Category: krdo-local-news

Michael Logerwell

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – It’s a story we’ve seen time and time again this past week, but it’s always one worthy of reporting.

With the holiday spirit in mind, non-profits and community organizations in Southern Colorado lent a helping hand to make sure those in need were able to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with their community and a full belly. 

It’s a story that’s Absolutely Colorado.

The Salvation Army partnered with Fort Carson to help cook their Thanksgiving meals. Preparing that much food for 4 feasts in El Paso and Teller County is no easy feat.

“Fort Carson is the one that actually cooks our Thanksgiving meal for us. They have the capacity to do all our 300 turkeys,” Jorge Grandados, the Food Director for the Salvation Army, said.

“Without their support, this Thanksgiving meal cannot happen in our community, so we are very grateful and blessed to have them.”

A similar feat will be repeated on Christmas Day.

In Downtown Colorado Springs, another Thanksgiving feast was held with community support at the top of mind. His Urban Presence Ministries hosted this one. 

Pastor Ed Aldrich said their feast was held for anyone in need, or anyone who was in the community who just needed a meal, or just a community to share it with. 

“There are a lot of places that feed [people] on Thanksgiving, but one of the things we wanted was a place for people to connect. So we have volunteers that their whole job is to just sit down and talk to people, get to know them,” Aldrich said.

This is their 13th year hosting a community Thanksgiving. It first started as an open invitation for anyone to join their dinner table and has grown into a big community event.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — First, the good news: Repaving and other improvements along one of the area’s busiest corridors have now become a higher priority.

The bad news, however, is that 2028 is the earliest that work will happen.

Most drivers are familiar with the poor condition of the Fountain Expressway, and the east end of Fountain Boulevard — particularly the three-mile stretch between the Circle Drive overpass and Powers Boulevard.

That route is also part of the US 24 highway network through the city.

KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior learned that in August, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) revised its ten-year highway construction plan to include addressing Fountain Expressway/Boulevard by 2028.

CDOT will also take the Fountain improvements a mile farther west, to the Interstate 25 interchange.

The plan revision was approved during an August board meeting of the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments.

What many drivers like Margo Dunbar wonder, is if the busy corridor can last three years before a project begins.

“I recently thought: Oh, they filled these holes,” she said. “But listen to that asphalt coming up under our vehicle. How well were these holes done? When they fix them, I know it’s hard to really fix them. You know, quality fix them.”

CDOT tries to repair potholes, cracks, crumbling, and erosion along the corridor, but it’s nearly impossible to keep up; drivers can see many areas that have been repaired repeatedly.

Dunbar reflected on a particularly large and deep pothole next to the right turn lane on westbound Fountain at the Academy Boulevard intersection.

“I saw that pothole disable a large SUV,” she recalled. “For smaller SUVs and smaller sedan cars, that really would disable them. I just think that it’s unsafe and should be filled right there.”

Dunbar said that the pothole has remained for at least seven months, and at times, someone places a construction cone into it to alert drivers.

“It’s especially a problem when vehicles back up at that intersection, trying to squeeze into the left turn lane,” she said.

Highway construction projects are largely dependent on limited and available funding, but CDOT’s revised ten-year plan indicates an awareness that Fountain needs major improvements as soon as possible.

Late this summer, CDOT completed maintenance paving on Fountain between Powers and Murray Boulevard to temporarily stabilize the road condition there.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – It’s the seventh year Torie Giffin has hosted her Thanksgiving community potluck at the Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort.

This time, she’ll be leaning on the community she tries so hard to uplift after losing her 17-year-old son to cancer earlier this year.

“I would rather effort to try to get the community together and have a great time and celebrate the things they are all thankful for because my son’s life was definitely something more to be thankful for than to be sad that I lost,” Giffin said.

Live with “Old Dangerfield,” singing Santa and Torie ahead of the potluck

Giffin said she started the community potluck when she felt alone on Thanksgiving for the first time after her divorce. She said she continued the event so no one would have to face that feeling alone over the holidays.

“There is no need for any of you out there who are alone for whatever reason to be by yourself on the holiday,” Giffin’s close friend Rachel Stovall said.

