Gazette 150

Celebrating

150 YEARS The Gazette continues to build on a history of innovation and service to the Pikes Peak region

150 years.

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Sunday, March 27, 2022

Fire Station No. 1

Broadmoor Hotel

City Auditorium

West Middle School

Colorado Springs Utilities Administration

Olson Plumbing & Heating Co.

Cheyenne Lodge

North Middle School

City of Colorado Springs Court House

First Presbyterian Church

The Boettcher Health Center Mountain Bell

Farmers Insurance Group

Broadmoor International Center

Olson Plumbing & Heating Co. Building Colorado Springs for 105 years

Penrose Main Hospital

Seven Falls - Restaurant 1858

UCCS

St. Francis Hospital

Broadmoor Cloud Camp

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center

U.S. Olympic Committee

Colorado College El Pomar Sports Center

Air Force Academy Holaday Athletic Center

UC Health & Children’s Hospital

Cheyenne Mountain High School

ENT Center for The Arts

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo - Water’s Edge

Congratulations to The Gazette on your Sesquicentennial Celebration!

Photographs Courtesy of: The Private Collection of Olson Plumbing and Heating Co., Special Collections Pikes Peak Library District, Colorado College, Broadmoor Hotel, Tom Kimell Photography, Time Frame Images, Stewart Commercial Photography Special Collections Pikes Peak Library District, and Photographer Harry L. Stanley, Special Collection Pikes Peak Library District, Private Collection of Michael Bukowski

Sunday, March 27, 2022

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

As goes Colorado Springs, so goes The Gazette EDITOR

VINCE BZDEK vince.bzdek@gazette.com/636-0273

“In the first place, we hope to publish a paper which will be interesting and acceptable, as a Local Chronicle and as a Journal of General Information, to all who have made their homes Out West … To the Miner, the Farmer, the Ranchman, the Colonist, to Employers and Workmen, to Old and Young … we shall from time to time have something to say, which may be of interest and of service … ” Editor J.E. Liller wrote those words 150 years ago in the first edition of Out West, the Colorado Springs newspaper that would go on to become The Gazette.

That original mission statement still rings true today as The Gazette celebrates its sesquicentennial as the oldest continuously operating business in Colorado Springs.

Philip Anschutz, who bought The Gazette in 2012, put it this way in an interview: “I’ve always seen this newspaper not only as one of the great pillars of Colorado Springs and its history, but it’s told the story of the city in so many ways. Its citizens, its soldiers, its civic leaders, its medical leaders, business leaders, philanthropists, and so many other people that have contributed to the growth of the city for those 150 years.”

“It was always so vitally important that we were there for what was happening in this city as this city grew,” added columnist Linda Navarro, who has worked at The Gazette in a variety of roles for 56 years, more than a third of its lifespan. “And we did it, and we do it. Covering the city start to finish, east to west, north to south … we were always there. The voice for the city and the voice of the city.”

Gen. William Jackson Palmer launched the paper just one year after founding Colorado Springs.

He believed a town wasn’t a real town without a real newspaper. And ever since, the two have risen and fallen and risen again together. As goes Colorado Springs, so goes The Gazette.

When the city was small, The Gazette was small. It was started in a two-sto-

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CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, THE GAZETTE FILE

A dusting of snow covers the Hank the Cowboy statue in downtown Colorado Springs. The statue is in the median of Pikes Peak Avenue at Tejon Street and sits across from The Gazette’s office. ry frame house on the northeast corner of Tejon Street and Colorado Avenue.

When the budding city had just 2,000 residents and a subscription to the four-page weekly Gazette cost $3 per year, much of the town was headquartered in that building.

Palmer had his office in the front.

The newsroom/printing press was in the middle room, and the founder/editor/publisher/printer/reporter lived in the back room with his wife. Upstairs was the town meeting room where the church services were held, the first school’s classes were gathered, the fire department was organized and the town militia met when there was news of Indian raids.

Woody Paige, longtime Colorado sports columnist, reminisced recently about those early days.

“I have just finished watching the TV series ‘1883,’ which is a prequel to ‘Yellowstone,’ which is about the area out here in the West. And oddly enough, I joined The Gazette in 1883, in its 10th year, and on this 150th anniversary I’m one of the few employees who’s left from that time!”

“OK,” Woody admitted, “I don’t go

Sunday, March 27, 2022

The first edition of Out West was published March 23, 1872. back quite that far, but I appreciate that the Colorado Springs Gazette has not only lasted and endured for 150 years, but has won Pulitzer Prizes, has launched so many great stories

for the people of Colorado, and will continue to do that for at least another 150 years. I won’t be here, but I will think kindly of it from some place up above.”

Throughout that long, colorful history, when the city of Colorado Springs has thrived, The Gazette has thrived.

In 1891, The Gazette moved to a stately, new, four-story building on Pikes Peak Avenue just as gold was discovered in Cripple Creek, fueling the growth of both the town and the newspaper.

The Gazette held a party for 1,000 people on the opening night of the grand new building, and went positively giddy during the Gilded Age. No longer the dour, four-page weekly of the 1870s, The Gazette published seven days a week and included more than 30 pages of news, sports and features. The Sunday Gazette boasted four pages of color comics, including such favorites as Major Ozone, Jocko and Jumbo, according to a history by reporter Rick Ansorge.

But those early golden days would not last. Colorado Springs’ gilded age SEE GAZETTE • PAGE 6

Sunday, March 27, 2022

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Serving colorado SpringS & the pikeS peak region Since 1872

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end of an era Modernization prompts move to newer presses

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Dozens of homes burned in Mountain Shadows, Flying W Ranch gone SUNNY WIND

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Join The Gazette on Aug. 23 SUNNY STORMS for a fundraising golf tournament to support Newspapers In Education.

Visit gazette.com/nie/golf or call 636-0378 for more information.

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inside obituary

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Writer, director ephron dies at 71

Nora Ephron directed eight feature films, including “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail.” She was being treated for leukemia and pneumonia, her friend said. A17

sports

avs’ sakic selected to Hall of fame

JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE

Smoke and fire from the Waldo Canyon fire invades Mountain Shadows on Tuesday. “We can’t save this one structure, but we’re going to save everything around it,” one firefighter vowed on the fire department radio.

multiple homes in path, scanners say

32,000 evacuees as blaze beats containment lines The Gazette —

This front page from March 14, 1909, features a story on the death of Colorado Springs founder Gen. William Jackson Palmer.

This front page from Jan. 28, 1986, covers the space shuttle Challenger disaster in which all seven crew members were killed.

“OH DEAR GOD.... this is terrifying.”

That short post on Twitter captured the fear and horror that engulfed Colorado Springs on Wednesday as the erratic, fast-moving Waldo Canyon fire leapt into the western edges of the city, destroyed dozens of homes in Mountain Shadows — including the historic Flying W Ranch — and forced the evacuation of tens of thou-

sands of people in the northwest quadrant of the city.

“This is a firestorm of epic proportions,” Colorado Springs Fire Chief Rich Brown said during an evening news conference.

As flames shot up on the eastern face of the mountains, people ran to office building windows, pulled their cars to the side of the road and stopped on sidewalks to absorb the tragedy —

see fire • Page 4

evacuees get brief time to come back • Gazette photos record the Waldo Canyon fire. Page 3 • Firefighters guard the U.S. 24 corridor. Page 5 • It’s been a trial by fire for newbie mayor. Page 6 • Utilities upbeat about Rampart Reservoir. Page 6 • How and where to volunteer or donate. Page 7 • Fire destroys landmark Flying W Ranch. Page 8

Online

Get updates at gazette.com and gazette.com/fire

FROM PAGE 4

started losing its luster around 1912, when the Cripple Creek mine went bust. As the gold boom faded, many people who had made and lost fortunes left town. Over the next several decades Colorado Springs barely grew, and The Gazette was sold and sold again.

But in the early 1920s, The Gazette began to find its voice as the city’s conscience by taking on the Ku Klux Klan when it tried to establish a new “realm” in Colorado Springs to harass Blacks, Jews and Catholics.

On July 5, 1923, The Gazette reported the unthinkable: At noon on the Fourth of July, the KKK burned a 30-foot cross on the summit of Pikes Peak.

The Gazette immediately launched a crusade against the hate group. A day after the cross burning, The Gazette published an anonymous letter from the “Buckshot Brigade” on its front page. The Brigade said it was ready and willing to take whatever action was necessary to oppose the Klan, according to a history of the KKK in Colorado Springs by longtime Gazette reporter Dru Wilson.

At one point, the paper published the names, addresses and occupations of all Klan officers in town. The Klan started its own newspaper, The Colorado Springs Independent, in response.

But The Gazette’s harsh, continuous spotlight on the Klan caused its mem-

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john.schroyer@gazette.com —

Sunday, March 27, 2022

awineke@gazette.com —

When city officials announced Tuesday morning that evacuated Mountain Shadows residents could return for a half-hour to collect belongings, Angela Morgan didn’t wait.

With friends Bex Becker and Jan Stone, who herself had to evacuate from Green Mountain Falls on Saturday, Morgan headed home. She had a list of what she needed to gather: artwork, albums,

some clothes and papers.

“You can’t pick up a whole house in half an hour,” she said.

Morgan wore a mask because of the smoke and fire-retardant chemicals in the air. She had been able to make a quick trip to the house Monday, but many of her family heirlooms and personal belongings were still there.

“If can get this next pass, —

see evacuees • Page 4

unfinished vote count, but results are certain by john schroyer

GAZETTE

by andrew wineke

2012 electiOn

Six GOP primaries decided, even though not all ballots counted

bers to lose elections and by the end of 1925, The Gazette drove them out of power.

It was during those early days of growing authority and credibility that one of the Gazette’s most enduring reporters started a half-century run at the Gazette. Charles S. “Dud” Dudley chronicled mining in Cripple Creek, bootleggers on Nevada Avenue, a killer at The Broadmoor, two world wars and numerous natural disasters for The Gazette over his storied career.

He was there in 1923 to cover the first Gazette-sponsored AdAmAn trip up Pikes Peak, writing “A red glare, tiny with distance flashed across the nine miles of intervening space from the summit of Pikes Peak.

That gleam, bright and clear, despite the distance and the mists, was the New Year’s greeting to the people of Colorado Springs from the Gazette expedition.”

