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American citizens can be ordered to decrypt their PGP-scrambled hard drives for police to peruse for incriminating files, a federal judge in Colorado ruled today in what could become a precedent-setting case. Judge Robert Blackburn ordered a Peyton, Colo., woman to decrypt the hard drive of a Toshiba laptop computer no later than February 21--or face the consequences including contempt of court. Blackburn, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that the Fifth Amendment posed no barrier to his decryption order. The Fifth Amendment says that nobody may be "compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself," which...

DENVER – Gun-rights advocates filed a recall petition against state Rep. Mike McLachlan, D-Durango, on Tuesday. A group called Colorado Accountability has been threatening the recall for two weeks. Organizers now have about two months to collect 10,586 valid signatures from voters in McLachlan’s House District 59. “This is their right to petition to recall me. I look forward to a full discussion of the issues,” McLachlan said. He didn’t want to comment further until he saw the official petition. The secretary of state’s office will work with Colorado Accountability to make sure the petition is formatted properly. After that,...

DENVER — If Colorado is becoming the epicenter of the national debate on gun control, Colorado Springs is proving to be an interesting battleground for the issue. The city is home to Democratic Senate President John Morse, who is proposing Colorado hold manufactures and sellers of military style assault weapons strictly liable for damages caused by the firearms. It’s a move some are calling a back-door ban on semi-automatic rifles and others are calling an innovative step toward getting control of the deadly guns. Morse met Thursday in Denver with the president of the National Rifle Association. Across the aisle...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A man who told police he shot two teenage boys at random "to get something off my chest" was recommended for release from prison following a parole hearing Tuesday. Jeron Grant, 26, and an accompolice were charged in the Valentine's Day 1997 shotgun shooting deaths of Andrew Westbay, 13, and Scott Hawrysiak, 15, who were gunned down at close range as they walked home after playing video games at a neighbor's house. Parole board member Curtis Devin, who held the hearing, recommended Grant be released in either August or September, only a few weeks earlier than...

Gary Flakes, a man convicted in the murders of two teenagers, formally announced Wednesday that he's running for Colorado Springs City Council. ... In 1997, Flakes was convicted of accessory to murder and negligent homicide in the killings of 13-year-old Andy Westbay and 15-year-old Scott Hawrysiak. The boys were gunned down as they were walking in the Cheyenne Meadows area on Valentine's Day. Flakes and his friend Jeron Grant accused each other of pulling the trigger of the shotgun, and neither was convicted of murder, sparking outrage. After spending 12 years in prison, Flakes was released in 2011. ... Scott...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - One man is in critical condition and another is recovering from injuries after a homeowner opened fire during a home invasion in Colorado Springs.

November 30, 2012 Obama supporters fear their rent will rise after manager makes threats Jaclyn Rostie COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A Colorado Springs apartment manager threatens to raise the rent of anyone who voted to re-elect President Barack Obama. John Obringer sent out a letter to his tenants at the Casa Adobe Apartments on Wednesday. The letter was addressing cutbacks on staff and maintenance issues. "Due to the stupidity of the U.S. electorate, the Obama-administration's continued assault on small business is resulting in increased taxes, regulations and mandates that are forcing the management company (B&J Enterprises, Inc.) for Casa Adobe...

The elderly victim "suffered from internal injuries that appeared to be caused by blunt force trauma." This is not Pakistan. This is Colorado Springs. When police arrived on the scene at the apartment, they found blood splattered on the walls. Children and elderly women are "uncovered meat." The El Paso District Attorney’s Office said charges are pending against Jasim Mohammed Hassin Ramadon, 22, who was charged with sexual assault and being an accessory after he was arrested Tuesday in connection with the July 22 attack. Others arrested in the case, including Sarmad Fadhi Mohammed, accused of sexual assault and being...

Colorado Springs residents, many of whom have been away from their homes for several days, were allowed to return to what remained of their houses on Sunday. The wildfires, which are being called the most destructive of its kind in Colorado history, forced thousands of people to evacuate the city as it blazed a 17,659 acre trail across the state. At last count, 346 homes and communities were laid to waste as a result. Sadly, sifting through the rubble might be the least of their concerns at the moment. Bears and other wildlife have been spotted in these deserted neighborhoods...

