Today's News

Two years ago, I got a call from my friend Mark Obmascik. Mark, a former Denver Post reporter turned author, was working on a new book, and he needed help.

His previous book, called “The Big Year,” was about hard-core birders who tried to accumulate as many species sightings as they could in 365 days. It was quirky and entertaining, and compelling enough to get me into birding myself.

A federal wiretapping lawsuit against former Jeffco commissioner Jim Congrove became more interesting June 26 when a defendant in the case settled with the plaintiff and agreed to testify against Congrove and the other defendants.

Mike Zinna, a longtime county critic, is suing Congrove, private investigator Daril Cinquanta, former deputy county attorney Duncan Bradley and Robert Cook in federal court. Zinna alleges the men illegally intercepted his personal e-mails and posted them to a website used to defame Zinna.

Budget cuts hitting Colorado hard aren't expected to have an immediate impact on county operations, but Jeffco officials are concerned that human services programs could be hurt down the road.

State budget officials announced last week that the state would have to close a $384 million budget gap heading into fiscal 2009-10, which begins July 1.

In his ongoing quest to turn the abandoned Albertsons supermarket in Evergreen into a regional cultural center, Russ Campbell called a couple dozen people together for a pep talk and tour of the building June 25.

Campbell is spearheading a drive to turn the supermarket into a multipurpose arts center using private donations. The architectural embodiment of the phrase “blank canvas,” the building is listed for sale at $5 million, said Grant A. Maves, a broker with SullivanHayes.