Colorado

Seventh international sister city of Colorado Springs announced

Published

2 years ago

July 31, 2022

Seventh international sister city of Colorado Springs announced

Kranj, Slovenia, will be a part of cities from Greece, Japan, Mexico, Australia, Kyrgyzstan and Taiwan because the seventh sister metropolis to Colorado Springs.

Smolensk, Russia, was once an official sister metropolis, the persevering with struggle in Ukraine cited as cause for it to be faraway from the listing.

Kranj continues a practice that began in 1962, when Colorado Springs partnered with Fujiyoshida, Japan, a relationship that has been maintained to today.

Whereas on paper, there could not appear to be many similarities between Kranj and Colorado Springs. Digging deeper reveals these connections: Kranj is a hub for skilled sports activities and it’s nestled on the base of the Slovenian Alps, simply as Colorado Springs sits on the foot of Pikes Peak.

“As house to world-class sports activities infrastructure and elite athletes that practice in Kranj and signify Slovenia on the world’s largest stage, I sit up for working alongside Colorado Springs-Olympic Metropolis USA,” Kranj Mayor Matjaž Rakovec mentioned.

However what are sister cities, and the way did they arrive about within the first place? To know this, one should wind the clock again, all the way in which to World Conflict II, the place two separate occasions united a metropolis within the Soviet Union and England.

In 1940, the city of Coventry was closely bombed by the German Luftwaffe. Two years later, the Soviet metropolis of Stalingrad was surrounded by the German Military, and residents and troopers suffered tremendously.

Seeing this, the mayor of Coventry despatched a telegram to Stalingrad acknowledging their shared struggling and impressed the official “twinning” to happen in 1944.

In the US, Sister Cities Worldwide (SCI) was began by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 as a technique to “champion peace and prosperity” by “fostering bonds” amongst individuals from world wide.

“And it is hopeful that [SCI] would cut back wars and preventing as a result of usually, when individuals do not find out about folks and do not perceive, then that creates concern,” mentioned Donna Nelson, the chairman of the Colorado Springs Conservatory.

Nelson toured the U.S. Olympic Coaching Middle with representatives from Kranj, underscoring the connections the cities have in skilled sports activities and Olympic competitors.

After partnering with historic Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Video games, an envoy competitors was created. Known as the Younger champion Ambassadors, this program offers the winner the chance to journey to the Olympic opening ceremonies.

“The winner travels with us to Greece,” Nelson mentioned. “That winner carries one of many Olympic torches within the torch relay that begins in Historic Olympia, Greece, and ends wherever the Olympics are.”

Ambassadors have been in a position to take part within the 2020 video games, even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and introduced house the Olympic torches for show within the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum.

Colorado Springs’ different sister cities are Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; Nuevo Casas Gandes, Mexico; Canterbury-Bankstown, Australia; and Historic Olympia, Greece.

When working with Fujiyoshida, Japanese households may have their baby stick with an American household for one to 2 weeks. This may even imply assembly with the mayor and Metropolis Council members as town does its finest to teach the customer on how issues run.

That is also a two-way avenue, and in a go to to Fujiyoshida, members of town authorities have been in a position to observe a “sustainable good city.” In line with Nelson, Springs Mayor John Suthers was impressed and led discussions on how combine “smart-town” developments into Colorado Springs.

So far as prices go, Nelson estimated charges can run wherever from $100-$2,000. She pressured that town all the time tries to maintain prices low and has usually labored with native companies to get diminished pricing.

“Town pays for the mayor and myself, and anybody else that comes with us — they pay for their very own flight,” Nelson mentioned. “Once we get to the worldwide nation, they deal with every little thing from the second we get on the bottom — the entire transportation, the inns, the meals, every little thing.”

Past the cultural trade, the sister-cities program brings about some financial growth and cooperation. Delegates from Kranj have been in a position to community with Springs-based tech firm Altia. Founder and CEO Mike Juran was “excited to do much more work,” in line with Nelson.

This can be a pure evolution of conversations individuals have, Nelson mentioned. The primary goal of establishing sister cities is cultural trade and bonding — breaking down limitations and studying new methods of doing issues that may be utilized to our lives.

