Colorado Springs News

Side Streets: All-black baseball team 'finally' earns spot in Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame

Sylvester Smith seemed stunned and asked me to repeat what I said. So I told him again: The Brown Bombers, an all-black team he played on 65 years ago that won back-to-back City Baseball League championships in 1949-50, stunning their all-white opponents, had been elected to the Colorado...

Video chat REWIND: The Gazette's Dave Philipps, Michael Ciaglo answer questions on Pulitzer Prize win

News: Local News Updated: Wed, Apr 16, 2014

The Gazette was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for “Other Than Honorable,” Dave Philipps’ three-day investigative series last year that examined how soldiers injured during war were being discharged without benefits.

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Azerbaijan touts itself as alternative to Russian energy as Ukraine crisis deepens

America has a pint-sized ally that's working on a solution for easing tensions with Russia in coming years. Azerbaijan, a country on the Caspian Sea with legendary oil wealth, is building a natural gas pipeline to feed the riches of the Baku oil field to Europe in a move that will make other American allies less dependent on Russian supplies...
Hickenlooper has comfortable lead over challengers

DENVER — A new poll suggests that Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper has a comfortable lead over his potential Republican challengers, backed by support from women and unaffiliated voters. The poll from Quinnipiac (KWIHN'-ih-pee-ak) University released Wednesday said that 52 percent of Colorado voters approve of the job Hickenlooper is...
Fort Carson 'incident' causes evacuation

A building on Fort Carson was evacuated Wednesday after a woman displayed threatening behavior and suggested she had weapon during a medical appointment, Fort Carson officials said. The incident was initially reported as a shooting by one news station, but sources at Fort Carson described the incident as minor, and confirmed that there was no...
Colorado lawmaker pushes for school arrest stats

DENVER — A Colorado state senator says she'll be pushing law enforcement agencies to report statistics showing what happens when trouble at school leads to the arrests of young people, but police see the new requirement as just one more unfunded burden. The Smart School Discipline Law requires police and sheriffs officers and district...
Auto break-ins at Palmer Park on the rise

Lorraine Elger loved walking her dogs at Palmer Park in northeast Colorado Springs until her car got broken into and her purse was stolen - in the middle of the day. Unfortunately, Elger is only one of many people who have had their vehicle's burglarized since the weather started warming up, with police reporting that at least 14 car break-ins...
New Manitou Springs spa gets blessing with sacred pipe ceremony

MANITOU SPRINGS - One by one, about two dozen people on Wednesday morning passed five colorful sacred pipes around a small room on the third floor of a building in Manitou Springs. The group thoughtfully took in the smoke from the pipes, or chanupas as the Northern Ute Tribe representatives called them. Each blew smoke around themselves and...
13-year-old rapper touts environmental message at Pikes Peak Community College

Think recycling one plastic bottle or turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth doesn't matter? Think again, challenges 13-year-old Xiuhtezcatl Martinez. "How does one college kid make a difference on a global scale? It's simple things in everyday life. It's always going to start small, with each and every one of us as individuals, and...
Athena Award goes to Colorado Springs City Councilwoman Jan Martin

City Councilwoman Jan Martin has followed women who have been role models for her in politics and in the community, and she takes pride in mentoring young people who now follow her. For her mentoring efforts, community work and service to others, Martin was honored as the 2014 Athena Award winner during a luncheon Wednesday at The Broadmoor...
Parents of Aurora victims slam Rep. Mike Coffman

AURORA — Parents of two people killed in the Aurora theater shooting are calling on Rep. Mike Coffman to support universal background checks. Coffman opposes a bill in Congress that would expand background checks to almost anyone purchasing a firearm. The parents of Jessica Ghawi (GAH'-wee) and Alex Sullivan on Wednesday said that Coffman...
4th grader tries to sell marijuana in northern Colorado

GREELEY — School officials in northern Colorado are asking parents to take care with their newly legal recreational marijuana, after fourth graders were caught dealing the drug on an elementary school campus. John Gates, director of safety for Weld County School District 6, said Wednesday that the students involved, three 10-year-old boys...
Pulitzer Prize winner to give  presentation Wednesday night at Colorado College

Gazette reporter Dave Philipps will give a presentation about the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2013 series “Other than Honorable” at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the theatre inside at Armstrong Hall on the Colorado College campus, 14 E. Cache La Poudre St. The series examined the rising increasing number of injured soldiers being...
Vietnam vet from AFA's first class to be buried Friday at academy cemetery

Brig. Gen. James Rhodes is coming home to the Air Force Academy on Friday. A member of the first class of cadets to graduate from the school in 1959, the Vietnam veteran will be buried at the cemetery on the campus after a noon service in the Cadet Chapel. His son, Jeff, says that's an appropriate ending for a man who credited his life...
Mobile home fire east of Colorado Springs extinguished

El Paso County Sheriff's Office and Falcon fire crews battled a mobile home fire on Luther Road, east of Marksheffel Road Wednesday. The blaze was reported by a neighbor shortly before noon, said sheriff's office spokesman Lt. Greg White. Scanner traffic indicated firefighters had extinguished the blaze by 12:30 p.m. There were no occupants...
Colorado officials invite Gov. Chris Christie to visit, despite 'quality of life' comments

Colorado elected leaders have a message for Chris Christie on living in the Rocky Mountain State: Don’t knock it until you try it. Responding to the New Jersey governor’s comments bashing Colorado’s “quality of life,” Sen. Michael Bennet said that Christie is welcome to visit the state “anytime.” “Whether it’s hiking...
Best and Brightest 2014: Haley McCarten, Pine Creek

This is the third of 20 profiles about The Gazette's Best and Brightest Class of 2014. Most 7-year-olds hardly know how to care for themselves. Yet until her grandparents intervened, Haley McCarten was doing just that and tending to her younger sister. Eventually, McCarten's grandparents were granted custody of the girls. "I worry a lot...
City Council eyeing charter change to allow it to have its own staff, attorney

The Colorado Springs City Council needs its own attorney and needs to be able to hire and fire its own staff, council President Keith King says. He says the city's charter, which is the city's constitution, needs to be changed to give the City Council those powers. He proposed the charter amendments Tuesday. He wants the proposed amendments on...
Colorado Springs-area student earns spot at prestigious science fair (plus list of state winners)

Parents of science fair participants everywhere will undoubtedly commiserate with Ellie Thompson when she jokes that "sometimes it's a little scary." For several years, her son, Matthew Hileman, has been working on an ion propulsion system in the family basement as part of his ongoing science project to build a satellite. Basically, it means...
Red flag warning Wednesday for southeast Colorado

Gusty winds and dry conditions throughout most of southeastern Colorado prompted the National Weather Service to issue a red flag warning from noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday. The weather service said wind gusts up to 35 mph with relative humidity levels below 12 percent could cause extreme fire behavior and rapid growth could be expected with any...
Police: Colorado Springs man robbed people he knew at gunpoint

Police said a man is on the run after he robbed his companions at gunpoint Tuesday night at an apartment complex in east Colorado Springs. An unidentified man and a group of people he knew went to an apartment on the 1400 block of Alvarado Drive, off East Fountain Boulevard, about 10:30 p.m., according to police reports. Once inside the...
Rockslide cleared on US Highway 24 near Minturn

MINTURN — U.S. Highway 24 near Minturn has been reopened after workers cleared a rockslide that brought down more than 150 tons of rock onto the roadway early Tuesday. The rockslide occurred about halfway between Minturn and Redcliff and caused significant damage, punching holes in the highway. According to the Vail Daily...