Author: KRDO

Dylan Foreman

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Many people have picked up a ping pong paddle at some point, thinking the game looks easy — until the ball starts flying back faster than expected.

But in Colorado Springs, table tennis has become much more than just a casual pastime. For hundreds of people, it’s a source of fitness, friendship, and even healing.

Every Sunday afternoon, the Pikes Peak Ping Pong Club meets in the gym at Colorado Springs School, where it comes alive with the sound of bouncing balls, paddles striking plastic, and laughter echoing across the room. Players of all ages line the tables, battling for points and enjoying the competition.

At the center of it all is Scott Preiss, a USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame member who organizes and facilitates the weekly sessions.

“I just wanted people to keep moving and stay healthy,” Preiss said. “And what better way to do that than playing ping pong?”

Preiss started the program five years ago with just 17 participants showing up that first week. Since then, it has grown dramatically. This year alone, between 300 and 400 people have taken part.

Some participants are there for the workout. Others for the social interaction. But for Kristin Woesthoff, these sessions have become deeply healing.

Woesthoff was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and says the sport has helped slow the progression of her symptoms.

“It’s slowed my progression for sure,” Woesthoff said. “I don’t think I’ve progressed in the last five years.”

Studies suggest that combining aerobic exercise with cognitive and motor challenges can help reduce symptoms of neurological diseases like Parkinson’s. Table tennis checks all those boxes, requiring quick reactions, coordination, balance, and mental focus.

“Ping pong does all that,” Woesthoff said. “It challenges everything you have to fight to maintain.”

Woesthoff isn’t the only one experiencing life-changing benefits. Some members who attend the sessions manage their post-traumatic stress disorder through playing, offering an outlet to focus their minds and work through suppressed memories. For others, it’s simply a way to stay active, meet people, and have fun, no matter their age or skill level.

Preiss says that sense of connection is what makes the program special.

“Overall, people are just happy to come in, play, and escape the outside world,” he said.

That community feel is obvious once the games wrap up.

“It’s become a table tennis family,” Preiss said. “In about 20 minutes, you’ll see people hugging, laughing, and just having a great time.”

The smiles were hard to miss and impossible not to join.

I decided to give it a try myself. Against the practice robot, I looked pretty sharp. But when I stepped up against a seasoned player like Scott’s son, Austin, the game quickly reminded me how humbling it can be.

Still, that’s part of the draw.

“It’s just fun when you see yourself improve and know you’re playing well,” Woesthoff said.

Ping pong may be a sport that humbles, but in this gym, it’s also one that heals, bringing people together, improving lives, and proving that sometimes, the smallest ball can make the biggest difference.

Below is a list of places to play table tennis throughout Colorado Springs:

Pikes Peak Table Tennis Club (Tuesday 6:30-9:30 p.m. UCCS Downtown, 102 S. Tejon, Suite 105)

Pikes Peak Ping Pong Club (Sunday 12-4 p.m., Colorado Springs School, 21 Broadmoor Ave)

Briargate YMCA (Monday, Wednesday, Friday 1-4 p.m. 4025 Family Pl)

Colorado Springs Senior Center (Tuesday, Friday 1:30-4:30 p.m., 1514 North Hancock)

Colorado Springs NeuroPong (Tuesday, Thursday, 1-3 p.m., 207 North Nevada)

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Michael Logerwell

SAN LUIS, Colo. (KRDO) – KRDO13 Investigates has learned Danny Sanchez is no longer serving as Costilla County Sheriff.

His resignation comes one day after he, along with four other current and former members of the Costilla County Sheriff’s Office, were indicted on a slew of charges ranging from Official Misconduct to Assault to Abuse of a Corpse.

READ MORE: Arrest warrants issued for Costilla County sheriff, multiple deputies

The Costilla County Commissioners say that as of March 30, Deputy Joe Smith was appointed sheriff by the board. The Commissioners confirmed that Undersheriff Soto and Deputy Sanchez were placed on administrative leave while the county conducts an investigation.

Officials confirm to KRDO13 that Blanca Town Police, the County Sheriff’s Association of Colorado, and the Colorado State Patrol are lending support and resources while the County Sheriff’s Office works to get back to being fully staffed

A regularly scheduled election for the Costilla County Sheriff is set for this November.

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Samantha Hildebrandt

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)– More than three city blocks of downtown Colorado Springs were filled with protesters chanting and holding signs for the third rendition of the ‘No Kings’ Protests

The protest began at 12 p.m. and lasted two hours. The group was concentrated at the Colorado Springs City Hall along Nevada Avenue, and stretched from Uintah Street to Kiowa Street.

The event is part of a coordinated effort happening across the country, with more than 3,000 protests planned nationwide and over 70 scheduled throughout Colorado.

Local organizers anticipate this could be the largest protest in Colorado Springs history, potentially surpassing turnout from a similar event held last October.

