“A woman found in a dumpster was arrested for false reporting Thursday, April 12,” reports Vail Daily. “Linnea Marlene Hayda, 31, of Vail, was arrested in connection to a March incident in which she was found in a dumpster [in] Vail’s Sandstone neighborhood. Hayda is being charged with attempting to influence a public servant, a Class 4 felony; tampering with physical evidence, a Class 6 felony; and false reporting to police, a Class 3 misdemeanor. If she is convicted, then she faces up to six years in prison, said Heidi McCollum, assistant district attorney. … Vail police said they spent more than 200 hours investigating Hayda’s allegations, which they say are ‘fictitious.’ … At approximately 5:37 a.m. Tuesday March 27, three days before a March 30 custody hearing in District Court involving her children, Hayda was found in a dumpster with her wrists ziptied in front of her, according to police. A court protection order made it illegal for her to be in the vicinity of the apartment at 1040 Vail View Drive, Vail Police confirmed. The next day, Hayda came to the Vail Daily building in Eagle-Vail. She had scrapes on her cheek and forehead and voluntarily told a reporter that she had finished her shift at her Avon job between 4 and 5 p.m. Monday, March 26. She claimed that she was abducted around 5:30 p.m., and that the person who took her threw her into a car and told her she would not see her children again.”
“The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office swore in a new undersheriff April 2, seven months before a new leader is set to be elected to the agency’s top job,” reports The Cañon City Daily Record. “Megan Richards, who has worked for the agency since 2011, is the agency’s first female undersheriff. She takes the position over from former undersheriff Ty Martin, who retired April 6. ‘When I was approached by the sheriff (Jim Beicker) about this, I was just (feeling) all of the emotions,’ Richards said. ‘I was shocked, I was excited. I felt proud that he thought, ‘Megan can do this.’ So, I trust his opinions and his thoughts.'”
“While much of the state is facing drastic water shortages, shareholders in the Colorado Big Thompson project will see better than average return on their investment this year, according to a Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District news release,” reports The Greeley Tribune. “The release serves as an announcement to front range farmers and municipalities regarding their quota from the Colorado Big Thompson project, which diverts water from the headwaters of the Colorado River, across the continental divide to quench front range thirst. The quota this year is 80 percent, up from the average of 70 percent, a jump that represents 93,000 extra acre feet for the year.”
“A controversial alt-right political figure who said he was coming to speak in Grand Junction this week appears to have canceled his plans,” reports The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. “While the announcement of “A Night with Milo” featuring Milo Yiannopoulos made a big splash on social media back in February, the event died quietly and will apparently not be happening on Saturday as previously advertised.”
“Save Our St. Vrain Valley, the organization that opposes Martin Marietta Materials’ plans to mine gravel on a 610-acre area east of Lyons, will appeal a Boulder County Land Use Department decision that the county’s 20-year-old permission for such operations is still in effect,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “Amanda Dumenigo, Save Our St. Vrain Valley’s chairperson, said in a Thursday interview that the organization disagrees with the ruling Land Use Director Dale Case announced on Wednesday and will appeal it to the Boulder County Board of Adjustment.”
“The Colorado River Firefighters Association held a community event in Silt on Wednesday night for residents of middle Garfield County’s fire district to meet some of the candidates running in the area fire board election next month,” reports The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent. “Though not all of the candidates were able to make the informal event, the meet-and-greet had a steady stream of people come through to ask the candidates their thoughts on some of the issues leading this spring’s election. Eight candidates are running for three seats on the board of Colorado River Fire Rescue district, which includes New Castle, Silt and Rifle. Five of the candidates are running for two four-year terms, and three of the candidates are running for one open two-year term.”
“With the tragic Feb. 14 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland fresh in their minds, the members of the Steamboat Springs Education Grant Commission voted this week to recommend increasing funding for mental health specialists in the public schools,” reports The Steamboat Pilot. “The Steamboat Springs School District submitted two grant applications focused on mental and behavioral health, Education Fund Grants Committee Chairperson Jenny Maxwell said. One is focused on funding for two licensed professional counselors to provide one-on-one counseling for individual students, often with their families. The second focused on behavioral health specialists who would work with teachers to prevent and address behavioral challenges that impact the classroom.”
