Ever since the Waldo Canyon Fire, we've been hearing about the risk of severe flooding off the burn scar. Risk has largely been discussed in terms of lost lives and homes. But many businesses also lie in threatened flood plains, leaving owners to wonder how best to protect their livelihood.

Tonight's meeting is especially for them. Read on:

WHEN: Tuesday, May 21 2013
8-10am (Doors Open at 7:30am)

WHERE: Business of Art Center
513 Manitou Avenue
Manitou Springs, CO 80829

COST: FREE! Registration Required @ www.cssbdc.org or call 719 685-5089

Presentation, Q&A Counseling on what you can do to protect your business from effects of flooding. A consolidated 1 HOUR discussion on the following topics:

• Flood Insurance

• Flood Plain

• Business Interruption/Loss of Income Insurance

• Hazard

• Inventory Coverage

After the 1 HOUR Presentation you will have the opportunity to have a “One on One” with the counselors.

Don’t miss this opportunity to get all of the information you need to make informed decisions on how you can protect your business from the flood potential.

Hosted by iManitou and the SBDC Disaster Relief Program

Full disclosure: I get really excited about baby zoo animals.

But this year even those of us not overcome by the "cute factor" should be thrilled about the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's new arrivals. Because aside from a "precocious" porcupette, a darling red river hoglet, and a fuzzy wallaby joey, the zoo has three lynx kittens. This is the first time our zoo has successfully bred the threatened lynx.

The kittens, by the way, aren't on display yet, but they will be soon.

And now for the good part ... baby pictures:

• Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
• The lynx kittens.

• Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
• The red river hoglet

• Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
• The porcupette.

• Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
• The wallaby joey

What do a porcupette, a hoglet, two joeys and three lynx kittens have in common? They are all new arrivals at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo! The month of May has been busy with babies and one of them will make its debut tomorrow!

A male red river hoglet, born Thursday evening, May 9, 2013, will be viewable by the public for the first time tomorrow, Tuesday, May 21 at 9:30 a.m. in the Red River Hog exhibit (located in African Rift Valley across from the giraffe building). This will be the first time the two-pound hoglet will explore the space with his entire family — which includes, mother Ari (are-ee), father Hubert and siblings Akoni (ah-cone-ee’) and Safara (sa’-far-ah), who were born at the Zoo in March 2011.

A porcupette, or baby porcupine, was born on May 8, 2013 to first-time parents Nale (nah'-lay) and Elan. The baby was born weighing 486 grams (a little over a pound). Zoo veterinarians will not be able to determine if it's a boy or a girl for approximately 30 days. The littlest porcupine in Rocky Mountain Wild has been precocious from the start and can already be seen exploring the exhibit.

Three lynx kittens were also born on May 8 to mother, Migina (mah-gee’-nah) and father, Kajika (kah-gee’-kah). This is the first time this threatened species has successfully bred at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Animal keepers are taking the advice of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan experts by staying out of the behind-the-scenes indoor holding building as much as possible and not having mother and kits in the outdoor exhibit for at least six weeks. The public will not be able to view the lynx kittens until they are given access to the outside yard. The Zoo will make a special announcement to the public when the kittens are allowed outdoors.

Two wallaby joeys are also calling Cheyenne Mountain Zoo their home this summer. Arriving from Texas on May 2, the seventh-month-old male, and six-month-old female can be seen up-close by guests in the Wallaby Walkabout.

In keeping with Cheyenne Mountain Zoo tradition, all Zoo babies will be named after they are 30 days old. To view the Zoo’s new additions, visit: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjFbuNVA.

There are at least 1,171 homeless people in El Paso County, a one-day headcount revealed, up from 1,127 in 2012.

Performed as a requirement of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the headcount shows how many people were accessing services for the homeless on Jan. 29, 2013. The survey found that the county had more "sheltered" homeless than last year and fewer "unsheltered" homeless and homeless vets. The number of chronically homeless individuals increased over last year, though that was thought to be due to better data.

The survey noted that Colorado Springs School District 11 and Harrison School District 2 reported a total of 755 homeless children.

• File photo

I kid you not: The lack of apostrophes in the names of landmarks — Zebulon Pike's peak, for instance — is on purpose. This heinous bit of punctuation slaughter is actually condoned and encouraged by the federal government, comes the word from today's Wall Street Journal.

"The U.S., in fact, is the only country with an apostrophe-eradication policy," writes Barry Newman. "The program took off when President Benjamin Harrison set up the Board on Geographic Names in 1890. By one board estimate, it has scrubbed 250,000 apostrophes from federal maps. The states mostly—but not always—bow to its wishes."

It has something to do with possibly confusing somebody that the geographic feature in question is actually owned by the person it's named after — and either I have that wrong, or the government assumes we're all fucking mentally short — but that argument's trash.

And there's no hope, either, according to one committee staffer quoted by the Journal: "We don't debate the apostrophe."

So, screw it. I've never met a law I didn't break after deciding it was created by dullards, so get ready, Colorado Springs. Get ready for Pike's Peak. (And just to beat the critics to it: Thanks Obama.)

• Screenshot

Inspired by user grapeormelon's posting of a playful tiger at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to Colorado Springs' Reddit page, we collected a few other videos of the zoo's big kitties. There's something vaguely terrifying about watching them move — primal instincts, y'all — but we still can't get enough.

This isn't about the cadet invite that already went viral and got a lot of national news this week.

Instead it's about the video invitation to attend the May 24 Air Force Academy Ring Dance, made by cadet Aileen Herrera to celeb Ellen DeGeneres.

