Victim of beating never tied race to the attack, police say
The black victim of a beating in Fort Collins over the weekend said when police re-interviewed him that he didn’t believe race was the motivation for the assault, said police spokeswoman Rita Davis.
The 24-year-old man reported that he was beaten by four white men while he was walking early Saturday morning in Fort Collins. He had reported that one of the assailants yelled a racial epithet.
The attack has stirred fears of a hate crime in Fort Collins.
Davis said Tuesday that the victim has never suggested the attack was about race and that police haven’t determined that it was the motive. The epithet came during the attack and didn’t precede it, she added.
She pointed out that Colorado does not have a hate-crime statute; it does have a law forbidding ethnic intimidation.
Police continue to investigate the incident as an assault and “to see if there was any ethnic intimidation involved,” Davis said.
DENVER
Homeless effort logs leap in fundraising
The Denver Commission to End Homelessness is nearly a third of the way toward its three-year goal to raise $33 million after just six months, officials announced Tuesday.
Mayor John Hickenlooper thanked the United Way, Health ONE Alliance and several area foundations for helping to raise $9.5 million since the program began. Hickenlooper said the effort had received gifts ranging from $6.25 sent in by a formerly homeless person, to HealthONE Alliance’s pledge of $1 million over three years.
The money goes toward Hickenlooper’s 10-year, $122 million plan that calls for developing more than 3,200 transitional-housing units coupled with a strong network of support services.
DENVER
Concerns aired on DPS curriculum plan
Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet tried to assuage a roomful of uneasy parents and students late Tuesday about proposed plans to replace some electives with extra math and literacy classes for students who aren’t at grade level.
Many who crammed into the South High music room said they were worried that the proposed longer blocks of core subjects will crowd out classes high school students really enjoy. Denver high school principals also met with Bennet on Tuesday to figure out how to fit electives in – and how many elective teachers may be cut – for next school year.
“There are some places that may lose a cherished (elective) class,” Bennet said, noting that every student will get to take at least one elective. “But just because things are the way they are today doesn’t make them right.”
COLORADO
4 firms to be allowed to work on oil shale
Four energy companies will be allowed to develop plans to unlock vast reserves of oil trapped in shale formations in western Colorado, U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials said Tuesday.
The BLM whittled the 20 applications filed for oil-shale research development in Colorado and Utah to eight proposals from six companies.
The firms receiving the go-ahead in Colorado are three major oil companies – Chevron Shale Oil Co., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Shell Frontier Oil and Gas – and one Texas-based independent, EGL Resources Inc.
“Each of these proposals shows potential for advancing knowledge of oil shale recovery technology, evidence of economic viability, and adequate means for managing the environmental impact,” said BLM director Kathleen Clarke.
DENVER
Public-access TV pact gets initial council OK
The Denver City Council on Tuesday unanimously granted initial approval to the contract for a new city public-access television operator, which would replace a former operator who ran up a $35,000 deficit.
If the four-year contract receives final approval, Deproduction, a nonprofit, will become the city’s new public access programmer.
DENVER
RTD park-n-Pay plan to get a second look
RTD officials said Tuesday they will revisit the agency’s proposal to charge transit riders for parking at select lots in an effort to answer concerns of state Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder.
Tupa introduced a bill in the current legislative session that would bar RTD from charging for parking.
RTD General Manager Cal Marsella said the agency will reconsider two key provisions of the pay-for-parking proposal, namely the plan to allow riders to reserve parking spaces for a fee, and another that would have people voluntarily register their license plates with the district.
BOULDER
Chautauqua nears historic designation
The Colorado Chautauqua, in Boulder, is on the doorstep of becoming the first historic site in the Denver metro area to earn national historic landmark status.
All that is now required is the signature of Interior Secretary Gale Norton, after the National Park System Advisory Board voted last week to recommend to Norton that she approve the designation for the Colorado Chautauqua. A subcommittee of the board voted in October to name the site a historic landmark.
The Colorado Chautauqua, nestled at the base of the Flatirons, was founded in 1898 during the apex of the chautauqua education and recreation movement in America.
DENVER
DU to create institute on U.S. legal system
The University of Denver announced Tuesday it will create a national institute aimed at improving the U.S. legal system.
The institute will be the only university-based center of its kind in the country and will be a nonpartisan, objective source of ideas for improving the legal and judicial systems, DU chancellor Robert Coombe said.
Former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Kourlis, who resigned this month, will help set up the institute.
FORT CARSON
GI killed in Iraq as Humvee strikes tank
A soldier stationed at Fort Carson was killed in Iraq when his Humvee accidentally struck a tank and rolled, the Department of Defense announced Tuesday.
Army Spec. Dustin L. Kendall, 21, of Conway, Mo., died Sunday in Baqubah, northwest of Baghdad.
He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson.
