Author: Dean Toda
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Dems tout higher registration fees as fast track to safer roads
DENVER • Formally introducing a centerpiece of their 2009 agenda, Democratic lawmakers Friday unveiled a supplemental transportation bill that its Senate sponsor said would create 10,000 jobs by June while addressing road safety, including repairing 126 bridges in poor condition. Dubbed FASTER, or Funding Advancement for Surface Transportation and Economy Recovery, the bill would raise…
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Ritter halts plan for Springs corrections headquarters
DENVER • Construction of a new Department of Corrections headquarters in Colorado Springs fell victim to the economic recession on Thursday when Gov. Bill Ritter cancelled the project. The governor’s spokesman, Evan Dreyer, said the new building, to be built near the existing 65,000-square-foot DOC headquarters on South Circle Drive, had been “indefinitely halted.” He…
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Bennet taking turnaround skills to Washington
He’s been a lawyer, a mayoral aide and a turnaround specialist for corporations and public schools, all before his 45th birthday. With his swearing-in scheduled for this afternoon, Michael Bennet officially adds the U.S. Senate to his résumé, saying he hopes to be a part of a generation of leadership that “created more opportunity for…
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Ritter forecasts difficult choices
DENVER • Speaking in the shadow of a recession darkening Colorado’s economy, Gov. Bill Ritter delivered a somber state of the state speech on Thursday, warning of “tough choices” to come on state spending. “We are feeling pain,” Ritter told the legislators, state officials and other dignitaries packed into the House chamber in the Capitol.…
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Lawmakers draw lines on historic opening day
DENVER • Colorado’s 67th General Assembly was gaveled into session Wednesday, with leaders making lofty promises but offering few specifics about how the state Legislature is going to tackle the economic recession and the state’s budget deficit. Even if they can’t deliver on their promises, lawmakers made history by electing two blacks to the top…
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477 combined winter ascents — and counting
Pikes Peak has a road to the top. How tough can it be to climb? But the tens of thousands who have hiked Pikes’ famed Barr Trail in the summer in shorts, sneakers and a sweatshirt would be appalled at the deep snow, howling wind and flesh-freezing cold that winter climbers confront. For the unprepared,…
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State assembly must cut $631M
DENVER • The state Legislature’s 67th General Assembly begins Wednesday, and the question atop every list is, what are we going to do for money? Amid declining tax revenues caused by the recession, the Legislative Council, a nonpartisan agency, is forecasting a budget shortfall of $631 million this fiscal year, which ends June 30. Since…
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Freshman lawmaker does his best to grasp his homework
Silly costumes helped, a little. As they wrapped up their formal orientation process in early December, 19 members of the state Legislature’s incoming freshman class were in a hearing room in the basement of the state Capitol, boning up on the budget process. Appropriating the taxpayers’ money may be the crucial function of the General…
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Pikes Peak fireworks show will go on
PIKES PEAK SUMMIT — Hi, Dean Toda here, filing from the summit house atop Pikes Peak. I’m here after hiking the Barr Trail with the AdAmAn Club, which this afternoon completed a pretty brutal climb for its annual New Year fireworks extravaganza.The problem was the winds, which were vicious this afternoon as we approached the…
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AdAmAn group slogging up Barr Trail
The AdAmAn hiking group, scheduled to set off its annual fireworks display at midnight Wednesday to welcome in the new year, has reached the Barr Trail fork heading to the Experimental Forest. The hikers set out about 8:30 this morning for Barr Camp. They are about 3 to 3.5 miles away, and should hit hardpacked…