Time's ticking Ellen. As Aileen (who looks like a pretty snazzy dancer) asks: Want to help "make asking this question of someone of the same gender a little less scary" for future generations?

• Colorado Springs School District 11
• One of the items up for sale.

Think of it as a really strange, online garage sale.

As Colorado Springs School District 11 prepares to close several schools, it is offloading excess supplies. The assortment of items is somewhat comical: Steamers big enough to feed that dinner party of 100 you've always wanted to have; plastic serving spoons; power drills and hand saws. But hey, there's a little something (or a big something) for everyone.

As part of the District 11 Optimization of Utilization plan, many activities are taking place in order to move several schools and repurpose buildings. This is a BIG Job!

In an effort to be wise stewards of taxpayer money, the District is taking several strides to ensure materials and equipment that are no longer needed in our district are responsibly recycled or auctioned to the public. Therefore, the District is hosting an online auction, which is open to the public who may bid on auction items by visiting this URL.

An onsite public viewing to see some of the auction items District 11 has available will be May 8, 3:30-5 p.m., at Wasson High School, 2115 Afton Way. The media and the public are invited to attend. In addition, the District is collaborating with Goodwill Industries to determine how to reuse or recycle old, outdated materials. The Optimization of Utilization project manager will be available for interviews.

• Shutterstock

It's interesting. As somebody who has lived here my whole life, I notice I find myself annoyed at the Colorado College students who seem to — what's the opposite of "consciously"? — wander into traffic and dare you to run them over. Actually, the word "dare" implies way too much forethought ...

Anyway, but then the Indy's also got an office full of CC grads, some of whom take the curious standpoint that it's the drivers — all who are just trying to navigate the flooded clustercuss that is the college's campus so they might get home for some turkey and gravy — who are at fault.

Who's right? Well, me of course, but that doesn't mean we can't all come together and shout about it in public. So, attend the Citizens' Transportation Advisory Board Meeting, tomorrow at 1:30 p.m., at 1015 Transit Drive. There, recommendations on the Colorado College Transportation Master Plan will be discussed.

"A road system traffic analysis to establish existing and projected future traffic volumes will be included in the draft plan," reads a press release. "Colorado Springs city staff is reviewing the recommendations for cost implications, feasibility and technical acceptability."

And if it's decided that the education of Colorado Springs' finest liberal-arts majors can be better advanced by them finding out exactly what happens when their 19 years of life experience tells them there is no bad time to walk? Well, I live real close, and I can be over — straight through the campus — in a jiff.

• Manitou Springs: The best parking war in town.

Yes, I too love driving to downtown Manitou, dodging zombie-tourists with their eyes fixated on the Peak, making aggressive turns through the roundabout, cutting off other cars, and honking at the people parked in the median — all in my singleminded, lustful search for the perfect parking spot.

We all love it. It satisfies our thirst for competition, and our need to be an ass to people we won't have to be accountable to later.

Plus, it gives us a chance to play the part of "smarty-pants local," who knows all the side streets. It's just plain satisfying to park in front of some poor schmuck's house knowing that the mobs of out-of-towners are circling the clock tower. Dummies.

And then there's the obvious: I'm cheap — most of us are when it comes to parking. We'll pay up the nose for a latte, then act disgusted about having to feed a quarter into a meter. Because, well, I don't know. Because.

But anyway, parade's over, no more free parking.

Manitou is going to operate its paid parking on a kiosk system starting May 13. You'll be able to use change or a credit card, and the city is offering a neat system where you can add extra time via your smart phone. So get ready to suck it up and fork over a few bucks the next time you visit the scenic town at the foot of Pikes Peak. You know, the one full of jerky drivers like me.

Read on for the details: Press_Release_Standard_Parking_May_2013.pdf

• Matthew Schniper
• The elephants can only go outside when it's warmer than 40 degrees.

If you were planning on taking the kids to the unveiling of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's Encounter Africa exhibit today, your plans have changed.

The exhibit won't open until Friday because the weather today is too nippy for the African elephants to come outside. The much-celebrated pachyderms will be among the animals making a special appearance Friday during the exhibit's ribbon-cutting.

Let's be honest. We're talking about a laborious and detailed examination of how stormwater and sediment will move off the hills, flowing into our streams, joining with other streams ... and on and on. Watching paint dry might seem entertaining by comparison.

And yet, this study has been awaited somewhat breathlessly by the community. Ever since the Waldo Canyon Fire charred our hillsides, Colorado Springs and the small communities that dot our foothills have been at extremely high risk for flooding. The WARSSS is an escape route — a detailed plan on how best to control the water, mud and debris.

The WARSSS will tell us how water moves and how to trap it. It will show us where to build the detention pond that will prevent the Pleasant Valley neighborhood from drowning, and how to control a wild rush of water out of Williams Canyon that is pointed at the center of Manitou Springs.

Thus, it is with excitement that I tell you the study will be presented to the El Paso County Commissioners on Thursday, May 2. Woo-hoo, indeed.

Waldo Canyon Fire WARSSS to be Presented May 2

Colorado Springs, CO, Thursday, April 25, 2013 — The Watershed Assessment of River Stability and Sediment Supply (WARSSS) Study will be presented by Dr. David L. Rosgen of Wildland Hydrology at 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 2, 2013, in the Hearing Room at the Pikes Peak Regional Development Center located at 2880 International Circle, Colorado Springs.

WARSSS is a technical procedure for water quality scientists use in evaluating streams and rivers impaired by excess sediment. It will predict how water, sediment and debris will move along and off the Waldo Canyon Fire burn scar. Based on its findings, it will assist in providing a list of prioritized mitigation projects.