Stories in this list received the most page views on postindependent from May 19-26.

1. Rifle police investigating body found in creek at Centennial Park 

Rifle police are investigating the death of a man found Sunday afternoon in Rifle Creek at Centennial Park.

According to the Rifle Police Department, dispatchers received a report around 12:15 p.m. of a person in the water. Officers responded and located a deceased adult. The body was recovered with help from Colorado River Fire Rescue, Garfield County Search and Rescue, and the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office.

The Garfield County Coroner’s Office on Tuesday identified the man as Jose Rodriguez Garcia, 46, of Rifle. An autopsy revealed no injuries contributing to his death. The cause and manner are pending toxicology results, which are expected to take four to six weeks.

-Taylor Cramer

2. Kroger accused of overcharging customers on sale items, report shows 

Customers at Kroger stores like City Market and King Soopers — which operate roughly 150 locations across 36 cities in Colorado — have been paying full price for items labelled as discounted, a Consumer Reports investigation found.

The report, written by Consumer Reports in collaboration with The Guardian and the Food & Environment Reporting Network, originated from a tip from Kroger workers in Colorado. The workers, who are currently in labor union negotiations, claimed the company has knowingly had widespread errors on price labels for several years on items ranging “from meat and vegetables to juice, rice and alcohol,” the report states.

Kroger, one of the nation’s largest grocery store chains, denies the claims of widespread pricing errors in the report. The chain has already faced multiple class-action lawsuits over their pricing errors from customers in California, Illinois, Ohio and Utah.

-Andrea Teres-Martinez 

3. ICE apprehends individual with warrant near Carbondale, local agencies say they were not involved 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were active in the Carbondale area on Wednesday, where they apprehended an individual with an outstanding warrant, according to the Carbondale Police Department.

“They were looking for a specific individual. They found that specific individual,” Carbondale Police Chief Kirk Wilson told the Post Independent on Thursday. “Nothing took place in Carbondale proper, but it was in the area.”

Wilson said his department was not involved in the operation and does not coordinate with ICE. He added that after completing their objective, ICE agents appeared to dine at a local restaurant.

-Taylor Cramer 

4. Sweet Coloradough aims to make every customer smile, being rated among the best donut shops in the nation is just a bonus 

When Aaron Badalato, his wife, Anne, and their young daughter left Denver in search of a slower-paced lifestyle, they didn’t plan on becoming Colorado’s unofficial donut royalty.

But nearly 15 years after Aaron stepped away from a career in finance, the family’s breakfast spot, Sweet Coloradough, was named the 19th best donut shop in the country by Yelp’s elite members — ranking higher than any other in Colorado.

The leap into the food industry wasn’t a lifelong ambition. It was, as Aaron puts it, a craving.

-Jaymin Kanzer

5. Longtime Roaring Fork School District teacher to take next career steps 

Everyone can remember the moment they found out there is no set game plan to becoming a successful adult, and helping his students reach that point has consistently been Bryan Koster’s most treasured part of his tenure within the Roaring Fork School District. 

“I think a lot of times they have this perception that there’s a formula to becoming an adult,” he said. “If I do x, y and z, then my life is going to take off and be set and I’ll be ‘successful.’ It wasn’t until my mid-20s that I knew I wanted to try teaching, and even then, it was a leap of faith.”

Koster, who has been teaching English in RFSD since 2000, announced that he will retire his infamous red pen and worn out projector at the end of the 2024-25 school year in search of a new way to “train his mental muscles in other areas.”

-Jaymin Kanzer

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