Colorado

DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Friday commuted the sentence of election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters following pressure from President Trump, the latest instance of the president using his influence to reward those who echoed his baseless claims of mass fraud as the cause of his 2020 election loss.

Trump has championed the case of Peters, a 70-year-old former county clerk who was sentenced to nine years behind bars after being convicted in a scheme to make a copy of her county’s election computer system. She will be released June 1.

In April, a Colorado appeals court upheld her conviction but ordered Peters to be resentenced because it said the judge who sent her to prison wrongly punished her for speaking out about election fraud, a decision that Polis praised.

In a letter to Peters, Polis wrote that she was convicted of serious crimes and deserved to spend time in prison. “However, this is an extremely unusual and lengthy sentence for a first time offender who committed nonviolent crimes,” the governor wrote.

He added that Peters’ application “demonstrates taking responsibility for your crimes, and a commitment to follow the law going forward.”

Trump posted around the time of the announcement on his social media platform: “FREE TINA!”

Jeany Rush, 76, wears a We the People pin along with numerous Free Tina Peters stickers during the Colorado Republican State Assembly on April 11 at Massari Arena on the Colorado State University Pueblo campus in Pueblo, Colo.

(Timothy Hurst/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

‘Affront to the rule of law’

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold criticized the decision by the governor — a fellow Democrat — saying that “it was a dark day for democracy” and that ”selling out our state’s justice system for Trump is an affront to the rule of law.”

“A clear message is being sent to those willing to break the law and attack democracy for the president — they will likely not face consequences for their actions,” Griswold said at a news conference.

Peters has been serving her sentence at a prison in Pueblo after being convicted in 2024 by jurors in Mesa County, a Republican stronghold that supported Trump.

Peters sneaked in an outside computer expert, an associate of MyPillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell — a fellow election denier — to make a copy of her county’s Dominion Voting Systems election computer server as state officials updated it in 2021. Peters joined Lindell onstage at a “cybersymposium” that promised to reveal proof of election rigging, after which video and photos of the update, including passwords, were posted online.

After the commutation announcement, Peters issued a statement through her attorney thanking Polis and apologizing.

“Five years ago I misled the Secretary of State when allowing a person to gain access to county voting equipment. That was wrong,” Peters said. “I have learned and grown during my time in prison and going forward I will make sure that my actions always follow the law, and I will avoid the mistakes of the past.”

She also condemned threats and violence against voters, county clerks and election workers.

Gubernatorial candidates weigh in

Polis is ineligible to seek reelection due to term limits, and the candidates running to succeed him weighed in on his decision.

Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat in the race, said that he vehemently disagreed with the commutation and that Peters knowingly broke the law, undermined elections and was convicted by a jury.

“Lawlessness only breeds more lawlessness,” Bennet said. “With President Trump continuing to attack Colorado, we must do everything we can to stand strong for our institutions and the rule of law.”

A Republican candidate, state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, said she would have preferred that the trial judge revisit Peters’ sentence as ordered by the appeals court before the governor considered any commutation.

“A commutation or pardon by a governor should be reserved for truly extraordinary circumstances,” Kirkmeyer wrote in a statement. “The governor has a responsibility to apply justice fairly, consistently, and without bias.”

Trump’s influence

Peters was convicted of state, not federal, crimes, which put her beyond the reach of Trump’s pardon power, which he used to free those convicted of crimes for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. So the president championed her cause through the media.

Trump has lambasted both Polis, calling him a “Scumbag Governor,” and the Republican district attorney who prosecuted her, Daniel Rubinstein, for keeping Peters in prison. He has referred to Peters as “elderly” and “sick.” Earlier this year, Trump uninvited Polis from a White House meeting with governors over the case.

The president had said Colorado was “suffering a big price” for refusing to release her. His administration has been choking off funds, ending federal programs and denying disaster aid. It also announced the dismantling of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado and relocated the U.S. Space Command from the state to Alabama.

Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Assn., said the commutation “signals that it is open season on our election and election officials.”

“Gov. Polis is bending the knee to the same political voices and conspiracy theories that are undermining belief in our democratic institutions,” Crane said. “This is now Gov. Polis’ legacy. He will not be able to run from it.”

