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Apartment construction in Colorado Springs slowed to lowest in a decade in 2024
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Apartment construction in Colorado Springs slowed to lowest in a decade in 2024

By WAYNE HEILMAN  | The Gazette The red-hot pace of Colorado Springs-area apartment construction turned ice cold last year. From 2019 to 2023, multifamily developers pulled permits to build just over 14,000 apartments in the Springs and surrounding El Paso County — one of the hottest stretches of local apartment construction in recent memory that averaged a little more than 2,800 units a year, according to recent and historical Pikes Peak Regional Building Department figures. Developers, however, did an about-face in 2024 and took out permits to build just 838 apartments — a nearly two-thirds drop when compared with the previous year and the fewest since 2015. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE GAZETTE
New El Paso County coroner taking a ‘behind the scenes’ role in contrast to predecessor
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New El Paso County coroner taking a ‘behind the scenes’ role in contrast to predecessor

By Savannah Eller | The Gazette Dr. Emily Russell-Kinsley didn’t always want to be a forensic pathologist, but unlike most middle schoolers, she did know what the title meant. Growing up in an Oklahoma family of physicians, she was a grade-school fan of the popular series of crime novels by Patricia Cornwell following Virginia medical examiner Kay Scarpetta. Scarpetta, victim of her main-character status, is constantly in the crosshairs of fictional bad guys. That kind of attention, even more than the duties entailed by the job, put Russell-Kinsley off the profession as a child. She has always been a self-described behind-the-scenes person. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE GAZETTE
Colorado Springs-based figure skaters befriended airline crash victims at Wichita camp
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Colorado Springs-based figure skaters befriended airline crash victims at Wichita camp

By Brent Briggeman | The Gazette Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport is small. The U.S. Figure Skating community, at its top levels, is even smaller. So when a national development camp for up-and-coming skaters wrapped up on Wednesday, the competitors and coaches arrived at the airport around the same time and used the extra time to chat and say goodbyes from nearby spots in the 10-gate airport. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE GAZETTE
Disgraceful, discriminatory hiring — by CU
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Disgraceful, discriminatory hiring — by CU

By The Gazette Editorial board, Commentary Colorado’s most prominent higher-ed institution, the University of Colorado system, has discreetly changed the name of the office that oversees its controversial “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs — i.e., institutionalized discrimination. It’s as if CU wanted the change to fly under the radar. The new name, the Office of Collaboration, is vague enough to escape notice. And it wasn’t publicized through an official announcement; it was outed on X by a user who presumably didn’t speak for the CU system. When The Gazette pressed CU’s front office for details, a spokesperson referred our news staffer to a page on the university’s website that the spokesperson said was “all the comment we’ll be making on this at this time.” The webpage ...
Colorado Springs church vandalized for the fourth time in six months
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Colorado Springs church vandalized for the fourth time in six months

By Debbie Kelley | The Gazette Emily Bond’s first thought when she got to work on Tuesday morning was, “Oh, no! We have to get another banner. Again.” Shortly before 8 p.m. Monday night, as members of the Out Loud Men’s Chorus were rehearsing inside First Congregational Church in downtown Colorado Springs, a neighbor’s video cam captured two cars pulling up, and six individuals jumping out and ripping down a large, rainbow-colored banner that for years has hung in the church portico. Oversized lettering on the banner reads: “A Just World for All.” READ THE FULL STORY AT THE GAZETTE
Federal workforce in Colorado receives resignation emails in Trump’s buyout plan
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Federal workforce in Colorado receives resignation emails in Trump’s buyout plan

By Mary Shinn | The Gazette Across Colorado, tens of thousands of employees received emails asking them to resign Tuesday, as part of President Donald Trump's effort to reshape the federal workforce that has received fierce pushback from unions. While most Department of Defense employees did not receive the email with the subject line "Fork in the Road," they went out to Defense Health Agency employees who work on military bases in Colorado Springs. One of the largest employers locally within the DHA is Evans Army Community Hospital on Fort Carson, with 2,300 military service members and civilians.  The offers to resign also went out to employees who work on public lands, such as the Forest Service, National Parks Service and Bureau of Land Management. Across the state, there...
Whooping cough outbreak at Colorado Springs middle school confirmed by health department
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Whooping cough outbreak at Colorado Springs middle school confirmed by health department

By Mackenzie Bodell | The Gazette Jenkins Middle School families with children in the seventh grade received a notice from El Paso County Public Health this week confirming a whooping cough, or pertussis, outbreak.  An outbreak is considered to be two or more individuals testing positive for the illness, according to a health spokesperson. Officials were not able to say how many cases of the respiratory illness have been reported so far. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE GAZETTE
Four things to know about school choice enrollment in Colorado
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Four things to know about school choice enrollment in Colorado

By Eric Young | The Gazette Colorado families are able to attend any public school in the state for free, regardless of where they live through open enrollment. The application process for school choice is now underway for the 2025-2026 school year in El Paso County and here are four things families should know when applying. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE GAZETTE
Sengenberger: Wannabe guv Jena Griswold stumbles into announcing
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Sengenberger: Wannabe guv Jena Griswold stumbles into announcing

By Jimmy Sengenberger | Commentary, The Gazette Secretary of State Jena Griswold wants Colorado voters to make her governor. While the state’s top campaign finance cop hasn’t thrown a swanky launch party yet, she’s already announced her run — allegedly by breaking the very rules she’s supposed to enforce. As The Denver Gazette reported, the Public Trust Institute filed a complaint on Jan. 14, alleging Griswold “expended funds on a gubernatorial campaign and had a website dedicated to a gubernatorial run but has not registered a committee or filed a candidate affidavit for governor.” The domain — jenaforgovernor.com — was purchased on Aug. 8. A placeholder webpage went live the next day, copyrighted by “Jena for Governor,” declaring “Launching Soon” and asking visitors to...
Passenger traffic at Colorado Springs Airport reaches 25-year-high
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Passenger traffic at Colorado Springs Airport reaches 25-year-high

By Breeanna Jent  | The Gazette The number of people traveling from Colorado Springs Airport reached sky-high levels in 2024 — the most in 25 years and eclipsing 2023 figures by 5%. "It's no secret that the airport had a strong year last year, and we continue to exceed our enplanement numbers," Greg Phillips said in a news release this week, the city's aviation director who on Thursday announced his impending retirement on Feb. 7. Data released by airport officials show Colorado Springs Airport experienced a 3.7% drop in enplanements — passengers who boarded flights to travel to other destinations — in December from a year before, but overall saw a 25-year high for boardings.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE GAZETTE