“And that is actually what’s been occurring this week. When individuals have been asking, ‘oh, you are changing into sister cities with Kranj, Slovenia? What do we’ve got in frequent with them? We do not have something in frequent with them,’” Nelson mentioned. “We’ve a lot in frequent. In all of our conferences, everybody’s mouth is sort of by no means closed, as a result of they’re always saying, ‘Wow, wow, wow, we’re a lot the identical.’”

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Colorado

Colorado invests in kids’ education to curtail adult crime | BIDLACK

Published

6 hours ago

June 28, 2024

Press Room

Colorado invests in kids’ education to curtail adult crime | BIDLACK

Hal Bidlack

Well, the Colorado primary is in the rear-view mirror (as a kid, did anyone else think it was the “rear-voom mirror? I did). I know you and my editors would like me to write yet another detailed and lengthy analysis of the election results, right? (Editor: not so much.)

Ok, let’s talk about education.

As reported in Colorado Politics, with Gov. Jared Polis’s signature, Colorado has become the first state in the nation to create a “bill of rights” regarding education for students who become entangled in the legal system. I like it when we lead the nation.

As explained in Senate Bill 1216, the bill supports youth in the juvenile justice system. It establishes a bill of educational rights in a number of ways. The bill lists eight specific rights, though it also notes this list is not exhaustive and other rights may well exist.

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The goal is to get these young offenders to stay in school or return to school if they left. The new law requires students who are in the juvenile court to have alternative solutions to a general education, when appropriate, as well as providing for their prompt enrollment in educational programs and appropriate credit for course work completed while the student is, as the bill puts it, “justice-engaged,” which I assume means in custody or other judicial involvement. Currently, we see 66% of youth involved in the justice system dropping out of school before completing high school and only 1% end up getting a college degree.

Now, I can almost hear the eye-rolls of my conservative friends, who want to complain about yet another fuzzy liberal program to help criminals. But it is rather the opposite. Many studies have shown a person’s lack of education increases the likelihood the individual will become involved in crime or other antisocial behaviors. The investment made in education for, say, a first-time 16-year-old offender, will certainly be cheaper than long-term incarceration should that person, as an adult, again become engaged in criminal activity. The bill allocates $82,883 (an odd number to pick?) to kick the program off, and given it costs more than half that amount just to incarcerate a single prisoner for a year in Colorado, if successful the new program will pay for itself almost immediately.

I’m hoping the program will ultimately include trade school education, as we will always need HVAC experts, plumbers, electricians and other skilled tradespeople. I was fortunate enough to have the Air Force pay for my Ph.D., but I will readily admit a person who can fix a leaky pipe or a bad light-switch is more valuable to most Coloradans than anyone with a doctorate.

We live in an odd political era, when the GOP presidential candidate is calling for the halving of the federal Department of Education as well as other cuts to programs that, well, help people who are not rich. And if you are even a bit seduced by the MAGA message, please note it is in your personal benefit to support educational programs. More educated communities have less crime and more employment.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the unemployment rate for those without a high school diploma was 9.6%, far higher than the 3.7% we see nationally. And yet the national rate for those with a bachelor’s degree is even lower, at 2.7%. So, more education, especially to the level of high school graduate, equates to more people paying taxes and not taking federal benefits. So, supporting education for these kids will, over time, put money into the system rather than taking it out, and that’s a good thing.

No doubt the new bill will have its growing pains, and we will learn as we go along how to make the program better and more efficient. That said, the new law seems an excellent and inexpensive starting point. Heck, if it only ends up keeping two kids out of jail, it will pay for its initial costs. But more than that, a program to give kids a shot at a diploma will make our cities safer and the kids involved will have a sense of pride in their accomplishment, and they will face a much brighter future.

