Thursday, December 26, 2013

Logan CO approves MOU with DOC

Logan County's commissioners have approved an MOU between the county and the state's Department of Corrections.

The agreement helps emergency cooperation between the two entities.

The Journal-Advocate reports Commissioner Dave Donaldson saying the MOU applies to labor and equipment between the county's emergency management office and Sterling Correctional Facility.

Travel ramping up at DIA

Flying out this evening or tomorrow? Leave some extra time.

Denver International Airport expects 170,000 passengers overall by the end of the day, and another 170,000 overall tomorrow.

DIA anticipates a million passengers passing through it this week alone.

CO already at record number of gun checks

Colorado has already reached a record number of gun background checks for the year.

The state says it has already experienced 355,000 of them. That represents an increase of 20,000 from all of last year.

A new state law requires checks for all private sales. That has produced 5,000 additional filings.

Unveiling continues for Capitol dome

Crews have started peeling the protective covering from the refinished dome at the Capitol in Denver. The surface has a new gold coat. It may take at least one more full day to remove the covering. Construction on the observation deck may finish next summer.

Prisoners want more exercise

Lawyers are seeking to expand a lawsuit filed over the lack of outdoor recreation at Colorado's high-security prison. State prisons chief Rick Raemisch tells the Denver Post that virtually all options are being examined to solve the problem at the prison in Canon City. Three inmates have sued over exercising in a cell with a barred window 6 inches wide.
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A Christmas Eve shooting left one man dead

A Christmas Eve shooting left one man dead outside an Aurora bar. Police say witnesses told them they heard gunfire on a street after an altercation involving a few individuals that started in the Rack'em Billiards and Sports Bar late Tuesday night. The man's name has not been released.
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Marijuana advocates can ring in the new year with a victory

Marijuana advocates can ring in the new year with a victory. After weeks of scrutinizing applications, causing delays in processing, Colorado became the first state in the country to issue special licenses for recreational-marijuana businesses, Monday, and those busineses could begin producing and selling marijuana to anyone over 21 on Jan. 1. Officials at the state's Marijuana Enforcement Division slipped 348 approved licenses into the mail and sent them out to stores, product-makers and cultivation facilities, and say assuming the businesses also have the approval of their local governments they could open up shop at midnight Jan. 1, 2014. Most of the 136 marijuana shops scheduled to open are in Denver, but stores with approved state licenses also pop up in places from Telluride to Alma to Garden City. Marijuana advocates hailed the finalized licenses as a victory for Coloradoans who voted to legalize pot in November 2012.

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