SILT, Colo. – It’s a modest house with a couple of outbuildings and a yard full of this and that, like many in the rural mountains. Only this one has cages. Great big cages. And the closer you look, the more you realize those aren’t domesticated animals.

The Pauline Schneegas Wildlife Foundation is a place where a lot of wild animals end up. Colorado Parks and Wildlife sends bears.

Sometimes they are tiny cubs that nurse from a bottle, sometimes they are 100 pound-plus young bears eating 10 to 15 pounds of food a day.

The bears are here to rehab. They’re orphaned bears, and many times they are orphaned because their mothers have led them into trouble — breaking into homes, killing livestock or posing a danger to humans that is ultimately often human-caused.

In addition, the Schneegas Foundation is one of the places where the state takes cubs orphaned after mother bears suffer accidental deaths.

“Those animals are going to die in the wild,” said John Broderick, terrestrial programs manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. “Really you’re talking about orphaned cubs and those cubs and those cubs in a natural situation are dependent on the female until they’re 1 year old.”

“I think they told me I’ve had about 150 or 60,” said Schneegas executive director Nanci Limbach.

The techniques they’ve developed are pretty simple. Feed them. That’s the vast majority of what they do.

“We have to have them be at least 50 pounds in order to go into hibernation or they don’t have enough body fat to be able to survive the winter,” said Limbach. “These guys basically sleep most of the day because they have a free food source, so it’s not like they have to go out and look for food every day.”

They do not befriend the bears or name them. These bears will be best served if they are wary of humans.

After the bears are known to be healthy and putting on weight they are transferred to cages on remote property where they come by to feed them only about once a week.

What they found they cannot do is re-educate adult bears. It just doesn’t work.

“By the time a bear is 3 or 4 if it has learned to break into garbage cans, it’s going to continue to do that,” said Limbach.

LINK: Schneegas Wildlife Foundation

The state will sometimes relocate and adult bear and cubs in the wild if the trouble it has gotten into is not serious — like wandering into an urban area. But when bears are caught going after human food, officers usually put the adult down.

Adult bears are in no need of being fed, so rehab is not needed. And re-conditioning the bears to stay away from human sourced food is usually not successful.

“It seems to work with the cubs,” said Limbach. “They didn’t have a home range.”

Adult bears that have gotten into garbage or have learned to seek food around humans will often go right back after they are relocated.

Broderick tries to keep track of Colorado’s bear population. Estimates of the number of bears in Colorado are currently being re-done. Broderick thinks the new estimates could show there are as many as 16,000 bears in Colorado.

As a territorial animal, when bears are moved they can often end up in conflict with another, the outcome can be fatal.

“All you’re really doing at that point is removing it from the situation that is most either dangerous for the people or for the bear.”

The techniques at Schneegas made us wonder. If humans are bringing the food to bears in rehab, why aren’t they conditioned to learn that food comes from humans?

“It’s kind of weird — the first years we did it we weren’t sure whether it would work or whether they would lose that. A lot of it has to do with where they get released at.”

After the bears are fattened enough at Schneegas, they are placed in hibernation in a den made by wildlife officers. They are hauled out in the dead of winter on the sleds pulled by snowmobiles to a place as far as possible from humans.

Getting the bear into a small enclosure and then hauling it through the woods can’t be a pleasant ride. But that may be a good thing.

“If they’re out there in the wild and they see a human being, they’re going to go, ‘You know, last time I was around anything that even looked like that, it was poking at me, it was yelling at me,’” Schneegas Wildlife board chairman Al King said.

The tranquilized bears are placed in the dens, covered and left in the quiet woods. They continue hibernation until March when they emerge just like a yearling bear.

The dens are placed in areas where there are natural food sources nearby, like aspen shoots. The bears then move on to grasses.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife set up a timelapse camera near the den created for two cubs north of Silverthorne this winter. The images captured show the remarkable emergence of the cubs and their initial activities.

Bears coming out of hibernation don’t eat right way, so for several days the bears relax, cavort and play.

Broderick thinks the rehabbing is a success.

“I know 70 different bears that I’ve worked on and of those I only know four that we have known fates on. One was actually electrocuted. As a yearling bear it climbed up a pole in a residential area and was actually electrocuted. Another made it two years. We released it over in the Road Flats area in Western Colorado in the Roan Plateau area, two years later it was killed in Steamboat in a conflict situation being that was near a school,” he said.

Another bear was killed by a farmer when it got into some crops and another died when it was hit by a motorcycle.

“So if you look it at that point we have a 94 percent success rate because those animals have to some degree at least they made it out of rehab in healthy condition and were released to the wild,” Broderick said.

For the bears that come through rehab, those are pretty good odds, considering otherwise they’d be dead.

The sanctuary has a new raised walkway to help visitors get a better look at the animals. It’s almost 5,000 feet long and gives visitors a view of the large predators which have been rescued from illegal or abusive situations.

“You’re not going to see any other place in the country that utilizes large acreage habitats like this,” Katie Vandegrift with the Wild Animal Sanctuary said. “When you come and visit you get to see prides of lions roaming freely together; you get to see a pack of wolves; you get to see bears playing.”

More than 100,000 people visited the sanctuary last year. Donations covered the cost of the new walkway.

LINK: Wild Animal Sanctuary

“From Yogi Bear to Gentle Ben — ‘Kung Fu Panda’ to ‘Night of the Grizzly’ — Hollywood has spent generations indoctrinating us as to how to behave around bears — almost all of it wrong,” Moody said.

