MOUSETRAP RAMP TO CLOSE THIS WEEKEND FOR REPAIRS
A section of Denver’s Mousetrap, the interchange of Interstates 70 and 25, will be closed this weekend for bridge maintenance and repair.
The southbound I-25 ramp to eastbound I-70 will be closed from 9 p.m. Friday to noon Sunday, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
The closure is for work on bridges that connect the interstates, CDOT said.
“By performing a full closure, we are able to reduce the long-term impact to the public by completing the ramp in one weekend,” said Matt McMechen, CDOT project engineer in a news release. “It is much safer for the crew and motorists to have a full closure, rather than a partial, while conducting these repairs.”
Detours will be about two miles long and will add about three minutes to drive times, CDOT said.
During the ramp closure, motorists can use southbound I-25 to westbound I-70, take it to Pecos Street, exit and get back onto I-70 eastbound, or southbound I-25 motorists can exit at 58th Avenue and follow the detour route.
Construction activities are dependent on the weather, and the schedule is subject to change.
Air tanker base opens early for fire season.
The Durango Air Tanker Base has opened two weeks earlier than usual in anticipation of a busy wildfire season.
San Juan National Forest Fire Management Officer Richard Bustamante says the base was fully staffed Tuesday, the same day La Plata County entered into Stage 1 fire restrictions.
The air tanker base at the Durango-La Plata County Airport is operated by the U.S. Forest Service and houses a singleengine air tanker and a firefighting helicopter.
Manager Allyn Herrington says the plane is capable of carrying 800 gallons of fire retardant, taking off quickly and making precise drops when fighting fires.
San Juan National Forest Aviation Officer Jerran Flinders says helicopters are good for making quick attacks.
Colorado soldier killed in combat was close to returning from Afghanistan.
LOVELAND» Spc. Gabriel D. Conde, 22, of Loveland, who was killed April 30 after he was hit by enemy fire in Afghanistan, had been nearing the end of a nine-month deployment.
Conde died in the Tagab District of Afghanistan. The airborne infantryman was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Martyn Crighton said the division was expected to return to Alaska in the coming weeks.
Artists seek films in Navajo language for inaugural festival.
A group of artists is seeking Navajo speakers with a knack for storytelling to submit shorts to the inaugural Navajo Film Festival.
Filmmakers of all ages are asked to submit fourminute films, entirely in the Navajo language, for a potential cash prize and a public screening June 23.
Tacey Atsitty, a Navajo poet and director of the festival’s organizing board, made rounds in April to promote the event and seek filmmakers in Arizona, New Mexico and southwest Colorado.
Atsitty says filmmakers do not have to be Navajo to submit an entry. That’s because organizers would like to encourage more people to learn the language.
Labor board declines to intervene in teacher dispute.
PUEBLO» The state Department of Labor and Employment has decided not to intervene in an impasse between teachers and Pueblo City Schools, paving the way for a possible strike Monday.
Department officials announced Wednesday that unless requested by both sides, they rarely intervene in disputes between public employers and employees arising from the collective bargaining process.
Teachers voted 471-24 in favor of a strike in an election in April. The vote came about a week after the school board narrowly rejected a fact-finder’s recommendation that teachers and para-professionals should get cost-ofliving raises and that the district should pay more of their health insurance premiums.
The district has about 16,000 students in 30 schools.
Rock mitigation work halts for the summer.
CANYON» A $3 CLEAR CREEK million effort by Colorado transportation officials to make travel on U.S. 6 in Clear Creek Canyon safer by removing thousands of tons of potentially hazardous rock from the narrow canyon west of Golden has been suspended for the warm season.
Work, which began in February, wrapped up Wednesday and will resume in November.
The project includes rock-scaling and the installation of rock and mesh anchors and 285,000 square feet of wire mesh. The work was halted because of the expected increase in summertime traffic through the canyon.
So far, the project team has removed approximately 35,000 tons of rock that could endanger motorists or damage the road if it were to fall from the canyon’s walls, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
A worker on the project died in March after falling about 70 feet.
Child sex assault suspect identified by police.
A man suspected of sexual assault on a child was identified Wednesday by police.
The alleged a assault happened April 23 in the 6100 block of West 73rd Avenue, police said.
Police identified the suspect as 44-year-old Chad Joseph Romero. He is described as 5-foot-7 and 170 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information on the incident or Romero’s whereabouts is asked to call 303-658-4360 or 720- 913-7867.
Man who robbed 11 banks gets 10-year sentence.
TUCSON» A man accused of robbing more than $74,000 from 11 banks in Arizona, Colorado and other Western states with a fake handgun has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
Prosecutors say 51-yearold Anthony James Lane was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
He had pleaded guilty to 11 counts of bank robbery and one count of attempted bank robbery. Lane was dubbed the “Barrel Chested Bandit” from descriptions provided by witnesses, who said the robber wore a baseball cap and sunglasses and appeared to be about 250 pounds. He was arrested in Tucson by FBI agents and police in February 2017 after a sixmonth crime spree in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Colorado.