Feds OK initial $35 million for RTD’s west light-rail line
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said Tuesday the government has approved $35 million in next year’s Federal Transit Administration budget for RTD’s west light-rail line. It is the first funding of an expected $285 million federal commitment to the train that will run from downtown Denver to the Jefferson County Government Center in Golden.
Mineta singled out the Regional Transportation District as among a handful of transit agencies around the country with a strong reputation for delivering transit projects on time and within budget.
When engineering, construction and interest expenses are all factored in, the 12.1-mile west rail line is expected to cost a total of $593 million. Construction is due to begin in 2008 and be completed by 2013. It is the first of six rail lines that will be built as part of RTD’s $4.7 billion FasTracks transit expansion, which Denver-area voters approved in November 2004.
GREELEY
Family of six left homeless after fire
A Greeley home was destroyed Tuesday morning by a fire that officials suspect was started when the occupants tried to use gasoline in a portable space heater. The blaze displaced a family of two adults and four children, but no injuries were reported.
Firefighters responded to the fire at 924 E. 24th St. about 10:30 a.m. When they arrived, they found heavy smoke and flames coming out of the home’s living room picture window, said Union Colony Fire Rescue spokes man Dale Lyman.
The majority of the fire was extinguished within seven minutes. The home was posted as unfit for occupancy, and the American Red Cross was called to assist the family.
Total damage to the structure and the home’s contents was estimated at $110,000.
BOULDER
Philharmonic names new music director
Michael Butterman, associate conductor of the Jacksonville (Fla.) Symphony, has been named music director of the Boulder Philharmonic, the orchestra announced Tuesday. He will assume the post during the 2006-07 season.
“Michael wowed us throughout the time he spent in Boulder last October,” said Sue Levine, the philharmonic’s executive director.
It is typical in the orchestra world for conductors to hold multiple positions, but Butterman will no doubt have to give up one or more to accommodate this new appointment. In addition to Jacksonville, he holds another post and was also recently named music director of the Shreveport (La.) Symphony.
In Boulder, Butterman was chosen from among about 160 applicants, who were narrowed down to five finalists. They have been auditioning with the orchestra since last fall.
AIR FORCE ACADEMY
Initiation rite returns, but in a milder form
A new and milder version of an initiation rite for new cadets will return to the Air Force Academy this fall, three years after it was suspended amid a sexual assault scandal.
The rite, called Recognition, will not include the verbal abuse, long marches, mandatory push-ups and other hazing of previous years, academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker said Monday.
Recognition will now include two days of strenuous physical training before students get to wear the prop-and-wings insignia of the cadet wing.
Recognition was suspended in 2003 because commanders feared the hazing encouraged disrespect and abuse of power by upperclassmen.
The academy near Colorado Springs was working to change its culture after dozens of female cadets said they were punished or forced out for reporting sexual assaults.
“We are not stepping back to a time when we are going to have anything even approaching hazing,” Whitaker said.
GALLUP, N.M.
State confirms year’s 1st case of hantavirus
New Mexico’s first case of hanta virus for 2006 has been confirmed in a McKinley County woman.
The woman, whose name was not released, was hospitalized Tuesday in critical condition at University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque. She has been diagnosed with hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, the state Department of Health said.
There is no specific treatment, but health officials said the chances for recovery are better if medical attention is sought early.
Early symptoms of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome include fever and muscle aches, possibly with chills, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and cough. The symptoms develop within one to six weeks after exposure.
The disease is transmitted through particles of dried urine, droppings or saliva of infected rodents, particularly deer mice.
New Mexico had one case reported last year, in a Los Alamos County man. In 2004, New Mexico had four cases, one each in McKinley, Bernalillo, Sandoval and Santa Fe counties.
Hantavirus was first recognized in 1993 in the Four Corners area where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet. Since then, New Mexico has reported 66 cases, 27 of them fatal.
About 36 percent of all reported cases have been fatal.
