Category: krdo-local-news

Michael Logerwell

DALLAS, TX. (KRDO) – After tying up the series at three games apiece on Thursday night, the Avalanche went into the American Airlines Center looking to keep their Stanley Cup Dreams alive.

If the Avs win, they will face the winner of the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets series. That series, also tied 3-3, will play the deciding game on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.

After a neck-and-neck first period with no goals, Logan O’Connor picked the pocket of an attacking Stars player trying to take advantage of a power play. O’Connor had other ideas, flipping the script and finding Josh Manson on the other end of the ice. Mason then put the puck just past Dallas Goalie Jake Oettinger with 9:50 into the second period.

Feeling fresh after the second intermission, Nate MacKinnon added on, bringing the Avs’ lead to 2-0.

But there’s a reason a two-goal lead is the most dangerous lead in hockey.

In less than ten minutes of game time, former Avalanche Star Mikko Rantanen led a three-goal onslaught. Taking back the lead and reminding Colorado what they’re missing.

Rantanen ended the game with a hat-trick, undoubtedly the Star of the game. He even picked up the assist on the one goal he didn’t send directly into the net.

The Avalanche will start their off-season while the Stars get ready for the winner of the Blues vs. Jets series.

Final score: Stars 4, Avalanche 3.

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Michael Logerwell

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – A new study by Apartment Insights shows that the price of apartments in Colorado Springs is trending down for the first time in a decade.

“It’s a really good time for renters,” say Doug Carter, Co-Owner of Apartment Insights.

Carter tells KRDO13 Investigates an influx of new apartments has led to lower prices. It’s as simple as supply and demand.

“Primarily because of all the construction we see everywhere. It’s always supply and demand. And there’s been a lot of construction. There will still be a lot of apartments being finished this year, which is a good sign for renters,” Carter said.

Chart from Apartment Insights’ quarterly report.

Carter says the supply is finally catching up to the demand. This graph (seen above) shows that rent prices in Colorado Springs have dropped from their peak of around $1,500 in the middle of 2022.

Right now, the average rent price is $1,375, about $57 cheaper than this same time last year. Over the course of a year, that would save a renter roughly $684.

A big reason for that price drop, and why Carter expects the rest of the year to be good for renters, is a 13.5% vacancy rate for all rentable apartments.

Despite the high vacancy rate, however, Carter says apartment units are flying off the shelves.

“There were more apartments rented last quarter than we’ve ever seen,” he says.

In the first three months of 2025, 816 people rented new apartments. Expanding the scope to 12 months, 3,671 new apartments were rented, an all-time high.

While Carter expects the rest of the year to be a boon for renters, the more distant future is still a bit uncertain. “For the rest of this year, with all the construction still being completed, it’s a good time for renters. Beyond that, with the economy, it’s hard for everybody right now. It’s really hard to know. But at least right now, renters are getting some relief,” Carter said.

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Tyler Cunnington

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – On Friday, an El Paso County judge handed down a sentence to a Colorado Springs man who had a lengthy criminal history. Justin Kula will serve 48 years behind bars for running over a parole officer with his car and killing her in 2023.

In late September of 2023, Justin Kula was wanted after he allegedly failed to check in with his parole officer. On Sept. 28, 2023, parole officers attempted to stop him in the parking lot of a convenience store. It was there, a judge and jury believe he drove into one of the parole officers, ran them over, and killed them, and fled from the scene.

On February 19 this year, an El Paso County jury found Justin Kula guilty of vehicular homicide, manslaughter, among other charges. The next day, the jury also found Kula guilty of three habitual offender charges, which serve as sentence enhancers to the four counts he was convicted of:

Vehicular Homicide (Felony)

Leaving the scene of the crime (Felony)

Manslaughter (Felony)

3rd-Degree Assault (Misdemeanor)

KRDO13 Investigates previously reported that Kula had 13 prior felony convictions in the state of Texas, along with 18 arrests.

In 2023, Kula was parked at a convenience store when he was approached by parole officers. Security video showed that he quickly backed his vehicle out of the parking spot before speeding out of the lot, hitting several cars, and fatally running over Parole Officer Christine Guerin Sandoval in the process.

His arrest affidavit showed he had been using meth and heroin at the time of the incident. He also told detectives he thought he was being robbed, and claimed he did not know Sandoval was a law enforcement officer when she and others opened his car door.

