's executive order spells out that the United States will 'to the extent permitted by law,' prevent 'males seeking to participate in women's sports' from entering the country for competitions. The order also calls on the secretary of state to 'use all appropriate and available measures to see that the International Olympic Committee amends the standards governing Olympic sporting events' that let individual sports federations determine transgender athlete eligibility. IOC President-elect Kirsty Coventry announced after her election last month the policy will be reviewed by a task force. She stopped short of agreeing with Trump but said she wants 'the IOC to take a little bit more of a leading role.' There appears to be progress made on easing the impact on the Los Angeles Games from upcoming travel restrictions set to be put in place due to security concerns that reportedly affect residents of as many as 43 countries. 'We had a wide range of discussions with parties in Washington, D.C. I would say we received tremendous support from the administration and members of Congress. There is great excitement and focus on the L.A. '28 Games,' Sykes, who is also an IOC member, said. That includes from the president, he added. 'It's very clear that from the very top of the administration, they want this to an incredibly successful experience for all Americans and all of the athletes and visitors who come from, frankly, every country in the world,' Sykes said. The nation's leaders, he said, 'understand what it means to host the Olympic Games. So we were provided with significant reassurances about the work they're going to do with us to manage the visa process to make this work well for athletes and their appropriate entourages.' That didn't include the administration's intent to bar transgender athletes from coming to compete, Sykes said. 'We didn't discuss the issue,' he said. 'Our general discussion on visas is to make sure that we have as much support from the administration, the State Department, as we can possibly receive. The reassurances have been very broad.' Hirshland said Team USA has always enjoyed bipartisan support 'and relationships in Washington remain very important,' with the U.S. hosting a pair of Olympics over the decade, the 2028 Summer Games in L.A. and the 2034 Winter Games in Utah. She said the USOPC focused most on 'shamelessly lobbying for the preservation of broad-based sport, and Olympic sport in particular, on college campuses' amid cost cutting resulting from schools paying athletes for the use of their name, image and likeness.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Painter of ‘truly the worst' Trump portrait says president's comments threaten her art career
The painter whose portrait of Donald Trump was removed from the Colorado state Capitol after the US president branded it 'truly the worst' says the criticism has put her four-decade art career at risk. In a statement published to her personal website, portraitist Sarah A. Boardman said Trump's allegation that she 'purposefully distorted' his image was 'directly and negatively impacting my business… which now is in danger of not recovering.' Boardman's painting had hung alongside portraits of other US presidents at the state Capitol in Denver for almost six years before Trump voiced his displeasure with the artwork on social media last month. The work was subsequently removed at the request of Republicans, including Colorado Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, who said it should be replaced with one depicting Trump's 'contemporary likeness,' the Associated Press reported at the time. In a post published on Truth Social, the US president had written: 'Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the state Capitol … was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before.' He unfavorably compared the painting to Boardman's portrait of former president Barack Obama — which hung beside it in the Capitol's third-floor rotunda — writing it looked 'wonderful,' while 'the one on me is truly the worst.' Trump also took a personal swipe at British-born Boardman, saying: 'She must have lost her talent as she got older.' But Boardman disputed Trump's allegations, arguing that she had worked 'accurately, without 'purposeful distortion,' political bias, or any attempt to caricature the subject, actual or implied.' The artist added she had received 'overwhelmingly positive reviews and feedback' about the work since it was unveiled in 2019. The Colorado Springs-based artist accused the president of calling her 'intentions, integrity and abilities' into question. Boardman has previously completed portraits of Republican president George W. Bush, a district court judge and dozens of US military personnel. The artist did not detail how her practice has been impacted by the controversy, writing that she 'will not be commenting further' on the matter. The portrait was commissioned by Colorado Republicans, after they raised more than $10,000 for the project through a GoFundMe campaign. Boardman had earlier defended the work from criticism of a very different kind — that Trump's expression, which she described in the Colorado Times Recorder as 'serious, non-confrontational (and) thoughtful,' did not reflect the president's temperament. 'My choice of references comes from my decision to remain neutral, and let the criticisms stand on their own throughout time,' she told the newspaper in 2019, referring to the photograph on which her painting was based. 'The portrait is not designed for just one faction of the population.' In a statement shared with the Associated Press last month, Colorado House Democrats said: 'If the GOP wants to spend time and money on which portrait of Trump hangs in the Capitol, then that's up to them.' The year before Boardman's portrait was unveiled, a prankster hung a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin near the space set aside for Trump at the Colorado state Capitol. It was discovered by a tour guide and quickly removed by Capitol staff.
CNN
07-04-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Painter of ‘truly the worst' Trump portrait says president's comments threaten her art career
The painter whose portrait of Donald Trump was removed from the Colorado state Capitol after the US president branded it 'truly the worst' says the criticism has put her four-decade art career at risk. In a statement published to her personal website, portraitist Sarah A. Boardman said Trump's allegation that she 'purposefully distorted' his image was 'directly and negatively impacting my business… which now is in danger of not recovering.' Boardman's painting had hung alongside portraits of other US presidents at the state Capitol in Denver for almost six years before Trump voiced his displeasure with the artwork on social media last month. The work was subsequently removed at the request of Republicans, including Colorado Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, who said it should be replaced with one depicting Trump's 'contemporary likeness,' the Associated Press reported at the time. In a post published on Truth Social, the US president had written: 'Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the state Capitol … was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before.' He unfavorably compared the painting to Boardman's portrait of former president Barack Obama — which hung beside it in the Capitol's third-floor rotunda — writing it looked 'wonderful,' while 'the one on me is truly the worst.' Trump also took a personal swipe at British-born Boardman, saying: 'She must have lost her talent as she got older.' But Boardman disputed Trump's allegations, arguing that she had worked 'accurately, without 'purposeful distortion,' political bias, or any attempt to caricature the subject, actual or implied.' The artist added she had received 'overwhelmingly positive reviews and feedback' about the work since it was unveiled in 2019. Related article What Trump's tariffs mean for fashion The Colorado Springs-based artist accused the president of calling her 'intentions, integrity and abilities' into question. Boardman has previously completed portraits of Republican president George W. Bush, a district court judge and dozens of US military personnel. The artist did not detail how her practice has been impacted by the controversy, writing that she 'will not be commenting further' on the matter. The portrait was commissioned by Colorado Republicans, after they raised more than $10,000 for the project through a GoFundMe campaign. Boardman had earlier defended the work from criticism of a very different kind — that Trump's expression, which she described in the Colorado Times Recorder as 'serious, non-confrontational (and) thoughtful,' did not reflect the president's temperament. 'My choice of references comes from my decision to remain neutral, and let the criticisms stand on their own throughout time,' she told the newspaper in 2019, referring to the photograph on which her painting was based. 'The portrait is not designed for just one faction of the population.' Related article Is this the only known portrait of England's doomed 'Nine Days Queen'? In a statement shared with the Associated Press last month, Colorado House Democrats said: 'If the GOP wants to spend time and money on which portrait of Trump hangs in the Capitol, then that's up to them.' The year before Boardman's portrait was unveiled, a prankster hung a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin near the space set aside for Trump at the Colorado state Capitol. It was discovered by a tour guide and quickly removed by Capitol staff.