On Jan. 7, 1942, Dudley and The Gazette helped usher in a new era in Colorado Springs.

“Coming to the community as a belated Christmas present, twice-welcome, is the war department’s announcement that construction of an army training camp will be started immediately,” the paper wrote. “That affords this region, primarily a resort, a place in the war economy and we think it affords the army a location not excelled anywhere for the training of men.”

Mountain Shadows residents get half-hour to return

coverage inside

The local primary election went unfinished Tuesday night after the El Paso County Clerk’s main office was evacuated by the Colorado Springs Police Department.

Though the clerk’s office had announced late in the afternoon that full results wouldn’t be available until Wednesday, the situation was accelerated when CSPD showed up shortly after 7 p.m. and gave employees 10 minutes to

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To see a video of The Gazette presses COLD rolling and to view a photo gallery of the pressroom, scan the QR code with your mobile device or CHANCE OF CHANCE SNOW OF SNOW FOG go to gazette.com

CLOUDY HOT Coming Tuesday: New beginning JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE

Press operator Ray Goheen performs maintenance before the presses run this month. The Gazette has been printing its paper since J. Elsom Liller — editor, publisher, reporter and pressman — cranked out copies in 1872.

tdg

deal of the day

local & state

sports

nation

Turkey warned Syria to keep its forces away from the countries’ troubled border or risk an armed response — a reply to the downing of a Turkish military plane last week by the Damascus regime. A16 Vol. 141 • No. 96 Copyright © 2012 Freedom Colorado Information, Inc.

Daily

• The election is a footnote, Barry Noreen says.

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index

Historic Masters win

Tax Day has arrived

The Lifetime Supervision Act pioneered a new way to treat and punish sex offenders in prison, but the expense to maintain the system is unsustainable. >> B1

Adam Scott, above, edges Angel Cabrera on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to become the first Australian to capture the Masters. >> C1

Are you worried the IRS might target you for an audit? You probably should be if you own a small business in one of the wealthy suburbs of Los Angeles. >> A6

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Printing The Gazette on the $120 million presses will mean COLD COLD MOSTLY CLOUDY better color, crisper print, and more color on inside pages.

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Online: Video and photo gallery CHANCE OF RAIN CHANCE OF RAIN

talks don’t resolve contempt issue

turkey tells syria border is off-limits

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The Gazette honors the operations employees for their CHANCE OF SNOW dedicated service and their part in the paper’s rich and long tradition. >> Page 5

nation

inside

Clark

A Tribute: Thank you ad

Area employers are expected to award pay raises averaging 2.1 percent in 2013, slightly higher than this year, according to a survey. B8

• Go to gazette. com/vote

Lamborn

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see presses • page 3

Editor Joe Hight salutes and thanks The Gazette pressmen and production workers who kept the presses rolling 365 days a year. >> Page 4

survey: pay raises will rise next year

WorLd

the gazette

Inside: Historic move

business

uPdates

get out.

All of the six local contended Republican primaries, however, were decided, even though several thousand ballots had gone uncounted. Roughly 90 percent of the votes have been counted, said see election • Page 12

Former Colorado Avalanche captain Joe Sakic will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Sakic will be inducted on Nov. 12 in Toronto. He will become the first player who has spent his entire career with the Avalanche organization to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. B1

Obama administration officials and House Republican staff members failed to resolve a document dispute that could lead to a contempt of Congress vote Thursday against Attorney General Eric Holder, an official said. A17

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top the presses. • Early this morning, after 141 years, The Gazette printed its own newspaper for the last time. • It doesn’t mean The Gazette will cease to exist in print. Subscribers will still get their paper Tuesday. It will just be printed at a plant in Denver. • But it does mean another step in the long march of modernizing the news: For the first time in the history of Colorado Springs, the iconic throb of the massive steel machines that have been the heart of the newspaper and the pulse of the community are silent.

• “It’s been a hell of an experience,” Mike Mitchell, the lead pressman, yelled over the roar of the presses on a recent night. • In the era of the iPad, it’s unlikely a big commercial press will run in Colorado Springs again, so it is worth taking a moment to look back.

Buy today at gazette. com/dealoftheday or call 1-877-216-4689 6 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, SaturdaysSundays 6 a.m.-noon.

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This front page from June 27, 2012, chronicles the firestorm that hit Colorado Springs during the Waldo Canyon fire.

This front page from April 15, 2013, marks the closure of The Gazette’s presses. The newspaper has been printed in Denver ever since.

Thus Camp Carson was born. During World War II, an enormous influx of troops, construction, and other businesses breathed new life into the local economy and its newspaper.

As the Springs entered the post-war era, Harry Hoiles and his family assumed control of The Gazette and the Evening Telegraph in 1946, merging them to form the Gazette Telegraph. Hoiles, who was both publisher and editor, instilled a strong Libertarian philosophy in the GT’s editorial pages in the coming years, and became a community booster extraordinaire.

On June 26, 1956, the newspaper filled its pages announcing the arrival of the crown jewel in the Colorado Springs military crown: the U.S. Air Force Academy. “One of the biggest ‘gambles’ ever undertaken by the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce paid off with stupendous odds today, “ The Gazette wrote.

The academy’s arrival triggered another building boom, Wilson wrote, and The Gazette joined the parade of businesses building bigger and

better plants. In 1957, the paper moved from downtown to the bluff at 30 S. Prospect street, across from St. Francis Hospital. The view across the cityscape to Pikes Peak became part of the paper’s masthead, and still is.

Linda Navarro started working as a reporter for The Gazette on Prospect Street in 1966.

“I started in city court with a brand new judge, first day,” recalls Linda.

“And he was from an old family here, and his name was Bob Isaac, and he went on to become our mayor for 25 years. His name is on the municipal court building downtown now.”

One of the earliest stories Linda can remember covering was a planning commission meeting one night in 1966. “The doors of the room opened, and people in Italian tailored suits walked in, and it was the real estate arm of J.C. Penney.” They were there to announce the building of the Citadel Mall at a time when Colorado Springs didn’t have any malls.

“It was exciting because it was like nothing that we had, and nothing was on that side of town. A lot of people would say, ‘Chelton Road, we used to go rabbit hunting out there.’ ” Linda also fondly remembers

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

GAZETTE FROM PAGE 6

covering some of the big stars who started making stops in Colorado Springs as The Gazette amped up its features and entertainment pages. She recalls humming along to the Everly Brothers in the basement of the old Broadmoor rodeo arena as they were getting ready for a Broadmoor show.

The GT would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for feature writing.

Linda remembers covering the tough news as well, like the Waldo Canyon fire in 2012 that destroyed more than 300 homes.

“We were on an upper floor surrounded by glass near downtown,” she recalled. “And we could see Waldo coming over the mountains as we were covering it. And your heart is breaking. And people from all the other departments were in the newsroom, just crying. And there was not a sound.”

Waldo was when The Gazette came of age as a 24/7 news outlet, when the web-focused digital age of newspapering really first took hold for The

Gazette.

“We worked 12 hours on, 12 hours off,” Navarro remembers. “But on your 12 hours off your eyes were glued open because you wanted to know how your Red Cross was doing, how your firefighters were doing. Everyone.

“We knew the people in those homes.

Those were our people, our city, our roads.”

In 2012, Philip Anschutz’s Clarity Media Group bought The Gazette and moved it back downtown just as downtown Colorado Springs was coming back to life.

“When Philip Anschutz purchased us, we were told that he was going to purchase the two crown jewels of Colorado Springs. Gen. Palmer’s paper, and The Broadmoor,” Navarro said.

“And he did.”

The new owners retooled the paper for its digital future, staffing up a 24-hour web site and soon adding big names like Woody Paige and Joey Bunch … and adding other publications such as Colorado Politics, Out There Colorado and four weekly newspapers in Colorado Springs’ suburbs.

Under Anschutz ownership, the Gazette won its second Pulitzer Prize in 2014 for national reporting on combat

veterans who were discharged “other than honorably.” The Gazette also was named best newspaper in the state in 2017 and 2020, and has garnered more than 400 other press awards in recent years.

Linda remembers one of the saddest days ever at The Gazette when it decided to sell its presses and have the paper printed up in Denver.

“We were close to our pressroom,” Navarro recalled. “We knew them, they knew us. We heard the ker-chunk when the paper was delivered, the huge giant rolls of paper, when those hit the ground, you could feel it in the whole building.

“When we found out we were going to no longer have a pressroom, people cried all day long. It was the whole building. We had a going away for all of our pressmen and their families.

“That era was gone.”

In 2020, The Gazette unhooked its fortunes from the town of its birth for the first time, launching a new digital newspaper — The Denver Gazette — to bring a new voice to Colorado.

In a recent interview, Anschutz said the Denver team is “hoping to copy the SEE GAZETTE • PAGE 8

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE

Philip Anschutz bought The Gazette in 2012: “I’ve always seen this newspaper not only as one of the great pillars of Colorado Springs and its history, but it’s told the story of the city in so many ways. Its citizens, its soldiers, its civic leaders, its medical leaders, business leaders, philanthropists, and so many other people that have contributed to the growth of the city for those 150 years.”

Sunday, March 27, 2022

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE FILE

Houses in the Mountain Shadows neighborhood are engulfed by the Waldo Canyon fire June 26, 2012, in Colorado Springs. During the devastating and deadly blaze, The Gazette came of age as a 24/7 news outlet, with the web-focused digital age of newspapering really first taking hold.

GAZETTE FROM PAGE 7

Colorado Springs Gazette in creating a longstanding tradition that will help Denver construct a better future for itself going forward.”

“One of the benefits of being locally owned is being in this business for the right reasons, and we care deeply about this state — much of which emanates from the capital city,” explains Chris Reen, president and CEO of The Gazette’s parent company, Clarity Media. He describes The Denver Gazette as a fully interactive digital newspaper that strives to combine the quality, editing and design of a daily newspaper with video, audio, and other rich media. It also features a broad range of editorial voices that were missing from the Denver conversation.

The future is digital, observes Paige: “It’s basically been the first major advancement in newspapers since movable type was invented about 450 years ago.”

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TIMOTHY HURST, THE GAZETTE

In 2020, The Gazette launched a new digital newspaper — The Denver Gazette — to bring a new voice to Colorado from the Mile High City.

