The Home Front: Four Dems are running for a chance to face GOP Congressman Scott Tipton

“What had been a two-way race among Democrats in the 3rd Congressional District to win the party’s nomination and face Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton in the fall mid-term election has grown to four,” reports The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent. “Up until last month, former Routt County commissioner and three-term state Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush from Steamboat Springs, and Karl Hanlon of Carbondale, a water and municipal attorney practicing in Glenwood Springs, had been the only two candidates vying for the nomination heading into the spring political cycle. Since that time, however, Arn Menconi, an outspoken social justice advocate from Carbondale, who’s a former Eagle County commissioner and past Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate, has entered the Democratic race. Also in the running is Root Routledge, a military veteran and self-described ‘independent progressive Democrat,’ who raises horses in Durango.”

“About half the residents of Nunn were suspicious of Joe Clingan when he accepted the job as chief of the Nunn Police Department in 2007,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “The closest the town of a little more than 400 people ever had come to having a police department was hiring a night watchman in the 1930s named Friday Nelson. Clingan spent 25 years as a police officer in Fort Collins, and he isn’t a Nunn native, which is why people were skeptical of his ability to serve them. But Nunn, like many other small towns in Weld County, was growing. Weld sheriff’s deputies had more than 4,000 square miles to cover, and they couldn’t be in Nunn all the time. A faction of the town’s residents wanted a more constant police presence, and they pushed for the creation of the Nunn Police Department, which includes three full-time officers, counting the chief. But he had to win the respect of the other half of the town, he said, and that’s when he learned policing in a small town is different than a large city.”

“The U.S. Department of the Interior will part with an estimated $18 million this month, money that’s intended to go to four northwest Colorado counties,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “The issue of how to get the money from Interior to Garfield, Mesa, Moffat and Rio Blanco counties is a question that remains open in the Colorado Legislature, however.”

“Longmont Transportation Planner Phil Greenwald was surprised Friday when he saw the results of a resident survey on the city’s free bus service showed many respondents were totally unaware such an option existed,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “After logging 1,125 responses to the survey on the city’s Ride Free Longmont bus service, Greenwald learned dozens of residents claimed to have not known they could ride at no charge. Ride Free Longmont was started in 2014 and offers riders trips at no cost on the Regional Transportation District’s routes within the city. While the survey didn’t include questions specifically addressing whether respondents knew buses were free in the city, many commented in the open forum portion of their answers they were uninformed that was the case prior to the survey.”

“UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center has submitted preliminary plans for a proposed expansion at its existing Steamboat Springs campus that could provide new space for an ambulatory surgery center, orthopedic and spine clinic, sports medicine clinic and related imaging suites,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “The hospital submitted three proposals to the city of Steamboat Springs Planning Department. It is common to submit a pre-application for larger projects so that questions can be answered and possible hurdles to construction can be identified.”

“Black Hills Energy on Tuesday disputed statistics cited in a Colorado State University-Pueblo study that said 7,000 power shutoffs to Pueblo households could be the main cause of homelessness,” reports The Pueblo Chieftain. “The study, released Monday, also said there is not enough evidence to connect the increasing homeless population here and Colorado’s legalization of marijuana. Utility officials said Tuesday that the 7,000 shutoffs to households in 2016 cited by CSU-Pueblo sociology professor Tim McGettigan in the study is a misleading statistic.”

“A pedestrian who was seriously injured when he was struck by a pickup Monday night on South Lincoln Avenue has been cited in the incident, Loveland police said Tuesday,” reports The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “LPD public information officer Jan Burreson said in a press release that investigators determined that Justin Owsley, 31, of California ran across Lincoln Avenue about 80 feet north of a designated crosswalk at 14th Street SE, and into the path of a Ford F-150 being driven by 33-year-old Tommy Miller of Greeley. Police say that Miller, driving southbound, was unable to avoid Owsley. Owsley was transported to McKee Medical Center in Loveland for his injuries. His condition is not known to the Reporter-Herald as of Tuesday afternoon.”

“Students up and down the Vail Valley will take a walk to take their stand against gun violence,” reports Vail Daily. “On Wednesday, March 14, local students will join hundreds of thousands of students across the nation, walking out of class for 17 minutes — one minute each for every student, teacher and staffer killed one month ago at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.”

“Students at Poudre School District could soon start catching some extra zzz’s as the district considers changing school start times,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “PSD high schools and middle schools currently start between 7:25 and 8:15 a.m. The district is considering bumping those start times to no earlier than 8:30 a.m. The district sent out an electronic survey Feb. 26 to staff, high school students, parents and community members. The survey wrapped up March 9.”

“Lodging properties in Fremont County took in a revenue increase of $1.3 million last year, continuing the upward trend in the county’s lodging tax collections,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “Most of the visitors who stayed at local hotels, motels and campgrounds also visited the Royal Gorge Bridge, went rafting, rode the Royal Gorge Route Railroad, ate in restaurants and purchased gas, helping to boost the local economy.”

“East county parents who want to open enroll their children into Boulder’s Fairview High aren’t happy with a new student swap pilot the Boulder Valley School District tried,” reports The Boulder Daily Camera. “Several parents spoke about their unhappiness with the change at Tuesday’s school board meeting, while others called and emailed the district. “People are up in arms because there’s a lot of leapfrog going on,” said parent Maxine Most, who asked the board to redo the open enrollment process for ninth-graders. Boulder Valley has long used a lottery when there are more open enrollment requests than seats at schools. But for the coming school year, the district decided to first swap incoming ninth-grade students among the high schools.”

“The Air Force has decided it needs to be much more secretive since a Gazette story last month on the National Space Defense Center in Colorado Springs triggered a public relations ‘stand down,'” reports The Gazette. “In an email, the Pentagon confirmed the existence of a memo that bans most Air Force public relations worldwide until airmen are trained on operational security. ‘In line with the new national defense strategy, the Air Force must hone its culture of engagement to include a heightened focus on sound operational security,’ says the memo, obtained by The Gazette.”

“Denver-area school districts are marking Wednesday’s national student walkout protest of gun violence by acknowledging free-speech rights but setting guidelines for safety,” reports The Denver Post. “Campus gun violence has particular resonance for students in Colorado in light of deadly high school shootings over the past two decades, including at Columbine, Arapahoe and Platte Canyon. Students plan to leave their schools at 10 a.m. for 17 minutes, one minute for each of the 17 students and staff members killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14 in Parkland, Fla. Denver Public Schools said it is providing “safe places” for middle and high school students to express their views about guns in American society. Middle school students will not be allowed to walk off campus unless a parent or guardian gives written permission.”

“Durango City Council approved a revised operations plan for Lake Nighthorse on Tuesday that sets aside Mondays and Wednesdays each week for quiet use,” reports The Durango Herald. “The new rules will be enforced when the lake opens April 1.”

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