His defense team explained similar sentiments in their Opening Arguments of the trial on Monday, February 10, calling Officer Sandoval’s death a tragedy, but not a crime.

Conversely, the prosecution, led by Rachel Powell, the Chief Deputy District of the 4th Judicial DA’s office, argued that the officers were wearing marked uniforms and that Kula had fled from the scene.

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Celeste Springer

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – People living in Colorado Springs can soon catch up with the Wienermobile.

“Relish the moment,” read promotional material for the hot dog on wheels.

Visit Colorado Springs says the event is for one day only– Saturday, May 3. Tickets should be purchased in advance.

This is not just an up-close encounter with the Wienermobile, but an immersive lunch tour featuring a selection of gourmet hot dogs.

The 2-hour walking tour starts in downtown Colorado Springs, and a guide will take guests to several locations for tastings. Beer and cider are included at the first stop, according to Visit Colorado Springs.

Finally, the tour will end at the iconic Wienermobile where guests can get Instagram photos to their heart’s content.

Tickets are $68 for adults and $58 for kids. You can purchase those here.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — During the day, the half-mile of 8th Street between Cimarron Street and Motor City Drive becomes one of the city’s busiest, with more than 30,000 vehicles traveling on it.

Get ready for more congestion during the next year.

City officials have announced a $12 million, multifaceted project that will make a number of traffic and safety improvements.

One objective is to eliminate a bottleneck northbound at the Fountain Creek bridge, where the right lane becomes a turn lane onto the US 24 Frontage Road to Cimarron and Interstate 25; the project will remove a pedestrian bridge in that area and add a new right turn lane to keep two lanes flowing northbound.

“And we’re going to do some preventive (bridge) maintenance in order to extend the service life,” said Ryan Phipps, the city’s capital improvements manager. “That bridge structure itself is about 74 years old, and the work that we’re going to do will allow this bridge to perform for another 30-plus years.”

The added lane will include attached sidewalk/trail for improved access to US 24 and the Midland Trail; that project begins later this month and should finish this summer.

Another key phase — starting this fall and continuing through winter — will replace a 24-inch water main between Motor City and Vermijo Avenue, a block north of Cimarron.

“It’s between US 24 and Bear Creek is about 60 years old,” Phipps said.”

Also coming are sidewalks, curbs and gutters where they currently don’t exist on the west side of 8th Street, and has made for messy travel in wet weather for people walking, or using wheelchairs, walkers or scooters.

The project includes improving drainage into Fountain and Bear creeks by installing storm sewers on the Moreno Avenue and Lower Gold Camp Road hills above the street; flash flooding occasionally stalls traffic and deposits large amounts of rock and sediment at those intersections.

Traffic signals will be replaced and upgraded at those locations.

Repaving, the final phase of the project, will happen late next spring or early next summer.

For the many business owners along the corridor, the project is no surprise; they’ve been aware of the possibility since a city study in 2023 that KRDO 13 reported on.

What remains unclear, however, is how construction will affect those businesses and their customers.

“We definitely think it’s going to affect us because it’s going to take people more time to get here more time to get here, maybe it’s going to change their mind about coming here,” said Leo Martinez, a manager at La Casita restaurant.

One of his regular customers, Lisa Cisneros, said that she will try to remain loyal.

“(Construction is) a nuisance, but there’s construction all over this city and we’ve had to battle it,” she said. “So, it will depend on the day, I think, as to if I can get here or not.”

Phipps said that access to businesses will remain open.

“We’ve made every effort to reach out,” he said. “I know that someone always falls through the cracks, but we’ve made the effort to reach out to property owners, business owners. A lot of times when you’re talking about the folks that might slip through the cracks, sometimes they’re employees.”

An employee at the Sugarplum Cake Shoppe & Bakery said that she wasn’t aware of the project but is interested in seeing how it turns out.

“I actually have a map that goes back to 1907, and it identifies the first time that 8th Street actually shows up and is identified as a wagon trail,” Phipps revealed.

On Wednesday evening, city officials will host an open house at the nearby Norris Penrose Event Center, to answer questions and provide more information.

To learn more, visit: https://coloradosprings.gov/8thStreet.

An unknown variable is whether increased traffic congestion on 8th Street could spread to nearby Cimarron Street (US 24) and I-25.

