Sentinel Colorado 12.1.2022

MIND READING

Schools in Aurora and across the state lean into new reading science as skill levels struggle

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RTD’s double train-wreck takes out the R-Line and their credibility

I’m not an RTD light rail engineer and derailment investigator, but I can play one on TV.

I may have to.

That’s because it appears I, or someone, will have to step up and reveal to the public what the busy, very busy, RTD agency is doing to prevent yet a third derailment at a hair-pin turn in Aurora.

The five-year-old R-Line, which runs near Aurora’s city hall in central Aurora, derailed in September on a 90-degree turn at South Sable Boulevard and East Exposition Avenue.

Again.

Three people were injured when the train left the tracks instead of making the turn.

The same line jumped the tracks in the same place and the same way in 2019, injuring more people, including one woman whose leg was severed after being thrown from the train as it derailed.

A lengthy investigation into that derailment determined that — you may not believe this — that the driver of that train was going too fast to navigate the sharp, sharp turn, and it caused the train to jump the tracks.

So, months after this new derailment, what have we learned?

Nothing.

While the train has quit running, Aurora police and, maybe, someone from RTD or another agency has apparently been measuring and talking and, well, who knows how they’ve been investigating the crash, because no one will say.

RTD officials say there’s apparently some kind of a report about the crash, but they won’t reveal what’s in it or really who created it. It’s “confidential,” they say.

Why? They won’t say.

They will say that the report may be held secret by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. These are the people that regulate cab fares and grumble a little before allowing Xcel Energy to charge you whatever they damn well please for their monopolies on gas and electric service.

Why this board of political appointees would be involved in a serious investigation about now-repeated regional train derailments is as much a mystery as whatever is in the Aurora derailment report and the reason they want to keep it secret.

Aurora officials, perturbed, and also curious, like the rest of us, about what in the hell is going on at RTD and the Colorado PUC that trains flying off the tracks would be a private matter, made about as much progress as the flagging R-Line when RTD came to visit last week.

“I do not take lightly the disruption and inconvenience this service outage has caused for individuals who rely on the R Line on a daily basis,” the agency’s general manager and CEO, Debra Johnson, told the Aurora City Council while delivering an update with virtually no details last week.

That’s nice.

“Should a similar service disruption occur in the future, I submit to you that

RTD will strive to engage in a more robust communication and collaborative effort with municipal and county officials and stakeholders to educate and inform them regarding the timelines, processes and regulatory requirements related to the safe and complete restoration of transit services.”

Uh huh.

Going out on a limb, it seems, but perhaps the goal here could be to prevent another derailment, and answer questions about this one.

When Aurora Councilmember Steve Sundberg asked the question everyone keeps asking, did the train derail because the driver was going too fast on the tootight of curve, he was told that information is “confidential.” Johnson, however, said that he’s welcome, like the rest of us, to draw his own conclusion by watching the video of the little train that couldn’t, and didn’t.

If he were to watch the video from a street pole depicting the train racing into the turn like a Tokyo bullet train, and not the clunky hunk of mass transit it was, it would be “easy to surmise that speed was involved,” she said.

In fact, even I can surmise that there was no way in hell that train was going to stay on tracks that raise another question: “Who in the hell put a 90-degree turn there to begin with?”

Which leads to another question: “We’ve had rovers on Mars digging around for years, and we can’t make an

electric train automatically slow down on a hair-pin turn in Aurora, which is considered Mars by many in Denver?”

And, with all due respect to the thrill of confidentiality, les chat, it seems, has derailed itself out of the bag here.

The public only slightly less cares why the driver never hit the brakes, or why they didn’t work, or even if the driver had gotten off at the previous stop and racoons were driving the damn thing.

With the train starting back up this week, how does the public know this won’t happen again? And again?

Of course, answering that question would probably require divulging at least a hint about what might have happened back when daytime highs were in the 90s.

I think most of the public gets that this has something, or everything, to do with a train-load of people suing the hairpin turns out of RTD, but that doesn’t address the public that can see and hear that train a comin’ down the tracks again.

Not that RTD has totally blown their credibility here, along with the Colorado PUC, but it pretty much went off the tracks with the R-Line debacle.

Perhaps an attentive and concerned governor or an engaged RTD board and Legislature would see the danger of careening trains and reckless secrecy here and get this train wreck back on track.

DAVE PERRY Editor

RTD officials inspect the scene after a southbound R Line light rail train derailed at the intersection of Sable Boulevard and Exposition Avenue, the afternoon of Sept. 21. 2022.

Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado

Editorials Sentinel

Gun violence is the choice of a nation deluded by the gun industry and its toadies

The biggest misconception about the epidemic of mass shootings and gun violence is that Americans are forced to suffer this scourge.

In reality, we choose this nightmare.

Most Americans live under the illusion that the calamity of more than 600 mass shootings this year, and every year, is inevitable.

Despite what gun rights activists and lobbyists profess, the United States can reduce gun violence of all kinds.

There would be no greater tribute to those killed and maimed last week at Club Q in Colorado Springs, earlier in Uvalde, Texas or a decade ago at Sandy Hook Elementary School and during the Aurora theater shooting than to finally act as a nation to stem this national tragedy.

Like a growing number of American communities, the hindsight of Aurora victims is crystal clear: America should have acted before, but we must act now — and we can.

The once-honorable National Rifle Association has evolved to become a ruthless political arm of the nation’s $71-billion-a-year gun industry, an economic impact estimated by National Shooting Sports Foundation. The clear focus of the NRA and, locally, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, is to ensure the easy and prolific procurement, use and sale of firearms and ammunition. Over the past few decades, the NRA and others have deviously woven a gun-rights mythology with fierce patriotism.

There is nothing patriotic about turning firearms on fellow citizens about 80,000 times a year.

Americans are the unwitting subjects of a vastly expensive and relentless marketing scheme coupled with an ocean of money spent annually on ensuring compliance from obedient and fearful members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike.

The NRA mythology is pegged on equating the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, guaranteeing free speech, with the Second Amendment, preserving the ability of citizen militias to help defend the nation against foreign invaders. They have worked tirelessly to persuade Congress and voters that there should be no regulation of firearms in the same way there is virtually no regulation of speech.

The result is a chaotic free-for-all where about 80,000 Americans are killed or maimed each year by firearms. We are killed and wounded by guns at a rate that is 25 times higher than any other developed democratic nation. It is our nation’s biggest embarrassment and preventable tragedy.

Just hours after the Club Q massacre, as newspaper and TV cameras poked in the face of Americans just like they’ve done after every other American mass shooting, people said they had little hope anything would change. Offering thoughts and prayers, many say these massacres are simply the price we pay for our Second Amendment freedom.

It is hard to fathom anything more un-American than that cynical despair. This is the nation that has conquered the Moon, slavery, Nazi Germany, polio and even Donald Trump. We can and must find remedies to this deadly nation scourge.

First, we must compel our elected officials to review and decide gun legislation on its merits and not under the crushing political weight of the NRA and other gun-industry lobbies.

Their decisions must be in our interest, not that of the NRA and the gun industry.

Second, we must allow the Centers for Disease Control and other U.S. agencies to freely conduct firearms research, analysis and policy development. Currently Congress limits this, as directed by the NRA.

Third, all firearms must be registered and licensed, and all purchases must include a background check. The licensing must at least parallel what we demand to license cars and drivers. Scholars have long agreed this is possible under the Second Amendment, even after controversial recent Supreme Court rulings. It’s just been banned by the NRA for years. Annual licensing could ensure training, safe storage and even a medical exam to help detect dangerous mental illness. Licensing would greatly help to reduce the number of weapons legally and illegally carried and used by gangs and other criminals.

Fourth, Congress must vastly reduce the quantity of firearms and ammunition now easily purchased and legal that is nothing less than weaponry designed and needed only for military application. Large quantities of firearms and ammunition should warrant review the same way we require review of large quantities of any lethal substance or device.

We must reject the ludicrous arguments from gun-activists that, in the words of GOP Colorado Rep. Ken Buck, popular assault rifles are just rural farm implements used to kill bothersome raccoons. For those who faithfully believe they need military weaponry to protect themselves against an attack by our own government or by foreign agents, we suggest psychiatric care, not military weaponry. The U.S. military and our state militias are not shorted any weapon to ensure our defense. All other arguments are nothing but NRA deflections and fatuous complaints.

For those who insist these and other measures won’t reduce gun violence and mass murders, the dozens of free, Democratic nations across the globe that protect the rights of hunters and sportsmen and reasonably regulate firearms are proof that

CHRISTINE FLOWERS, CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST

Predictable progressive response after Club Q shooting

Following the tragic shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, it was predictable that along with the gun control discussions, the conversation would bleed out to include “hate speech.” It was also predictable that only conservatives would be blamed for that speech.

I understand the argument that going after someone because of their identity is an aggravating factor, and I even agree that it should be considered in sentencing. Having practiced immigration law for so many years, and specializing in asylum, I not only accept but vigorously defend the right of people to be protected against abuse on account of their race, religion, national origin, sexuality, politics or any other increment of their identity.

But even if I thought that it was helpful to graft an additional requirement onto the penal code, namely that some victims are more worthy than others (translation: Anyone but white Christian heterosexual cisgender males) laws against hate speech would never pass constitutional muster.

That’s also why I have a huge problem with the suggestion that opposing same sex marriage and, in the case of legislators, voting against legislation that would codify it and overturn the Defense of Marriage Act makes you a killer.

It’s not enough for those on the left to call their opponents bigots. They also have to make those on the right responsible for the bloody body count. Sadly, that seems to have boomeranged against them spectacularly in this case.

The Colorado shooter’s attorney announced that his client identifies as non-binary, and wants us to use the pronouns “they/them.”

The left reacted like deer in headlights, now that their preferred narrative was shattered.

If they accept that the shooter is a member of the LGBT community, they can’t blame Republican hate speech. If they say he’s just pretending to be non-binary as a legal defense, they are rejecting their central theory that everyone gets to define their own identity.

And this is the dilemma that hate speech leads us to.

On social media, I’m attacked and vilified with all sorts of slurs and comments I will not reproduce

verbatim here. None are legally defamatory or particularly galling, given my decades on the front line of hateful rhetoric.

And none of them were likely to incite someone to shoot me dead, even though they had a dehumanizing aspect. I would not accuse the people using this language of putting my life in danger.

As an aside, let me say that I have never been slandered by conservative men, and have found that males who self-identify as feminists have an impressive level of tolerance for misogyny against conservative women.

You only have to see the type of vitriol aimed at Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kellyanne Conway, Meghan McCain and every current and former female at Fox News not named Gretchen Carlson to see that name-calling is fine as long as the target is not a member of the favored political tribe.

And guess what? That’s OK. We’re all big girls.

None of us is whining about how the hatred is driving us to the edge of the ledge in our Jimmy Choos.

Which brings me back to my central point. When progressives try to blame every bad thing that happens against a minority on conservatives, they don’t need motive or weapons.

They weaponize words, which is the easiest way to gaslight the gullible into thinking that the pen is, to paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt, deadlier than the sword.

That’s foolish, insulting and un-American. Words can inspire, and they can anger. They can defame, and they can honor.

They can create countries, rend them asunder, and stitch the ragged edges together again.

What they cannot do is kill. And no amount of whining, scapegoating and passive aggressive lamentation over the dead bodies of real people can change that fact.

Those who even try, are shameful creatures.

I have choice words for them, but I don’t want to be accused of committing a felony. Christine Flowers is an attorney and a columnist for the Delaware County Daily Times, and can be reached at cflowers1961@gmail.com.

‘Hate is hate’

AFTER CLUB Q SHOOTING, AURORA CITY COUNCIL CONDEMNS LGBTQ HATE CRIMES

Following the shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs that killed five and injured dozens, Aurora’s City Council voted this week to formally condemn hate crimes against the LGBTQ community and encourage other municipalities to follow suit.

“This is not the first shooting targeting safe spaces in the LGBTQIA community, but this one does hit close to home,” council sponsor Crystal Murillo said.

BY MAX LEVY, Sentinel Staff Writer

“That’s a very fear-inducing and traumatizing event for anyone, but there’s an increase in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, and as a city, I think it is our job to help make people feel safe in our city.”

Members voted unanimously to pass the resolution, after Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky said she would prefer to vote on a resolution that did not focus on the LGBTQ community but instead addressed hate crimes in general.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a mosque that’s attacked, if it’s a synagogue that’s attacked, if it’s an LGBTQ nightclub attacked, it affects everyone,” she said during the council meeting. “Hate is hate, and I guess my issue with this is that it talks about hate solely committed against one group, and … I guess I just wish and would like to see that we condemn hate and we condemn hate crimes against people, against people in the

city of Aurora and everywhere.”

In Colorado Springs, Anderson Lee Aldrich has been charged with five counts of a bias-motivated crime causing injury as well as five counts of murder in connection with the Nov. 23 shooting at Club Q.

While Aldrich’s attorneys have described the suspect as nonbinary and asked that Aldrich be referred to using gender-neutral pronouns, national news outlets have quoted neighbors saying Aldrich commonly used homophobic slurs, and club patrons have said they believed Club Q’s reputation as an inclusive space made it a target for violence.

Councilmember Alison Coombs, who is bisexual and married to a transgender woman, told Jurinsky that Murillo’s resolution focused on hate crimes impacting LGBTQ people because that demographic was the target of a recent, high-profile incident of mass violence.

She also said she’s personally witnessed “an increasing amount of hateful rhetoric, hateful acts (and) a resurgence of kinds of rhetoric that I haven’t seen since I was a teenager.”

“And it was specifically a safe space for LGBTQIA people. Gay bars and clubs are some of the only places where actually we do get to feel safe,” Coombs said. “When I go to the grocery store with my spouse, I see people sneering and jeering. A lot of places that are safe for a lot

of people are not safe in the same way for us.”

Jurinsky said she “absolutely support(ed)” the resolution by Murillo and called the shooting “absolutely horrifying” but she said hate crimes were “becoming overwhelmingly accepted against multiple protected classes,” including Jews. Jurinsky is Jewish.

