Today's News

February looms ahead, the last really winter month with little to offer except more sunshine and Valentine’s Day. This is not to say that March will be spring for it is the month when we receive our greatest snowfall. Its only redeeming grace is that it has nice spring-like days between snow storms, robins begin to sing their evening song, the days are longer and there is a definite feeling that spring is coming, even though we may be clobbered with two feet of snow the next day.

Jefferson County on Tuesday granted a decade-long grace period on a loan of more than $6.4 million to an undeveloped metropolitan district for construction of the C-470 and Alameda interchange.

Green Tree Metropolitan District, which is governed by at least one developer who has contributed substantially to Jeffco Republican campaigns, borrowed the money in 2007 from the county to help construct the $17 million interchange.

Since the first of the year, two dangerous house fires have broken out in fireplaces in Genesee and burned through the walls to the outside, generating enough smoke and flame to attract the attention of passing motorists.

Carlton Babb, chief of the Genesee Fire Department, is urging residents in Genesee Foundation, Genesee Village and Chimney Creek to have their fireplaces and chimneys inspected by a certified chimney inspector for buildup and wear at least annually.

 Over the next 10 years, cities and special districts can expect to get less grant money from the Jefferson County Open Space Division as the agency faces the reality of a not unexpected, but substantially diminished, nest egg.

A large portion of the $160 million in bond money authorized in 1998 to fund acquisitions has been spent, meaning there is a lot less available for buying up raw land.