Category: krdo-local-news

Michael Logerwell

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Students and their combat robots came from across the country to Mesa Ridge High School this weekend for the National Robotics Championship Competition.

“This isn’t just a robotics competition — it’s a real-world engineering experience,” said Kathryn Wollenhaupt, board member of the Rocky Mountain Tooling & Machining Association.

Over the past months, students have built and refined their battle bots for this weekend’s tournament. The setup is a double-elimination tournament featuring 15-pound combat robots designed and built by high school students.

KRDO13 caught up with Aiden Evans and Jeremiah Huck coming out of Weld Central High School in Keenesburg to hear their game plan before their match.

“Stay aggressive, use the weapon to its ability. Don’t let up, and don’t get under it because it’s a stalling bot, so it wants you to get on top of it to stall. So stay away from it and do some damage,” Huck said.

“Just gotta stay out driving them, stay aggressive,” Evans added.

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Heather Skold

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Out of 1,000 nominees, seven military-connected students snagged this year’s Operation Homefront Military Child of the Year — representing each branch of the military. 18-year-old Taylor Schreiner, who hails from Colorado Springs, represents the Space Force. 

The winners were selected due to their excellence in character, community service and leadership. 

“It’s really such a great honor,” said Schreiner.  “You do really have to adapt and adopt new mannerisms to overcome this challenge you’ve been given.”

Schreiner’s family stayed in Colorado Springs while her Dad, Brig. Gen. Robert Schreiner, Commander of U.S. Space Forces Northern, was deployed or stationed in other locations a total of 65 months, almost one-third of Taylor’s life. 

Taylor finds a bit of solace on the pitch, playing with the Discovery Canyon Varsity Soccer team.

“It’s been an outlet for these emotions when things have gotten a little dicey,” said Schreiner.  “I can just express myself without having to worry about missing my Dad.”

Taylor also expressed the importance of remembering the child’s part in the military family.

“I think it’s important to remember what you’re part of as well. You’re part of the smaller whole of serving our country by supporting your parent within the military. I think that’s something I’m very appreciative I’ve been able to do with my Dad.”

She and the other awardees received $10,000 grants, a laptop, and other donated gifts.

Schreiner plans to pursue a career in pediatric oncology, starting with undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall.  

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Josh Helmuth

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — A local softball player is getting national attention, and she’s doing it while dominating both on the field and in the classroom.

Jocelynn “Jojo” Kalkman is a student-athlete at Vista Ridge High School. And she’s awesome. She is now ranked the number one uncommitted catcher in the country for the class of 2027 according to Extra Inning Softball, known for her explosive bat, strong defense behind the plate, and her versatility in the field — she also plays third base and shortstop.

Her coaches say what really makes Jojo special is her leadership. Coach Gabe Gonzalez says she’s the first to show up, the last to leave, and helps lead teams, saying she’s like “having another coach on the field.”

Jojo also sets the standard in the classroom with a 4.4 GPA.

Her mom says Jojo has been one of the “hardest working kids she’s ever known since she picked up a softball at 7 years old.” And Jojo says none of this happens without the people around her.

“I think I’ve gotten to where I am because of my amazing coaches that have taught me everything I know and my support system I have within my family that pours everything into my dreams,” said Jojo to KRDO13.

“Yes, I’ve worked hard to get here, but that work wouldn’t mean a thing without the incredible village I have around me,” she said.

Jojo says she wants to become a doctor someday, maybe exploring politics and journalism as well.

Do you have someone unbelievable at your school? Hit us up, SchoolBuzz@KRDO.com.

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Scott Harrison

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — Since late 2024, we’ve been watching the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) make steady progress on the building of five bridges across Interstate 25, Fountain Creek, and the Union Pacific Railroad.

And now, starting this weekend, drivers will get a closer look at the project.

Beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, crews will shift the two northbound lanes of I-25 to the east, near the redesigned interchange of US 50 east.

Workers will install signs and barriers for the change.

Drivers will use a temporary path that is partly paved with both asphalt and concrete.

The shift allows crews access to the middle of the freeway, where they are currently building the two new US 50 bridges over I-25, and will replace the existing asphalt pavement with concrete.

