Milliken man becomes millionaire thanks to $2M Mega Millions win

A Milliken man who purchased a million-dollar lottery ticket had his winnings doubled to $2 million, thanks to recent Mega Millions rule changes.

Leopoldo R. of Milliken, who bought a Colorado Mega Millions lottery ticket in June at a Johnstown 7-11 at 6150 E. U.S. 34, said he was in shock when he checked his ticket and found he had won $2 million, according to the Colorado Lottery.

His ticket originally was worth $1 million, but with new Mega Millions rules, it bumped it up to $2 million, because his ticket had a 2X multiplier. Multipliers go up to 10X.

Leopoldo said he used the quick pick feature, which randomly chose the numbers.

Lottery officials said Colorado has had only three $4 million, two $2 million and five $1 million winners before this.

— Zant Reyez, Fort Morgan Times

I-70 reopens hours after fatal crash closed lanes

All westbound lanes of Interstate 70 reopened hours after a fiery, fatal crash involving multiple vehicles snarled traffic in the mountains.

The State Patrol said as of 5:15 p.m. that all westbound lanes of I-70 and U.S. 40 were open.

I-70 was closed in both directions just after 1 p.m. Thursday between Exit 205 at Dillon and Silverthorne and Exit 216 at Loveland Pass because of a fatal multi-vehicle crash that resulted in a fire, authorities said.

A crash between a 2021 Dodge Ram pickup hauling a trailer and a Freightliner semi-truck, also hauling a trailer, sparked a severe vehicle fire on I-70 west at mile marker 218 and resulted in the death of an occupant and a dog traveling in the pickup, according to the State Patrol.

— Elizabeth Hernandez and Aldo Svaldi, The Denver Post

Four semi-trucks catch on fire at truck stop

Four semitrucks caught fire at a Weld County truck stop on Wednesday night, according to a Facebook post from Mountain View Fire Rescue.

About 9:50 p.m. Wednesday, Weld County Dispatch got a call about a commercial vehicle fire at a truck stop along Colorado 119, just west of I-25.

There were four semitrucks on fire, and three of them were fully engulfed in flames. Firefighters worked for about 20 minutes to get the flames under control, battling explosions from the fuel tanks and tires. The fire was considered out about 10:30 p.m.

No injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

— Olivia Doak, Daily Camera