The demonstration will include what organizers are calling a “Mile of Resistance,” where participants are expected to line Nevada Avenue. Additional activities include acoustic musical performances, a designated PrideSpace, and speeches at City Hall. A full speaker schedule has not yet been released.

Community organizations will also be set up along the route, offering information and resources for those looking to get involved locally.

Organizers emphasize that the event is intended to remain peaceful and focused on community engagement.

Drivers should expect road closures and delays in the downtown area during the event.

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Scott Harrison

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — It looks so great now, that it almost shines, even at night.

For the first time in decades, a block-long drainage ditch just east of the Powers Boulevard/Galley Road intersection isn’t an eyesore choked with broken concrete, weeds, trash and debris.

Last month, KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior showed how a county crew began cleaning up the ditch and applying a new concrete layer; the 500-foot channel starts at the intersection of Ford Street and Seneca Road, and continues west to Valley street.

A county official said on Thursday that the project requires some final touches before it’s finished in a few weeks.

The project is a relief to adjacent business owners who coped with flooding and erosion damage because of the clogged ditch.

Repairing the channel took so long because local governments couldn’t agree on who had jurisdiction; it wasn’t until 2024 that the county took responsibility for maintenance.

The county also is considering plans to improve drainage from Seneca neighborhood by replacing a failing underground metal drainage pipe under Ford that empties into the channel.

Officials said that the previous concrete liner failed because it wasn’t properly reinforced; the new liner is, and has an increased capacity to contain heavier flows.

Some neighbors hope for similar repairs at the west end of the channel, past Valley, where that concrete liner is deteriorating.

Drainage in that channel flows into an unlined segment full of trees and rocks, before entering a newer, more extensive stormwater channel along Paonia Street.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Dennis the Emu loves people, and he’s inviting anyone who wants to join to celebrate his fifth birthday party at Acacia Park on Saturday, April 4.

Billie Mitchell bought Dennis when he was still in his egg to guard her ducks. She didn’t know he would help bring her out of her deepest depression after her younger brother suddenly died four and a half years ago.

She started taking him on walks, and he loved it. She thought Dennis would grow out of it, but he never did.

Dennis now has over 40,000 followers on TikTok from all over the world. Mitchell takes him all across Colorado Springs, making people’s day.

Dennis’ public party on Saturday is from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Josh and John’s will bring their mobile ice cream truck bearing a special cake for Dennis. He’ll be joined by superhero cosplayers from Mile High Multipverse, the Cosmo Colorado Springs arts and crafts group, and the Buzzy Bee arts and crafts group.

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Rob Namnoum

The twenty minutes after training for the Switchbacks FC is used for yoga. That time can be relaxing or it can be a time for chatting it up, “They do let a lot of the, you know, their guard down and everything. So they know that this is a safe place. I think that’s a really cool thing for me to experience with them, says Kitten Dupreez. But overall it’s a time to get their bodies right.”

Kitten Dupreez of D1 training has been leading the team in the flow stretching and yoga for the last eight years.

“Just adds another piece of that recovery point that they’re really going to that any athlete needs, honestly,” says Dupreez.

For players like Brennan Creek and Aidan Rocha, it’s allowed them to play at their peak, “and that’s been beneficial in terms of staying in tune with my body and mind. Yoga is definitely helped yoga has been a big part of that,” says Aidan Rocha.

Brennan Creek adds, “We’ve done it for so long now. All the guys here that, you know, you can definitely see how much it’s helped us and it’s definitely easier as, as we’ve gone on.”

The circle itself is full of characters. As they make their way through movements their body needs leading up to the fan favorite, Happy Baby.

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Julia Donovan

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – One drive-thru taco favorite is expressing its feelings after being temporarily closed by the health department. Meanwhile, a bar on the Westside was caught with moldy food.

Low Scores:

The Taco Express at Centennial Boulevard and Garden of the Gods Road was temporarily closed after failing its recent routine health inspection with 18 violations!

The violations include raw shelled eggs temped at 64 degrees, the cheese was also too warm, the inspector couldn’t find dates on multiple food items, and there was a gap under the back door big enough for pests to get in.

The manager told us over the phone that what put the nail in the coffin was not having a certified food protection manager on staff.

“We hosted everybody to come in the day after we got shut down, and we all did the course together,” the restaurant’s manager said in the phone interview with KRDO13.

Taco Express passed its re-inspection and is now back open with three certified food protection managers on staff!

“[We’re] just doing our best to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” the manager told us.

Benny’s Restaurant & Lounge on W Colorado Avenue failed its routine inspection with over half a dozen violations, including hand washing problems, an employee garnishing drinks with bare hands, and moldy celery!

Benny’s passed its re-inspection.

Next up, Evergreen on N Tejon Street failed with nine violations: old food, the mashed potato scoop handle was touching the mashed potatoes, and raw beef was stored above cooked food, which can lead to cross-contamination.

Evergreen also passed its re-inspection.

