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Monday, May 12, 2008
Palisade hires basketball coaches
Palisade High School has announced its girls and boys basketball coaches for the 2008-09 season. Both are familiar names on the Western Slope.
The new Bulldogs girls coach is Toni Gunther. A volleyball and girls basketball coach at Plateau Valley High School in Collbran for the past seven seasons, Gunther is a Palisade resident. She will teach at the school.
The boys basketball coach is retiring Mesa County Valley School District 51 Athletic Director Steve Phillips.
Phillips was the head boys coach at Central High School for 17 seasons. He was a five-time Southwestern League coach of the year. His 1989-90 Warriors team went unbeaten in winning the Class AAA state championship.
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Higher education construction gets financial boost
DENVER (AP) — Governor Bill Ritter says higher education will get a one-time boost of about $200 million in construction money from a new law governing oil and gas revenue.
Ritter signed the measure today in front of a giant excavated pit on the Auraria Campus that will become the new science center for college students.
The governor says the bill also will provide money for 11 other college construction projects across the state.
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Controlled burn catches abandonded house
An abandoned house at 1063 25 Road went up in flames around 1:45 p.m. today when a controlled burn of weeds got out of control, said Mike Page, Grand Junction Fire Department spokesman.
The home had previously been hit with fire and was not occupied at the time.
“It was an old house that had fire back in 2005,” Page said. “So it was an old abandoned house”
The winds were relatively calm when the controlled burn was started. Flames and smoke from the fire could be seen billowing hundreds of feet straight up into the sky as the house burned.
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UPDATE: One dead, I-70 closed after head-on accident
One person is dead, all eastbound lanes and one westbound lane of Interstate 70 were shut down at 1:35 p.m. today at 23 Road after a two-car, head-on accident just west of 24 Road, said Officer TJ Rix of the Grand Junction Police Department.
An infant and at least one other person were taken to area hospitals, according to dispatched reports.
According to a Daily Sentinel photographer on scene, it appears that a minivan was traveling the wrong direction in the eastbound lanes of the interstate and hit a red car head on with a woman and infant inside.
The accident scene is about an eighth of a mile east of the 23 Road overpass.
The highway is closed eastbound at 22 Road and could remain so until 6 p.m. or later. Motorists must exit there and can get back on the highway at 24 Road, said Mike Page, spokesman for the Grand Junction Fire Department.
— Sentinel staff
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Colorado’s unemployment benefits go paperless with Visa
DENVER (AP) — Colorado has begun paying unemployment benefits with a Visa debit card instead of a paper check.
The state Department of Labor and Employment began using the Colorado Automated Payment Card on Monday to pay unemployment benefits.
It’s expected to save $210,000 a year in postage.
The last unemployment check was printed Friday, ending a 73-year-old practice of using checks to make unemployment benefits payments.
The department says it would like to eventually offer direct deposit into recipient’s bank accounts.
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Missing Grand Junction man turns up dead in Edwards
A 28-year-old Grand Junction was discovered dead Sunday afternoon by a passer-by at an Edwards rest area, according to the Eagle County Sheriff’s Department.
The man, who was not identified, was reported missing Friday to the Grand Junction Police Department, the Sheriff’s Department said.
The man, who was found lying down in his vehicle, had been working as a repairman in the Edwards area, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
No foul play is suspected in the man’s death, the agency said in a statement.
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High winds to make burning unsafe today
High winds today are expected to make open burning unsafe today in Mesa County, according to the Mesa County Health Department.
Residents are advised to curtail burning until Tuesday, when safer weather conditions return.
The open red burning advisory in Mesa County is in effect until 6 p.m.
The National Weather Service has not issued a red flag warning today for the region, but winds in the valley are expected to be strong today as a cold front moves in.
A prescribed burn in the upper Kannah Creek watershed to be conducted by the Bureau of Land Management’s Interagency Fire Unit will be dependent on the weather. The burn should not affect the Grand Valley.
— Sentinel staff
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