Category: krdo-local-news

Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – The Air Force Academy announced in a press release its suspension of head men’s basketball coach Joe Scott indefinitely while the school investigates his treatment of his cadet athletes.

The military academy said assistant coach Jon Jordan will serve as interim head coach. The team is canceling all media availability during today’s home game against Nevada. The press release did not elaborate on the type of treatment Scott is accused of.

Scott said in a statement that he is cooperating in the investigation.

“In response to today’s action, I will fully cooperate with the investigation and look forward to a proper resolution of this matter. I will not have any further comment until the matter is resolved,” Scott said.

Scott led the Falcons to one of their most successful seasons in program history during his first stint as head coach from 2001 to 2004, winning the school’s first Mountain West title and first NCAA tournament appearance in 42 years.

Scott has not found the same success in his second go-around as head coach at the Academy. The Falcons have not had a winning season since he took over in 2020. The team is 3-14 headed into Saturday’s game with Nevada.

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Michael Logerwell

FOUNTAIN, Colo. (KRDO) – A 21-year-old faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated robbery, and more after Fountain Police connected him to two separate assaults on Thursday night

Fountain Police

Jakob Soroka, 21, was in the El Paso County Jail Friday night, at the time of publishing.

It all started when the Fountain Police Department got a call before 10:00 p.m. on Thursday night from the Albertacos Mexican Restaurant on Highway 85 south.

Inside the restaurant, police found a man with a stab wound in his back, but no suspect. The victim was taken to a local hospital for further treatment.

Still on the scene, police reviewed the restaurant’s security cameras, which had recorded the stabbing. Based on the depiction from the security camera, they were able to find Soroka less than 10 minutes after they arrived at the scene.

He was arrested near the 7-11 gas station on Main Street.

But the police investigation didn’t end there.

Fountain Police then connected Soroka to another assault from earlier in the night. Police believe that 40 minutes before the stabbing, he physically assaulted someone at Taco Bell on Camden Boulevard, which is just south of the Albertacos.

The Police Department says the victim of that assault gave a suspect description that matched Soroka.

Soroka is being held in the El Paso County Jail on a $25,000 bond. He’s been charged with:

Two counts of second-degree attempted murder

Aggravated robbery

Third-degree assault

Theft

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Heather Skold

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — The hammering sound was deafening. By 1943, thousands of women gathered in factories to build bombers and fighter planes. The steady bang of rivet guns, the sound of a country desperate to catch up with the Axis powers, was driven by a female workforce. 

Rosie the Riveters provided the might behind WWII weaponry. Now, a modern twist on the effort provides stability to military spouses, but this one is through the hum of sewing machines.

The founders of the handbag company, R. Riveter, know firsthand the strain of being a military spouse.  Lisa Bradley, co-founder and CEO, quickly discovered the norm as an Army spouse; in the first eight years of their marriage, they moved four times.  It was at that point that Bradley wanted to empower and employ other military spouses in the same position. 

“It was really difficult to be a military spouse that moves every 3 to 5 years, and really, our resumes were put at the bottom of the pile. Enough was enough. Let’s stop complaining and let’s create a business model where we can not only employ ourselves but other military spouses in our own shoes,” said Bradley.

Since its founding in 2011, R. Riveter has employed hundreds of “Riveters,” who are spread throughout the globe and sew the handbag liners before the fabric is shipped to Florida for assembly.  

“You can know exactly where your product is coming from,” said Bradley, referencing the inner patch, stamped with the riveter’s number. 

Non-sewers can also join in the effort.  Non-profits and military spouses make 15% commission on every bag they sell through the affiliate program.

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Celeste Springer

FOUNTAIN, Colo. (KRDO) — A Fountain eye clinic will be paying $240,000 to the state over allegations of illegal Medicaid billing, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office says.

Officials allege that Just for Grins Vision routinely billed Medicaid for two sets of lenses when only one set was delivered to patients.

The attorney general’s office says that Medicaid provides eye coverage to children and young adults under the age of 20; the vision benefit includes one pair of frames and two sets of lenses.

According to the attorney general’s office, Just for Grins Vision allegedly billed the state illegally for more than 1,800 claims from 2019 to 2025– though the provider disputes these claims.

“JFG [Just for Grins] Vision is a small practice.  JFG fully cooperated with the Attorney Generals Office.  JFG disagrees with the State’s interpretation of Medicaid coverage and billing standards. JFG settled to avoid a long distracting litigation and to instead focus on caring for patients,” read a statement from the provider.

