Author: Wayne Heilman
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Colorado Springs area could see 600 new jobs as state approves major economic incentives
The Colorado Economic Development Commission on Thursday approved incentives for two companies that could ultimately add nearly 600 new jobs in El Paso County over the next eight years. The two were among a total of four unnamed companies that the commission approved for more than $24.4 million in job-growth investment tax credits, in order…
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Hotel with rooftop pool, upscale rooms closer to reality in Cripple Creek
Cripple Creek’s gaming industry will take its first steps toward becoming more like what gamblers see in Black Hawk with the opening late this year of a massive expansion of Bronco Billy’s Casino that will feature 300 upscale hotel rooms and other amenities. Las Vegas-based Full House Resorts, owner of Bronco Billy’s, is spending $250 million…
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Colorado Springs-area property taxes: Q&A on how the surge happened, how you can appeal
Many Colorado Springs-area residents did a double-take when they received a notice from the El Paso County Assessor’s Office on how much their property is worth. That’s because the value of the average single-family home in the county increased by 44% from the last time the office updated property values in 2021. Those values are…
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Best and Brightest: Life-threatening battle inspires success
Myles McClarity had just completed his best football season when he got the news no one wants to get: a cancer diagnosis. Returning from a football game in Montrose, McClarity had a nonstop nosebleed, felt dizzy, couldn’t stop throwing up, and passed out. Doctors diagnosed him in December 2021 with acute lymphoblastic T-cell leukemia, an…
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Best and Brightest: Planning to pursue political issues
Katarina Eid battled a poor body image and self-harm for six years, plucking out leg hairs, picking at her blemishes, skipping meals, and trying to force herself to throw up before she turned to dance to feel better about her self-image. Though Eid had been dancing since she was nine, she started dancing for fun…
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Best and Brightest: Motivated scholar has international finance plans
Maria Quintero Riano had to grow up fast when at age 6 her father was deployed to Afghanistan and she became her mother’s link to the English-speaking world in Texas, motivating the young girl to develop and passion for learning. The family of four had immigrated from Columbia two years earlier, later her father joined…
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Best and Brightest: Natural leader plans a public health career
William Sellmayer sought help after he couldn’t escape the depression and anxiety he experienced during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, even after he and many other students had returned to in-person schooling. At first, Sellmayer was embarrassed he had to seek therapy and take anti-depressant medications to improve his mental health and return…
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Best and brightest: Fascination with AI defines student’s goals
Steven Zhou got his first exposure to artificial intelligence at the cinema, watching the 2015 science-fiction drama “Chappie” about how gangsters steal a law enforcement robot and turn it into a murderous criminal device. Zhou, then a fifth grader, sobbed during the entire gruesome film and asked his father, University of Colorado Colorado Springs computer…
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Best and Brightest: Combining two passions into a career
Kainna Gray wants to combine two of her passions as she moves to college and later into a career — law and sign language — to become a lawyer and a legal interpreter for non-hearing clients. Gray was inspired as a teen to learn American Sign Language while becoming a fan of deaf actor Marlee Matlin after…
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Best and Brightest: Pursuing environmental science and helping others
Takaya Montez de Oca went from the joy and pride of making the Palmer High School tennis team to intense grief in seconds when he received a call that his brother had overdosed on drugs and had to be rushed to the hospital. His older brother had ingested a combination of pills in August 2021…