Author: KRDO

Bradley Davis

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – Watch playoff high school basketball highlights from Friday and Saturday. There are two videos attached to this article. Saturday’s highlights are in the first video, while Friday’s are in the second.

Saturday’s games

Boys: Banning Lewis Academy guard Matthew Lebron sinks a three with one second left in overtime to lift the Stallions over SkyView Academy, 81-78.

Girls: Evangel Christian Academy falls to Flagler despite a late push, falling 50-38

Friday’s games

Boys: St. Mary’s explodes in overtime to beat Bayfield 81-67 and advance to Saturday’s game against Peyton.

Girls: Colorado Springs Christian School cruises to a 50-16 win over Gunnison.

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Steve Roldan

Tonight: Expect mostly clear sies, with winds out of the North at 5 to 10 mph. It will be a cool night with overnight lows dipping down into the mid to upper 20s for most areas. Some of the back roads may see some slippery conditions with the possibility of black ice from all the melting that took place on Saturday.

Sunday: We will see lots of sunshine with mostly clear skies. We will also see much warmer temperatures with high climbing into the low to mid 60s for most areas along the I-25 corridor. Expect cooler readings up in the high country.

Extended: Temperatures will continue to warm up right through Tuesday. Expect highs in the upper 60s, near 70 degrees for most areas in Southern Colorado. We will see a slight cool down for the middle part of next week with highs in the mid to upper 50s. We will be keeping an eye on the possibility for an increased fire danger towards the end of next week.

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Mackenzie Stafford

DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) – On Feb.14, 2024, Antonio Vasquez shot and killed 19-year-old Dacien Salazar during a drive-by shooting outside Denver’s Downtown Aquarium, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

On Friday, Antonio Vasquez was sentenced to 40 years in prison, while Vasquez’s brother, Jason Trujillo, Jr., was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Vasquez and Trujillo both previously pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Dacien Salazar, according to the DA’s Office. Officials say Trujillo drove the car that was used in the shooting.

KRDO13 spoke with Dacien’s mother, Roxanne Coca, on Friday. She says she’s been fighting for justice for her son for the past two years.

Dacien Salazar, right, provided by Roxanne Coca.

“Dacien was loved, Dace had a lot of passion,” Roxanne Coca, Dacien’s mother, previously told our Denver news partners, “They took him from me, and I just won’t be the same.”

She said that her family was hoping her son’s killers would receive a lifetime sentence. Eventually, officials told her family they would have to accept a deal. The family told KRDO13 on Friday that between seven and 20 years were on the table for Trujillo’s sentence. Roxanne Coca said her family wanted 20 years in prison, which is what Trujillo was sentenced to.

“Dacien Salazar’s murder was not just a tragedy for his friends and family, it was a crime that shocked countless Denver residents – a shooting in broad daylight in a busy public place. Today’s sentences ensure that Antonio Vasquez and Jason Trujillo will pay a heavy price for their cold-blooded actions,” said DA John Walsh.

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Josh Helmuth

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Some students in Widefield D-3 got a basketball lesson this week from the organization behind Team USA. 

Students at Webster Elementary got a visit from USA Basketball coaches for an in-school clinic: warmups, drills, dribbling, passing, shooting, footwork — the whole bit. The clinic was meant to help keep kids moving, have fun and maybe fall in love with the sport.

“We go to schools, rec centers, community centers, and just try to bring the sport of basketball to some new audiences and really prioritize fun,” said Andrea Travelstead with USA Basketball.

Before the day was over, every student walked away with a USA Basketball shirt as well.

Is there someone or something remarkable at your school? Email us! SchoolBuzz@KRDO.com.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS/EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — A stormwater project that started around Thanksgiving is about to cross busy North Gate Boulevard, marking the halfway point in a $5 million project that will lead to much-needed repaving work.

The county’s public works department is building a retention basin on the south side of the boulevard, between the northbound and southbound Interstate 25 overpasses.

Crews are also installing 3,000 feet of concrete pipes; construction is now in front of the Mining Museum and is ready to move north across North Gate, eventually advancing uphill to a new roundabout on Struthers Road.

The area is near the line between city and county jurisdictions and within the jurisdictions of the Air Force Academy and the Colorado Department of Transportation.

All four entities are partners in the project.

Because of the construction, traffic is down to one lane in each direction on the approaches to the crossover point, and eastbound North Gate is closed there — requiring traffic in both directions to share the westbound lanes.

Those traffic impacts began on Wednesday and will continue through the project’s expected completion in May.

“The dry weather we’ve had has really helped us make great progress,” said John Lantz, a senior engineer with the county. “Even the rain we had earlier in the week hasn’t been an issue. If it snows on Friday, we’ll work through it.”

After the county finishes the project, the city plans to repave the area as part of its annual 2C expanded paving program.

As KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior reported in the summer of 2024, neighbors and drivers have been frustrated by how long the work has taken, and how the condition of Struthers in particular has deteriorated.

Residents said that paving was supposed to happen five years ago, but couldn’t proceed until all involved parties could agree on the stormwater project.

Last year, the city repaved eastbound North Gate in front of the museum and filled numerous potholes around the North Gate/Struthers intersection, but many of those patches popped out over the winter.

In fact, The Road Warrior crew heard three vehicles blow their tires during a Friday morning live report — possibly while hitting one of several sizeable potholes on westbound North Gate.

By 8 a.m., approximately a dozen drivers reported pothole damage — likely from the same large pothole.

A worker arrived on scene to fill the pothole, but there appeared to be several other potholes growing in size and posing a threat to drivers.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – David Jung has been sober for 2.5 years. He says every day was a constant battle – until he found bouldering nine months ago.

