CU-Boulder library project will add 24-hour study lab
The University of Colorado’s Boulder campus library will get a $5.1 million renovation that includes an all-night study lab and coffee house, regents decided Thursday.
Students tired of cramming for tests at a crowded 24-hour Starbucks, Denny’s or International House of Pancakes pushed for the renovation of the Norlin Library.
Student fees, cash reserves and donations will fund the project, which will be scaled back if CU does not collect enough money, vice chancellor Paul Tabolt said.
The “student commons” is expected to open in late 2008.
Jeremy Jimenez, one of CU’s outgoing student tri-executives, said he spent many nights studying in the all-night computer lab in the engineering building. Students are eager for a comfortable, 24/7 study area, he said.
DENVER
Prison audit uncovers CCA staffing shortage
An audit sparked by a riot at a Corrections Corp. of America prison in Crowley County uncovered staffing shortages at two prisons run by that company that resulted in fines of $126,000, a first in Colorado.
The company is one of three companies awarded contracts Tuesday to build two private lockups and expand two others for an additional 3,776 beds.
CCA won a contract to expand its existing male-inmate prisons in Bent and Kit Carson counties by 720 beds each.
The company’s Kit Carson County prison in Burlington, near the Colorado-Kansas line, was fined $103,743 for leaving 701 required shifts empty in a 10-week period from Nov. 1 to Jan. 10, according to state records.
CCA’s Crowley County prison in Olney Springs was fined nearly $23,000 for leaving 157 shifts open in the same period.
An inquiry into a riot at the Crowley County prison in 2004 found the company’s staff-to- inmate ratio was one-seventh of the state’s prisons at the time. Thirty-three officers were guarding 1,122 inmates.
Alison Morgan, the state’s supervisor of private prisons, said staffing has improved at CCA prisons since the fines were levied.
“We certainly are working very hard to recruit and retain staff. That’s a challenge for corrections systems, both public and private, around the country,” CCA spokesman Steve Owen said.
DENVER
Jury acquits activist of fraud at NBA event
Community activist Alvertis Simmons was acquitted by a Denver jury late Wednesday of one count of forgery.
Contemporary Services Corp., which provided security for the NBA All-Star Weekend in February 2005, had subcontracted with Simmons and a man identified as Randall Craven to provide some of the security guards.
It had required Simmons to have a valid insurance policy in effect in order to be hired.
Prosecutors alleged that in an effort to meet that requirement, Simmons faxed a forged certificate of liability insurance to Contemporary Services.
However, the jury deliberated less than three hours before acquitting Simmons, 49.
FORT COLLINS
Fall from Horsetooth Rock kills man, 67
A 67-year-old Fort Collins man died Thursday after a 50-foot fall in Horsetooth Mountain Park.
His name wasn’t released.
The man was hiking with members of his family on the east side of Horsetooth Rock and was descending after reaching the top when he fell about 4 p.m., according to a written statement from county authorities.
Rescuers carried the victim out of the park.
The man was then airlifted by helicopter to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, where he was pronounced dead about 6 p.m.
GOLDEN
Man gets probation for impersonation
A man who claimed to be an expert in illegal trafficking of children was sentenced Thursday to five years of probation and ordered to get mental health counseling after pleading guilty to criminal impersonation.
David Race Bannon, 42, of Charlotte, N.C., was also ordered to get substance-abuse evaluation and treatment and ordered to serve 100 hours of community service, the Jefferson County District Court clerk’s office said.
Bannon pleaded guilty April 24.
Prosecutors dropped charges of theft and computer crime.
An arrest affidavit said Bannon claimed “he has great expertise in matters involving the illegal trafficking in children.” Bannon wrote the book “Race Against Evil: The Secret Missions of the Interpol Agent Who Tracked the World’s Most Sinister Criminals,” based on his claimed experiences with Interpol, an international police organization.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said it was told by the Interpol general secretariat in Lyon, France, that Interpol had no record of Bannon or people mentioned in the book.
The arrest affidavit said Bannon changed his name from David Wayne Dilley in 1990.
LAKEWOOD
Ex-senator named president at CCU
Former U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong has been named president of Colorado Christian University, a 2,500-student evangelical Christian undergraduate and graduate school based in Lakewood, the university announced Thursday.
Armstrong, a Republican and a businessman, will replace Larry Donnithorne, who is retiring as president and will go on sabbatical before returning to the university as a distinguished professor.
DENVER
Divide trail receives funds for completion
Congress provided a $1.2 million boost Thursday to help complete the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.
The money, earmarked in the U.S. Forest Service budget to help build the 3,100-mile trail from Canada to Mexico, was the result of a bipartisan push led by Sen. Wayne Allard and supported by the entire Colorado delegation and lawmakers from Wyoming and New Mexico.
“Outdoor recreation is a vital part of the lives of many Coloradans, and the fact that the trail is located within 25 miles of 95 towns and cities really speaks to the number of people who have access to it,” Allard said.
Bruce Ward, executive director of the Evergreen-based Continental Divide Trail Alliance, said federal money for the trail, now in its sixth year, will be leveraged with volunteer labor and contributions to help complete the last 30 percent of the trail.
