COLORADO SPRINGS — The U.S. Olympic Committee wants free office space if it keeps its headquarters in Colorado Springs, according to a document the city released Wednesday.
USOC consultant James Didion wrote to the city that while the committee is prepared to cover the costs of ongoing operations, “we’re not capable of funding a lease, or any acquisition cost in a purchase.”
The e-mail is one of several documents released by the Colorado Springs city attorney’s office in response to a Colorado Springs Gazette suit filed last month, seeking access to correspondence between the USOC and city under the Colorado Open Records Act.
The city also released a document it sent to four local real estate developers, seeking proposals on how they could address the USOC’s needs for new facilities.
City officials have been talking to the USOC, which said last month that it was evaluating proposals to possibly move its headquarters to other cities. The USOC has said it needs new quarters because its current site in Colorado Springs is old and cramped.
Other local news briefs
Armed robbered strike nice times in three days
COLORADO SPRINGS — Police are investigating a string of nine armed robberies in three days. The most recent businesses hit are a gas station, a payday loan store and a dry cleaner, all held up Wednesday.
The first of the robberies came Monday. Two of the holdups were in apartment parking lots. Investigators say the robber who hit the payday loan store Wednesday may also have held up a liquor store Tuesday.
Police Lt. Fletcher Howard said he’s worried the robbers are becoming more brazen and may use their weapons.
Homeowner hospitalized after late-morning fire destroys
CENTENNIAL — A man was burned while trying to put out a fire that destroyed his house Thursday.
Al Wallace, 49, was in stable condition at University of Colorado Hospital on Thursday evening. The man was home alone when the fire broke out in the basement just before noon in the 8200 block of South Krameria Way, said Bob Smith, South Metro Fire Rescue spokesman.
Firefighters tried to enter the home, but the blaze was too hot, he said. A total of 29 firefighters from several departments fought the blaze.
“Part of the roof collapsed,” Smith said. “It’s a total loss.” The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Feds to reopen cases of 427 Flats workers
Some people who worked at the now-closed Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant may soon have a second chance to get more federal aid for work-related cancers.
The U.S. Labor Department next week will reopen the cases of 427 workers who were denied aid previously. Department officials say government calculations may have wrongly suggested the radiation they were exposed to wasn’t high enough to cause their cancers.
Some Rocky Flats workers have been added to the program, but many others have been rejected.
Rocky Flats made plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads, and many former workers have said they developed cancer and other diseases because of their jobs there.
The plant is 15 miles northwest of Denver.
Armed robbers strike nice times in three days
COLORADO SPRINGS — Police are investigating a string of nine armed robberies in three days. The most recent businesses hit are a gas station, a payday loan store and a dry cleaner, all held up Wednesday.
The first of the robberies came Monday. Two of the holdups were in apartment parking lots. Investigators say the robber who hit the payday loan store Wednesday may also have held up a liquor store Tuesday.
Police Lt. Fletcher Howard said he’s worried the robbers are becoming more brazen and may use their weapons.
