It has been more than five years since a settlement was reached in Smokebrush Foundation v. City of Colorado Springs. The lawsuit stemmed from Smokebrush’s claim that staff was harmed by contaminants from a former Colorado Springs Utilities coal gasification plant site (25 Cimino Drive) that migrated onto theirs (219 W. Colorado Avenue). The Settlement […]
This is part one in a two-part series. Part two will explore reactions to Wayne Williams’ appointment as the mayor’s chief of staff from other officials and the public. Last Friday, I met with Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade and his new interim chief of staff, Wayne Willams, in the mayor’s penthouse suite on the […]
The iconic Union Printers Home (UPH) will become a hotel if the owners’ vision is realized – and Urban Renewal dollars could offset some of the costs, including the price tag for historic preservation of the unique landmark structures. Turning the four historic buildings – the main castle plus three others – into overnight lodging […]
I’m the editor of the Pikes Peak Bulletin. A reader sent me an email because he was disappointed in an article I wrote recently, “Students offered counseling after agents in tactical gear detain person outside high school.” I decided to share his email and my response to it because I think he asks a fair […]
In the center of a bustling intersection in the heart of downtown Colorado Springs is a statue of city founder William J. Palmer astride his horse. Palmer was a lifelong civil rights advocate, a Quaker abolitionist who broke the religion’s doctrine of nonviolence to become a general in the Union Army, writing to his church […]
Mill Street Community Benefits All members asked Colorado Springs City Council at its regular meeting on Feb. 24 to delay a vote on the Moreno and Cascade Urban Renewal Plan until the project developer signed an agreement to preserve housing affordability and prevent displacement of current residents. However, the council passed the resolution 7-2. Councilors […]
As the Pikes Peak Bulletin reported in December, when the website containing the online archives of the Colorado Springs Independent – a progressive alt-weekly known affectionately as the Indy – went dark in 2023 after a poorly executed website migration, an entire historical record disappeared into the digital night. Decades of award-winning investigative journalism, arts […]
I posted a meme last month on my personal Facebook page and a right-wing Facebook friend said it promoted lies (it didn’t, it was an opinion based on facts) and that posts like mine are why people have lost faith in journalism. I responded that in normal times I would not feel the need to […]
Residents of the Mill Street neighborhood on the south end of downtown, organized as the Mill Street Community Benefits All Coalition, are urging Colorado Springs City Council to withhold approval of a Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority (CSURA) plan. The plan would use around $10.3 million of taxpayer money to subsidize construction of a luxury […]
Following public comment during the Jan. 27 Colorado Springs City Council meeting decrying the lack of a Black History Month proclamation on that meeting’s agenda, a proclamation is on the agenda for the Council’s Feb. 10 meeting – but it’s not the proclamation drafted at the request of Councilor Kimberly Gold last month. The new […]
Rev. Candace Woods shared with the Pikes Peak Bulletin an email exchange between herself and Colorado Springs City Council President Lynette Crow-Iverson following public comments from Woods and other faith leaders at the Jan. 13 council meeting ahead of a proposed Martin Luther King Jr. Day proclamation. The public comments centered on honoring King’s civil […]
The Colorado Springs City Council meeting on Jan. 27 would have been a quick and dry one were it not for a lineup of about a dozen community members who turned out to make public comment on the council’s denial of a proposed Black History Month proclamation, the formal reprimand of councilor Kimberly Gold, and […]
Homeward Pikes Peak, in partnership with other agencies and individuals, held the fourth annual Stand Up for Our Community resource event for unhoused community members on Monday, Jan. 26, at the Meanwhile Block, an industrial multi-use venue in downtown Colorado Springs. About 30 relevant organizations including those providing services related to housing, food, substance use […]
U.S. Army veteran Mel Flores is facing three Class 2 Misdemeanor counts for obstructing government operations, obstructing a peace officer, and reckless endangerment. The charges stem from an Oct. 17 incident that occurred while Flores was acting as a volunteer confirmer for the Colorado Rapid Response Network (CORRN). The CORRN website explains it is a […]
Cristiana Alejo Lamberto’s husband, José Guadalupe Alejo Lamberto, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) outside the El Paso County Courthouse on Nov. 5, 2025, following an initial appearance in a suspected DUI case stemming from a Sept. 26, 2025, traffic stop by the Colorado State Patrol. Cristiana told the Pikes Peak Bulletin José […]
In my front room hangs an old framed photograph inherited from my mother, a Norwegian immigrant. I keep it in a prominent place to remind me that when history comes calling, I have a choice how to answer. It reminds me that our regular lives can be upended by extraordinary circumstances, and we may become […]
For nearly three weeks, Colorado Springs resident Marivel Azpeitia has been recording phone conversations with her fiancé, Edwin Euceda Rios, while he has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In those recordings, he describes witnessing violence by detention center staff against another detainee, threats of further violence, days of isolation, missed meals, unheated […]
Norwood Development Group plans to build a luxury Catbird Hotel on the northwest corner of Moreno and Cascade Avenues, similar to the original in Denver. Norwood’s website states, “Sage Hospitality Group and Norwood Development Group have submitted a preliminary proposal to build a new Catbird Hotel in downtown Colorado Springs, at the corner of East […]
An old proverb I heard as a child has stuck with me: “When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.” What happens when a news website dies? When the website containing the online archives of the Colorado Springs Independent – a progressive alt-weekly known affectionately as the Indy – went dark in […]
Pikes Peak Library District leadership, members of the PPLD board, and representatives from the PPLD Foundation gathered on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at Ruth Holley Library (685 N. Murray Blvd.) to celebrate the district’s purchase of the library’s formerly leased property. Inside the PPLD branch, a poster near a framed photograph of Ruth Holley tells the […]