Watch Moody’s report in the video below:

- Greg Moody is CBS4′s Critic At Large. His reports on CBS4 News are featured on the CBSDenver.com Entertainment section.

- Also, don’t miss Moody’s entertaining bio, his Top Spots in Denver lists, and his frequently updated Moody’s Picks page.

As the firefighters train, inside Eagle River Fire Protection District’s headquarters, there’s a constant public safety question being asked — which fire stations to keep open?

“We can no longer spend on overtime to keep stations open when we have firefighters who are sick or injured,” Eagle River Fire Chief Karl Bauer said.

With a drop in home values and property taxes, the district lost 25 percent of its budget, and could end up losing even more over the next few years.

Covering 186 square miles with over half a dozen mountain towns and neighborhoods has become difficult with the reduced manpower.

“Our concern is that, what do we have left to respond to incidents elsewhere in the district?” Bauer said.

That’s exactly what happened 10 days ago when a semi fell off Interstate 70 and burst into flames, killing its driver.

“That is the kind of day we are the most worried about and it actually happened,” Bauer said. “All three of our open stations had to respond to that incident. There was nothing else available for anything else that might have occurred in the district.

“So, let’s say we had a wildfire start at the same time, or another traffic accident, or a structure fire. Our concern is that there just aren’t enough resources to go around when we have to close stations like this.”

The chief says only way to recoup the money is through a mill levy increase. Voters in that part of Eagle County turned one down in November. Bauer says he’ll try and see if one can pass again in the fall.

Authorities said Karl Fred Kohler, 45, had been living in the forest outside the Breckenridge city limits.

No arrests have been made.

Investigators are asking anyone who was at Saturday’s town cleanup in the Burro trail area to call them with any additional information.

It’s shaping up as one of the driest years Colorado has seen in a long time. In fact, it could be one of the worst droughts in 10 years, according to the state climatologist. Snowpack is just seven percent of normal, meaning low stream flows. And temperatures are 10 degrees warmer than normal.

While Colorado is used to drought cycles, this year’s is being compared to the 2002 drought that, unlike others, covered the whole state for a whole year. Now Hickenlooper has proclaimed 2012 the year of water in Colorado, but it may go down as the year of drought.

“It’s dry and it’s not going to easily catch up,” state climatologist Nolan Doesken said.

It’s a drought Doeskin fears will be on the order of 2002, the year of the Hayman Fire.

“When you look back to 2002, we only got about one quarter of the average runoff in our major rivers and streams, and that’s the same sort of magnitude we’re looking at, and that’s down there at the level of worst of record,” Doesken said.

The entire state was under extreme drought conditions in 2002. This year more than half the state is already in a drought, and today, if a Hayman-type fire were to break out, there are four million acres of beetle-killed trees to fuel it.

“We must protect our communities, we must protect our watersheds,” said Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village.

Schwartz is taking the lead by pushing a $60 million water bill through the legislature this year. It funds 14 projects, including building two new reservoirs, mitigating dead timber in watersheds, and satellite monitoring of rivers and streams to track how much water is flowing in any given area at any given time.

“Being a headwater state we are required under compacts to deliver water across our state lines to other states,” Schwartz said. “We want to make sure we’re not over-delivering in any one of our basins.”

Storage is the one thing the state has going for it compared to 2002. But Doeskin warns those reserves won’t last long — and without a soaking rain soon, history is likely to repeat.

The concern is Colorado doesn’t typically see a lot of rain in June. The state’s next big chance is monsoon season in July, and by then it could be too late to catch up.

Wildfire Resources

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- See images from the most destructive wildfire (Fourmile Fire) and largest wildfire (Hayman Fire) in Colorado history.

The Denver flights that went on sale on Tuesday are the first 787 tickets to be offered by a U.S. airline. Boeing delivered the first 787 to Japan’s All Nippon Airways late last year, three years late.

The Denver flights start March 31. It’s not certain whether those will be the first 787 flights on a U.S. airline, because United could still add another route between now and then.

“I want to recognize the efforts of Mayor Hancock, Kim Day, Manager of Aviation, and her team at Denver International Airport, and the business and civic leaders in Denver who have worked together to bring this great new international destination to our customers in Denver,” said Jeff Smisek, United’s President and CEO.

“It took a long while to convince everyone that we had a strong market here. We actually have 550 passengers a day that are Asia bound,” Day said. “I think maybe the magic thing about today is the 787 aircraft, which can do long distances. It’s the right size for our market; it’s very environmentally efficient.”

(credit: CBS)

Airlines have been eager for the fuel-efficient, midsized plane. Continental Airlines was originally going to be the first U.S. airline to fly it. Continental and United merged in 2010 to form United Continental Holdings Inc.

It’s estimated that the route will bring in about $130 million in economic impact every year to Colorado. It’s also anticipated the new route will make Denver more competitive and possibly a destination for future businesses looking to relocate.

Tokyo will be the 22nd international city to get direct airline service from DIA. Most of those flights are to Canada, Mexico, and Central America. There are also non-stop flights to three cities in Europe — London, Frankfurt, and the most recent addition — Reykjavik, Iceland.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

The ride is an entirely enclosed water slide that park patrons ride down on inner-tubes which spin them around before shooting them out in the giant pool.

The Tube Top will be open starting Saturday when the water park portion of Elitch Gardens opens for the summer.

A release of water at the rate of 50 cubic feet per second was made Tuesday afternoon. That’s about 75 million gallons of water.