In 2020, Murillo also sponsored a resolution the condemned hate crimes and anti-Asian sentiments, which increased amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

That resolution stated that using terms such as “Chinese Virus,” “Wuhan Virus” and “Kungflu” have “perpetuated anti-Asian stigma.”

Last week, Mayor Mike Coffman began the council’s study session with a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the Club Q shooting, which he said was “clearly an act of hate.” He said Aurora police had also offered to aid the Colorado Springs Police Department, and that he and the council had sent a letter of support to the city. Coffman and multiple other council members also offered condolences to Colorado Springs and the victims of the shooting during the council meeting.

“Although I’ve lived in Aurora for over 20 years, I grew up in Colorado Springs,” Councilmember Angela Lawson said. “I wish nothing but healing for the families and to the city and the community.”

Mourners gather outside Club Q to visit a memorial, which has been moved from a sidewalk outside of police tape that was surrounding the club, on Friday, Nov. 25, 2022, in Colorado Spring, Colo. The memorial has been growing since Sunday morning, following a fatal shooting the night before. Parker Seibold/The Gazette via AP

Activisits seek GEO death answers

A group gathered outside of the GEO immigrant detention center in Aurora last week to call for justice for the Nicaraguan asylum seeker who died in October.

Melvin Ariel Calero-Mendoza, 39, died Oct. 14 at University of Colorado Hospital, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Over a month later, little information has been released about what happened to him, including his cause of death, what medical care he received inside the facility and what emergency medical service agency responded. An autopsy from the Adams County Coroner is pending.

Jennifer Piper, a program director for the American Friends Service Committee, said during the gathering that Calero-Mendoza’s death is indicative of the unsafe conditions at the detention center, including an inadequate number of medical professionals on staff.

“We’re consistently concerned about the safety of detainees inside the facility, both their physical and their mental health,” Piper told The Sentinel.

Calero-Mendoza had been at the facility since May 2, according to ICE. He was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol April 13 and was at the Aurora facility awaiting completion of his removal proceedings.

On Oct. 5, a judge with the Executive Office of Immigration Review ordered Calero-Mendoza’s removal and denied all relief. A 30-day period was granted before removal to accommodate any potential appeals.

GEO Group Inc. is a privately-owned company which operates prisons and detention centers across the country, including a number of immigration detention facilities. Its Aurora location has been the target of frequent criticism

from immigration and civil rights groups over its treatment of detainees. Calero-Mendoza is the third person to die at the facility in nearly four decades.

In 2019, the ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit against the company for the wrongful death of Kamyar Samimi, an Iranian immigrant who died in the Aurora detention center in 2017.

A separate class action lawsuit is ongoing, alleging that GEO practices amount to forced labor of detainees and violate Colorado and federal labor laws. The complaint, first filed in 2014, alleged that detainees who refused to work for little or no pay were threatened with solitary confinement. Similar lawsuits have been filed in other states.

In a 2015 statement to the Business and Human Rights Resource Center, GEO Group called claims that detainees have been retaliated against or coerced to work “baseless and demonstrably false.”

“When it built and expanded the Aurora Detention Facility, GEO promised to create hundreds of quality jobs in Aurora,” the initial class action lawsuit filing said. “However, GEO unlawfully uses detainees to clean, maintain, and operate the facility. GEO pays detainees $1 per day, or no wages at all, for their labor. In 2013, The GEO Group, Inc. reported $1.52 billion in total revenues.”

Just days after Calero-Mendoza’s death, a federal judge ruled that the lawsuit could go forward, rejecting claims from GEO that it was shielded from the suit by federal laws about government contractors.

Since 2019, Aurora Congressman Jason Crow’s office has been conducting regular visits to the facility and publishes weekly reports about the detention center. The most recent report, published Nov. 11, said that there are currently 802 people detained at the Aurora fa-

cility.

The report said that the facility employs one medical doctor, two physician assistants, eight registered nurses and seven LPNs, two psychologists, four tele-psychiatrists, one social worker and eight other medical and dental staff.

Crow has advocated for the closure of all for-profit immigration detention centers, including the Aurora GEO facility.

At the vigil this week, Piper and immigrant rights activist Jeanette Vizguerra read a statement from Calero-Mendoza’s sister Adilia Calero-Mendoza in English and Spanish.

In her statement, she said that the family has not received an adequate explanation from ICE about how her brother died and that they have also not been contacted by the Nicaraguan consulate, which is responsible for repatriating Calero-Mendoza’s body, despite repeated attempts to contact them.

“This is so very painful, and I want a real explanation from ICE and from the jail where he was being detained because I feel there was a lot of harm done to him given the way my brother died,” the statement said.

Adilia Calero-Mendoza is being represented by a team at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law’s Immigration Law and Policy Clinic.

The speakers said they were calling on Congress and President Biden to shut down immigrant detention facilities and to pass legislation giving people a pathway to citizenship.

“It’s not only about Mr. Calero-Mendoza,” Piper said at the vigil. “This is about the hundreds of people who face similar neglect and devastating consequences on their lives.”

The vigil closed with activists setting up a small altar outside the GEO facility to replace one that had been previously taken down while

the song “Imagine” by John Lennon played, which Vizguerra said was dedicated to Calero-Mendoza along with the victims of the shooting at Club Q.

“No one should have to fear for their life or be hated for who they are,” she said.

— CARINA JULIG, Sentinel Staff Writer

EDUCATION

RSV cases may have peaked

Local healthcare officials believe that the number of children who need hospitalization for RSV may have peaked and will hopefully start to decrease, according to a Nov. 22 afternoon news conference from Children’s Hospital Colorado.

“Our optimistic hope is in the next few weeks we see a pretty significant decline in the number of cases of RSV,” said Dr. Kevin Carney, associate chief medical officer at Children’s Hospital Colorado. However, he cautioned that right now pediatric beds are still extremely full and that it will continue to be a very busy cold and flu season.

The press conference was an update from an earlier conference the hospital and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment held to discuss the state of RSV, a respiratory virus that primarily affects very young children, in the region.

Along with places across the country, Colorado has seen an early and severe RSV season compared to normal years, due to what healthcare officials believe are changes in disease transmission due to the pandemic.

According to data tracked by the CDPHE, since Oct. 1 there have been 895 hospitalizations for RSV in the five-county Denver metro region, and 255 documented outbreaks at schools and childcare facilities.

At the news conference, Carney said that the hospital is continuing to function at 100% capacity at all units, and its emergency department continues to have long wait times.

The anticipated decline was a source of hope, but he said that he still expects emergency departments and inpatient units to be “very busy” for the next several months. He encouraged families to continue to be vigilant, and to wash their hands, stay home if they are sick and to consider wearing masks if they are in crowded indoor spaces.

Brianne Price also spoke at the news conference about the experience her family had when her sixmonth-old daughter Lily was hospitalized with RSV at the beginning of November. Lily was born six weeks prematurely, which put her at increased risk for the disease, Price said.

After she initially got sick, including having labored breathing, which is considered a warning sign for the illness, the family went to Children’s south campus location in Highlands Ranch. After a several hour wait in the emergency department she was

diagnosed with RSV.

The family then went home, but after Lily got worse they went back to the emergency department the next day. She was transferred by ambulance to the main campus, where a bed had opened up, and spent three nights in the hospital.

Price, who’s husband is a paramedic, said it was difficult to see her daughter back on oxygen because it brought back the time she spent in the NICU right after birth. However, she said she was glad the family was aware of the warning signs and that she was able to get the treatment she needed to recover.

“I was thankful we were in a place that was going to take really good care of Lily,” Price said.

More information is available at cdphe.colorado.gov/flu-rsv and www.childrenscolorado.org/rsvinfo.

— CARINA JULIG, Sentinel Staff Writer

Libraries, rec centers expanding hours

Longer hours at the City of Aurora’s recreation centers and libraries will become a reality in 2023, after Aurora City Council members signaled their unanimous acceptance of the scheduling changes Nov. 21.

Aurora’s recreation facilities and programs reopened gradually after the local outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 and were open for fewer hours during the day and fewer days during the week when they again welcomed the public.

“We as a department and city have come a long way in advancing recreation center hours and programming during 2022, while challenged with significant position vacancies,” said Brooke Bell, director of the city’s Parks, Recreation and Open Space Department, while addressing the council last week.

While the proposed new schedule doesn’t offer as much flexibility as pre-COVID hours, the Utah Pool and most rec centers offer expanded hours under the plan:

- Central Recreation Center — 5:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m.-7:30 p.m. on Saturdays and 8 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sundays.

- Beck Recreation Center — 6 a.m.-7 p.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturdays and open only for rentals on Sundays.

- Aurora Center for Active Adults — 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, open only for programs and rentals on Saturdays, and open only for rentals on Sundays.

- Utah Pool — 6 a.m.-3 p.m. and 7-8 p.m. on weekdays, and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on weekends.

Hours at the Moorhead Recreation Center will remain unchanged, with the facility open to the public from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends. Bell said hours for the pools at rec centers may vary based on staffing, and facility hours may be reevaluated during the year.

She also said the Southeast Recreation Center and Field House is slated to open in January, with the same operating hours as Central

unable to muster the political support to counter the powerful gun lobby and reinstate the weapons ban.

When he was governor of Florida, current Republican Sen. Rick Scott signed gun control laws in the wake of mass shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and a night club in Orlando. But he has consistently opposed weapons bans, arguing like many of his Republican colleagues that most gun owners use them lawfully.

“People are doing the right thing, why would we take away their weapons?” Scott asked as the Senate was negotiating gun legislation last summer. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

He said more mental health counseling, assessments of troubled students and law enforcement on campus make more sense.

“Let’s focus on things that actually would change something,” Scott said.

Law enforcement officials have long called for stricter gun laws, arguing that the availability of these weapons makes people less safe and makes their jobs more dangerous.

Mike Moore, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, the country’s third-largest, said it just makes sense to talk about guns when gun violence is rising nationwide, and consider what the government can

do to make the streets safer. He is grateful Biden is bringing it up so much.

“This isn’t a one-and-done,” Moore said of the shooting in Colorado Springs. “These things are evolving all the time, in other cities, at any moment another incident happens. It’s crying out for the federal government, for our legislators, to go out and make this change,” he said.

To read this story in its entirety, visit www.sentinelcolorado.com

— ASSOCIATED PRESS

Latina working to change STEM underrepresentation

Even though Latinos make up one of the largest shares of the tech-using market, they’re still underrepresented in the workplaces creating those products.

Latinos are at the forefront of technology adoption. Nielson reports that Latinos are buying new technology and spending more time on social platforms than other groups. And yet, Latinos only make up just 8% of STEM workers.

A nonprofit called Latinas in Tech is working to change that. With 20 chapters all over the world, their mission is to connect, support and empower Latina women working in tech.

With Colorado becoming a hot

›› See METRO, 9

Douglas D. Orthopedic Surgeon

spot for tech giants, Latinas in Tech decided to start a chapter here.

“We still notice that we have concerning statistics within the tech industry. And we’re here as a group to help lift each other up,” said Carolina Chavez a Denver chapter leader for Latinas in Tech.

Latinas in Tech just started its Colorado chapter and has already seen a lot of success. This is due in large part to the fact that the nonprofit’s members come from the same backgrounds as the people they’re trying to reach.

Aimara Rodriguez is a first-generation Honduran American. She has been working in tech for 10 years and is now a platform partnership manager for Adobe’s Creative Cloud. Rodriguez is also a Denver chapter leader.

“I’m very proud to say that my dad cut grass growing up and my mom cleaned houses,” said Rodriguez.

“We have that educational background to support each other and lift each other up to not only break into tech but also once you are into tech, how can we help you continue to move up and develop as a leader within the organization,” added Chavez.

Chavez is an account executive working in technology sales. Most of her family works in the medical field, but Chavez decided she would take

a different route.

“I’m someone who likes to stay on my toes; I like constantly having to learn new things and if there’s something I can tell you for a fact is that technology is always changing so I’m never going to be a 100% expert, I’m never going to know everything, and I absolutely love that I have the ability to say that,” she said.

Today’s Latino consumers didn’t transition to the internet; they were raised with it. A 2018 report from Nielsen examined at the online lives of Latino consumers and found that 60% of all Latinos were born or grew up in the internet age.

“As U.S. Hispanics make digital gains and advances at a higher rate than the total market, they are increasingly demanding authentic, culturally relevant content and connections” read the Nielsen report.

Latinas like Chavez and Rodriguez, who have the same lived experience as the audience big companies are trying to reach, are vital to the success of any new tech product.

“I find it quite interesting that we’ll have all these meetings and all these debates about products that are trying to go to diversified demographics,” Rodriguez said, “but no one in the room, making those decisions, come from the backgrounds that we’re trying to serve.”

— SONIA GUTIERREZ, Rocky Mountain PBS

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COLORADO SPRINGS RECKONS WITH PAST AFTER CLUB Q SHOOTING

BY SAM METZ AND STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press

When officials unfurled a 25-foot rainbow flag in front of Colorado Springs City Hall this week, people gathered to mourn the victims of a mass shooting at a popular gay club couldn’t help but reflect on how such a display of support would have been unthinkable just days earlier.

With a growing and diversifying population, the city nestled at the foothills of the Rockies is a patchwork of disparate social and cultural fabrics. It’s a place full of art shops and breweries; megachurches and military bases; a liberal arts college and the Air Force Academy. For years it’s marketed itself as an outdoorsy boomtown with a population set to top Denver’s by 2050.

But last weekend’s shooting has raised uneasy questions about the lasting legacy of cultural conflicts that caught fire decades ago and gave Colorado Springs a reputation as a cauldron of religion-infused conservatism, where LGBTQ people didn’t fit in with the most vocal community leaders’ idea of family values.

For some, merely seeing police being careful to refer to the victims using their correct pronouns this week signaled a seismic change. For others, the shocking act of violence in a space considered an LGBTQ refuge shattered a sense of optimism pervading everywhere from the city’s revitalized downtown to the sprawling subdivisions on its outskirts.

