To take home the gold, Matthew Mitcham will trade his speedos for a birthday suit

Have you ever traveled so much that you forget what city you’re in?  Neither have we. But the Denver City Council has a solution for those who have. Yesterday, Denver City Council approved $11.5 million to create a massive tacky LED sign near E-470 to remind everyone where they are.  And there’s no word yet on […]

In the end, America was still America, which usually plays by the rules, even when the rules don’t make any sense. And that’s refreshing in […]

It looks like the EPA is holding nearly 50 mines for ransom to get tons of money out of one company that only had two mines in the new Superfund district the federal agency has declared across Silverton. Long story short, when the EPA declared all those mining sites as part of the Superfund, they […]

  I’ve been struggling to write about Sylvester Tally for three weeks now. With each interview I’ve done since his Nov. 28th suicide, I’ve heard […]

Today, several of Colorado’s electoral college voters, or electors, attempted one of the dumbest and most bizarre attempts to block the electoral college from electing Donald Trump the next president of the United States. According to their evil dumb plan, by ignoring the will of the people in their state and NOT voting for Hillary […]

Update:  The Colorado-born attempt to inspire a national revolt in the Electoral College failed this afternoon, as eight of Colorado’s nine electors cast their ballots […]

36 Commuting Solutions and the Northwest Chamber Alliance (a coalition of the Broomfield, Boulder and Longmont chambers) will host the 8th Legislative Breakfast on Jan. 5 from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at the Omni Interlocken Hotel. The purpose of this year's event is to convene public and private stakeholders around the Northwest region's transportation priorities during the 2017 legislative session.

The 8th Legislative Breakfast will provide a collaborative environment for businesses, governments and transportation agencies to discuss the future of the Northwest region, especially as it relates to potential state legislation to prioritize transportation.

"Transportation is becoming a paramount issue for businesses, especially when it comes to recruiting and retaining employees," said John Tayer, President and CEO of the Boulder chamber. "Businesses that are highly accessible become desirable employment hubs and ultimately increase a region's population, economy and quality of life."

Economic development also is a focal point of this year's breakfast.

Said 36 Commuting Solutions Executive Director Audrey DeBarros: "Over 16 percent of the Denver metro region's population and employment is concentrated in Boulder County, Broomfield County and City of Westminster, which means the outcomes of transportation over the coming years will determine how our region's economy, public health and population progress over the coming decades."

Legislators such as House Majority Leader KC Becker, Sen. John Cooke (Senate Transportation Committee vice chair) and Rep. Diane Mitsch-Bush (House Transportation & Energy Committee chair) will discuss priorities most important to their parties and regions, and the U.S. 36 Mayors & Commissioners Coalition and 36 Commuting Solutions will present their 2017 Legislative Policy Agenda. The breakfast will also feature a keynote address from Gov. John Hickenlooper and presentations by regional businesses leaders and elected officials.

The cost to attend is $75 for members of 36 Commuting Solutions, the Broomfield Chamber, the Boulder Chamber and the Longmont Chamber and $90 for non-members. Registration can be completed through Jan. 4 by visiting http://bit.ly/2eTlEBp.

Alton Aytac decided he wanted to be a pilot the first time he boarded a plane when he was 9 years old. Now that the 19-year-old is halfway to getting his private pilot's license at Front Range Flight School in Adams County, that dream is coming closer to reality.

Preparing for a cross-country flight with his instructor Wade Wood earlier this month, Aytac talked about how he has always looked forward to getting in the air.

"Everytime I go up it's an amazing feeling," he said. 6

Chief Pilot Brian Eaton runs the Front Range Flight School at 37501 Cessna Way near Denver International Airport. After about six months in business, there are more than 100 members.

These members are comprised of both students and licensed pilots renting and using the eight aircrafts available. With a decade of experience in the industry, Eaton takes being an instructor seriously.

"We're not just getting you your pilot's license," he said. "We want you to be able to get your license and come in the next day and fly to Kansas City."

Aytac is studying aviation and aerospace management at Metropolitan State University of Denver, which is common among many of the young pilots attending the flight school. Their ultimate goal is to work for a commercial airline like Southwest.

