The Home Front: Jennifer Carroll’s election as mayor of Erie signal’s town’s ‘post-Firestone approach to oil and gas regulation’

“Final returns on Tuesday for Erie’s municipal election, billed in recent months as a referendum on the town’s renewed post-Firestone approach to oil and gas regulation, confirmed a wide-margin victory for mayoral candidate Jennifer Carroll,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “Her election, coupled with a slate of candidates with similar proclivities for local control over energy development, portends the town’s continued path for more aggressive restrictions on drilling. Advertisement Carroll, who has characterized herself as ‘the champion for more local control’ and represents the core support for the town’s oil and gas overhaul in recent months, had 4,726 total votes as of the final wave of unofficial results at about 11 p.m.”

“Before he became a nurse and before he joined the Wyoming Air National Guard five years ago at age 38, Greeley resident Andrew Canterbury had a career as a high school teacher,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “He’s not in a classroom with students anymore, but in his way, Canterbury is still teaching — and learning. He’s the man behind Tuesday’s double military helicopter landing at Heath Middle School in Greeley. The landings were part of a training exercise meant to simulate a cataclysmic tornado in Fort Morgan. While much of the training focused on Morgan County, the scenario simulated an event so severe first responders would have to bring patients to North Colorado Medical Center for treatment.”

“Investigators are seeking information about the cause of the 10-acre blaze that destroyed at least one home and forced the evacuation of 363 others in and around the Rosevale area on Monday,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “Officials with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office and Grand Junction Fire Department on Tuesday asked that anyone with video, photographs or other information related to the start of the fire contact the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office.”

“Police are now calling the March 18 disappearance of Rita Gutierrez-Garcia ‘suspicious,’ according to a Facebook post on the Longmont Fire, Police and OEM Facebook page on Monday,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “Gutierrez-Garcia, 34, was last seen at about 2:30 a.m. walking to a parking lot behind 3’s Bar at 333 Main St. in downtown Longmont after celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with friends and family. In the Facebook post, the Longmont Police Department asks for home or business surveillance video that may show Gutierrez-Garcia walking alone, with another person or getting into someone’s car anytime between 2:15 and 3:45 a.m. on the day she disappeared.”

“Police, firefighters and even wildlife officers will be going through the brush areas of Fountain Creek early Wednesday to locate homeless people living along the river and assess the fire hazard from campfires and other threats,” reports The Pueblo Chieftain. “At the same time, police will be telling the homeless it is illegal to camp along the creek. The city doesn’t allow camping on its property and the police have contacted all the private property owners along the Fountain and confirmed they do not allow campers either. “We’re not rousting people and taking their property away, but we are advising them they don’t have permission to be there and they should be moving off,” Sgt. Frank Ortega said Tuesday.”

“Rocky Mountain Remedies employees and supporters gasped and expressed surprise and disappointment Tuesday after the Steamboat Springs City Council blocked the pot shop’s plans to move to a more visible location between downtown and Steamboat Ski area,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “Even the council appeared confused by the final vote total, with some appearing surprised the proposal had been rejected. “The council just said there’s no place you’re going to be able to move to improve your business outcomes,” RMR co-owner Kevin Fisher said immediately after the council voted, 4-3, to deny the dispensary’s application to move into 410 S. Lincoln Ave.. ‘But we’ll keep looking.'”

“With ballots counted and unofficial result reported, Silt’s most contested race in years came in with a two-vote margin for apparent new mayor Jay Barner,” reports The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent. “Barner had 187 votes in the three-way race to replace Rick Aluise, who is stepping down after one term. Barner appears to have edged out Keith Richel (185 votes) and Bryan Fleming (128 votes) to be named the town’s next mayor, assuming the unofficial results stand. Barner could not be reached Tuesday night for comment.”

“Berthoud voters selected Will Karspeck to replace Steve Mulvihill as town mayor, according to unofficial results announced by the Berthoud Town Clerk on Tuesday night,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “About 70 percent of voters selected Karspeck over opponent Jeff Hindman. Both mayoral candidates are currently serving as trustees on the Berthoud Town Board; Hindman will continue to serve until his term concludes in April 2020. Voters cast 2,139 ballots in total, according to Berthoud Town Clerk Christian Samora.”