“It feels like the city is kind of at this tipping point,” said Candace Woods, a queer minister and chaplain who has called Colorado Springs home for 18 years. “It feels interesting and strange, like there’s this tension: How are we going to decide how we want to move forward as a community?”

Five people were killed in the attack last weekend. Eight victims remained hospitalized Friday, officials said.

In recent decades the population has almost doubled to 480,000 people. More than one-third of residents are nonwhite — twice as many as in 1980. The median age is 35. Politics here lean more conservative than in comparable-size cities. City council debates revolve around issues familiar throughout the Mountain West, such as water, housing and the threat of wildfires.

Residents take pride in describing Colorado Springs as a place defined by reinvention. In the early 20th century, newcomers sought to establish a resort town in the shadow of Pikes Peak. In the 1940s, military bases arrived. In the 1990s it became known as a home base for evangelical nonprofits and Christian ministries including broadcast ministry Focus on the Family and the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys.

“I have been thinking for years, we’re in the middle of a transition about what Colorado Springs is, who we are, and what we’ve become,” said Matt Mayberry, a historian at Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.

The idea of latching onto a city with a bright future is partly what drew Michael Anderson, a Club Q bartender who survived last weekend’s shooting.

Two friends, Derrick Rump and Daniel Aston, helped Anderson land the Club Q job and find his “queer family” in his new hometown. It was more welcoming than rural Florida where he grew up.

Still, he noted signs the city was more culturally conservative than others of similar size and much of Colorado: “Colorado Springs is kind of an outlier,” he said.

Now he’s grieving the deaths of Rump and Aston in the club shooting.

Leslie Herod followed an opposite trajectory. After growing up in Colorado Springs in a military family — like many others in the city — she left to study at the University of Colorado in liberal Boulder. In 2016 she became the first openly LGBTQ and Black person elected to Colora-

do’s General Assembly, representing part of Denver. She is now running to become Denver’s mayor.

“Colorado Springs is a community that is full of love. But I will also acknowledge that I chose to leave the Springs because I felt like when it came to ... the elected leadership, the vocal leadership in this community, it wasn’t supportive of all people, wasn’t supportive of Black people, wasn’t supportive of immigrants, not supportive of LGBTQ people,” Herod said at a memorial event downtown.

She said she found community at Club Q when she would return from college. But she didn’t forget people and groups with a history of anti-LGBTQ stances and rhetoric maintained influence in city politics.

“This community, just like any other community in the country, is complex,” she said.

Club Q’s co-owner, Nic Grzecka, told The Associated Press he’s hoping to use the tragedy to rebuild a “loving culture” in the city. Even though general acceptance the LGBTQ community has grown, Grzecka said false assertions that members of the community are “grooming” children has incited hatred.

Those who have been around long enough are remembering this week how in the 1990s, at the height of the religious right’s influence, the Colorado Springs-based group Colorado for Family Values spearheaded a statewide push to pass Amendment 2 and make it illegal for communities to pass ordinances protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination.

Colorado Springs voted 3 to 1 in favor of Amendment 2, helping make its narrow statewide victory possible. Though it was later ruled unconstitutional, the campaign cemented the city’s reputation, drawing more like-minded groups and galvanizing progressive activists in response.

The influx of evangelical groups decades ago was at least in part spurred by efforts from the city’s economic development arm to offer financial incentives to lure nonprofits. Newcomers began lobbying for policies like getting rid of school Halloween celebrations due to suspicions about the holiday’s pagan origins.

Yemi Mobolade, an entrepreneur running for mayor as an independent, didn’t understand how strong Colorado Springs’ stigma as a “hate city” was until he moved here 12 years ago. But since then, he said, it has risen from re-

cession-era struggles and become culturally and economically vibrant for all kinds of people.

There has been a concerted push to shed the city’s reputation as “Jesus Springs” and remake it yet again, highlighting its elite Olympic Training Center and branding itself as Olympic City USA.

Much like in the 1990s, Focus on the Family and New Life Church remain prominent in town. After the shooting, Focus on the Family’s president, Jim Daly, said that like the rest of the community he was mourning the tragedy. With the city under the national spotlight, he said the organization wanted to make it clear it stands against hate.

Daly noted a generational shift among Christian leaders away from the rhetorical style of his predecessor, Dr. James Dobson. Whereas Focus on the Family published literature in decades past assailing what it called the “Homosexual Agenda,” its messaging now emphasizes tolerance, ensuring those who believe marriage should be between one man and one woman have the right to act accordingly.

“I think in a pluralistic culture now, the idea is: How do we all live without treading on each other?” Daly said.

After a sign in front of the group’s headquarters was vandalized with graffiti reading “their blood is on your hands” and “five lives taken,” Daly said in a statement Friday it was time for “prayer, grieving and healing, not vandalism and the spreading of hate.”

The memorials this week attracted a wave of visitors: crowds of mourners clutching flowers, throngs of television crews and a church group whose volunteers set up a tent and passed out cookies, coffee and water. To some in the LGBTQ community, the scene was less about solidarity and more a cause for consternation.

Colorado Springs native Ashlyn May, who grew up in a Christian church but left when it didn’t accept her queer identity, said one woman from the group in the tent asked if she could pray for her and a friend who accompanied her to the memorial.

She said yes. It reminded May of her beloved great-grandparents, who were religious. But as the praying carried on and the woman urged May and her friend to turn to God, she felt as if praying had turned into preying. It unearthed memories of hearing things about LGBTQ people she saw as hateful and inciting.

“It felt very conflicting,” May said.

In this aerial image taken with a drone, a rainbow flag is unfurled at City Hall Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colo. With a growing and diversifying population, the city nestled at the foothills of the Rockies is a patchwork of disparate social and cultural fabrics. AP Photo/Brittany PetersonSentinel

Preps

Right: Grandview senior Eduard Tsaturyan, second from right, unseated Cherry Creek’s Aram Izmirian, right, as Class 5A No. 1 singles state championship for the 2022 boys tennis season to lead the way on the Sentinel Colorado All-Aurora Boys Tennis Team.

Middle: Regis Jesuit sophomore KC Eckenhausen, left, and senior Liam McDonnell — state champions in 2021 — placed a city-best third at No. 1 doubles in this season’s 5A state tournament.

Below: Grandview seniors

Mark Yan, left, and Caleb Hodges earned the All-Aurora honor at No. 3 doubles with their third-place finish at the 5A state tournament.

From top to bottom, the 2022 boys tennis season turned out as well as any in recent memory.

Longtime powerhouse Regis Jesuit did what it usually does, but Grandview had its best season ever with nearly its entire team qualified for the Class 5A individual state tournament and Smoky Hill had a state qualifier for the first time in more than a decade.

ALL-AURORA BOYS TENNIS

Between them, the Raiders and Wolves — who both also were part of the state team tournament that debuted this season — earned a top-four place in six of seven positions to fill up the spots on the 2022 Sentinel Colorado All-Aurora Boys Tennis Team, which is based primarily on state play.

without losing a single set, which he finally did against Izmirian when the rematch came in the state championship match Oct. 15 at City Park.

Tsaturyan put the frustration of the set behind him and won the next two for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 win that gave Grandview its first-ever state champion at any position. Joining Tsaturyan on the All-Aurora team is the Wolves’ No. 3 doubles team of seniors Caleb Hodges and Mark Yan, who dropped only one of their five state matches and placed third with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Arapahoe’s Thomas Stewart and Ryan Souther, who had defeated them in an early league dual.

Coach Laura Jones’ Regis Jesuit team, which made it to the semifinals of the team state tournament, fills out the rest of the All-Aurora positions.

Court kings

Grandview’s transformation from a competitive team to one that was among the tops in the Centennial League and the eighth seed among 16 teams that made it into the state team tournament — which took the place of points accrued from individuals in the past — happened largely because of the arrival of senior Eduard Tsaturyan.

BY COURTNEY OAKES Sports Editor

Born in America, but trained on the courts in Russia, Tsaturyan showed up at Grandview to the delight of coach Jeff Ryan, who saw his lineup come together like never before and the level of play elevate from top to bottom.

Tsaturyan dazzled in every match he played in the regular season, which included a straight sets win over Cherry Creek’s Aram Izmirian — the 2021 5A No. 1 singles state champion — in a league dual. He would make it through the regular season, the state team tournament, regionals and the first three rounds of the individual state tournament

Junior Brady Jenkins was the only other finalist for local programs at the 5A individual state tournament and he finished second at No. 3 doubles with a 6-3, 7-6 (11-9) loss to Cherry Creek’s Kristian Kostandinov in a match that seemed to be turning in his favor if he could have prevailed in the second set.

Sophomore KC Eckenhausen and senior Liam McDonnell won the 2021 No. 3 doubles state championship and moved up to the No. 1 spot this season, where they ended up third. The duo dropped their semifinal match, but powered past Fossil Ridge’s Grant Samuelson and Jeffrey Yao 6-3, 6-0 in the third place match.

Senior Aidan Sobolevsky and sophomore Carl Siegel at No. 2 doubles and the No. 4 doubles team of senior Devin McCausland and freshman Adam Rydel earned the All-Aurora spots after they both dropped tight third-place matches. Both played opponents from Fossil Ridge, with Sobolevsky and Siegel coming up a few key points short in both sets in a 6-4, 6-4 loss, while McCausland and Rydel had a set lead slip away to fall 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Junior Agustin Azcui was Aurora’s only state qualifier at No. 2 singles and he made it to the semifinals before dropping his final two matches.

PHOTOS BY COURTNEY OAKES/SENTINEL COLORADO

It may not have ended ideally, but it was a great season on the course for the Cherokee Trail boys and girls cross country teams. Based on the results from the Class 5A state meet at the Norris Penrose Events Center, four boys and three girls from the program earned spots on the 2022 Sentinel Colorado All-Aurora Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams.

The Cherokee Trail boys came into the season with particularly high goals given the return of the majority of the team that finished third at last season’s state meet. Coach Chris Faust’s Cougars won the Centennial League and Region 1 championships in consecutive weeks leading up to the state meet, but found a number of teams that rose to the occassion at the state meet to jam up the standings.

Jo Collis, center, and Ashlyn Pallotta, third from

and Grandview’s Grace Kirkpatrick,

earned spots on the 2022 Sentinel Colorado All-Aurora Girls Cross Country Team with their performances at the Class 5A state meet.

Middle: Cherokee Trail’s Hunter Strand (220), Reuben Holness (209) and Brady Smith (218) gives the Cougars a heavy presence on the 2022 Sentinel Colorado All-Aurora Boys Cross Country Team.

coach Brian Manley (who coached at Smoky Hill previously) and qualified for state despite missing some of its key runners at regionals. The Wolves were paced by Zitek, who earned his second straight All-Aurora spot with a 24th-place finish, while Fox — who finished in front of his teammate in the regional race — came in 44th.

Regis Jesuit qualified for state as a team with just two seasons and Flaig led the way for coach Chris Boyle’s Raiders with his 19th place finish. Flaig came into the stadium with Smith and beat him to the finish line by just 0.4 of a second to get inside the top 20.

The All-Aurora Girls Cross Country team features a trio from both Cherokee Trail (senior Mckenna Mazeski, junior Genevieve Curoe and sophomore Dawn Armstrong) and Regis Jesuit (senior Jo Collins and juniors Ashlyn Pallotta and Erika Danzer) along with individual qualfier Grace Kirkpatrick of Grandview. All went head to head for two straight weeks at regional and state.

Ruling racers

Cherokee Trail finished in sixth place and the top four scorers — seniors Hunter Strand, Evan Armstrong and Reuben Holness and junior Brady Smith — earned All-Aurora distiction, while the Cougars are joined by the Grandview duo of senior Andrew Fox and junior Owen Zitek plus rising Regis Jesuit junior David Flaig.

BY COURTNEY OAKES Sports Editor

Strand was at the front of all the big races for Cherokee Trail as he was the individual Centennial League champion and placed third at the regional meet, while he again came out on top at the state meet. He came into the stadium with a group that surged to the finish line and clocked a time of 16 minutes, 12.5 seconds, which put him 15th.

Smith — whose emergence last season helped Cherokee Trail take third place — had the nextbest finish for the Cougars in 20th place, while Armstrong came in 44th and Holness 51st. Strand, Smith and Holness all made the All-Aurora team for the second straight season.

Grandview had a strong season under new

Mazeski placed seventh as a junior, but making the medal podium proved much more difficult in 2022 with an influx of young elite runners. She ended up leading city finishers again as she came in 21st.

Armstrong and Curoe finished 76th and 96th, respectively, to help give Cherokee Trail enough to edge Regis Jesuit by 10 points in the team chase to finish in 16th.

Pallotta had an outstanding season for the Raiders and finished it off with a team-best 51stplace finish which was third-best among Aurora girls in the race. Collins and Danzer both appear on the All-Aurora first team for the second straight seasons with finishes of 68th and 77th, respectively, as they finished with in 10 seconds of each other. Collins was 39th at state last season and Danzer was 85th.

Grandview missed out on the state meet by one place at regionals and only Kirkpatrick earned the chance to run as Aurora’s lone individual. She was the second-fastest city runner behind Mazeski at the Region 1 meet and that scenario repeated itself at the state meet as Kirkpatrick came in 32nd with about a 28-second gap.

ALL-AURORA CROSS COUNTRY

Right: Regis Jesuit’s Erika Danzer, second from left,

left,

right,

Below: Grandview’s Owen Zitek, right, and Andrew Fox team up again on the All-Aurora Boys Cross Country Team.

PHOTOS BY COURTNEY OAKES/SENTINEL COLORADO

Right: Eaglecrest freshman Gregory White, left, senior Andrew White, second from left, and junior Noah Bennett, right, team up again on the 2022 Sentinel Colorado

All-Aurora Boys Golf Team after helping the Raptors tie for fifth place at the Class 5A state tournament,

Middle: Cherokee Trail freshman Brayden Forte shot a 1-under-par 69 in the second round of the 5A state tournament, which helped him recover from an opening round 80 so he could move into a tie for 38th place.

Below: Regis Jesuit senior Jake Irvine shot rounds of 75 and 73 at the 5A state tournament to finish in a tie for 36th place.