Once again, Colorado leads on education, and that is something we can all be proud of.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

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Colorado

Preview | LAFC vs. Colorado 6/29/24 | Los Angeles Football Club

Published

13 hours ago

June 27, 2024

Press Room

Preview | LAFC vs. Colorado 6/29/24 | Los Angeles Football Club

The Black & Gold Can Win If:

It can remain focused on the task at hand as a primetime matchup against cross-town rivals, LA Galaxy, looms on the Fourth of July at the Rose Bowl. LAFC needs to continue to harness the hot play of Denis Bouanga and Mateusz Bogusz. Bogusz has a goal or an assist in all eight games during LAFC’s current league unbeaten streak. Additionally, LAFC is unbeaten at 10W-0L-1D this season when Bouanga has a goal or an assist.

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Colorado

Colorado State Patrol gives away free steering wheel locks to curb car thefts

Published

20 hours ago

June 27, 2024

Press Room

Colorado State Patrol gives away free steering wheel locks to curb car thefts

As car thefts in Colorado continue to be an issue, the Colorado State Patrol is expanding its program which was created to curb those thefts. Troopers tell CBS Colorado that car thefts are down 20% but they want to see it non-existent so they are providing a free steering wheel lock for anyone who needs one.

Your First Alert Traffic Tracker Reporter Brian Sherrod met with Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority Public Outreach Coordinator Cale Gould to discuss the importance of this program. Gould tells CBS Colorado a steering wheel lock is a great device to help increase physical vehicle security. Drivers can get a wheel lock by providing the VIN of the vehicle for which they want the added protection. There is a limit of one wheel lock per person.

The Colorado State Patrol gave away free steering wheel locks to curb car thefts.

CBS

Gould tells CBS Colorado reducing auto theft in Colorado has a ripple effect in communities. When auto theft is reduced, other crime types and incidents also show reductions.

A quality theft prevention routine considers many possible factors to help deter and prevent vehicle theft. This should always include locking your car every time; no matter where or how long you will be away from it. Locked vehicles are the most secure when all keys are removed from them. Gould says to always take extra, spare, or valet keys out of a vehicle.

Then, once fully locked and secured, make sure your car is clean. Gould says thieves hate clean cars. What may seem like trash or unimportant items, like change, gym bags, or shopping bags from stores, may not catch your interest, but small things left visible in a vehicle can get a thief to target your vehicle over a vehicle without anything left in it. Take all items out of your vehicle and place any necessary items out of sight in the glove box or trunk.

CBS Colorado First Alert Traffic Tracker Reporter Brian Sherrod with Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority Public Outreach Coordinator Cale Gould.

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“We always say clean out your car and don’t leave things in there, Gould said. “People don’t realize the things they leave. If you were looking at two identical cars and a thief was going to steal one of them and one of them is full of stuff, it doesn’t make people want to break into the clean car. Thieves hate clean cars.”

Primary distribution happens out of the Colorado State Patrol Records Department located at 700 Kipling Street in Lakewood. Locks can be picked up Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. excluding holidays. There is a limit of one lock per person.

Other locations include:

Alamosa – Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. 3110 First Street, Alamosa, CO 8110
Castle Rock – Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Troop 1B 4600 Castleton Court, Castle Rock, CO 80109. Out of stock till 7/07
Colorado Springs – Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Bring a VIN for registration. Troop 2B, 1480 Quail Lake Loop Colorado Springs, CO 80906 (719) 635-0385
Craig – Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. 800 W. 1st Street #400 Craig, CO 81625
Durango – Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. and at special events. Troop 5A, 20591 Hwy 160 Durango, CO 81301
Florence – Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. 600 W. 3rd Street Suite C Florence, CO 81226 – 719-784-3275
Ft. Collins Pick Up – Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Bring a VIN for registration. Troop 3C, 3832 S. Interstate 25 Fort Collins, CO 80525 (Just North of Harmony Rd Exit headed North on I-25)
Golden – Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Troop 1A/E, 1096 McIntyre St, Golden, CO 80401
Pueblo – Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Troop 2D, 5615 Wills Blvd, Pueblo, CO 81008. Out of stock until 6/28

Check the nearest location for distribution information and hours.

Brian Sherrod

Brian Sherrod is a multimedia journalist and the First Alert Traffic Tracker Reporter at CBS News Colorado. Read his latest reports or check out his bio and send him an email.

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