Jung shares a common experience with recovering addicts. You get sober, but what next?

When Jung kicked the bottle, he said he lost his friends and his community. He still had the anxiety and depression that first pushed him toward alcoholism. Those problems didn’t magically go away.

He said he was constantly “white knuckling” day after day. He said he was ready to give up and go back to the bar. That’s when he found Phoenix Multisport.

Phoenix Multisport plans activities and outings for people looking to find a sober community, from yoga to weights to painting classes. Jung found his in the bouldering community.

Jung said bouldering gave him friends he could rely on and a challenge to overcome. Not only did it clear his head, but it gave him the courage to confront and attack the problems that drove him to addiction years before.

Now, Jung said he’s on a mission to help others find his path. He spearheads many of the bouldering programs with Phoenix Multisport.

Every activity through Phoenix Multisport is free. It’s not just for people in the recovery stage. Jung said anyone who has pushed themselves to be sober for 48 hours can come to any of the events for free.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Northbound drivers on the north end of 8th Street likely will have mixed feelings about the latest changes in the ongoing improvements project there.

The good news is that crews reopened the two eastbound lanes on the US 24 Frontage Road between 8th Street and Cimarron Street (US 24), as well as the right turn lane to the road.

We believe that happened around midnight.

The traffic alignment in that area will continue: One northbound lane and two southbound lanes open on 8th Street across the Fountain Creek bridge.

However, the closed lanes have shifted to the west, opening the right northbound lane for the first time in months and requiring a street sweeper to clean up accumulated dust on Thursday morning.

The single northbound lane creates frequent backups that often stretch to the 8th Street hill at Motor City Drive, which is the project’s southern boundary.

Officials said that the continued traffic alignment is necessary for crews to continue repair work on the 75-year-old bridge, and for them to keep drilling to locate underground utility lines under 8th Street.

The drilling is in advance of a water main replacement that Colorado Springs Utilities expects to start later this month.

You can see numerous colored markings to indicate the utility locations.

Earlier this week, a crew replaced crosswalk markings at the 8th Street/Cimarron Street intersection, which is the project’s northern boundary.

The initial plan was for the frontage road to reopen on Tuesday night, but rain delayed it, and crews were able to reopen the road in advance of snow expected overnight Thursday.

Officials also had planned to reopen the road at 7 p.m. Thursday, but needed to finish lane shifting and restriping first.

The frontage road had been closed since a week before Christmas — except for briefly reopening between Christmas and New Year’s.

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Donovan Pimentel

The Air Academy girls basketball team advances to the Class 5A Great Eight. The Kadets defeated Thompson Valley on Wednesday night 58-53. They will play Montrose on Saturday.

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Scott Harrison

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — One of the first Road Warrior reports when the beat started in February 2024 was on the county’s plan to spend nearly $11 million to make safety upgrades at two dozen crosswalks.

Joshua Palmer, the county’s head engineer, recently revealed that funding for the project is now available, that work should start soon in three phases, and that it should be completed by the end of the year.

“We’re adding or improving crosswalks,” Palmer said, detailing the nature of the upgrades. “Could be the crosswalks themselves. Could be signals at crosswalks, could be lighting at crosswalks. Could be speed mitigation going through those areas.”

The project’s cost will be split between the county and federal funds administered by the state.

Among the locations for crossing improvements are two fire stations, several schools, and a few mid-street crossings.

Palmer said that the crossings are not in what the county considers to be dangerous locations, and that no single location is a higher priority than another.

Meanwhile, the county has finished a separate project to improve safety at 63 intersections considered dangerous because of frequent crashes, injuries, deaths, and property damage.

Intersections were prioritized based on data from the Colorado Department of Transportation, and county commissioners allocated $1 million to the safety effort.

An interesting case is the intersection of Bradley Road and Bradley Lane; it wasn’t listed as a fatality location, but neighbors said that a motorcycle rider died in a crash there last fall.

David Wright, a neighbor, reflected on the tragedy while looking at the memorial on that corner from his home.

“There’s a lot of speeding on Bradley Road,” he said. “When I pull out of the driveway to get onto the street, it’s like pulling out of Pit Row at the Indy 500. You’d better punch it, or somebody’s going to be right on your tail. So, it needs some help.”

County officials said that safety upgrades ranged from new signs to fresh pavement markings to improved crosswalks and stop bars.

More complex safety changes addressed improved visibility, lighting, and pavement striping.

Falcon Highway led the list with four intersections receiving improvements.

However, Bradley Road topped the overall list with three intersection upgrades and three crosswalk upgrades.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Colorado College theater students will perform their original dance “Of Earth and Error” this weekend at the Celeste Theater. Admission is free.

The group is called Dance6. The performers are comprised entirely of Colorado College students who partake in courses, workshops and events that culminate in their annual capstone performance.

One of the dances, titled “Alone Together,” features the performers in deer masks designed by the students.

“I’m so proud,” said Colorado College dance lecturer Patrizia Herminjard. “Wearing masks is actually quite tricky because the facegives us so much information, and it’s covered. And so we have to rely on the body to communicate that hyper awareness that comes from being prey.”

All but two of the performers are student-dancers balancing classwork and job searches with their practice.

“I feel like it’s really easy to let go and just be ourselves and be comfortable in our bodies and in our movement with one another because we spend so much time dancing with each other,” said Colorado College student and Dance6 performer Eleanor Lautenbach.

Of Earth and Error opened last weekend. The final two performance dates are this Friday and Saturday, starting at 7:30 p.m. It’s free for the public on a first-come, first-served basis.

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