FREX to make all buses accessible by wheelchair
Colorado Springs – All buses in a southern Front Range commuter service will be made wheelchair-accessible to settle a lawsuit filed by an advocacy group.
Colorado Springs city officials also agreed to pay $100,000 in legal fees to the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition.
Front Range Express, or FREX, serves Fountain, Colorado Springs, Monument, Castle Rock and Arapahoe County and has 17 stops in downtown Denver.
The coalition’s lawsuit accused FREX of discrimination because not all the buses could accommodate wheelchairs.
The city maintained that FREX complied with federal laws because the Federal Transit Authority had designated it a “demand-response” service with no fixed route. Such services do not have to provide wheelchair access.
The Cross-Disability Coalition argued the service is a “fixed-route system” required to offer wheelchair access on all buses.
COMMERCE CITY
Man shot to death; suspect in custody
A man was shot to death in Commerce City on Sunday, the result of an apparent argument, police Lt. Ross Sibley said in a prepared statement. A suspect was taken into custody at the scene of the shooting, he said.
Elma Garcia, 45, was being held on investigation of second- degree murder and domestic violence.
Police were called to the 6500 block of East 61st Place about 4 p.m. regarding a loud argument and a shot fired in the basement of a house there, Sibley reported.
Arriving officers found the victim with a gunshot wound. He was taken to Denver Health Medical Center, where he died from his injuries, Sibley said.
The victim’s name wasn’t released Sunday.
ADAMS COUNTY
Body of Denver man found in Spring Creek
The body of a 34-year-old Denver man was found in the water of Spring Creek, near I-76 and Sheridan Boulevard, Sunday morning.
A passerby discovered the body and a nearby bicycle, and called police. Adams County authorities said Sunday the cause of death was unknown. An autopsy will be performed later this week to determine the man’s exact cause of death.
Police positively identified the man by his fingerprints but did not release the information because his family had not been notified.
DENVER
Library sets record at its used-book sale
The Denver Public Library raised a record amount at its 30th Annual Used Book Sale, which ended Sunday.
Officials said an early count shows 8,000 attendees purchased more than 100,000 books for a record total of $69,500. The money goes toward the library’s books and materials budget.
After the sale, 33 local nonprofits were allowed to browse the books that didn’t sell and take them for their agencies for free.
Volunteer coordinator Veletta Hopes said nearly 400 people helped in some way during the three-day sale.
DENVER
July logged as busiest month ever at DIA
July was the busiest month ever at Denver International Airport, officials announced last week.
A total of 4,275,728 people used the airport last month, surpassing the 4,232,446 passengers recorded in July 2004.
So far this year, passenger numbers are up 2.2 percent over the same period in 2004, which was a record year with 42.3 million travelers at DIA.
FORT COLLINS
Disease hits male deer more, study shows
A study by state biologists shows that chronic wasting disease in northern Colorado strikes male deer at least twice as often as females in the same age groups.
The reason may be that males roam between herds looking for mates, said state Division of Wildlife veterinarian Mike Miller, who co-authored the study.
The study, published this month in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases, found bucks between 3 and 7 years old were 2.4 times more likely to be infected than does of the same age. Bucks 5 to 7 years old were 3.8 times more likely to be infected than does of the same age.
Chronic wasting disease, a brain ailment that strikes deer and elk, is in the same family as mad cow disease. Officials say there is no evidence it can affect humans, but they advise against eating meat from infected animals.
Miller runs the wildlife division’s Fort Collins Foothills Research Facility and has studied the disease since the early 1980s.
