The Home Front: City council members are concerned a satanist might give the invocation at their meeting

“The Grand Junction City Council’s current policy on prayers delivered at its meetings has allowed atheists to offer invocations and could allow a satanist to speak next week,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “However, it’s still not clear whether an atheist who was randomly selected to deliver the invocation can give his spot to a satanist, as he has announced he plans to do. The Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers announced last week that one of its members planned on giving his slot to deliver the invocation at next week’s council meeting to a satanist, mainly to make a point that the organization wants the council to stop allowing prayer at the meetings and not have an invocation at all or just have moments of silence instead. That member who was randomly selected to deliver the invocation is Scott Iles of Grand Junction, who said he plans on having a satanist take his place. Iles had his name randomly selected by the city clerk’s office, which handles requests from those who would like to participate in the invocation. Some city councilors are concerned about having a satanist offer the invocation, which traditionally has been a prayer performed by representatives from mostly Christian congregations over the years.”

“Frederick on Wednesday announced 11 candidates seeking to unseat the town’s mayor and four members of the town’s six-member Board of Trustees in a recall election set for Sept. 5,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “The ballots, which voters may mail in beginning on Aug. 14, also ask voters whether or not Mayor Tony Carey as well as Trustees Salvatore ‘Sam’ DeSantis, Rocky Figurilli, Donna Hudziak and Fred Skates should be recalled, according to a news release.”

“Children of a Weld County sheriff’s deputy recounted watching their father choke their sister as he lifted her up by the neck,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “Derek Kinch, 32, a Weld County sheriff’s deputy in the courts division, didn’t like the length of his daughter’s shorts and the ensuing argument turned violent, according to court documents containing excerpts from interviews with the family. The girl’s name and age were redacted from the documents. On Tuesday, authorities arrested Kinch on suspicion of second-degree assault, a felony, and child abuse, a misdemeanor.”

“Steamboat’s ski season airline program is poised to tap into two new markets known as desirable destinations for lovers of barbecue and music,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “The Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp. announced July 26 that inaugural flights from Austin, Texas, and Kansas City, Missouri, to Yampa Valley Regional Airport will begin Dec. 13 and continue through April. The flights will be on 50-passenger jets flown by ViaAir and are set to run Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.”

“A Canadian company has been chosen to install, test and certify a remote air traffic control tower at the Northern Colorado Regional Airport in Loveland — one of the first of its kind in the United States,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “It’s very exciting,” said Jason Licon, director of the regional airport. “Being a pioneer in something like this has a lot of advantages.” Traditional air traffic control towers are built up high with large banks of windows to allow specialists to visually guide aircraft in and out of an airport. A remote tower, however, uses cameras and other technology so the control spaces can be in different, even off-site, locations.”

“When Longmont resident Penellope Logue woke up to find the president of the United States tweeting policy about banning transgender people from serving in the military, she wondered how many lives his tweets would cost,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “Logue is a 36-year-old transgender woman who served in the Army from 1998 to 2006 under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which forbade LGBT men and women from disclosing their sexual orientation in the military. The policy was officially repealed in 2011. “To have a protection put into place and then stripped away is almost worse than having one never exist,” Logue said. President Donald Trump’s Wednesday morning tweets blamed “tremendous medical costs” and “disruption” that would burden the military for his policy shift.”

“A $1.8 billion partnership contract that covers the renovation of Denver International Airport’s terminal and three decades of oversight of new concessions passed its first test Wednesday in the City Council,” reports The Denver Post. “But a committee’s 4-1 vote to advance the public-private partnership contract with a team led by Madrid-based Ferrovial Airports doesn’t mean it will face smooth sailing on the council floor. Several council members expressed various reservations about the Great Hall project deal, including some who aren’t voting members of the business committee.”

“A local development group plans a $50 million, 230-room Marriott-branded hotel for downtown Colorado Springs, part of a series of hotel projects taking shape in the city’s core and outlying areas,” reports The Gazette in Colorado Springs. “The project, proposed for the southwest corner of Tejon and Costilla streets, would be the first Marriott property in downtown. It would include 120 rooms under Marriott’s SpringHill Suites brand that caters to business and leisure travelers, and 110 rooms as part of Marriott’s new Element flag, which targets extended stay travelers.”

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