Whether you can’t make it home for the holidays, are experiencing a loss like Giffin or simply don’t want to cook a massive meal, Giffin invites you to spend Thanksgiving at the lodge. Giffin and Stovall will be cooking up some turkeys. All guests need is an RSVP and a side dish.

The dinner is on Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. Afterward, Giffin is assembling local musicians to create the All-Star Pickers. They’ll take the stage for a jam session from 6-8 p.m. for anyone who wants to stick around.

On KRDO13, you’ll hear from the band “Old Dangerfield,” who will play after the meal, along with a musical Santa who will start playing his tunes at the lodge this Saturday.

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Scott Harrison

CAÑON CITY, Colo. (KRDO) — The town’s paving season ended only a few weeks ago, but officials are already working on one of two projects on North 9th Street to prepare for repaving next year.

9th Street extends across the city from north to south, connecting to downtown, US 50, and the Arkansas River.

Crews recently began working on the northernmost segment of the street, a half-mile stretch between Meadows Avenue and Washington Street — which passes a school, a mobile home park, and several businesses.

That segment will need a concrete framework for the paving because it currently has no curbs, sidewalks, or shoulders, and the pavement is in rough condition from previous excavations.

Crews temporarily closed part of the street on Monday to dig into one of the prior excavations.

The closure happened in front of the entrance to a mobile home and a storage business, as well as near JR’s Food Store, which Leah Gonzalez has owned and operated for 18 years.

“My vendors are having a real hard time getting into the property,” she explained. “The water level is really high, so they can’t drive through the fields, with the rain. People haven’t been able to get to their storage units. We weren’t told that the whole area would be closed off.”

Meanwhile, the town hopes to start work in January on the southern end of 9th Street — a 3/4-mile stretch between Meadows and Mystic avenues that passes through a residential area.

Crews will first replace the existing water main there, making the rough pavement even bumpier.

“We kind of picture the northern one being about a six-month project,” said Leo Evans, the town’s public works director. “So, with the after-Thanksgiving start, we’re hopeful that one will wrap up in late May, early June. The southern project’s a lot bigger, with all the utility work that has to take place. And it’s just more pavement, more everything. That one will probably be about a nine-month-long project. So, we’re hoping for a January start, roughly. It’ll be a September completion, early October on that.”

The projects will cost around $8 million, with a city sales tax financing much of the work, and the rest funded by federal grants and loans.

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Rob Namnoum

Vista Ridge High School won the Qdoba Friday Night Blitz Spirit Award during week eight of the high school football season. Recently, we presented the Qdoba Friday Night Blitz Spirit Award plaque to the Wolves cheer squad and football team.

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Celeste Springer

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Inmate records confirm Robert Dear, the self-admitted Planned Parenthood shooter, has died in federal custody at the age of 67.

According to records, he died on Saturday. Cause of death will need to be released by the medical examiner, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. KRDO13 has reached out to the medical examiner’s office in Missouri, where he was being held, and the office said they are working to get us information.

Thursday will mark 10 years since the shooting.

Dear, the self-proclaimed shooter, was accused of going to the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs in 2015 with six rifles, five handguns, a shotgun, propane tanks, and more than 500 rounds of ammo on the day of the attack. He killed three people and injured nine others.

KRDO had a chance to catch up with the district attorney who first tried to prosecute Dear, Dan May, who told us he was shocked by Dear’s death and feels for the victims.

“I thought it was tragic for the victims; they deserve to have that closure of him standing up in court and pleading guilty and being sentenced, or – if he had changed his mind and had a jury find him guilty, they deserve their day in court to express to the court about themselves or their loved ones,” said May.   

“As we reflect on the 10 years since the Colorado Springs tragedy, we honor and remember those whose lives were lost, as well as the strength and resilience of our staff — current and former —our patients, volunteers, and the Colorado Springs community. At Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, we remain steadfast in our commitment to providing accessible, nonjudgmental, high-quality healthcare to all who walk through our doors. On this week of remembrance, we are prioritizing our staff’s well-being while continuing to meet the  needs of our patients and community.”

-Spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains

Dear was diagnosed with a delusional disorder in 2016, and ever since has repeatedly been deemed incompetent to stand trial.

We have no word on the status or next steps in the federal process, but the 4th judicial district attorney’s office here in Colorado Springs says they will now begin the process of dismissing the case in state court.