“I think there was a fear in journalism that newspapers would all die,” he noted. “But those who looked forward, had strong objectives, realized that the future of journalism that I joined in the

Sunday, March 27, 2022

’60s was going to be in the digital world, and that’s what we see with The Denver Gazette, the adjustments that have been made with the Colorado Springs Gazette. It’s an entirely new world.

“I genuinely believe The Denver Gazette and the Colorado Springs Gazette are the future of journalism in Colorado,” he added. “Because not only are you able to get the information out there immediately, but those who still appreciate a daily newspaper that they can hold in their hands and read, will have that. It’s a rare combination that exists in this country, in this day and time, that you can have digital messages to millions of people every day, and then a newspaper that is actually delivered to somebody’s front porch.

“It’s good to see that the Gazette is at the forefront of that.”

“And this is just the beginning,” Reen adds. “Through this expansion and collaboration of resources across our brands, we’ve seen an improvement and enhanced content across all our Colorado Gazette products.”

Anschutz sees a 150-year-old institution expanding its reach and ambition statewide and, hopefully, far into the future. Maybe even another 150 years.

“As you may know, Colorado is the home of myself and my family, and we see these two newspapers as a true labor of love.”

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE Q&A • CHRIS REEN, CLARITY MEDIA CEO AND PRESIDENT

Company leader looks at present, future

BY RICH LADEN

rich.laden@gazette.com

Changes are inevitable for a business that’s 150 years old.

Since it was launched as Out West in 1872, The Gazette has seen its share.

The newspaper’s name has changed over the decades. Its look and design have undergone facelifts. Technology advances have allowed for the near instantaneous delivery of news. And new owners have left their imprint on The Gazette, including the Denver-based Clarity Media Group, which purchased the paper in late 2012.

But those changes were nothing compared to the upheaval that’s taken place over the last two decades. The advent of the internet, digital age and social media platforms have altered the industry landscape for The Gazette and every news organization in ways few people could have imagined.

What’s ahead for The Gazette?

Here are some thoughts from Chris Reen, CEO and president of Gazette owner Clarity Media.

Reen was named head of Clarity Media in December 2020 after serving as The Gazette’s president and publisher starting in February 2019.

He’s spent more than 30 years in the media industry, holding executive positions in Oklahoma, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida.

He was president of the Oklahoma City-based Oklahoman Media Co. and publisher of The Oklahoman newspaper in September 2011 when it was purchased by the Anschutz Corp. of Denver, which owns Clarity Media.

Reen remained with the Anschutz Corp. after it sold the Oklahoma properties in late 2018 and then joined The Gazette the following year.

He’s also served with various news industry and community groups and is a former president of the board of directors for America’s Newspapers, the leading national trade association of the newspaper industry.

The Gazette is 150 years old and one of Colorado Springs’ oldest businesses. As president and CEO of owner Clarity Media Group, and if you were delivering a state-of-theunion address, how would you describe today’s state of The Gazette as a company and as a business?

I’d say, 150 years later, The Gazette continues to grow and evolve. Our mission hasn’t changed, which is to

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Chris Reen is CEO and president of Denver-based Clarity Media Group, which has owned The Gazette since late 2012. help our community be a better place to live, work and raise a family. We do that daily by educating, informing and entertaining our readers. Through our journalism, we help shine a light on government, are a voice for the voiceless and look out for everyday Colorado taxpayers. We celebrate the city’s growth, successes and expansion and chronicle the triumphs and setbacks of our neighbors. We do this all through a growing array of technology and platforms — not just print, but digital apps and websites, newsletters, video and podcasts, and local events.

The Gazette has been side-by-side with Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak area from the beginning. As the city celebrated its sesquicentennial last year, we celebrate ours this year with the vision and momentum to continue delivering for our community well into the future.

The Gazette, as a daily newspaper, always has been a high profile and prominent member of the community. How would you describe the paper’s place in the business community and in the community at large?

What role do you think The Gazette should play in the community?

Being a responsible and contributing part of the community is at the core of who we are as a business. We do that in many ways. First, through

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our people; we’re locally owned and operated — which is unique in our industry these days. Our reporters, sales associates, staff accountants, IT professionals, web developers, newspaper carriers, customer service agents and social media experts are all part of this community. They’re your neighbors and friends. They attend the same churches and their kids go to the same schools. They care a great deal about this community and know their efforts make a difference. Of course, through our journalism; we take our First Amendment obligations very seriously and will always be focused on local news that makes a real impact. Next, with our commitment to help our longtime and new advertising customers grow their businesses in meaningful ways. And lastly, by giving back; through Gazette Charities and the support of this community, we’ve aided hundreds of thousands of Colorado Springs residents. For our 20 leading health and human services agencies this year we raised a record $1.7 million, which will go directly to improving the lives of so many.

We like to say we are a purpose-driven organization and are honored to be a part of this community, its history and its future.

The advent of the internet and the digital age have forced radical

changes in newspapers and how they deliver their journalism. In your view, what is The Gazette today? A newspaper? A news organization? A multimedia company?

Just how would you define The Gazette today?

All businesses and industry go through changes. As they say, it’s not what happens it’s how you react to it — innovate or be left behind. We have made the transition to digital quicker and more successfully than most.

Every “traditional” media company — from radio and TV broadcast to print magazines — has been disrupted by changing consumer behavior and technology.

Today, we are a leading media and marketing solutions company. The newspaper in its print and digital form is part of an impressive portfolio of brands that is focused on ensuring the viability of local news in the future: The Gazette and gazette.com; Colorado Politics and coloradopolitics.com; OutThereColorado.com; DigitalClarity Solutions; and the newly launched Denver Gazette and denvergazette. com. They all deliver content through websites, apps, video, podcasts, newsletters and events, and help to attract and engage the largest audiences we have ever assembled.

Some news media industry members and critics have been predicting the demise of printed newspapers for years. Many newspapers nationwide have scaled back their printed editions to five, three or even one day, and offered digital news the rest of the week. Others have shifted to online-only publications and still others have closed altogether. But The Gazette continues to print a multisection newspaper seven days a week, 365 days a year. What’s the future of The Gazette as a printed newspaper? Any changes looming in its seven-day-a-week publication?

A perfect storm of recent events combined with changing consumer behavior has led to many newspaper companies cutting out days of frequency. These include the quickly rising costs of newsprint and supply shortages; less print advertising on certain days of the week; and gas prices and difficulties recruiting and retaining a carrier delivery workSEE Q&A • PAGE 11

150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

THE GAZETTE FILE

Q&A FROM PAGE 10

force. Major cities like New Orleans, Newark, Little Rock and Cleveland don’t have a printed newspaper seven days a week and Gannett, the largest publisher in the nation, has recently announced elimination of the Saturday newspaper across its 136 markets nationwide.

In spite of these challenges and while the costs continue to increase, our local ownership is committed to producing our printed Gazette newspaper seven days a week for as long as our subscribers value it. Our newspaper is also available in a digital interactive format, or e-edition, every day. For our subscribers, there is also bonus and expanded content and multimedia functionality added making it a truly enhanced and valuable experience.

The news industry has been in decline for several years, and newspapers nationwide have lost billions of dollars in advertising revenue to online publications and digital platforms. Some newspapers have increased their emphasis on signing up digital subscribers as a way to generate revenue. Where is The Gazette these days in terms of emphasizing digital subscriptions?

Are we becoming more reliant on digital subscribers to sustain our future?

Yes, all producers of local news are more reliant on consumer revenue or subscribers today than we used to be.

Especially, since just two companies (Google and Facebook) control nearly two-thirds of all digital advertising revenues. Not long ago, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, our split among the revenue that sustained our individual companies was 80% from advertising and 20% from circulation or subscriptions. Today, that split has flipped and

is more like 60% from circulation/subscriptions and 40% from advertising.

In fact, our digital subscriptions are the fastest-growing portion of our business — up nearly 110% since the beginning of the pandemic. Consumer revenue is absolutely critical to supporting local journalism and appropriately staffed newsrooms in the future.

In September 2020, Clarity Media launched The Denver Gazette — an interactive, digital newspaper that resembles a printed paper in tabloid form. Why, after 148 years, did Clarity Media decide to test the Denver market? Why did we think now was the right time to launch The Gazette brand in Denver?

It’s no secret that we’ve long wanted to enter the Denver market as we continue to see the investment in local news there decline or deteriorated by out of state investors. … We saw an opportunity, timing wise, during the pandemic when everyone was moving to remote work, school and information to launch a completely digital newspaper. Since our first edition of The Denver Gazette just over a year ago, we’ve provided Mile High City residents with more hard-hitting news, investigative journalism and thought-provoking local opinions than any other publication in the city.

Through our sister brand, Colorado Politics, we already had a Denver “beachhead” with an operating newsroom of 12 journalists covering local and state politics and government and we’ve augmented that with another 20 employees and dozens more contributors. We’ve been very well received by the market, especially by dissatisfied and former Denver Post customers looking for a local alternative.

In terms of the business, we’ve outperformed all of our own internal success benchmarks and have experienced rapid growth.

Answers were edited for brevity and clarity.

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

CHANCEY BUSH, THE GAZETTE FILE

Volunteer Sean Zebrowski answers a call at the NORAD Santa-tracking call center Dec. 24, 2019, at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. More than 1,400 volunteers answered calls from children all over the world to help them track Santa Claus.

Errant ad led to NORAD’s Santa-tracking tradition

BY O’DELL ISAAC

odell.isaac@gazette.com

THE GAZETTE FILE

This ad from Sears in The Gazette offered children the chance to call Santa but listed the wrong number.

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For decades, North American Aerospace Defense Command — more commonly known as NORAD — has tracked Santa Claus’ toy-delivery journey around the world and kept millions of excited kids informed of his progress.

Between its website, its toll-free phone number, and its various social media pages, the military-run tracking operation reaches hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

But a large operation owes its beginnings to a small mistake.

In 1955, The Gazette published an ad from Sears Roebuck that contained a phone number for children to call Santa. One of the digits in the phone number was wrong, and instead of calling old Saint Nick, kids called the on-duty commander at the Continental Air Defense Command, later to be known

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as NORAD. Air Force Col. Harry Shoup played along with the kids’ phone calls, acting as Santa and planting the seeds for a yearly yuletide tradition.

“There’s nothing like kids being able to call in and ask simple questions like, ‘Where’s Santa?’ and ‘When’s he going to be at my house?” said former NORAD spokesman William Lewis.

