Florence High School was our week two winner of the Friday Night Blitz Spirit Award. This week the Huskies cheer squad received the South Colorado Motors Friday Night Blitz Spirit Award plaque.
Click here to follow the original article.One local middle school is teaching students how to separate fact from fiction — and they’re getting some help from a familiar face here at KRDO.
KRDO13’s Josh Helmuth was back in the classroom at Chinook Trail Middle School for the 5th straight year, teaching 8th-graders media literacy last Friday.
Hundreds of eighth graders. 90 minutes. A total blast. But also very important.
The assembly covered how to spot misinformation and disinformation, the dangers of AI, and why we need to be careful about what we believe and share on social media.
We also talked about the First Amendment and the importance of trustworthy journalism — including the great reporting happening right here in Colorado Springs.
And the students came ready with some fantastic questions.
Helmuth’s visit kicks off English teacher Luke Anliker’s My News Network class. Students work in teams to choose a United Nations goal — like ending hunger or protecting the planet — then create their own news websites, podcasts and broadcasts around those issues.
They get feedback from local journalists, and judges pick winners who are featured on the District 20 website and earn a personal tour of the KRDO13 newsroom and studio.
Anliker says the project has been wildly successful.
Helmuth is proud to be part of it yet again.
Is there someone or something remarkable at your school? Email Josh! SchoolBuzz@KRDO.com
Click here to follow the original article.COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — City officials marked a major milestone on Tuesday in the effort to extend Powers Boulevard from the Highway 83/Interquest Parkway interchange, to Interstate 25.
Crews ended a six-day task of placing 24 50-ton girders atop pillars that will form the deck of the new bridge at Flying Horse Club Drive.
Workers arrived at 4 a.m. to continue construction in the Flying Horse neighborhood at the north end of the city.
The bridge is one of three currently under construction: Slightly north is a pedestrian bridge to the golf course; to the south is a bridge at Ridgeline Drive.
Next week, crews begin placing girders for the Ridgeline Bridge.
Gayle Sturdivant, the city’s deputy public works director, elaborated on the pedestrian bridge.
“What you see today is just a temporary bypass, so pedestrians and golfers can use it,” she said. “What we’re going to be doing is coming in and putting a pre-cast pedestrian bridge in, just to the south of where that temporary crossing is today.”
A fourth bridge, still in the design phase, will be a high-rise bridge over Black Squirrel Creek.
Eventually, traffic will pass over that bridge and under the three others;officials hope to start construction on the new Powers roadway next year.
The city hopes to finish the entire project in 2030.
Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.
Click here to follow the original article.COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Students with the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) and Pikes Peak State College (PPSC) looked on early Tuesday morning as SpaceX rocket Falcon 9 lifted off with their experiment.
Multiple students made the trip to Cape Canaveral in Florida to watch the launch in person, while the rest watched on the livestream from their lab at UCCS.
Falcon 9 carries the students’ “Climate Seeds” experiment, testing how wheat seeds react to low-gravity environments. The students will compare the resulting sprouts to their terrestrial batch to derive insights that could be useful for future planet colonization efforts.
The launch took off right on time at 4:33 a.m. MST. KRDO13’s Bradley Davis joined them to catch the exciting moment live.
Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.
Click here to follow the original article.Top prep performances for the week of October 7th.
Click here to follow the original article.COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — After stalling in front of Walmart for more than four months, a major segment of the ongoing 8th Street improvements project has resumed its gradual advance northward.
In a release issued late last week, city officials said that the northbound lanes of 8th Street, between Motor City Drive and Lower Gold Camp Road/Abbot Lane, would reopen to traffic on Monday.
And it did, shortly after 7:30 a.m.
Last week, crews began repaving the affected block to cover the first part of a new water main being installed by Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) between Motor City and Cimarron Street.
Crews have also applied temporary lane markings there, and the city said that crews will return later to apply a final asphalt layer and permanent lane markings.
Progress slowed after crews bored 30 feet under Bear Creek for the first phase of the installation; CSU had to connect local business service lines to the new main, and the city had to complete stormwater upgrades to address flash flooding from the hills above 8th Street.
That phase was also delayed earlier when crews learned they had to redesign the bore under the creek.
Opening the lanes mentioned above should provide relief for drivers turning into Walmart; however, traffic immediately narrows to one lane in each direction as the pattern shifts to the east side of 8th Street, and the next phase of the water main replacement continues.
That phase will be in front of the Shell gas station and the former Sonic restaurant, with the traffic impacts extending an additional block to Costilla Street.
The water main in that area is on the opposite side of 8th Street, and the new traffic pattern brings significant impacts to adjacent businesses — including KRDO 13.
The new pattern also closes Moreno Avenue at the 8th Street intersection.
Still, some drivers and pedestrians are glad to see the gradual improvements.
“It’s complicated with a dog, and with groceries, and a bike,” said Essie Garner, Jr., who walks through the area daily to catch a city bus. “But other than that, I really got no problem with it. I think they’re doing a good job. I think they’re doing a good job cleaning up the road, yeah.”
Meanwhile, repairs continue on the west side of the Fountain Creek bridge, at the north end of the project; that work occasionally closes the southbound left lane, which can cause traffic backups in three directions at the north end of 8th Street, the westbound lanes of the US 24 Frontage Road, and the parking lot of the Colorado Place shopping center.
Officials hope to finish the entire project late next spring.
