The Home Front: Two Colorado scientists ‘struggle to air alternative view’ on man-made climate change. ‘Their wives think they’re crazy’

“Two Fort Collins scientists want to change how the world views the connection between human activity and global warming,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “However, Ned Nikolov and Karl Zeller say they’ve had a hard time getting the scientific world to hear them out, let alone take them seriously. They’ve gone to great lengths — including the use of pseudonyms — to publish papers challenging the concept that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor and methane in the atmosphere contribute to the warming of Earth. Their rejection of status-quo thinking on atmosphere and climate change has led to scorn from fellow scientists and longtime friends. They’ve been lumped into the category of ‘climate deniers.’ Their wives think they’re crazy, Zeller said.”

“On his way home Wednesday night from the Poudre Learning Center Energy Institute, Zach Romer said he finally understood the oil and gas rigs he drives past daily,” reports The Greely Tribune. “Romer teaches eighth-grade science at Heath Middle School in Greeley, and he’s spent the past several days at an inaugural program put on through a partnership between the learning center, the University of Northern Colorado and several oil and gas companies — SRC Energy, Anadarko Petroleum, Noble Energy and PDC Energy. The oil and gas companies footed the bill for the free program so northern Colorado teachers could learn more about the industry and how it works.”

“A man accused of killing his neighbor’s cat and giving her back the dead body when she came looking for her pet has received a citation,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “Mesa County Animal Services Manager Doug Frye confirmed that his agency issued the citation for aggravated animal cruelty to Orchard Mesa resident Ed Haynes, who admitted to drowning a cat because he was sick of it ruining his landscaping.”

“Emma Swaney, 16, teared up when she spoke about her friend who committed suicide,” reports The Longont Times-Call. ‘I won’t say their name, but I tried. I hung out with her, but one day she got a belt and hung herself,’ said Swaney, who is from Firestone. ‘But I’ve also saved friends. I’ve saved 15 people … every person deserves to live, no matter what.'”

“Routt County Treasurer Brita Horn has provided new details about how her office made the mistake that deprived schools, towns and other tax recipients of $5.8 million worth of their property tax revenue for more than two months,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “But even as the details came out this week, some elected officials and a town manager in Routt County still had questions and concerns about the error and how it took so long to discover and correct.”

“Glenwood police are looking for for 30-year-old Louis Alberto Quezada-Cruz, who they suspect is the hit-and-run driver from Sunday night’s head-on collision in West Glenwood,” reports The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent. Two people were seriously injured in the crash. He is wanted on felony charges of vehicular assault and accident involving injuries. His arrest warrant also lists misdemeanors for reckless driving, no insurance and driving with a canceled license.”

“City Councilwoman Lori Winner isn’t running for re-election this year although she intends to be busy campaigning this year — persuading city voters to pass a quarter-cent sales tax that would hire 24 more police officers,” reports The Pueblo Chieftain. “Winner, who was elected in 2015, ran on a clean-up-the-city message and said she made progress in her two years on council. The city now recovers unpaid property liens by having those debts added to property tax bills.”

“Three-term Loveland mayor Cecil Gutierrez will step down from his post in November, he said Thursday, and longtime friend and City Council member John Fogle announced he will run for the job,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “Fogle said he has accepted Gutierrez’s offer to chair his campaign committee. “My reasoning for that is sending a loud and clear signal. We’re a nonpartisan race, and that’s how it should be,” Fogle said.”

“In the view of Xcel Energy, the detailed planning needed to initiate a clean split between Boulder and Xcel is not complete, and thus that separation is not currently approvable by the state Public Utilities Commission,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “But another year of talks between the two sides could solve this problem, Xcel officials say, and help Boulder chart a more comprehensive path toward the municipal electric utility it has long desired.”

“Sixteen-year-old Natalie Cano-Partida was told she would at least get to tell her family goodbye,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “When she didn’t act quickly enough, her killers took the cell phone they had offered her and proceeded with their grim business – shooting her and 15-year-old Derek Greer at close range during a dual execution at a country roadside near Fountain. They died over a stolen purse, according to previously sealed court documents released Thursday. The shocking account of the teens’ March 11 slayings, made public on orders from an El Paso County judge, marks the first public indication that the Coronado High School students died of multiple gunshot wounds at the same remote location where their bodies were found March 12 – off Old Pueblo Road, a place apparently chosen at random during a harrowing abduction that began in Colorado Springs.”

“Walker Stapleton will inch up to the line of launching his campaign for governor this month at a private fundraiser where tickets cost as much as $10,000 per couple,” reports The Denver Post. But the Republican state treasurer won’t make it official, and a key reason is money. The longer Stapleton waits before formally announcing his bid for Colorado’s top job, the more he can help steer unlimited sums of money toward a super PAC-style group that is expected to provide his artillery during the campaign.” (Read our report yesterday synthesizing this with how Democratic Congressman Jared Polis is self-funding his race and how it relates to Colorado’s low campaign donation limits.)

“The owners of Metro Urgent Care decided a health care facility is just what the former home of Cheeky Monk needs,” reports Denverite. “Metro Urgent Care is expected open sometime in September at the southwest corner of East Colfax Avenue and Pearl Street. The site is on pace to be the eighth or ninth location that the company opens in the metro area this year, said Brendon Lockhert, a co-owner of Metro Urgent Care.”