The University of Colorado received 4.5 percent more private donations this year compared with last, while Colorado State University boosted its donations by 28 percent, officials said Monday.
The CU Foundation had a surge of gift-giving from April through June after running almost $3.5 million behind last fiscal year. The foundation closed the fiscal year June 30 with pledges and gifts totaling $83.7 million, up $3.7 million from the previous year.
“I am pleased and grateful to see such tremendous support from donors, particularly during a time when the university faced a challenging period,” CU interim president Hank Brown said.
CSU raised $58.6 million in the last fiscal year, up from $45.8 million the previous year and the second-highest total in the school’s history.
The highest was $61.9 million in 2002-03, when CSU received a $20.1 million gift from the Bohemian Foundation.
DENVER
Lodging-tax increase heads for Nov. ballot
The Denver City Council approved putting a 1 percentage point increase of the lodging tax on the ballot this November. The revenue raised from the increase would go toward tourism and convention marketing.
If approved, Denver’s hotel tax would rise from 13.85 percent to 14.85 percent. It is expected that the boosted lodging tax would bring in an additional $4.2 million to the convention bureau’s budget, which would be used to market Denver to tourists and conventioneers.
Also Monday night, the council postponed until next week action on a proposal to increase fees for city recreation centers. It also scheduled a courtesy public hearing Monday on the marijuana initiative that is expected to go before voters in November. The initiative, if passed, would change city ordinances to legalize small amounts of the drug for adults over the age of 21.
DENVER
Man gets prison time for bilking hunters
A 31-year-old man who claimed he could provide “ultimate” hunting opportunities on private Colorado property was sentenced to prison Monday for stealing thousands of dollars from 17 people who paid him fees upfront but never got to hunt.
Denver District Judge William Robbins ordered Jake Cornay to pay $11,975 in restitution and serve a year in the Colorado Department of Corrections. The sentence was on top of the 72 days Cornay already has served in the Denver County Jail.
Prosecutor Joe Morales said the hunters answered Cornay’s newspaper ad promoting the “Ultimate Outdoors” hunting club, which guaranteed they would be able to hunt on private property across the state that Cornay leased from landowners.
But Morales said when the hunters went to the properties, the ranchers said they had never been contacted by Cornay and the hunters couldn’t hunt there.
DENVER
Feds sue Fla. firm over 2003 wildfire
Federal authorities filed a lawsuit Monday seeking compensation from a Florida company they say violated an open-fire prohibition and started the 2003 Brush Mountain wildfire near Grand Junction.
The fire, which eventually burned nearly 5,300 acres of private and public land, was one of many that raged across the state that summer.
The Colorado U.S. attorney’s office filed the lawsuit against Colorado Nature Ranch, a hunting ranch in Garfield County.
According to the lawsuit, ranch employees were clearing and burning piles of brush despite a fire ban when the fires got out of control. The government is seeking damages from ranch owners, who could not be reached for comment Monday.
BOULDER
CU scientists revive Antarctica microbes
Colorado scientists brought back to life a carpet of freeze- dried microbes in Antarctica that had been dormant for 20 years, they planned to report today at the Ecological Society of America’s annual meeting in Montreal.
University of Colorado ecologist Diane McKnight diverted a stream to send water to the dried-out organisms and discovered that tiny cyanobacteria showed signs of life a day later.
Cyanobacteria – which, like plants, can generate energy from the sun – are thought to be among the first types of life on Earth. Some scientists consider Antarctica’s dry valleys, where McKnight works, analogous to environments on Mars millennia ago, because of the inhospitable climate and intermittent water flow.
COMMERCE CITY
Denver man dies after hitting I-270 guardrail
A 34-year-old Denver man was killed early Monday when his vehicle rolled several times after colliding with a guardrail as he headed east on Interstate 270.
According to Commerce City police and witnesses, the man was driving a rented, late- model, silver Toyota Avalon at a high rate of speed about 2:20 a.m. Monday when he lost control and hit the rail, causing the vehicle to roll. The driver, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the vehicle, according to Commerce City police officer Joe Sandoval.
Police were investigating whether alcohol or drugs were involved.
DENVER
Woman sues over “Dr. Miracles” hair oil
A Denver resident is suing a New York company, claiming that Gro Oil, sold by “Dr. Miracles,” worked no miracles for her.
Instead, Jacqueline Cortez alleged in a Denver District Court lawsuit, the oil caused her hair to break and fall out.
She is suing the company for selling a defective product and negligence and is seeking triple damages.
The lawsuit says the defendant claimed the liquid “promotes strong shiny, healthy, growing hair” and that it “strengthens hair and the scalp.” At the time Gro Oil left Dr. Miracles’ control, “it was defective and unreasonably dangerous,” the lawsuit alleges.