The flood gates will open again Wednesday. Officials said the high water won’t make it through the metro area for some time.

(credit: CBS)

PENROSE, Colo. (CBS4) – A mom and her little girl are safe at home after getting stranded overnight during a hike.

Angela Stiner and her 8-year-old daughter Alysia arrived at the Beaver Creek trailhead just north of Penrose around 1:30 p.m. Sunday. The pair was reported missing when they still hadn’t returned home by 10 p.m.

Search crews found the pair just before noon Monday.

Stiner said the trail was longer than they thought and when it started to get dark they decided to stay put until daylight.

More than 50 people assisted in the search.

DENVER (CBS4) – Denver soared to a new record high on Tuesday when the mercury hit 92 degrees out at the airport.  That breaks the old record of 90 degrees set back in 1939.  Clouds had moved over the city early in the day and that kept the temperature in the 80s for most of the day.  Then skies cleared letting in more sunshine and that bumped the temperature into the low 90s late in the afternoon, at 3:59pm.

A cold front off to the northwest will push through the state overnight but it is not a very strong front, so highs will be right around normal for Wednesday: look for a high in the mid 70s, but by afternoon, showers and thunderstorms will be found all over the front range.

Mostly cloudy again Thursday with a high in the lower 70s and a chance for showers late – possibly after dark. Isolated rain showers in the forecast again for Friday with a high in the mid 70s.

Saturday will be warmer – into the low 80s with only isolated late storms. To end the weekend, look for more seasonal weather with highs in the mid 70s and a chance for thunderstorms.

FIVE DAY FORECAST FROM CBS4

Police say thieves like ATMs at gas stations and convenience stores because there aren’t many people around to see them attaching a skimmer to the machine. Once the skimmer is on, it is just a matter of minutes until they have everything they need to go on a shopping spree with somebody else’s credit card.

Because of the rise in identity theft and credit card fraud, there is a growing industry of financial detectives. The law enforcement officers are being trained not to thwart bank robberies, but to stop the more stealth criminals.

“In an identity theft scenario, a lot of it can be done clandestine in their homes where they have the privacy; doors and windows shut,” Detective Fred Longobricco with Thornton police said.

Check washing is when thieves erase information on checks and fill it in with their information. That can be easily stopped merely by the type of pen used to write a check with. Gel pens hold much better than ballpoint pens.

Thieves put skimmers on ATM machines where there may not be many store personnel to watch the machines.

“If I go to the gas station pump, I tug on the machine before I put my credit card in, and if it’s loose I know that more than likely there’s a skimmer put on it,” Paige Hanson with ID Theft Prevention said.

One swipe on a skimmer and thieves can use the information to clean out an account in less than a minute.

Every day there are 55 million credit card transactions in the U.S.

In April a student broke into a secure room at Cherry Creek and stole several tests. Surveillance video helped police track him down.

Greenwood Village police say they had to decide whether to preserve the integrity of the tests or pursue criminal charges. They chose to make a deal to get the tests back before the student could pass them out.

A spokeswoman for the school says it would have cost $750,000 to replace the tests.

The junior will not be returning to Cherry Creek for his senior year.

(credit: CBS)

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) – A crack down on bike thefts has netted three arrests in Boulder.

Police arrested three University of Colorado students last week after police found Thomas Langsfeld, Daniel Pittenger and Claire Tabolt near bike racks with bolt cutters.

Bike theft is one of the most frequent crimes on college campuses, but CU has seen a 58 percent drop from 2010 to 2011 because of the arrests of repeat thieves and patrol officer enforcement.

A group of toddlers and their parents showed up at Encana’s office with a message that said, “Please Do Not Frack My School.” The group, called Erie Rising, has been protesting a drilling operation that will begin in four days near Red Hawk Elementary and Erie Elementary School.

“The risk to their safety with drilling, the chemicals that they are using, and trucks that are transporting the chemicals back and forth,” Jennifer Palazzolo with Erie Rising said.

The group went to Encana hoping to deliver the petitions to the company’s president. National advocate group Food and Water Watch is now backing the moms.

“We are drawing a line in the sand. The evidence is mounting that fracking and related oil and gas activity drives down property values, contaminates air and water, and threatens our communities,” Sam Schabacker with Food and Water Watch said.

Fracking is the hydraulic fracturing of rock that contains gas and oils so they can be collected. The materials used for fracking are controversial and believed to contaminate water and air supplies.

The mothers got their petitions delivered but weren’t allowed upstairs or to see the president. But they were met by Encana’s community advisor and security.

“Erie Rising’s approach has been based on fear rather fact. Here are the facts for this location. The setback standard set by the state of Colorado is 350 feet in a high density residential area,” Wendy Wiedenbeck with Encana said. “The setbacks for this location far exceed that. We are more than 2,000 feet from Red Hawk Elementary and 1,600 feet from Erie Elementary.”

Encana has been drilling in the Erie community since 2006. Erie Rising says they still want it stopped.

“We didn’t come here thinking we’d be let in but we hoped,” a mother said.

After delivering the petitions to Encana the group brought copies to Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office. They also invited the governor to join them June 2 when they are holding a rally to continue to get this message out.

Attorneys for Lauren Redfern say a plea deal is pending. She was arrested in February, accused of having a sexual relationship with a student at Basalt High School.

As part of the deal Redfern will plead guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor and would not face prison time.

The Eagle County district attorney said Redfern’s name will not be added to the sex offender registry.