(Reuters) - Firefighters struggled on Wednesday to beat back a fiercely aggressive wildfire raging at the edge of Colorado Springs that has forced at least 35,000 people from their homes and was nipping at the edges of the U.S. Air Force Academy. The so-called Waldo Canyon Fire, fanned by gusting winds, has gutted an unknown number of homes on the wooded fringes of Colorado's second-most populous city and prompted more evacuations as flames roared out of control for a fifth day. President Barack Obama plans to pay a visit to the area on Friday to view the damage, the White...

Barack Obama will fly to Colorado Springs Friday to tour the scene of the Waldo Canyon Fire, which continues to ravage homes and forest on the edge of Colorado’s second most populous city. ... Politically, the fire offers Obama a chance to be on the ground in a key swing state assuming the responsibilities of actually being President. Further, with the Supreme Court set to issue its ruling on the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, traveling to the fire lines on Friday offers the President an opportunity to attempt to turn the page should the Court rule part or all...

Among the Colorado wildfires drawing national attention today, the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs poses an immediate threat to the Navigators’ Glen Eyrie Conference Center and Eagle Lake Camp properties. The blaze...was only at 5 percent containment... Hundreds of workers are currently on the ground battling the blaze, which has burned down an Eagle Lake tent platform and come dangerously close to its barn, auto shop, and maintenance director’s home. “They’ve been praying God would raise walls of protection around the camp,” said Melissa Anderson, a 24-year-old Glen Eyrie resident and friend of Eagle Lake’s maintenance directors. “Apparently, the...

Green agenda targets slurry bombers As fire rages out of control on the edge of Colorado Springs, threatening lives and property, it is time we listen to those who have warned us about the negative effect environmentalists and President Barack Obama have had on the federal government’s ability to fight fires. Much of what’s burning is the Pike National Forest, which is federal property. Yet it took almost three days to get federal fire fighting aircraft off the ground to begin dumping meaningful loads of slurry to slow the fire’s growth. Because the Forest Service has a shortage of planes,...

This is the Waldo Canyon fire. Winds grew to 65mph this afternoon and the fire went over the fire-breaks. The Air Force Academy and surrounding neighborhood have been evacuated. Interstare I-25 has been closed north of Colorado SPrings in order to allow local people use the highway to evacuate.

A new fire is burning at the western edge of Colorado Springs, Colorado; a few outlying communities have been evacuated and more are on voluntary-evacuation status. The wind is light and to the northeast. The fire is being called the Waldo Canyon fire since it's in or near Waldo Canyon; it is also being called the Pyramid fire. The fire started around noon today and is currently at 100-150 acres, with no containment. Temperatures here are in the high 90s with light winds and humidity in the single digits. The conditions are extremely bad with no relief in sight.

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Gunshots rattled in a "sleepy" Colorado Springs neighborhood and almost led to a stand-off with police. Colorado Springs Police officers were sent to the 4600 block of Sleepy Hollow Circle North near Oro Blanco drive Tuesday night after neighbors reported a man was shooting a shot gun off his back deck. An automatic notification was sent out to residents in the area instructing them to stay inside and move to lower parts of their homes. Ceasar Archuleta, who lives across the street from the shooter, was home when the shooting started and caught the incident on...

Springs man's claim to have Obama records starts buzz A Colorado Springs “birther,” retired Air Force Col. Gregory Hollister, has Internet blogs abuzz with what may be an illegal foray into an online Social Security data base and how he obtained a copy of President Barack Obama’s draft registration from 1980. “Col. Greg Hollister, USAF (Ret.) contacted the Selective Service, falsely impersonated President Obama, improperly registered his own address as President Obama’s address, and by this false impersonation and identity theft he managed to obtain a duplicate registration acknowledgement card with President Obama’s Selective Service information on it,” a blogger...

