Author: KRDO

Bradley Davis

Cañon City, Colo. (KRDO) – The non-profit group Nature’s Educators is bringing some of their beautiful owls, hawks, falcons and vultures to the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park Saturday, April 25.

It’s part of the park’s Earth Week celebration. Guides from Nature’s Educators will lead nature walks around the park, and, of course, their rescued birds will be coming along for the ride. The birds will also give flying demonstrations in the Plaza Theater on-site.

Nature’s educators and the park are also hosting field trips all week for Cañon City schools.

Admission on Saturday is half off ($15 instead of $30) if you say “Earth Day” at the ticket window.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — As city officials prepare to hold their annual kick-off to the street paving season, at least two projects have already begun.

This year’s highest priority is Circle Drive, arguably the most criticized street — and the one most needing new asphalt pavement — in town.

Circle is a major thoroughfare that extends seven miles through the middle of the city, between Fillmore Street and Interstate 25.

According to message boards along the work zone, preparations began Sunday at the south end of the street, near the recently completed project to replace four aging bridges.

Crews are currently using machines for the milling process of scraping off the old pavement.

Normally, the grinding of worn-out asphalt turns the material into gravel-like debris, but the Circle pavement has deteriorated so much that it comes off in large chunks.

A fleet of dump trucks hauls the material away, and a new asphalt layer will follow soon after.

In the spring of 2024 — at the start of the bridge project — potholes were so bad on Circle between Monterey Road and Fountain Boulevard that the city had to perform emergency work to pave over the potholes instead of patching them.

Even now, some residents can’t quite believe the paving process has actually begun.

“Immediately, I said No, no, they’re not,” said Max Fershin. “Just because it feels like whenever they’re doing work on it, they’re just out there. No offense to the guys, of course. But it just seems like nothing ever really gets done.”

He’s a believer now, after seeing the milling process on Circle.

“In my head, I thought I’ll believe it when I see it,” said Joanie Chapman. “And today, I was driving, and I actually saw it. So, yay! Yay for the city!”

The city will pave the northern three miles and the southern three miles of Circle; the mile between Platte Avenue and Airport Road is in good condition and doesn’t require repaving.

In another project reported last week by KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior, the city on Monday expected to finish paving Glen Avenue, a street covering several blocks between Uintah Street and the north entrance to Monument Valley Park.

A city spokesman said that the avenue was initially on next year’s paving list, but was moved up because of the street’s poor condition and constant complaints about it.

This marks the 11th year of the city’s 2C expanded paving program, funded by a voter-approved sales tax increase in 2015 and since extended by voters.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates Americans waste up to 40% of our food. King Soopers and Care and Share are trying to lower that figure as the world celebrates Earth Week.

King Soopers said it donated over 5 million pounds of food to food banks across Colorado in 2025. Those donations in Southern Colorado went to Care and Share.

The donations include proteins, like frozen beef and chicken. Care and Share said protein is one of the hardest foods to properly distribute to the community. Instead of ending up in the landfill, King Soopers freezes the meat it can no longer sell, but is still good to eat.

“Proteins are hard to get. It’s expensive food, so we see proteins and healthy, nutritious food that comes from King Soopers right to the neighbors that we serve, and we’re so proud,” Care and Share CEO Nate Springer said.

This Earth Day week, Care and Share said households can practice the same initiative. Instead of throwing out old cans and snacks that have yet to expire, you can keep them out of the landfill by donating to your local food bank.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS — Starting early Monday morning, and continuing through Friday, Tejon Street between Colorado Avenue and Kiowa Street, in the heart of downtown, will be closed to traffic.

It marks the final phase of the $8.6 million project to upgrade those two blocks, making travel safer and easier for pedestrians.

Crews began arriving at 2 a.m. to place signs and barricades for the street closure, which also includes part of Pikes Peak Avenue east and west of Tejon.

Work also includes milling and repaving of the Tejon/Pikes Peak Avenue intersection, along with striping crosswalks and placing decorative granite stones in the crosswalks.

Sidewalks within the closure will remain open to pedestrians.

The project started last spring on the block of Tejon between Pikes Peak and Colorado, before moving a block north to Kiowa.

Crews improved pedestrian access, expanded outdoor dining space, enhanced stormwater infrastructure, and added new landscaping.

Officials said that some of the crosswalk work on Pikes Peak will require occasional closures through the first week of May.

Downtown visitors who spoke with KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior expressed mixed feelings about the project, saying that they like the upgrades but prefer that officials turn the two blocks into a pedestrian mall.

“I think it’s helpful, but I think it would have been better, honestly, if they just closed this block of the street,” said Tellulah Hill, a downtown employee. “It was way more convenient when the street was closed for construction than when it was open.”

The wider sidewalks come at the expense of narrower streets with little space for parking and traffic; one business owner said that makes getting deliveries difficult because the center lane, where many delivery trucks park, no longer exists.

But some merchants are looking on the bright side.

“I did not expect it to drop off as much as it did, but I’m very happy with how much it has bounced back since they have finished, said Morgan Orman, manager of the Beauty Bar Salon & Spa. “Because now, we have even more foot traffic than we did before the sidewalks were extended. And that helps out a ton.”

City parking fee revenue, the Downtown Development Authority, and a grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation funded the project; city officials hope to eventually extend the improvements farther north on Tejon.

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Rob Namnoum

The CSU Pueblo football team wrapped up spring football with their annual spring game on Saturday. The Red team defeated the White team 44-19.

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Rob Namnoum

DENVER — — Jamal Murray scored 30 points, going 16 of 16 from the free-throw line, and Nikola Jokic had a triple-double as the Denver Nuggets shook off a sluggish start to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 116-105 on Saturday in the opener of their first-round playoff series.