The plea agreement still has to be approved by the judge.

Father Robert Charles Manning is now on administrative leave from his post as pastor of St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church. He’s been arrested on charges of sexual assault on a minor by a person in a position of trust and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Manning was transferred in 2007 to Colorado from St. Louis. He’s served at St. Gabriel for nearly five years until news of the investigation led to a suspension in January.

Parishioners are dismayed to learn of Manning’s arrest.

“I’m stunned, I’m just stunned,” parishioner Lorri Orwig said. “They were announcing it in all the masses, so we knew what was going on as far as the investigation went.”

“There should be compassion and care for the alleged victim. There should be a presumption of innocence for the priest,” the diocese said in a prepared statement.

The incident is said to of occurred last October. It involved a child between 15 and 18, but no further details have been released.

“I can’t speak for anyone but myself. I’m just saddened by the whole thing,” Orwig said.

The diocese is asking anyone with information to contact them, but the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) says they should contact law enforcement instead.

LINK: News Release From The Diocese Of Colorado Springs

El Paso County prosecutors say the officer was defending himself and four others in the clinic when he fired at Dominic Oliver on Feb. 28, 2012.

Authorities say Oliver entered the clinic armed and initially took two female employees hostage. Dozens of others inside fled.

The hostages were eventually released but others remained in the building hiding. Police tried to distract Oliver to help the remaining people inside when the confrontation with the officer happened.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Gas prices typically jump as around Memorial Day weekend. That is certainly the assumption, but gas prices in Denver are now hovering at $3.70. The last time prices have actually gone up going into Memorial Weekend was in 2009.

“Well thankfully they’re going down, but it still feels like they’re too high,” driver Mary Morrissey said.

According to DenverGasPrices.com, the average price for a gallon in Colorado is $3.73.

“I know historically it tends to go up before the holiday weekend,” driver Donna Rodden said.

The experts call that a myth.

“If they do go down as we approach Memorial Day across Denver, which it looks like will be the case, it will actually mark the third consecutive year that gas prices have fallen leading into the Memorial Day holiday weekend,” GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick Dehaan said.

The prices now are close to where they were this time last year, but many people still say they have cut back due to high gas prices.

“I don’t drive the car one day a week,” driver Becky Hubbarth said.

“I ride my bike more,” Rodden said.

“I take the bus most of the time,” David McKean said.

Experts predict prices to stay between $3.50 to $4 this summer, but the one thing that could that is a hurricane.

“We have seen hurricane season disrupt a lot of oil infrastructure, refining capacity, and also oil production,” Dehaan said.

Gas prices tend to rise the most during the year in the late winter and early spring.

LINKS: CBSDenver.com Pump Patrol  |  DenverGasPrices.com  |  GasBuddy.com

The reciprocity agreement will be extended for three years beginning July 1. The cap for the number of eligible students will also be increased from 400 to 500 students.

Colorado Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia renewed the agreement Tuesday with New Mexico Department of Higher Education Cabinet Secretary Dr. Jose Z. Garcia.

The Colorado colleges that participate in the agreement are those closest to the state border with New Mexico, including Adams State University, Trinidad State Junior College and Colorado State University in Pueblo.

The University of New Mexico’s School of Medicine and School of Law and the New Mexico Military Institute are the state’s only institutions that don’t participate in the agreement.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper said Tuesday that state would make $20 million available to communities as part of the state’s Energy and Mineral Impact Assistance grant program. The funding has been unavailable since August 2010.

Hickenlooper says the money goes to repair and build roads in communities impacted by energy and mineral production. The funds are also used to build and restore water and sewer systems.

The Legislature created the program in 1977.

Lawmakers did not use severance tax dollars to balance next year’s budget. The money for the program comes from severance taxes and revenue from federal mineral leases.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

DENVER (CBS4) – Denver City Council on Monday approved a payout to the victim of a police shooting that also cost the police officer his job.

The settlement was for $40,000 to be paid out to Diamond Demmer, the victim of the shooting. She was hit by shrapnel in a parking lot near 11th and Broadway after leaving Club Vinyl. Last year she filed a federal lawsuit against the officer and the city and county of Denver.

After a summer night at Club Vinyl in 2010 as patrons were headed home, shots were fired between Denver police officers and an armed suspect. As club goers ran to their cars amid the commotion, Demmer fell to the ground after getting hit by shrapnel from an officer’s gun.

It was later determined that the officers were justified in firing their weapons but an investigation revealed that one officer used unapproved military grade ammunition, ammo that injured 27-year-old Demmer.

The Denver district attorney says Demmer was hit in the left leg and lower torso by bullet fragments from one of the rounds fired with more fragments hit her right leg.

While the officer was eventually fired, the city was left with a decision to make about Demmer and her injuries.

“At the end of the day it’s about public safety. At the end of the day it’s about public trust and you don’t do that with military grade ammo,” Councilman Paul Lopez said.

The payout is money that Lopez says needed to be paid out but hurts the city nonetheless.

“Whether it be $40,000 or $100,000, that money should go to libraries and other priorities,” Lopez said.

In the federal lawsuit filed by Demmer, she claims she is now permanently disfigured and still has bullet fragments lodged in her body.

As of Tuesday morning it was 94 percent contained and it didn’t seem to grow Monday.

Full containment is expected around 6 p.m.

Two helicopters were supporting the 239 firefighters on Tuesday. Two trails are still closed in the area.

The fire started when wind blew over a camp stove.

