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Denver Civic Center may become National Historic Landmark

Submitted by KDVR Web Staff
Wednesday, May 16th, 2012, 1:40pm

DENVER – Denver Civic Center may join the ranks of historic sites such as the Empire State Building, the Alamo, and the Library of Congress as a National Historic Landmark.

The designation would include Civic Center Park, Veteran’s Park, the McNichols Building, the City and County Building and the Colorado State Capitol.

 “For Civic Center to receive the honor of becoming National Historic Landmark would shine a spotlight on this city treasure and help to deliver Denver as a world-class city,” said Denver Mayor Michael Hancock while testifying at a National Park System committee meeting Tuesday.

The recommendation will go to the National Park Service Advisory Board on May 22nd and 23rd for further consideration.

U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will be the one to officially designate the new Historic Landmarks.

by Catrina Linhard

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Denver 911 operator fired after suspect shoots, kills man

Submitted by KDVR Web Staff
Wednesday, May 16th, 2012, 9:17am

DENVER — The city fired a 911 dispatcher for an incident in March that ended with a suspect shooting and killing a man.

The family of Jimma Reat blames the 911 operator for the murder, and city officials apologized for the decisions made that led to his death.

Reat and three of his brothers were harassed by four other men. The attackers allegedly used racial slurs and broke out a window by throwing a beer bottle at the car Reat was a passenger in.

The brothers escaped to Wheat Ridge from the scene in Denver. But the 911 operator told them to go back to Denver in order to file a report.

The attackers found them before police did, and Jimma Reat was shot and killed.

The city sent the 911 operator a letter of termination effective Tuesday.

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Denver-area construction jobs: not enough workers to go around

Submitted by KDVR Web Staff
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012, 9:35pm

DENVER — There’s at least one booming industry in Colorado right now, desperately looking for workers:  the construction industry.  After a decade of doldrums, Colorado construction is hot again. 

Between February 2011 and February 2012, the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield area added 6,300 construction jobs, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.  That’s more than anywhere else in the United States. 

Right now, about 137,000 Coloradans are working in construction.  Times are good.

“The first quarter of 2012, we will equal the construction volume and revenue that we had in all of 2011,” said David Sinkey, managing director for Boulder Creek Builders.  His company is hard at work developing the Steel Ranch neighborhood in Louisville.  But there’s a problem.  He can’t find enough construction workers.

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2 Denver schools investigated for possible CSAP cheating

Submitted by KDVR Web Staff
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012, 5:10pm

DENVER – Denver Public Schools is asking the state to investigate possible cheating on the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) tests at two Denver elementary schools.

EdNewsColorado.org, a news website that covers education issues across the state, has identified the schools as Beach Court Elementary and Hallett Fundamental Academy.

The principals of both schools have been placed on paid administrative leave.

Beach Court has been among the district’s highest-performing, low-income schools for several years.

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Montoya sentenced to life in prison for murdering girl, 3

Submitted by KDVR Web Staff
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012, 2:47pm

DENVER – Angel Montoya, a Denver man found guilty of killing his girlfriend’s three-year-old daughter, was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole.

Earlier this month, Montoya, 27, was convicted of first degree murder, child abuse resulting in death and abuse of a corpse for the 2007 slaying of Neveah Gallegos.

He also received 48 years in prison for the child abuse resulting in death count and 12 months for abuse of a corpse, but the sentences were ordered to run concurrent with the life term.

According to the Denver District Attorney’s Office, Miriam Gallegos left her daughter in Montoya’s care on Sept. 21, 2007, and then went to work at her job at Sports Authority. When she returned to their Capitol Hill apartment later that day, she found her daughter’s body under a blanket.

Montoya, according to prosecutors, kept telling his girlfriend “I didn’t do it,” but then organized a plan to conceal the crime with Gallegos’ help.

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Exclusive: girlfriend of OneRepublic drummer describes fight

Submitted by KDVR Web Staff
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012, 10:33am

DENVER – Edward Fisher, drummer for the popular alt rock band OneRepublic, faces charges of Assault, Disturbing the Peace and Destruction of Private Property after -according to his girlfriend- he went on a violent rampage inside a Denver home.

Police responded to the home in the 600 block of Clermont St. early Tuesday morning.

Loni Rae says the incident began with a verbal argument, but quickly escalated.

“Things just got out of hand and he snapped…and my entire cabinets are ripped off from my walls,” Rae told reporter Greg Nieto in an exclusive interview. “I had my feet up against the wall trying not to let him in, and he busted through the door and he pushed me through the cabinets.”

Rae did not explain the nature of the argument.

Fisher, 38, is being held at the Denver Justice Center pending a court appearance Wednesday afternoon.

He declined our request for an interview.

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Young workers migrating to Denver

Submitted by KDVR Web Staff
Monday, May 14th, 2012, 10:38pm

DENVER — All this week, on every FOX 31 Denver newscast, we’re talking about jobs.  So how is the employment picture in Denver?  Despite what you may have heard, it’s not that bad.  The mayor and business leaders tell us, the job situation here is improving, in part because there’s been an influx of young people moving here, bringing jobs with them.

You may be surprised to learn, Colorado is now the number one relocation destination in the entire country for workers ages 25-to-44 years old.

People like Fox Clarke and his wife Sangeeta.  They moved to Denver from Washington DC about a year ago.  Like so many other people their age, they were drawn by the weather, the way of life and the people.

“Everyone is just so open when you come here compared to the east coast,” Fox Clarke told us.

But are there enough jobs to support this influx?

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