Now to the fun part – our high scores:

Wackadoo Brewing at Centennial Boulevard and N 30th Street

Summa on W Colorado Avenue 

Armadillo Ranch in Manitou Springs

Armadillos are known to be nocturnal, and so are this bar’s patrons!

“We’ve got such a rocking live music scene here,” Armadillo Ranch owner Jason Wells said in an interview with KRDO.

However, Wells told us he’s glad the kitchen is finally getting the spotlight.

“It always disappoints me that we don’t get talked about more when it comes to our culinary offerings,” Jason stated his frustrations. “We like to call it high-end bar food.”

In a small mountain town, it’s probably no surprise that they’re working with a small staff. Armadillo Ranch only has three cooks, so sometimes Jason hops on the line to help.

“It doesn’t take much to realize what a tough job these guys all do day in and day out,” he said.

They’re busting their buns to keep this place spotless – and it’s paying off!

The pulled pork sandwich with homemade BBQ sauce is super tasty. We’re told one of the cooks has been perfecting the sauce recipe for years.

Keep an eye out for the KRDO13 Restaurant Roundup awards at your favorite restaurant to know the kitchen inside is clean.

Reminder: all of our high and low-scoring restaurants are based on routine health inspections conducted by the El Paso County Health Department.

Click here for a look at all the most recent health inspection scores.

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Bradley Davis

CAÑON CITY, Colo. (KRDO) – A local author recently released a book chronicling the life of Albert Di Nardo, the 96-year-old owner of Di Nardo’s Cider Mill, who has only taken one vacation since he was 12 years old.

Former Fort Carson police officer and award-winning author Zach Fortier recently released his book, “Albert DiNardo, The Last DiNardo.” He released the book last month after extensive interviews with Albert and his longtime friend and business partner, Heidi Willard.

Read more about the cider mill’s origin story here.

The book starts with Albert’s father, Ubaldo Di Nardo, and his immigration to the United States in 1921. Fortier tells of the family’s run-ins with heartbreak, racism, hard work, and a series of coincidences that led Albert to become Colorado’s longest-standing business owner.

You can find a link to the book here.

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Scott Harrison

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Crews are in their fifth month of making $8 million in improvements to a 2/3-mile stretch of Beacon Lite Road between Bricker Road and Wakonda Way, a mile south of the Douglas County line.

In a release issued on Monday, county officials said that the project is still in its beginning phase, including trench excavation, utility relocations, and storm sewer installations.

The goal is to increase safety along the hilly, winding, and fairly narrow stretch, having several bends, bumpy road conditions, steep banks, and issues with erosion and drainage.

Crews will also remove the sharpest bend on the south end of the construction zone by building a new road segment there.

However, some neighbors have told KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior that they are surprised by the number of trees removed for construction.

According to those neighbors who declined to be interviewed, the trees blocked the sight of traffic on Interstate 25 less than a mile to the east, and absorbed much of the traffic noise.

Neighbors can now see and hear that traffic, as they watch the rumbling of large trucks involved in earthmoving through the construction zone.

“This isn’t what we expected,” said one homeowner. “I wish we had…known more about what the impacts would be.”

The construction has also required crews to temporarily remove fences along Beacon Lite in the construction area.

Still, many residents agree with the need for the safety improvements, while worrying about the dust created by construction.

The affected stretch is unpaved, and paving will be the final step before the project’s expected completion this fall; some neighbors fear that paving the road will encourage people to drive faster on it.

It’s unclear whether the county has reached agreements with two property owners to acquire easements that would extend the project 1/3 of a mile north to the Beacon Lite/County Line Road intersection.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — City officials have spent more than $10 million on several projects to improve the busy corridors of South Nevada Avenue and South Tejon Street.

That work should end this week when crews finish installing new traffic and pedestrian signals at the intersection of Nevada and Ramona avenues; a similar installation was performed a block south, at the St. Elmo Avenue intersection.

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is teaming up with the city on those projects, likely because the intersections are between Interstate 25 and Highway 115.

It’s all part of the city’s Urban Renewal efforts to revitalize a largely run-down corridor once known for vacant buildings, crumbling infrastructure and heavy transient activity.

In the past few years, the corridor has attracted new businesses — appealing to more people who drive, shop and live in the area.

Previous projects widened sidewalks and bike lanes, improved pedestrian crossings, built a pedestrian bridge and repaired two existing bridges across Cheyenne Creek, applied new striping, lengthened left turn lanes for northbound drivers heading to I-25, and added a southbound right turn lane on the I-25 frontage road.

One aspect of the upgrades that seems unpopular is the construction of a new center median that prevents westbound drivers on Arvada Street from turning left (south) onto Nevada, and from crossing Nevada to Motor Way.

Some pedestrians also expressed frustration that the southbound pedestrian activator on Nevada at the Ramona intersection isn’t installed yet.

The projects cost more than $10 million.

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