On a typical Christmas Eve, hundreds of volunteers, both military and civilian, operate the phone lines and field upwards of 100,000 phone calls from kids across the globe. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the past two years have been anything but normal.

It takes more than a virus to deter Saint Nick from his mission, however.

The tracking operation moved forward with a reduced number of volunteers to allow for safe social distancing.

For callers who had trouble getting through, NORAD continually updat-

ed Santa’s location on its recorded message, so kids could still track his progress even if they didn’t get a live person on the line.

The tracking operation has come a long way since that errant Gazette ad more than 65 years ago. The website dedicated to following Santa’s big ride, noradsanta.org, is activated every Dec. 1 and gives live updates throughout Christmas Eve. Volunteers answer hundreds of emails each year from noradsantaofficial@gmail.com. There’s a Facebook page, as well as Twitter and Instagram accounts. Parents and kids can download a “NORAD Tracks Santa Claus” app to their computers and smartphones. OnStar and Amazon Alexa also provide updates.

And of course, there’s still the toll-free number — 1-877-HI-NORAD — for little girls and boys who want to hear about Santa’s progress the old-fashioned way.

150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE A TIMELINE OF COLORADO SPRINGS’ NEWSPAPER

From the days of Out West to The Gazette 1872: Gen. William Jackson Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs, created the newspaper Out West.

1873: Out West became the Weekly Gazette.

1878: The Weekly Gazette became the Daily Gazette.

1891: The Gazette moved from a two-story house on Tejon Street and Colorado Avenue to a new, four-story building at 15 E. Pikes Peak Ave. 1896-1906: The newspaper changed hands four times, beginning with Gen. Palmer’s sale to Cornelius Vanderbilt Barton, Henry Russell Wray and William McKay Barbour for $50,000 in gold.

The group sold the paper to Isaac Stevens in 1900. McNeill-Babbitt Group bought the paper in 1903 and sold it to Clarence Dodge three years later. Dodge also purchased an evening paper, the Colorado Springs Telegraph.

1923: The Gazette merged with the Evening Telegraph and moved across the street to the Telegraph’s offices at 18 E. Pikes Peak Ave. 1946: Publisher Raymond C. Hoiles and his family purchased the Gazette, as well as the Evening Telegraph.

1947: Publication of the Gazette was halted for three days due to a strike by the International Typographical Union. The paper reappeared as the Gazette Telegraph, which was distributed evenings and on Sundays. The union started a rival morning newspaper called the Colorado Springs Free Press (later called The Sun).

1977: The Gazette Telegraph began a morning edition to go with its afternoon edition.

1986: Through the Oklahoma Publishing Co., the Gazette Telegraph bought the Colorado Springs Sun for $30 million — then closed it.

1987: The Gazette Telegraph discontinued its

afternoon edition.

1990: Reporter Dave Curtin won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for his account of a family’s recovery from an explosion.

1997: The newspaper dropped the word “Telegraph” from its name, becoming The Gazette.

2003: Freedom Communications recapitalized by partnering with Blackstone Communications Partners and Providence Equity Partners.

2009: Freedom Communications filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

2012: Massachusetts-based 2100 Trust purchased The Gazette and six other newspapers.

2012: The Anschutz Corp.’s Clarity Media Group purchased The Gazette.

2013: The Gazette relocated to its current downtown location at 30 E. Pikes Peak Ave. 2014: Under Anschutz ownership, the Gazette won its second Pulitzer Prize for national reporting on combat veterans who were discharged “other than honorably.” The Gazette also was named best newspaper in the state in 2017 and 2020, and has garnered more than 400 other press awards in recent years.

2018: The Gazette launched a yearlong series on Colorado’s mental health crisis, which was one of the worst in the country. The series won national awards and pushed the governor’s office to launch a mental health task force to address the crisis. Legislators also passed more than a dozen bills in response to the series to improve mental health care and testing.

2020: Clarity Media launched The Denver Gazette, a fully interactive digital newspaper that combines the design of a daily newspaper with video, audio, and other rich media.

COMPILED BY O’DELL ISAAC, THE GAZETTE

COURTESY OF PIKES PEAK LIBRARY DISTRICT

A photo of the Gazette Telegraph building on East Pikes Peak Avenue.

In Your Community

Creating Real, Meaningful Change.

AARP Colorado congratulates The Gazette for 150 years of bringing vital information to the people, and we look forward to the next 150 years.

AARP in Colorado is creating real, meaningful change.

We’re proud to help all our communities become the best they can be. Like providing family caregivers with tips to take care of loved ones, helping to make our communities more livable and hosting fun, informative virtual events.

The former Gazette building at 30 S. Prospect St.

THE GAZETTE FILE

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, THE GAZETTE FILE

Reporter Linda Navarro celebrates 50 years at The Gazette on March 14, 2016. She started at the Gazette Telegraph in 1966.

56 years later, reporter still delivering answers

BY STEPHANIE EARLS

stephanie.earls@gazette.com

Linda Navarro was 22 years old and fresh out of college in March 1966, when she rolled into Colorado Springs for a job as a cub reporter covering city courts at the Gazette Telegraph.

Fifty-six years later, Navarro has dialed back to part-time and she’s got a different beat, but she’s still working for the 150-year-old daily where she got her start, where she says her love for the newsroom rhythm, and what local journalism represents in a community, is as strong as it was on Day One. Technology may have transformed the way news is delivered, but what it provides is timeless, she said.

“I think, no matter what, no matter when, it’s covering the facts and covering exactly who and what the community is and telling their story,” said Navarro, 78. “That’s never going to change.”

When Navarro first arrived from Missouri, Colorado Springs was a

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two-newspaper town, where staff from the GT and its rival, The Sun (which closed in 1986), competed for scoops during the day and spent their off hours swapping stories at the watering holes that remained open after deadlines were met.

“It was a really exciting time to be here and in journalism,” Navarro said in a 2016 Gazette profile celebrating her 50th anniversary at the paper.

In more than five decades at The Gazette, Navarro has reported news, features and entertainment, and served as a city editor at a time when the paper published both morning and evening editions.

“We had to have three city editors… each with specific tasks, and mine was to turn the morning paper over to the evening paper, and update everything,” she said.

Navarro has covered national tragedies that had local resonance, and local tragedies that made national headlines.

One memory that stands out was in

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early March 1991. A United Airlines commuter jet bound from Denver to Colorado Springs crashed in Widefield, en route to the airport.

“It basically dug itself into the ground with 25 people on board,” Navarro said. “When things like that happen the entire newsroom is there and the entire newsroom will go wherever needed, around the clock.”

As the paper’s staff was mobilizing and covering the crash, word came in about another local disaster. A care facility was on fire, and there were multiple casualties.

How the newsroom responded then, divvying up assignments to make sure no news was left untold, reminds Navarro of how the staff responded more than two decades later during the Waldo Canyon Fire, in 2012, she said.

During Waldo, “each person, each writer, had a specific area to follow completely and follow through, the whole time,” said Navarro, recalling long work days that — by choice — often bled into the next. “You didn’t

really need 12 hours off because you would go home and your eyes were wide open. Most of us found we were right back on site after a short rest or a little bit of something to eat. We wanted to be sure about our beats.”

Before the internet, Navarro was where readers and the community turned when they had questions about the city where they live. Navarro addressed such queries in her popular “Did you ever wonder” column, becoming a go-to repository for local info both for readers and her colleagues in the newsroom.

“It was totally fascinating. I was like an early Google, but only in person,” she said.

That time-honored role took on new meaning during the pandemic, as more people turned to her for answers, about which places were closed and which were opening up — and always, always a guaranteed response.

“I’ve always tried to be there for everyone. I find that answer for my community. That’s my job,” Navarro said.

150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

A few key military events The Gazette has covered

BY DAVID BITTON

david.bitton@gazette.com

From Pearl Harbor to Camp Carson, Peterson and U.S. Space Command The Gazette published news of Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor — and the more than 2,000 killed and 1,000 injured — on Dec. 7, 1941. It is a date that President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared “will live in infamy.”

The city’s newly formed Military Affairs Council purchased ranchland south of town and gave it to the War Department, who completed the headquarters building of then-Camp Carson on Jan. 31, 1942. The parcel has grown into the 135,000-acre Fort Carson, which is one of the nation’s key Army posts.

Also in response to America’s entry into World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Colorado Springs Army Air Base was established on April 28, 1942, at Colorado Springs Municipal Airport. First Lt. Edward Peterson crashed during an aircraft test flight on Aug. 8, 1942, and the base was renamed Peterson Army Air Base on Dec. 13, 1942. It has gone through other name changes over the years and since July 26, 2021, has been known as Peterson Space Force Base. In addition, Schriever Space Force Base and U.S. Space Command call Colorado Springs home.

the president signing the legislation as Secretary of the Air Force Harry Talbott looks over his shoulder at the White House.

The story says $126 million was authorized for the new school. Talbott was tasked with appointing a five-member commission to recommend a location. Hundreds of sites were considered before Colorado Springs was eventually selected. The first class of cadets was sworn in on July 11, 1955, and moved into the school’s permanent home on Aug. 29, 1958, graduating in 1959.

9/11

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill on April 1, 1954, authorizing the establishment of an Air Force Academy.

The Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph had a photo and story the following day. The photo showed

Since Sept. 11, 2001, when America was attacked at home by the militant group al-Qaida, The Gazette spent countless resources covering military personnel and operations during a nearly 20-year-long war that officially concluded in August when the U.S. pulled its last troops out of Kabul, Afghanistan. Numerous Air Force Academy graduates helped evacuate more than 120,000 people via aircraft.

More than 400 Fort Carson soldiers were killed in combat since 9/11 and Gazette journalists attended virtually every funeral possible at Fort Carson’s Memorial Chapel to show respect and remembrance for the fallen.

The paper also embedded with the 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment in 2003, attaching a reporter and photojournalist to the unit as it pushed north into Baghdad, Iraq. Another Gazette team met up with those same 3rd ACR soldiers in Kuwait on their way home a year later.

In 2008, the paper sent another team to embed with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, which was fighting terrorists throughout much of Iraq.

This front page from Dec. 8, 1941, covers the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II.

This front page shows President Dwight D. Eisenhower signing a bill April 1, 1954, authorizing the establishment of an Air Force Academy.

