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Child trafficking educational summit in Colorado Springs to present solutions
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Colorado Springs Gazette, Local

Child trafficking educational summit in Colorado Springs to present solutions

By Debbie Kelley | Colorado Springs Gazette Each year thousands of children in the United States are preyed upon, exploited, held captive, forced into labor and sold into sex and human trafficking markets. And with some half a million unaccompanied minor immigrants crossing the southern border and being released to adult sponsors under what critics call a fairly lax system, more are ending up in the same situation. “There’s a serious problem,” said Tara Lee Rodas, who recently became a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services whistleblower, when she reported that children were being handed over to gang members and people with criminal convictions. “I don’t believe people know there’s a problem, and the reason I can say that with confidence is that I had no idea what was going ...
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Wall St up as rate-cut hopes hold firm after inflation data
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Colorado Springs Gazette, National

Wall St up as rate-cut hopes hold firm after inflation data

By Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal | Colorado Springs Gazette Wall Street's main indexes rose on Friday and were set for monthly gains after a key inflation report reiterated moderating price pressures, cementing bets for an interest-rate cut at the U.S. Federal Reserve's upcoming meeting in September. The Personal Consumption Expenditure index, the central bank's preferred inflation gauge, rose 2.5% in July on an annual basis compared to an estimate of 2.6%, according to economists polled by Reuters. On a monthly basis, it rose 0.2% as expected. Among rate-sensitive megacaps, Amazon.com and Microsoft gained 1.3% and 0.7%, respectively. Chip stocks rose; Broadcom added 3.4% and Advanced Micro Devices climbed 1.4%, aiding the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index's 2.2% rise. ...
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As sentencing approaches on four misdemeanors, ‘J6 Praying Grandma’ prepared for prison
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Colorado Springs Gazette, Local

As sentencing approaches on four misdemeanors, ‘J6 Praying Grandma’ prepared for prison

By Debbie Kelley | Colorado Springs Gazette Rebecca Lavrenz doesn’t want to go to prison, but for the past four months the 72-year-old great-grandmother, retired registered nurse and small-business owner in El Paso County has been steeling herself for that possibility. “I don’t think it’s right. I’m not happy about it. But I’d rather be in prison obeying God than be out doing what I want to do,” she said last week at her home in Falcon, east of Colorado Springs. After nearly 26 hours of deliberation over four days — considered lengthy and unusual for Jan. 6 defendants — a jury found Lavrenz guilty on April 4 of four misdemeanors she was charged with for entering the U.S. Capitol at the “Steal the Vote” rally on Jan. 6, 2021. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE...
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Gas leak in Fountain prompts road closure, shelter in place
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Colorado Springs Gazette, Local

Gas leak in Fountain prompts road closure, shelter in place

By Abbey Soukup | Colorado Springs Gazette A road closure has been issued as the Fountain Fire Department responds to a gas leak early Tuesday afternoon, according to a social media announcement. According to an FFD Facebook post, a gas leak at a business along the 400 block of Santa Fe Avenue has prompted a closure of north and southbound Santa Fe Avenue.  Officials said a detour has been placed at Alabama Avenue and Mountain View Lane. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE
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El Paso County schools receive BEST grant funding for renovations
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Colorado Springs Gazette, Local

El Paso County schools receive BEST grant funding for renovations

By Eric Young | The Gazette Three school districts across El Paso County are among this year’s recipients of the Colorado Department of Education’s annual Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) Grant funding. Widefield School District 3, Hanover School District 28 and Peyton School District 23-JT are among this year’s 19 recipients of approximately $183 million to replace aging infrastructure and, in some cases, entire schools. Since 2008, BEST has awarded about $3.7 billion in grants for the construction of schools as well as general construction and renovation of existing school facility systems and structures. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE
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Nursing homes go dark as more utilities cut power to prevent wildfires
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Colorado Springs Gazette, Local

Nursing homes go dark as more utilities cut power to prevent wildfires

By KATE RUDER | Colorado Springs Gazette via KFF Health When powerful wind gusts created threatening wildfire conditions one day near Boulder, Colorado’s largest utility cut power to 52,000 homes and businesses — including Frasier, an assisted living and skilled nursing facility. It was the first time Xcel Energy preemptively switched off electricity in Colorado as a wildfire prevention tool, according to a company official. The practice, also known as public safety power shut-offs, has taken root in California and is spreading elsewhere as a way to keep downed and damaged power lines from sparking blazes and fueling the West’s more frequent and intense wildfires. In Boulder, Frasier staff and residents heard about the planned outage from news reports. A Frasier official called th...
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Monument places town manager on leave in ‘best interests of community’
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Colorado Springs Gazette, Local

Monument places town manager on leave in ‘best interests of community’

By Savannah Eller  | Colorado Springs Gazette Monument town manager Mike Foreman is on paid administrative leave after a special Town Council meeting Wednesday.  The Town Council told Foreman, who has been with the town since 2019, that the days until a review meeting on June 25 would allow time for him to address concerns from councilmembers about his performance. The nature of the review was not made public.  "This would allow you to review and respond to the points discussed," said Mayor Mitch LaKind at the meeting.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE
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Wolves in Colorado can be hunted under specific conditions, says wildlife commission
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Colorado Springs Gazette, State

Wolves in Colorado can be hunted under specific conditions, says wildlife commission

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Springs Gazette A divided Colorado Parks and Wildlife commission on Thursday voted to allow for the lethal management of wolves under certain situations, a move that ranchers in Grand and Jackson counties have sought for months. The commission approved, 6-4, a staff recommendation allowing several permits, including the lethal taking of chronically depredating wolves — those that have demonstrated repeated killing and harassment of livestock or working dogs. The vote was greeted with applause from dozens of ranchers, many of whom testified to the harms caused by two wolves, in particular, in Grand County. These two wolves are believed to be responsible for killing or injuring at least seven cattle, mostly calves, during calving season in April. R...
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Campaign complaint dismissed against El Paso County commissioner running for state office
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Colorado Springs Gazette, Local

Campaign complaint dismissed against El Paso County commissioner running for state office

By Savannah Eller | Colorado Springs Gazette Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold's office has officially dismissed a complaint against current El Paso County Commissioner Stan VanderWerf for comments made about his state Senate run in a May 9 Board of County Commissioners meeting.  The state Elections Division motion to dismiss was granted on June 7. Integrity matters, the resident watchdog group behind the complaint, said in the filing that VanderWerf violated fair campaign practices when he mentioned what he planned to do if elected to Colorado Senate District 12 this November during a meeting on a housing development approval application.  The development, which would bring 20 single-family homes to dead-end Hay Creek Road, faced opposition from the public during the...
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Colorado Republicans call Biden’s asylum order ‘too little, too late,’ Dems say it’s ‘people over politics’
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Colorado Springs Gazette, State

Colorado Republicans call Biden’s asylum order ‘too little, too late,’ Dems say it’s ‘people over politics’

By By Nicole C. Brambila | Colorado Springs Gazette President Joe Biden’s sweeping executive action Tuesday to ban asylum seekers when illegal border crossings reach a certain threshold expectedly divided Colorado leaders along partisan lines, with Republicans calling the action “too little, too late” and Democrats describing the move as putting “people over politics.” Meanwhile, in Denver, a spokesperson for the city’s human services agency, which is in charge of the response to the crisis, said officials will closely monitor any impacts the executive order might have. “In the meantime, we will stay focused on what we are able to control, including our recent pivot away from emergency operations to a more sustainable programmatic approach,” Jon Ewing, a Denver Human Services spok...
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