Marble/Redstone–The skies over the valley may be smokey and hazy today due to a wildfire. It’s coming from the 11 thousand acre wildfire burning at the Colorado/New Mexico state line. There are no fires in the local area.
Basalt–Rapidly rising rivers and streams are posing a threat to several mobile homes in the Roaring Fork Valley. Pitkin County has set up a special webpage offering folks a complete, flood preparedness checklist. The webpage is aspenpitkin.com, go to the community tab then click on the “be flood safe” category for more information.
Denver–Governor John Hickenlooper vetoed a bill that would have required low income parents to contribute more to a health insurance plan for their children. The Governor says his administration will explore other ways to trim costs from the Colorado Children’s Health Plan Plus.
Denver–The month-long criminal trial of Xcel Energy and Public Service Company of Colorado begins in earnest today in Denver Federal Court. The companies are each facing five counts of violating OSHA regulations for the October 2007 fire inside a water tunnel at the Georgetown hydroelectric plant.
In other state news…
DENVER (AP) – Colorado’s unsettled congressional lines will
remain fuzzy until at least October, when Democrats and Republicans
head to court to settle new lines the Legislature couldn’t agree
on. A judge set an Oct. 17 trial to settle the state’s
seven congressional districts, which must be adjusted to account
for population change over the last decade.
The redistricting process is bitterly partisan as both parties
try to enhance their chances at the polls, and this year is no
exception. Both parties have sued and will try to persuade Denver
District Judge Robert Hyatt to accept their favored map.
Lawyers from both parties agreed that this decade’s
redistricting lawsuit shouldn’t be as complicated as 10 years ago,
when Colorado got a new member of Congress because of population
growth.
HOT SULPHUR SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) – Two brothers arrested on
felony theft charges are accused of stealing copper wire from the
Union Pacific Railroad in northwest Colorado.
The Grand County sheriff’s office says 45-year-old Gerald Furrer
and 48-year-old Donald Furrer, both of Lakewood, were arrested
after deputies responded to a report of a theft in progress near
Parshall around midnight May 25. The brothers also face charges of endangering public transportation, possession of burglary tools and criminal mischief. They say the two men were found the night of the arrests with the help of a thermal imaging camera from the Kremmling Fire Department. Granby and Kremmling police helped search the area.
Authorities say the arrests capped a monthlong investigation
into several thefts from the railroad.
