John Wark / Reuters

An aerial photo shows a wildfire burning homes in the Black Forest community near Colorado Springs, Colo., on June 11.

John Wark / Reuters

A wildfire burns homes in the Black Forest community near Colorado Springs on June 11.

John Wark / Reuters

Houses burn as another seems unscathed in the Black Forest community near Colorado Springs on June 12.

Editor's note: Images made available June 13.

Read story: Colorado wildfires destroy more than 350 homes, force evacuations

Slideshow: Western wildfires

Brennan Linsley / AP

Drought conditions fuel blazes in the U.S.

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Brennan Linsley / AP

Colorado Springs resident Yolette Baca takes a photo of the wildfire in the Black Forest area north of Colorado Springs, Colo., on June 12, 2013.

Bryan Oller / AP

Chris and Christine Walker watch the Black Forest Fire gain steam as it burns out of control for a second straight day near Colorado Springs on June 12, 2013. The Walkers live nearby and were under pre-evacuation orders.

Bryan Oller / AP

Marian Williams takes photos of the Black Forest Fire on June 11, 2013.

Bryan Oller / AP

Residents watch as the Black Forest Fire burns northeast of Colorado Springs on June 11, 2013.

Brennan Linsley / AP

Black Forest Fire Dept. officers burn off natural ground fuel in an evacuated neighborhood, prepping the area for the encroachment of the wildfire on June 12, 2013.

Sheriff's officials released a preliminary list Wednesday showing the Black Forest Fire northeast of Colorado Springs has destroyed at least 92 homes and damaged five more. The fire was among several that surged rapidly Tuesday along Colorado's Front Range.

Fueled by hot temperatures, changing gusts and thick, bone-dry forests, the Black Forest Fire has prompted evacuation orders and pre-evacuation notices to between 9,000 and 9,500 people and to about 3,500 homes and businesses, sheriff's officials said. Read the full story.

Related: National Geographic photographer Mark Thiessen on what it's like taking pictures inside an inferno 

Slideshow: 2013 western wildfires

Marc Piscotty / Getty Images

Anthony Aragon (L) and David Westman, both of Denver, Colorado, become one of the first same-sex couples to be issued a Civil Union license at a midnight ceremony in the Denver Office of the Clerk and Recorder, at the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building on May 1, 2013 in Denver, Colo.

By Alexandra Tilsley, The Associated Press

The first gay couple granted a civil union in Colorado said their vows before hundreds of people early Wednesday morning at a downtown Denver municipal building, where eager couples and members of the public gathered to celebrate the first legal unions.

Marc Piscotty / Getty Images

Anna Simon of Denver, Colorado shows off the ticket that allowed her to be first in line to be issued a Civil Union license at the midnight ceremony.

The new law legalizing civil unions took effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday and both Denver and Boulder began issuing licenses immediately. 

Fran and Anna Simon were the first to receive a civil union certificate. Wearing the white wedding dresses they wore at their commitment ceremony seven years ago and joined by their five-year-old son Jeremy, Fran and Anna received their license from a clerk at 12:02 a.m., following an expectant countdown to midnight led by other couples. Minutes later they were joined in a ceremony officiated by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.  Continue reading...

Marc Piscotty / Getty Images

People queue for a chance to be issued a Civil Union license at a midnight ceremony in the Denver Office of the Clerk and Recorder, at the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building on May 1, 2013 in Denver, Colo.

Marc Piscotty / Getty Images

Anna (R) and Fran Simon, both of Denver, Colo., become the first same-sex couple to be issued a Civil Union license at the midnight ceremony.

Rick Wilking / Reuters

Fran (L) and Anna Simon kiss just after midnight after being the first to get a civil union in a ceremony performed by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (R) in Denver May 1, 2013.

Related:
13 key moments in the Supreme Court argument over gay marriage

Supreme Court likely to advance gay marriage but stop short of sweeping ruling

Jack Dempsey / AP

New York Mets' Jonathon Niese throws in the snow before the start of a baseball doubleheader between the New York Mets and Colorado Rockies on April 16 in Denver.

Jack Dempsey / AP

Coors Field grounds crew and stadium employees shovel snow before the start of a baseball doubleheader between the New York Mets and Colorado Rockies on April 16 in Denver.

By Pat Graham, AP Sports Writer

Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort is among the grounds crew shoveling snow in the hope his team will squeeze in a doubleheader against the New York Mets on Tuesday.

Nearly an hour before first pitch at 3:10 p.m. EDT, the crew had hauled off a majority of the eight inches of snow that covered the outfield grass. There were still mounds stacked up in front of the dugouts. Continue reading.

Jack Dempsey / AP

Dan O'Dowd, Executive Vice President, Chief Baseball Officer/General Manager and Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort, right, survey the snow while shoveling before the start of a baseball doubleheader between the New York Mets and the Colorado Rockies on April 16 in Denver.