Air Force Academy

Sgt. 1st Class Keith Russell of Grim Troop, 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment smokes a cigar as he escapes the midday heat in a bunker April 15, 2003, at Camp Victory in Kuwait. The Fort Carson-based regiment had begun building combat power in preparation for a mission in Iraq. Displayed in the bunker is a photograph taken of the World Trade Center towers in New York City just before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. The photo was given to a soldier who worked at a photo lab in New Jersey by the photographer.

THE GAZETTE FILE

We believe no one should go hungry.

careandshare.org Sunday, March 27, 2022

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

PHOTOS BY CHANCEY BUSH, THE GAZETTE

Lezlee Gillaspie, 68, and her cat Stubby read The Gazette every day together at her home in Colorado Springs.

Gazette, longtime subscriber’s family share a history Lezlee Gillaspie, 68, has been a Gazette subscriber since 1974. She modeled clothes for photos that ran in the Lifestyle section and even posed with peaches for a feature.

BY STEPHANIE EARLS

stephanie.earls@gazette.com

Lezlee Gillaspie was born and raised in Colorado Springs, in a family with deep local roots and solid ties to the historical record.

Her grandparents were early settlers in the area, and her parents were the second owners of one of the first homes built in Colorado Springs, near Uintah and Interstate 25, Gillaspie said. She grew up in that home, living history and reading about it, cover-to-cover in the newspaper then known as the Gazette Telegraph.

“My father used to be a newspaper delivery boy back in the ’40s, and later Mom and Dad got the paper every morning so I was used to reading it,” said Gillaspie.

As soon as she was on her own, she followed suit. She couldn’t imagine starting her day, or being a grownup, without that familiar touchstone.

“When I moved into and bought my house, I started up with the paper.

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And I’ve just subscribed ever since,” she said. “I was probably 23 years old.”

That was 1974 and Gillaspie has been a subscriber since — almost one-third of the newspaper’s 150 years.

“It’s kind of hard to believe how long The Gazette has been around,” said Gillaspie, 68.

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Over the years, her relationship with the newspaper often went deeper than just as peruser.

When the paper used to include such features, she modeled clothes for photos that ran in the Lifestyle section and posed with peaches for a feature photographed at The Penrose House.

SHARE YOUR GAZETTE STORIES

Do you have fond memories of The Gazette? Did you have a paper route as a kid? Does your dog fetch The Gazette each morning?

Have you subscribed for more than 50 years? We’d love to hear your stories. Please send them to digital@gazette.com.

When she’s out of town, she reads online. But collecting the print edition from her stoop, turning the pages and taking her time reading every word written about her city and its people, is an essential part of her daily routine.

“I wake up in the morning, read the newspaper, drink my coffee, watch the news on TV, shower and go to work,” she said. “The price has been going up, but I can’t deal without a paper. I just go straight from the front page all the whole way through. I love my paper.”

150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE Saturday, auguSt 10, 2013

Serving colorado SpringS & the pikeS peak region Since 1872

75¢

flood swamps manitou At least one person dies; homes, businesses are flooded; vehicles swept off roads

It’s not just health care. It’s caring about health, every step of the way.

MiChAel CiAglo, The gAzeTTe

Carson Dennis stands in the middle of the destruction caused by a flash flood that poured down Canon Avenue in Manitou Springs on Friday.

CHANCE OF RAIN CHANCE OF RAIN

by DANIEL J. CHACóN AND JAkob roDgErs

V

The gazette —

iolent floodwaters swept through much of Manitou Springs on Friday evening, killing one person and injuring at least three, lifting homes from their foundations, damaging businesses, pushing vehicles off the highway

like toys.

The death was announced at 11:15 p.m. by the El Paso County Sheriff ’s Office, which said the man’s body was found buried in debris on the westbound lanes of U.S. 24. The man, who did not have identification on him, was not in a vehicle.

After the pounding rain stopped and the floodwaters gradually subsided, the streets of Manitou Springs

more inside sports

home+garden

Home trends revealed

Gray walls are one of the home designs you might notice at the Parade of Homes. >> D1

ABOVE: This Gazette front page from May 31, 1935, shows the fallout of flooding in Colorado Springs.

RIGHT: This Gazette front page from Aug. 10, 2013, shows the aftermath of flooding in Manitou Springs.

index

Historical view

The Broadmoor Skating Club will show a video detailing its rich history to give competitors a look at years of Daily glory. >> C1

were littered with boulders, trees, mud and other CHANCE OF debris.

SNOW CHANCE OF SNOW The rain came down in torrents over the Waldo Canyon burn scar OF RAIN about 6 p.m. as CHANCE families CLOUDY CLOUDY sat around CHANCE OF RAIN the dinner table and commuters were making their way home. The National Weather Service 1.3 CHANCE OFsaid SNOW COLD OF SNOW COLD CHANCE inches of rain fell in about a halfhour in Williams Canyon.

The deluge produced CLOUDYa rock slide FOG CLOUDY

FOG

COLD HOT

COLD HOT

deal of the day FOG

and a river of black muck on U.S. 24, forcing authorities to close the road between 31st Street in Colorado Springs and Cascade.

About 10 p.m. Friday, officials said one lane in each direction on U.S. 24 was reopened. The open traffic lanes, with reduced speed limits, are on the eastbound side of the high-

Vol. 142 /// No. 140 /// copyright © 2013

Take a look at the four flash floods out of the Waldo Canyon burn scar since the blaze last summer. Page 6

video online

—

see flooding • Page 6

To view a video of Friday’s destructive flooding in Ute Pass, scan this QR code with your mobile device or go to gazette.com

Momentum for tourism request spurred by community leaders

FOG MOSTLY CLOUDY MOSTLY CLOUDY

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Only $69 for an East Coast HOT seafood sampler. >> $140 HOT NEED LOGO NEED LOGO value at www.gazette.com/ deal or 1-877-216-4689.

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taking Pueblo to ‘next level’

PARTLY CLOUDY PARTLY CLOUDY a14 Weather

by Monica Mendoza

Monica.Mendoza@gazette.com

a3 nATIOn & WORLD B1 LOcAL & STATe B6 ObITuARIeS B8 buSIneSS c1 SPORTS D4 cOmIcS+PuzzLeS

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NEED LOGO 86 PM STORM —

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But even as Mayor Steve PM STORM SNOW Bach has been seen as the

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RAIN RAIN four major tourist attracSNOW AND RAIN SNOW AND RAIN SNOW STORMS

coming sunday

The City for Champions proposal could change the face of southwest downtown Colorado Springs. What do property owners in that area think of the plans to build a sports stadium and Olympic museum there?

College president; and Steve Bartolin, The Broadmoor hotel president and CEO. They had read about Pueb—

see tourism • page 12

SNOW STORMS

SNOW AND RAIN SNOW AND RAIN

SUNNY

SUNNY

STORMS

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tions, he wasn’t the one asking the question.

The proposal, called City for Champions, began with a small circle of influential civic, academic and business leaders including Bill Hybl, El Pomar Foundation chairman and CEO; Lt. Gen. Mike Gould, outgoing U.S. Air Force Academy superintendent; Pam Shockley-Zalabak, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs chancellor; Dick Celeste, former Colorado

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Biggest weather stories?

Gazette had ’em covered

BY HUGH JOHNSON

hugh.johnson@gazette.com

Weather has always been a relevant subject for those reading the paper.

The journalists at The Gazette, past and present, have done their due diligence to keep the Colorado Springs community informed of impending weather and to tell the stories of some of the wildest weather moments in the region’s history.

Here are a few of the more notable local weather events from the past 150 years: According to the National Weather Service in Pueblo, the coldest day on record in Colorado Springs was Dec. 9, 1919, when temperatures dipped to a frigid minus 27 degrees.

By contrast, the warmest days on record happened rather recently with temperatures reaching 101 degrees in the Springs on June 26, 2012, and June 21, 2016.

The warmest month on average was July 2003, which had an average temperature of 75.8 degrees, according to National Weather Service records.

The coldest month on average was February 1899, which registered a mean temperature of 16.8.

The 24-hour span with the most rainfall in Colorado Springs history came

Sept. 11-12, 2008, when 4.97 inches of precipitation fell. The single calendar day with the most rainfall was Sept. 14, 2011, which saw 4.5 inches of rain. The year 1999 saw the highest annual rainfall with 27.58 inches, whereas 1939 had the lowest annual rainfall with just 6.07 inches, according to weather service archives.

The snowiest day in Colorado Springs was March 11, 1909, when the city received 25.6 inches of snow. The earliest measurable first snow of the season came Sept. 3, 1961. The latest measurable first snow happened just last year — on Dec. 31. The earliest measurable final snow of the season was Feb. 12, 1946; the latest measurable final snow was June 10, 1975.

Here are some tidbits from historic weather events as covered by the Gazette:

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Blizzard of 1997

The first measurable snow that produced the most snowfall was Oct. 24, 1997, which saw 6 inches fall in the Springs. The next day an additional 13.9 inches of snow fell in what is now known as the blizzard of 1997.

The Gazette’s Bill McKeown

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summarized the mood around the city in the aftermath of the storm: “A savage blizzard, one of the worst in modern Colorado history, virtually shut down the eastern half of the state Saturday and threatens to disrupt normal life for days to come,” McKeown wrote on the 1997 blizzard that blanketed Colorado Springs in nearly 2 feet of snow.

Nineteen inches was the official total at the Colorado Springs Airport, where McKeown reported that an estimated 175 people were stranded. Palmer Park and Monument saw 48 inches, Black Forest and Briargate recorded 30 inches. The city employed 38 snowplows to clear hospital routes and major roads.

Arctic air brought wind chills as low as 25 degrees below zero.

2013 floods

“Violent floodwaters swept through much of Manitou Springs on Friday evening killing one person and injuring at least three, lifting homes from their foundations, damaging businesses, pushing vehicles off the highway like toys,” Gazette reporters Daniel J. Chacon and Jakob Rodgers wrote on Aug. 10, 2013.

The flooding was caused in part by the damage done to the area from the Waldo Canyon Fire a year prior.

“The rain came down in torrents of the Waldo Canyon burn scar about 6 p.m. as families sat around the dinner table and commuters were making their way home. The National Weather Service said 1.3 inches of rain fell in about a half-hour in Williams Canyon.”

The ensuing floods forced closures on U.S. 24.

