Former President Ford OK after hospitalization in Vail
Former President Gerald R. Ford was released from a Vail hospital about noon Wednesday after shortness of breath led to his hospitalization Monday.
“He was evaluated for shortness of breath, and that all went very well. He’s being released to go home as we speak,” Vail Valley Medical Center spokesman Scott Boie said.
Ford, who turned 93 on July 14, has a home with wife Betty in nearby Beaver Creek.
Ford’s spokeswoman, Penny Circle, was not immediately available for comment.
Ford, the oldest living former president, was treated for pneumonia Jan. 14 in a Rancho Mirage, Calif., hospital and released after 12 days. He suffered a mild stroke in 2000.
Ford became president in 1974 when Richard Nixon resigned because of the Watergate scandal. Ford said he took office at “an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts.”
Ford lost the 1976 presidential election to his Democratic opponent, then-Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter.
DENVER
Ritter camp levels copycat charge anew
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter’s campaign on Wednesday cited two more cases of what it calls copycat maneuvers by Republican Bob Beauprez.
On Wednesday morning, Ritter announced that a bipartisan group of law-enforcement officials will endorse him today. Late Wednesday afternoon, Beauprez announced that he had secured the support of seven district attorneys across the state.
“Me too! Me too! Me too!” said Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer, who previously criticized the Beauprez campaign for piggybacking its policy and endorsement announcements on Ritter’s.
Also on Wednesday, Beauprez released a letter to an association for road-building companies – a day after Ritter had announced his own transportation plan.
“It means that they are constantly a step behind Bill Ritter,” Dreyer said.
John Marshall, spokesman for Beauprez, said the coinciding announcements are not an effort to copy Ritter.
“I think ultimately voters will judge the candidates on the merit of the ideas, not on whether Evan Dreyer could hit the send button faster,” Marshall said.
WASHINGTON
National Park Service chief plans to resign
Fran Mainella, head of the National Park Service since 2001, said Wednesday she will resign from the agency that has often been at odds with environmentalists and Westerners.
Critics have said the agency put too much emphasis on recreation, shifting its focus from conservation. A Park Service release said Mainella is leaving her position to devote more time to her family.
Lawmakers who oversaw the Park Service budget called her to Capitol Hill after records showed she and other agency employees had spent $94 million on travel in the previous two years.
Agency officials later said they had reduced travel costs. They also defended Mainella’s domestic travel, saying she was the first director to ever visit many smaller and lesser-known national parks.
LARIMER COUNTY
First West Nile cases in county confirmed
The first cases of West Nile virus in Larimer County were confirmed Wednesday. One victim is a Fort Collins woman, and the other is a Loveland man.
Both are in their early 50s and are recovering from the malady, which has no vaccine or treatment.
The woman reported symptoms starting about July 4 and went to her doctor. The man reported mild symptoms about the same time, and the disease wasn’t confirmed until he tried to donate blood.
Susanne Murray, communicable-disease nurse for the Larimer County Health Department, said that confirmation can take several weeks. The first symptoms don’t show for three to 14 days after being bitten, and test results can take another three days.
Symptoms include body aches, fever, chills, headache and dizziness.
OURAY
Yankee Girl Mine’s new owner signs pact
The new owner of the 124- year-old Yankee Girl Mine, Mark Young, signed a conservation easement on the historic property with the Trust for Land Restoration on Wednesday morning.
He signed the easement at the Red Mountain Scenic Overlook on U.S. 550.
Stabilization work at the site is planned by the Colorado State Historic Fund and Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology.
The Yankee Girl headframe is one of the most popular views along the San Juan Skyway, also known as the Million Dollar Highway.
The Yankee Girl’s previous owner had threatened several times to raze the historic headframe.
DENVER
District to turn on new pipeline today
The East Cherry Creek Valley Water and Sanitation District will turn on the valve today of its new 31-mile pipeline, which will deliver water from the South Platte River.
The district currently uses groundwater from the Denver Basin aquifers.
“The water source we use now is not renewable,” said district manager David Kaunisto. “We knew that in order to better serve our customers, we needed to secure a renewable source.”
The pipeline extends from Beebe Draw north of Barr Lake to the district’s water tanks on South Gun Club Road.
The district serves about 50,000 customers in unincorporated Arapahoe County and Centennial.