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Sadie Buggle

FRANKTOWN, Colo. (KRDO) – A violent head-on crash on Highway 83 on Monday afternoon left five people dead and two children critically injured, authorities said. We now know four of the people who died in the collision, including three children under the age of 13, were from Colorado Springs.

KRDO13 has also learned that the vehicle that allegedly caused the crash was reported stolen just an hour before the deadly collision.

According to Colorado State Patrol (CSP), the crash happened just after 4:30 p.m. on Highway 83, just south of Franktown near Russellville Road. Troopers said a Toyota stolen out of Aurora crashed into a Ford; the Ford had an adult driver and five juveniles from Colorado Springs.

Troopers said the stolen car was driving southbound when it lost control and went off the right shoulder. The car returned to the roadway and rolled into the northbound lane, where it hit the Ford with the children inside head-on, CSP said.

Courtesy: CSP

According to the families of the deceased, the victim’s car included:

A 35-year-old father, Alvin Corado (pronounced deceased)

An 8-year-old boy, Toretto Corado (pronounced deceased)

A 11-year-old girl, Makenlee Corado (pronounced deceased)

A 13-year-old girl, Mia Corado (airlifted to a hospital in critical condition)

A 12-year-old boy, Jase Green (pronounced deceased)

A 14-year-old boy, Jordan Green (airlifted to a hospital in critical condition)

A GoFundMe for the Corado family has been started, and can be accessed by clicking here. A GoFundMe for the Watkins-Green family can be found by clicking here.

A photo of Makenlee Corado (left), Toretto Corado (middle) and Mia Corado (right), courtesy of GoFundMe.

A photo of both families together, including Jase and Jordan Green, courtesy of GoFundMe.

Family related to Jase and Jordan Green tells KRDO13 they were on the way to the hospital to visit their mother, who just had surgery.

The driver of the reported stolen car was ejected on impact and was also pronounced dead at the scene. He has been identified as a 31-year-old man from Denver, and CSP says he was not using a seatbelt at the time of the crash. The coroner’s office will be tasked with publicly releasing his identity.

Investigators are now working to determine why the driver lost control.  

The stolen car came from a carjacking in Aurora, according to police. The Aurora Police Department (APD) responded to a reported carjacking that occurred around 3:45 p.m. on November 24 at the Nine Mile Station parking structure, according to APD. The Nine Mile Station parking structure is an RTD parking garage.

APD tells KRDO13 the victim told officers she was getting into her vehicle on the first level when an unknown man approached, held the door open and asked her for a ride. Police say when she refused, the suspect pulled her from the driver’s seat and drove off in her vehicle.

The vehicle was then put into all motor vehicle theft systems, according to APD.

Highway 83 was closed between Russellville Road and Lake Gulch Road for hours as troopers investigated. The roadway was reopened at 11:50 p.m.

Neighbors in the area tell KRDO13 the crash was so loud they thought a tire had popped until they saw a large plume of smoke in the area. They say they immediately called 911. Some we spoke with rushed to the scene to help cut people’s seatbelts off and bring towels to assist.

The crash is now being investigated by the Colorado State Patrol Vehicular Crimes Unit. The agency asks those who observed the crash and have not yet spoken to investigators to contact Colorado State Patrol Dispatch at (303) 239-4501 and reference Case Number VC250439.

The Franktown Fire Protection District also responded to the crash. They tell us they could not talk about what the response was like; however, they are grateful to the community, which has been thanking first responders on Tuesday.

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Josh Helmuth

CASCADE, Colo. (KRDO) – The Ute Pass Elementary School principal made a promise to her students, and she kept it — even if that meant being taped to the gym wall!

Principal Jackie Powell challenged her students to raise 600 boxes of food for the school’s food drive — part of their Thanksgiving Literacy Luncheon last week — and they delivered, destroying last year’s record and Powell’s challenge, raising 1,200 boxes of food.

Their reward? Taping Powell to the wall.

It was a hilarious, engaging, exciting celebration last week that Powell says makes her as proud as ever.

“Our whole goal is to connect kids to something larger than themselves to get them thinking about. Things other than just me, and so they’ve learned how to provide for others,” she said.