Wildfire Resources

- Visit CBSDenver.com’s Wildfire Resources section.

- Read recent Wildfire stories.

Wildfire Photo Galleries

- See images from the most destructive wildfire (Fourmile Fire) and largest wildfire (Hayman Fire) in Colorado history.

ACLU attorney Rebecca Wallace said Tuesday that she’s documented cases where alleged victims faced deportation after calling police for help. At issue is the sheriff’s department’s policy of reporting domestic violence suspects at the time of arrest, not conviction. Wallace says in at least one case a woman accused of domestic violence had been defending herself against her attacker and eventually had charges dropped.

The 2006 Colorado Senate Bill 90 requires law enforcement report suspected illegal immigrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but excludes domestic violence.

The sheriff’s office issued a statement maintaining that it is following the law and accused the ACLU of making “slanderous accusations.”

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger heard arguments Tuesday in Denver in a lawsuit that dates back to 2008. She said she would rule as soon as possible.

Lawyers argued for about two hours over whether the Bureau of Land Management considered alternative sites and methods, and if it adequately assessed environmental impacts of a plan that projects up to 1,570 wells on the plateau on more than 73,000 acres of federal and private land.

Environmental lawyers said the BLM did not sufficiently consider an alternative that would involve directional drilling and would avoid drilling at the top of the plateau, considered environmentally sensitive.

The BLM plan calls for 210 wells on top of the plateau and 1,360 wells at the bottom.

The BLM argued that it considered directional drilling in its initial plans, but like other alternatives deemed it infeasible.

Lawyer Ayako Sato, who argued on behalf of the BLM, said the technology needed to conduct directional drilling was not advanced enough to access the reserve, and that access issues were involved because the area was surrounded by private land.

Sato also indicated the alternative considered by the BLM did not present a cohesive plan that the BLM could address or review.

Environmental lawyers are challenging a number of issues, including the 20-year environmental assessment they deemed insufficient; why the BLM did not measure air pollution outside the planning area; and evidence related to what the BLM did to determine emission levels of pollutants that affect the ozone.

The lawyers do not believe 20 years is a sufficient amount of time to conduct the review because they say documents indicate the project is planned to go longer. The BLM did not address how much longer the project might last, but plans indicate the wells would be developed over a 20-year period.

The BLM acknowledged it has a “dismal record” of providing environmental assessments beyond 20 years, and that its own policy, partially based on a handbook from 1990, requires the agency to project environmental impact reviews for 15 to 20 years.

Judge Krieger said she would not rule on the merits of the plan but instead determine if the agency followed protocol required when making decisions on the proposed plan.

The BLM auctioned leases on the land in 2008, when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was a senator representing Colorado. He was critical of the plan then but is now a defendant in the case.

- By Rema Rahman, AP Writer

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The contract with Science Applications International Corp. was announced Friday.

Work will be done at Peterson and at McLean, Va. Details of the work were not immediately available.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

“It’s going slow because we do not have that many resources,” said Jose Ortiz, spokesman for a group of Colorado immigrants and others seeking the ballot measure. Ortiz said group members have less than 5 percent of the signatures they want to collect by August.

If approved by voters, the ballot measure would change a law that requires proof of legal residency to be issued a Colorado driver’s license. Activists say illegal immigrants are driving anyway, and that the public would be safer if those drivers could seek licenses and auto insurance.

Critics say granting driving privileges to illegal immigrants creates an incentive to violate immigration laws. Colorado law was changed in 1999 to require proof of legal residency to obtain a driver’s license. Advocates for changing the law back argue that the 1999 change did not deter illegal immigrants.

“They said that people would go home. That if we made it hard enough, they would all go away. We all know that did not happen,” said Jennifer Piper, one of the campaign organizers.

New Mexico and Washington are the only states that allow illegal immigrants to obtain the same driver’s license as a U.S. citizen. Utah grants immigrants a driving permit that can’t be used for identification, unlike a driver’s license that helps people open bank accounts or board a commercial flight.

The Colorado proposal would give illegal immigrants regular licenses that could be used as government IDs.

Ortiz said supporters are hoping for a direct public-safety appeal to persuade voters to put the driving question on ballots. State lawmakers, he said, won’t change driver’s license policy on their own.

“We know politicians right now don’t have the will to put this on the table,” Ortiz said.

A national survey released Tuesday suggests Ortiz’s argument is true not just in Colorado but nationwide. The National Conference of State Legislatures detected a dramatic decline in immigration-related bills, including driver’s license or other ID proposals.

In 2011, there were 171 ID-related bills in 40 states, according to the organization’s survey. This year, there were 83 such bills proposed in 29 states. Only one became law, a Utah measure making clear that firearms cannot be sold or transferred to illegal immigrants.

Colorado law requires some 86,000 signatures to put a measure on ballots, though campaign organizers say they want to turn in 140,000 signatures to account for errors. Complicating matters for the immigrant advocates is the fact that people who would benefit from the proposed change can’t sign the petition; only registered voters are counted toward citizen initiatives.

The driver’s license measure signatures are due Aug. 6.

- By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

DENVER (CBS4) – A postal carrier was seriously hurt after two dogs attacked her on Monday.

The attack happened in Northwest Denver on West 34th Avenue near Utica. A neighbor was also hurt trying to pull the dogs off the woman.

Ron Spagle told CBS4 that when his neighbor’s two dogs got out of the front door of their home and attacked the female postal carrier he jumped over his railing to help. He says one dog had her on the ground and the other had her by the hair.