The Eaglecrest boys golf team turned early optimism into late reality in the 2022 season, during which it elevated the program to a place it had never been.

The Raptors qualified for the Class 5A state tournament as a four-player team for the first time in the 32-year history of the school and three of those four would play well enough over two days at City Park G.C. in Denver to earn spots on the 2022 Sentinel Colorado All-Aurora Boys Golf Team, which is based primarily on state performance.

The Eaglecrest trio of senior Andrew White, junior Noah Bennett and freshman Gregory White are joined by senior Jake Irvine of Regis Jesuit — Aurora’s other team qualifier — and freshman Brayden Forte of improved Cherokee Trail in Aurora’s top group.

White finished in time to watch his younger brother rise to the occasion at the end of his second round to climb up the final leaderboard.

Gregory White finished with a 1-under-par 69 in his final round to follow a 71 on the opening day, with the two-day total of 140 good enough to tie him for eighth place. White posted Eaglecrest’s best individual finish since former star Davis Bryant won the 5A state title in 2017 before he graduated and moved on to Colorado State. The leaderboard was so tight at the top that White was just one stroke out of a tie for fourth place and came in just three strokes behind individual medalist Caleb Michaels of Monarch.

Links leaders

Bennett had a remarkable season that paid off in his performance in the postseason, as he turned in the final score to help clinch the regional runner-up finish and then exceeded even his owns goals at the state tournament. Bennett opened the Centennial League season with an 84, but by the end of the campaign he shot rounds of 72 and 76 (after he came in hoping to just break 80) to finish tied for 36th.

BY COURTNEY OAKES Sports Editor

Veteran Eaglecrest coach Stan Adams knew he had the potential for the program’s best team given the return of Andrew White, a state qualifier in each of his three previous seasons, the arrival of White’s experienced brother Gregory and the huge strides made by Bennett and senior Preston Unrein via hours and hours of practice and play at Murphy Creek G.C.

While the Raptors found the going tough in the standings of Centennial League play with the likes of Cherry Creek, Arapahoe and Cherokee Trail, they got a chance to shine when they played away from those teams in regional state qualifying. Eaglecrest finished as the runner-up in regionals to earn the second automatic team berth.

Andrew White greatly relished his first experience at the state tournament with teammates and he looked to build on his finishes of 14th as a freshman in 2019, x in 2020 and x in 2021. He shot a 78 in the opening round which in many years might have still had him in contention, but put him in a tie for 59th going into the final day. He finished with a plus-1 71 to tie for 38th.

Irvine joins Andrew White as repeat members of the All-Aurora team as he turned in the top finish for coach Craig Rogers’ Regis Jesuit team, which had a much better showing in the second round, but finished 15th in the final standings with three players in the field that returned from the previous season. The Raiders finished fourth at regionals, but all four individuals (Irvine, plus seniors Cole Dewey and Eli Handler and sophomore Roland Thornton) qualified individually.

Irvine had the highest score at regionals among Regis Jesuit players, but finished as the low man at state with rounds of 75 and 73. That put Irvine (who tied for 16th place as a junior) in a tie with Bennett and others for 36th place.

Aurora’s best rounds on the final day of the state tournament came from two freshmen, Gregory White and Forte, who was part of a youth movement that strengthened Cherokee Trail, though the Cougars couldn’t get through regionals as a team. Forte tied White for the best round of the tournament with the 1-under-par 69 (an 11-stroke improvement from the opening round, which was scuttled by one tough hole) and he tied for 38th.

ALL-AURORA BOYS GOLF

PHOTOS BY COURTNEY OAKES/SENTINEL COLORADO

The Overland co-op gymnastics team was smaller than usual for the 2022 season due to some non-graduation losses — and suffered a key injury along the way — but banded together for another strong finish at the Class 5A state meet.

Gym gems

Mattea Dolan, the 5A all-around state champion in 2020 and a fifth-place finisher last season, was among the key losses, while junior Maya Richman suffered a torn knee ligament and was lost before the postseason.

BY COURTNEY OAKES

Still, a variety of gymnasts stepped up for coach Lisa Sparrow’s team to fill out the spots on the 2022 Sentinel Colorado All-Aurora Gymnastics Team, as determined by performance at the state championship competition at Thornton High School.

Leading the way is junior Kyla Burke, who stepped up her performance this season and took the team lead as she

Preps

WINTER SPORTS

Winter prep sports season opened Nov. 28

The opening day of the 2022-23 winter prep sports season took place Nov. 29, although there was only one game on the schedule for the city.

The Smoky Hill girls basketball team were the first squad from the city to take part in official competition as allowed by the Colorado High School Activities Association, as the Buffaloes dropped a 78-28 road game at Bear Creek.

Teams in boys and girls basketball, boys and girls wrestling, girls swimming and ice hockey have practiced since Nov. 14 and those sports will get going with contests the rest of the upcoming week.

Aurora has a defending team and individual state champion from

grabbed all-around honors on the All-Aurora team, as well as the slots for the vault and the uneven bars. Burke earned a score of 36.825 at the state meet that matched the score that won her the Region 1 meet a week earlier, but left her fifth. The CEC student was also the Centennial/Continental League allaround runner-up by a mere 0.50 of a point.

Overland opened its state rotation with the vault and it proved to be a less than ideal start to the competition as nearly every participant scored lower than it had in the regular season.

None of the Trailblazers earned their way into the individual event finals (which required a top-15 score), while Burke registered far and away the top score of 9.200 that was 25th among the 72 gymnasts in the event during the team competition.

Burke did make her way into the individual event finals on the uneven bars, where her team competition score of 9.275 was seventh-best on the night. That same score in the individual event finals would have earned her a medal (top eight), but she finished with an 8.675 in

last winter as the Grandview girls basketball team and Eaglecrest girls wrestling star Blythe Cayko will aim to defend their titles.

WEEK AHEAD

The week ahead in Aurora prep sports

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 30: The basketball season gets going with a girls-boys doubleheader at Aurora Central that will see the Trojans face DSST-Byers (4:30 p.m. girls, 6 p.m. boys). Meanwhile, the Grand-

her final attempt that put her 14th. Overland ended the team competition with the floor exercise, in which four different Trailblazers earned their way into the individual event finals.

Of those four, sophomore Ryann Walline (an Overland student) emerged on top and earned the team’s only medal with a seventh-place finish. Walline her teammates with a 9.400 in the team competition and followed that with a 9.300 in the event finals.

Promising freshman Ainsley Renner missed the majority of the season due to injury, but she made the most of her limited time of competition. Renner (a Grandview student) returned in time to compete at regionals and also at the state meet, where she was the team’s top performer on the balance beam.

Renner scored 9.325 in the team competition (sixth-best), while her 8.650 in the individual event final left her 14th.

Overland expects to return all of the All-Aurora performers next season and hopes for a return to health for Richman — whose loss was felt in particular on the vault and the balance beam — plus the potential arrival of some impact freshmen, which has been the case for the team in recent years.

view boys open the Mountain Vista/ Rock Canyon tournament with a 4:30 p.m. game against Columbine at Mountain Vista H.S. The Cherokee Trail girls basketball team goes to ThunderRidge at 5:30 p.m., while Hinkley plays host to Vista Ridge.

...On the wrestling mat, Denver North is at Overland for a girls dual at 6 p.m. followed by the boys at 7 p.m. The Eaglecrest boys open at Smoky Hill at 7 p.m. in a Centennial League dual. ...THURSDAY, DEC.

1: The Rangeview boys basketball team has an early test as it plays at

defending state champion ThunderRIdge at 7 p.m. ...A strong early Centennial League girls swimming dual has Cherokee Trail playing host to Grandview at 5 p.m. ...FRIDAY, DEC. 2: The ice hockey season gets started with a doubleheader at Family Sports Center that opens with Regis Jesuit’s 5:40 p.m. game against Ralston Valley followed by the Cherry Creek co-op team’s 7:50 p.m. contest against Heritage. SATURDAY, DEC. 3: Several city wrestling teams head to the Arapahoe Invitational beginning at 8 a.m.

All-around Excellent: Junior Kyla Burke, left, finished in fifth-place in the all-around competition at the Class 5A state gymnastics tournament to take those honors on the 2022 Sentinel Colorado

All-Aurora Gymnastics Team. She was also the team’s top performer on the vault and uneven bars .Photo by Courtney Oakes/Sentinel Colorado

Sports Editor

A read on right the right way

BY ANNE SCHIMKE, CHALKBEAT COLORADO

Aroom full of second graders spent a recent fall morning learning about a bossy mother named “Mama E” who follows her kids around reminding them to say their names.

The whimsical story was part of a phonics lesson at Denver’s Bradley International School. The point was that adding an “e” at the end of a word changes the first vowel from short to long — for example, pin becomes pine because the “i” says its name.

Teacher Megan Bobroske challenged the children sitting elbow to elbow on a rainbow striped rug in front of her — could Mama E live at the front of the word instead of the back? A little boy named Peter piped up: “She has to be at the end of the word,” he said. “Imagine if she’s on the front of the line, she’s going to be too busy saying her name.”

Peter and his classmates were learning a rule about the English language that they applied over and over that day — when reading and writing “hope,” “cute,” “tape,” and “slide.” Such lessons reflect both a districtwide and statewide shift in how children are taught to read in Colorado.

confusing technology, new ways of grouping students, or an overwhelming amount of material, to name a few.

The hope is that better curriculum materials combined with a recent statewide teacher training effort will transform reading instruction — and boost reading achievement — across Colorado.

“Those are definitely the biggies,” said Floyd Cobb, associate commissioner for student learning at the Colorado Department of Education.

But is it enough to propel a statewide reading turnaround? And if so, when?

Cobb said the timeline isn’t clear — in part because curriculum shifts are still underway in some districts and because the most immediate results will show up in routine K-3 reading assessments given by school districts rather than state tests given at the end of third grade. Scores from those routine assessments aren’t posted publicly in a central location like state test results are.

Gelila Andonet shows off her answers during a phonics lesson, Nov. 10, in April Evans first grade class at Vista PEAK Exploratory. The school uses a new, enhanced, literacy curriculum that is proving more effective than previous outdated methods used in learning to read.

Gone by the wayside are reading programs that encourage children to figure out what a jumble of letters says by looking at the picture or using other clues to guess the word — a debunked strategy still used in some popular reading curricula. Now, there’s a greater emphasis on teaching the relationships between sounds and letters in a direct and carefully sequenced way. It’s part of the science of reading, a large body of knowledge about how children learn to read.

Some teachers are pleased with the new reading curricula rolling out at their schools, but there are bumps, too —

This year, about 41% of Colorado third graders scored at or above grade level on state literacy tests, which combines reading and writing. While that proportion matches 2019 levels — a piece of good news after pandemic-era declines — it still means that tens of thousands of children are struggling with basic literacy skills.

Krista Spurgin, executive director of Stand for Children Colorado, said she believes the state’s curriculum and teacher training initiatives have changed the mindset about how reading should be taught in Colorado.

“I’m really hopeful that in a couple years, we’ll start to see outcomes for third graders,” she said.

Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

Colorado leans into science and experts in finding a better way to teach reading and make up lost ground

Big districts make the switch

Colorado’s largest school districts, including Denver, Jeffco, Douglas County, Cherry Creek, and Aurora, are among those phasing in new reading curriculum. The READ Act, a major state reading law passed in 2019 prompted the shift by requiring schools to use scientifically based reading programs in kindergarten through third grade.

Previously, Colorado schools were allowed to pick any reading program or none at all. Now, there are tighter guardrails in place — though districts can still pick from more than a dozen core programs. A year ago, state officials began enforcing the stricter curriculum rules, ordering a host of districts to replace unacceptable programs.

The move was unprecedented and some districts initially pushed back, arguing that they layered in state-approved programs with state-rejected ones. State officials didn’t relent.

The second grade teachers at Bradley International knew something needed to change in early 2021, even before state oversight came into play. Their reading program at the time had big holes when it came to phonics. Often, if students got stuck, they were told to “look at picture clues and guess what would make sense or even just skip the word,” Bobroske said.

Lessons didn’t clearly state — and consistently review — how letters and sounds work together. She said, for example, that students might have learned part of the “Mama E’’ rule, without understanding that a consonant sound must occur between the vowel and the “e” at the end of the word. That omission would lead students to misapply the rule and get frustrated when words didn’t make sense.

“Students did not have the tools to actually break down the words and there was a lot of guessing and hoping for the best,” she said.

Bradley’s second grade team began using the phonics portion of a new reading curriculum — Core Knowledge Language Arts — and saw impressive results. The following year, when the school piloted the whole program in some grades, Bobroske’s students made 1 ½ years worth of reading growth.

“It was crazy,” she said. “In all honesty, I’ve never seen anything like that happen before.”

Besides a stronger focus on phonics, new reading programs in Denver and some other districts include science and social studies-themed units meant to build students’ background knowledge about the world — an approach that helps students understand what they’re reading.

Molly Veliz, a Denver teacher who works with struggling readers at Marie L. Greenwood Early-8 school, said the knowledge-building units of Core Knowledge Language Arts have grabbed students’ attention.

“First graders can tell me every body system and how they work together and [they’re] using appropriate vocabulary,” she said.

Strengths and weaknesses

Ibeth Leon Ariza teaches at a dual language immersion school in western Colorado where all elementary students get both English and Spanish instruction. She said the old reading program included Spanish passages that were inauthentic translations and didn’t capture the meaning conveyed in the English version. Leon Ariza, a native Spanish speaker from Colombia, tried to fix such shortcomings by substituting more appropriate vocabulary or modifying the stories.

She doesn’t have to do that now. The district’s new state-approved curriculum, Into Reading and its Spanish counterpart ¡Arriba La Lectura!, has better Spanish materials.

About half of all Colorado students identified as far below grade level in reading are also English learners, raising questions about whether schools are detecting weak reading skills or limited English proficiency, and whether students have access to appropriate instruction. A recent state audit of Colorado’s reading efforts flagged both issues and recommended changes.

While Leon Ariza generally likes her district’s new reading program, which rolled out last year, there are weaknesses, too. She finds the online platform hard to navigate and said teachers can’t fit everything the lessons suggest into the daily reading block.