Peters’ health

Peters’ lawyers have said her health has declined in prison. Peters, who had part of her right lung removed in 2017, started coughing frequently after the prison’s heating system was turned on for the winter and has had trouble sleeping due to chronic pain from fibromyalgia, her lawyers said.

In January, Peters was involved in a scuffle with another inmate but was found not guilty of assault following a prison disciplinary hearing, Colorado Department of Corrections spokesperson Alondra Gonzalez-Garcia said. Peters was found guilty of being in a location without authorization.

The federal Bureau of Prisons tried but failed to get Peters moved to a federal prison. In January, Polis said he was considering granting clemency for Peters, calling her sentence “unusual and harsh“ for a first-time, nonviolent offender. In March he repeated those arguments in a lengthy post on the social media platform X.

Polis defended his decision Friday in a social media post.

“I’ll always stand for free speech and to make sure that we live in a country that no matter what your viewpoints are, you are not incarcerated longer because of them,” Polis said.

In contrast to some other Democratic governors, Polis, who portrays himself as a political iconoclast, has at times taken an accommodating stance toward Trump. Though he criticized the president’s tariff and immigration policies, the governor praised earlier moves by Trump such as creating the Department of Government Efficiency, which was run by billionaire Elon Musk, and the choice of vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

Slevin and Riccardi write for the Associated Press. AP writers Ali Swenson in New York, Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed to this report.

Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz said Monday that he’s known about the five loose bodies in his elbow — which were removed in an operation Wednesday — since he was drafted in 2012.

Last week in Colorado was the first time it affected him. He gave up three runs without recording an out on April 19. And the next day, he told the team his arm felt “weird.”

On Monday, he described the feeling as “tired and tight.”

Before his arm started giving him problems, Díaz was unavailable for four straight games because of fatigue in his knee. His legs felt “good” in Colorado, Díaz said.

Results from an MRI scan suggested that the loose bodies in his elbow were to blame for the discomfort in his arm. Díaz said he was confident the operation would resolve the problem.

“The tightness and the soreness was where the loose body was,” Díaz said. “So that’s why we ended up getting the surgery because it was in the same spot I’ve always had them.”

He’s hoping to return after the All-Star break. So, the Dodgers will have to come up with an alternate ninth-inning plan for the next two-and-a-half months.

“That sucks to miss the first half with the team,” Díaz said. “I’m new with this team. But that’s something I can’t control. Everyone here is supporting me. All of my teammates they’re supporting me, they’re happy that I’m doing way better than before. They just can’t wait to see me on the mound in the second half.

“They say, take your time, we need you in October. But I want to come back as soon as possible and help this team to win games.”

Díaz is still waiting to have his stitches removed, but he expects to start playing catch in a couple weeks.

“My arm is feeling way better than it did on Sunday,” he said. “That’s a good sign. Right now, just a couple days after surgery, I can move my arm really good. My range of motion is coming back to normal. So that’s something I like. And just get stronger and be ready for the second half.”

The Colorado Avalanche rode swagger, poise and the league’s stingiest goaltender to the best record in the NHL this season. And nothing about that formula has changed in the postseason, with goals from Gabriel Landeskog, Cale Makar, Artturi Lehkonen and Brock Nelson giving Colorado a 4-2 win Thursday over the Kings and a commanding 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.

The Kings, who have lost their last six first-round playoff series, need a victory at home Sunday to extend their season. Their goals in Game 3 came from Trevor Moore in the second period and Adrian Kempe on a third-period power play.

“They’re best team in the league for a reason. But we’re right there,” forward Quinton Byfield said. “We’re a confident group.”

“One game at home. Must-win game,” defenseman Drew Doughty added. “Everyone’s going to give everything they’ve got. We’ve got to win that one, and then hopefully get to go back to Denver.”

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews celebrates a goal by defenseman Cale Makar on Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg during the second period of Game 3 Thursday at Crypto.com Arena.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The difference in the series has been Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood, who was nearly perfect again, making 24 saves to place the Kings 60 minutes away from the offseason.

Anton Forsberg, playing in the postseason for the first time, has been almost as good in goal for the Kings, though he was victimized by two fluke goals and an empty-netter.

