A new study of a housing program for Denver’s homeless shows that the initiative lowered costs for emergency services paid by the public. The study is the first evaluation of “Housing First,” a program that is part of Mayor John Hickenlooper’s 10-year plan to end homelessness.
Participants in the housing program were evaluated two years before and two years after entering the program. The study found “significant reductions” in costs for emergency-room care, inpatient hospitalization, detox, jail and emergency shelter.
The details of the report will be released Monday by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless.
A 2005 Point in Time survey taken by the Denver Homeless Initiative found that 10,268 people were homeless in the city.
Other News Briefings
LAKEWOOD
Man shot in dispute at apartment complex
A 38-year-old man was shot several times Saturday afternoon after an apparent dispute in the courtyard of a Lakewood apartment complex, police said.
The unidentified victim was shot in the “lower extremities” and was taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital, said Lakewood police spokeswoman Stacie Oulton.
She said it was unclear Saturday whether the victim lived at the apartment building, in the 5500 block of West Fourth Avenue.
Several hours later, police arrested one man and held two other people for questioning in connection with the shooting.
Lakewood police did not release the name of the suspect, who was arrested at a home in the 300 block of Perry Street in Denver.
WESTMINSTER
30-year-old arrested in Internet sex case
Police have arrested a 30-year-old man they say was trying to have sex with underage girls he met online.
Curtis Jay Whiting, arrested Friday, is being held on charges including sex assault on a child, Internet luring of a child and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The investigation began after a 13-year-old girl reported that she had been propositioned by an older man who had posed as a 17-year-old boy.
The girl told police that she agreed to meet “Cali boy in CO” after chatting online and talking with him by phone.
After meeting him, the girl told police she knew immediately he was older than 17 and left.
Based on her information, undercover detectives, who are members of the Colorado Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, went online and posed as a 13-year-old girl. Detectives arranged a meeting with Cali boy in CO.
Whiting was arrested when he showed up at that meeting.
COLORADO SPRINGS
CU campus selects space-studies leader
The first Native American astronaut will lead the Center for Space Studies at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
John Herrington, a Chickasaw Nation member who flew aboard the space shuttle Endeavour in 2002, will work half time at the center and keep his job at Oklahoma City-based Rocketplane Kistler Inc.
The Center for Space Studies is one of three centers within the National Institute of Science, Space and Security Studies at CU-Springs. Herrington, a graduate of CU-Springs, left NASA in 2005 to develop and flight test the world’s first hybrid space vehicle.
GUNNISON
Western State applies to add grad degrees
Western State College in Gunnison is seeking permission from the legislature to offer graduate degrees.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, and Sen.-elect Gail Schwartz, D-Aspen, would change Western State’s statutory mission to allow a “limited number” of graduate programs.
Western State has not offered graduate programs since the 1980s, when the Colorado Commission on Higher Education asked Western, Mesa State in Grand Junction and Metropolitan State College of Denver to stop offering master’s-level degrees.
Western State president Jay Helman said the college’s quality faculty, location and role as a “regional provider” are in line “to make this the time to restore an important part of our more than 100-year history.”
DURANGO
Fund reaches $12,000 in killing of two lynx
A reward for information leading to arrests in the shooting deaths of two lynx has grown to more than $12,000 after donations from an animal group and others.
Both lynx were shot at separate times this fall. One was shot with a high-powered rifle in the Hermosa Park area near Durango, and the other was shot with a shotgun north of Silverton.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife originally offered $500 for information. The Animal Assistance Foundation in Denver has contributed $2,500 to the reward. Ten other organizations, local businessman George Vandenberg, Durango Mountain Resort and the Great Old Broads for Wilderness also have made contributions.
Lynx are a threatened and federally protected species.
LARAMIE, Wyo.
Study: Smoking ban hasn’t hurt businesses
A smoking ban in Laramie hasn’t affected business at bars and restaurants since taking effect a year and a half ago, a study says.
The Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center, a research unit at the University of Wyoming, examined the businesses’ sales tax revenue from July 2003 through August 2006. The study factored in inflation and economic trends.
“We looked if there was a change, and the answer was no,” said Mark McNulty, a senior research scientist at the center.
The study was commissioned by the Wyoming Department of Health.
But Jade Miller, owner of the Roughed-Up Duck Saloon, insisted that business was down. He said he called every Laramie bar owner and asked about their business since the ban. He said three or four bar owners said business was the same. Everyone else said business was down.
SALT LAKE CITY
Congressman ordered to pay $9,618 in fees
U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon has been ordered to pay $9,618 in legal fees to a former staff member who had accused a boss of sexual harassment.
The lawsuit against Cannon’s former chief of staff, Charles Warren, was settled in February 1998. But Cannon found himself in hot water after he told The Salt Lake Tribune that “no entity associated with me paid a nickel.” Crelley Mackey had included Cannon in her lawsuit, citing his duty to supervise employees.
After his comments to the newspaper, Mackey said the Utah Republican had broken a confidentiality agreement. Cannon paid $10,000 a year ago to resolve that claim.
