“The third day of the historic teachers and paraprofessionals strike against Pueblo City Schools (D60) ended, once again, with plenty of passion and spirit but no movement toward neither continued dialogue or a resolution,” reports The Pueblo Chieftain. “This time out, strikers and supporters met at the D60 administration building shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday for a brief but vocal rally. The passionate pink presence — estimated at 2,000 including students, parents and other backers — made its way Downtown, where the marchers traversed the Riverwalk and business district to great acclaim before making their way back to Mineral Palace Park and a noontime rally.”
“The Greeley Tribune newsroom was somber Wednesday morning. A few eyes were wet. Alumni staffers visited, exchanging hugs with former co-workers. The door of one corner office was locked, with a nameplate in the window. RANDY BANGERT EDITOR. Even those newcomers who never worked with Bangert were watching this, listening, getting caught up in the emotions,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “They couldn’t help it. Some had met Bangert. Some had not. But his reputation as a man, as a journalist, as a boss and as a friend was well-known to most veteran newspaper professionals in Colorado. Regardless of where they worked. By now, as an editor looking at this story, Bangert probably would be saying get to the point. Don’t get too maudlin. Where’s this opinion coming from? Get the facts and his age right. And then move on. The world goes on, and The Tribune’s job is to chronicle it all here, fairly, thoroughly and accurately. For the public good. Sorry, Randy. OK, here comes the straight stuff: Bangert, who spent 43 years at the Greeley Tribune, including 12 as the newspaper’s editor, died at 3 a.m. Wednesday at his home in Eaton after a battle with pancreatic cancer.”
“A number of the 20 or so fracking foes who called on the Longmont City Council on Tuesday night to delay voting on an ordinance detailing a proposed city agreement with a pair of oil and gas companies left the meeting early, mistakenly thinking they’d succeeded in getting the measure postponed,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “Instead, the council voted 7-0 at about 10:45 p.m. to give initial approval to the ordinance detailing what Longmont, TOP Operating Co. and Cub Creek Energy have agreed to do in connection with ending drilling for oil and gas from the surfaces of properties within city limits.”
“Routt County has a new weapon in its firefighting arsenal,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “The Civil Air Patrol’s Colorado Wing will be swooping in to provide fire watch support starting this fire season. The Civil Air Patrol is an auxiliary arm of the Air Force and is manned by professional volunteers who use government-owned planes for things like search and rescue, disaster relief and homeland security.”
“Anyone working under the gold dome who cared about beer, pensions or civil rights had plenty of things to worry about late into the night on the final day of the 2018 session of the Colorado Legislature on Wednesday,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “As expected, measures dealing with all three of those issues teetered in the balance, eventually coming down to the final hours as state lawmakers threw around proposed compromises or stood their ground either to get bills to the governor’s desk or the trash bin.”
“Residents are asked to line Mountain Avenue in Berthoud on Friday to honor Gabriel Conde, who was killed in action in Afghanistan on April 30,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “Conde’s funeral is scheduled for Saturday in Longmont. A procession escorting the 22-year-old’s body from Northern Colorado Regional Airport to Howe Mortuary in Longmont is expected to roll through downtown Berthoud about 10:30 a.m. Friday. Residents are asked to line the street with flags to honor the Berthoud High School graduate. “It’s a tremendous outreach of support for the family and for Gabe and to honor him like he deserves to be honored,” said Angie Conde Purdy, a family member, adding that the community outreach has been tremendous in support of the family and in honor of Gabriel.”
“There are three words you never want to hear when talking about the Colorado River: Upper basin curtailment,” reports Vail Daily. “The good news is, we’re probably a good distance away from using those words. Under a 1922 compact between states that feed into, and use, water from the Colorado, upper basin states — Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah — are required to deliver an average of 7.5 million acre feet per year to a measurement station at Lee’s Ferry, Utah. That water is for use in the lower basin states of Nevada, Arizona and Colorado.”
“Some of Fort Collins’ biggest challenges in achieving carbon neutrality come down to your choices,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “It’s your choice to bike to work or buy an electric car. Or to get an electric space and water heater. Or to recycle and compost your trash. Many of the city’s next moves, then, will focus on influencing those choices. City staff detailed those priorities and community progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions during a Tuesday Fort Collins City Council session.”
“Kate Kupferer and a hiking partner started noticing the missing rocks on Boulder’s popular Lion’s Lair Trail earlier this year,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “And at first not a lot of thought was given to the curiosity. But in recent weeks, as the stones of varying sizes — some as big as basketballs — continued to disappear from their usual resting places, it became impossible to ignore. Clearly, something weird was afoot. Or underfoot. “Definitely, someone had to bring a tool to dislodge those rocks, and slide them off the trail, down the hill,” said Kupferer, a Boulder resident. “You can see exactly where they had fit into the ground.” She said the rocks aren’t being taken away completely.”
“Cañon City High School sophomore Morgan Richardson joyfully exclaimed, “it’s gone,” on Tuesday as the scissors finally chomped down on 8 inches of her hair,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “Richardson, along with more than 40 other individuals, donated hair in the CCHS Pride’s fourth annual hair drive and made a difference in the life of a child with medical-related hair loss.”
“A colonel with the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs is facing court-martial on sexual assault charges in a case that spans five years of alleged misconduct,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “Air Force Col. Jason Costello, an F-22 Raptor pilot and intelligence analyst, is charged with raping a sleeping woman and two other charges. The assault counts include an alleged 2013 incident with Costello hitting a woman in the face and a 2017 assault that alleges he violently grabbed a woman’s arm and wrist.”
“Colorado lawmakers late Wednesday reached a deal to rescue the state pension fund from the fiscal brink by passing a bill at the eleventh hour to cut retirement benefits, raise employee contributions and pump in $225 million a year in tax dollars,” reports The Denver Post. “The deal in the final hours of the 120-day legislative session is designed to fill a $32 billion hole in Public Employees Retirement Association, or PERA, which benefits 1 in 10 Colorado residents. And it opened a path for deals to renew the controversial civil rights commission, and finalize rules on where people can buy and drink beer. The answers to those big questions didn’t come easy — or quick. The General Assembly pushed those questions close to the midnight adjournment deadline after spending much of the day saying farewell to term-limited members and laughing at House lawmakers performing humorous skits.”