When Aytac first climbed onto that first plane 10 years ago, he was immigrating to the United States from Turkey with his family.

Aytac hopes to eventually move back to his home country or somewhere in the Middle East and work for an airline like Fly Emirates.

Breydon Franklin, also a Metro student, is in a similar program studying aviation operations, as well as working towards his commercial license at the flight school. He is nearly finished with his certified flight instructor (CFI) training and is on track to be teaching by early 2017.

Eaton estimates 60 percent of the school's members are pursuing commercial licensure, which requires 250 hours of flight time, as well as ground school where students are responsible for bookwork.

To be hired by a commercial airline, Franklin and Aytac will need 1,500 hours of documented flying experience.

It's expensive, but worth it

Students can pursue seven licenses at the flight school. The first step to becoming a pilot is earning a private pilot's license, which requires 40 hours of flying time and written examinations.

The next step is Instrument Rating Training, which further develops skills in flying strictly through the instrument panel, when there is no visibility due to clouds, for example. Requirements continue to heighten to reach a Commercial Pilot's license, which is the top tier.

The national rate of attrition in flight schools is 65 percent, according to Eaton. At Front Range Flight School, the dropout rate is 30 percent. Eaton suspects this is partly affected by his priority of being transparent about the cost.

His students will spend about $45,000 to obtain a commercial license --; other schools can cost upwards of $80,000. Either way, it's important that students are aware of the fiscal responsibility before they start training.

Both Franklin and Aytac considered finances when enrolling with the flight school and have determined the reward to be higher than the cost. They are working towards a career they believe will be fun and fulfilling.

"You're nervous, sweaty, shaking," Franklin said, describing handling a plane solo for the first time. "But you know you're doing something incredible - that accomplishment is addicting."

State officials have denied Westminster Public Schools' plea to reconsider the district's performance rating, putting the district one step closer to facing consequences for low performance.

Colorado Department of Education staff presented the final ratings to the state Board of Education on Dec. 15. The state notified district officials earlier in the week that the evidence they had presented to request a higher rating included good data, but was insufficient.

"Though some of the data provided showed some progress and promise over the past five years, comprehensively the data did not present a compelling case of performance that warrants a higher accreditation rating," state officials wrote in a letter to the district.

As it stands, the rating means Westminster Public Schools is one of five districts that will face state sanctions in the coming months after five low performance ratings from the state. This group of districts would be the first to face sanctions under the state's accountability system.

Westminster officials say they plan to appeal the state's decision.

"We are disappointed by the decision and will be vigorously following all avenues available to us," said Pam Swanson, Westminster schools superintendent. "We don't think the Colorado Department of Education fully considered or responded to all of the information that was submitted in our request for reconsideration. Importantly, the decision doesn't reflect the fact that none of our schools face sanctions."

The district had requested that the state reconsider its most recent rating in part because the district has been working on switching the 9,500-student district to a competency-based model. Under the model, the district did away with placements based only on age and instead groups students by what they know. The approach also requires students to prove they've mastered certain competencies before passing onto the next level.

Westminster officials worry that because students must be grouped by age for state tests, the accountability system might not be fairly evaluating their progress. The district presented data from its own internal tests and from a review by a third-party it hired to assess the model.

The data, especially from 2010 through 2014, showed positive trends, the state agreed. But in 2016, state officials pointed out that several schools saw a decline.

The state also took time in the letter to address some of the district's concerns with the accountability system, countering some statements made by Westminster officials, including on how often the standards have changed in the last several years. The state standards have "evolved," officials stated in the letter, but districts were given years to make the transition.

Specifically addressing the district's competency based system, state officials noted at several points that there may be more to learn from the system and how it works with the state's testing.

"The department recognizes that the district has been working to implement a Competency Based System," the letter to the district states. "Your input around assessment options has been shared and is being considered. But we welcome further conversation."

Five Colorado school districts face the unprecedented prospect of state sanctions and three were spared that fate according to final state school district quality ratings released Dec. 15.

