COLORADO SPRINGS

Leaks, corrosion at landmark Air Force Academy chapel

The landmark Cadet Chapel that towers over the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado is seeing leaks and corrosion, so the school has drawn up the most ambitious restoration project in the building’s 55-year history.

But the repairs have been on hold for months while officials try to settle on a contractor for the long and complicated project.

Water has been seeping through seams in the chapel’s aluminum skin for years, said Duane Boyle, the academy’s campus architect. Repeated applications of caulk to seal the seams have contaminated and degraded the metal.

The chapel, completed in the early 1960s and dedicated in 1963, is easily the most recognizable building on the campus. The chapel attracts 800,000 visits a year, the academy said, including 500,000 by tourists and another 300,000 by people attending services, weddings and funerals.

The leaks and corrosion can be traced to cost-cutting that dictated construction compromises, Boyle said.

The academy said the fixes could cost anywhere from $25 million to $100 million and take up to four years. The chapel will be closed to the public for the duration.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

DURANGO

Support group for restaurant workers starting

Restaurant workers face high-pressure, low pay, odd hours and sometimes unrelenting working conditions. As a result, those employees tend to be more susceptible to stress, unhealthy drinking habits and mental health issues.

To help service workers, Rowan Blaisdell, a former chef, and Blaine Bailey, a cook at Ska Brewing, are starting In the Weeds, a group for restaurant workers to talk about struggles and shared passions.

The group hopes to create a positive community among restaurant workers to brainstorm healthy ways to cope with stress, said Blaisdell, a licensed clinical social worker.

The group’s name is a phrase used in the restaurant industry that describes being so busy that a worker can’t pause long enough to ask for help, Bailey said. Often, restaurant workers hesitate to ask for help with stress and mental health issues in the same way they hesitate to ask for help with tasks, Bailey said.

Often, restaurant employees seek solace by partying together, which can come with a culture of unhealthy drinking and drug use, Blaisdell said.

“I think the restaurant industry has always been fraught with substance-abuse issues,” he said.

U.S. accommodations and food industry workers were found to have the highest rates of illicit drug use from 2008 to 2012, according to The National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The survey found 19 percent of accommodations and food industry workers used drugs in the previous month.

Blaisdell and Bailey do not expect the group will focus solely on job stresses. Attendees will also discuss common passions, such as cooking and new culinary endeavors.

DURANGO HERALD

CENTENNIAL

Colorado lawmakers consider adding new judicial district

Colorado lawmakers plan to push a proposal that would form a new judicial district, the state’s first in more than half a century.

The plan calls for carving a new jurisdiction out of the growing Centennial-based 18th Judicial District, which encompasses Arapahoe, Douglas, Lincoln and Elbert counties southeast of Denver.

The district contains more than 1 million people, the most populous of the state’s 22 judicial districts.

The proposal would make Arapahoe County the 18th while placing Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties in a new 23rd Judicial District.

State Rep. Kevin Van Winkle, a Republican, is planning to co-sponsor a bill this year to create the new district. The measure would require a two-thirds supermajority vote in both chambers of the Legislature to move forward.

DENVER POST

BOULDER

University of Colorado announces $4B fundraising campaign

The University of Colorado has announced its most ambitious fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $4 billion.

The Denver-based university system, whose flagship campus is in Boulder, has already raised more than $2 billion in the quiet phase of the campaign, which has been ongoing since late 2013. University officials say they have now made the campaign public to hit the $4 billion mark, which could happen in the next three to five years.

The campaign, called “Essential CU,” more than doubles its two most recent predecessors in 2013 and 2003.

Money from the new campaign will support academic, research and public service activities on the four campuses.

CU President Bruce Benson says the money could support any number of things, including the endowment, scholarships, endowed chairs, research and buildings.

BOULDER DAILY CAMERA

BRECKENRIDGE

Ski resort extends season through Memorial Day

One of Colorado’s biggest winter resorts plans to extend its ski and snowboard season through Memorial Day.

Breckenridge Ski Resort announced that it will stay open until late May for first time since the mid-1990s.

The resort says it aims to extend future seasons as well, depending on weather and other conditions. The extended seasons are subject to U.S. Forest Service approval.

The resort had originally planned to end the current season on April 21.

Parent company Vail Resorts also plans to extend the season at its sister property Keystone Resort.

SUMMIT DAILY NEWS