NEW LEADER TAKES CONTROL AT ACADEMY
ACADEMY» A AIR FORCE new superintendent has taken command at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
Maj. Gen. Jay B. Silveria succeeded Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson in a ceremony Friday. Johnson is retiring after four years.
Silveria has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general, the required rank for the job.
He is a 1985 graduate of the academy. His previous assignment was deputy commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command. He was also deputy commander of the Combined Air Force Air Component, Central Command, Southwest Asia.
Silveria has nearly 4,000 hours of flight time including combat missions over the Balkans and Iraq. He served as vice commander at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
Vietnam veterans honor Coffman.
U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman has been named “legislator of the year” by Vietnam Veterans of America.
The lawmaker called the Vietnam War the most influential conflict of his legislative career — despite his own deployments — as he accepted the award Friday at the organization’s gathering in New Orleans.
“What defines me most as a member of Congress is a war I never fought in,” the Aurora Republican said.
Coffman serves on the House Veterans’ Affairs and Armed Services committees. He is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and Army who was deployed to Iraq for both wars there.
Padden files to enter race for attorney general.
Denver attorney Amy Padden, a former state and federal prosecutor, filed this week to run for Colorado attorney general, joining a crowded Democratic field.
In the mid-2000s, Padden served as an assistant attorney general under former Attorney General John Suthers, under whom she prosecuted consumer protection cases against charities and businesses.
More recently, she served as the executive assistant U.S. attorney, a role she left last month, according to her LinkedIn page.
Padden joins four other Democrats in the race to unseat Republican Cynthia Coffman, who herself is flirting with a gubernatorial bid. The other candidates so far include Phil Weiser, former dean of the University of Colorado Law School; Denver attorney Brad Levin; Michael Dougherty, a deputy prosecutor from Boulder; and state Rep. Joe Salazar of Thornton.
Garfield County cuts library hours.
GARFIELD
All Garfield County libraries will begin a new, reduced schedule on Tuesday, Sept. 5.
It is the second recent reduction in hours, with the first occurring in December after the Garfield County Library District learned of a $1.2 million decrease in operating revenue for 2017. This time around all libraries will be closed on Sundays.
The December change resulted in a 7 percent decrease in open hours while eight staff members were laid off. Since this cut last year, county libraries have faced continuing staff shortages that have led to temporary day-long emergency closures of several branches.