“We are still having struggles with time,” she said.

Along with the inevitable learning curve that comes with new curriculum, many Colorado schools continue to face a host of challenges that impact student learning, including staff turnover, residual COVID-19 disruption, and family stress. Rocky Mountain Elementary in the Adams 12 district north of Denver is one of them.

“The historical story of our school is that it had been chronically underperforming for almost a decade. I’m their fourth principal in 10 years,” said Principal Kate Vogel, who took the reins during the pandemic.

Last spring, nearly 40% of the school’s kindergarten through third grade students were significantly behind in reading. In addition, about half the school’s students are English learners and nearly 90% qualify for subsidized meals, a measure of poverty.

On a recent morning in Megan Neitzel’s classroom,

third graders worked on writing a summary of “The Tale of King Midas,” which was one of the stories in their new curriculum, Benchmark Advance 2022. For some students, it was easy. One girl blazed through her retelling of the Greek myth to a visitor, correctly noting which part was the climax of the story and explaining the king’s bad choice. (He turned his daughter to gold.)

Meanwhile, other children struggled. In a small group gathered at a table around Neitzel, one boy asked “What’s a setting?” He also struggled to spell “castle.”

“Sound it out,” she said. “What do you hear?”

When the boy mumbled a non-response, she prompted him through it.

Neitzel likes the new curriculum so far — the way phonics and vocabulary are taught and because her students are excited about reading. Some bring their full-color workbooks home to read passages to younger brothers and sisters, she said.

Vogel believes the new curriculum, along with state-mandated reading training, and recent district efforts to dig deeply into reading standards have made a difference.

“I just think teachers have a much better understanding now that … we’re focused on the science of reading,” she said.

Checking the to-do list

Some of Colorado’s biggest reading improvement efforts have been underway for just a few years, but evidence from inside and outside the state suggests they could eventually make a difference.

One promising case study comes out of Mississippi, where state officials launched a slew of reading initiatives starting a decade ago, including teacher training on the science of reading.

In 2013, the state was at the back of the pack for fourth grade reading achievement on a test called the National Assessment of Educational Progress. By 2019, Mississippi ranked first in the country for reading gains, with its fourth graders matching the national average for the first time.

Within Colorado, a literacy grant program begun in 2012 produced impressive literacy gains at many participating schools. The three-year awards were given to schools that agreed to overhaul reading instruction, us-

April Evans discusses verbs and nouns with her student, Conrad Minor, Nov. 10, in her first grade class at Vista PEAK Exploratory. Several schools throughout the Aurora Public School district have migrated to using more modern and effective methods to teach reading.

Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

ing the same kinds of levers — strict curriculum rules and guidance for educators — that are now kicking in statewide.

But the gains often faded after the grants ran out, sometimes because of staff or principal turnover. Program leaders also said some teachers didn’t have the grounding in the science of reading that they needed to sustain the coaching and other help they received through the grant.

But things are different today.

The vast majority of Colorado’s K-3 teachers have completed state-mandated training on reading instruction. Several prominent teacher preparation programs have revamped their reading coursework. And prospective elementary teachers must now pass a separate exam on reading instruction to earn their state licenses.

The state has more on its reading to-do list, including additional reviews of teacher prep program reading coursework and the rollout of a new state-mandated training for elementary principals and teachers who work with struggling readers in fourth through 12th grades.

Spurgin, of Stand for Children, also believes the addition of tuition-free full-day kindergarten in 2019-20 and the launch of tuition-free preschool for Colorado 4-yearolds next fall will help boost students’ reading skills.

For now, she’s optimistic about changes unfolding in Colorado classrooms.

“We have talked to teachers who are already seeing improvements in their classrooms, which just feels really energizing,” she said.

The read on Aurora schools

At Vista PEAK Exploratory in November, students in April Evans’ first grade class were starting their day with a phonics lesson. That day, Evans was guiding the students through how to make nouns plural, and asking students to demonstrate different types of suffixes.

What type of a word is chin? She asked. How do you make it plural? What about pens?

Throughout the lesson, students acted out motions for verbs, wrote their answers on mini whiteboards and used magnets to spell out answers.

The lesson was part of Fundations, the curriculum the district now uses to teach phonics, which Evans said kids love because of how interactive it is.

Evans has been a teacher for 15 years, most of that time spent teaching first grade, where learning how to read proficiently is a crucial part of students’ education. But for most of that time, the way she was teaching students how to read wasn’t actually grounded in science.

Vista PEAK, like thousands of schools across the nation, for many years used an approach called guided literacy that has in recent years been shown not to align with the science of how children most effectively learn to read. The approach used almost no phonics and relied on an approach where if students didn’t know a word they were encouraged to guess it using the first letter and context clues.

“We know now there is absolutely no research behind that,” Evans said.

Five years ago, the school got new administration and changed to a new literacy curriculum called Wit & Wisdom, which is one of the curricula that is now on the approved list from the state. Unlike the previous curricula, which was primarily focused on building reading skills, Wit & Wisdom is knowledge-based and is designed to teach students new information of each unit as they learn how to read. The curricula set off a light bulb in Evans’ head after she saw how well students responded to it, and she started to get really interested in the research behind literacy education.

“As a teacher up until the new curriculum I had never been given actual reading research and I would assume possibly it’s because there is none,” for the approach

ABOVE: Amari Walker sounds out words during a phonics lesson in April Evans first grade class, Nov. 10 at Vista PEAK Exploratory. The school, along with many others in the district, uses a new literacy curriculum that is proving more effective than previous outdated methods of learning to read.

BELOW: Students raise their hands to show which sounds are made by which letters, Nov. 10, during a phonic lesson in April Evans first grade class at Vista PEAK Exploratory.

Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

they had previously been using, Evans said. “It was based on a theory and not actual research.”

Evans continued to study the science of reading and now, along with teaching first grade, works with curricula company Great Minds, where she trains other teachers across the country on how to use its science-based reading curriculum. She was also named a 2022-2023 Goyen Literacy Fellow, and in January will put together a library of best practices that can be used by educators across the country to teach reading.

Zach Rahn, executive director of curriculum & instruction at APS, said that most schools in the district had already been using approved curriculum before the passage of the READ Act in 2019, but the law helped the district better align its curriculum with best practices.

“The work is not new, it’s more so enhanced and about bringing enhanced coherence to our system,” he said.

Currently, the majority of schools in the district use the curriculum Wonders, which many of them had already been using, Rahn said. Nine district schools had been using curriculs that are no longer approved.

Along with Wonders, three schools — Vista PEAK, Tollgate Elementary and Boston P-8 used different state-approved reading curricula, Rahn said.

The Cherry Creek School District also changed its reading curricula and is now using Into Reading, which has also been adopted by Jeffco. Like APS, the district also now uses Fundations to teach phonics.

Dominique Jones, CCSD’s director of curriculum and instruction, said that the new approach has had a remarkable effect already.

“Last year when we had Fundations get going, a lot of teachers expressed ‘this was the thing that I was missing,’” she said.

Classes that started using the new curriculum started to see student gains pretty quickly, she said, and classrooms this year that have students who started the curriculum last year are seeing “pretty significant differences from previous years,” she said.

It’s particularly crucial that students learn how to read at a young age because there’s a large body of research that shows that if a student can’t read proficiently by third grade, they will continue to struggle throughout their academic career, Jones said.

Both districts use a number of tools to track student progress, including assessments that are part of the reading curriculum, data from i-Ready and standardized tests like CMAS.

Data released earlier this year showed that students in both districts performed worse on CMAS tests this spring than students had in 2019, with just under half of CCSD students meeting or exceeding expectations in English language arts and only 23.6% of APS students.

For Evans, she hopes that the new science-based reading curriculum will help move the needle not just in her classroom, but across the nation. She noted that since the National Assessment of Educational Progress test, frequently called the “nation’s report card” first came out in the 1990s, reading scores have not changed significantly.

“Math has made growth, reading has not,” she said. “Hopefully now with students getting systematic phonics instruction and more districts adopting knowledge-building curricula, we’re going to see gains. That would be great.”

The daily schedule for April Evans first grade class is on display in her classroom at Vista PEAK Exploratory.

Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

The Magazine

Review: ‘The Jedi Handbook’

AURORA FOX SUCCESSFULLY TAKES ON THE GALACTIC EMPIRE THROUGH THE EYES OF YOUNG FANS

BY CARINA JULIG, Sentinel Staff Writer

If the latest Disney+ offering has you nostalgic for the early days of Star Wars, the Aurora Fox Arts Center has your back. The second play of the Fox’s 38th season, Stephen Massicotte’s “The Jedi Handbook,” takes a trip into the past as it explores the early days of the beloved franchise as seen through young eyes.

“The Jedi Handbook” opens in 1977, right after our protagonist Richie Cunningham has moved to a new town, and with it, a new school. Richie quickly becomes fast friends with classmate James, and the two bond over their love of Star Wars (known to us in the future as Star Wars: A New Hope) which had been released earlier that year.

Richie and James set about incorporating their love of Star Wars into all things, playing out scenes from the movies and making their own attempt at becoming Jedi knights. Their own version of the Galactic Empire is represented by their fourth grade teacher, who rules the classroom with an iron fist. Her most dastardly plot comes when she decides to have the class put on a performance of A Charlie Brown Christmas for the whole school — and casts Richie as Charlie Brown! Will he remember his lines? Maybe the power of the Force, and friendship, will help him get through.

Act two skips ahead to middle school,

where Richie and James are starting to encounter something even more frightening than Sith lords — puberty. The scene opens with Richie and James waiting excitedly in line for The Empire Strikes Back, where they run into two of their female classmates, Kerry and Mandy. From there, the four navigate what it’s like to have one foot still in childhood and the other foot in the adult world, and how to hold onto the things you love as you mature.

Ultimately, “The Jedi Handbook” is a sweet story with plenty of laughs and comic relief moments throughout. It is a moving tribute to the power of imagination and its ability to sustain us throughout our lives. While a passing familiarity with Star Wars will improve viewing pleasure, granular knowledge of the series isn’t necessary to have a good time.

The cast’s five actors do a good job hitting the play’s serious and humorous notes. Mykail Cooley (Richie) and Rashad Holland (James), both adult actors, do a great job playing kids in a way that’s convincing without being hokey and both put their all into the moments of physical comedy. Noelia Antweiler, who stole the show earlier this fall in a production of “Heroes of the Fourth Turning” at the Curious Theatre Company, and Emily Fisher pull off a number of

roles in quick succession as the ensemble.

Hugo Jon Sayles serves as the show’s narrator, who is an older (but equally Star Wars-obsessed) Richie. His character unfortunately had the least compelling role — it was unclear why the story was being told using that framing device and the narration at times felt like it was unnecessarily slowing down the plot.

Off stage, director Jeffery Kent, who also served as fight director, deserves major accolades for putting together a number of genuinely excellent fight scenes (complete with lightsabers).

This is a family-friendly play and a good option to see with kids, who will be drawn in by the Star Wars theme and the creative special effects, which, as usual, the Fox puts to excellent work during the production. For those who are older, it’s an enjoyable

If you go:

opportunity to take a trip down memory lane for a few hours.

Less enjoyable is the lack of a physical program — the Fox has gone digital this season, and instead of a usual playbill has a handout with a link to a QR code where the full program can be downloaded. If this is a move to cut costs or save paper it’s laudable, but the program font size is a strain to read on a phone screen and is even less of an ergonomic experience than trying to read a menu that way. Unless you can use the Force, don’t forget reading glasses.

Each act of the play is about an hour, with a 15-minute intermission in between. The play runs through December 18 and will be followed in the next calendar year by four more plays this season, starting with the U.S. premiere of “Acts of Faith” in January.

Runs through Dec. 18, Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Approximate 2 hour runtime, plus 15 minute intermission

Adult tickets $20-$40

Purchase online at aurorafox.org or by calling 303-739-1970

Masks recommended but not required.

Mykail Cooley, top left, and Rashad Holland, top right, re-enact the final scene from The Empire Strikes Back, to impress their girlfriends, played by Noelia Antweiler,bottom left, and Emily Fisher, bottom right during a rehearsal of The Jedi Handbook: A Story for Generations.

Photo by Gail Brainstetter

Granny Dances to a Holiday Drum with Cleo Parker Dance at The Aurora Fox Arts Center

scene & herd

Christmas in Color Lights Show at the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds

Arapahoe County Fairgrounds, Nov. 28 through Jan. 1. 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. each night. Ticket prices vary. Visit https://christmasincolor. net for more information.

Jingle jingle. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, so goes the jaunty holiday tune. In that spirit, you may want to head out to the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds this holiday season and fill your eyes with bright, visually stimulating Christmas lights throughout the fairgrounds.

The light show, which will be synchronized to holiday music and plays through your radio, will feature millions of lights rife for viewing from the comfort of your own vehicle – crank those seat warmers and bring a snack. This holiday activity is the Christmas light car ride of your childhood, but much, much bigger and brighter. And since it runs through year’s end, there is plenty of time to take this fun voyage in east Aurora. Prices vary depending on the selected date.

Monty Python’s Spamalot at Vintage Theatre

Dec. 6 at 12 p.m. Free admission. 9900 E Colfax Ave, Aurora, CO 80010. Visit aurorafoxartscenter.org for more information.

If you happen to find yourself with an open schedule at around noon next Tuesday, think about heading down to the Fox for a free Holiday concert featuring a sample of the production Granny Dances to a Holiday Drum. Running for more than five decades, this show tells the tales of Granny’s memories, as told through the interpretations of her grandchildren. They recount grandma’s youthful days celebrating a bevy of holiday traditions and mutli-cultural festivals, from Christmas to Native American Winter Solstice to Chinese New Year. This sample production is free and welcome to the public.

Colorado Convention Public Art Tour

20th Anniversary of Santa’s Big Red Sack at The People’s Building

Dec. 1 through 24 with showtimes varying depending on performance date. 9995 E Colfax Ave, Aurora, CO 80010. Visit rattlebrain.vbotickets. com/events for more information.

