NWS LOOKING TO IMPROVE FOUR CORNERS REGION RADAR
DURANGO» A national weather agency has announced plans to lower its radar-system elevation to better track weather in the Four Corners region, including southwest Colorado.
The Durango Herald reports that the National Weather Service has proposed adjusting its Grand Junction radar to track areas that were originally blind spots.
Department officials say major radar hubs in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado track data at an elevation higher than where storms usually occur resulting in weather forecasters missing numerous incoming storms.
Officials say the proposal could take up to two years to implement and requires a software adjustment to the system that would not alleviate blind spots in La Plata County or Durango.
Mom pleads guilty in child’s death.
SPRINGS» The mother of a 2-year-old Colorado boy who fatally shot himself has acknowledged negligence for leaving the weapon unsecured.
The Gazette reported Wednesday that 33-yearold Melissa Adamson pleaded guilty to a felony count of child abuse in the October 2018 death of Lokhi Bloom.
Authorities say the boy had a habit of drinking from a squirt gun, but shot himself moments after discovering the loaded handgun.
Authorities say Adamson was high on methamphetamine and arguing with her drug dealer when she failed to secure the weapon.
Adamson says she loaded the gun after receiving threatening text messages from a drug dealer.
Adamson faces up to 48 years in prison, and a sentencing is scheduled for Dec.2.
Prosecutors say the father was at the home and could also face charges.
Handgun taken from boy at school.
A 12-year-old boy was arrested Tuesday afternoon at Vega Collegiate Academy in Aurora for investigation of bringing a gun to school, Aurora police said.
The principal of the charter school alerted police about 4:45 p.m. that she had confiscated a handgun from the student, police spokeswoman Crystal McCoy said in an email. Officers arrested the boy on suspicion of menacing and possession of a weapon.
Two Superfund sites may be delisted.
CASPER» Environmental regulators are close to removing two sites in the western U.S. from a list of polluted places in need of long-term cleanup.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that all required cleanup work is done at the Superfund sites in Wyoming and Utah.
Wastewater, oils and solvents contaminated soil and groundwater at a site near Casper. The EPA says Kinder Morgan and Dow Chemical Company/Dowell Schlumberger Inc., helped clean up the pollution from their facilities.
The EPA says cleanup also is done at an oil refinery site in Bountiful, Utah. Brick manufacturing, asphalt production, waste oil refining, petroleum trucking and oil blending contaminated the Intermountain Waste Oil Refinery site. — Denver Post staff