DENVER — Colorado gave a lonely reception to marijuana when it became the second state to legalize the drug. Just as state leaders planned. Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday quietly removed the final barrier to legalization by declaring that an amendment passed by voters in November was officially part of the state constitution.

Now that Bobby Petrino is back in the coaching ranks, he wants to make the most of it. Petrino was introduced Monday as Western Kentucky’s new head football coach. The 51-year-old was fired by Arkansas in April for a “pattern of misleading” behavior following an accident in which he was injured while riding a motorcycle with his mistress as a passenger.

BOULDER, Colo. — A Colorado county that is home to the University of Colorado is the latest to drop pending marijuana possession cases in the wake of a public vote to legalize the drug.

EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon Ducks spent all last week saying they weren’t looking past Colorado to next weekend’s Pac-12 showdown at USC. So after the second-ranked Ducks easily dispatched the Buffaloes 70-14 on Saturday at Autzen Stadium, it was OK to finally talk about the Trojans.

Players who stood by Jim Tracy (pictured) while the Colorado Rockies endured their worst season in franchise history are reiterating their support for him following the manager’s resignation over the weekend. Left-hander Jeff Francis said he was surprised to hear Tracy had decided to step down, telling the Associated Press in an email: “I loved playing for him and I think everyone did. The Rockies will miss him for sure.” Among the most vocal supporters was outfielder Dexter Fowler, who appreciated Tracy sticking with him through protracted slumps during the last two seasons before a breakout 2012. He tweeted, “Man I’m gonna miss Tracy, thanks for believing in me! You are a wonderful and stand up guy!” Rex Brothers, Tyler Colvin and Josh Rutledge also tweeted praise for Tracy. – Associated Press

PULLMAN – It might have been easy to forget, considering the various frustrations that resulted from Washington State’s first three football games of the 2012 season. But keep in mind that the Cougars did, in fact, win two of those games, and are in relatively prime position to win another this afternoon when they take the field against Colorado at 1 p.m. in Martin Stadium.

Time: 1 p.m. Saturday, Martin Stadium TV: FX

It used to be that if a Pac-12 team lost – or came close to losing – against an opponent from the lower-tier Football Championship Subdivision, the assumption was that the FCS team was merely overlooked. Until those teams actually got competitive enough to give major-conference teams a scare despite having their full attention.

DENVER — Launching a case that legal analysts expect to be dominated by arguments over the defendant’s sanity, Colorado prosecutors plan to file formal charges Monday against James Eagan Holmes, the former neuroscience student accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 others at an Aurora movie theater.

AURORA, Colo. — Ashley Moser drifted in and out of consciousness in the ICU, bullets lodged in her throat and a gunshot wound to her abdomen. In her waking moments, she called for her 6-year-old daughter Veronica. Nobody had the heart to tell the 25-year-old mother that Veronica was already dead, the youngest victim killed at a Colorado movie theater in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.

Theaters have banned costumes and were poised to search moviegoers’ bags in the wake of Friday’s shootings in Aurora, Colo., that killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens of others. AMC theaters across the nation are not allowing people to wear “face-covering masks, costumes that make guests feel uncomfortable or fake weapons,” according to a corporate news release. “We’re reinforcing our security procedures with our theater teams, which we cannot discuss in detail for obvious safety reasons,” the release said.