“A transgender Air Force Academy graduate is being withheld lieutenant’s bars because of what the academy calls a gap in Pentagon rules for transgender military recruits,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “Although the Defense Department began allowing military service by transgender people last year, the change applied to those who were active duty, not recruits, Air Force Academy spokesman Lt. Col. Allen Herritage said in a written statement. As a result, a recent graduate has been barred from receiving a commission, Heritage confirmed, declining to name the cadet.”
“As Greeley’s population continues to climb, Will Jones and the team at Greeley-Evans Transit are preparing for the future,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “Officials peg the city’s population at 105,000 now, an estimate of an estimate until the 2020 census provides more solid numbers, but there are other ways to measure growth. Take the number 10,000: That’s how many people commute between Greeley, Loveland and Fort Collins. It’s why Greeley-Evans Transit is taking an early look at a regional route. Or there’s the number 708,000: That’s how many riders Jones, the director at Greeley-Evans Transit, said his department will serve this year. That’s why, among other reasons, the department is slowly replacing its fleet with larger, more accessible buses.”
“Energy companies have inspected thousands of local oil and gas flowlines near homes and provided the state with an inventory of the lines following an order to complete those tasks, and now face a second deadline to test those lines,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “The companies are responding to a directive by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission after investigators determined that an April explosion that killed two people in a home in Firestone was caused by gas emitting from a flowline from a nearby oil and gas well. The line had been abandoned but never was disconnected from the well or capped, and was somehow severed near the home. Flowlines connect oil and gas wells to tanks, larger gathering lines that collect gas from multiple wells, or other equipment. Based on a directive from Gov. John Hickenlooper, the oil and gas commission required that by Tuesday of this week, companies inspect any flowlines and other pipelines within 1,000 feet of a building unit and provide the commission with flowline inventory and location data.”
“Residents within Erie’s Vista Ridge neighborhood met with lawyer Dominick Saia on Wednesday night to discuss possible options for pushing back against nearby oil and gas sites that have long plagued the affluent community,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “At question is Crestone Peak Resources’ Waste Connections oil and gas site, located along the southern border of Erie’s Weld County fringes, which residents assert has created increasing amounts of odor and noise. As neighbors organize along the Front Range community, a perpetually split Erie Board of Trustees is calling for greater scrutiny on the town’s setback mandates. Erie straddles the line between Boulder County’s relatively fracking-free acreage, and Weld County, Colorado’s current hotbed for oil and gas activity.”
“Golfers love to score eagles and birdies, but what do you call it when your errant fairway shot smashes the windshield of a pickup truck turning onto Thatcher Avenue? Pueblo city officials call it bad luck. Jonathan Cole, 19, called it heart-stopping,” reports The Pueblo Chieftain. “One moment, Cole was steering his truck when — BAM! — he’s hit with broken glass as his windshield spider-webbed with cracks. Except for the hole the ball made coming through.”
“During a hearing Friday, it will be up to Routt County Judge James Garrecht to determine who is the rightful owner of a Siberian husky named Sitka,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “It’s basically a mini trial,” said Steamboat attorney Emily Kelley, who is representing Steamboat resident Ashlee Anderson. Anderson is being sued by Cañon City resident Dr. Michael Gehrke, who claims the dog is his. Anderson has had Sitka since September 2013, when she adopted it from a friend in Canon City, where she lived at the time.”
“The Fort Collins police officer at the center of a $150,000 settlement returned to work Wednesday after nearly three months paid leave for allegedly violating a man’s constitutional rights while investigating a noise complaint,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “Aaron Westby was placed on administrative leave March 13, pending the completion of a series of investigations of his conduct from the July 17 incident. Findings from an internal police review exonerated him of using excessive force but sustained allegations that he violated a man’s constitutional rights.”
“A gas line break Wednesday morning in downtown Loveland snarled traffic in an area already jumbled by infrastructure work around The Foundry redevelopment project,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “An excavator operated by a contractor hit a 4-inch gas line in the area of Third Street and Cleveland Avenue about 8:30 a.m., according to Jason Starck, battalion chief with Loveland Fire Rescue Authority. The odor of natural gas hung in the air several blocks away as crews worked to stop the leak. Emergency crews closed off Cleveland Avenue between Fourth and First streets for about two hours as fire department and Xcel Energy workers dug down to find the line and cap it.”
“Boulder is now accepting applications from those seeking to establish housing co-operatives in the city, with the first licenses expected to be granted in mid-July,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “The ordinance approved early this year after an extensive and frequently testy review process allowed for the creation of up to 10 new co-ops annually, and at least four of the expected initial applicants are existing co-ops — Rad-Ish Collective, Beet Collective, Picklebric and Sumac Ranch and Resort — that have been operating without licenses.”
“During the school year, most children have to make their way to their school’s cafeteria to eat lunch. But this summer, the Cañon City School District’s nutritional services department is bringing lunch to them, with mobile food sites set up in various parts of the community,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. ‘It’s easier to bring it to them and to know we’re feeding more kids,” said Heather Williams, the district’s nutrition services manager.'”
“Colorado Department of Transportation crews worked overnight to repair Interstate 25 near the Denver Tech Center after a fuel tanker carrying diesel fuel and eight types of oil caused a massive fire Wednesday,” reports The Denver Post. “CDOT opened northbound Interstate 25 at Dry Creek 5 a.m. this morning after sweeping the interstate. Southbound I-25 at Belleview was able to open at about midnight.”