“For a few weeks this year, four largely silent buses will ferry passengers between the town’s soccer fields and the west end of Lionshead Village,” reports Vail Daily. “The tests — for about five days per bus — are being run to determine how fully electric buses perform on what town officials call the in-town routes. The tests started the week of Monday, March 19, when a bus from manufacturer BYD was in town. In addition to working on the town’s regular routes, the vehicle was also used to bring Vail Town Council members and other officials from town hall out to the town’s bus barn and shops.”

“After less than four hours of deliberation, a jury on Tuesday found Juan Canales-Hernandez guilty of the murder of 11-month-old RaeLynn Martinez in September 2016,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “Canales-Hernandez, 25, was found guilty on all charges: first-degree murder by a person in a position of trust of a victim under the age of 12; child abuse, knowingly or recklessly causing death; and attempting to influence a public servant. As Eighth Judicial District Judge Stephen Howard read each guilty verdict, Martinez’s assembled family members gasped, clapped and wept. They passed around tissues and exclaimed, ‘Yes!'”

“A GoFundMe page was set up Tuesday to help cover the funeral expenses of Amanda and Sara Eldritch, the twin sisters who were found dead in Cañon City three years after receiving a pioneering surgery to help treat their severe symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “The sisters, whose surgery gained national attention after they were featured on the CBS talk show “The Doctors,” were found with gunshot wounds Friday at a rest area near the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park. They were 33 years old. Residents of Broomfield, the twins are remembered on the GoFundMe page as animal-lovers who were “creative, artistic, intelligent, compassionate, kind and generous.” They were the first people in Colorado to receive deep brain stimulation, a treatment typically used for patients with Parkinson’s disease, to help treat their severe symptoms of OCD.”

“Private equity giant KKR has bought out most of Insight Venture Partners’ stake in Colorado Springs-based Cherwell Software LLC in a $172 million transaction, the biggest venture capital deal for a Colorado Springs company, giving KKR a majority interest in Cherwell,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “KKR bought a $50 million stake in Cherwell early last year, while Insight pumped $25 million into the company in 2012 and was its largest shareholder until the transaction was completed. Insight retains a significant interest in Cherwell as well as a seat on the company’s board of directors. KKR has a seat on Cherwell’s board held by Vincent Letteri, director of its private equity and technology, media and telecommunications industry growth team. It will get two more seats on the board, which also includes Cherwell’s three founders.”

“U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado is pressing President Donald Trump to use NAFTA negotiations to transform federal rule-making in a way that could thwart future environmental protections and other proposed regulations,” reports The Denver Post. “The initiative, outlined in a letter Gardner and two fellow Senate Republicans sent Trump in mid-March, would use a retooled North American Free Trade Agreement to give Congress power it otherwise lacks: the ability to swat away any new federal regulation with an annual economic impact of at least $100 million. At the same time, their plan — billed as a way keep the U.S. economically competitive — could help advance a port project in Oregon that would make it easier for Colorado energy producers to sell natural gas to overseas markets.”

“Durango City Council approved an emergency ordinance to direct staff members to set up a place for homeless people to stay directly west of the Durango Dog Park late Tuesday,” reports The Durango Herald. “It is not done without heart and it is not done easily, Councilor Chris Bettin said. Once open, the new site will allow La Plata County to shut down an existing camp north of the Durango Tech Center to mitigate fire danger. Those who stay in the new site near Lightner Creek will have to pack up their belongings every morning. ‘The potential here is to enable folks to have a safe, secure place where they can sleep. We understand it is far from ideal,’ Mayor Dick White said.”

“On Monday night, the Denver City Council appeared to settle weeks of questions about how it would handle the question of Mayor Michael Hancock’s suggestive text messages to Det. Leslie Branch-Wise,” reports Denverite. “The elected officials said they were disappointed by the mayor’s behavior in 2012, but they wouldn’t be holding hearings or hiring investigators to look into the mayor’s behavior. They have promised to tackle a gap in the city’s rules about harassment, and the mayor added his support late on Tuesday — but it won’t be simple.”

“Saira Rao, the Denver Democrat mounting a primary challenge against 11-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, will report raising just over $250,000 for the quarter that ended Saturday, her first in the race, Colorado Politics has learned,” reports ColoradoPolitics. “Rao’s campaign said she received contributions from more than 950 individual donors since launching her campaign in January and hasn’t taken any money from corporate political action committees. She plans to report roughly $170,000 on hand at the end of March.”

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