Economy: IndyBlog, Colorado Springs Independent

Making Colorado seeks Youth Ambassadors

Edie Adelstein — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:33:00 -0600

In an effort to effectively rebrand the state, Making Colorado isn't playing around. The initiative, launched just last month, wants to incorporate as much public input as possible.…

How the country sees us

Matthew Schniper — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:02:00 -0600

So what if some of them think we're the second worst-dressed city in the country. We're also regularly ranked among the healthiest cities in the U.S., as well as the most churched.…

You can help design Colorado's brand

Edie Adelstein — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 07:00:00 -0600

Last week, we attended the Governor's Arts Award Luncheon at the Colorado Creative Industries Summit in Pueblo.

As you may already know, Pueblo, along with Aspen, each won the Governor's Art Award, a new and distinctive honor bestowed upon towns that have truly made a concerted effort toward funding and fostering creative development.…

Oil and gas possibilities 'disappointing,' says Ultra

Chet Hardin — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:56:14 -0700

The petroleum that sits underneath El Paso County does not appear to present commercial possibilities. That's what Ultra Petroleum, which holds the majority of the approved permits for oil and gas drilling in El Paso County, had to say when it announced its results for the fourth quarter of 2012.…

Kickstarter shares impressive 2012 fundraising figures

Matthew Schniper — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:59:49 -0700

Consider this somewhat of an update to my November cover story on local crowdfunding efforts.

In that feature, I'd taken a look at a handful of area film projects that were using online crowdfunding platforms to raise money — Kickstarter chief among them.…

"Cloud City" coming to Green Mountain Falls

Edie Adelstein — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:15:50 -0600

Today, the Colorado Springs Business Journal released an article outlining the relationship between the town of Green Mountain Falls and Christian Keesee, chairman of Kirkpatrick Bank and Kirkpatrick Oil Co.

The last several years, we've covered one of Keesee's donations to the town, the Green Box Arts Festival, in which artists, performers, musicians and the like gather to install artwork, perform and give classes. Sadly, this year's fest was canceled due to the Waldo Canyon Fire.…

Update: COPPeR to discuss arts and economics

Edie Adelstein — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 10:41:23 -0600

McGrath says the briefing will now be held Tues., July 17 from 8-10 a.m., with the presentation starting at 8:30 a.m.

——- UPDATED POST, MONDAY, 9:42 A.M. ——-

COPPeR's briefing has been postponed due to the Waldo Canyon Fire, says executive director Christina McGrath. It will be rescheduled for sometime in July.…

No glee for teen summer-job seekers

Achille Ngoma — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:29:10 -0600

American teens will face challenges in finding jobs this summer, an analysis of the May 2012 Census Bureau data shows.

The study conducted by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) finds that teen unemployment has been steady above 20 percent for more than three years, yet above 25 percent for as many as 18 states, including Colorado, and the District of Columbia.…

Despite AS220 success, not all rosy in Providence

Edie Adelstein — Mon, 28 May 2012 11:05:14 -0600

When we wrote about the revival of downtown Providence, R.I. — a feat helped largely by arts organization AS220 — one of the successes we documented was the establishment of video game company 38 Studios.

38 Studios, founded by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, had set up shop right across the street from one of AS220's three buildings and symbolized Providence's success in attracting multimillion-dollar businesses to its formerly troubled downtown.…

Gas rates take a dive, water on the rise

Pam Zubeck — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:04:39 -0600

If you're a typical utility user, your monthly bill will go down by $2.10 a month — almost enough for a foo foo coffee drink — starting in June due to rate changes approved today by the Colorado Springs City Council.

The dip is largely due to the continuing low cost of natural gas, as shown in this graphic from ycharts.com showing a history of natural gas prices since 2007.…

Indy will take over Business Journal

Kirk Woundy — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:47:00 -0600

Text from a press release going out momentarily:

The owners of the Colorado Springs Independent, the Pikes Peak region’s largest locally owned media company, will acquire the Colorado Springs Business Journal on June 1, 2012 from the Dolan Company, a national media conglomerate that owns more than 50 publications across the U.S.

The new owners also will apply to service Dolan’s contract publishing of three local military newspapers: the Fort Carson Mountaineer, Peterson (Air Force Base) Space Observer and Schriever (AFB) Sentinel. More than 68,000 local adults read these publications in print, and thousands more via their popular web portals.…
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Scenes from the Artists and Entrepreneurs Lunch

Edie Adelstein — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:35:02 -0600

Today, Bert Crenca of AS220 and Lynne McCormack of the city of Providence, R.I., spoke at the Artists & Entrepreneurs: Creating Community and Jobs luncheon hosted by the Independent and the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and EDC. Crenca and McCormack, both heavy hitters in Providence's arts scene, are visiting the Springs to offer support and advice on fostering culture as an economic driver here (read more about that in our recent cover story, "The Rhode to renaissance.")