“Both goalies in the series have been unbelievable,” Kings coach D.J. Smith said. “Give Wedgewood credit. This guy looks like he’s putting his name on the circuit as a big-time goalie.”

The Avalanche, who certainly haven’t needed many lucky breaks in this series, got one early in the first period when Landeskog spun and launched a wild wrister from the blue line that went well wide of the net, only to have the puck carom off the end boards and into the net off Forsberg’s right skate blade.

The goal was the second in as many games for the Colorado captain.

The Kings then got their own break six minutes into the second period when Alex Laferriere jumped Brett Kulak’s clearing pass in the neutral jump and fed Byfield, whose pass into the crease struck Moore’s leg and ricocheted past Wedgewood to tie the score.

Colorado defenseman Devon Toews reaches for the puck against Kings right wing Quinton Byfield in the first period.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Colorado needed less than seven minutes to get the lead back, with Makar getting the puck along the boards on the left wing, skating into space at the point, then zipping a wrist shot through heavy traffic and just under the crossbar.

The Avalanche then increased the advantage 7:39 in the final period after Kempe fanned a shot from the point. Lehkonen collected the loose puck and took it the length of the ice before deflecting a centering pass off Kempe’s skate and by Forsberg for a short-handed goal, his second score of the series.

That appeared to put the game away, but after the Kings pulled Forsberg for an extra attacker, Kempe halved the deficit on a tip-in with 4:02 to play. But then Nelson forced a turnover and scored into the empty net with 2:18 left.

The six goals combined matched the total number from the first two games in Colorado.

“We’ve got to keep doing a lot of the things that we are doing,” Doughty said. “Obviously, we got to clean up giving up some of these chances that we’re giving up.”

Kings goalie Anton Forsberg covers the puck as Colorado left wing Gabriel Landeskog battles for it in the second period.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Kings’ penalty kill, which ranked 30th in the 32-team league during the regular season, has been brilliant against the Avalanche, turning back all nine Colorado power plays. That, plus stellar play for Forsberg in goal, has frustrated the NHL’s top-scoring team.

But against Wedgewood, the Kings have mustered little offense, scoring just four goals in the series — three times on the power play and once off Moore’s leg.

“We’d like to get more than two goals. Against this team, I don’t think it’s enough,” Doughty said. “I don’t think we’re creating enough grade-A chances on Wedgewood. He has played well, so for us to beat them, we’ve got to wear them down in the D-zone, make them tired and score goals that way. And we haven’t done that enough.”

They’re guaranteed just one more chance to turn that around.

“There’s no quit in there,” Smith said of the Kings’ locker room. “And I think you’ll see our best game. To a man, we want to give them a real good outing and push this series back to Colorado.”

Zack Steffen finished with two saves and had his second shutout of the season for the Colorado Rapids in a 0-0 tie with LAFC on Wednesday night at BMO Stadium.

The Rapids (4-4-1) had 71% possession.

LAFC (5-2-2), who had lost back-to-back game for the first time in more than a calendar year, are winless in three straight.

Hugo Lloris had two saves and leads MLS with seven shutouts.

LAFC’s Mathieu Choinière hit the post with a shot from outside the area in the 56th minute.

One quarterback will go in the first round of the NFL draft, but he won’t have to wait long to hear his name.

And five Ohio State players will go in the opening round, including three in the first seven picks.

That’s how this year’s beat-writer draft unfolds, at least. For more than two decades, the Los Angeles Times has turned to reporters who cover NFL teams on a daily basis to make their selections.

This year’s version is heavy on edge rushers, light on quarterbacks, and has two running backs as bookends at the beginning and end of Thursday night’s first round, which for the first time is taking place in Pittsburgh.

🚨 The NFL reporters’ mock draft begins at 9 a.m. PDT, with the Las Vegas Raiders on the clock at No. 1.

DENVER — Different opponent. Same result.

In each of the last four seasons, the Kings have opened the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Edmonton Oilers. They lost each time.

So on Sunday the Kings tried a different route, opening against the Colorado Avalanche.

They lost, 2-1.

The goals came from Artturi Lehkonen late in the second period and Logan O’Connor early in the third. The Kings made a game of it late, pulling goaltender Anton Fosberg with 2:57 to play and getting a power-play goal from Artemi Panarin 35 seconds later. But that was as close as they would get.

