DENVER (AP) – Two Colorado companies have won contracts to thin national forests in Wyoming and Colorado, with some of the wood likely going toward heating homes.
The U.S. Forest Service said Monday that the 10-year stewardship contracts will reduce help threats of catastrophic wildfires on at least 20,000 acres.
Kremmling-based Confluence Energy won a $4.75 million contract to remove beetle-killed trees in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests. Confluence will pay for material that could be used for commercial purposes.
West Range Reclamation, of Hotchkiss, has an $8.66 million contract to remove trees susceptible to infestation in the White River National Forest. It is developing uses for the trees with Eagle Valley Clean Energy, which plans a biomass power plant in Gypsum with financing from a $40 million loan guarantee from the USDA.
DURANGO (AP) – Teams are searching around Vallecito (vy-uh-SEE’-toh) Reservoir for a 13-year-old boy, who has been missing for a week. Dylan Redwine lives in Colorado Springs, but was visiting his father in Vallecito. A La Plata County Sheriff’s spokesman says scuba divers are searching the lake and teams are combing its 12-mile shoreline.
DENVER (AP) – The newly-elected prosecutor who will handle the Colorado theater shooting case says it will be a priority but he won’t rush the case. Republican George Brauchler was elected last month to replace the term-limited Carol Chambers. He told Denver’s KMGH-TV that a “slow process is a better process” in a case where the government may pursue the death penalty.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – A Whitewater, Colorado, woman is in critical condition but expected to survive after being shot in the face by a Morgan County sheriff’s deputy following a high-speed pursuit in northern Utah. Police say 41-year-old Kristine Biggs led police on a 30 mile chase after officers tried to pull her over for a broken headlight. She had an arrest warrant in Colorado for a wildlife-related felony.
DENVER (AP) – A man accused of stealing one of comedian Tim Allen’s cars is in a Denver jail awaiting extradition to Los Angeles. Thirty-four-year-old Faustino Ibarra was arrested Saturday in the theft of the “Home Improvement” star’s customized 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS. In a jailhouse interview with KDVR-TV, Ibarra claimed that Allen left the door to his garage open along with the keys so he could drive it to Denver.