Jokic had 25 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists and a bloody nose in a physical game between the Northwest Division foes. There were 42 fouls called, along with an unsportsmanlike technical on Jaden McDaniels for pushing Jokic in the back and a technical on Nuggets coach David Adelman. Julius Randle and Aaron Gordon picked up late technical fouls, too.

Denver has won 13 straight since losing on March 18.

Murray, who was 0 for 8 from 3-point range, and the Nuggets trailed by as many as 12 points early, but used a 17-2 run in the third quarter to build a double-digit lead. The Timberwolves, who were held scoreless for more than four minutes at one point in the third, trimmed the deficit to 97-95 with 6:23 left.

Jokic had a five-point stretch to help hold off Minnesota. Murray had one of the biggest shots of the game from halfcourt. With the shot clocking winding down, he heaved it at the hoop and it grazed the rim to reset the clock. It eventually led to a dunk from Gordon that gave Denver a 108-101 lead with 1:50 left. Gordon had 17 points despite early foul trouble.

“Winning a grimy game, it’s good,” Adelman said. “Both teams are experienced and used to winning these games. They know what it means to play in a physical matchup.”

Game 2 is Monday night.

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Rob Namnoum

The CSU Pueblo softball team won game of a doubleheader against Metro State on Saturday 4-3.

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Heather Skold

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — The term ‘unfinished basement’ is a misnomer in James Garofalo’s house. 

Paint splatter adorns the floor and wall insulation. One window, also the subject of a strewn color or two. 

This is no forgotten space, however; this is where healing, processing, and creativity collide. This is very much a space where emotional work is being done and expressed. 

Garofalo is an Army veteran, having served from 2006 to 2010.

He joined “fresh out of high school” as an infantry member and served a chunk of time in Iraq. 

Being deployed during that time gave him a sense of purpose, he recounted. 

It also came at a price. 

“Within a very short period of time, I had lost a number of buddies to either suicide or the justice system, substance use,” said Garofalo. 

To process that cost, Garofalo returned to something that gave him escape and enjoyment in high school: art. 

“Whether it’s things that I’ve carried from my time in service to things that are currently going on in my life, art has always been a great release to get some of those emotions out and find a creative outlet to do so,” said Garofalo. “The more I can let go, it tends to be more of my favorite work.”

He employs a “no rules” mentality, where the artist is free to express without restriction. 

“You can kind of deviate from all the other things that exist in the world, play by your own rules, do your own stuff.  I’m inspired by weird art, so my work is reflected in the same style,” said Garofalo. 

His art, along with dozens of other submissions from military and veteran artists, was displayed at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center in Pueblo, in partnership with the Mount Carmel Veterans Service Center.

It is funded in part by a generous grant from Arts in Society. 

Art is increasingly embraced as a way to process traumatic events, according to Kirsten Belaire, the Director of Behavioral Health at Mount Carmel Veterans Service Center. 

“Art is such a beautiful conduit to get externally what they’ve been experiencing internally, in a way that shares their message, their story, their recovery, and their hope for the future.  A lot of times, what they’ll say is, ‘I’m not an artist.’  But being able to use both hemispheres in the brain can be helpful in processing trauma,” said Belaire. 

A craft that many in the military support realm champion. 

“Art has been a very therapeutic process for me.  It’s been a space that’s very near and dear to my heart for a number of years,” said Garofalo. 

Both Mount Carmel and Sangre de Cristo offer arts classes for military members, veterans, and their families.  More information can be found here and here.

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Bradley Davis

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – For the 75th time, the Mesa Drive-in off of US Highway 50 in Pueblo will open for the season.

After over seven decades of tradition, it will be a first for the new owners, Kelly and Chris Lally.

Chris proposed to Kelly at their favorite drive-in spot in Indianapolis. 10 years later, they managed the same drive-in.

Their bosses, Jon and Marcella Parkin, also owned the Mesa Drive-In. That is, until earlier this week.

“We came out here last year, fell in love with it for ourselves in person, and we just had to make the 17-hour cross-country drive out here to live here,” Chris said.

The two moved to Colorado full-time to operate the Theater. They said they are planning a 75th birthday celebration in August by screening Walker Texas Ranger, featuring the late Chuck Norris. It’s the first film the Drive-In ever showcased in 1951.

There are fewer than 300 drive-in movie theaters nationwide. Kelly and Chris said most are independently owned and operated, like the Mesa Drive-In. There are only two in Southern Colorado. The Mesa, and the Cammanche Drive-In theater in Buena Vista.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — The 90-year-old bridge over Monument Creek, between Monument Valley Park and the Colorado College campus, will undergo nearly $6 million in renovations.

Preparations began two weeks ago on the bridge; it will close on Monday and not reopen until sometime in the fall, according to a city release.

Work will include replacing the bridge deck, widening sidewalks, improving drainage, and adding lighting.

Officials also want to preserve and restore the bridge’s original Art Deco features.

On Thursday, a crew was working under the bridge with heavy equipment, and a detour around a nearby segment of the Pikes Peak Greenway trail along the creek is already established.

The bridge is at the north end of the park, between Mesa Road and Glen Avenue; it provides access to a parking lot and a popular pickleball court.

Cyclists and pedestrians frequently travel across the bridge to admire the downtown skyline, the creek, the occasional passing of trains, and to visit the gardens at the Horticultural Art Society.

Once the bridge closes, Glen Avenue, which connects to Uinah Street several blocks north, will be the only access to the parking lot.

A temporary complication this week, however, is that the avenue is closed during the day for repaving.

Drivers should expect limited street parking because some spaces are closed during construction.

The next-nearest creek crossing is at Uintah Street.

Tax revenue from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority is financing the repair work.

Workers built the bridge in 1936, a year after a flood destroyed the original bridge.

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