FIRE DESTROYS HOTEL IN LIMON

A fire destroyed the First Inn Gold Hotel in Limon early Saturday.

Seven rooms were evacuated and no injuries were reported by the Limon Police Department. The hotel itself, though, appeared to have been severely damaged.

Responders got a call about the fire a little after 3:30 a.m., said Sgt. Russell Lengel. When firefighters and EMS arrived, the hotel was already engulfed. The fire was contained shortly before 8:30 a.m., although firefighters were still putting out hot spots later.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Lengel said, adding that the hot spots have prevented the firefighters from entering the hotel.

The community brought first responders coffee, water, food and soda, he said.

“When a situation happens like this in a small community, there’s just a large outpouring and everyone comes together to help the best that they can,” Lengel said.

Hickenlooper discusses pot move on CNN.

After news broke earlier this week that Attorney General Jeff Session has rescinded the Cole Memo, changing how the government enforces federal marijuana laws, Gov. John Hickenlooper told CNN on Saturday that he didn’t see how the move would help the Trump administration.

“I’m not sure I see what benefit there is to the Trump administration or the Department of Justice by flaunting the will — the votes — of more than two-thirds of Americans,” Hickenlooper told CNN’S Michael Smerconish.

The Democrat said Sessions had previously assured him that the Justice Department had limited resources and higher priorities, such as heroin use and sex trafficking. As long as dispensaries and growers were obeying local lawyers, Hickenlooper’s impression was that the federal government wouldn’t pursue them.

Hickenlooper told Smerconish that Congress and states should be working together, especially to ensure the use of banking in the marijuana industry.

Suspect arrested in Colorado Springs shooting death.

COLORADO

SPRINGS» Authorities have arrested a suspect in the shooting death of a man in the parking lot outside a Colorado Springs Kmart store.

El Paso County sheriff’s deputies arrested 23-year-old Michael Parkhurst II without incident Friday night in an unincorporated area south of Colorado Springs.

He’s accused of killing Cory William Forbush of Manitou Springs on Dec. 27.