“I heard her screaming and I heard the commotion of the dogs,” said Spagle, who also suffered minor injuries. “I ran out there and jumped on top of the dogs.”

Animal control took the animals away. The dogs will be put down after they are released from quarantine. Officials said they are a husky and a chow chow.

“She sustained major damage to her arm and some of her upper regions, so we’re very concerned about her,” U.S. Postal Service spokesman David Rupert said.

The attack comes in the middle of Dog Bite Prevention Week. Denver comes in as the eighth worst in the nation for animal attacks on postal workers.

“Animal bites are a big problem for the postal service,” Rupert said. “Over 5,500 carriers were attacked last year alone.”

Rupert said the attack is say this is a sad reminder to dog owners of the precautions that need to be taken.

“If you have a pet, put it behind a fence,” he said. “If you don’t have a fence put them on a leash. Train them, for goodness sake.”

Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle wants to make the burn ban even tougher by asking for strict rules regarding fireworks and open burning.

Pelle told commissioners on Tuesday a firework ban within the unincorporated county is crucial to preventing wildfires.

“I’m recommending we add this,” he said.

Commissioners agree. They banned the sale or use of fireworks in the county. That doesn’t sit well with some firework vendors.

“I set up a firework stand up in North Boulder,” a vender told CBS4. “We’ve been doing it for approximately 28 years.”

Although the majority of the firework vendors say they sell “Colorado legal” fireworks, Pelle says the risk is still too great.

If someone in the unincorporated county is found in violation of the firework ban they could get a $500 fine for the first violation and a $1,000 fine for the second.

Commissioners also moved an ordinance forward that would put more regulations on open burning within the county. If passed, the person obtaining a permit will now have to check in with the sheriff’s office before a permit would be granted. It’s expected that ordinance will pass sometime in July.

LINK: Colorado Fire Bans & Restrictions

Wildfire Resources

- Visit CBSDenver.com’s Wildfire Resources section.

- Read recent Wildfire stories.

Wildfire Photo Galleries

- See images from the most destructive wildfire (Fourmile Fire) and largest wildfire (Hayman Fire) in Colorado history.

They released the Top 100 Worst Traffic Cities and Denver is on the list at No. 27, moving up five spots from last year.

Bak also identified the congestion hotspots around town and revealed just how long someone in Denver sits in traffic each year.

The number might surprise you!  Watch my full interview from the CBS4 Morning News below:

The Colorado Department of Transportation is currently working on making life a little easier for the 115,000 cars that travel on Interstate 225 each day.

Removal of the Yale Street bridge is the 1st step in a project which will make it three lanes both directions and extend Light Rail through that area.

LINK: INRIX Ranking

- By Joel Hillan, CBS4 Traffic Specialist

Investigators hope an autopsy will help identify the victim and help catch the killer. According to the autopsy report, the victim’s death was due to blunt force trauma.

Hikers found the body over the weekend off the Burro trail near Breckenridge Ski Resort. Now officers are looking for help from the community.

The Summit County Sheriff’s Office says the murder happened just a few yards inside the forest from the trailhead. The sheriff’s office says there’s a reasonably large community that lives off the grid in the forest and someone in there knows what happened.

“It appears the victim was targeted, so I would say there’s no crazy killer on the loose,” Capt. Jaime FitzSimmons said.

CBS4′s Jeff Todd walked along some trails on Monday and found camp set-ups similar to the murder scene.

“Contrary to what you think, there are a lot of people in the woods there,” FitzSimmons said. “They’ll assimilate in the community, they’ll work in the community, they’ll shop, they’ll drink in bars. They will absolutely be part of the community and they choose to live in the forest while there’s no snow on the ground.”

Detectives are not basing the whole investigation on community support. The area is so close to town, the sheriff’s office confiscated surveillance video from a nearby gas station, but the manager says that’s a common occurrence. The sheriff wouldn’t say what the video shows.

(credit: CBS)

“We’re confident there’s enough people living in that forest, we’ve had contact with people in that forest and we know there are people out there who know what happened,” FitzSimmons said.

Police say the transient community is normally not a big problem. The only real problem is trash, which coincidentally is exactly how the body was found on Saturday — by a volunteer who was cleaning up part of the trails in the area.

The fire northwest of Fort Collins has burned nearly 7,700 acres, or about 12 square miles. But cooler and wet weather over the weekend helped firefighters get containment up to 87 percent. It’s cost nearly $3 million to fight the fire.

4 On Your Side Investigator Rick Sallinger learned more about how the fire started and how the Forest Service plans on trying to get restitution from the man who started it.

The camper who went to authorities and said he started it by accident has been identified as James J. Weber, a mental health counselor at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. He could be on the hook for millions of dollars.

Weber told the Forest Service he placed a tiny camp stove on a rock and turned away. When he turned back it was on the ground with a fire burning. He tried to stomp it out, but it expanded greatly.

Forest Service spokesman Steve Segin likens what happened to a car accident. Those who cause it are then responsible.

“The individual started a wildfire and was charged with that, but is also responsible on the civil side to pay for the restitution and rehabilitation of the land,” Segin said.

The fine and fee for the ticket Weber received totals only $325, but the restitution the government may seek could go into the millions.

In 2002 Forest Service employee Terry Barton accidently started Colorado’s largest fire. She was ordered to pay $14 million federal and tens of millions more than $25 million in state restitution, plus she spent six years in prison.

The stove Weber used was like weighs only 1.3 ounces. It’s fueled by alcohol.

