Colorado Springs News, Sports & Business

Gazette Premium Content SUNRISE: Gov. Hickenlooper faces big decision

THE GAZETTE - Updated: May 22, 2013 at 8:14 am

DENVER - Gov. John Hickenlooper is expected to decide soon whether Nathan Dunlap will be executed for the Chuck E. Cheese killings.

The governor's spokesman, Eric Brown, tells The Denver Post ( ) an announcement could come as early as Wednesday.

A press conference has been scheduled at the state Capitol Wednesday afternoon by the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office, which handled the case.

The 38-year-old Dunlap is on death row for the 1993 ambush slayings of four people in a Denver-area pizza restaurant. He was convicted and sentenced to die in 1996, and the U.S. Supreme Court turned down his last guaranteed appeal this year.




The National Weather Service forecasts a high of 73 with a 10 percent chance of thunderstorms Wednesday in Colorado Springs. Expect an overnight low of 46.



Lawmaker receiving White House honor

DENVER (AP) - A Colorado state senator is visiting the White House to receive an honor given to openly gay, lesbian and transgendered public officials.

Democratic Sen. Pat Steadman of Denver is receiving the "Harvey Milk Champion of Change" award Wednesday. Ten such awards are given in memory of the slain gay-rights leader.

Steadman was a lead sponsor of Colorado's recently enacted civil unions law.

Steadman has been active in gay rights for much longer. In 1992, before he was a lawmaker, Steadman helped organize a lawsuit challenging Colorado's Amendment 2, an anti-gay initiative that was declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in 1996.

Attempt to recall state Rep. McLachlan falls short

DURANGO (AP) - Voters hoping to recall Rep. Mike McLachlan of Durango haven't collected enough signatures.

The Durango Herald reports ( ) the campaign to recall the Democrat needed to submit at least 10,587 petition signatures from voters in McLachlan's district by Tuesday. Campaign organizer Dave Saleh says about 8,500 were collected.

Saleh says McLachlan's opponents will either initiate another recall campaign or engage McLachlan in 2014, when he's up for re-election.

McLachlan says he's pleased the recall campaign didn't succeed, because it would have forced a divisive and expensive special election.

Recall efforts began after McLachlan voted for gun bills, including one that limited high-capacity magazines.

Other Democrats, including Senate President John Morse of Colorado Springs, who supported the bills also have been targeted.

Aurora 7th grader finalist in National Geographic Bee

AURORA (AP) - A seventh-grader from Aurora is representing Colorado in the final round of the National Geographic Bee.

Pranit Nanda (PRAN'-it nahn-dah) is one of 10 students from across the country competing in Wednesday's finals in Washington, D.C. The 13-year-old attends Aurora Quest K-8 School and is competing for prizes including a $25,000 college scholarship and a trip to the Galapagos Islands.

The competition is being moderated by Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek and will be broadcast Thursday on the National Geographic Channel.

Girl's murder prompts new computer application

LONGMONT (AP) - The murder of a 10-year-old girl is prompting development of a new computer application to track children and issue a warning when they are off track.


Technology entrepreneur John Guydon tells the Longmont Times-Call ( ) the application for computers and smartphones will bark if something goes wrong. He hopes to have it on the market this summer.

Boulder County drilling moratorium not extended

BOULDER (AP) - A moratorium on processing new applications for oil and gas drilling in unincorporated Boulder County will end as scheduled June 10.

The Daily Camera reports ( ) county commissioners decided Tuesday to let the moratorium expire rather than extend it again. However, they also discussed potentially limiting the numbers and locations of new well sites allowed under the county's new land-use regulations over the next year or two, as well as hiring the county's own inspectors to monitor wells.

Some residents had wanted commissioners to ban the drilling process of hydraulic fracturing altogether, but Commissioner Cindy Domenico said state laws and court rulings have limited local governments' ability to adopt rules stricter than the state's regulations.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves blasting water, sand and chemicals underground.

Wildlife officers euthanize bear

BOULDER (AP) - Wildlife officers have killed a 2-year-old bear that broke into two homes in Boulder in search of food.

Jennifer Churchill of Colorado Parks and Wildlife says the bear entered both houses through doorways Tuesday. The Daily Camera reports ( ) the bear also was seen rooting through trash in backyards along Pleasant Street on Monday.

Churchill says the bear was euthanized after it was tranquilized and removed from the tree at a park.

Wildlife officers routinely kill bears that are deemed to pose a conflict with humans. Wildlife officials say to keep trash in bear-proof containers and not to leave out pet food, bird feeders or other food that could attract bears to venture closer to humans.

Man sentenced for stabbing fellow federal inmate

DENVER (AP) - An inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Florence has been sentenced to seven more years in prison, followed by three years on supervised release, for stabbing another inmate last year.

Michael Kelewood pleaded guilty in February to assault with a dangerous weapon in an attack on inmate Darryl Eagle. He was sentenced last week.

Prosecutors say Eagle was watching television in a recreation room last year when Kelewood stabbed him in the neck, shoulder and eye. Eagle also had a broken bone in his spine.

Kelewood allegedly told investigators he believed it was his responsibility as a member of the Natives prison gang to hurt Eagle.

Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that before the stabbing, Kelewood had been set to be released this year after serving a prior 71-month sentence.

Man with rifle shot by Longmont police officer

LONGMONT (AP) - Longmont police say a 28-year-old man is in critical condition after being shot three times by a police officer after the man opened fire with a rifle.

Police say the shooting early Wednesday occurred after a Longmont police officer tried to stop a vehicle being driven without headlights. Police say the man came out shooting and the officer returned fire.

Police spokesman Jeffrey Satur says a county-wide team of authorities has been called in to review the shooting.







In 1939, the foreign ministers of Germany and Italy, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Galeazzo Ciano, signed a "Pact of Steel" committing the countries to a military alliance.


In 1960, an earthquake of magnitude 9.5, the strongest ever measured, struck southern Chile, claiming about 1,655 lives.



In 1969, the lunar module of Apollo 10, with Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan aboard, flew to within 9 miles of the moon's surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing.









-- "Reducing Wildfire Risk at Your Home" class, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Colorado Springs Utilities Conservation and Environmental Center, 2855 Mesa Road, free.

-- "Westside Wednesdays with Brian Parton, 7-11 p.m., Meadow Muffins, 2432 W. Colorado Ave., free.

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