Also, the I-25 exit to 29th Street in that area is shifting to the east, and westbound US 50 East will be closed between I-25 and the Bonforte Boulevard/Hudson Avenue intersection as part of the lane shift.

It’s the first major change in traffic configuration since the old bridge connecting I-25 to US 50 east was demolished last fall.

Meanwhile, crews are working on three more bridges: Two across the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and a third across Fountain Creek.

CDOT expects to make a similar lane shift on southbound I-25 next month, and hopes to have some traffic on the railroad and creek bridges by mid-July.

Other crews are building a new sound wall to reduce traffic noise for the neighborhood west of I-25.

“But we’re just working on the framework for now,” said Patrick Vigil, a CDOT resident engineer. “We’ll be using those crews to get the (overpasses) finished because that’s the priority. The sound wall panels will be installed after that.”

The sound wall will stretch from just south of 29th Street to just north of 13th Street.

CDOT said that the $114 million overall project should be finished a year from now.

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Bradley Davis

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – Pueblo is giving its best effort to make Halloween a bi-annual event. “Summerween” returns Saturday, this time inside the Pueblo Mall.

“With everything going on, all the rising costs of everything, I think it’s just something nice to do for the community, have a free event where people can just come and enjoy, hopefully forget about all that stuff outside, and just come in, enjoy this event, play some cornhole and enjoy the movies, too,” organizer and “Jed’s Nightmare” owner Jared Perea said.

Hosted by the “Funhouse Haunted House” and Jed’s Nightmare, the free event includes all of Halloween’s favorite traditions, with trick-or-treating and your best costume encouraged. Below is a full list of activities.

🎃 Trick-or-treating

👗 Halloween fashion show

🎭 Costume contest

👑 Horror scream contest

🎯 $40 per team Cornhole tournament with cash prizes

🎬 Local horror movie showcase

🎧 DJ + live entertainment

🧟 Cosplayers

They will also have almost 50 vendors selling food, knick-knacks and a wide range of hand-made items.

Summerween starts at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. on Saturday. People can come through any entrance in the mall. You can find the vendors near the JCPenney, while the horror movie showings are near the kiddie play area on the southwest wing of the mall.

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Michael Logerwell

MONUMENT, Colo. (KRDO) – On Thursday night, while angry Colorado Springs residents gathered to voice their opposition to the Project Taurus Data Center, the front step of Monument Town Hall was quiet.

That’s because there’s no data center proposal in the Town of Monument, and there could never be one as town leadership considers an outright ban on the proposition.

“We wanted to investigate what that looks like. So we asked them to start doing the research behind what data center impacts would be on Monument based on what we were seeing from a national trend,” Monument Mayor Mitch LaKind said he first directed the planning department to look into data centers after watching national news coverage. From Colorado to Utah, to Texas, and more, data centers have become synonymous with heated opposition from residents, concerns over water/energy usage, and more.

Due in part to that coverage, Mayor LaKind said he wanted to find out what rules the town had about data centers.

“Data centers have never been defined in Monument,” Mayor LaKind revealed. It turns out there were none.

However, that could soon change.

This week, the Monument Planning Department released its first report on data centers and their potential impact on Monument.

“We’re being really proactive and really intentional to make sure that we don’t do anything that’s going to harm the landscape. Our ability to keep our utility rates where they are, because they are already climbing anyway, but we don’t want to artificially inflate them by allowing a data center in. And we are concerned about the water usage,” Mayor LaKind said.

At the end of the interview, I asked Mayor LaKind straight up if Monument was off-limits to any data centers.

“I can’t unilaterally say that because we’ve not taken a vote on it, but I can say that we have no code that allows for their use. And we are looking to see what it means, whether we’re going to allow their use at all,” he replied.

KRDO13 will continue to follow this story as an ordinance potentially banning data centers makes its way to the town hall in Monument and other Southern Colorado municipalities.

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Rob Namnoum

Day 1 state track and field at Jefferson County Stadium.

