Author: Kaitlin Durbin

When one Colorado hospital reported 50 percent of babies born in a single month had marijuana in their systems, a public health hysteria took root, with the image of a statewide epidemic of high newborns embellished in each retelling. At best, the facts were unintentionally distorted, a Gazette inquiry has found. At worst, they were…

Editor’s note: The Gazette continues its Collateral Impact series, which takes a look at the effects and sometimes unintended consequences of legalized marijuana in Colorado. A frequently used criticism by law enforcement of Colorado’s legalized marijuana industry is that it invited dangerous drug cartels into the state, where they operate in black market shadows. Law…

How did El Paso County Deputy Micah Flick die? Law enforcement has answered the question with the bare minimum – that Flick was fatally wounded in a shootout while the Beat Auto Theft Through Law Enforcement task force was attempting to arrest suspected car thief Manuel Zetina on Feb. 5. But details such as who…

Picture this: You’ve just completed an intensive 22-week academy to become an El Paso County sheriff’s deputy. But rather than hitting the streets to write tickets, make arrests and interrogate suspects, you’re sent to the jail to watch over inmates 10 hours a day. That’s the reality for newly sworn deputies when they finish their…

Edward Cook was surprised by what he thought was the sound of a garbage truck pulling up early to his house on a cool Jan. 17 morning. He’s 85 years old but active, and he hurried to his garage to drag his refuse can to the end of the driveway to avoid waiting another week…

COLORADO SPRINGS – In the second announcement in two days, officials again made a case for how legalized marijuana has negatively impacted El Paso County. Positioned in front of a pile of burlap sacks containing seized pot plants and sophisticated growing equipment, Sheriff Bill Elder, Colorado Springs Police Chief Pete Carey, 4th Judicial District Attorney…

COLORADO SPRINGS – El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder, who vowed to crack down on black-market marijuana this year, announced Tuesday that his office is serving more warrants on illegal pot grows than all other crimes combined. It has executed 64 such warrants over the past five months, seizing 5,200 marijuana plants, Elder said. In…