THE GAZETTE FILE

Ben Schuler, 8, makes his way across the 5100 block of Luster Drive on Oct. 26, 1997, in north Colorado Springs. The neighborhood on the northeast side was hit hard by a blizzard. Snowdrifts were as high as 9 feet tall.

Worst hailstorms

An inch of ping-pong-ball-size hail fell in the Pikes Peak Region, blanketing downtown and causing some minor flooding around the Colorado Springs area. Though the storm only lasted an hour, it caused some 7,000 people to be without power for a short time, shattered windows and flooded several downtown locations, including Colorado College.

The storm hit elsewhere on the Front Range as tornadoes near Denver International Airport caused more than 60 flights to be diverted, mostly to Colorado Springs and Grand Junction.

Airlines also canceled 13 flights.

That wasn’t even the worst hailstorm however. That distinction belongs to SEE WEATHER • PAGE 19

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City crews remove a fallen ash tree from the top of a Subaru Outback parked along East Kiowa Street on Jan. 10, 2017, in Colorado Springs. The windstorm blew over trees, damaged vehicles and homes and knocked out power.

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July 28, 2016, which racked up an astounding $352.8 million in claims for damage to homes and vehicles, according to the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association. The Gazette’s Wayne Heilman also reported that at least 84,500 auto and homeowner insurance claims were filed in relation to the storm that dumped tennis-ballsize hail on the city.

100 mph winds, 2017 edition

About 6,000 customers were left without power as winds gusted to 101 miles per hour at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station and 99 miles per hour in Manitou Springs. The hurricane force winds toppled trees into homes, tore roofs from buildings and tipped over at least three dozen semitrucks, The Gazette’s Jakob Rodgers reported.

100 mph winds, 2021 edition

JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE

High winds toppled a semitruck along northbound Interstate 25 on Dec. 15 in Colorado Springs.

Of course, 6,000 is just a fraction of the outages seen Dec. 15, 2021, when more than 40,000 customers lost power, some for days on end. Downed trees lined the streets of the Old North End neighborhood near downtown Colorado Springs. Several semitrucks were blown over, some which spilled hazardous materials, according to The Gazette’s Esteban Candelaria and Hugh Johnson.

Although the Air Force Academy and Manitou Springs clocked wind speeds at or greater than 100 miles per hour, the official windspeed tally from the National Weather Service at the Colorado Springs Airport was 92 mph, the second highest in Colorado Springs history.

Bomb cyclone of 2019

JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE FILE

During a bomb cyclone blizzard, Greg Giannini tries to free his vehicle March 13, 2019, in north Colorado Springs.

The fastest winds recorded at the Colorado Springs Airport were 97 mph on March 13, 2019, during a weather event better known as the bomb cyclone.

“Snow driven by winds approaching 100 mph shut down schools, highways, air travel and businesses in the Pikes Peak region Wednesday and left more than 1,000 stranded in their cars awaiting rescue,” The Gazette’s Ellie Mulder and Tom Roeder wrote in the March 14, 2019, edition.

The Colorado Springs Airport canceled more than 40 flights as northern El Paso County got 6 to 10 inches of snow with nearly a foot in Woodland Park, all alongside hurricane-force winds.

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THE GAZETTE FILE

Dave Philipps, center, pops the cork during a Pulitzer Prize celebration in the Gazette newsroom April 14, 2014. Joanna Bean, left, edited the project, and Michael Ciaglo, right, took photos for the series.

This clip of a Gazette front page shows the newsroom celebration of Dave Curtin’s Pulitzer Prize in 1990.

Stories behind Gazette’s two Pulitzer Prizes

BY JESSICA SNOUWAERT

jessica.snouwaert@gazette.com

For journalists, some stories reveal themselves in an instant, and others develop over time. The Gazette has had its fair share of both. But only two staffers have won Pulitzer Prizes.

The Gazette’s front-page tagline “Pulitzer Prize-Winning Newspaper” focuses on these prizes because they are the pinnacle of journalistic excellence and require not only powerful storytellers but powerful stories.

Dave Curtin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for a special section, “Adam & Megan,” published in the Sunday paper. The story follows a 6-year-old boy and his 4-year-old sister through their recovery and reintegration into the community after they were severely burned and nearly killed in an explosion at their home.

The Gazette’s second Pulitzer came nearly 24 years later after Dave Philipps wrote “Other than Honorable,” a three-part series about the systematic disenfranchisement of soldiers with “invisible injuries” from military benefits because of their misconduct. The story zeroed in on the contributing factors of troop reductions, a clogged medical discharge system and a lack of understanding for soldiers’ unseen wounds.

The work for the first Pulitzer began when Curtin arrived at the Penrose Hospital Burn Unit on June 21, 1988, after news about the explosion blared over the police scanner. From there, he would spend the next six months following the Walter family and their journey.

“It also would not have won without the willingness of the family to completely open their lives up to me at the worst time of their lives,” he said.

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back to school, Curtin shadowed the children’s lives, keeping a journal as he observed them.

“I used that journal and turned it into the story,” Curtin said. “And we made a lot of decisions along the way about how to present the story.”

Part of that presentation included a depiction of the children’s new day-to-day life as well as some of their difficulties and victories. Curtin felt that his story not only helped raise awareness and reintegrate the children into public life, but it gave people in the community a sense of courage and strength.

“I’d like to mention that the courage of this family and these children, who are now thriving adults, has been an inspiration to me throughout my own life.”

Curtin said. “When things get tough, I think of them.”

After awarding Curtin the Pulitzer Prize in 1990, then Pulitzer Prize Administrator Bob Christopher noted that the story was reported and written sensitively and humanely.

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where it got a lot of its power.”

For Philipps, digging up and documenting the stories of disenfranchised soldiers and veterans didn’t happen overnight. He spent months meeting with veterans and soldiers and sifting through court documents and data to piece together a reality that thousands of soldiers and veterans faced.

“I was just a lowly features writer who didn’t have either the experience or the permission to do big investigative stories,” Philipps said. “But there came a point where there was this stuff that was happening in the city, that was, I felt, too important to ignore.”

Tracing the turmoil of soldiers who suffered invisible wounds during war, who were punished for misconduct, then lost their benefits, didn’t only make for great journalism, but made real change.

“I’m still friends on Facebook with the two other soldiers I featured and they’re doing really well,” Philipps said. “I mean, especially the guy who was in solitary confinement ... he got out, he got full medical benefits, he fixed up his marriage, and he got to raise his kids. And, none of that would have happened, he would have sat in a prison in Colorado for his whole life.”

While each of the Pulitzer Prizes marked a different era of journalism at The Gazette, they were celebrated the same way — with a bottle of champagne.

At the time, Philipps and Curtin expressed disbelief with the awards but agreed that the stories, nor their careers, were ever about prizes.

“The whole Pulitzer experience itself really showed me what a great team it was,” Curtin said, noting the collaboration at The Gazette that made the award possible, from Tom Kimmell’s photography to the reporters who covered his night reporting shifts.

“Everybody put their heart and soul into it.”

From One Masterpiece to Another.

C O N G R AT U L AT I O N S

to The Gazette on an Impressive 150 Years!

844-209-6878

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1 LAKE AVENUE • COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 80906

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Top political moments in Springs covered by Gazette President John F. Kennedy walks past a saluting cadet before delivering his speech to the graduating class June 5, 1963, in the stadium at Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

BY ERNEST LUNING

ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com

Some of the city’s most significant and far-reaching political moments — like the 1971 founding of the national Libertarian Party in a Colorado Springs living room — only loomed large as the years passed and completely escaped coverage in the local paper when they happened.

Other events — from the 1894 Cripple Creek miner’s strike to the 1970 Colorado Springs for POWs letter-writing campaign, and Focus on the Family’s 1991 move from California to Colorado Springs to the 2015 Planned Parenthood shooting — dominated headlines and cast long political shadows but were primarily different kinds of stories.

Here are 10 memorable Colorado Springs political moments that were covered by The Gazette.

Colorado Springs Republican John Love elected governor Political newcomer John A. Love, a Colorado Springs lawyer, put the midsized city on the statewide political map when he ousted the incumbent Democratic governor with 53% of the vote on Nov. 6, 1962, as part of a Republican wave that swept the GOP to power across Colorado.

A moderate Republican comfortable crossing the aisle — he ditched statehouse Republicans to John Love craft a budget with the Democrats one session — Love won reelection twice, in 1966 and 1970, though he cut his third term short in 1973 to take what turned out to be a brief appointment as the Nixon administration’s national energy czar.

Only the second Colorado governor elected to a four-year term — prior to 1958, voters chose the state’s top executive every two years — Love for a time held the record as Colorado’s longest-serving governor, though his 10 years over two-and-a-half terms were eclipsed by the 12 years served by his two Democratic successors, Dick Lamm and Roy Romer, in the years before voters imposed term limits.

JFK congratulates Air Force Academy graduates The charismatic, 46-year-old President John F. Kennedy made a dramatic entrance to speak at the Air Force Academy’s graduation at Falcon Stadium on June 5, 1963. He arrived in a helicopter that landed on the edge of the field and then waved to the crowd of 45,000

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from the back of a convertible on two rides around the field’s perimeter. The first president to speak at the academy’s graduation, JFK was made an honorary member of the graduating class.

In his 18-minute speech, Kennedy talked about America’s proud role maintaining “the freedom, the security and the peace” in countries threatened by communist expansion. “I think that this is a burden which we accept willingly, recognizing that if this country does not accept it, no people will,” he said.

Nixon throws down gauntlet at AFA graduation On June 4, 1969, six years after Kennedy spoke to academy graduates, President Richard Nixon delivered a confrontational commencement speech at the height of the Vietnam War, describing his critics as cowardly and dangerous.

“Patriotism is considered by some to be a backward fetish of the uneducated and the unsophisticated,” Nixon said, drawing cheers from the crowd and sneers from the pundits, who derided the speech as needlessly divisive.

“On a fighting front, you are asked to be ready to make unlimited sacrifice in a limited war,” Nixon said. “On the home front, you are under attack from those who question the need for a strong national defense, and indeed see a danger in the power of the defenders.,” he added, claiming the anti-war moment had created an “open season on the Armed Forces.”

