COUNCIL OKS ZOO’S TICKET PRICE HIKE

The Denver City Council on Monday approved the Denver Zoo’s latest request to increase admission fees, in part to cover operational costs that zoo officials say have risen by 28 percent in four years.

Starting soon, zoo tickets will cost $2 to $3 more for visitors. Those increases, approved by the council in a block vote, will bring the cost to $20 for those 12 and older, to $14 for children younger than 12 and to $17 for people 65 and older. Children younger than 3 still will get in free.

The last increase to admission fees was in 2014.

Dog wakes up family during fire.

A 14-year-old dachshund is being hailed as a hero after the dog woke up his owners when a Boulder County home caught fire last week.

A family living on 115th Street in unincorporated Boulder County was having electrical issues at their house on Friday, and they were unable to reach an electrician after failing to reset the breaker box.

Later that night, the dachshund, named Sam, woke the family up barking. The residents discovered smoke and heat in the ceiling, and were able to safely evacuate.

The family did not have a working smoke detector.

Fort Carson fire burns 2,800 acres.

A fire at Fort Carson was 95 percent contained Monday morning after burning roughly 2,800 acres.

The fire was sparked Sunday at the Cheyenne Mountain Shooting Complex, which is open to both military and civilians, Fort Carson spokeswoman Brandy Gill said.

No one was hurt and no buildings were damaged, she said.

Businesses align behind transportation deal.

A broad coalition of Colorado business groups has endorsed a $5 billion transportation measure moving through the state legislature.

The coalition’s support, announced Monday, represents a boost to the proposal’s chances of passage. Previously, business groups including Colorado Concern and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce had offered competing plans to pay for the state’s infrastructure needs, complicating political negotiations at the divided legislature.

The state Senate voted unanimously in March to approve the bill, sending the measure to the House of Representatives. It would ask voters next year if they want to issue up to $3.5 billion in bonds that would cost up to $5 billion to repay over 20 years.

Man dragged through parking lot by woman stealing his SUV.

Boulder police are searching for a woman who they say seriously injured a man by dragging him across a parking lot as she stole his SUV from a Boulder gas station Sunday morning.

The man left the keys in his 2006 blue Nissan Xterra at about 8:25 a.m. at the Conoco station at 4700 Baseline Road as he went inside the station, according to police.

He told police he saw a woman get behind the steering wheel and ran outside to try to stop her. The victim grabbed the suspect, who then put the SUV in reverse and dragged him across the parking lot, according to police.

The woman also hit another person who was in the parking lot at the time, police said. — Denver Post