“Citing fiduciary responsibility, a lack of funds and an unwillingness to make personnel cuts in a time of budgetary crisis, the board of education of Pueblo City Schools (D60) narrowly rejected a fact-finder’s recommendation that teachers and paraprofessionals be given cost-of-living adjustments and increased health insurance contributions,” reports The Pueblo Chieftain. “In a 3-2 vote during a special meeting Thursday, board President Barb Clementi, Vice President Frank Latino and board member Bobby Gonzales supported a resolution rejecting the recommendations, with board members Taylor Voss and Dennis Maes voting in the negative.”
“The Interior Department is increasing fees at the most popular national parks to $35 per vehicle, backing down from an earlier plan that would have forced visitors to pay $70 per vehicle to visit Rocky Mountain, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and other iconic parks,” reports The Associated Press in The Loveland Reporter-Herald. “A plan announced Thursday would boost fees at 17 popular parks by $5, up from the current $30 but far below the figure Interior proposed last fall. The plan by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke drew widespread opposition from lawmakers and governors of both parties, who said the higher fees could exclude many Americans from enjoying national parks. The agency received more than 109,000 comments on the plan, most of them opposed.”
“Attorneys made their opening statements Thursday morning to a jury of 16 people — nine men and seven women — who will hear testimony over the next three weeks to determine if Adam Densmore is guilty of killing and dismembering his ex-girlfriend, Boulder’s Ashley Mead. Densmore, 33, is charged with first-degree murder, tampering with a corpse, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence,” reported The Boulder Daily Camera.
“The last deep fryer in Poudre School District was wheeled away from Rocky Mountain High School in 2009,” reports The Coloradoan in Fort Collins. “School lunches in Northern Colorado haven’t been the same since. Commercial steamers and ovens now prepare healthier and more sophisticated meals as flavor, nutrition, potential allergens and customized meals are increasingly the focus of school cafeterias. PSD serves 2.2 million meals each year. About 45 percent to 50 percent of the district’s more than 30,000 enrolled students eat a school lunch daily.”
“The vision of a world class mountain bike park potentially covering the gigantic scar on Colorado Springs’ northwest side now has some unlikely financial backing,” reports The Gazette. “A million dollars of backing, to be exact. William Hybl, CEO of the El Pomar Foundation, announced Thursday that the philanthropic foundation has committed $100,000 a year for a decade to underwrite the city’s operational expenses on a yet-to-be-built bike park. Transit Mix Concrete, which has said it would sell the land to the city at a discounted rate if it receives permission to mine the Hitch Rack Ranch property south of Colorado Springs, released preliminary plans last week for the park at the company’s Pikeview Quarry.”
“Fort Lewis College will cut almost $4.16 million from its 2018-19 academic year after enduring an 11 percent decline in enrollment over the past nine years,” reports The Durango Herald. “The cuts include laying off 11 staff members, including three lecturers. In her letter announcing acceptance of cuts proposed by the Budget Committee, President Dene Thomas said, ‘I know this has been a long process for our community, but the plan needed to be put together thoughtfully and carefully. Our goals were to protect the educational experience of our students as much as possible and minimize the impacts on the over 600 people employed at Fort Lewis College.'”
“Vinny Zecchino was hit by a car and knocked unconscious while walking to school at age 7,” reports The Denver Post. “When he was about 12, his uncle whacked him in the head with a baseball bat. So Zecchino wasn’t surprised when a neuropsychological screen at a Denver drug court, where he landed because of his heroin addiction, determined he has traumatic brain injury. Through a project that began five years ago, researchers have screened 4,100 people in jail, on probation or assigned to drug courts in Denver and five other counties to find out how many have traumatic brain injury — an impairment that could impact the likelihood of their return to the criminal justice system. The results were stark: 54 percent had a history of serious brain injury, compared with 8 percent of the general population.”
