Golden – Four people were injured, one seriously, in a rush-hour crash that shut down eastbound Interstate 70 on Thursday for the second time in as many days.
The Colorado State Patrol said the crash happened about 5:30 p.m. near the C-470 exit ramp when a Dodge van collided with a Volvo station wagon and rolled down an embankment.
Four people in the van were injured. The most severely injured person was flown by helicopter to St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver. The others suffered minor to moderate injuries, state Trooper Ryan Sullivan said.
Investigators were still determining how the crash occurred late Thursday, Sullivan said.
Neither alcohol nor drugs are suspected to have been a factor.
Eastbound I-70 was shut down while the chopper landed and picked up the patient. It was then reduced to one lane while troopers investigated the crash.
The night before, about 3 miles uphill on eastbound I-70, a truck hauling a flatbed trailer rolled and exploded, closing that portion of the highway overnight.
The truck driver was killed. The coroner’s office had not identified the driver by late Thursday, Sullivan said.
Eastbound I-70 was reopened about 5:15 a.m., in time for the morning rush hour, Sullivan said.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
Race-charged brawl lands man, 29, in jail
Police have arrested a 29-year- old Michigan man suspected of inciting a barroom brawl through racial intimidation.
Christopher Allen Hamm is accused of smashing a beer bottle over Albert Turner’s head and stabbing him in the leg with the shards after telling Turner, who is black, to “leave our white women alone.”
Hamm, who is white, faces charges of assault and felony ethnic intimidation in the incident, in which he allegedly claimed to be a Nazi. Turner said Thursday that he was relieved by the arrest.
GREELEY
Victim in stunt gone awry had neck injury
An 18-year-old passenger in a car that flew 40 feet into a water-filled gravel pit in an apparent stunt gone bad drowned and had suffered a neck injury, according to an autopsy.
David Griego died Friday night. Weld County Deputy Coroner Chris Robillard on Wednesday said it was unclear whether Griego’s injury happened during the stunt or was an injury suffered a week earlier.
Weld County prosecutors haven’t determined whether to file charges against Darren Bucklen, 19, who authorities said drove the car over a 2- to 3-foot- high dirt ramp both teens built near the edge of the gravel pit.
MOFFAT COUNTY
Alcohol suspected in fatal head-on collision
A pair of motorists were killed Wednesday night in a head-on crash on U.S. 40, the Colorado State Patrol said. Neither motorist has been identified.
The crash happened about 7:45 p.m. when a Ford F-150 hauling a camper-trailer was eastbound on the highway and drifted partially into the westbound lane, the State Patrol said.
The Ford slammed into a tractor-trailer hauling a tanker with a full load of carbon dioxide. Both vehicles caught fire.
The tanker was punctured and a hazardous materials crew responded, the State Patrol said.
Alcohol is suspected to be a contributing factor in the crash, authorities said.
ELDORADO SPRINGS
Udall, Schaffer report Senate war chests
U.S. Rep. Mark Udall has raised about $1.1 million in his campaign for U.S. Senate, while Republican opponent Bob Schaffer has tallied $717,000, their campaigns said.
Udall, an Eldorado Springs Democrat, is reporting $2.5 million in cash on hand in the first fundraising period. The filing deadline is Sunday.
Schaffer’s campaign said it will report $682,711 of cash on hand. The state school board member reported having 1,789 donors.
DENVER
Rocky Flats officially made wildlife refuge
The former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant became a wildlife refuge Thursday as the Department of Energy transferred the site to the Interior Department.
The plant, 16 miles northwest of Denver, manufactured triggers for nuclear weapons from 1951 to 1989. The production of those weapons left the site contaminated with radioactive materials.
The $7 billion cleanup was complete in 2005, and in May the federal Environmental Protection Agency signed off on the work.
Interior officials have not yet announced when the refuge will open.
DENVER
7,500 interested in volunteering at DNC
About 7,500 people have already expressed interest in volunteering during the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the chief of the local host committee said.
“We’ve had 7,500 people who’ve sent their names to us,” said Mike Dino. “The next step is to get (more) information and see who’s serious.”
An estimated 10,000 volunteers will be needed in the time preceding – and during – the convention, which will take place Aug. 25-28, 2008, at the Pepsi Center.
Dino gave an overview of convention planning to 40 people who gathered at Skyline Park in Denver. Many of the attendees were from an American government class from Metropolitan State College of Denver.
Volunteer opportunities include staffing events and hospitality suites, doing office work and preparing materials for delegates and media. An estimated 35,000 people will be in town for the convention.
Dino said that 50 volunteers would probably be needed by year-end 2007 to drive convention-related visitors around the city. Volunteers, however, are unlikely to get access to the Pepsi Center during the convention.
Those interested in volunteering or getting more information can go to denverconvention2008.
COLUMBUS, Ohio
Former CU president Gee to lead Ohio State
Former University of Colorado president Gordon Gee took his sixth job leading a major university Thursday, returning to the nation’s largest public school, Ohio State.
Gee, 63, who led CU from 1985 to 1990, had been chancellor of Vanderbilt University.
