Author: STEPHANIE EARLS stephanie.earls@gazette.com
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Custer County sheriff: Some evacuees get green-light to return Friday
The authorities will allow some evacuees of the Aspen Acres fire to return home Friday, but residents along Colorado 165 should “continue to be alert for changes in fire behavior,” Custer County Sheriff Rich Smith said Thursday. Starting at 9 a.m. Friday, Zone C5C — the area around North Creek Boulevard to the west of Wetmore…
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Police investigating fatal stabbing in Colorado Springs
One man is dead after a stabbing Tuesday night in the 600 block of North Murray Boulevard, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department. Officers and medical personnel responded to the address on the city’s east side at 10:10 p.m., and located the deceased adult male on scene, according to a police blotter report. Patrol…
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Inferno’s advance defied ‘usual’ fire behavior: Volunteer firefighter at Aspen Acres
Like her fellow crewmates on the Southern Colorado Interagency Wildland Fire Team, 34-year-old Amanda Wood was no stranger to challenges that sometimes defied standard logic. An Army veteran, EMT and Palmer High School science teacher, Wood trained to be a firefighter, then joined the all-volunteer agency in March. Less than four months later, she was…
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Storms and rain a ‘two-edged’ sword in the battle against Colorado wildfires
Storms brought a welcome reprieve of moisture Wednesday evening and overnight Thursday to the southern Front Range, including portions of the Aspen Acres burn scar — without the fallout authorities worried could compound the disaster-so-far as the wildfire continues to rage in Pueblo and Custer counties. Fortunately, rain fell. In amounts and in places where…
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Structures have burned, spirit hasn’t in idyllic Beulah
Tara and Tom Stosek moved to Beulah from the Denver area 25 years ago in search of an idyllic place to raise their two young sons. They found that, and more — the perfect house and a Mayberry-like community — at the base of the Wet Mountains southwest of Pueblo. “Our house was a gift,…
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Bishop Castle owners hopeful landmark survived after evacuating in advance of Aspen Acres fire
The family of Bishop Castle visionary Jim Bishop was already struggling with bad turns and trauma when the Aspen Acres fire ignited in the forests surrounding the fairy tale-inspired roadside attraction outside Rye. Less than a week before the fire broke out on June 29, Jim’s son and castle caretaker, Daniel Bishop, sustained severe injuries…
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Kimberlee Singler case likely heading to trial
Kimberlee Singler, the Colorado Springs mother accused of killing her two young children and attempting to kill a third in December 2023 — and who fled the country soon after the crime — was back in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing to determine whether the evidence in the case is enough to proceed to…
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Partners in time: Colorado Springs twins, veterans of two wars, celebrate another milestone
For two of the most senior residents of Revel Province independent living in Colorado Springs, cocktail hour is always a low-key family reunion. Dick Gibbs heads the two doors down the hall around 3 p.m., for a tipple of Scotch (lots of rocks) he developed a taste for during service in Pakistan. Bob Gibbs prefers…
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Howard the Giant Tortoise back home in Colorado Springs after theft
Howard, the giant African spurred tortoise, is back home. Colorado Springs police announced Friday that the gym tote-sized store greeter and mascot of Scales ‘N Tales on North Academy Boulevard had been located and returned to his owners Thursday night, about a day after he was stolen from his open-air habitat outside the store. Working…
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Beloved tortoise, greeter and mascot, stolen ‘in broad daylight’ from Colorado Springs pet shop
Remove all the X-factors of an open investigation – bad actors, bad decisions, bad timing – the fact that holds true is the one that worries Scales ‘N Tails’ owner most. Whoever stole Howard the Giant Tortoise had no idea what they were doing, or getting into. “He’s basically a walking boulder. He’s going to…