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The owner of a 70-pound greyhound said Thursday that he exhausted all options before pulling his handgun on a 140-pound dog that had latched its jaws around his greyhound’s neck. “I had no choice but to shoot into the dog and kill him,” Robert McCombs said. Tammy Martinez, who owned the dog shot to death, was served a summons Thursday afternoon on suspicion of unlawful ownership of a dangerous animal, a misdemeanor, according to Joe Stafford, director of animal services at the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region. Martinez identifed her dog as a bullmastiff. The incident left McCombs’...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A church pastor called police Saturday about a woman harassing him in the parking lot of the Evangelical Christian Academy in Colorado Springs. The pastor told police that a woman was pounding on his vehicle and trying to take his cell phone. While officers were driving to the church on North Logan Avenue, they got a call that the woman had taken her clothes off and was hitting other vehicles in the parking lot. When officers arrived, the woman was gone, but minutes later they said they saw her walk out of a nearby home and...

In retaliation for Citizen's cutting up the City Council's "2C" no-limit General Budget Credit Card, the Fearless Leaders of Colorado Springs have stopped watering/maintaining city parks... and removed trashcans. No Cans for You! No habla de Sign? Poopid is as Poopid does. Unfunded Mandate City Council Group Portrait

Note: The following text is a quote: Mexican Drug Lord Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison for Cocaine Distribution Authorities Seize Over 2300 Kilograms of Cocaine and Over $10,000,000 in Cash from Arriola Drug Trafficking Organization MAY 11 -- DENVER – Miguel Arriola, age 42, of Mexico, was sentenced late Friday afternoon, May 7, 2010, by U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Blackburn to serve 240 months (20 years) in federal prison, followed by 4 years of supervised release, for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of 5 kilograms or more of cocaine, conspiracy to import...

OUR VIEW: Suddenly, the Springs is in vogue Online priview of Sunday's lead editorial Some folks bellyache a lot here in Colorado Springs, bemoaning the cheap voters who won’t approve taxes that we’ve all been told could somehow result in economic development and prosperity. The national press has made a joke of the Springs for its fiscally conservative ways. Meanwhile, the people who decide where to relocate businesses aren’t laughing. They’re planning to move here.

Colorado Springs, Colorado (CNN) -- If you come to a neighborhood park in Colorado Springs, plan on bringing your own trash bags. To save money, the city has removed the trash cans. Need to catch a bus? Don't try on evenings or weekends. The city has cut that service, too. And when the sun goes down, Colorado Springs is going to look a little bit dimmer. City crews are removing every third streetlight to save money on electricity and light bulbs. Other governments are considering higher taxes to avoid such cutbacks, but in the state of Colorado, there is a...

A religious watchdog group says a cross and motto on the emblem of an Army hospital in Colorado violate the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state and should be removed. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation asked the Army this week to change the emblem of Evans Army Community Hospital at Fort Carson, outside Colorado Springs. The emblem says "Pro deo et humanitate" or "For God and humanity." Fort Carson commanders will review the complaint, Lt. Col. Steve Wollman said. He said the emblem had been approved by the Army Institute of Heraldry and has been in use since...

See how bureaucrats in a major American city are censoring a beautiful architectural expression on private property, simply because they don't like it: http://www.gazette.com/opinion/wall-95074-mayor-north.html

COLORADO SPRINGS — This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric. More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled. The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter. Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14303473#ixzz0eJXAz9A8

Someone has put a lot of thought into a welcome sign that may surprise you, it's in front of a homeless camp off I-25 in Colorado Springs. Its message, "Welcome to Obamaville, Colorado's fastest growing community." Despite repeated calls no one could answer the question, who put up the sign? To some homeless the sign's message says enough. Mark Limonez, a homeless man living in "tent city", says the sign doesn't make him feel good about trying to get back on his feet. "Guys are trying to work but there's not enough work out there, so they go pan handling...

Colorado Springs on Sarah Palin's book-signing tour LANCE BENZEL THE GAZETTE Sarah Palin will make a December stop in Colorado Springs as part of a book-signing tour in support of her newly released memoir “Going Rogue,” according to a local bookseller. Border’s bookstore in the Chapel Hills Mall said it plans to issue about 1,000 wristbands in advance of the book signing, scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 8. Wristband holders will be guaranteed a spot in line and at least one copy of the book, the store said. “We would probably have more of a turnout than she could handle...

