Colorado Springs Gazette

Ten unsolved Colorado murders: Read personal stories of the victims

The Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons website draws attention to unsolved murders, and we tried to do likewise in three posts last year -- in May, September and November. The ten crimes featured in this installment include two of the most famous unsolved crimes in Boulder history: the ... More >>

Coy Mathis, transgender first-grader, hits New York Times as school district responds

Update: In recent weeks, we've told you about Coy Mathis, a Fountain six year old who was born male but identifies as female. She's at the center of a dispute with the local district over access to the girl's restroom at her school; look below to see our previous coverage, complete with photos and v ... More >>

Glenn DeCarlo, alleged schmuck, tries to shoot housemate, instead hits son -- twice

The Schmuck of the Week Board of Directors at Westword want to make one thing clear: We don't recommend that you shoot anyone. And we really, really, really advise against doing so when one of your family members is in the line of fire -- which appears to be what happened in the case of Glenn DeCarl ... More >>

Brian Hedglin, Springs murder suspect, tries to hijack plane before killing himself

Update: Only hours after we posted about Brian Hedglin, a man sought by Colorado Springs authorities in the murder of Christina Cornejo (he was on bond for having allegedly harassing her earlier this year), he ended his life in a blaze of infamy. Hedglin reportedly tried to hijack a plane in Utah b ... More >>

Dog the Bounty Hunter: Our ten most memorable posts

As Patricia Calhoun noted earlier today, Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman's A&E reality show has been canceled after eight seasons. We're confident Colorado's favorite Dog will bounce back, and soon. But in the meantime, we're marking the program's passing with our ten most memorable posts abou ... More >>

Guy Cruz, probation officer, allegedly told woman no sex = jail

Guy Cruz is no longer a probation officer for the 4th Judicial District, and neither he is a high school tennis coach, the next gig he took up. But the Pueblo resident is in big trouble for allegedly threatening a parolee with jail or a loss of access to her son if she didn't get horizontal with him ... More >>

Toddler dumped in snow by car thief: "Help me, I'm cold"

"The Landlord," Will Ferrell's classic Funny Or Die skit, pivots on the hilarity of a toddler knocking at a front door. But there was nothing amusing about the tiny tap, tap, tap and ringing doorbell that awoke Colorado Springs' Traci Gilbert early Sunday morning. That's because the youngster standi ... More >>

Rayshawn Laster: Guilty plea for man who shot his mother, Facebooked about it

Rayshawn Laster has pleaded guilty to fatally shooting his mother in the head late last year. Which was pretty much his only option, since in the immediate aftermath of the slaying, he texted a confession and admitted on his Facebook page that he'd done something unforgivable.

John Burrell second soldier busted in Virgil Means killing near motorcycle club

Update: In recent days, Fort Carson-based Sergeant Christopher Mountjoy was arrested in the death of Virgil Means outside the Sin City Disciples motorcycle club. Now, a second soldier, John Burrell, has been arrested in the incident. He's being held on the charge of murder in the first degree.

Alexandra McLean tops list of five notorious teacher-student sex crimes

Our most recent choice for Shmuck of the Week was Englewood teacher Alexandra McLean, who allegedly cozied up to a student in a car following a performance of Lend Me a Tenor. Shocking? Sure, but not all that surprising. The last year has included an unfair share of local reports involving sexual ... More >>

Marcus Smith, man suspected of killing, burning remains of ex-deacon, 87: His apologetic past

The allegation is shocking: Colorado Springs Police believe Marcus Smith, 21, killed Kathryn "Kit" Grazioli, an 87-year-old former church deacon, and burned her body. This act contrasts strongly with an apology letter he wrote in regard to the theft of a computer and DVDs two years ago.

David Berkowitz, college administrator, accused of murder after being sold dirt as heroin

Flickr​David Berkowitz, 63, was once an enrollment director at the University of Phoenix, as well as a jewelry store owner in Aspen. But he's also alleged to have had a jones for heroin -- one that cops say led an associate working for him to kill a man as they looked for drug dealers who sol ... More >>

Arthur Baldwin allegedly fires shots, tries to grab student selling discount cards

Big pic below.​Most of us don't enjoy dealing with door-to-door salespersons. Even when they don't show up during dinner (which they usually do), they disrupt your personal time and space in irritating ways. But Arthur Baldwin allegedly took this dislike way too far... even before he grabbed ... More >>

Doug Lamborn named Keith Olbermann's Worst Person in the World for tar-baby line (VIDEO)

Doug Lamborn.​Yesterday, a Colorado Springs Gazette editorial and a big percentage of online poll takers deemed Congressman Doug Lamborn's line that compared being associated with Barack Obama to touching a tar baby no big deal. Keith Olbermann begs to differ. On his Current TV show last nigh ... More >>

Doug Lamborn's Barack Obama-tar baby remark: Intentionally racist or harmless?

