The Colorado Springs Gazette

New program dishes up Colorado Springs students' meals

One of the Pikes Peak region's most impoverished school districts leads the state in the number of students eating free meals through a federal program that started last fall. Harrison School District 2, in which nearly three-quarters of its 11,441 students come from low-income households, offers free breakfast and lunch to all students in 19...
Program will help area families prepare tax returns for free

Starting Saturday, low- to moderate-income families can get free tax return preparation assistance through the Tax Help Colorado program. Pikes Peak Community College is working with the Denver-based Piton Foundation to provide the service. IRS-certified PPCC students will prepare and e-file tax returns free of charge for taxpayers with...
Olympians help spread fencing exposure to area elementary teachers, students

Youth interest in fencing has grown in recent years. Fencer Tim Morehouse is helping make sure it never slows. The two-time Olympian, who took home a 2012 silver medal in team fencing, and fellow national team member Jeff Spear launched the first fencing program for Colorado Springs elementary school students last week. They led school...
Girl, 4, dies after falling through ice on northern Colorado pond

LOVELAND — Authorities say a 4-year-old girl is dead after she fell into an icy pond at a Loveland park. Police say the girl, whose name has not been released, was at the Loveland Sports Park with her family for soccer practice Wednesday evening. She was supposed to stay at a nearby playground but walked out onto the frozen pond and fell...
Sky High Ranch again to offer summer resident camps for girls

Girl Scouts of Colorado is re-opening resident camp this summer at Sky High Ranch near Woodland Park, and registration has begun. Sessions are open to all girls over age 6 and include such activities as a zipline, archery, backpacking, photography and rock climbing. Resident camps run six days or two weeks. There also are mini, three-day...
Fountain man constructs doghouses to match owner's RVs

Let's get this out of the way: My Buddy RVs are not for dolls. The miniature campers, modeled after their life-sized counterparts, are strictly for the dogs - and their owners. "This almost became a Barbie RV ... almost," said Bob Ruston, of Fountain, a former heavy line mechanic and street rod airbrush artist who's hoping to spin a love of...
Refusing measles vaccine could put others at risk

One in five toddlers across El Paso County went without the measles vaccine in the first half of 2014. Statewide immunization rates haven't been much better. That, public health officials say, is a problem. After tracking down hundreds of El Paso County residents recently exposed to the highly contagious virus, county health officials say...
More students puts strain on some Pikes Peak region schools

Skyview Middle School near Dublin and Powers boulevards started the 2014-2015 school year with 100 more students than in the fall of 2013. The spike in enrollment pushed the school to more than 200 students over the building's capacity. That has meant changes. There are five lunch periods; the first one starts at 10:30 a.m. and the last one...
Several in El Paso County quarantined due to measles exposure

Several people across El Paso County have agreed to be quarantined in light of a multistate measles outbreak that began at two California theme parks. In all, more than 300 people may have been exposed to a patient treated for measles at a Colorado Springs hospital, some of whom may not be immune to the virus, El Paso County Public Health...
Selfie sticks: Tourist convenience or purely narcissi-stick?

Selfies at tourist attractions are nothing new. But until recently, if you wanted a perfectly composed picture of yourself with Times Square or the Colosseum in the background, you might have asked a passer-by to take the photo. Now, though, relatively new gadgets called selfie sticks make it easy to take your own wide-angled self-portraits or...
Test for deadly gas common to Colorado Springs area

Radon - a gas second only to cigarette smoke in its ability to cause lung cancer - can't be seen, smelled or tasted. But now might be the perfect time to detect it. Colorado public health officials are urging residents this month to test for the noxious gas, which exists at high levels across Colorado and, in particular, the Pikes Peak...
Kids (and adults) explore their inner outer-space dreams at Colorado Springs center

Toddlers and teens zigzagged through and around display cases while clutching clipboards and pointing out models of rockets, modules and spacecraft. Some whirled around in a Barany chair used for physical training for astronauts. A few tracked the International Space Station as it orbited the Earth. Others navigated rovers on a course designed...
Deadline nears for nominating military spouses who sacrifice

The backers of an award program that honors the sacrifices of military spouses say the lives of wives and husbands of troops won't get easier with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan waning. Nominations are due by Thursday for the Military Spouse of the Year honors sponsored by Military Spouse Magazine. The 8-year-old contest honors the...
Regional poetry contest open to students in grades 9-12

Fountain Valley School of Colorado is calling for entries for the seventh annual Athenaea Poetry Competition for high school students in the Pikes Peak region. All students in grades 9-12 may enter. Pikes Peak Poet Laureate Janice Gould will judge the entries. Students can submit up to three original and previously unpublished poems in English...
Obama proposes publicly funded community college for all

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama wants publicly funded community college available to all Americans, a sweeping, multibillion-dollar proposal that would make higher education as accessible as a high school diploma to boost weak U.S. wages and skills for the modern workforce. The program is expected to cost the federal government $60...
Manitou Springs school bus hit, students transferred to another bus

A vehicle slid into a Manitou Springs School District 14 bus Friday morning, but school officials said none of the elementary school students were injured. Russ Vogel, principal of Manitou Springs Elementary School, said in an email to families that the students were taken to school on another bus. Administrators and counseling staff were...