COMMERCE CITY
Teen driver dies after ignoring train signal
An 18-year-old man from Westminster was killed in Commerce City early Sunday when he drove around a railroad crossing barrier and was hit by an oncoming train and pushed several blocks, according to Commerce City police.
Joshua Michael Gonzales was pronounced dead at the scene at about 4:45 a.m. after his Chevrolet Blazer was smashed by the train east of U.S. 85.
It is unclear whether alcohol or drugs contributed to the crash, said Cesar Berumen, spokesman for the Commerce City Police Department.
GUNNISON COUNTY
Search continues
for missing hiker, 66
Search teams from across the state are in Gunnison County looking for a 66-year-old man who has been missing since Tuesday.
The Glenwood Springs man did not return from a hike earlier in the week, according to the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office.
Pitkin County Air Rescue, National Guard helicopters and several search-dog teams have assisted in the search. The Sheriff’s Office said temperatures in the area have been mild.
The search will continue at least through today.
WYOMING
School-age kids not part of state’s growth
Wyoming’s population is growing and people are finding jobs in the state, but the number of school-age children has been falling.
From 2000 to 2004, the state’s population grew 2.5 percent, from 493,782 to 506,529, a gain of 12,747 people. The state recently reported an additional 6,300 jobs in Wyoming since August 2004.
But the number of people 19 and younger fell from 145,346 in 2000 to 133,529 in 2004.
Economists blame the disconnect on the types of jobs in the state and on the state’s demographics in general.
Although Wyoming has proportionately more baby boomers – now ages 45 to 60 – the state has fewer residents in the younger childbearing and -rearing years, said Wenlin Liu, economist for the State Division of Economic Analysis.
Most of the 6,300 new jobs are in the oil and gas production industries, which are attracting young, single male workers or married workers with children who are not moving their families to the state.
CEDAR CITY, Utah
HHS chief donates papers to alma mater
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt is donating personal papers and memoirs from his days as Utah’s governor to his alma mater, Southern Utah University.
The collection is expected to include private notes, correspondence and memoirs and records from Leavitt, who stepped down as governor to take over as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The items will be displayed in a specially designed room at the school’s Sherratt Library.
Leavitt was unable to attend the announcement, which was made during homecoming festivities at a luncheon Saturday by school president Steven Bennion.
Leavitt did issue a prepared statement through the school, which was still Southern Utah State College when he graduated in 1978.
“SUU and Cedar City were the places that made the most sense, in both my mind and my heart, for this collection to reside,” said Leavitt, who is from Cedar City.