Running for 20 years now, Santa’s Big Red Sack has become a mainstay in the canon of holiday events in the metro area. Described as a non-stop sketch comedy experience, it is full of music and technology, offbeat wit and memorable characters. You’ll likely burst at the seams as these players take your run-of-the-mill traditions of the holiday season and transform them into an amalgam of all things silly. After two decades, you can be confident in the gut-busting entertainment that’s lined up for 24 days at The People’s Building in Aurora.

General Admission tickets are available for $15.

Christmas at Gaylord Rockies

Nov. 11 - Feb. 26 with hours varying based on the day. 6155 S Main St, Aurora, CO 80016. Visit www. shopsouthlands.com for more information.

Opening scene… A Charlie Brown Christmas. Now, replace yourself with the ever so graceful Snoopy and glide your way around The Pond, the skating rink located in

the town square of Southlands Mall in southeast Aurora. It’s the quintessential holiday activity (even if we aren’t quite getting all that wintery blustery weather forecast just yet), so you’re going to want to do yourself a favor and check the schedule so you can head out east and show your best Kristi Yamaguchi impersonation. Times and admission prices vary.

Vintage Theatre, Nov. 4 through Dec. 11. Ticket prices vary, GA is $38. 1468 Dayton St. Visit www.vintagetheatre.org for show times and more information

The classic on-stage musical adaptation of the film Spamalot returns for another year to our favorite little Aurora theatre, Vintage Theatre. This hilarious tale of King Arthur’s trials and tribulations as he searches for the Holy Grail will undoubtedly leave you in stitches. But don’t expect the traditional tale of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. It is Monty Python afterall.

Dec. 4 700 14th St, Denver, CO 80202. Visit www.axs.com/series/14893/public-art-tours-tickets for more information.

Y’all know that slightly oversized blue bear that can be seen hanging out around 14th Avenue and Stout Street? He happens to be a part of some of the more creative public artworks that are spread throughout Denver. It may be a tad overwhelming trying to figure out the most efficient way to tour the city’s public art works, but we’ve found a solution. Kicking off Denver Arts Week is a Public Arts Tour that meets just below the aforementioned blue bruin. The next tour is Dec. 4. Tickets cost $5 per person and free for children under 10.

Nov. 18 - Jan. 1 6700 N Gaylord Rockies Blvd, Aurora, CO 80019. Visit christmasatgaylordrockies.marriott. com for more information.

If you’ve been to Christmas at Gaylord in the past, then you know they go all out when it comes to their interactive displays. This year is no different, and this hack could argue it is their finest yet. A Charlie Brown Christmas is the theme and Gaylord is coming in hot with ice sculptures. In the vein of their previous ICE! Show, you can expect towering sculptures shaped like our favorite Charles Schultz characters from various scenes of the cartoon.

It won’t stop there though. Throughout the grounds of the hotel, you can take in the more than 3 million lights, ride bumper cars on an ice rink or grab a S’mores kit and get to roasting.

Whatever you choose, be it one or all, you can be assured that you won’t be starved for activity if you head out to Gaylord for the festivities.

MyPlate empty?

FEW AMERICANS KNOW OR HEED US NUTRITION GUIDE

Here’s a quick quiz: What replaced the food pyramid, the government guide to healthy eating that stood for nearly 20 years?

If you’re stumped, you’re not alone.

More than a decade after Agriculture Department officials ditched the pyramid, few Americans have heard of MyPlate, a dinner plate-shaped logo that emphasizes fruits and vegetables.

BY JONEL ALECCIA, AP Health Writer

Only about 25% of adults were aware of MyPlate – and less than 10% had attempted to use the guidance, according to a study released Tuesday by the National Center for Health Statistics. Those figures for 2017-2020 showed only slight improvement from a similar survey done a few years earlier.

That means that the Obama administration program that costs about $3 million a year hasn’t reached most Americans, even as diet-related diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease have continued to rise.

“This is currently the primary education tool that communicates guidelines for Americans,” said the study’s lead author, Edwina Wambogo, a nutrition epidemiologist at the agency. “MyPlate should be doing a little bit better.”

The results are hardly surprising, said Marion Nestle, a food policy expert.

“Why would anyone expect otherwise?” she said in an email. “MyPlate never came with an education campaign, is old hat by now, only dealt

with healthy foods, said nothing about unhealthy foods and is so far from what Americans actually eat as to seem unattainable.”

A top USDA official said the agency’s proposed fiscal year 2023 budget seeks an increase from $3 million to $10 million a year to bolster the MyPlate campaign by extending its reach and making recipes and other materials more culturally relevant.

“We absolutely want to make sure that MyPlate and other critical tools are in the hands of more people,” said Stacy Dean, deputy undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services.

The new study found that people who rated their diet as excellent, very good or good were far more likely to have heard of MyPlate than those who said their diet was fair or poor. Of those who’d heard of the plan, about one-third tried to follow it, the study found.

MyPlate was introduced in 2011 with high-profile support from former first lady Michelle Obama, who made healthy eating and exercise her focus.

It uses a dinner plate with four colored sections for fruit, vegetables, grain and protein, with a smaller circle for dairy products, such as low-fat milk or yogurt. It encouraged Americans to make half of their meals fruits and vegetables in what was promoted as a fast, easily accessible format.

But the guide left out crucial details, said Dr. Vijaya Surampudi, a nutrition specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“It doesn’t differentiate between starchy vegetables and non-starchy vegetables,” she said. “There’s no fats on there.”

Nor does MyPlate acknowledge that vegetables, grains and dairy foods also contain protein, Nestle added.

MyPlate replaced the USDA’s food pyramid, which was in use from 1992 to 2011. Although it was recognized by generations of schoolkids, nutritionists were critical of the pyramid for promoting too many carbohydrates through grains and cutting back on fats.

“It wasn’t the best set of recommendations on so many levels,” Surampudi said. “Our rates of diabetes didn’t go down. Our rates of obesity didn’t go down. It went up.”

The new study called for research into why some groups are less likely to be aware of and follow government guidance – and how best to reach those with poor diets.

But it’s tricky, Surampudi said. In general, people know now that they should eat more fruits and vegetables. Beyond that, the message gets muddled.

“The minute it gets a little confusing, people shut down,” she said.

The Associated Press Health and Science DepartmentreceivessupportfromtheHoward HughesMedicalInstitute’sDepartmentofScience Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

A new study finds that few Americans have heard of MyPlate, the government diet guide that replaced the longstanding food pyramid in 2011, and even fewer have tried to follow its advice.

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Because the people must know

COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0488-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On September 16, 2022, the undersigned

Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

Zachary Vaught

Original Beneficiary(ies)

MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR UNIVERSAL LENDING CORPORATION, ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt COLORADO HOUSING AND FINANCE

AUTHORITY

Date of Deed of Trust

July 27, 2020 County of Recording Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

August 03, 2020

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

E0097586

Original Principal Amount

$201,286.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$198,275.78

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

SEE ATTACHED LEGAL DESCRIPTION

Legal Description

CONDOMINIUM UNIT NO. B, BUILDING NO. 40, EMBARCADERO IN WILLOWRIDGE CONDOMINIUMS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DECLARATION RECORDED ON JULY 14, 1982 IN BOOK 3661 AT PAGE 145, SECOND SUPPLEMENT TO THE DECLARATIONS RECORDED ON DECEMBER 14, 1982 IN BOOK 3755 AT PAGE 224, THE CONDOMINIUM MAP RECORDED ON JULY 14, 1982 IN BOOK 57 AT PAGE 40 AND THE SECOND SUPPLEMENT TO THE CONDOMINIUM MAP RECORDED ON DECEMBER 14, 1982 UNDER RECEPTION NO. 2229235, OF THE ARAPAHOE COUNTY RECORDS, TOGETHER WITH THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE THE FOLLOWING LIMITED COMMON ELEMENTS: GARAGE SPACE NUMBER B40; COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO.

Also known by street and number as: 12594 E PACIFIC CIR UNIT B, Aurora, CO 80014. THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 01/18/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication11/24/2022

Last Publication12/22/2022

Name of PublicationSentinel

IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO

A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE

A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED;

DATE: 09/16/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Alison L Berry #34531

N. April Norton #34861

David R. Doughty #40042

Nicholas H. Santarelli #46592

Lynn M. Janeway #15592

Janeway Law Firm, P.C. 9800 S. Meridian Blvd., Suite 400, Englewood, CO 80112 (303) 706-9990

Attorney File # 22-027475 The

debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0466-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described

Deed of Trust:

On September 2, 2022, the undersigned

Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

SAPPHIRE FALLS

Original Beneficiary(ies)

MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRA-

TION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR CROSSCOUNTRY MORTGAGE, INC.,

ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

COLORADO HOUSING AND FINANCE

AUTHORITY

Date of Deed of Trust

September 13, 2018

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

September 17, 2018

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

D8091793

Original Principal Amount

$323,040.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$308,126.28

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Borrower’’s failure to make timely payments as required under the Evidence of Debt and Deed of Trust.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

LOT 29, BLOCK 7, AURORA HIGHLANDS

SUBDIVISION - FILING NO. 1, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO.

APN #: 1975-21-2-04-003

Also known by street and number as: 1578

S SALIDA WAY, AURORA, CO 80017.

THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 01/04/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication11/10/2022

Last Publication12/8/2022

Name of PublicationSentinel

IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO

A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE

A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED;

DATE: 09/02/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By:/s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Alison L Berry #34531

N. April Norton #34861

David R. Doughty #40042

Nicholas H. Santarelli #46592

Lynn M. Janeway #15592

Janeway Law Firm, P.C. 9800 S. Meridian Blvd., Suite 400, Englewood, CO 80112 (303) 706-9990

Attorney File # 19-021799

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103 FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0467-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On September 2, 2022, the undersigned

Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

Miriam A. Cruz Torres

Original Beneficiary(ies) MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. AS NOMINEE FOR SOUTHWEST FUNDING, LP., ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt COLORADO HOUSING AND FINANCE

AUTHORITY

Date of Deed of Trust

September 30, 2019

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

October 03, 2019

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

D9105068

Original Principal Amount

$366,300.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$351,236.17

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN.

LOT 38, BLOCK 1, MURPHY CREEKFILING NO. 14, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO.

Also known by street and number as: 1213 S Coolidge Circle, Aurora, CO 80018. THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 01/04/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication11/10/2022

Last Publication12/8/2022

Name of PublicationSentinel IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED;

DATE: 09/02/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Alison L Berry #34531

N. April Norton #34861

David R. Doughty #40042

Nicholas H. Santarelli #46592

Lynn M. Janeway #15592 Janeway Law Firm, P.C. 9800 S. Meridian Blvd., Suite 400, Englewood, CO 80112 (303) 706-9990

Attorney File # 22-028263

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0468-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described

Deed of Trust:

On September 9, 2022, the undersigned

Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

JOHNNY GONZALES

Original Beneficiary(ies)

TOM VAN ERP AS TRUSTEE FOR V.R.M.

PENSION PLAN TRUST-02

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

TOM VAN ERP AS TRUSTEE FOR V.R.M.

PENSION PLAN TRUST-02

Date of Deed of Trust

March 01, 2022

County of Recording

Arapahoe Recording Date of Deed of Trust

March 10, 2022

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

E2027474

Original Principal Amount

$500,000.00

Outstanding Principal Balance

$500,000.00

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows: Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE

A FIRST LIEN. LOT 15, BLOCK 49, HOFFMAN TOWN SIXTH FILING, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO.

Also known by street and number as: 716 REVERE ST, AURORA, CO 80011.

THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 01/11/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication11/17/2022

Last Publication12/15/2022

Name of PublicationSentinel

IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO

A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE

A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED;

DATE: 09/09/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Jamie G. Siler #31284

Joseph A. Murr #14427

Kimberly L Martinez #40351

Murr Siler & Accomazzo, P.C. 410 17th St, #2400, Denver, CO 80202 (303) 534-2277

Attorney File # 7234.026

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

COMBINED NOTICEPUBLICATION CRS §38-38-103

FORECLOSURE SALE NO. 0469-2022

To Whom It May Concern: This Notice is given with regard to the following described Deed of Trust:

On September 9, 2022, the undersigned

Public Trustee caused the Notice of Election and Demand relating to the Deed of Trust described below to be recorded in the County of Arapahoe records.

Original Grantor(s)

METROPOLIS REALTY, LLC

Original Beneficiary(ies)

TOM VAN ERP AS TRUSTEE FOR V.R.M. PENSION PLAN TRUST-02

Current Holder of Evidence of Debt

TOM VAN ERP AS TRUSTEE FOR V.R.M.

PENSION PLAN TRUST-02

Date of Deed of Trust

March 01, 2022

County of Recording

Arapahoe

Recording Date of Deed of Trust

March 10, 2022

Recording Information (Reception No. and/ or Book/Page No.)

E2027472

Original Principal Amount $500,000.00

Outstanding Principal Balance $500,000.00

Pursuant to CRS §38-38-101(4)(i), you are hereby notified that the covenants of the deed of trust have been violated as follows:

Failure to pay principal and interest when due together with all other payments provided for in the evidence of debt secured by the deed of trust and other violations thereof.

THE LIEN FORECLOSED MAY NOT BE A FIRST LIEN. TRACT 4, ARCADIAN ACRES, FOURTH FILING, COUNTY OF ARAPAHOE, STATE OF COLORADO.

Also known by street and number as: 16720 E. EASTER AVE., AURORA, CO 80016.

THE PROPERTY DESCRIBED HEREIN IS ALL OF THE PROPERTY CURRENTLY ENCUMBERED BY THE LIEN OF THE DEED OF TRUST.

NOTICE OF SALE

The current holder of the Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, described herein, has filed Notice of Election and Demand for sale as provided by law and in said Deed of Trust.

