The City Auditorâs Office released an audit report on April 3 addressing allegations made to the that officeâs Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline that an âelected officialâs security detail was completing tasks on behalf of the official,â and that the âelected official used their City-issued vehicle for personal use.â While the report didnât identify the […]
Colorado Springs Utilities will consider moving the Horizon Power Plant from the Horizon Utility Campus southeast of the Colorado Springs Airport after a federal government-sanctioned panel determined that plumes the plant would emit would pose âa high-risk hazard for aircraft.â Itâs not clear how much it would cost to relocate the power plant from the […]
Preparing for likely drought Bracing for what could be a dry season, the Colorado Springs Utilities Board resolved on Wednesday to enter âwater shortage preparation,â a move that staff said would provide more operational tools to survive drought conditions this year. The board also called for higher awareness and more education for Utilities customers to […]
As data centers gain steam across the United States, Colorado Springs, too, has seen several centers set up shop and several more submit requests for their power- and water-thirsty facilities used for artificial intelligence and other data computing uses. But is Colorado Springs Utilities positioned to welcome these new data centers? What limits, if any, […]
After 16 months of litigating a lawsuit over its fiber project, Colorado Springs Utilities has agreed to settle the case by paying ADB Companies LLC $5.35 million. The lawsuit, filed in October 2024, was first reported by the Bulletin in November. It was scheduled to go to trial in April, but both parties signed off […]
A lot is riding on Senate Bill 26-022. If it passes, Colorado Springs Utilities will be allowed to keep the coal-fired Ray D. Nixon Power Plant running, possibly for another 14 years. That would mean the plant, five miles south of Fountain, would continue to churn out over 1.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide […]
A former employee of the nonprofit Colorado Springs Community Cultural Collective, Brian Parsons, has prevailed in a complaint filed with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE)âs Division of Labor Standards and Statistics. The Collective operated several workforce programs under the banner of Opus Creative Industries. Opus announced it would close on March 31, […]
The Pikes Peak Workforce Center is negotiating with state officials about whether it must return $828,371 in grant money after the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) deemed that amount had been spent on âdisallowedâ expenses by a nonprofit funded by the grant. The negotiations are part of a lawsuit filed by the Workforce […]
Colorado Springs Councilmember Kimberly Gold has been formally reprimanded by Council President Lynette Crow-Iverson for comments and social media posts she made on Jan. 13 in response to Councilmember Dave Donelsonâs reaction to a group of faith leaders who made public comments to Council critical of federal immigration operations. The faith leaders spoke in the […]
The parent company of Colorado Springs Utilitiesâ anchor tenant for its $600 million high-speed broadband fiber project is selling the subsidiary, according to a published report. Itâs unclear what this means for the Utilities project, which the Bulletin reported last month has been behind schedule and has led to litigation in both federal and state […]
A project that aims to make Colorado Springs a gig city has been plagued by delays and has triggered two lawsuits, one headed to trial next year. Although Colorado Springs Utilities says thereâs little to no risk in fronting up to $600 million in ratepayer money to install broadband fiber citywide, its business partner, Ting […]
Last week, I had the pleasure to hear what the City of Colorado Springs has up its sleeve for the years to come, as well as a general update to where things currently stand on several fronts. These briefings came in the form of community meetings. Colorado Springs Utilities’ ratepayer session nearly filled COS City […]
The other day, a link popped into my text messages from Research-Polls, saying it was “conducting a study on local issues in Colorado.” The first question was whether I viewed Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade favorably or unfavorably. The same question regarding City Council came next. Then, the poll rolled out what I’d consider a […]
Last October, I noted in this space that Cami Bremer must be a superwoman, considering she took on a new full-time job while remaining in her El Paso County commissioner seat. That fulltime job was CEO of Pikes Peak United Way. As best I could calculate, not being privy to her salary deal with United […]
In case you haven’t heard, Colorado Springs has been laid at the altar of Trump. In mid-March, while attending the National League of Cities, Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade met with President Trump’s staff at the Intergovernmental Office of Affairs. During that meeting, he offered the city as a guinea pig. He told the Gazette […]
OK. I admit it. I’m addicted. For 32 years I’ve been getting my fix every morning after retrieving my drug from my driveway. But now, the soaring cost of this addictive substance might thwart my continued reliance on it. I’m talking about the Colorado Springs Gazette, a daily newspaper where I worked for 16 years […]
Manitou Springs and Palmer Lake must be feeling jubilant. With Colorado Springs City Council promoting a posture of temperance on retail marijuana, those two bedroom communities where retail pot is legal might continue to corner the local market and collect millions of dollars in cannabis taxes from Colorado Springs residents, if Council gets its way. […]
Homelessness in America reached a record high number in 2024, at 771,480, according to a recent release from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. However, the official count here in El Paso County, conducted in early 2024, was lower than in 2023: 1,146 people were homeless, with 259 considered unsheltered, a 31% drop […]
When voters rejected Mayor Yemi Moboladeâs and City Councilâs proposed ban on retail marijuana sales on Nov. 5, they handed the mayor his second defeat at the polls in less than two years in office. The first was in November 2023 when Mobolade asked taxpayers to allow the city to keep $4.75 million in Taxpayerâs […]
I‘ve covered plenty of elections in my 45 years of government reporting. But I’d never worked an election as a contractor for the election department. It was an eye-opener. First off, for all those misguided people who think the 2020 election was “stolen,” please. This process is ironclad. In any event, I could have been […]