Slideshow: Signs of Spring

Stephanie Pilick / AP

Warming weather and longer days bring out the first signs of Spring.

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Brennan Linsley / AP

Volunteers take phone calls from children asking where Santa is and when he will deliver presents to their house during the annual NORAD Tracks Santa Operation, at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Dec. 24.

Brennan Linsley / AP

Volunteer Katherine Beaupre takes phone calls at NORAD.

Over a thousand volunteers at NORAD handle more than 100,000 thousand phone calls from children around the world every Christmas Eve as NORAD charts Santa's progress around the globe. The program began in 1955 when a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement misprinted the telephone number for children to call Santa. Read more

Track Santa through NORAD's website.

Slideshow: Holiday season lights up

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Santa Clauses surf, laugh and row around the world
• 'Sandy Claus' delivers toys to storm-stricken kids
• That's a powerful tree!

Rancher Gary Wollert feeds hay to his cattle near Eads, Colo., Aug. 23, 2012. Like many ranchers who's grasslands have dried up due to the drought, Wollert has to supplement his cattle's diet with hay, now at record prices, to keep them alive.

John Moore / Getty Images — The nation's severe drought has been especially hard on cattlemen, made worse when Congress recessed for five weeks without passing disaster relief legislation. Most of the high plains areas of eastern Colorado and virtually all of Nebraska and Kansas are still in extreme or exceptional drought, despite recent lower temperatures, according to the University of Nebraska's Drought Monitor. The record-breaking drought, which has affected more than half of the continental U.S., is expected to drive up food prices by 2013 due to lower crop harvests and the adverse effect on the nation's cattle industry.

Rancher Gary Wollert inspects a dead cow on dry grasslands near Eads, Colo., Aug. 22. Many cattle in the area have contracted respiratory infections due to the wide temperature swings in this summer's heat wave and drought. While most cases have been cured, some have been fatal.

Cattle buyers wait to bid during a livestock auction at the Burlington Livestock Exchange in Burlington, Colo., Aug. 23.

A message is written on a restaurant sign in Burlington, Colo., Aug. 23. The ongoing drought has devastated the area's agricultural economy, but also affected a broad spectrum of businesses across the plains.

Slideshow: America's farmland baking in drought

Drought conditions plague much of the United States after a summer of scorching temperatures and a lack of rain. The dryness is affecting America's farmland, threatening crops like soybean and corn.

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NBC News reports -- James Eagan Holmes, the alleged gunman in the Colorado theater shooting that killed 12 people, made his first public appearance on Friday. Holmes attended the hearing at the Arapahoe County Courthouse with Tamara Brady, his public defender, in Centennial, Colorado. Read the full story.

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Slideshow: Shooting at Batman screening in Aurora, Colo.

As many as 12 people were killed and 50 injured at a shooting at the Century 16 movie theatre in Aurora, Colo. early Friday during the showing of the latest Batman movie.

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Related links:

• PhotoBlog: Hundreds attend vigils for Aurora shooting victims
• Video: Holmes was non-responsive in court
  

Aaron Ontiveroz / Pool / The Denver Post via AP

Family members of the victims of the Century 16 theater shooting remember their loved ones during a vigil at the Aurora Municipal Center campus in Aurora, Colo., July 22. Twelve people were killed and 58 were injured in a shooting during an early Friday premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises."

“We are a family in Aurora," said Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan. "We are good hard-working people who believe in the goodness of our fellow man. We are coming together as a family would.”

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper read aloud the names of the 12 people killed in the shooting, and after each one the crowd chanted in unison: "We will remember."

Hickenlooper also deliberately avoided mentionting the name of the 24-year-old suspect, James Eagan Holmes, who allegedly wounded 58 other theatergoers. “I refuse to say his name," he said. "In my house, we’re just going to call him Suspect A.”

-- By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News

Read the full story.

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Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

Mourners at a vigil near theater where 12 people were killed July 20, 2012 in Aurora, Colo.

Don Emmert / AFP - Getty Images

M. Alex Johnson and Pete Williams, NBC News reports: A graduate student's attack in a sold-out theater near Denver showing the new Batman movie, in which 12 people were killed early Friday, was the culmination of two months of meticulous planning that included a potentially deadly booby trap left in the suspect's home for investigators, authorities said.

Fifty-eight other people were injured, many of them seriously, in the shootings shortly after midnight at the Century 16 Movie Theaters complex in Aurora, Colo. Earlier reports had said 59 people were injured, but police revised that number at a news conference Friday night. All but a small handful of the injured had been shot, Police Chief Dan Oates said. Continue reading the full story.

Slideshow: Shooting at Batman screening in Aurora, Colo.

Barry Gutierrez / AP

As many as 12 people were killed and 50 injured at a shooting at the Century 16 movie theatre in Aurora, Colo. early Friday during the showing of the latest Batman movie.

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