Maybe the Kings should have been careful what they wished for. Because while the Avalanche aren’t the Oilers, they’re better — much better — than any of the recent Edmonton teams.

This season they won the Presidents’ Trophy, the prize that goes to the team with the best regular-season record in the league, and they earned it by scoring the most goals and giving up the fewest in the NHL. They also had the best home record in the Western Conference and the best road record in the league.

And they started quickly Sunday, putting four shots on goal in the first four minutes. But Forsberg was spectacular, making 28 saves to keep the Kings in the game.

Colorado thought it had beaten him less than seven minutes into the second period when O’Connor found the back of the net from the right circle but the goal was waved off by a goalie interference call on Jack Drury, who tumbled into the crease as O’Connor was releasing his shot. The Avalanche questioned the call, claiming Kings defender Drew Doughty had pushed Drury from behind, but they lost the challenge.

There was no doubt about Colorado’s next goal, which came 4:31 before the second intermission when Lehkonen, defended tightly by Doughty, was able to reach out his stick and sweep in the rebound of Nathan MacKinnon‘s shot from the right boards.

The Avalanche doubled their advantage 5:50 into the third period when Joel Edmundson lost the puck in the Kings’ zone, allowing O’Connor to collect it and race defenseman Cody Ceci to the front of the net before beating Forsberg cleanly. Drury got an assist on the play.

The game, which had been physical all afternoon, turned chippy after that, giving the Kings a power play they took advantage to halve Colorado’s lead. But the Avalanche then closed out the game to a 1-0 lead in the series.

The best-of-seven playoff resumes Tuesday night in Denver before moving to the Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.

DENVER — Nobody’s perfect, not even the Dodgers.

Their steamroll hit a speed bump as they squandered opportunities in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

Even the hottest of Dodgers’ hitters cooled off as the night did. Collectively, they went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base, including two in the ninth inning.

Now 15-5, it was their first loss in five games and their first all season to a National League opponent.

Kyle Tucker, the Dodgers’ pricey new right fielder, had three hits, including his third home run this season. And backup catcher Dalton Rushing hit his fifth home run.

But that was all the damage the Dodgers did in support of starter Emmet Sheehan, who left with a one-run lead that reliever Will Klein relinquished in a matter of three batters in the sixth inning.

Shohei Ohtani also saw his career-best on-base streak reach 50 when he singled in the ninth inning to tie Willie Keeler’s 50-game mark established in 1901.

The two-time reining World Series champs threw the proverbial first punch when Tucker launched a 435-foot two-run home run into the second deck, making it 2-0 two batters into the game.

Tucker’s third home run as a Dodger drove home Ohtani, who chopped the first pitch he saw to Troy Johnston and would have been out at first if not for the errant throw by the first baseman.

In the bottom of the first, the Rockies responded when Mickey Moniak doubled and TJ Rumfield drove him in with a single to cut the lead in half, 2-1.

Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing follows the flight of his solo home run off Colorado pitcher Ryan Feltner Saturday in Denver.

(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

The Dodgers came right back in the second inning, when Rushing — in his one expected start behind the plate this series — kept crushing, launching a 1-1 pitch 371 feet over the right field wall to make it 3-1. It was his fifth home run in 18 at-bats until that point.

The Dodgers’ two home runs in the first two innings gave them multiple homers in 10 of their first 20 games this season — and ran their MLB-leading season total to 37 as a team.

But the Rockies returned serve in the bottom of the second, when Johnston scored on a Kyle Karros sacrifice fly to stay within a run, 3-2.

That’s how it stayed for the next three innings, as Sheehan got out of the third and fourth unscathed, despite the Rockies putting runners in scoring position in both the third and fourth. His only 1-2-3 inning was the nine-pitch fifth.

His control wasn’t as sharp as in his prior outing, but he left after five innings with the lead, having thrown 77 pitches, allowed four hits, two runs, struck out four and walked two.

The Dodgers got something going again in the sixth inning when Freddie Freeman hit a one-out triple into the gap in the expansive Colorado outfield, just beyond the grasp of diving center fielder Brenton Doyle.

