Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026

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Headlines

Dark Horse’s last day

The iconic restaurant will close March 14 — its 51st anniversary. Rather than relocate while the property is being redeveloped, its owners have decided to shut the beloved bar down. Read their farewell message

‘We will never build FasTracks’

So said the chair of the RTD board in a recent meeting, according to a report from CPR. Front Range residents have been paying for trains since 2004, but a promised train to Boulder and Longmont is nowhere in sight.

The money isn’t there, and RTD should focus on transportation needs for the next 25 years, board chair Patrick O’Keefe says.

NCAR-operated super-computer moves to new operator

The super computing center in Cheyenne, Wyoming will be operated by an unnamed third-party, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced last week. The change comes as NSF seeks to restructure NCAR and potentially move some of its functions — such as weather forecasting — and facilities to private ownership. Read more from Daily Camera.

Colorado sees lowest snowpack in 40 years

That’s according to an analysis by Russ Schumacher, director of the Colorado Climate Center. There are still a few weeks left for snow; that’s typically when the state gets the most snow. But, as Russ wrote, “the odds of rebounding to near normal peak snowpack conditions are dwindling.” Read more.

Boulder City Council wants to keep exploring 500-acre expansion

The 493 acres north of the city is known as the Area III Planning Reserve. It’s long been meant as a potential addition to the city, which proponents say could provide affordable and middle-income housing. Critics say Boulder should build within its own limits first and not exacerbate urban and suburban sprawl.

Boulder’s Planning Board didn’t vote to move forward with Area III annexation. Both Planning Board and City Council have to agree for the process to continue. Boulder Reporting Lab has the full story.

1. Boulder County is seeking feedback on where to put voting centers and ballot drop boxes. Learn more and take the survey

Eyes Off Colorado: Local cybersecurity experts push back against Flock license plate readers

“Right now, it's completely unfettered access to the location and personal privacy of every Coloradan.” – Andrew Gentry, Golden-based cybersecurity professional

Gentry visited Boulder Valley Frequency to talk about his concerns with the technology itself and with Flock Safety in particular, including

1. Flock’s documented security vulnerabilities: “ When companies are actively trying to hide their flaws or silence people asking questions, that's usually a sign that there's some kind of other interest involved or negligence or laziness or some combination of the three.”
2. 
   
3. They’re collecting a lot more than just pictures of our license plates, Gentry says: facial recognition, age, race, etc. Every time you pass a camera, data is collected…
4. 
   
5. …. And sold to private companies that train AI models on it. Those companies then sell products back to police, promising to “solve crime with the click of a button” and, even scarier, predict who will commit a crime before it happens.

What he’s doing

Gentry founded Eyes Off Colorado to raise awareness about local use of Flock cameras. The organization grades communities using Flock based on their policies around transparency, data storage and sharing and the amount of cameras in the community.

Here’s the local report card:

Boulder: D

Longmont: C

Golden: F

Get involved

February 23 - 1:30 p.m. Old Supreme Court, north wing of the Colorado State Capitol, 200 E. Colfax Ave, Denver - Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on proposed regulation of Flock

1. Bill by Boulder’s Judy Amabile would limit police historic searches of a person’s location to 24 hours and prohibit local law enforcement from sharing data outside their jurisdiction. Read more

March 7 - 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Flock cameras throughout the Front Range

1. The demonstration is to draw awareness to the prevalence of Flock cameras and explain all the data they collect.
2. Learn more and sign up to demonstrate at a camera near you: mobilize.us/eyesoffcolorado/event/886092

Bonus content

Listen to Shay’s full interview with Andrew Gentry at Patreon.com/BoulderFrequencyPod.

Next week

Boulder County DA Michael Dougherty joins us to talk about what our rights are — and when to call local law enforcement — when it comes to ICE.

One More Thing

Reverend Jesse Jackson 1984 Democratic National Convention

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Produced by BVHz in partnership with The Mountain Ear

Independent, local journalism for Boulder County

Our team

Journalist + producer: Shay Castle

Audio producer + music: Kelly Garry

Additional support provided by Jeff Rozic

*Find bonus content and support us on Patreon