Click here to follow the original article.WOODLAND PARK, Colo. (KRDO)–For most kickers, pressure is part of the job description. One swing of the leg can determine whether a team celebrates a victory or walks away with a heartbreaking loss. For Woodland Park kicker Barrett Absher, handling those high-pressure moments comes down to a simple mindset.
“I’ve gotten pretty good at zoning out recently,” Absher said. “I kind of just zone out. One thing I think is, just kick the ball as hard as I can.”
That approach has worked remarkably well.
Absher has emerged as one of Colorado’s top kicking threats this season, connecting on field goals from 48, 51 and 53 yards. Those booming kicks rank among some of the longest made field goals in Colorado high school football this year and have put the Woodland Park standout on the radar of college recruiters.
It began with the first game of the season against Palmer, when his coaching staff challenged him with a long-distance attempt.
“We actually had a game against Palmer. I kicked a 48-yarder, and coach was like, ‘If you miss this, you’re never kicking one again,'” Absher recalled with a laugh. “It felt like a lot of pressure. But at the end of the day, I was like, I’m just going to kick as hard as I can.”
The result? A successful kick.
Absher’s leg strength didn’t develop overnight. A five-sport athlete, he credits his soccer background for much of his success on the football field.
“It’s pretty much the same motion,” he said. “I learned a lot of technique with it. The muscles are 100% built from soccer.”
While field goals may be his specialty, Absher’s versatility extends beyond kicking. He contributes in multiple phases of the game, playing on offense and defense while also handling punting duties.
“Kicking is definitely natural,” Absher said. “Punting is pretty natural, but it’s still a little funky.”
With another season of high school football still ahead of him, Absher hopes to continue adding distance and accuracy to his game. His long-term goal is clear: take his powerful leg to the college level.
“Thinking about my future and kicking, that’s kind of the next step for sports,” Absher said. “If I’d go to college now, 100%.”
For now, Woodland Park is benefiting from one of the state’s strongest legs. And when the Panthers need points from long range, Absher keeps his approach simple: block out the noise and kick the ball as hard as he can.
Click here to follow the original article.PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — It started a bit later than planned, but crews have finally begun removing old pavement from two miles of Court Street between City Center Drive and 24th Street.
It’s one of four repaving projects scheduled this year in the Steel City.
Molly Evans, deputy public works director, said that there was a delay in the paperwork required for the contractor to be licensed for the Court Street repaving; crews finally began milling on Monday.
Court Street is one of the main routes for drivers to get downtown; much of it is one-way, southbound.
Evans said that a similar repaving on nearby Elizabeth Street — from City Center Drive to 29th Street — is delayed until next year, adding that it’s too late in the paving cycle to start another major project.
This spring, the city completed two other repaving projects: a mile at the north end of Jerry Murphy Road, and a mile of 6th Street between Interstate 25 and Midtown Circle, cutting through the southwest part of downtown.
Having just four streets on a paving list doesn’t seem like much, but remember that Pueblo doesn’t have a dedicated funding source for repaving or transportation projects like Colorado Springs and El Paso County do.
Evans said that city leaders continue to discuss the possibility of establishing a funding mechanism.
“I know the mayor had brought forth that quarter-cent sales tax to (the City) Council for some road improvements down here, but (the) Council opted to not include it on the ballot,” she said. (A tax) may be a viable solution, depending on how it’s structured and how that’s going to impact the taxpayer.”
While officials spend the winter planning next year’s paving projects, crews will enter their second year of using a hot-mix asphalt truck to patch potholes year-round.
The advantage is that the truck allows crews to make longer-lasting pothole repairs and can be used in winter when most asphalt plants have closed.
Evans said the truck has worked so well that the city hopes to acquire a second truck soon.
Click here to follow the original article.The Palmer Ridge football team defeated Rampart on Thursday night 56-7. As the Bears improve to seven and oh on the season.
Click here to follow the original article.TELLER COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Dan Silvis has lived in Tranquil Acres since 1994, but he’s not feeling tranquil about the lack of road maintenance in the private community of approximately 250 residents.
Silvis is particularly concerned about the condition of Fern Road, where he lives; like all roads in Tranquil Acres, it’s a gravel road that’s hilly, bumpy, rutted, and significantly eroded on one side.
He said that the Tranquil Acres Water Board recently installed water lines under the road, and that two of his neighbors have used equipment to dig into the road over the past few years.
Since that digging began, Silvis said that the road is narrower and lower, and could expose the new water lines to damage and potentially interrupt water service to customers.
He explained that the two neighbors are part-time residents who live in a home across the road from him, and that the digging is an attempt to redirect runoff from the road so that it drains around their home.
Silvis said that he has tried to ask the neighbors to stop digging, but they have refused to.
The neighbors weren’t at home when KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior stopped by on Thursday.
Silvis said that Teller County previously provided road maintenance on the main road through the community — Blossom Road — but stopped doing it several years ago because it’s on private property, and because most roads in the community don’t meet county specifications to be maintained.
He believes the water board is responsible for maintenance.
However, a board member told The Road Warrior that’s not the case.
As of this writing, it’s unclear who — if anyone — has road maintenance responsibilities.
Silvis said that a few residents already plow the roads in front of their homes or pay a contractor to do it, and he fears that could become more common until the road maintenance dilemma is resolved.
“And up here in Teller County, we can get some pretty deep snow,” he added.
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