Awesome atmosphere as we go over to the 4a girls triple jump finals, Lily Nibert of Pueblo County with a personal best of 37 feet and 2 ¾ inches, she placed fourth but it’s the sophomore Skylar Angelidis from Palmer High School getting a personal best 38 feet, 6 ¼ inch to win the state title. “I’m literally shaking right now. This is so cool. I love track so much, and this is such a fun environment, so I’m just grateful to be here and to win. This is awesome.” says Angelidis.

Over to the Boys 4a shotput, the reigning champion Owen Twesme of Palmer Ridge looking to go back to back. A winning throw for him and a state meet record of 60 feet 11 inches as he wins it again, “Got every ounce of momentum I had to throw right through into the shot. And I knew the second, at least I was like, that’s that’s a state record.,” says Twesme.

Then all eyes at 4a boys high jump, Nathan Moller Palmer Ridge duking it out with his friend Josiah Garcia of Mesa Ridge at 6’7. Moller with a chance to win a state title and he does!

But he’s not done, he’s going for a personal best of 6’10 and on his third attempt he got it!, “And so I put it up there and then I had a couple not so good jumps. And then that last jump started that club, and, I’m just really happy how it went. Honestly,” says Moller.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Volunteers with the Friends of Cheyenne Cañon are preparing for the 33rd annual Hummingbird festival Saturday as accessibility improvements wrap up at the Starsmore Visitor and Nature Center.

The festival starts at 10 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m. The schedule is packed with different bird talks, nature walks, and live raptor demonstrations and education with the Pueblo Raptor Center. The nature center will also host local vendors, arts and crafts, and, of course, lots and lots of hummingbird feeders.

Friends of Cheyenne Cañon said it pushed the festival back a week and expects the main plaza at the Starsmore Nature Center to be open on Saturday. If it’s not open, they will move just down the path to the South Cañon picnic space. People can park on the street or in the lot right off of Evans Avenue and S Cheyenne Canyon Road.

The nature center has been under construction since early March. The city is adding a new outdoor plaza and classroom space, renovated restrooms, parking improvements, and accessibility improvements to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.

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Scott Harrison

FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Crews with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) have so far removed dozens of concrete pavement panels that were cracked and broken along the five miles of Highway 115 in Pensose.   

And this week, workers were still using saws to cut out the remaining affected panels on the north end of the project area.

CDOT has closed the northbound lanes in that stretch, and one lane in each direction shares the southbound lanes; there is a constant noise from southbound traffic passing over the rumble strips on the right shoulder.

There are several intersections where drivers can turn onto or off the highway.    

Although the panels come in a variety of sizes, many are surprisingly long, wide, and deep; some empty slots have been removed and filled with new concrete.

Wayne Pittman, a resident engineer with CDOT, cited three factors contributing to the problem: The age of the concrete (it was installed in 1992), wear and tear from constant heavy truck traffic, and groundwater or clay soil that undermined the panels.

“The panels are roughly 12 feet by 15 feet,” he explained. “There are around 125 full-panel repairs. For the partial panel repairs, there are over 300. We’ve added 90 to the full-panel repairs because once we got into it, we found that we needed to do more.”

The solution, Pittman said, is to improve drainage by removing groundwater or clay, adding larger rocks and soil to the existing base, and finally pouring fresh concrete over it.

“It’s just a surface repair to preserve the pavement and give us another 20 years before we’ll need to replace all of the concrete,” he stated.

Crews will eventually inspect southbound panels to determine what repairs are needed there.

The $3.6 million project started in March and continues through September.

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Scott Harrison

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — Much of downtown was in darkness overnight because of a power outage that cut electricity to street lights, traffic signals, and businesses.

KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior noticed the situation as he arrived to report on a paving project just before 5 a.m. Wednesday.

The downtown McDonald’s also lost power, affecting normal operations there and delaying the unloading of a supply truck, before power returned just before 5:30 a.m.

One woman told The Road Warrior that power also appeared to be out in the neighborhood around Parkview Medical Center, just north of downtown.

As of 6:30 a.m., power had been restored on the west side of downtown but remained out on the east side.

Authorities advise drivers to treat intersections without working traffic signals as four-way stops.

The reason for the outage is unclear; KRDO 13 will provide an update as more information becomes available.

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