‘Mayor Bob’ elected to first term As the city’s first popularly elected mayor since 1919, Robert Isaac, known affectionately as “Mayor Bob,” was elected on April 3, 1979 — after Colorado Springs discarded the council-manager form of government, which appointed mayors from city council — and over the

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next 18 years he held the office helped steer the city into its modern form.

The son of an immigrant watch repairman, Isaac grew up in Colorado Springs and returned after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and earning a law degree in California. Following stints with the city attorney and district attorney, he became presiding judge in municipal court and won a seat on city council before winning the mayor’s race by a wide margin.

The incisive and often gruff Isaac spearheaded the controversial annexation of the Broadmoor neighborhood and construction of the new Robert airport while pushing Isaac for the U.S. 24 bypass and the Homestake water project. Known for eschewing partisan ideology, the Republican drew fire from allies when he endorsed Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Hart’s 1980 re-election bid and later turned down appeals to run for governor in 1990.

“Greater than any single project that he enabled to materialize was his laserlike focus on what was best for the long-term interest of the community,” developer and Isaac contemporary Steve Schuck told The Gazette when Isaac died at age 80 in 2008.

Reagan touts ‘Star Wars’ initiative in campaign swing President Ronald Reagan said his Strategic Defense Initiative — derided at the time as “Star Wars” — would bring jobs to Colorado and yield technology that would improve life for all Americans.

Reagan’s declaration came during an Oct. 30, 1986, campaign stop in Colorado Springs, stumping for the district’s Republican congressman, Ken Kramer,

who was running for the U.S. Senate.

Reagan signed a bill before the rally designating 75 miles of northern Colorado’s Cache la Poudre River as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, making it the first river on Colorado’s Front Range with the protection.

In a speech at the World Arena, Reagan said Kramer was “central to our efforts to rebuild the nation’s defenses” and “tireless in his efforts to preserve the environment,” crediting Kramer with helping land the research center Reagan called “the brains of SDI” in the Pikes Peak region.

Amendment 2 passage draws ‘Hate State’ backlash On Nov. 3, 1992, Colorado voters passed an amendment to the state constitution that reverberated across the nation, even though it would never go into effect and was struck down.

Inspired by a municipal anti-discrimination ordinance that failed to be adopted, Amendment 2, championed by Colorado Springs car dealer Will Perkins and the organization the evangelical Christian led, Colorado For Family Values, barred any government in the state from prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Sold as a ban on “special rights” for LGBTQ Coloradans, the ballot initiative passed with 53% of the vote and immediately spurred a ferocious national backlash.

Opponents labeled Colorado the “Hate State” and groups organized boycotts against Perkins’s auto dealership, Colorado Springs and the state, starting with the U.S. Conference of Mayors canceling a scheduled convention and soon including cities across the country banning travel to Colorado by their employees. Locally, gay-rights groups formed high-profile advocacy groups, including Ground Zero, named as a reminder that the amendment had been spawned in Colorado Springs.

The amendment was struck down as unconstitutional by the Colorado Supreme Court two years later and then, in May 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, found the measure violated the 14th Amendment. “A state cannot so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority.

Douglas Bruce gets TABOR across finish line On the same night voters passed Amendment 2 on Nov. 3, 1992, they also approved another state constitutional SEE POLITICS • PAGE 23

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ballot measure that has had a more clear-cut and enduring legacy: Amendment 1, known as Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Passed with 54% of the vote, the complex amendment, authored by Colorado Springs anti-tax advocate Douglas Bruce, sets limits on government spending and requires voter approval for higher taxes. Bruce told The Gazette taxpayers wouldn’t feel any pain, but opponents — led by labor, education, law enforcement and tourism groups — warned that local services would wind up being cut.

“The politicians in Colorado will not be able to raise our tax rates without our permission, put us into debt without our permission or continue to engage in runaway spending,” said Bruce, a local real estate investor. Before TABOR passed, state voters had rejected tax limitation measures eight times over the previous three decades, including efforts led by Bruce in 1988 and 1990, but a local measure passed a year earlier in Colorado Springs suggested voters were ready to bite the bullet.

Described as “jubilant if not gracious,” Bruce taunted his foes on election night. “It’s the refusal of the voters of Colorado to be bullied by a bunch of hysterical lies by the opposition that insulted their intelligence and their desire to be free,” he said. Opponents, however, cautioned that voters “will learn the hard way that imposing spending formulas will not automatically create better government.”

Barack Obama rallies supporters at Colorado College More than 4,000 people packed onto the quad at Colorado College on Aug. 9, 2012, to hear President Barack Obama, with some expressing gratitude that the Democrat’s reelection campaign had brought him to deep red Colorado Springs. Introduced by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, a CC alumni, Obama turned up the heat on his GOP challenger, Mitt Romney, and congressional Republicans, whose approach to the economy he ridiculed.

“They tried to sell us this trickle-down, tax-cut fairy dust before,” Obama said.

“And guess what? It didn’t work.”

Obama stressed that veterans who protect the country deserve the country’s help when they return home, touting a proposed veterans jobs corps to help vets get hired as first responders in communities that need them.

“What’s standing in our way is the politics in Washington,” he said. “It’s

JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE FILE

THE GAZETTE FILE

President Barack Obama, left, greets supporters Aug. 9, 2012, at Colorado College in Colorado Springs.

President Donald Trump holds a rally Feb. 20, 2020, at The Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs.

a bunch of people who think ‘compromise’ is a dirty word.” After the rally, Obama met athletes at the U.S. Olympic Training Center and toured gyms at the facility with the U.S. Paralympics swimming team captain, Michael Prout.

Nearby, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal rallied a small crowd of Republicans, calling Obama the most liberal and least competent president in decades.

“Clearly, his policies have failed,” Jindal said. “Yet all he knows to do is to borrow more money from the Chinese, raise more taxes, spend more money.”

disabled the elevator between floors but didn’t know how to turn it back on. “(E)levator guys get there and say what the crap? Who turned this off?” Lacey wrote. “Turned it back on and voila.”

Firefighters rescue Donald Trump from stuck elevator In perhaps the first Colorado Springs political moment to go viral on social media, then-Republican nominee Donald Trump and a large entourage had to be rescued July 30, 2016, by the Colorado Springs Fire Department from an elevator stuck between the first and second floors at The Mining Exchange, a swank downtown hotel.

After the firefighters used the elevator’s top hatch to lower a ladder, Trump and nearly a dozen others climbed to safety, the department said. Later, at a rally at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Trump tore into the city’s fire marshal, complaining that the official had prevented supporters from attending by unfairly capping the venue’s capacity, though Fire Marshal Brett Lacey later told The Gazette that he had agreed to increase seating for the event by 10% above its normal capacity.

A little over a week later, reporters at Denver7 discovered that the fire department had been clear about the rally’s capacity days before Trump attacked the department. According to emails between the university, fire department and Trump campaign, Lacey also revealed details about what he called “the elevator fiasco” in an email to a friend.

It turned out that someone in Trump’s group had an elevator bypass key and

Trump rallies thousands A triumphant Trump returned to Colorado Springs on Feb. 20, 2020, to rally support for his re-election bid with a nearly 100-minute speech that brought the capacity crowd of 10,000 cheering

supporters at The Broadmoor World Arena to its feet again and again.

“We are going to defeat the radical Democrats, and we are going to win Colorado in a landslide!” said Trump.

Then, calling Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner a “rock solid” ally, Trump embraced the lawmaker and delivered an endorsement that would appear in numerous Democratic ads through the election: “And you’re going to help us get Cory Gardner across that line because he’s been with us 100%. There was no waver. He’s been with us. There was no waver with Cory.”

Noting that Gov. Jared Polis had met with him to lobby for making Colorado Springs the permanent home of U.S. Space Command shortly after he landed in Air Force One, Trump teased his ultimate decision, saying he would make the announcement before the end of the year. “You’re being very strongly considered for the Space Command,” he said.

Trump also paid tribute to Donald Stratton, one of the last surviving crew members of the USS Arizona, who died at 97 in Colorado Springs five days before the rally he had planned to attend.

“We just want to pay our respects,” Trump said. “He was going to be here.”

Congratulations to the Gazette on its 150th year serving our City. firstprescos.org Sunday, March 27, 2022

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

How sports coverage has changed, remained steady

BY BRENT BRIGGEMAN

brent.briggeman@gazette.com

Coverage of the first Pikes Peak International Hill Climb earned top billing in the hometown newspaper on Aug. 10, 1916.

The first-of-its-kind race earned placement on the front page above stories about the 150 killed in the Johnstown floods in Pennsylvania, the clamoring for a vote on prohibition and the rising tide in favor of women’s suffrage.

And when it came to covering the race, The Gazette leaned on eight reporters working in coordination on the mountain, secured the only private phone line at the summit and wasn’t afraid to tout its efforts.

“Whatever the event, The Gazette always is the first to give the returns,” an item in the Aug. 12, 1916, publication proclaimed, noting that the telephone line allowed The Gazette to flash results into its office “as soon as cars crossed the line, beating all other returns from 15 minutes to an hour.”

“But this was nothing new – just Gazette service.”

As The Gazette celebrates its 150th anniversary, it’s important to note the impact of sports, and the newspaper’s reporting of them, at a few seminal events in the region’s history.

There was no mention of sports in the first edition, published March 23, 1872, under the title Out West.

The first Hill Climb provided a stunning look at the reach and recourses available more than a century ago.

Multiple stories concerning the “Motor Race up Pikes Peak,” sprinkled the paper each of the three days of the event as well as in advance of it. There were photos of winning cars and the mountain race scene, daily results and an in-depth editorial from writer J.E. Moorhead, who took a ride up the road in one of the competing cars.

The Hill Climb coverage was found in the news section of the paper, not in what is now the sports section. The stories were contained to one page under the banner “News in Sportdom,” “The Days Happening In Sports Circles,” and other monikers. In addition, readers were treated to national stories on boxing, golf, baseball — including box scores that included players like Ty Cobb — commentaries from Grantland Rice, and dog racing results and lineups.

It was comprehensive coverage for a paper that could be purchased for the SEE SPORTS • PAGE 25

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Onlookers watch a car cross the finish line at the first Pikes Peak Hill Climb on Sept. 4, 1916. Written on the bottom of the print: “Finish of the First Pikes Peak National Hill Climb, Labor Day 1916. Romano Special — Winner. Lentz — Denver.” The photographer is unknown.

