Man found beaten on street dies soon after at hospital
A man who was severely beaten in the Five Points neighborhood later died at Denver Health Medical Center, said Detective Virginia Lopez, spokeswoman for the Denver Police Department.
Police were called to 27th and Welton streets about 11:40 a.m. Sunday on an aggravated assault, Lopez said.
Witnesses said they saw a group of about eight people get into a white vehicle at that location and leave the area in a hurry. They left behind the badly beaten man.
The victim, whose name wasn’t released Sunday, died at the hospital at 12:10 p.m., turning the case into a homicide.
DENVER
Church to help family that fled after Katrina
A fund to help the 27 members of Mell J.-Branch Roy’s family, who fled the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, is being established through the True Light Baptist Church in Denver.
The “30 Fund” will seek to aid the three generations of the Roy family, who arrived from New Orleans with almost nothing.
The church, at 1433 E. Bolling Drive, is scheduled to hold a meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday to discuss providing aid and housing to families relocated from New Orleans, according to Joe Rogers, one of the organizers and the state’s former lieutenant governor.
The church’s telephone number is 303-375-0754.
CORTEZ
Rain helps crews fight 170-acre wildfire
A 170-acre wildfire northeast of Cortez was expected to be controlled by 6 p.m. today, fire officials said.
Rain helped crews fully contain the fire by 6 p.m. Saturday. The fire destroyed two outbuildings and forced some residents out of the area after it started Friday.
Twenty-four homes and a power line had been threatened.
The fire was believed to have been caused accidentally by people, fire officials said. No details were available. Calls to the Dolores Public Lands Office were not returned Sunday evening.
UTAH
Hawk that fell makes its first flight in wild
A young red-tailed hawk found after falling from its nest during a windstorm has made its first test flight in the wild.
The hawk, nicknamed “UDOT” after being found behind a Utah Department of Transportation office in June, spent the past three months learning to fly and hunt at Utah Wilderness Rehabilitation.
The bird took a test flight Saturday over the Lee Kay Ponds wildlife reserve.
“Oh, that just gives me goosebumps every time they fly,” Wilderness Rehabilitation volunteer Mark Bain said.
A windstorm blew the fledgling hawk from its nest atop a power line tower in June. It was the only survivor.
Bain spent the summer teaching the young hawk to fly, tying the bird to the end of a string and allowing it to use its wing muscles to stay afloat.
The hawk’s pre-wilderness training also included instruction on how to hunt. The hawk was 6 weeks old when it was found and had been around its mother long enough to pick up some natural hunting instinct.
“We just put the live prey in, and he picked it up right away,” said Roxanne Comstock of Wilderness Rehabilitation.
CHEYENNE
High energy prices boost Wyo. surplus
The state’s budget surplus could soon return to $1 billion, buoyed by high prices for coal, oil and natural gas.
Prices have remained higher than state budget officials predicted in January, and were only expected to go higher after Hurricane Katrina’s devastation.
Natural gas at western Wyoming’s Opal Hub fetched $9.66 per thousand cubic feet last week and has averaged $6.20 this year. The forecast was $4.75.
Wyoming oil has averaged $47-$50 a barrel. The prediction was $33.
And the mean coal price of $7.80 per ton this year is up from January’s estimate of $6.95.
Last year’s budget surplus was a record $1.2 billion. This year, it was $949 million.
Meanwhile, the state has looked at big-dollar spending including a new prison, state employee raises, a wildlife trust fund, and a collage scholarship endowment. In addition, $690 million above automatic deposits was put into the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund, of which only the earnings can be spent.
“We will probably do something similar to what we’ve done the other two years we’ve had a pretty good surplus,” said House Speaker Randall Luthi, R-Freedom.
He said creating or expanding ongoing programs should be the lowest priority.