State Sen. David Schultheis said he didn't intend for a Twitter post accusing President Barack Obama of "flying the U.S. plane right into the ground" and ending with "let's roll" as a threat or a reference to United Flight 93, which crashed during the 2001 terrorist attacks. "Let's roll" reportedly were the last words of Todd Beamer before he and other passengers tried to gain control of their hijacked jet. The plane crashed into a Pennsylvania field short of its intended target. The tweet stirred ire and some support for the Colorado Springs Republican, whose standard eschewal of political correctness...

The Projects - Colorado Springs style The Colorado Springs Housing Authority owns more than 350+ properties. Observe the City wants to TRIPLE the property taxes of private property owners; while these City-owed rental properties are Tax-Exempt. 16-OCT-2009 El Paso County Parcel 6311110002 From the comments on this story [facade] propped up by the Colorado Springs Gazette http://www.gazette.com/articles/city-63798-government-story.html valueappraiser wrote: wm25burke.... You mentioned multi-family community development.... Here is an example of just one of the city owned residential properties...7220 Austin Bluffs Parkway...80 units in 8 buildings on 4.08 acres. These units were constructed in the year 2000 and purchased new by...

Im wondering if anyones heard specifics about the casualties.Have friends in the 4BCT which are deployed in this area. Thanks.

  Constitution Day Colorado Springs Rocks Constitution Day 2009 with a Tea-Party Americans, Pledging Allegiance Rejects Obamacare...... ...therefore, must be a Racist. (LOL!) Kenny Giordano Keep on Rockin' in the Free World! He has the right... Santa? Over 40 - OUT OF THE POOL! Ranger On - CHARLIE MIKE! Over 40 - OUT OF THE POOL! Kent Lambert Rocks! Purple - it's the New RED, Comrades. Obama Supporter Discourse Useful Idiot? Useful Idiots - reliving their 60's "Glory Days" You Rock, Colorado

Famous conservative author, columnist, blogger and TV talk show guest Michelle Malkin, who lives right here in our village and is of Asian descent, once wrote this: "Here are some of the racial epithets I've been called in my lifetime: Chink. Gook. Jap. Nigger. Slant eyes. Dog-eater." Those are tough words, I know. Personally, I've only had to endure moron, limey, hack, uneducated Bolivian shepherd, Polack, stinky Frenchman, Texan, land-lubber, sod-buster and lazy bastard. As you might guess, the one that cuts deepest is Texan. Anyway, I began with such harsh words so you'd understand the tough life endured by...

The City Council is considering a program to let the Police Department sell confiscated guns to licensed dealers. Sales could net $10,000 a year. Reporting from Colorado Springs, Colo. - This conservative city is taking an unusual, some might say extreme, step to try to stem its fiscal woes: It's entering the gun business.

Outside Magazine just ranking Colorado Springs as the best place to live. http://outside.away.com/outside/destinations/200908/best-towns-america-colorado-springs.html Outside Magazine lists as a drawback that it might be get this TOO CONSERVATIVE for some people. As you know, Money Magazine consistently usually ranks it number 1 as well. http://www.ownyourownmountain.com/artman/publish/Gazette_Telegraph_Article.html I f you or a CONSERVATIVE person is considering relocating, I’d invite you to tell them about this family values oasis. I’d personally suggest Northern Colorado Springs as being the best and the most conservative. And just to lay my cards on the table, I am not in the Real Estate business and make nothing off...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—The number of cadets with confirmed cases of the swine flu at the Air Force Academy has increased to 67. The academy said Monday that a total of 121 incoming freshmen with flu-like symptoms are being kept in dorms, away from other cadets.

A retired Air Force colonel with decades of experience as a flight instructor gave one of his students a hands-on lesson in a key principle of flying: Don't run out of gas. Al Uhalt of Colorado Springs made a bumpy but safe landing in a field Thursday when the single-engine Aviat Husky he and a student were flying ran out of fuel near the end of a 45-minute lesson. Neither Uhalt nor the student, 16-year-old Kyle Sundman, was injured and the plane was undamaged.

Related Articles Dec 30: Pounding on the wrong door a fatal mistake in Springs Springs homeowners kill burglary suspect Dec 29: COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Prosecutors are considering whether a Colorado law meant to protect homeowners against intruders applies in the case of a man killed outside a house he thought was his. The parents of 22-year-old Sean Kennedy said detectives have told them their son, who had been drinking, was shot Sunday night after breaking a window to try to get in through the back door of a house a block away from where he lived. -------------------cut----------------------------- "It gets murky if...