Phipps released the following statement Friday:

“We have designed the improvements to limit the impact to Highway 24. However, we do expect occasional and limited impacts at that intersection, which we plan to communicate ahead of time.“

In other words, traffic backups will be inevitable during the summer travel season, and in an area where a busy city street is close to two highways: More reason for drivers to consider alternate routes and have patience during the project period.

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Josh Helmuth

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – Mesa Ridge High School is proud of what a group of students recently accomplished over the course of several blood drives.

Vitalant, a nationwide blood donation center, recognized the Widefield D-3 school as being the host of one of the best blood drives in the state.

MRHS has a club called HOSA, a group for future health professionals, which hosts the blood drives. Vitalant says that throughout two blood drives, MRHS donated the most units of blood collected for a Colorado Springs High School, had the fifth highest growth across the region (up 217 percent since 2023), and had the most new donors in the region, collecting 138 units of blood.

Vitalant says the effort could save more than 400 lives.

Is there something or someone remarkable at your school? Tell Josh all about it: SchoolBuzz@KRDO.com!

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Tyler Cunnington

LA JUNTA, Colo. (KRDO) – Some expecting mothers in southeast Colorado will now be traveling an hour or longer to deliver their babies, after the labor and delivery unit at the Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center (AVRMC) in La Junta shut down on April 30.

Hospital leaders tell KRDO13 the closure was not one they wanted to make, but they could no longer ignore the loss of about $200,000 per month from the unit. They explain it’s due to low Medicaid reimbursements, which comprise 70% of the unit’s revenue.

The CEO of AVRMC previously told KRDO13 that “keeping [the unit] open would have brought the whole hospital down.”

A Registered Nurse with AVRMC who has worked with the hospital since 1978, says that in the 1980s they used to have about 400 births per year. However, last year, she says only 110 people delivered babies within the unit. 

But doctors from the OB unit tell KRDO13 it wasn’t the lower volume that is the issue, but instead affirmed that low medicaid reimbursements, paired with the high volume of medicaid users in their area, is what made the finances fall into dire straights.

As a result of the shut-down, mothers like Shelby Clarke who live in Campo, just south of Springfield, says she’ll now travel multiple hours to Pueblo for her next birth. She is due in August for her second baby.

“What happens when my water breaks and if the, if it moves fast, like you don’t have that much time.” Clarke stated. “It is extremely unsafe having to go that far while in active labor.”

Clarke is not alone, as families near La Junta will now have to drive roughly 60 miles, or more, to Lamar or Pueblo, in order to deliver with doctors and nurses at a hospital, who specialize in labor and delivery. 

Prowers Medical Center officials tell KRDO13 they’ve accepted 27 new mothers over the last few months, ahead of the closure in La Junta. They stated that they are taking in any new patients for OB services, as well as deliveries.

Clarke’s first baby boy, came through an emergency C-section, that nearly proved fatal.

“I tore internally and began to hemorrhage. At the time, it came down to choosing between him and I.”

It’s those kinds of situations that scared her as a first time mother, and it’s what worries the former director of the OB floor in La Junta, that may happen more often moving forward.

“It’s very scary. There’s no way around it in some of those emergencies. There’s no other choice.” said Diane McElroy, the former director.

She’s also concerned that more mild, but crucial, medical issues for mothers may be missed, just because of the longer drives for a simple appointment.

“That’s a lot of worry to go 60 miles to just know [a diagnosis]. I’m afraid people won’t go because it’s such a trek” she said, about the additional distance to get to either hospital.

Meanwhile, Clarke says she has been going to a hospital in Pueblo four times per month since January, in preparation for the closure in La Junta. It’s about a seven hour round trip for her and her husband, and it’s likely the where she’ll have to deliver her second-born child.

“Lamar is far enough to have to go at an hour and a half. La Junta, pushing an additional two and a half hours is dangerous. But three to get to your nearest hospital that can deliver, being Pueblo, that is not right. It’s not safe. It is unethical. It’s illogical.” stated Clarke, who says she is not a unique situation, as far as mothers in more remote areas like she is.

Clarke says the reasons he has to go to Pueblo and cannot go to Lamar, is due to the fact that Prowers Medical Center in Lamar won’t accept her for a delivery, as she wants to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarian), which can pose risks during the delivery of the child.

Prowers Medical Center leadership say that is an existing policy that is not new, due to the closure of AVRMC.

In regards to the closure, the Mayor of La Junta, Joe Ayala, told KRDO13 in a statement in part:

“I want to express just how deeply troubling this development is not just for our city, but for families across the entire region.

