Michael Logerwell
Dan Mohrmann from Colorado Preps joins Rob Namnoum on Sports Extra to break down the high school basketball tournament, as it enters its final weekend. Dan talks about Lewis Palmer playing in the 5A Final Four, St. Mary’s, CSCS, and Banning Lewis playing in the Class 3A Great Eight. He also breaks down the CSCS girls’ team playing in the Class 3A Great Eight.
Mina Ramirez
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — After 75 years of marriage, Priscilla Portillos is now navigating life without the man she spent nearly her entire life beside.
Courtesy of: Michelle Law
Ted Portillos was struck and killed near Northern Avenue and Vassar Avenue last year. Now, his family says the crash may have been preventable and is urging city and state leaders to make improvements along the road.
Video obtained by KRDO13 shows the moments leading up to the crash.
Portillos’ family said he was on his way to his beloved Eagles Club that day when the collision happened.
His wife, Priscilla Portillos, said the driver approached quickly and struck Ted’s vehicle.
“That man that ran into him was coming to him fast,” she said. “When he struck his car, he didn’t stop.”
Shortly after the crash, the family received a phone call no one ever wants to get.
“We got the phone call that he was in the hospital,” said Ted’s daughter, Cheryl Portillos. “They told us we needed to come quickly… that he was passing.”
Ted and Priscilla Portillos first met when she was 17, and he was 20. Their love story would span 75 years of marriage.
Family members describe Ted as someone who was always smiling and quick to joke with people he met.
“He was always smiling. He was always joking with people,” Cheryl said. “When people would pass by, he’d ask them, ‘Are you married?’”
They say he was also the type of person who would always lend a helping hand and never met a stranger.
Now, even in his death, his family says they are continuing the push for road safety improvements Ted had long advocated for.
The family says the stretch of Northern Avenue where the crash happened connects directly to a state highway while also running through residential neighborhoods, creating a complex jurisdiction between the city and state.
Because of that, they believe both agencies need to work together to improve safety along the road.
Through an online petition, the family is calling for the speed limit to be lowered by 20 miles per hour or for additional safety measures, such as better street lighting.
“It could have been avoided if they would have listened to us,” Priscilla said. “It feels like there’s a big empty space in my life.”
The petition asks city and state leaders to work together to make the area safer for drivers and residents.
Courtesy of: Michelle Law
Learn more about Ted Portillos’s petition here.
Bradley Davis
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – Watch playoff high school basketball highlights from Friday and Saturday. There are two videos attached to this article. Saturday’s highlights are in the first video, while Friday’s are in the second.
Saturday’s games
Boys: Banning Lewis Academy guard Matthew Lebron sinks a three with one second left in overtime to lift the Stallions over SkyView Academy, 81-78.
Girls: Evangel Christian Academy falls to Flagler despite a late push, falling 50-38
Friday’s games
Boys: St. Mary’s explodes in overtime to beat Bayfield 81-67 and advance to Saturday’s game against Peyton.
Girls: Colorado Springs Christian School cruises to a 50-16 win over Gunnison.
Steve Roldan
Tonight: Expect mostly clear sies, with winds out of the North at 5 to 10 mph. It will be a cool night with overnight lows dipping down into the mid to upper 20s for most areas. Some of the back roads may see some slippery conditions with the possibility of black ice from all the melting that took place on Saturday.
Sunday: We will see lots of sunshine with mostly clear skies. We will also see much warmer temperatures with high climbing into the low to mid 60s for most areas along the I-25 corridor. Expect cooler readings up in the high country.
Extended: Temperatures will continue to warm up right through Tuesday. Expect highs in the upper 60s, near 70 degrees for most areas in Southern Colorado. We will see a slight cool down for the middle part of next week with highs in the mid to upper 50s. We will be keeping an eye on the possibility for an increased fire danger towards the end of next week.
Mackenzie Stafford
DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) – On Feb.14, 2024, Antonio Vasquez shot and killed 19-year-old Dacien Salazar during a drive-by shooting outside Denver’s Downtown Aquarium, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
On Friday, Antonio Vasquez was sentenced to 40 years in prison, while Vasquez’s brother, Jason Trujillo, Jr., was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Vasquez and Trujillo both previously pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Dacien Salazar, according to the DA’s Office. Officials say Trujillo drove the car that was used in the shooting.
KRDO13 spoke with Dacien’s mother, Roxanne Coca, on Friday. She says she’s been fighting for justice for her son for the past two years.
Dacien Salazar, right, provided by Roxanne Coca.
“Dacien was loved, Dace had a lot of passion,” Roxanne Coca, Dacien’s mother, previously told our Denver news partners, “They took him from me, and I just won’t be the same.”
She said that her family was hoping her son’s killers would receive a lifetime sentence. Eventually, officials told her family they would have to accept a deal. The family told KRDO13 on Friday that between seven and 20 years were on the table for Trujillo’s sentence. Roxanne Coca said her family wanted 20 years in prison, which is what Trujillo was sentenced to.
“Dacien Salazar’s murder was not just a tragedy for his friends and family, it was a crime that shocked countless Denver residents – a shooting in broad daylight in a busy public place. Today’s sentences ensure that Antonio Vasquez and Jason Trujillo will pay a heavy price for their cold-blooded actions,” said DA John Walsh.
Josh Helmuth
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Some students in Widefield D-3 got a basketball lesson this week from the organization behind Team USA.