The ratings from the Colorado Department of Education are the first since the state made a switch in assessments designed to measure student learning in English and math. The ratings are also the first to be released since a growing number of families began opting their children out of the tests, driving down many districts' participation rates and complicating state officials' efforts to rate them.

The five districts that failed to improve student learning enough during the last six years and now face state action are a mix of suburban and rural: Westminster Public Schools, Adams 14 School District, Aguilar Reorganized, Montezuma-Cortez and Julesburg RE-1.

Those districts have one more chance to appeal to the State Board of Education for a higher rating, which could halt the sanction process. Such an appeal has never been granted.

The sanctions could come as soon as February. Among the state board's options for the five school districts: close schools, turn some over to a charter authorizer, or direct the district to reorganize and turn over some operations such as teacher training to a third party.

Both Adams 14 and Westminster asked for the state to reconsider their ratings before finalizing them. But both those bids fell short. State officials concluded that Adams 14 neither improved enough nor provided sufficient data, and district officials say they will not appeal.

In Westminster's case, the state said the district could claim some promising data but not enough to lift its rating. District officials also contended the state accountability system doesn't adequately take into account the way it groups students not by age but by what they know. District officials told Chalkbeat they plan to appeal.

The three districts that beat the state's so-called "accountability clock" and escaped sanctions were Pueblo City Schools, Sheridan Public Schools and Ignacio. The three districts learned they had made enough improvement earlier this fall, and the final ratings make it official.

Overall, more than two-thirds of the state's districts were awarded one of the state's top two ratings. Another five districts ranked in the bottom two.

More than half of the state's 184 school districts and other agencies that get ratings --; including the Charter School Institute, the state's charter school authorizer --; have similar ratings compared to 2014, when the ratings were last issued. Forty districts saw a rating increase, while 33 districts dropped at least one level.

Meanwhile, 13 mostly small rural districts effectively have no rating because too few students in those districts took the state's tests.

The ratings come almost four months since the state released the second round of results from PARCC exams.

The ratings rely heavily on results from the PARCC English and math tests students in grades three through nine take each spring. Other factors that contribute to a district's rating include how well high school juniors scored on the ACT and how many students graduate or drop out.

Under the system, which was created by the General Assembly in 2009, districts that fall in the bottom two categories have five years to improve or face sanctions. This year marks the first year the State Board of Education must take action on districts that have crossed that threshold.

In the past, the department has issued districts one of five ratings: "distinction" being the highest and "turnaround" being the lowest. This year, in response to the state's growing movement of parents opting their students out of state standardized tests, the department developed a sixth rating: "insufficient state data, low participation."

The department is also clearly labeling districts that had enough data to get ranked but fewer than 95 percent of students take the PARCC exams.

State and federal law require schools to test 95 percent of their students in an effort to ensure schools don't exclude groups of students such as English language learners or students with special needs.

However, state lawmakers, reacting to pressure from parents and activists, tweaked the law in 2015: Students who are excused from the tests aren't counted as either participants or nonparticipants. As a result, the state changed the way it calculates a district's participation rate so districts are only held responsible for testing students who are not excused by their parents.

The resistance to standardized testing and the changes to the law "created some interesting situations," said Alyssa Pearson, the department's associate commissioner for accountability and performance.

"We need direction from policy makers," Pearson said, noting the state's rating system was created in 2009, a time when nearly every student took the state's standardized tests. "This year, we did what made sense to us."

When the state released its preliminary ratings earlier this fall, dozens of districts had their ratings lowered manually by the department because they failed to meet the 95 percent participation rate and did not provide evidence that parents had pulled their kids from testing.

The department received a record number of requests from districts to up their ratings. Mosts of those requests were granted because data coding errors led to a lower preliminary rating.

Ultimately, three districts had a rating lowered due to low participation --; the first time the state has made such a move. Another 89 districts did not have their ratings lowered but were flagged for low participation.

One of those districts that was flagged for low participation was Boulder Valley, which had a "distinction" rating in 2014 but earned an "accredited with low participation" rating this year. An epicenter for the opt-out movement, Boulder had not a single grade meet the 95 percent participation requirement.