A batter later, the Rockies’ diving third baseman Karros made a nifty play to throw out Teoscar Hernández after he drilled a ball up the line — holding Freeman at third in the process.

Then left-hander Brennan Bernardino came on in relief and tied up a clearly frustrated Max Muncy with a curveball, striking him out and ending a scoreless inning with Freeman stranded on third.

Klein took the loss after taking over for the Dodgers in the sixth and immediately gave up a double to Hunter Goodman before Ezequiel Tovar’s grounder ricocheted off Klein’s left foot and right knee. Tovar reached before Freeman could corral the ball and get it to Klein at first.

Both runners scored on a no-out double by Johnston and Colorado had a 4-3 lead that would stand.

In the eighth, “Let’s go Dodgers” chants picked up with Andy Pages at bat and Ohtani and Tucker on first and second base. But Pages struck out on a strike that was determined to find the bottom of the zone by baseball’s new ABS system.

Hernández then walked to load the bases but Muncy grounded out to second base, leaving more runners stranded.

DENVER — The hottest team in baseball, the coldest game in franchise history.

And a California kid on the mound, battling the inclement elements, this time beating the 35-degree chill.

Last April, a deluge in Philadelphia derailed the Dodgers and Tyler Glasnow in a frustrating defeat against the Phillies.

On Friday, in his first game at Coors Field, the Dodgers’ towering right-hander proved his manager Dave Roberts right: “He’s grown exponentially. I don’t see that these conditions are going to affect him today.”

Dodger Max Muncy follows the flight of his solo home run off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano Friday in Denver.

(David Zalubowski/AP)

Indeed not. The former Newhall Hart High standout got the better of the weather and the Colorado Rockies. And his Dodgers teammates put runs on the board like they were logs in the fireplace, scoring at least one run every inning until the sixth inning en route to a breezy 7-1 victory.

Sparked by Max Muncy’s leadoff home runs in the second and fifth innings, the hot hitters up and down the Dodgers’ lineup sapped the suspense from the first of a four-game wraparound series.

Most of the crowd of 28,783 loved to see it. Thousands of dutifully bundled Dodgers supporters chanted and cheered as their boys in blue notched their 15th victory in 19 games, maintaining momentum in the first game of a 13-consecutive-game stretch.

Colorado right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano took the loss after leaving the game after the fourth inning with the Rockies trailing 5-0, having given up five runs on nine hits and thrown 91 pitches (just 51 of them for strikes).

As the grounds crew works to clear snow while Dodgers third baseman Santiago Espinal tosses a snowball at a coach before the team played the Rockies Friday in Denver.

(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

Conversely, Glasnow (2-0) got the win, going seven innings and yielding just one run and two hits, striking out seven and walking two on 92 pitches. The Rockies (7-13) scored only in the fourth inning, when Troy Johnston’s groundout pushed across Mickey Moniak to make it 5-1.

The Dodgers’ first run came on much more quickly, when Will Smith’s one-out sacrifice fly brought home Shohei Ohtani, who’d led off the game with a double — he went two for three off Sugano on Friday, making the Dodgers’ superstar six for seven all time against his countryman.

Smith’s first RBI was his ninth this season, in his 35th game at the famously hitter-friendly park, though he still had another in him.

Muncy’s 434-foot home run in the second made it 2-0 and his double down the line in the third drove in Smith, who’d reached on a broken-bat single that sent Roberts scurrying in the dugout. That gave the Dodgers their third run before Andy Pages’ sacrifice brought home Freddie Freeman to make it 4-0.

The Dodgers pushed it to 5-0 in the fourth inning when Smith singled to left to score Kyle Tucker, who’d doubled off the center field wall.

And then Muncy led off the fifth with his second solo shot, giving him his 21st career multi-homer game, and his fourth at Coors Field. After Alex Freeland hit a sacrifice fly to left to bring home Pages, the Dodgers led 7-1.

Hyeseong Kim was one of three Dodgers who didn’t score, but the speedy South Korean reached on a single and a walk and twice stole second.

For all the contributors keeping warm up and down the Dodgers’ lineup, the members of the Rockies’ ground crew were the real heroes of Friday’s game. They plowed the outfield grass and shoveled away the couple inches of snow that piled up between 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. to prepare a playable field by gametime at 6:40 p.m.