Lamborn.​As we reported yesterday, Doug Lamborn said that being associated with Barack Obama was like touching a tar baby during a Friday radio appearance -- a gaffe for which he's now apologized. But did he need to? An editorial in the Colorado Springs Gazette suggests it was really no big de ... More >>

Nick Sculac: Serenity Springs tiger sanctuary operator scammed $40,000 from volunteer

​There's more than one way to get mauled at a big-cat sanctuary. After he was attacked by a tiger at the Serenity Springs Wildlife Center last year, a volunteer then had the bite put on him by the refuge's founder -- who claimed that the victim had to pay $40,500 as his "share" of the result ... More >>

Tim Tebow: Rolling Stone piece praising him attacked for implying CO Springs hates gays

Tim Tebow and mom for FOTF.​Among the most commented pieces on the Colorado Springs Gazette's website in recent days has been an editorial spurred by a Westword post, "Tim Tebow: Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi Reluctantly Predicts Big Things for 'Kid Jesus.'" Not that Gazette editorialist Wayne ... More >>

Ted Haggard's new church moving to Pikes Peak Center: Too big too soon?

The main room at the Pikes Peak Center.​Comeback pastor Ted Haggard's new St. James church has been alternately praised for its feel-good message and derided as an empty infomercial due to the frequent presence of film crews recording his every prayer for a potential documentary. Which leaves ... More >>

"We don't need the Denver Post," says Colorado Pols' Jason Bane

A surprised Jason Bane.​Yesterday, Colorado Pols, Denver's preeminent political website, published a legal-action-threatening piece revealing that it had received a letter from attorney Christopher Beall, representing Denver Post owner MediaNews Group and two other newspaper companies. The all ... More >>

Scott McInnis zipping lips about jobs -- if they have to do with medical marijuana

Scott McInnis.​If elected, Scott McInnis pledges that he will be a jobs governor. But if those jobs are related to the burgeoning medical marijuana industry, he -- or at least his spokesman, Sean Duffy -- isn't all that interested in talking about them these days.

Medical marijuana dispensary ban on Colorado Springs ballot?: Petition application filed

Petitioners want this outlawed.​Does Colorado Springs' conservatism stop at the bong? That's the view of some participants in the community's medical marijuana scene thanks to moves by the Springs city council to regulate, not crush, the industry. Nonetheless, there's a citizen-led move afoot ... More >>

Medical marijuana booster hit by Fountain city councilman near mayor, district attorney

Harold Thompson.​How to liven up a boring city council meeting? Get one of the councilmen to throw an elbow to the face of a medical marijuana patient who's just called him a son of a bitch. That's apparently what happened at the Fountain City Council meeting last night in an altercation betw ... More >>

Ted Haggard's new church attendance on the low end of his predictions

Ted Haggard pimping his church to Joy Behar.​Ted Haggard announced the launch of a new church last week with the help of a Los Angeles PR firm that's gotten him some high profile platforms from which to pitch the project. Included among them was his appearance alongside long-suffering wife Ga ... More >>

Pigs tied up, beaten at historic farm

A photo from the Venetucci Farm website.​Stories of animal abuse don't get much stranger or more disgusting that the one involving two pigs at Venetucci Farm, a 190-acre spread near Colorado Springs that was donated to the Pikes Peak Community Foundation in 2006. According to Lieutenant Lari ... More >>

CU Hires Three Pulitzer Winners

Some of newspapering's best and brightest are trading journalism for academia — including three Pulitzer winners hired at CU.

Shine On

The creative breakup of former business collaborators leads to one new magazine, with another on the way. Can the city support both of them?

Life Swap

More newspaper reporters are taking the leap to TV -- a move some print pros still see as consorting with the enemy.

High Road

An online newspaper takes on the big boys.

Trading Places

The Post moves staffers outside their comfort zones.

Maniacal

Is ManiaTV! the future, or a new version of the past?

The Bus Stopped Here

Along for the ride on the Silver City Express.

The Message

Taking a Leak

The Message

Business Call

The Message

A hard-nosed TV reporter is peddling a new line -- of cosmetics.

Interpreting the Signals

Does the sale of five major Denver radio stations mean big changes, or more of the same?

YOUtv and You

What if they put a TV camera in a mall and nobody cared?

Letters to the Editor

From the week of March 22, 2001

Credit Check

Can borrowing an idea without fessing up be considered plagiarism?

That Old Fighting Spirit

At Coors Field, there's hitting on the field -- and in the press box.

Eyes on the Prize

The dailies jockey for position for the Pulitzer.

Twenty-First Century Fox

Channel 31 staffs up for its evening news show.

The Bus Stops Here

The end of the line for the Post's editor; Colorado Rockies refuse to get onboard a RTD proposal.

Flight Diversions

Rumors won't fly with those who lost their loved ones in a Colorado Springs plane crash.

Off Limits

Off Limits

The Last Writes

Pikes Peak or Bust

The Win Crowd

INK-STAINED KVETCHES

MEDIA COVERAGE OF DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IS CREATING ITS OWN TURBULENCE.

FLACK ATTACK

HOW PR BIGWIGS TRIED TO PULL DIA OUT OF A TAILSPIN.