Presidential candidate John McCain will visit Grand Junction on Election Day, his campaign announced today. Details have not been finalized, said McCain's Colorado spokesman, Tom Kise. McCain's visit follows that of his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who will be on Colorado Springs on Monday. Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News Via:http://dirtyharrysplace.com/?p=5409#comments

Big turnout meant big lines on the last day of early voting in Colorado. Thousands of people lined up at the three voting locations in Colorado Springs. Wait times exceeded 3 hours. "I'm shocked," said Lisa Schmick as she joined the line at Centennial Hall where the line stretched out the door. "I thought everybody voted on the 4th. I thought ...'we're going to beat the lines coming early'". The line there was so long some got frustrated and just gave up. "It's pretty discouraging," said Louis Spicciati, who decided to leave and come back on November 4th. "You've got...

Republican John McCain will continue his battle for Colorado next week as both he and running mate Sarah Palin are scheduled for separate trips to the state. McCain, running neck and neck with rival Barack Obama in Colorado, is scheduled to hit the state Oct. 24, his campaign said Thursday. No other details were available. Palin, the Alaska governor who has been packing in crowds across the country, will be in Colorado Springs, Loveland and Grand Junction on Monday. In the Springs, Palin's rally begins at 8 a.m. at Security Service Field, home of the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. The...

A New York Times blogger discovers the news is not good for John McCain in Colorado Springs, where a lifelong Republican on the city council says she is abandoning her party’s nominee to vote for Barack Obama this year. Further endangering McCain’s prospects in Colorado’s largest Republican stronghold, the pastor who replaced former GOP heavyweight Ted Haggard leading one of the city’s largest mega-churches is staying on the sidelines, urging his flock to vote “for any political party.” Seattle-based Timothy Egan visited Colorado Springs, dubbed “the Vatican of evangelical political power,” after the second presidential debate and comes to one...

Out on the trail, once unknown Palin - now greeted by 'Sarah! Sarah!' - gains celebrity status By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Last update: September 6, 2008 - 9:37 PM Featured comment COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The banners, buttons and signs say McCain-Palin, but the crowds say something else. "Sa-rah! Pa-lin!" came the chant at a Colorado Springs rally on Saturday moments before Republican nominee John McCain took the stage with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a woman who was virtually unknown to the nation just a week earlier. The day before, thousands screamed "Sa-rah! Sa-rah! Sa-rah!" at an amphitheater outside...

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e183/nanalaura/political/incolorado.jpg http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e183/nanalaura/political/20080906_021133_cd06rally3.jpg

It seems Fox News and some far-right blogs are excited about the latest in a series of lies from the McCain campaign -- the notion that thousands of American flags from the Democratic convention were going to be thrown away. Like far too many of the stories pushed by the McCain campaign, and embraced by Fox News and far-right blogs, it's not true. ----snip--- "All of the flags at Invesco were picked up and put in bags and into storage, along with the unused flags and campaign signs. The flags were going to be donated, and the signs were going...

Here's a picture that should put the lamestream media's lies to rest:

Democrats are not caring for their Stars and Stripes. At least that’s the message out of John McCain’s campaign. McCain supporters, claiming they rescued 12,000 miniature American flags from the site of Barack Obama’s nomination acceptance speech last Thursday, redistributed the orphan flags to audience members ahead of a McCain rally in Colorado Springs on Saturday. The move was an overt swipe at Obama from a campaign whose motto has been “country first.” But Democratic convention organizers claimed the flags were not going to be discarded — but instead were snatched from the site of Obama’s historic address to carry...

COLORADO SPRINGS — In just the second day of campaigning together, Republican Presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, gave a command performance of their convention week speeches to a crowd of more than 10,000 here. McCain and Palin hit popular notes from their big-stage speeches by promising to rein in government spending, lead America to energy independence and win the war in Iraq. "There's no place more appropriate than here in Colorado Springs, with all the great service of people from here, to tell you this: We are winning in Iraq," McCain said, drawing some of...