
Earlier this week, we brought you an interview from Iraq with Colorado Springs resident Susan Pardo. Pardo is a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force in Iraq for six months helping the Iraqi government set up a data network.
Today, we talk with Army Captain Josh Silver, a reservist who works for a local defense contractor. The Army sent him to Iraq in May. We hope to give listeners a little insight into the lives of local people who are sent to war.
[LISTEN]
A federal judge says Pueblo’s district attorney can’t sue Colorado Springs over wastewater spills, but the Sierra Club can. On Wednesday the judge tossed out the suit Pueblo DA Bill Theibaut filed in 2005, after a pair of spills sent some 340,000 gallons of raw sewage down Fountain Creek. Fountain Creek enters the Arkansas River at Pueblo. Theibaut argued that the spills violated the federal Clean Water Act, and asked for monetary penalties. The Judge said the DA didn’t demonstrate that he had jurisdiction to file suit. Theibaut says he disagrees with the ruling and that he is considering an appeal. The Clean Water Act was written to give ordinary citizens the power to call for enforcement of pollution violations. So the Sierra Club’s lawsuit, which is very similar to the one Theibaut filed, is being allowed to go forward. It’s scheduled for a 10-day trial starting September 17th. Colorado Springs utilities Spokesman Steve Berry says the city is ready for its day in court.
[LISTEN]

Pinon Canyon expansion opponents win withheld Army documents.
The state Housing Division reports that home foreclosure filings in Colorado are on track to rise 25 percent this year.
Two Indiana women are believed to be the first to adopt children under a new Colorado law that allows same-sex couples to adopt jointly.
Uranium mine near Gateway to reopen.
Summit County pays homeowners to reduce fire danger.
[LISTEN]
Filed under:
Agriculture/Ranching,
Business,
Colorado,
Energy,
Environment,
Forest Plans,
Ft. Carson,
Gay & Lesbian,
Poverty,
Regional,
Wildfires — ewhitney @ 5:14 pm
Military, economic and political heavyweights from Colorado Springs met with Senator Ken Salazar Aug. 29 to lobby for expansion of the Pinon Canyon Army training site in southeastern Colorado. Ft. Carson wants to nearly triple the size of the site to some 650 square miles. That would mean buying or condemning more than 400,000 acres of private land, something landowners and local governments in southeastern Colorado vehemently oppose. That sentiment was made evident three weeks ago when Senator Salazar visited Trinidad. He got very different opinion in the Springs.
[LISTEN]

It’s been one year since a federal judge ordered the Department of Justice to improve security at the Supermax prison in Florence. And the state representative for that area says it hasn’t happened yet. Bente Birkeland reports from Denver.
[LISTEN]
Recently, KRCC News had the chance to talk to a couple of Colorado Springs residents serving in the military in Iraq. We asked them for their assessments of how the Iraqi military and police are progressing towards being able to operate without U.S. help, and for their impressions of life in the combat zone in general. We’ll have an interview with a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve later this week.
[LISTEN]
(more…)

The prime suspects in what’s causing high levels of methane gas in some water wells in Huerfano County have been crossed off the list.
A few weeks ago we reported that some water wells in the River Ridge Ranch subdivision near the town of La Veta tested positive for dangerously high levels of methane, a form of natural gas. Some suspected that recent drilling of new natural gas wells was to blame, and the company drilling them, Idaho-based Petroglyph Energy, voluntarily shut down all of its wells just in case.
[LISTEN]

A freshman at the University of Colorado’s Boulder campus is recovering following surgery after he was slashed in the throat by a man school officials called incoherent.
A Fort Carson soldier is behind bars and another man is in critical condition after a weekend shooting in Colorado Springs. Police say 23-year-old Private First Class Matthew Kyle Moore was arrested Saturday evening, a few hours after he allegedly shot Leo Garcia twice in the chest.
Congressman Doug Lamborn doesn’t want to talk about the 2008 election. In an interview with the Canon Daily Record Newspaper in Canon City, 5th District Rep. Lamborn said he’s “busy concentrating (his) efforts on serving” his constituents and hasn’t even officially declared as a candidate for a year from November. “At this point, I’m not concerned about any potential candidate,” Lamborn said.
[CU LISTEN]
[CS SHOOTING LISTEN]
[LAMBORN LISTEN]

Everyone in Colorado would be required to get health insurance under a preliminary proposal from the state healthcare reform commission. It’s one of several plans the commission is examining before it issues a final recommendation this fall. Bente Birkeland reports from Denver.
[LISTEN]
The Colorado State Fair opened this weekend in Pueblo. Good weather helped boost attendance. The same was true for the Trinidaddio Blues Fest in Trinidad. In recent years, crowds have had to weather storms to attend these events. Colorado College student Johanna Kasimow has more.
[LISTEN]