Around 200 people attended, filling the room.…

More on Providence, AS220 and creative placemaking

Edie Adelstein — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:12:30 -0600

There's always so much more to a story than there's space to print. It's the writer's eternal dilemma.…

To infinity and beyond at the Space Symposium

Pam Zubeck — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:10:49 -0600

The 28th National Space Symposium opened last night to a full house as the Colorado Springs Philharmonic played, what else?, music from Apollo 13 and selections from Horst's The Planets, ending with "Mars, the Bringer of War.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, science superstar, and currently the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, was on hand, along with the Space Foundation's CEO Elliot Pulham, to hand out four awards to people who are advancing humankind's reach into the universe.…

Shopping tips from SpringsBargains.com

Edie Adelstein — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:54:35 -0700

Between Gift Guides and deep in the season of shopping, we decided to consult Carrie Isaac of SpringsBargains.com for shopping tips. Isaac was voted Best Local Blogger by Indy readers in both 2010 and 2011.…

Maybe the end is near...

Pam Zubeck — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:57:18 -0700

To the recession, that is. With the announcement Tuesday that a California medical equipment company will build a new facility here and hire more than 200 people in the next several years, and now another announcement that ACS, a Xerox company, plans to hire 225 for its call center, we're finally gaining jobs.

Bal Seal Engineering, which employs 39 here already, will build a 137,000-square-foot plant at Voyager Parkway and Republic Drive, and hire 211 employees within five years, the Gazette reported.…

More North Nevada development coming

Kirk Woundy — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:43:45 -0700

On Friday afternoon, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs announced that with a $4 million gift, it will construct a building for its students in health-related studies, and also for aging adults.

The gift comes from John E. and Margaret L. Lane Foundation and Margot Lane, and will allow for an estimated 56,000-square-foot structure to go up on North Nevada Avenue, between Austin Bluffs Parkway and the Four Diamonds Sports Complex.…

Local apartment rents hit all-time high

J. Adrian Stanley — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:41:06 -0700

Can you say "hot"?

As noted in my article "Complex Equation" last week, the apartment market is booming these days. And it doesn't look to be slowing down.…

Health care: Minorities wanted

J. Adrian Stanley — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:07:52 -0600

It's a difficult time to get a job, no matter who you are. But it's especially difficult if you happen to be a minority, or young.…

Bader to Lamborn: Here are some ideas

Chet Hardin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:08:41 -0600

Last Wednesday, a group of protesters showed up outside U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn's Colorado Springs office in the hopes of attracting the Republican to their way of thinking. They had along with them a treatise that offered the 10 Critical Steps to Get Our Economy Back on Track, as imagined by the coalition the Contract for the American Dream.…

Foreclosures down in July

Pam Zubeck — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:59:16 -0600

This missive comes from El Paso County Public Trustee Tom Mowle, who's reporting that foreclosures again fell below previous levels in July. He's now predicting a 31 percent decline in foreclosure starts for 2011.…

Surviving the recession at Boulder Street Gallery

Edie Adelstein — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:36:05 -0600

How does an art gallery survive the recession? Well, a framing component helps.…

Left on the vine

Chet Hardin — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:49:15 -0600

Today, the Associated Press is reporting that 78 criminal undocumented immigrants have been arrested in a sweep of Colorado. These weren't your run-of-the-mill immigrants, according to the article.…

No small threat to TABOR

John Hazlehurst — Tue, 24 May 2011 14:58:59 -0600

What rough beast will Colorado Republicans worship if TABOR is struck down by the courts?

Twenty years ago Douglas Bruce, a determined California transplant, persuaded a slim majority of Colorado voters to approve a sweeping constitutional amendment that he had cleverly titled the “Taxpayers Bill of Rights.”

Most Republican elected officials secretly despise TABOR and its author, but few publicly oppose it. To do so is political suicide, since the ultra-conservatives who dominate Republican caucuses and primaries see TABOR as holy writ, and its author as a visionary whose personal peccadilloes are of little consequence.…

More from David Cay Johnston

Kirk Woundy — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:16:46 -0600

This week's cover story is a piece that reporter David Cay Johnston wrote for the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, of which the Indy is a member. One of the other altweeklies publishing the story today is Detroit's Metro Times, which has made available a nice audio complement to the print piece.…