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

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Scott Harrison

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — The county is now a week into a major drainage project that will eventually allow crumbling pavement at a busy intersection to be repaved.

Numerous viewers have complained to KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior for the past year about the poor condition of North Gate Boulevard at Struthers Road; the former is in Colorado Springs, and the latter is in the county.

Some repaving of the eastbound lanes of North Gate in front of the Western Museum of Mining and Industry was done earlier this fall, but officials said that the westbound lanes and the northbound lanes of Struthers can’t be repaved until completion of the drainage project.

That project finally started last week, with the county building a stormwater retention pond, south of North Gate and in the Interstate 25 corridor.

Within the next few weeks, crews will begin installing 3,000 feet of stormwater pipes along North Gate and Struthers.

The county expects to finish the project next spring, after which the city will repave the rest of the intersection.

“The biggest challenge will be at the end — asphalt repaving, and how we can line that up with the weather,” said John Lantz, a county senior engineer. “The spring time frame is what we’re quoting folks. Things will line up, hopefully, in the April time frame.”

He explained that the project took a long time to start because it required approvals for being on Air Force Academy property and for environmental assessments.

“We started on (November) 19th and got final approval only a day or two before that,” he explained. “The project crosses city and county jurisdiction, and the Air Force Academy and CDOT (Colorado Department of Transportation) jurisdiction.”

The retention pond has a capacity large enough to capture stormwater runoff from a 1 in 100-year flood; when filled, the water will flow through an existing CDOT drainage pipe into Smith Creek, which flows under I-25 and connects to Monument Creek.

Just before the eastbound North Gate repaving, city crews filled dozens of potholes at the intersection.

Drivers should expect traffic impacts in the area from mid-December until the project’s completion.

Still, some viewers remain frustrated that the intersection will endure another winter of deterioration.

“And then in the wintertime, we get the snowplows that make it even worse,” said Dave Hardin. “So, that hasn’t helped the situation.”

But Douglas Jenkins agrees with the need for the drainage project.

“Water pours downhill, pools in the intersection, and creates more potholes,” he said. “It definitely needs underwater storm drainage.”

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Michael Logerwell

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – Editor’s Note: We originally reported that the Pueblo City Council voted to pass this agenda item at Tuesday night’s vote. That was incorrect. Instead, they passed a motion against this ordinance, striking it down.

Pueblo City Council made a final vote on whether restaurants in Pueblo will need to make milk and water the standard drink for kids’ meals on Monday. The council voted to strike down the ordinance.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Pueblo County proposing program to ban soft drinks in kids meals within city limits

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The ordinance, which passed on its first reading back in May, would have made it so that soda pop isn’t the default drink in a kids’ meal.

“That would just mean that the kids’ meal would include water, unsweetened milk, or a milk alternative in the bundled meal,” said Gabby Singleton, Health Promotion Specialist with Pueblo County Public Health, in a May interview.

Several groups in Pueblo have come out in support of the ordinance. That list includes UC Health, CommonSpirit, Children First Pueblo, Colorado Blue Sky, and the Pueblo Food Project.

Megan Cover with the Pueblo Food Project wrote in a letter to the city council, “The average American child consumes 30 gallons of sugar per year, according to the American Heart Association. We believe that every child has the right to a healthy lifestyle.”

How would the ordinance have worked if it had passed?

According to the ordinance, the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment would enforce the rule. Singleton said that enforcement would work on a by-complaint basis. If someone reported that a restaurant didn’t have its menu updated to reflect the new changes, then the health department would have come out and inspect.

“I think it’ll have a great impact,” said Bruce Devereaux, the owner of B & C Tacos in Downtown Pueblo, prior to the council’s decision.

Devereaux said he’s had milk, water, and orange juice as the main options on the kids’ meals since he opened B & C Tacos years ago. He said parents are big fans, and about 75% of the time, the kids’ meal sticks with milk, juice, or water for the drink.

This ordinance wasn’t universally loved by restaurateurs. Singleton said that many had concerns about the cost of changing their menu or making milk, which isn’t shelf-stable, available. She said that having milk on the menu isn’t a requirement, making water the default meets the ordinance’s guidelines.

As for the cost of changing menus, Singleton said PDPHE would’ve had grant money available to help restaurants change their menus.

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