Another company has agreed to pay the state in a similar settlement. Apex Vision and Wellness will pay $280,000 for a similar alleged scheme.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — A project that The Road Warrior first reported on last April, and was scheduled to start the following month, is finally getting underway at the interchange of US 24, Peterson Road, and Space Village Avenue.

Officials stated that the right southbound lane of Peterson, between the US 24 overpass and the north gate of Peterson Space Force Base, will be closed for three weeks for the first phase of work.

Courtesy: City of Colorado Springs

The closure allows workers to install a storm sewer; the left southbound lane will remain open for base access.

Gayle Sturdivant, the city’s deputy director of public works, said that the project is starting later than intended as officials awaited the arrival of federal funding for the $15.3 million effort — two-thirds of which was provided by an infrastructure grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.

“When you get grant awards, they are sometimes for future monies, or you have to go through grant agreements,” she explained. “So, even though you know you’re going to get the money when you can physically have access to it, the timing can be a little bit different.”

Since 2017, local leaders have studied how to address what they describe as present and future “extreme” traffic congestion in the area.

Officials have revealed that traffic in and out of the base recently has been slowed by two projects: the construction of a new interchange at Airport Road and Powers Boulevard, which leads to the main entrance at the west gate, and a utility project outside the east gate along Marksheffel Road.

Additionally, Peterson’s leadership wants to change its north gate configuration to correspond with the latest improvement project, and that likely will result in more daytime traffic.

Previously, the north gate was the main entrance into the installation.

“They were asking us to get more people in that queue, to get in that southbound lane to go into that gate,” Sturdivant said. “We actually have taken over control of that signal right there — the traffic signal — so we can get more folks queued up to go into the gate, through security.”

The project’s overall focus is to improve travel onto and off of the base — not just for traffic, but also for pedestrians, cyclists, and trail users.

A major feature of the project involves building two roundabouts just north and south of the US 24 interchange.

In The Road Warrior’s April 2025 story, managers at several of the eight businesses in a Space Village shopping center expressed concern about how the project may affect them and their customers, citing negative impacts to businesses at some other projects.

Officials expect to finish the project early next year.

Partners in the project include Colorado Springs, El Paso County, the U.S. Department of Defense, Peterson Space Force Base, the Colorado Department of Transportation, and the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments.

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Scott Harrison

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — Residents of one of the Steel City’s oldest neighborhoods are surprised to learn that the job of rebuilding crumbling streets is not the responsibility of public works crews.

Instead, a Denver-based developer is supposed to improve the streets as part of a project to build a luxury apartment complex on a bluff above the west banks of the Arkansas River.

The situation involves four to five streets around the intersection of Pearl Street and Chapa Place, just south of the 4th Street Bridge — an area with several homes and two vacant land parcels.

Records indicate that the developer received a city building permit in late 2023 to build The Bluffs, a six-story complex of nearly 100 units offering views of the downtown skyline and the collection of colorful murals along the river levee.

However, construction has yet to begin, and the street conditions continue to worsen.

The streets in that neighborhood are a combination of paved and unpaved surfaces, marked by cracked asphalt, a layer of small stones, and numerous potholes — some of which look more like small ponds.

Few sidewalks, curbs, and gutters exist in the area.

Neighbors said that the complex is supposed to be built at the intersection of Pearl and Sumner Avenue.

Rose Mary Mauro, a neighbor for 15 years, said that the streets have gradually deteriorated during that time.

Her biggest concern is that the street conditions make it difficult for people with disabilities and seniors to navigate the two steep routes down to White Water Park, along the river.

“One of the trails has a sidewalk on the lower end, but no sidewalk on the upper end,” Mauro explained. “At least someone could build a sidewalk that would connect directly to the residents here, and to the complex residents — assuming the developer actually builds it.”

Andrew Hayes, the city’s public works director, sent a crew into the neighborhood this week to fill some of the potholes and stabilize the streets somewhat for the present.

“It’s a private project, so we’re not driving it,” he said. “It’s not our timeline. But when that project occurs, those improvement obligations come along with that project. So that (is) 180 days, technically speaking, from the time they pull their building permit.”

The Road Warrior has tried to contact the developer for comment and awaits a response.

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Josh Helmuth

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — A Colorado Springs principal is celebrating a personal championship that his students can certainly aspire to.

Jamie Lester, the principal at Eagleview Middle School (D20), is now a national champion in pickleball, winning gold at Nationals in San Diego this past fall. Lester also made it to the semis with his double partner in the doubles category.

What’s really crazy is that Lester has only been playing the sport for roughly two years.

Lester says he won a trip to Nationals after winning a USA Pickleball “Golden Ticket” tournament in Colorado Springs. He only picked up the paddle to compete with his dad in friendly competition.

