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Colorado Springs Airtanker Base aims to help fight wildfires statewide

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2 years ago

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Colorado Springs Airtanker Base aims to help fight wildfires statewide


COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KDVR) — The Metropolis of Colorado Springs and the U.S. Forest Service are set to unveil a model new airtanker base Wednesday, one they hope will assist combat wildfires statewide. 

The Colorado Springs Airtanker Base would be the fourth of its form within the state, in keeping with the USFS, becoming a member of bases in Jefferson County, Durango and Grand Junction.

“On the subject of preventing fireplace, the extra sources now we have the higher off our guys on the bottom are going to be,” airtanker specialist Robby Cline mentioned.

Cline mentioned the bottom will permit firefighting plane to succeed in anyplace inside a 300-mile radius in a single hour. That features your entire state of Colorado, in addition to neighboring states, ought to assist be wanted.

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“If there’s a fireplace and we’re requested, we’re going to be there,” he mentioned. 

Cline mentioned the Colorado Springs airport has minimal industrial exercise in comparison with another bigger airports within the area, which ought to profit wildfire efforts.

“In the event that they’re preventing a fireplace in Boulder and so they can’t deal with as many planes or get the masses out sooner, we may even see some diverts coming down right here, the place we may help them maintain that sequence going and actually assist individuals up there,” Cline mentioned.

The bottom formally opens with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday. Cline mentioned they’ve already used the bottom to combat a number of early-season fires in Colorado, together with the latest Excessive Park Hearth. 

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Colorado

Benton’s Tedeschi commits to Colorado State

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June 29, 2024

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Benton’s Tedeschi commits to Colorado State





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Fans roast EA Sports' 'laughable' Colorado ranking in 'College Football 25'

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8 hours ago

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June 28, 2024

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Fans roast EA Sports' 'laughable' Colorado ranking in 'College Football 25'


EA Sports has released several rankings for its College Football 25 this week, teasing the July 19 release date for the much-awaited new game. When the company dropped the latest Power Rankings Friday, fans argued on social media about this team or that team’s relative ranking.

Yet fans universally seemed to agree on one ranking: Colorado is not the No. 16 team in the country.

Recall the Buffaloes started 3-0 last season under new coach Deion Sanders, and some fans had illusions of a College Football Playoff spot. But reality set in, and the Buffs dropped eight of nine to finish the season.

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That is not what anyone looks for in a potential top 20 program. The popular College Sports Only X account noted, “EA Sports really ranked Colorado the 16th best team in “College Football 25″ after going 4-8 last season & losing 8 of their last 9 games.”

EA Sports has shared details about how it wants to make the game as realistic as possible, even having CFB 25 announcers such as Chris Fowler call every conceivable scenario that might happen in game play. Fans have pointed out some slight errors in the game thus far. For example, the Texas State stadium was rendered in the game without an upper deck.

But even with Sanders coming in and energizing Colorado’s football program, rating the Buffaloes 16th is a huge stretch. And fans had plenty to say on social media.

[College Sports Only on X/Twitter]





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Nurses at Rocky Mountain VA rally for more staffing to serve Colorado veterans

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16 hours ago

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June 28, 2024

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Nurses at Rocky Mountain VA rally for more staffing to serve Colorado veterans


For Colorado ICU nurse Jordan LeBlanc, working at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center has been a rewarding experience because of his daily interaction with the veteran population.  

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“What could be greater than our veterans. They’re funny. They’re kind. They’re forgiving. They think that we know best, even when we don’t, but most of all they trust us,” said LeBlanc.

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It is that trust that nurses say they are pushing to protect, in the wake of what they say has been an ongoing hiring freeze from nationwide budget cuts to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“We have 57 open vacancies that are frontline,” said Sharda Fornnarino, who is the director of the local National Nurses United at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA. “That basically entails the ICU, med surge, the OR, some of our surgical areas as far as the outpatient surgeries, SCI and our mental health area.”

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On Thursday, nurses from the medical center rallied across the street from the building in Aurora to raise awareness about their existing staffing shortages and the challenges they have faced being able to serve the veteran population because of this shortage.

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LeBlanc says often nurses like him now have to take on a greater patient workload and sometimes work more hours to do so.

“Our ICU specifically has been staffed at less than 85% of its functional capacity,” he said. “Right now, we’re at 18 bed ICU that only 12 of the beds are open. They’ve closed six beds because of staffing levels.”

Nurses say the staffing challenges does not just affect their morale, but it can also compromise the relationship they have with each patient.

“Any veteran or any patient within our system will get less than they deserve, less than the total dignity that each individual really deserves to be provided,” he said.

VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes responded to nurses rallying across the country, saying there is no freeze on hiring nurses and they are continuing to hire nurses needed across the country. Hayes’s complete statement is as follows:

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VA’s top priority is providing the world-class care that Veterans deserve, and we are committed to making sure we have nursing staff we need to deliver the soonest and best care to Veterans.
There is no nationwide hiring freeze on VA nurses, and we are continuing to hire nurses, as needed, across the country to ensure that we can deliver world-class care to Veterans. Over the past 3 years, VA has aggressively hired nurses nationwide – increasing our nursing workforce by 14,000 nurses to a total of 122,000 nurses, the largest nursing workforce in the country and in the history of VA. VA is also retaining our great nurses, with turnover rates currently at 3.4% – far outperforming the private sector. There are also locations where we need to continue hiring nurses, and we are doing that – as demonstrated by the below hiring numbers.
Partly as a result of these hiring efforts and our great nurses, VA is currently delivering more care to more Veterans than ever before, outperforming non-VA care, and Veterans trust VA care at all-time record rates.

The VA’s office went on to share statistics on what they say have been all time high rates of veteran trust in VA care and decreasing wait times. However, Fornnarino says any hiring has been to fill strategic positions, where in reality all vacancies need to be filled.

“I haven’t seen more of those hires come to the bed side,” she said.

Nurses also worry the VA will become more privatized if staffing needs are not met.

“When we don’t have the staffing, we have these beds shut down,” said leBlanc. “That means that our veterans go to community care, and they’re not set up to provide veteran served ethical care.”

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