The Mesa State College men’s basketball team shot 54.5 percent from the field and had five players reach double figures in a 92-64 rout of Asuza Pacific today in the first round of the Colorado School of Mines tournament in Golden.

Mike Dominguez scored 21 points in his Mesa State debut, Lance Fite had 18 in his first game as a Maverick, Jase Herl had 15 and Michael Bear and Ryan Mortensen 10 each.

Mesa State, which plays Southwestern Assemblies of God on Saturday, led 43-35 at halftime and was never challenged.

The Mesa State women’s basketball team couldn’t hold onto a halftime lead today and lost its season opener 72-64 to Northwest (Idaho) Nazarene University in the Western Oregon University tournament in Monmouth, Ore.

Jennifer Landers led Mesa State with 21 points and Meagan Selvidge and Courtney McCaig added 14 each.

Mesa State led 61-60 with 3:18 to play, fighting back after being outscored 20-9 in the first eight minutes of the second half, but was outscore 12-3 down the stretch.

The Mavericks (0-1) play Western Oregon on Saturday evening and have their first home game Nov. 30 against Northern New Mexico.

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man charged with threatening a government informant at the center of an artifact looting case has pleaded guilty.

Charles Denton Armstrong pleaded guilty today in federal court to a charge of retaliating against a government informant.

The 44-year-old Blanding resident was accused of plotting to hurt the undercover artifacts dealer “real bad” by beating him with a baseball bat.

The operative set up a bust of 26 people in the Four Corners region on charges of collecting or trafficking in plundered American Indian artifacts from federal and tribal lands.

Armstrong is expected to get one year in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 1. He’s been held since his July 13 arrest.

BRECKENRIDGE — A 14-year-old Colorado girl has died after an accident on an intermediate trail at Breckenridge Ski Resort.

The resort says ski patrol was summoned to the trail at 11:48 a.m. today. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The resort didn’t release the girl’s name or details on what happened but said she was wearing a helmet.

Coroner’s officials planned to release more information later.

State Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, will decide over the holidays whether to seek his old Senate seat, after backing out of the campaign for the Republican nomination for governor.

In the meantime, he said he’ll return what’s left of his gubernatorial campaign chest to the donors who contributed to that bid.

He remains committed to defeating Gov. Bill Ritter, however, he told about 160 Republicans at their monthly luncheon today at Two Rivers Convention Center.

Read the full story in the Saturday edition of the Daily Sentinel, or overnight on GJSentinel.com.

Weeks after authorities suspect Miriam Helmick abandoned her home in Whitewater in July 2008 and left for Florida, a daughter of her slain husband found a folded-up prenuptial agreement tucked away in a desk at the home.

Portia Vigil, of Delta, read in court Friday morning sections of the document, including those addressing what should happen to property acquired after Alan and Miriam Helmick had married.

“You agree it does not ever say what should happen to things acquired after the marriage?” asked Assistant District Attorney Rich Tuttle.

“Yes,” Vigil replied.

Vigil, Alan Helmick’s eldest daughter, testified the document appeared hand-written by her father. Prosecutors have questioned whether it was legally binding and intend to call expert witnesses next week to testify about the document and the status of Alan Helmick’s estate in June 2008.

Vigil testified this morning that Miriam Helmick had told her in May 2008 that the couple’s prenuptial agreement allowed for her take all property acquired by the couple after their marriage in June 2006.

Vigil testified to repeated calls to her father’s cell phone, most of which went straight into Alan Helmick’s voicemail, and having to phone Miriam Helmick to relay messages in the months leading up Alan Helmick’s murder.

Alan Helmick, 64, was shot in the back of the head at his home in Whitewater on June 10, 2008. Miriam Helmick, 52, stands accused of his murder.

Read more overnight at gjsentinel.com or in Saturday’s edition of The Daily Sentinel.

DENVER — Colorado unemployment continues to decline with the latest figures showing the seasonally adjusted rate for October at 6.9 percent.

That’s a slight decline from September, when the rate was at 7 percent. It was 7.3 percent in August. Colorado’s unemployment rate last October was 5.3 percent.

The figures released today by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment show that about 184,300 residents are looking for work. At the same time, state officials say that some of the Colorado’s biggest industries also added jobs in October. Government added 7,300 more and there were 1,900 added in education and health services

The national unemployment rate is 10.2 percent.

Energy Fuels Resources Corp. has submitted its application for a state radioactive materials license for its proposed uranium and vanadium mill west of Naturita.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has 30 days to determine the application’s completeness. A positive determination would kick off a comprehensive technical evaluation by the department. The department also would begin accepting public comments on the project, and Energy Fuels would have to hold public meetings.

A final decision by the state could take a year or more to make.

Montrose County commissioners previously provided land-use approval for the uranium mill, which would be the first built in the United States in more than 25 years.

The state application will be available by clicking here and at the Nucla Public Library and Montrose County Planning and Development office in Montrose.

VAIL — Prosecutors plan to file charges Monday against a man suspected of killing one person and wounding three others in a shooting at a bar in Vail.

Police say 63-year-old Richard “Rossi” Moreau killed Carbondale doctor Gary Bruce Kitching in the Nov. 7 shooting.

Prosecutors have been considering filing first-degree murder charges against Moreau but district attorney Mark Hurlbert said Thursday that the charges haven’t been finalized.

Moreau told the Vail Daily in 2007 that he was taking medication for post-traumatic stress disorder he suffered after serving in Vietnam in the late ’60s. He said he is a New Hampshire native who moved to Vail in 1970 and skis more than 150 days a year.

Search warrant affidavits in the case have been sealed.

The Mesa County Health Department is taking up to 600 appointments today for the ’seasonal’ flu vaccine, not the H1N1 vaccine, according to a press release from the Health Department.

Because there is low demand for the vaccine appointments are being offered to an expanded list of individuals deemed by the Health Department to be in high risk groups.

The vaccinations are $20 per dose and will be administered on Saturday. To get the vaccine an appointment is necessary and people must be in one of the high risk groups.

Those considered by the Health Department to be at high risk, and therefore qualify to receive the vaccine, are:

- Pregnant women.

- Caregivers and household contacts of children less than 6 months old.

- All adults 19 years old and older.

To make an appointment call 683-6636 or visit the Health Department on line at www.health.mesacounty.us.

Appointments will be available beginning at 8:30 a.m. today and will be taken until all appointments are filled.

The director of the Health Department, Dr. Michael Aduddell, said the seasonal flu vaccine is temporarily in short supply because companies that make the vaccine also had to produce the H1N1 vaccine.

“As a result of the manufacturing and distribution of H1N1 vaccine, some seasonal flu vaccine production has been delayed,” Aduddel said. “The Health Department has received a limited supply of seasonal vaccine and we want to make sure those at highest risk have the opportunity to be vaccinated.”