The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided a western Colorado wildflower doesn’t warrant federal protection.
Federal officials said the Debeque milkvetch, which grows in Mesa and Garfield counties, appears to be maintaining its presence despite environmental groups’ claim that oil and gas development is threatening the flower’s habitat.
The agency on Wednesday cited the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s actions to help conserve the plant, including withholding some areas from oil and gas leasing.
In 2004, the Colorado Native Plant Society and Center for Native Ecosystems asked the Fish and Wildlife Service to grant federal protection for the flower.
“This is a real blow to efforts to conserve this globally rare wildflower,” said Dave Anderson of the Colorado Native Plant Society.
Additional local news briefs:
DENVER
Full council to hear historic landmark plan
A committee of the Denver City Council forwarded a controversial historic landmark plan Wednesday for consideration by the full council.
The council’s Blueprint Denver Committee decided the proposal, which would designate as historic the property of the late, influential landscape architect S.R. DeBoer, should get a public hearing.
The council will grant initial consideration to the proposal Feb. 26.
The public will weigh in during a public hearing before the council March 5.
Council members Charlie Brown and Judy Montero dissented from the decision to move the proposal to consideration by the full council.
DeBoer’s descendants say the plan would unfairly block them from selling the property, located on East Iliff Avenue, to developers.
WASHINGTON
Backers want end run for Iraq resolution
Backers of a U.S. Senate resolution disapproving of President Bush’s plan to add troops in Iraq will attempt to use a procedural maneuver to pass it, Sen. Ken Salazar said Wednesday.
Salazar, a Democrat, helped craft a bipartisan resolution authored by Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Carl Levin, D-Mich.
Attempts to try to pass that nonbinding statement in the Senate failed last week when Republicans blocked the vote.
Supporters of the resolution now are seeking to attach it to another bill as an amendment and try to pass it that way.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, meanwhile, said he will seek a vote on the resolution of disapproval that the House is now considering and is expected to pass by week’s end.
DENVER
Election computer expert off payroll
A Denver Election Commission computer expert who was put on leave after the city’s problem-plagued November election is no longer on the commission’s payroll.
Anthony Rainey, the Election Commission’s information technology director, was placed on administrative leave Nov. 10.
Rainey was dropped from the commission’s payroll Jan. 21, commission spokesman Alton Dillard said.
Rainey, who has not been replaced, earned $13,736 during those 10 weeks.
INTRACOASTAL CITY, La.
Pilot killed in copter in gulf was Denverite
Two men killed in an offshore helicopter crash have been identified as pilot John Lancaster, 46, of Denver and passenger David Thibodeaux, 33, of Abbeville, La.
Both died Monday morning when the helicopter, owned by Era Helicopters, attempted to land on a platform in the Gulf of Mexico.
The bodies were found and identified later that day, officials said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
A written statement from Era said the helicopter may have hit the platform.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Expanded airport set to open today
Yampa Valley Regional Airport is scheduled to open its expanded passenger terminal today, with new ticket counters and 23,500 square feet of new space.
Four of the five commercial airlines with flights to the airport are expected to be operating at new ticket counters when the expansion opens, airport manager David Ruppel said.
The fifth, Continental, is waiting for equipment to arrive before moving, he said.
Airport officials had hoped the expansion would be complete by early December, before ski-season flights resumed for the Steamboat Springs resort.
But it was pushed back by issues related to soil under the expansion and by delays in other projects that had to be completed first.
The airport also plans to expand its baggage claim area.
COLORADO SPRINGS
No cause found in woman’s death
An autopsy on a woman found dead at her apartment about five hours after she had refused medical treatment for assault did not immediately determine a cause of death, authorities said Tuesday.
Elaine Strecker, 47, had been cleared to stay home by medical personnel who responded to a report of assault, police said.
A friend discovered the woman’s body about 2:45 a.m. Sunday, police said.
Officers had gone to the woman’s apartment Saturday night after the woman’s boyfriend reported she had been assaulted, Sgt. Sal Fiorillo said.
The woman said the assault did not take place at her apartment but would not give any other details, police said.
Police said she had been hit in the face.
BOULDER
NOAA scientist is a “History Maker”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association has named Boulder scientist Susan Solomon as a “History Maker,” one of 10 agency staff members to be recognized in NOAA’s 200-year history.
Solomon is co-chairwoman of the United Nations climate change panel that released an authoritative report on global warming this month.
Solomon also pioneered research on the ozone holes over Earth’s poles, and her work helped inspire a global ban on chemicals that destroy ozone, NOAA said.
Ozone high in Earth’s atmosphere protects the planet’s surface from damaging solar radiation.