The loss of maternity services means women in the Arkansas Valley will now be forced to travel hours to deliver their babies. This is not just inconvenient, it’s dangerous. As I mentioned it’s a trip through mostly a two lane highway and that’s a tough drive for any expectant mother in good weather what if we are facing inclement weather? And it signals a devastating trend for rural Colorado.”

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Sadie Buggle

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Denver office says a soldier at Fort Carson is now facing federal charges related to distributing cocaine.

According to FBI Denver, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Juan Gabriel Orona-Rodriguez was arrested on Wednesday by special agents.

His criminal complaint says that he worked as security at the Colorado Springs underground club that was raided over the weekend, a story that quickly made national headlines.

According to the complaint, he was one of about 17 active duty service members at the club at the time of the raid.

MORE: More than 100 illegal immigrants in custody after underground nightclub bust in Colorado Springs

Orona-Rodriguez appears to have held an ownership or leadership role with Immortal Security LLC, a group that provides armed security at “nightclubs,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed.

“DEA agents with whom I have spoken believe employees of Immortal Security areinvolved in drug distribution and that employees of Immortal Security are carrying firearms whileproviding security at Warike and similar establishments,” wrote an FBI special agent in the complaint.

Court documents contain text messages allegedly sent between Orona-Rodriguez’s phone and another unnamed suspect. The FBI says that suspect is from Mexico and is in the country illegally.

Those text messages are outlined below:

Unnamed suspect: That’s why i always try to give you like in rock but my bad bro ima have a talk with them see wat they say

Unnamed suspect: Watt really bro whenever it’s like that I can always give it back bro hell nah that’s like a big NO your like the first person to tell me this

Orona-Rodriguez: Thanks make sure is good the last batch peoplecomplain about it b

Unnamed suspect: Yea I got you no worry’s and Simon I should have it by like one,two the latest

Orona-Rodriguez: Yeah I do just split in half lol

Unnamed suspect: So you need a whole full and the 7 g right?

Orona-Rodriguez: Ima pick them up later today if you have them

Orona-Rodriguez: Need two half and the 7

Unnamed suspect: You wats good

The FBI also found texts sent allegedly between Orona-Rodriguez’s phone and an unnamed customer.

Orona-Rodriguez: [[REDACTED]] is my buddies address

Unamed customer: I got it, thanks bro

Orona-Rodriguez: Hey he gave you an 8 can you send me atleast 50 more

Unamed customer: Really? Seemed less than you give me lol but I got you.

Orona-Rodriguez: Yeah because he gave to you in a bigger bag

Orona-Rodriguez: It was miscommunication

Unamed customer: I sent it, I won’t screw you over

Additionally, the FBI says they believe Orona-Rodriguez was selling guns to people living in the U.S. illegally. The agency’s criminal complaint alleges that Orona-Rodriguez texted videos of guns for sale to customers.

Source: FBI

Fort Carson officials confirmed to KRDO13 on Thursday morning that Orona-Rodriguez is indeed a Fort Carson soldier.

“We are aware the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of Army CID, took a Fort Carson Soldier into custody,” a Fort Carson official said in a statement to KRDO13 Thursday morning. “We will continue to cooperate with all agencies involved.”

According to a Fort Carson official, Staff Sergeant Orona-Rodriguez has been a member of the military for more than 8 years. He was presently assigned to the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.

His record shows he received the following awards:

Army Commendation Medal with Combat Device

x2 Army Commendation Medal

x10 Army Achievement Medal

x3 Certificate of Achievement

Meritorious Unit Commendation

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Sadie Buggle

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – The Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) has confirmed that a motorcyclist has died after a crash near the intersection of I-25 and West Bijou Street on Thursday afternoon.

According to CSPD, officers were sent to the intersection at around 4:35 p.m. on May 1 after receiving reports of a crash between a vehicle and a motorcycle.

Colorado Springs firefighters and American Medical Response (AMR) members also responded to the scene, providing care to all people involved in the crash. Three people were taken to a local hospital, with injuries ranging from moderate to life-threatening, CSPD said.

Police said upon arriving at the hospital, the driver of the motorcycle died from injuries sustained in the crash. That driver has not yet been publicly identified.

Westbound Bijou Street was shut down for several hours as crews worked to clear the scene. CSPD’s Major Crash Team is now investigating the cause of the crash.

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