The Cañon City Daily Record reports Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs is pleased that Guantanamo Bay is still open, and had this to say about President Donald Trump’s travel ban: “It’s not a Muslim ban like some people are spreading in the way of disinformation … These are countries that unfortunately do have a proven record of terrorist problems, and so I agree that we need to have a better vetting process in place when it comes to these seven countries.” And Lamborn is happy to see Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates who declined to defend Trump’s travel ban. “That’s basically insubordination, and I am glad she is gone,” Lamborn said, according to the paper.
Like nearly every other paper today, The Denver Post fronts a piece about Trump nominating Colorado judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. “Though Gorsuch is well-regarded within Colorado’s legal community and nationally, he probably faces a tough confirmation battle in the U.S. Senate. Liberals immediately decried Gorsuch as an extreme choice while conservatives called him mainstream. Democrats remain angry that congressional Republicans stalled for months — and ultimately stopped — the nomination of Merrick Garland, the pick that President Barack Obama put forward to replace Scalia, who died nearly a year ago.”
The Boulder Daily Camera reports “Boulder’s Jewish Community Center was one of several Jewish facilities across the nation targeted by bomb threats on Tuesday morning. Boulder police gave the all-clear shortly before 12:30 p.m. after a bomb dog swept the building at 6007 Oreg Drive and found no explosive devices. The center received the bomb threat by way of an automated phone call around 9:30 a.m. The 53,000-square-foot facility was quickly evacuated and emergency responders called for a bomb dog from the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.”
“Weld County soon will be the central hub of an epic pairing of peanut butter and jelly in a move that will spread the beloved lunch favorite in all directions across the country,” The Greeley Tribune reported. “The J.M. Smucker Co. announced Tuesday it will begin making its Uncrustables frozen PB&J sandwiches here in Weld County. The company chose a site in southwest Weld to build a $340 million plant to expand its product line, which already lands in 2 million lunch boxes daily.”
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports on the fate of local speedy internet. “A high-speed, affordable broadband network for Grand Junction residents and businesses may receive a nudge forward depending on a vote tonight of the Grand Junction City Council,” the paper reports. “Councilors are poised to approve a next round in a three-milestone partnership process with SiFi/Nokia to construct a fiber optic network in Grand Junction. If councilors give the go-ahead tonight, the city gives the company the nod to flesh out more detailed construction plans, conduct physical surveys, solidify financial costs and secure letters of intent from internet service providers interested in offering services to customers over the network.”
“One week after the Longmont City Council approved a seismic survey for eastern lands around Union Reservoir in Weld County, city staff told the council and the public that there may be a wrench in the works,” reports The Longmont Times-Call. “While the city has been working with Cub Creek Energy LLC and TOP Operating on mineral rights on city and Union Reservoir Company-owned land in Weld County, a separate oil and gas company has filed to alert the state to its interest to drill in the same area. Denver-based Extraction Oil & Gas Inc. filed a drilling spacing unit application with the state agency Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on Jan. 19, Longmont general manager of public works and natural resources Dale Rademacher told council Tuesday.”
The Steamboat Pilot & Today reports 2016 was the deadliest year on Routt County highways since 2009. Five people died. “And a majority of these crashes were blamed in part on drivers who were impaired by drugs or alcohol,” the paper reports. “Most of the victims also were not wearing a seat belt. The uptick in fatalities mirrored a statewide trend of rising traffic fatalities that state transportation officials have labeled as ‘troubling.'”
“Organizers for Tuesday’s protest of President Donald Trump’s travel ban expected maybe 800 people to join the march on Shields Street in Fort Collins,” reports The Coloraodan in Fort Collins. “As a precaution, they printed enough petition forms to accommodate 1,000 signatures. But 30 minutes before the start of the march, hundreds had gathered in west Fort Collins. The parking lot at nearby Rolland Moore Park filled with cars as Fort Collins Police Services community service officers arrived to help direct traffic. All told, an estimated 2,500 people gathered Tuesday, waving signs and chanting as they patrolled a half-mile stretch in front of Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner’s office and beyond.”
The Pueblo Chieftain reports how Colorado’s Democratic U.S. senator is opposing some of President Donald Trump’s cabinet picks, “including Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general; Betsy DeVoss as education secretary; businessman Steve Mnuchin to head the treasury department and Rep. Tom Price to head the Department of Health and Human Services.”
“Sales tax is the lifeblood of municipal revenue. In the boom years before the 2008 national economic slump hit full force, record revenues were the rule,” reports Vail Daily. “It took some time for the valley’s towns, and Eagle County, to recover from the decline of 2009. The first town to come back was Vail, in 2012. That recovery came after a 14 percent revenue decline between the last of the good years and first of the lean years. Eagle County dropped even farther, falling more than 25 percent between 2008 and 2010.”
The Gazette in Colorado Springs reports how “bureaucratic bungling at the Department of Veterans Affairs undermined a program designed to cut health care wait times for veterans, the agency’s inspector general reported Tuesday. The Choice program, an insurance option implemented in 2014 to send veterans to civilian doctors, was bogged down by paperwork, scheduling problems and a small network of doctors. While Congress approved $10 billion to send veterans to private doctors outside the VA system, the agency has only spent $306 million on actual care for veterans, with another $206 million paid for administrative costs to implement the troubled program, the report found. The low use of the program was because VA bosses had built a program that was “cumbersome and time-consuming” for veterans in need, the inspector general said.”
Inmates in El Paso County say a new jail contractor serves inadequate food, according to this week’s cover story in The Colorado Springs Independent.