THEREFORE, Notice Is Hereby Given that I will at public auction, at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 01/11/2023, at The East Hearing Room, County Administration Building, 5334 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, sell to the highest and best bidder for cash, the said real property and all interest of the said Grantor(s), Grantor(s)’ heirs and assigns therein, for the purpose of paying the indebtedness provided in said Evidence of Debt secured by the Deed of Trust, plus attorneys’ fees, the expenses of sale and other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication11/17/2022

Last Publication12/15/2022

Name of PublicationSentinel IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED; DATE: 09/09/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Jamie G. Siler #31284

Joseph A. Murr #14427

Kimberly L Martinez #40351

Murr Siler & Accomazzo, P.C. 410 17th St, #2400, Denver, CO 80202 (303) 534-2277

Attorney File # 7234.025

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

other items allowed by law, and will issue to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law.

First Publication 12/1/2022

Last Publication 12/29/2022

Name of Publication Sentinel

IF THE SALE DATE IS CONTINUED TO

A LATER DATE, THE DEADLINE TO FILE

A NOTICE OF INTENT TO CURE BY THOSE PARTIES ENTITLED TO CURE MAY ALSO BE EXTENDED; DATE: 09/27/2022

Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee in and for the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado

By: /s/ Susan Sandstrom, Public Trustee

The name, address, business telephone number and bar registration number of the attorney(s) representing the legal holder of the indebtedness is:

Alison L Berry #34531

N. April Winecki #34861

David R. Doughty #40042

Nicholas H. Santarelli #46592

Lynn M. Janeway #15592 Janeway Law Firm, P.C. 9800 S. Meridian Blvd., Suite 400, Englewood, CO 80112 (303) 706-9990

Attorney File # 22-028374

The Attorney above is acting as a debt collector and is attempting to collect a debt. Any information provided may be used for that purpose.

©Public Trustees’ Association of Colorado

Revised 1/2015

AVISO DE HALLAZGO DE IMPACTO

SIGNIFICANTE Y AVISO DE INTEN-

CIÓN DE SOLICITUD DE LIBERACIÓN DE FONDOS

01 de diciembre de 2022

Ciudad de la División de Desarrollo de la Comunidad de Aurora 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy Aurora, CO. 80017 303-739-7921

SOLICITUD DE LIBERACIÓN DE FONDOS

El 19 de diciembre de 2022 o aproximadamente, 01 de octubre de 2021 la Ciudad de Aurora presentará una solicitud a HUD para la liberación de fondos de CDBG bajo el Programa de Subvención de Desarrollo Comunitario (CDBG), según enmendado, Community Housing Partners Colorado, actuando como afiliado del Propietario y Desarrollador, utilizará los fondos de HOME para ayudar en el proyecto de desarrollo como Eagle Meadows, un desarrollo de viviendas asequibles multifamiliares de 93 unidades que se ubicará en 14875 E. 2nd Avenue, Aurora, CO 80011. Este proyecto será financiado con $500,000 de los fondos HOME de la Ciudad de Aurora. El financiamiento total para este proyecto se estima en $25,000,000 de varias otras fuentes.

Las actividades propuestas han requerido una Evaluación Ambiental bajo las regulaciones de HUD en 24 CFR Parte 58 de los requisitos de la Ley de Política Ambiental Nacional (NEPA). Un Registro de Revisión Ambiental (ERR) que documenta las determinaciones ambientales para este proyecto está archivado en la Ciudad de Aurora, División de Desarrollo de la Comunidad, 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy, Aurora, Colorado, y puede ser examinado o copiado durante la semana 8 A.M a 5 P.M.

COMENTARIOS DEL PÚBLICO

Cualquier individuo, grupo o entidad podrán hacer observaciones por escrito sobre la ERR a la Alicia Montoya, Ciudad de Aurora, División de Desarrollo de la Comunidad, 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy, Aurora, Colorado, 80012; o rmilton@auroragov. org. Para preguntas e información adicional, por favor póngase en contacto con Alicia Montoya en la dirección arriba o llame al 303-739-7900.

Todos los comentarios recibidos 18 de diciembre de 2022 serán considerados por la Ciudad de Aurora antes de autorizar la presentación de una solicitud de liberación de fondos. Los comentarios deben especificar qué Observe que se dirigen.

CERTIFICACIÓN AMBIENTAL

La Ciudad de Aurora certifica a HUD que Alicia Montoya en su calidad de consentimientos al gerente de desarrollo comunitario para aceptar la jurisdicción de los tribunales federales si se interpone una acción para hacer cumplir las responsabilidades en relación con el proceso de revisión ambiental y que estas responsabilidades han sido satisfechas. La aprobación del Estado de HUD de la certificación satisface sus responsabilidades bajo NEPA y leyes y autoridades relacionadas y permite que el nombre del beneficiario de la subvención a utilizar fondos del programa.

OBJECIONES A liberación de fondos HUD aceptará objeciones a su liberación de fondos y la certificación de la Ciudad de Aurora por un período de quince días después de la fecha de presentación anticipada o la recepción real de la solicitud (lo que ocurra más tarde) solo si se basan en una de las siguientes bases: ( a) la certificación no fue ejecutada por el Oficial Certificador de la Ciudad de Aurora; (b) la ciudad de Aurora ha omitido un paso o no ha tomado una decisión o hallazgo requerido por las reglamentaciones de HUD en 24 CFR parte 58; (c) el beneficiario de la subvención u otros participantes en el proceso de desarrollo han comprometido fondos, incurrido en costos o realizado actividades no autorizadas por 24 CFR Parte 58 antes de la aprobación de una liberación de fondos por parte de HUD; o (d) otra agencia federal que actúa de

conformidad con 40 CFR Parte 1504 ha presentado una conclusión por escrito de que el proyecto no es satisfactorio desde el punto de vista de la calidad ambiental. Las objeciones deben prepararse y enviarse por correo electrónico de acuerdo con los procedimientos requeridos (24 CFR Parte 58, Sec. 58.76) y deben dirigirse a Noemi Ghirghi, Directora de CPD Región VIII, a CPD_COVID-19OEE-DEN@hud.gov. Los posibles objetores deben comunicarse con CPD_COVID-19OEE-DEN@hud.gov para verificar el último día real del período de objeción.

Alicia Montoya, Gerente de la División de Desarrollo de la Comunidad

Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel

CITY OF AURORA, COLORADO Ordinance 2022-71

FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 146 OF THE CITY CODE OF THE CITY OF AURORA, COLORADO, RELATING TO STANDARDS FOR OTHER TYPES OF SIGNS

Ordinance 2022-71 was finally passed at the November 28, 2022, regular meeting of the City Council and will take effect on December 31, 2022. The full text of the ordinance is available for public inspection and acquisition in the City Clerk’s Office, 15151 E. Alameda Parkway, Suite 1400, Aurora, Colorado, and on the city’s website at: https://www.auroragov.org/ city_hall/public_records/legal_notices/ordinance_notices/.

/s/ Kadee Rodriguez City Clerk

Publication: December 1, 2022 Sentinel CITY OF AURORA, COLORADO Ordinance 2022-72

FOR AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AURORA, COLORADO, VACATING TWO PORTIONS OF THE PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY FOR GUN CLUB ROAD, LOCATED EAST OF E-470, BETWEEN EAST 38TH AVENUE AND EAST 48TH AVENUE, CITY OF AURORA, COUNTY OF ADAMS, STATE OF COLORADO (GUN CLUB ROAD RIGHTS-OF-WAY VACATIONS NO. 2)

Ordinance 2022-72 was finally passed at the November 28, 2022, regular meeting of the City Council and will take effect on December 31, 2022. The full text of the ordinance is available for public inspection and acquisition in the City Clerk’s Office, 15151 E. Alameda Parkway, Suite 1400, Aurora, Colorado, and on the city’s website at: https://www.auroragov.org/ city_hall/public_records/legal_notices/ordinance_notices/.

/s/ Kadee Rodriguez City Clerk

Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel CITY OF AURORA, COLORADO Ordinance 2022-73

FOR AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF AURORA, COLORADO APPROPRIATING SUMS OF MONEY IN ADDITION TO THOSE APPROPRIATED IN ORDINANCE NOS. 2021-56, AND 2022-24 FOR THE 2022 FISCAL YEAR

Ordinance 2022-73 was finally passed at the November 28, 2022, regular meeting of the City Council and will take effect on December 31, 2022. The full text of the ordinance is available for public inspection and acquisition in the City Clerk’s Office, 15151 E. Alameda Parkway, Suite 1400, Aurora, Colorado, and on the city’s website at: https://www.auroragov.org/ city_hall/public_records/legal_notices/ordinance_notices/.

/s/ Kadee Rodriguez City Clerk

Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel CITY OF AURORA, COLORADO Ordinance 2022-74

PUBLIC HEARING AND CONSIDERATION OF AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AURORA, COLORADO, REZONING A PARCEL OF LAND MEASURING 22-ACRES, MORE OR LESS, AT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF 6TH AVENUE AND AIRPORT BOULEVARD FROM MIXED-USE CORRIDOR ZONE DISTRICT (MU-C) TO BUSINESS/TECH ZONE DISTRICT (I-1) AND AMENDING THE ZONING MAP ACCORDINGLY (6TH AVENUE AND AIRPORT BOULEVARD ZONING MAP AMENDMENT)

Ordinance 2022-74, which was introduced on November 28, 2022, will be presented for final passage at the December 5, 2022, regular meeting of the City Council. The full text of the ordinance is available for public inspection and acquisition in the City Clerk’s Office, 15151 E. Alameda Parkway, Suite 1400, Aurora, Colorado, and on the city’s website at: https://www.auroragov.org/city_hall/public_records/legal_notices/ordinance_notices/.

/s/ Kadee Rodriguez City Clerk

Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel CITY OF AURORA, COLORADO

Ordinance 2022-75

PUBLIC HEARING AND CONSIDER-

ATION OF AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AURORA, COLORADO, AMENDING CHAPTER 146 OF THE CITY CODE TO CREATE A DEFINITION FOR DATA CENTERS AND TO ALLOW DATA CENTERS AS A CONDITIONAL AND PERMITTED USE IN INDIVIDUAL INDUSTRIAL ZONING

DISTRICTS

Ordinance 2022-75, which was introduced on November 28, 2022, will be presented for final passage at the December 5, 2022, regular meeting of the City Council. The full text of the ordinance is available for public inspection and acquisition in the City Clerk’s Office, 15151 E. Alameda Parkway, Suite 1400, Aurora, Colorado, and on the city’s website at: https://www.auroragov.org/city_hall/public_records/legal_notices/ordinance_notices/.

/s/ Kadee Rodriguez City Clerk

Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel

NOTICE OF FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT AND NOTICE OF INTENT TO REQUEST RELEASE OF FUNDS

November 3, 2022 City of Aurora Community Development Division 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy Aurora, CO. 80017 303-739-7921

REQUEST FOR RELEASE OF FUNDS

On or about December 19, 2022 the City of Aurora will submit a request to HUD for the release of HOME funds under the HOME Investment Act , as amended. This undertaking will be for Community Housing Partners Colorado, acting as an affiliate of Owner and as Developer, will use HOME funds to assist in the development project as Eagle Meadows, a 93 unit multi-family affordable housing development to be located at 14875 E. 2nd Avenue, Aurora, CO 80011. This project will be funded with $500,000 of the City of Aurora’s HOME funding. Total funding for this project is estimated to be up $25,000,000 from various other sources.

The activities proposed have required an Environmental Assessment under HUD regulations at 24 CFR Part 58 from National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements. An Environmental Review Record (ERR) that documents the environmental determinations for this project is on file at City of Aurora, Community Development Division, 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy, Aurora, Colorado, and may be examined or copied weekdays 8 A.M to 5 P.M.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Any individual, group, or agency may submit written comments on the ERR to Alicia Montoya, City of Aurora, Community Development Division, 15151 E. Alameda, Aurora, Colorado, 80012; or amontoya@ auroragov.org. For questions and additional information please contact Alicia Montoya at the above address or call 303-7397900. All comments received by December 18, 2022 will be considered by the City of Aurora prior to authorizing submission of a request for release of funds. Comments should specify which Notice they are addressing.

ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION

The City of Aurora certifies to HUD that Alicia Montoya in his capacity as Community Development Division Manager consents to accept the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts if an action is brought to enforce responsibilities in relation to the environmental review process and that these responsibilities have been satisfied. HUD’s State’s approval of the certification satisfies its responsibilities under NEPA and related laws and authorities and allows the name of grant recipient to use Program funds.

OBJECTIONS TO RELEASE OF FUNDS

HUD will accept objections to its release of funds and the City of Aurora certification for a period of fifteen days following the anticipated submission date or its actual receipt of the request (whichever is later) only if they are on one of the following bases: (a) the certification was not executed by the Certifying Officer of the City of Aurora; (b) the City of Aurora has omitted a step or failed to make a decision or finding required by HUD regulations at 24 CFR part 58; (c) the grant recipient or other participants in the development process have committed funds, incurred costs or undertaken activities not authorized by 24 CFR Part 58 before approval of a release of funds by HUD; or (d) another Federal agency acting pursuant to 40 CFR Part 1504 has submitted a written finding that the project is unsatisfactory from the standpoint of environmental quality. Objections must be prepared and submitted via email in accordance with the required procedures (24 CFR Part 58, Sec. 58.76) and shall be addressed to Noemi Ghirghi, CPD Region VIII Director, at CPD_COVID19OEE-DEN@hud.gov. Potential objec-

tors should contact CPD_COVID-19OEEDEN@hud.gov to verify the actual last day of the objection period.

Alicia Montoya, Community Development Division Man-

ager

Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

As required by the Colorado Liquor Code, as amended, notice is hereby given that an application for a Hotel-Restaurant Liquor License has been received by the Local Licensing Authority for the granting of a license to sell at retail, malt, vinous and spiritous liquors for consumption on the premises only. Cakshaya, LLC dba Bajeko Sekuwa for a location at 12191 East Iliff Avenue, Aurora, CO 80014 filed the application on October 17, 2022. The LLC members reside in Colorado and New York.

A Public Hearing to consider the application has been scheduled to be held virtually before the Local Licensing Authority on January 3, 2023 at 9:15 a.m. via Webex from the Aurora Municipal Center, 15151 East Alameda Parkway, 5th Floor, Tax and Licensing Office, Aurora, CO 80012.