Bruce Messinger, the district's superintendent, said the district's performance is not being accurately captured because so many students opted out.

"I'm not pleased that accreditation would be impacted by the participation rate," said Bruce Messinger, the district's superintendent. "We have a conflict in the state of Colorado over the relationship between accreditation and participation. That needs to be resolved, and I'm sure it will be over time."

"We have no reason to believe the performance on the test, on those that were reported, reflect our school district," he added. "Statistically there is no way anyone could jump to that conclusion."

The state's third largest school district and another opt-out hotbed, the Douglas County School District, also saw its rating drop since 2014 and was flagged for low participation. However, leaders there seem unfazed.

"We recognize the impact that low participation rates in state-mandated assessments have on accreditation ratings," Interim Superintendent Erin Kane said in a statement. "However, we honor parental choice and will continue to do so." The state is expected to release school ratings at the state board's January meeting.

Nathan Lemon always made resolutions to get healthy, but in 2009 he decided to take it seriously: He lost 100 pounds in six months and now owns F.I.T. Gyms in Lone Tree, Thornton, Littleton and Loveland.

"I had the time to go to the gym two times a day and stopped eating (unhealthy) food," Lemon said. "When I saw the results, it was easy to keep going. That was exciting."

The key is consistency, he said. "Until you really commit yourself to it, a resolution is only as good as the words you say."

Studies show living a healthier life has long been the most popular New Year's resolution.

Whether the resolution is working out more, losing weight, eating better or drinking more water, a research conducted by University of Scranton in October found that 38 percent of Americans want to lose weight and live healthier in 2017.

The difficult part is following through.

Lemon noted that people who participate in early morning fitness tend to stick with it more. His 5 a.m. classes are the most popular and the participants come to the gym more times a week on average.

During the evening, it's easier for someone to skip a workout if he gets out of work late, she wants to spend time with family or anything else gets in the way.

In the morning, "you get in the door, get your workout done and feel so much better throughout the day," Lemon said. "The morning people can't make excuses about a happy hour or a Bronco game --; they just have to get out of bed."

Lemon laughs at the excuses he hears now that he owns his own CrossFit gyms, whose members include individuals who are obese, pregnant or missing limbs.

"I think people can get intimidated, thinking they can't make it through the workout," Lemon said. "The workouts can be scaled or modified for anybody in any CrossFit gym. Anyone can do it --; they just have to want to do it."

According to the University of Scranton study, 75 percent of people maintain their resolutions through the first week of making them. The number of people working to achieve their resolutions continues to decrease as the year goes on.

"I think a big part of backing away from a resolution is that it really is hard to stick to a routine and dedicate the time," said Kelsey Whisler, fitness manager at South Suburban Parks and Recreation. "They may get disappointed that they may not be able to accomplish what they set out to do, so they give up altogether."

Whisler encourages people to set realistic goals. If someone's goal is to run a marathon, he or she should start training for a 5k race first.

Whisler said her resolutions have always been small. For 2016, she vowed to drink more water.

"It is always easier said than done," Whisler said. "Go back to taking the small steps. Don't think too big to start. Small changes will lead to a big difference."

Taking advantage of trainers, being led through group fitness and learning how to use equipment are great starting points for healthy goal achievement, Whisler noted.

The most popular classes at South Suburban recreation centers are Zumba, BodyPump and yoga, Whisler said.

Lemon is a fan of all fitness. Getting out and moving in a way that interests an individual will make a huge difference in how likely he or she is to achieve their goals.

"Any fitness is good fitness," Lemon said. "There are classes like Pilates, yoga and Zumba, but you won't find me there because they don't interest me. Also, I have no rhythm. But people should try new things to get the momentum going."

It is important to remember that improved fitness is a gradual process.

"Most people who come to the gyms aren't looking to be fitness models or John Elway," Lemon said. "They are trying to be the best versions of themselves. We should support those kinds of people."

Earlier this month, U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the intelligence community to conduct a full review of the 2016 presidential election before Donald Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2017. The move came amid growing suspicions that Russian intelligence agencies… Continue Reading →