Students walk out in Niwot over immigration reform
About 60 students walked out of Niwot High School during second-period classes Wednesday in protest of pending federal immigration legislation, according to St. Vrain Valley School District and law enforcement officials.
The students walked for about a mile in a peaceful demonstration between 9 and 10 a.m., a sheriff’s official said.
The walkout was one of many, both organized and spontaneous, occurring across the country as the U.S. Senate debates legislation addressing undocumented immigrants.
Niwot principal Dennis Daly said the absences are considered unexcused until he hears from a parent. “If the parent excuses the absence, then the student is excused,” he said.
Unexcused absences could result in lost credit for work missed, according to the district.
WATKINS
Long-range plan for growth approved
The Watkins Town Council voted Wednesday night to approve a long-range comprehensive plan that puts into place policy to guide growth in the town, 22 miles east of Denver.
The plan anticipates the town adding 700 homes a year and growing at a steady pace.
The council voted 3-2 to approve the plan for the town, which incorporated two years ago.
Watkins has been embroiled in controversy because some residents don’t want to see the town grow to the extent that the comprehensive plan anticipates. Others, however, say that the town needs to prepare for growth as the metro region continues to expand east.
DENVER
One of 2 men hurt in tire-shop shooting dies
One of the two men hospitalized with gunshot wounds suffered during a robbery attempt Tuesday at a west Denver tire shop died after arriving at Denver Health Medical Center, police spokeswoman Detective Virginia Quiñones said.
She wouldn’t say if the man who died is a suspect in the robbery or an employee of the store, Fino’s Custom Wheel and Tire, 405 Federal Blvd.
The names of the man killed and the man who is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries at the hospital haven’t been released.
A third man believed to be hit by gunfire during the robbery fled and hasn’t been heard from, Quiñones said.
Several men walked into the store and asked for new wheels before they began shooting, a store employee said.
COLORADO
Comment period extended on land sale
The U.S. Forest Service is extending the public-comment period until May 1 on a plan to sell more than 300,000 acres of public land.
The plan aims to raise $800 million for a rural-schools program with the sale of public lands classified as isolated and difficult to manage.
In Colorado, more than 21,000 acres in 11 national forests and grasslands are listed as potential auction candidates.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, said that the agency had received more than 4,000 comments on the plan.
The majority of those comments came via form letters that did not support the sales, Rey said.
COLORADO
Businesswoman set to join UNC trustees
Carlotta LaNier, owner of a real estate company and an alumna of the University of Northern Colorado, has been appointed to the university’s 11-member board of trustees by Gov. Bill Owens.
LaNier, of Englewood, also serves on the boards of trustees at the Iliff School of Theology and Johnson Legacy Inc. and is president of the board for the Little Rock Nine Foundation. She was inducted in 2004 to the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.
LaNier’s term expires June 30, 2007.
ALBUQUERQUE
Boy sues archdiocese, cites priest abuse
A teenage boy is seeking unspecified damages from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, alleging he was sexually abused by a priest last year.
The teen’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday, also names as defendants Archbishop Michael Sheehan and George S. Silva, a former Raton, N.M., priest indicted by a federal grand jury last month on four counts involving transporting a minor from New Mexico to France and Portugal for criminal and illicit sexual activity.
The boy, identified only as John Doe, suffered physical injury, emotional distress, loss of self-esteem, disgrace, lost wages and expenses for medical care and counseling, the lawsuit said.
The archdiocese, in a statement, said that it disagreed with the allegations against it and that archdiocesan sexual-abuse policies had been followed.
The archdiocese barred Silva, 73, from public ministry in June after learning of the allegations that led to the indictment.
The archdiocese later placed Silva on restricted status after an internal investigation found “credible evidence” to support the allegations.
Restricted status forbids him to participate in public ministry, wear clerical attire or present himself as a priest.
FORT MORGAN
Workman dies in trench collapse
A worker was killed when a 15-foot-deep trench collapsed during construction of a sewer line, authorities said.
Alfonso Madera-Lamas, 48, of Fort Morgan died Tuesday of injuries suffered in the collapse, the Morgan County coroner’s office said.
Undersheriff John Fryar said the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was investigating.
CASPER
Ex-judge pleads guilty in drug conspiracy
A former Wind River Indian Reservation judge pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and prescription drugs, and of threatening a federal officer.
Lynda Noah, formerly Lynda Munnell, will face a minimum of five years in federal prison when she’s sentenced June 10.
Noah was a sitting judge when she and 24 others were arrested last year in connection with a drug ring that authorities said brought methamphetamine and other drugs from Mexico, through Utah, then to Wind River and to reservations in South Dakota and Nebraska.
CARLSBAD, N.M.
Nuclear-waste dump recertified by EPA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recertified the federal government’s nuclear-waste dump near Carlsbad, N.M., the first recertification since the facility opened in March 1999.
The decision to recertify the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant indicates the plant meets EPA requirements for facilities that dispose of radioactive waste.