Provided either the applicant or protestant(s) desire to use petitions to prove the needs of the neighborhood, and the desires of the inhabitants, the petitions may not be circulated before December 4, 2022 and must be returned by 12:00 noon on December 22, 2022, for review and verification by the City of Aurora Liquor Licensing staff.

Information as to the application, procedures, or remonstrances, may be handled with the Liquor Licensing staff up to and including the date of the public hearing.

Kellye Chatman Senior Licensing Officer 303-739-7282

Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Case Number(s): 2006-7003-07

Applicant: Painted Prairie Owner, LLC

Application Name: Painted Prairie Accessory Dwelling Units

You are hereby notified that a public hearing will be held on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, starting at 6:00 p.m. at the regular meeting of the Planning Commission of the City of Aurora, Colorado. THIS MEETING WILL BE A VIRTUAL MEETING, PLEASE GO TO THE CITY OF AURORA WEBSITE (AURORAGOV.ORG) FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON PARTICIPATION. The hearing will consider a request for approval of a Master Plan Amendment to the Painted Prairie design standards (Tab 12) to permit accessory dwelling units (ADUs) under certain conditions and to add development and design standards to this use.

Site Location: Bounded by 64th Avenue to the north, Picadilly Road to the east, 56th Ave to the south, and Himalaya Road to the west Site Size: 640.0 acres

At said meeting, any person in interest may appear and be heard on the requested approval.

/s/ Kadee Rodriguez City Clerk

Publication: December 1, 2022 Sentinel NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Case Number(s): 2022-6040-00

Applicant: Westwood Professional Services

Application Name: Painted Prairie Town Center Cafe

You are hereby notified that a public hearing will be held on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, starting at 6:00 p.m. at the regular meeting of the Planning Commission of the City of Aurora, Colorado. THIS MEETING WILL BE A VIRTUAL MEETING, PLEASE GO TO THE CITY OF AURORA WEBSITE (AURORAGOV.ORG) FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON PARTICIPATION. The hearing will consider a request for approval of a Site Plan for a 2,400-square-foot coffee shop in the Painted Prairie Town Center, an Adjustment is being requested for a parking reduction to provide no on-site parking.

Site Location: Southeast Corner of 62nd Drive and Kirk Street Site Size: 0.15 acres

At said meeting, any person in interest may appear and be heard on the requested approval.

/s/ Kadee Rodriguez City Clerk

Publication: December 1, 2022 Sentinel

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Case Number(s): 2022-4021-00

Applicant: 14th and Ursula LLC

Application Name: 14th and Ursula

You are hereby notified that a public hearing will be held on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, starting at 6:00 p.m. at the regular meeting of the Planning Commission of the City of Aurora, Colorado. THIS MEETING WILL BE A VIRTUAL MEETING, PLEASE GO TO THE CITY OF AURORA WEBSITE (AURORAGOV.ORG) FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON PARTICIPATION. The hearing will consider a request for approval of a Site Plan for a 7-story mixed-use building which will include 297 multi-family units and approximately 9,000 square feet of first-floor retail space with a wrapped parking structure. An adjustment is being requested for building length.

Site Location: Northwest of the intersection of 14th Place and Uvalda Street Site Size: 2.31 acres

At said meeting, any person in interest may appear and be heard on the requested approval.

/s/ Kadee Rodriguez City Clerk

Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Case Number(s): 2022-4046-00

Applicant: DBG Properties

Application Name: 15 Sable Boulevard

You are hereby notified that a public hearing will be held on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, starting at 6:00 p.m. at the regular meeting of the Planning Commission of the City of Aurora, Colorado. THIS MEETING WILL BE A VIRTUAL MEETING, PLEASE GO TO THE CITY OF AURORA WEBSITE (AURORAGOV.ORG) FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON PARTICIPATION. The hearing will consider a request for approval of a Site Plan for a 154-unit affordable housing apartment building with on-site usable open space.

Site Location: Northwest Corner of Ellsworth Avenue and Sable Boulevard

Site Size: 2.23 acres

At said meeting, any person in interest may appear and be heard on the requested approval.

/s/ Kadee Rodriguez City Clerk

Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Case Number(s): 2022-6041-00

Applicant: Painted Prairie Town Center, LLC

Application Name: Painted Prairie Town Center Restaurant

You are hereby notified that a public hearing will be held on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, starting at 6:00 p.m. at the regular meeting of the Planning Commission of the City of Aurora, Colorado. THIS MEETING WILL BE A VIRTUAL MEETING, PLEASE GO TO THE CITY OF AURORA WEBSITE (AURORAGOV.ORG) FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON PARTICIPATION. The hearing will consider a request for approval of a Site Plan for a 1,430-square-foot restaurant in the Painted Prairie Town Center with an Adjustment for a parking reduction to provide no on-site parking.

Site Location: Southwest Corner of 62nd Drive and Jebel Street

Site Size: 0.07 acres

At said meeting any person in interest may appear and be heard on the requested approval.

/s/ Kadee Rodriguez City Clerk

Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel

BEFORE THE OIL AND GAS CONSERVATION COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO IN THE MATTER OF THE PROMULGATION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF FIELD RULES TO GOVERN OPERATIONS FOR THE NIOBRARA FORMATION, DJ HORIZONTAL NIOBRARA FIELD, ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO CAUSE NO. 535 DOCKET NO. 220800231

TYPE: EXCEPTION LOCATION

NOTICE OF HEARING

Axis Exploration LLC, (Operator No. 10646) (“Axis” or “Applicant”) filed an Application with the Commission for an order to authorize an exception location for oil or gas operations on lands identified below. This Notice was sent to you because the Applicant believes you may own oil or gas (“mineral”) interests within the identified lands. An exception location is a request by an Applicant for an exception from Commission rules. The requested exception is described in detail in the Application.

APPLICATION LANDS

PETITION FOR REQUESTING COLORADO TO ACCEPT GUARDIANSHIP FROM SENDING STATE Case No.:22PR30946

In the Interest of: Tina Richardson, Court Appointed Guardian And Concerning Aliah Richardson, Respondent.

This petition is submitted pursuant to § 15-14.5-302, C.R.S. of the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act.

The guardian and/or conservator petitioner, hereby submits certified copies of any documents evidencing authority to act (Order of Appointment, Letters) and the Provisional Order of Transfer from the sending state relating to a Guardianship, as identified below:

Sending State: California

Sending Court: Superior Court of California, County of Fresno Sending Court Case #: 09CEPR00189

1. Information about the guardian: Tina Richardson 3576 S. Norfolk Way Aurora, CO 80013 Phone: 559-400-3667

Email: eldertinarichardson61@gmail.com

2. Information about the ward/protected person: Allah Richardson 3576 S. Norfolk Way Aurora, CO 80013 Type of Residence: Private

3. The petitioner requests that Colorado accept this guardianship for the following reasons: For the continuing health, safety, supervision, and support of the minor children to continue by their grandmother in the state of Colorado as Ordered by the State of California.

4. The petitioner must provide this petition and a Notice of Hearing Without Appearance(JDF 712) to persons entitled to notice. (§15-14-.5-302(2), C.R.S.)

5. The interested persons given notice are as follows:

Damisha Richardson, Mother

David Massey, Father

Unknown Father, Father

To all interested persons:

A hearing without appearance on Petition

Requesting Colorado to Accept Guardian- ship/Conservatorship from Sending State is set at the following date, time, and lo- cation:

Date: December 15, 2022

Time: 8:30 a.m.

Address: Division 12

Arapahoe County District Court

7325 S. Potomac St. Centennial, CO 80112

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Any interested person wishing to object to the requested action set forth in the attached motion/petition and proposed order must file a written objection with the court on or before the hearing and must furnish a copy of the objection to the person requesting the court order. JDF 722 (Objection form) is available on the Colorado Judicial Branch website (www.courts.state. co.us). If no objection is filed, the court may take action on the motion/petition without further notice or hearing. If any objection is filed, the objecting party must, within 14 days after filing the objection, contact the court to set the objection for an ap- pearance hearing. Failure to timely set the objection for an appearance hearing as required will result in further action as the court deems appropriate.

ATTORNEY FOR PETITIONER:

THOMAS LAW GROUP, P.C.

/s/ Sergei B Thomas, #20002

1401 Lawrence Street, Suite 1600 Denver, CO 80202 Telephone: (303) 293-1941

Fax: (720)643-1117

E-Mail: sergei.thomas@thomasfamilylawcounsel.com

First Publication: November 3, 2022

Final Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel

PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a organizational meeting of the Board of Directors of the Sky Ranch Metropolitan District Nos. 6, 7, and 8 of the County of Arapahoe, State of Colorado, shall be held on Friday, December 9, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. via video and telephone conference.

You can attend the meeting in any of the following ways:

To attend the meeting via video conference, enter the following link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetupjoin/19%3ameeting_OWExZWRmMTUt

YzNmMS00YmVjLWJkYjItNmIxNmI1NG

Q5ZjA3%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%2

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To attend the meeting via telephone, dial 1-720-547-5281 and enter the following information when prompted:

Phone Conference ID: 546 305 267#

At such meeting, the Boards shall conduct the regular business of the Districts and other business which may come before the Boards. All meetings shall be open to the public.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, this notice is given and duly posted pursuant to statute. SKY RANCH METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NOS. 6, 7, 8

By:/s/ Suzanne M. Meintzer

McGEADY BECHER P.C.

Attorneys for the District

Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel

PUBLIC NOTICE OF PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME OF A MINOR ARAPAHOE COUNTY COURT, COLORADO Case No. 22CV141

PUBLIC NOTICE is given on August 31, 2022, that a Petition for a Change of Name of a Minor has been filed with the Arapahoe County Court.

The Petition requests that the name of Niklaus Pantelis Engel Fafalios be changed to Niklaus Martinez.

/s/ Judge

First Publication:November 17, 2022

Final Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel

PUBLIC NOTICE OF PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME OF AN ADULT ARAPAHOE COUNTY COURT, COLORADO Case No. 22C100756

PUBLIC NOTICE is given on November 4, 2022, that a Petition for a Change of Name of an Adult has been filed with the Arapahoe County Court.

The Petition requests that the name of Aric Dong Gaunt be changed to Aric Gaunt Yoo.

First Publication: December 1, 2022

Final Publication: December 15, 2022 Sentinel

REQUEST TO PUBLISH TO NOTICE TO NON-CUSTODIAL PARENT OF CHANGE OF MINOR’S NAME AND PUBLICATION ORDER Case No. 2022C100662

In the Matter of the Petition of: Parent/Petitioner: Aleisha McLennan for Minor Child: Jayden Avery Hampton McLennan to change the Child’s Name to: Jayden Avery McLennan

1. The last known address of the non-custodial parent was: unknown

2. The non-custodial parent no longer lives at that address.

3. Reasonable effort was made to contact the non-custodial parent by certified mail at the last known address as follows: Jayden’s biological father and I dated for a very short time and I have not had any contact with him since Jayden was 6 months old. I never had an address for him.

4. The certified letter has been returned marked delivered. The return envelope is attached. It is requested that the Court permit notice by publication on the non-custodial parent.

/s/ Aleisha McLennan, Parent/Petitioner

Dated: October 5, 2022 /s/ Judge

First Publication: November 17, 2022

Final Publication: December 1, 2022

Sentinel SERENITY RIDGE

METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NOS. 1 AND 2

NOTICE CONCERNING 2022 BUDGET AMENDMENTS AND PROPOSED 2023 BUDGETS

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN to all interested parties that the necessity has arisen to amend the Serenity Ridge Metropolitan District Nos. 1 and 2 (the “Districts) 2022 Budgets and that proposed 2023 Budgets have been submitted to the Boards of Directors of the Districts; and that copies of the proposed Amended 2022 Budgets and 2023 Budgets have been filed at the District’s offices, 141 Union Boulevard, Suite 150, Lakewood, Colorado, where the same are open for public inspection; and that adoption of Resolutions Amending the 2022 Budgets and Adopting the 2023 Budgets will be considered at a public hearing of the Boards of Directors of the Districts to be held on Thursday, December 15, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. This District Board meeting will be held https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86267550643?

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Phone Number: 1 (719) 359-4580

Meeting ID: 815 9413 7384

Passcode: 109562

Any elector within the District may, at any time prior to the final adoption of the Resolutions to Amend the 2022 Budget and adopt the 2023 Budget, inspect and file or register any objections thereto.

SERENITY RIDGE METROPOLITAN DISTRICT NOS. 1 AND 2

By /s/Steve Beck District Manager

Publication: December 1, 2022 Sentinel

SOUTHLANDS METROPOLITAN DIS-

TRICT NO. 1

RETAINING WALL REPAIR PROJECT NOTICE OF FINAL PAYMENT

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Southlands Metropolitan District No. 1, Arapahoe County, Colorado (hereinafter called the “District”) will make a final payment at the office of Special District Management Services, Inc., 141 Union Boulevard, Suite 150, in Lakewood, Colorado, on or after 3:00 p.m., on Monday, December 12, 2022, to:

Keesen Landscape Management, Inc. 3355 S. Umatilla Ave. Englewood, CO 80111 for all work which has been substantially completed by said Contractor for the Median Renovation Project for the Southlands Metropolitan District No. 1. Any person, co-partnership, association of persons, company, or corporation that has furnished labor, materials, provisions, team hire, sustenance provender, or other supplies used or consumed by such Contractor or its Subcontractors or Suppliers in or about the performance of the work contracted to be done and whose claim therefore has not been paid by the Contractor or its Subcontractors or Suppliers at any time up to and including the time of final settlement for the work contracted to be done, is required to file a written verified statement of the amount due and unpaid on account of such claim with the District, Attention: Ann E. Finn, 141 Union Boulevard, Suite 150, Lakewood, Colorado, 80228-1898 with a copy to Clint Waldron, Esq., White Bear Ankele Tanaka & Waldron P.C., 2154 E. Commons Avenue, Suite 2000, Centennial, CO 80122, at or before the time and date hereinabove shown. Failure on the part of any claimant to file such written verified statement of claim prior to such final settlement will release the District, its Board, officers, agents, and employees of and from any and all liability for such claim.

BY ORDER OF THE

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