“The safety feature would be the user, ultimately. It’s a very basic stove, it’s why people like it,” Devon Beam with REI said. “It has no moving parts on it. It’s very light weight. You add fuel and it’s good to go.”

Other camp stoves are larger, heavier and as a result can be more stable. Regardless, a hot flame and the ultra dry conditions can lead to a catastrophe with a price tag in the millions of dollars.

The government will present a bill to Weber. It could ask him for all or part of the money. Homeowner’s insurance could cover some of it and a schedule could be made out for the rest. Weber’s attorney said they are reviewing the matter.

Wildfire Resources

- Visit CBSDenver.com’s Wildfire Resources section.

- Read recent Wildfire stories.

Wildfire Photo Galleries

- See images from the most destructive wildfire (Fourmile Fire) and largest wildfire (Hayman Fire) in Colorado history.

Gary Lozow, 68, a prominent Denver lawyer, was driving along Speer Boulevard near 8th Avenue the morning of April 15 when his SUV was struck by another car. His vehicle flew over an embankment and landed upside down in Cherry Creek.

Belted in to his seat and upside down, Lozow lost consciousness as water filled the car, and his lungs.

“He was blue and in big trouble,” said one of the responding paramedics.

Nearby security guards from Denver Health Medical Center, bike riders, strollers, paramedics and firefighters rushed to Lozow’s aide, jumping in the water, frantically working to free Lozow from the car.

Sunday night Lozow and his family gathered the rescuers for what he termed a “Thanksgiving” dinner at a downtown Denver restaurant so he could look each person in the eye and thank them for saving his life.

“Anybody in this room, for the rest of their life, I will be there,” Lozow said. “And my word is my bond.”

Gary Lozow’s car in Cherry Creek (credit: CBS)

He told the group of about two dozen people that he planned to “pay it forward” to others as a way of repaying their kindness.

“I will take this gift and do good deeds and each time I am thinking of you and I am doing it for you. You’ve got my ticket. I mean it wholeheartedly,” he said.

One by one he called his rescuers to his side and thanked them. Julie Schumacher, a single mother of two who was walking on the Cherry Creek bike path the morning of the accident and jumped into the water said, “I thought he was certainly dead. I still can’t believe it, but there he is.”

Lozow suffered cracked ribs and a broken left hand but escaped more serious injuries. He thanked Tim Gillen and Gillen’s wife Dani Przychodzin. The couple was cycling down the bike path on their way to church, but jumped in the water and helped free Lozow from the wreckage. After that with their clothes still soaked the couple continued on to church where friends wondered how they got so wet.

Nursing student Sarah Johnson recalled how she called 911 when she saw the accident and was so certain she had seen a man die, she called in sick to work.

Denver Health Paramedics J.P. Piche and Robert Petre both said they didn’t think Lozow would survive the accident.

“It’s an honor to do this work and meet someone we’ve had a positive impact on,” Petre said.

Security guards Brandon Skalak, Kris Stevenson and Omar Salgado were also on the receiving end of Lozow’s gratitude.

“It’s a good feeling, I feel good with myself,” said Salgado, a native of Panama.

Also hailed was passerby Sam Kimpton, a student and husband who jumped in the fast moving water to help pull Lozow from the car.

Denver fire fighters Kevin Denny, Jason Parrington, Chad Cranmer and Matt Berry were also thanked for their efforts.

Lozow, surrounded by his family, said, “It feels pretty good to live in a community that has the predisposition to do the right thing. And they did.”

- Written by Brian Maass for CBSDenver.com

Drought conditions combined with hungry bears coming down from the high country make for a dangerous mix. Already two black bears have been captured from neighborhoods in the metro area — one in Boulder and the other in Federal Heights.

It’s a lot easier for bears to get into the suburbs than many people think. Canal drainage systems become a corridor for the bears to maneuver from the high country into backyards. Why they make their way down has everything to do with food.

In 2001, one bear galloped through yards, scaled fences and tall trees; even darted across the rooftops of Centennial homes. The folks who live in Cherry Knolls still talk about it.

“It was exciting,” Cherry Knolls homeowner Dawn Kalavity said.

“There were helicopters and police everywhere,” Cherry Knolls homeowner Tim Ratterman said.

When the 300-pound acrobatic bear made his way into the suburbs, Copter4 flew above the bear chase.

“The bear was scared. The people weren’t scared,” Ratterman said.

People perched rooftops trying to catch a glimpse of the bear. Children brought out their teddy bears for fun.

“We have wolves, we have snakes, but a bear? That’s funny. Actually, it’s not funny,” Cherry Knolls homeowner Mariella Warner said.

One of the most active bear seasons the Division of Parks and Wildlife experienced was in 2001. A repeat of that active season is predicted this year.

Just a few weeks ago an Adam’s County neighborhood got their first bear.

“Whoa, how could he get all the way over here?” witness Manuel Ramos said.

The bear darted around for 45 minutes, creating a big stir before he was tranquilized.

“I was wondering how it got all the way down here from up there. It’s just really strange,” witness Brian Trullinger said.

How bears get into the suburbs is part of the reason why Colorado is so beautiful. An example is the High Line Canal. Up the canyon the water diverts off of the South Platte River. That particular canal can take a bear through Denver and toward Denver International Airport. There are also drainage systems and open space areas that lead into the High Line Canal.

“They can cross a lot of country,” Jerrie McKee with the Division of Wildlife said.

