The Home Front: That cop in the crazy Fremont County criminal evidence case is headed to court

“A former Fremont County Sheriff’s Office detective will make his first appearance in court Tuesday after an investigation by the Colorado Bureau of Investigations concluded,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “Robert Dodd, who has retired from the FCSO, faces two counts of second-degree official misconduct and abuse of public records. Charges were filed May 4 by District Attorney Molly Chilson. According to the complaint, between Dec. 25, 2016, and Dec. 30, 2016, Dodd knowingly altered a public record even though he had not been authorized as a custodian of the record. The details of what Dodd altered were not disclosed.”

Related: A Colorado reporter finds criminal evidence— in a landfill

“President Donald Trump’s announcement on Thursday to withdraw the United States from participating in the Paris climate accord is not sitting well with many Boulder-area scientists who say the move will likely have many impacts on the U.S. and the rest of the world — none of them good,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “This is a step backwards,” said Mark Serreze, director of Boulder’s National Snow and Ice Data Center. “Our nation should be playing a leadership role in trying to combat climate change,” he said. “The premise behind this decision that (the climate accord) is going to a job killer is just false. There is much more opportunity in green technology … That’s where the future lies.”

“If Weld County Sheriff’s deputy Dave Clarke is working a series of night shifts, he knows he might not see his wife for two or three days at a time,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “He’s thankful he doesn’t have to spend more time away. When he was in the Air Force, during the Gulf War, Clarke would sometimes go months without seeing her during deployments. Communication could be sparse, too. To those without military experience, the irregular hours and unexpected overtime police officers often deal with might seem taxing. For Clarke, though, and other military veterans who have chosen to become police officers, it’s one of many challenges they know they can handle. They’ve already been pushed, sometimes to their breaking point, during their military service.”

“Until the early 1980s, the city of Fruita piped its domestic water down from Piñon Mesa, south of Glade Park,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “Fruita still maintains four lakes in the alpine area above Glade Park, but the area is used mostly for recreation as locals flock to the high country to escape summer’s grip. The city now is seeking public input as it looks to the future, considering the high costs of maintaining its mountain water storage. A public meeting is scheduled tonight.”

“A new local chapter of a national anti-gun violence organization has started in Longmont this year and will hold a picnic on Saturday,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “Moms Demand Action is a national organization that supports the Second Amendment but also “believe common-sense solutions can help decrease the escalating epidemic of gun violence,” according to the organization’s website.”

“Talks between the Steamboat Springs City Council and real estate developers who want to build 444 new housing units in west Steamboat are starting to heat up,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “To help fund more affordable housing projects in the city, the council is eyeing a 1 percent transfer tax on the sales of the homes Brynn Grey Partners wants to build. The transfer tax appeared to be the most popular idea to quell concerns the council has about the long-term affordability of the homes that would be built on the former Steamboat 700 property.”

“A business incubator and ‘co-working’ space proposed to operate in the city-owned former Glenwood Springs library building would rely on a core group of about 50 full- and part-time members generating about $22,500 per month after year three,” reports The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent. “Additional daily drop-in rates, plus fees for special workshops, events, mentoring classes and other ancillary uses would also be necessary to make the venture a go, according to a business plan put together by supporters of the concept.”

“A Pueblo police officer who apparently re-enacted a vehicle search on his body camera, which resulted in the dismissal of a felony criminal case, will be disciplined by the Pueblo Police Department, police Chief Luis Velez announced Thursday,” reports The Pueblo Chieftain. “Velez, however, said that because the matter is a personnel investigation he cannot comment any further, including about what type of discipline will be imposed on officer Seth Jensen. An internal affairs investigation was launched into Jensen’s conduct following the allegations that he re-enacted a body camera search of a vehicle in a drug and weapon possession case.”

“Even more charges could be filed against Adam Fulford in addition to the more than 50 he is already facing in connection with a police chase in late March,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “Fulford eluded police for more than 14 hours after reportedly shooting a taxi driver in the leg and stealing the cab before crashing a different stolen vehicle into a car holding a mother and two children in west Loveland. The suspect’s health has continued to improve since the Loveland crash ended the overnight search. Fulford suffered injuries that left him in a wheelchair for weeks as well as cuts to his face, but he entered Judge Greg Lammons’ courtroom using just one crutch on Thursday.”

“No one from Wellons, the company that built Gypsum’s biomass plant, would respond to repeat requests for help with alleged construction defects, plant owners from Eagle Valley Clean Energy said during testimony in federal court on Thursday,” reports Vail Daily. “Kendrick Wait, one of the proprietors of Eagle Valley Clean Energy, the company that owns and operates the plant, testified Thursday that the company started asking Wellons for help in September 2014. As many as 20 punch lists were exchanged between Eagle Valley Clean Energy and Wellons about items that still needed to be completed, around 90 items per list, Wait said. ‘They fixed some of the items, but not the ones that cost money to fix,’ Wait said.”

“After a twisting legislative session that at times left open records advocates dubious about the chances of modernizing the Colorado Open Records Act, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s pen has made the reform effort law,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “Starting Aug. 9, stewards of public records that are kept in a digital format must release the records in their native form. It’s the first major update to that law in two decades. ‘We finally pulled it off,’ Sen. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins, said, noting that its an added layer of transparency in government. ‘It’s a great victory for the people.'”

“‘No man ever steps in the same river twice’ has become increasingly literal for river runners in Durango’s ever-changing Whitewater Park,” reports The Durango Herald. “As the Animas River approaches peak flows, hitting 2,900 cubic feet per second on Thursday, and with the official start of Animas River Days, which includes Saturday’s unofficial water parade, members of the boating community are trying to make it clear: This is not the same Animas River as last year.”

“From dismay to nonchalance, local reactions on the Paris climate accord withdrawal appeared split along ideological lines,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “For environmentalists and progressives, President Trump’s long-awaited announcement on Thursday registered like a gut punch, raising questions not only about the United States’ place in the global order but for the future of the planet.”

“The cost of outfitting the Colorado Convention Center with a rooftop expansion has been rising rapidly, and Thursday, Denver city officials revealed the new price tag: $233 million,” reports The Denver Post. “And the city will lean even more heavily on visitors to Denver to pick up the tab. That estimate is more than double the preliminary cost of $104 million that officials discussed before voters approved extensions of taxes on car rentals and hotel stays for the project in November 2015. To make up the gap in expected funding, officials say, they will tap the city’s existing convention-related income streams and allow supportive hotel owners to kick in money by creating a new 1 percent tax on stays in Denver’s midsize and large hotels.”