Do you know someone remarkable at your school? Email us! SchoolBuzz@KRDO.com.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Writing is hard. For two years, a local writer has done her part to break the first barrier for any aspiring creative: Getting something on paper.

Jacqueline Moulton hosts a free open mic for the literary arts every month at the Cottonwood Center for the Arts in Colorado Springs. Each month, her group votes on the theme for the following meeting. On Friday, it’s, “Last night I dreamed of a fish, again.”

Jacqueline is the writer and artist behind the love letter vending machine at the Coati food hall. She said the biggest thing writers need is community and a motivating factor to push themselves outside of class or their day jobs.

“It’s really like being courageous in our creativity,” Moulton said. “I think we can’t be our full selves unless we do something creative. It’s a really important sacred task for every human being to express themselves, and so there’s a space that people can express themselves in a safe place, and so you get to be brave.”

Doors open at 6:45 p.m. for Friday’s session. The session is from 7 to 8:30 p.m. It’s free, and everyone is welcome. It is not required to speak. Guests are encouraged to come and listen.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — In case the holidays kept you too busy to see The Road Warrior’s report a week before Christmas, updating the nearly three-year project to improve a 1.5-mile stretch of I-25, we’re bringing you another look at the progress to date.

Work started in the fall of 2023 and is scheduled to end late this summer.

The project’s $62 million cost makes it one of the most expensive in the city’s history, and it is ambitious in its objectives, covering a relatively small area.

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) recently opened the three new northbound lanes that are wider, with wider shoulders and guardrails; the new alignment also straightened out a sharp curve there.

During that construction, driving was more challenging because of narrower lanes, the lack of nighttime lighting, rough pavement, and the absence of shoulders to pull over in an emergency.

The same changes will be made on the southbound side.

Another accomplishment was to replace twin bridges on I-25 above Ellston Street and tear down the old structures.

“What they’re working on now (under the bridges) is pulling out all of the hot mix asphalt that was laid, so that a new water line can be placed,” said Amber Shipley of CDOT. “To get that new pavement down, so that Ellston Street can resume travel. It’s been closed since the project began.

Crews also increased the amount of drainage infrastructure in the area.

East of the new northbound alignment between I-25 and Sinton Road, you can see a vacant area where crews will start building an additional lane designed to increase safety and reduce a congestion bottleneck for drivers trying to merge onto and off of the freeway.

“Having a place that you can merge on and off the interstate that’s dedicated to that purpose, rather than having to interfere with the main travel lanes, is really the goal of that project,” Shipley explained. “Drivers will be able to travel between the two interchanges without having to leave the lane.”

A similar lane — referred to as an acceleration/deceleration lane — will be built on the southbound side.

Eventually, crews will build a concrete wall in the center median and repave lanes in both directions.

This spring, CDOT plans to perform extensive repair work on the I-25 bridge above Garden of the Gods Road; that work will require some full bridge closures during overnight hours on weekends.

“We hope to finish that work in two weekends,” Shipley said.

On Wednesday morning, CDOT clarified that the acceleration/deceleration lanes have already been built, but are being used for traffic until crews complete the inner road shoulders there.

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Michael Logerwell

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – It could be the first time ever a Colorado Springs City Councilor walked out during a discussion over a proclamation.

The City Council is home to a lot of spirited discussion, but that typically doesn’t happen when proclamations are on the table; the council doesn’t even take a vote on them.

On Tuesday, a proclamation surrounding Martin Luther King Jr. Day was too much for one member to handle when conversations turned to ICE.

During the public comment portion of the discussion pertaining to the proclamation, local religious leaders who spoke evoked strong parallels from Dr. King’s work decades ago to current events.

“In this moment of our nation’s history, I’m compelled to state this truth. The violent, authoritarian actions of immigration and customs enforcement, including the murder of Colorado Springs, his own Renee Nicole Good, is a stain on the fabric of history,” said Rev. Candace Wood. Other religious colleagues echoed that sentiment.

But then it was the council’s turn to speak.

“I want to say that I fully support ICE in their activities,” said Dave Donelson, pushing back hard.

“I find what was said here offensive, and I didn’t even like sitting here listening to it,” said Donelson, leaving before a pre-planned photo-op.

KRDO13 reached out to Donelson to further clarify the reason behind his walkout. He pointed back to something he said during the meeting, “I won’t sit at the dais and let ‘faith leaders’ lie about the good Americans who are trying to enforce our immigration laws. We either have a border and enforce our immigration laws, or we are done as a nation”.

After the photo-op, Councilor Donelson returned to his post for the rest of the meeting.

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