Audit: Benefits workers’ computer training deficient
The county workers who handle applications for benefits such as Medicaid, the Child Health Plan Plus program and food stamps were not adequately trained on a new state computer system before it was launched, according to an independent audit.
The study of the Colorado Benefits Management System’s computers was presented to the Legislative Audit Committee on Monday, along with recommendations to fix ongoing problems.
The audit by the firm BKD looked at the system’s performance between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2005.
State officials in charge of operating the system didn’t dispute any of the recommendations. They assured lawmakers that work had already started on the audit’s goals.
“We’ve been working with counties very aggressively to get training done,” said John Witwer. Gov. Bill Owens named Witwer to the newly created post of CBMS director in 2005.
Witwer said calls to an emergency unit that helps process cases in which clients are in dire need of benefits dropped from 700 for two weeks in late 2004 and early 2005 to about 50 a week in April of this year.
VAIL
Climber presumed dead to be honored
A public celebration of Sue Nott, the Vail mountain climber now presumed to have died while climbing in Alaska, will be held Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, her family announced Monday.
A reception will follow.
Nott, 36, and Karen McNeill, 37, of Canmore, Alberta, were last seen May 14 climbing Mount Foraker in Alaska’s Denali National Park. Both are now presumed dead by family and park officials.
DENVER
Airlines’ growth plan at DIA gets initial OK
The Denver City Council on Monday granted initial approval to a deal that gives Frontier Airlines and United Airlines room to grow at Denver International Airport.
The deal, approved on a 10-2 vote, with Councilwomen Kathleen MacKenzie and Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz dissenting, will allow Frontier to expand its fleet and add flights on Concourse A.
For United, the deal will mean lower costs and a long-awaited $41.5 million regional-jet facility. The facility will be built by DIA on the east end of Concourse B and will open in 2007.
Under the agreement, DIA also will pay off the remaining $110 million debt to bondholders for a failed automated baggage system.
Airport officials say the agreement relieves the airport of having to spend $116 million for additional gates for Frontier. They also say the airport will be released from an obligation to mitigate more than $55 million in costs for the regional-jet facility and a previously proposed Councourse A west expansion.
LITTLETON
Early results say girl died of fire injuries
Preliminary autopsy results show 13-year-old Jessica Meyer died from fire-related injuries during a garage blaze at her Littleton home.
A definitive cause of death awaits toxicology tests, the Arapahoe County coroner said.
Those tests could take about two weeks to complete.
Jessica was home alone when the fire broke out in the garage in the 8000 block of South Logan Drive at noon Wednesday, police said.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office set up a fund to help the Meyer family. The girl’s mother, Elaine, is an employee of the department.
Donations can be made at any U.S. Bank to the Jessica Meyer Fund.
BROOMFIELD
Police seize pot plants from home, arrest 1
The North Metro Task Force dismantled a marijuana farm at a Broomfield home Thursday and seized plants with a street value of $152,000 to $228,000.
About 80 hydroponically grown plants were found in the basement of the home, in the 13300 block of Briarwood Drive, Broomfield police said.
The home was being used for the sole purpose of growing pot, police said.
Officers arrested Mark Ashley Stimpfl, 39, at the home on suspicion of cultivation and distribution of marijuana.
AURORA
Employees evacuated at magnesium plant
Employees were evacuated from a warehouse in Aurora on Monday morning after a fire broke out inside an oven used to produce magnesium.
The incident occurred about 9 a.m. at the Timminco magnesium plant when a 1,000-pound slab was on the conveyor belt to an oven used to produce the metal, said Aurora Fire Capt. Mike Ackman. No one was injured.
The plant manufactures lightweight metals used in products such as suitcases.
ARAPAHOE COUNTY
Deputy accused of assaulting woman
An Arapahoe County sheriff’s deputy was arrested on felony charges Monday after a 26-year-old woman with whom he had a relationship said he assaulted her, authorities said.
Darrell Jack Sanders, 25, was arrested on suspicion of domestic-violence-related sexual assault and third-degree assault.
Sanders was suspended from the Sheriff’s Office without pay.
Sanders appeared Monday morning in Arapahoe County District Court for an advisement hearing and was ordered held on $50,000 bail.
He is expected to return to court Thursday.
BOULDER COUNTY
Fire ban extended to unincorporated areas
After a weekend spent chasing numerous wildfires, Boulder County officials have extended a fire ban to include all of the unincorporated portions of the county.
The ban on open burning took effect June 6.
Despite an earlier fire ban that covered the western half of the county, crews still responded to six wildfires over the weekend. Those fires, sparked by lightning, ranged from 1 acre to 5 acres.
Penalties for violating the ban range from a $500 fine for the first offense to a $1,000 fine for the third offense.
LARKSPUR
Up to 40 firefighters battle 1-acre blaze
Four aircraft and as many as 40 firefighters battled the Perry Park fire burning Monday on 1 acre about 6 miles northwest of the town of Larkspur.
Smoke was visible from Colorado 105 as the fire burned in heavy timber Monday afternoon, according to the Pike and San Isabel national forest-fire information line. No structures were threatened.
The aerial assault on the blaze included a helicopter, two single-engine air tankers and one heavy air tanker.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
