Author: Daniel Chac
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Ex-con, ready to focus on youth, running for City Council
A man convicted of being an accessory to murder in the 1997 shotgun slayings of two teen-age boys in Cheyenne Meadows is running for Colorado Springs City Council. Gary Flakes, 32, on Wednesday announced his candidacy for council District 4. He said he’s running because he understands the needs of the community. “As a young…
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Drake task force to get pro assistance
A decommissioning study of Colorado Springs’ downtown power plant took another step forward with the selection of a global consulting firm to help guide the initial stages of the process.Navigant Consulting, which touts “business pragmatism” in highly regulated industries like energy, will advise a task force co-chaired by City Councilwomen and Utilities Board members Lisa…
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Community group wants council to ask voters for a raise
A community group plans to ask City Council to put a measure on the April ballot that would give future council members a raise. The proposal is still in the works, but the group wants to ask voters to boost council members annual $6,250 pay and add benefits. “My understanding is that compensation would be…
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Battle continues over scrubbers for Utilities plant
Colorado Springs Utilities officials are defending their decision to award a $73.5 million no-bid contract to a local company for a power plant emission control technology that they say shows major promise but was still in development.The city-owned utility said the NeuStream scrubber system was not only cheaper and smaller compared with conventional technology, but…
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$73.5 million sole-source contract raises eyebrows
Colorado Springs Utilities officials are defending their decision to award a $73.5 million no-bid contract to a local company for a power plant emission control technology that they say shows major promise but was still in development. The city-owned utility said the NeuStream scrubber system was not only cheaper and smaller compared with conventional technology,…
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Mayor gives Utilities a Christmas Eve deadline
Mayor Steve Bach on Monday gave the head of Colorado Springs Utilities a Christmas Eve deadline to answer a long list of questions about the coal-fired power plant downtown. In recent weeks, Bach and Utilities CEO Jerry Forte have been corresponding about the Martin Drake Power Plant’s future, which is at the center of a…
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El Paso County forges ahead on pot ban
El Paso County is among the first local governments in the state to push ahead with an outright ban on retail marijuana operations after the November passage of Amendment 64. The Board of County Commissioners voted 4-1 on Tuesday to advance an ordinance that would prohibit the operation of recreational marijuana cultivation facilities, product manufacturing…
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City attorney reviewing ethics complaint against councilman
The City Attorney’s Office is reviewing an ethics complaint against an outspoken Colorado Springs councilman. The complaint against Tim Leigh was filed by David Neumann, the inventor of a scrubber technology at the center of a high-stakes debate over the future of the coal-fired power plant downtown. “Our office will be taking appropriate action,” City…
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Utilities Board rejects deal with Sierra Club on Drake
The Utilities Board rejected a deal Thursday with the Sierra Club that would have slowed a controversial emissions control technology at the coal-fired power plant downtown. The board voted 5-3 not to sign the agreement with the Sierra Club, which was promising to hold off on suing Colorado Springs Utilities until at least Jan. 21…
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Secret talks with Sierra Club aimed at averting lawsuit
Behind-the-scenes negotiations between the city and the Sierra Club have led to an agreement that would avert a lawsuit, at least temporarily, against Colorado Springs Utilities over alleged violations of the Clean Air Act. “We would much prefer to save everybody’s time and money, and I think the city has the same perspective,” Bill Corcoran,…