Students at Webster Elementary got a visit from USA Basketball coaches for an in-school clinic: warmups, drills, dribbling, passing, shooting, footwork — the whole bit. The clinic was meant to help keep kids moving, have fun and maybe fall in love with the sport.
“We go to schools, rec centers, community centers, and just try to bring the sport of basketball to some new audiences and really prioritize fun,” said Andrea Travelstead with USA Basketball.
Before the day was over, every student walked away with a USA Basketball shirt as well.
Is there someone or something remarkable at your school? Email us! SchoolBuzz@KRDO.com.
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS/EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — A stormwater project that started around Thanksgiving is about to cross busy North Gate Boulevard, marking the halfway point in a $5 million project that will lead to much-needed repaving work.
The county’s public works department is building a retention basin on the south side of the boulevard, between the northbound and southbound Interstate 25 overpasses.
Crews are also installing 3,000 feet of concrete pipes; construction is now in front of the Mining Museum and is ready to move north across North Gate, eventually advancing uphill to a new roundabout on Struthers Road.
The area is near the line between city and county jurisdictions and within the jurisdictions of the Air Force Academy and the Colorado Department of Transportation.
All four entities are partners in the project.
Because of the construction, traffic is down to one lane in each direction on the approaches to the crossover point, and eastbound North Gate is closed there — requiring traffic in both directions to share the westbound lanes.
Those traffic impacts began on Wednesday and will continue through the project’s expected completion in May.
“The dry weather we’ve had has really helped us make great progress,” said John Lantz, a senior engineer with the county. “Even the rain we had earlier in the week hasn’t been an issue. If it snows on Friday, we’ll work through it.”
After the county finishes the project, the city plans to repave the area as part of its annual 2C expanded paving program.
As KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior reported in the summer of 2024, neighbors and drivers have been frustrated by how long the work has taken, and how the condition of Struthers in particular has deteriorated.
Residents said that paving was supposed to happen five years ago, but couldn’t proceed until all involved parties could agree on the stormwater project.
Last year, the city repaved eastbound North Gate in front of the museum and filled numerous potholes around the North Gate/Struthers intersection, but many of those patches popped out over the winter.
In fact, The Road Warrior crew heard three vehicles blow their tires during a Friday morning live report — possibly while hitting one of several sizeable potholes on westbound North Gate.
By 8 a.m., approximately a dozen drivers reported pothole damage — likely from the same large pothole.
A worker arrived on scene to fill the pothole, but there appeared to be several other potholes growing in size and posing a threat to drivers.
Bradley Davis
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – David Jung has been sober for 2.5 years. He says every day was a constant battle – until he found bouldering nine months ago.
Jung shares a common experience with recovering addicts. You get sober, but what next?
When Jung kicked the bottle, he said he lost his friends and his community. He still had the anxiety and depression that first pushed him toward alcoholism. Those problems didn’t magically go away.
He said he was constantly “white knuckling” day after day. He said he was ready to give up and go back to the bar. That’s when he found Phoenix Multisport.
Phoenix Multisport plans activities and outings for people looking to find a sober community, from yoga to weights to painting classes. Jung found his in the bouldering community.
Jung said bouldering gave him friends he could rely on and a challenge to overcome. Not only did it clear his head, but it gave him the courage to confront and attack the problems that drove him to addiction years before.
Now, Jung said he’s on a mission to help others find his path. He spearheads many of the bouldering programs with Phoenix Multisport.
Every activity through Phoenix Multisport is free. It’s not just for people in the recovery stage. Jung said anyone who has pushed themselves to be sober for 48 hours can come to any of the events for free.
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Northbound drivers on the north end of 8th Street likely will have mixed feelings about the latest changes in the ongoing improvements project there.
The good news is that crews reopened the two eastbound lanes on the US 24 Frontage Road between 8th Street and Cimarron Street (US 24), as well as the right turn lane to the road.
We believe that happened around midnight.
The traffic alignment in that area will continue: One northbound lane and two southbound lanes open on 8th Street across the Fountain Creek bridge.
However, the closed lanes have shifted to the west, opening the right northbound lane for the first time in months and requiring a street sweeper to clean up accumulated dust on Thursday morning.
The single northbound lane creates frequent backups that often stretch to the 8th Street hill at Motor City Drive, which is the project’s southern boundary.
Officials said that the continued traffic alignment is necessary for crews to continue repair work on the 75-year-old bridge, and for them to keep drilling to locate underground utility lines under 8th Street.
The drilling is in advance of a water main replacement that Colorado Springs Utilities expects to start later this month.
You can see numerous colored markings to indicate the utility locations.
Earlier this week, a crew replaced crosswalk markings at the 8th Street/Cimarron Street intersection, which is the project’s northern boundary.
The initial plan was for the frontage road to reopen on Tuesday night, but rain delayed it, and crews were able to reopen the road in advance of snow expected overnight Thursday.
Officials also had planned to reopen the road at 7 p.m. Thursday, but needed to finish lane shifting and restriping first.
The frontage road had been closed since a week before Christmas — except for briefly reopening between Christmas and New Year’s.
Donovan Pimentel
The Air Academy girls basketball team advances to the Class 5A Great Eight. The Kadets defeated Thompson Valley on Wednesday night 58-53. They will play Montrose on Saturday.