McKee says if there aren’t good sources of forage for the bears in their habitat, they move down the canal with hungry stomachs.

“It’s not unusual for them to find these kinds of corridors to maneuver and then they get out and find themselves in major urban, metropolitan areas,” McKee said.

Along the Front Range there are an abundance of corridors for bears to travel — the High Line, South Platte, Turkey Creek, Bear and Clear creeks — just to name a few.

“Right now it’s not looking real good. We do have drought conditions over a lot of the state,” McKee said. “So we are anticipating this may be a really tough year for bears.”

Drought conditions have a detrimental effect on a bears normal food supply such as oak brush and choke-cherry.

People don’t expect a bear to come out of the riparian area, but when they do suburbs are littered with attractants — calorie-rich items lingering around a home like trash, dog and bird food.

“So you can imagine if a bear were to catch (the High Line Canal) and wander through town and hit almost any backyard and find an abundance of attractants and find itself in a lot of trouble,” McKee said.

A bear in the ‘burb might seem fascinating to some, but wildlife managers say there are so many potential dangers that the folks in Cherry Knolls remember all too well.

“It is scary because if you have grandchildren that are around the patio,” Warner said. “Sometimes the cuddly bear is not cuddly, really.”

Colorado Parks and Wildlife managers say if a bear does end up in a neighborhood there are things residents should not do, like pursuing the bear and trying to get close to it to snap a picture. The more excited a bear gets, the more he runs and metabolism gets revved up along with adrenaline, it becomes very difficult to tranquilize.

The fire near Livermore was 94 percent contained Monday night. Managers expect to have the fire fully surrounded by containment lines by Tuesday evening.

About a half inch of rain fell at the fire on Saturday, which helped firefighters gain the upper hand on the blaze. It’s not growing much now, but fire managers say there are still some hot spots within the perimeter.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says a camper started the fire with an outdoor stove in the Roosevelt National Forest and was unable to stamp it out.

The U.S. Forest Service says costs of fighting the fire have reached about $3.2 million.

RELATED: Man Who Started Hewlett Fire Could Be On The Hook For Millions

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Wildfire Resources

- Visit CBSDenver.com’s Wildfire Resources section.

- Read recent Wildfire stories.

Wildfire Photo Galleries

- See images from the most destructive wildfire (Fourmile Fire) and largest wildfire (Hayman Fire) in Colorado history.

Department officials say an investigation allegedly found Carlos Miguel’s Mexican Bar & Grill violated overtime, minimum-wage and record-keeping provisions at restaurants in Woodland Park, Frisco, Castle Rock, Littleton and Colorado Springs.

Investigators say in some cases, employees worked up to 55 hours in a week without receiving proper wages. Investigators say some employees were underpaid because they were misclassified as salaried employees exempt from federal overtime and minimum wage requirements.

Federal investigators say the restaurant cooperated with the investigation and has agreed to abide by the Fair Labor Standards Act in the future.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The university said Monday that Paul Ohm will serve as a senior policy adviser for consumer protection and competition issues affecting the Internet and mobile markets. He begins his new position Aug. 27 in the agency’s Office of Policy Planning, which focuses on long-range competition and consumer protection policy initiatives and advises staff on cases raising new or complex policy and legal issues.

Ohm specializes in information privacy, computer crime law, intellectual property and criminal procedure.

His career has included working as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s computer crime and intellectual property section.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

City officials started investigating Mike Sanchez after receiving complaints last year of cars being illegally towed from pay parking lots.

Following an investigation, Stop-&-Park LLC was issued 18 citations for unlicensed operations of parking lots. The city Department of Excise and Licenses says Sanchez pleaded guilty on behalf of the business to nine of those counts.

The city says it no longer automatically renews parking lot licenses and is checking on complaints against applicants seeking renewal. It also is working with the Colorado Better Business Bureau.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The new lab would pull a lot of crime scene investigation work under one roof. Once the new lab is built, crime labs in existing law enforcement buildings in Northern Colorado will move their equipment and employees to the new building.

“Having everyone in one spot makes us more efficient and more effective in what we do,” lab director Ronald Arndt said.

As it stands now crime labs are spread across Northern Colorado, making it sometimes difficult to get things done in a timely manner.

“The county has committed $4 million for the construction of a brand new crime lab building,” Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway said.

Once built the crime lab will house analysts from Greeley and Loveland police as well as Weld and Larimer county sheriff’s offices. It’s expected Fort Collins police will join later.

The new lab will make the process of investigating evidence from DNA to fingerprints quicker.

“We’re cutting that delay by weeks if not months,” Weld County Sheriff John Cooke said.

“Let’s say there’s a firearm that needs to be processed for DNA, for latent prints and for firearms,” Arndt said. “I now have three different sites that gun may have to go in order get that work done. By having everyone in one location, the gun is in one spot.”

The new crime lab will be built somewhere near Highway 34 and 257 in Weld County. They are hoping to open the lab by September of 2013.

The State Patrol says 187 people not wearing seat belts died in Colorado crashes last year, up from 164 in 2010.

The State Patrol released the numbers while announcing a “Click It or Ticket” seat belt enforcement period that started Monday and runs through June 3.

Adults can be ticketed for not wearing a seat belt if their vehicles have been stopped for another violation. Seat belt fines are $65 per violation.

The Colorado State Patrol says that according to statistics from last year, those more likely to die in a crash without a seat belt were young men, pickup truck occupants, nighttime drivers and passengers, Hispanics and those traveling in rural areas.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)