Gazette coverage of the first Pikes Peak Hill Climb from three days: Aug. 10, 1916; Aug. 11, 1916; and Aug. 12, 1916.

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SPORTS FROM PAGE 24

monthly rate of 60 cents, or annually for $7.

It appears the first mention of the Olympics in the paper that serves a community that now calls itself “Olympic City USA” came in the April 8, 1896, publication.

“This was the second day of the Olympic games and the interest of their revival showed no sign of diminuition,” said a dispatch from Athens dated April 7. “On the contrary there was more enthusiasm displayed than was shown yesterday and the crowd that witnessed the various events was enormous. The stadium was crowded to its utmost capacity and the surrounding hills were again packed with masses of humanity desirous of seeing the tests of athletic skill and endurance.”

Coverage in that first article, which appeared downpage on the paper’s cover, included recaps of the 110-meter hurdles, long jump, 400 meters, “putting the weight” (now known as shot put) and one-hand weightlifting contest.

CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, THE GAZETTE

The “Epicenter” sculpture stands at the entrance to Weidner Field.

Near the Olympics story were reports on William McKinley’s presidential bid. The classified ads included a young man “seeking position as a coachman.”

When Air Force’s Falcon Stadium opened Sept. 22, 1962, the Gazette

Telegraph, as it was then known, dedicated much of the front page to photos and coverage of the game — and the traffic jam it caused — as Air Force football blanked Colorado State 34-0.

There were two more Air Force football stories in the four-page Sunday

sports section that day. The rest of the section consisted of more than 20 college football game stories — including Joe Namath leading Alabama past Georgia — as well as articles on boxer Sonny Liston, Jack Nicklaus taking the lead in a PGA event, and full baseball boxes and standings.

The publication printed on the day of the game included a map of Falcon Stadium as the main image on A1, listing the roads to take and a diagram of the parking lots to help readers.

The headline below it read, “Falcon Stadium Opener to Draw 40,000 Fans.”

For all the ways the coverage contrasts with the multimedia reports of modern events such as the May 2021 opening of the downtown Weidner Field for the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, with its photo galleries and videos, much more has remained the same. The preferred placement in the paper to place important sports events in their context, the number of stories and inch count, the commentary and the overall breadth of perspective has largely remained steady for major local events.

As was written 106 years ago, “this was nothing new — just Gazette service.”

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

PHOTOS BY CHANCEY BUSH, THE GAZETTE FILE

Health workers check people for the coronavirus at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site outside UCHealth in Colorado Springs.

Coverage of two pandemics — over 100 years apart Nursing assistant Amie Morehead demonstrates on Army 2nd Lt. Adam Heard how samples are taken for early COVID-19 testing March 18, 2020, at Fort Carson.

BY CHHUN SUN

chhun.sun@gazette.com

When the world started to shut down because of the coronavirus, many compared it to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

It was different back then.

Back then, news didn’t travel as fast.

Many people relied on newspapers to get their information — and some had to wait a long time to know the latest on the pandemic.

Take, for example, the Dec. 5, 1918, issue of The Gazette: “Unless a person having la grippe or influenza is properly isolated and quarantined in his home or the place where he resides, the entire home or building shall be quarantined and no person, sick or well, except the proper physician, nurse or attendant shall go in or out of such home or building during such quarantine.”

When the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020, it changed lives, including those at The Gazette. Reporters, editors and almost everyone associated with the daily newspaper in Colorado Springs began working remotely, unsure of how long the pandemic would last.

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Nonetheless, they got to work.

The Gazette started a live blog with all coronavirus-related news from across the state, including links to daily numbers of cases and deaths and lists of business closed. Canceled or postponed events were reported, along with a list of testing sites. And when vaccines started rolling out, the newspaper provided upto-date information about where, when and who could get shots in the arm.

The blog even listed restaurant takeout information. Remember those days?

Sunday, March 27, 2022

Despite the challenges and risks, reporters were on scene when news broke. After all, they were considered essential workers.

“The interesting thing about the pandemic was that we were all suffering some of the same hardships, but apart from one another. The isolating nature of it all was damaging in a lot of ways,” Gazette reporter Jessica Snouwaert said. “For me, as a journalist entering my first full-time position while the pandemic was raging was difficult be-

cause I was not only navigating a new job, but I was doing so without much of the usual support systems that may have been in place pre-pandemic.”

The coverage was a reflection of the times. Take, for example, the introduction by The Gazette with its daily live updates: “This article is updated multiple times a day with coronavirus news from Colorado Springs, the Pikes Peak region and elsewhere in Colorado — and along with other COVID-19-related stories is free as a public service to non-subscribers of The Gazette.

Click here to sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter. If you’re not already a full Gazette subscriber, click here for options.”

Readers no longer had to wait an entire day to read the latest news.

They could see The Gazette’s coverage of a global pandemic through their handheld devices.

At the same time, it was a balance to supply readers with up-to-date information and a print edition that reflected the previous day’s coverage of the pandemic.

To this day, The Gazette features a link on its website to its latest coronavirus news.

150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

Cartoon

conversation

BY LINDA NAVARRO

linda.navarro@gazette.com

The Chuck Asay name and art were the voice and face of The Gazette’s political cartoons for more than 20 years.

He had a track record drawing newspaper cartoons when he approached the Gazette Telegraph in 1986. It wasn’t an easy sell at all and he recalls “long conversations.” Asay’s was the conservative line, the newspaper’s Libertarian.

Somehow it came together in April 1986.

Company founder R.C. Hoiles “always allowed me to use my own views and never told me what to think,” said Asay. He shared Hoiles’ advocacy for freedom and limited government.

Asay drew daily cartoons for the paper and had long SEE CARTOONS • PAGE 28

Chuck Asay does “American Gothic” take on Bill Clinton and Tipper Gore

Congratulations on 150 years,

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

Chuck Asay on the 1992 Colorado boycott after the Amendment 2 vote prevented anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBTQ people

CARTOONS FROM PAGE 27

back-and-forth discussions about them with the editors of the Opinion page.

Some cartoons never saw print because “the paper thought about their readership,” said Asay. However, all of those cartoons moved worldwide on Creators Syndicate.

Readers always had strong love or hate relationships with Asay and his cartoons and made their views known.

Several times there were demonstra-

tions and protests outside the Gazette building against Asay’s stands. In one case, Publisher E. Roy Smith told him to stay home that day rather than try to walk through a crowd to get in the front door.

He had strong conservative opinions about controversial issues including the incendiary 1992 Amendment 2 preventing cities’ LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws, which also spurred a Colorado boycott. He opposed the Americans for Disabilities Act because he felt “employers lost the right to hire who they want,” illustrated with a controversial Texas Chainsaw Massacre theme. ADA representatives and Asay

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THE GAZETTE

met to talk about it.

A “what kills Blacks” cartoon involving abortion was turned down by the newspaper, but a syndicated version ran overseas.

One personal-favorite art was an American Gothic-turned-horror-scene with Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al and Tipper Gore.

All of his Gazette cartoons are in Special Collections at Penrose Library, where with Chuck’s help it lightheartedly describes the collection as “inflicting his religious, right-wing, wacko views on people. He believes we live in a free country where everyone is entitled to his (Chuck’s) opinion.”

Retiring from The Gazette in 2007, Asay describes those as “more than 20 interesting years. There was not a day I didn’t want to go to work.” Even when readers and residents breathed flames about his conservative views.

Being disliked didn’t bother him but “it bothers me that it hurt my mother.”

But she understood, because his family had always talked about and debated issues — tough subjects like the differences between a democracy and a constitutional republic.

For Asay and his cartoons, “it’s about planting seeds. You want seeds to grow and then you harvest. You are making people think.”

An antiabortion political cartoon

Chuck Asay’s retirement farewell

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Chuck Asay’s take after the Americans With Disabilities Act prohibited discrimination in hiring

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

Giving readers a front-row view of history

Mark Reis at the men’s halfpipe competition while on assignment for The Gazette at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

BY LINDA NAVARRO

linda.navarro@gazette.com

The 150-year story of Colorado Springs and of its newspaper, The Gazette, is documented through the award-winning work of the newspaper’s photographers.

Longtime photographer Stan Payne, who in earlier years used a large 4x5 Speed Graphic camera before a smaller Leica, was a Gazette Telegraph photographer and then head photographer from 1947 to 1976. His hundreds of photos are in the digital Special Collections at

Pikes Peak Library District.

Payne’s photo memory book is filled with presidents, generals, politicians, astronauts, movie stars, sports figures such as Billy Martin chatting with Mickey Mantle at a downtown hotel, Broadmoor golf champs including Jack Nicklaus, Olympic figure skaters, tragic and history-making news events and special local parades.

Mark Reis, Gazette photographer and director of photography from SEE PHOTOS • PAGE 30

THE GAZETTE FILE

As I begin my 50th year

in the Colorado Springs Residential Real Estate arena, I congratulate The Gazette on the beginning of its 150th.

Quite a milestone for us both.

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

THE GAZETTE FILE

A wheelchair sits empty as firefighters battle an early-morning fire that killed nine residents of the Crystal Springs Nursing Home on March 3, 1991, in Colorado Springs. Another resident died later. Mark Reis took this photograph.

PHOTOS FROM PAGE 29

1986 to 2017, said the newspaper has always been supportive of its photographers, thus attracting “some of the best photojournalists in the country.

And the photographers have always been supplied the equipment they need.”

March 1991 was a time forever etched in Reis’ memory. United Flight

THE GAZETTE FILE

John Elway celebrates the Broncos’ 31-24 Super Bowl win over the Packers on Jan. 25, 1998, in San Diego.

Mark Reis captured the moment.

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585 out of Denver crashed in a park in Widefield, killing all 20 passengers and five crew members. During that same 24-hour period Reis had a dreaded call from the editor to rush to a nighttime fire at Crystal Springs Estate, an “intermediate care” home, on South Hancock Avenue. Nine elderly residents died, another one later. ”Big events come in three, and the whole newsroom was on edge,” Reis remembers.

Reis also covered 10 Olympics, he said, as “The Gazette became the (now Olympic City USA) hometown newspaper and sent staffers around the world.”

His personal focus were the athletes who trained in Colorado Springs and at the Olympic Training Center. “It was wonderful to be there for Michael Phelps to get another gold medal but I most cherish those photos about local athletes.”

A Rulon Gardner memory “is right up there.” The popular heavyweight wrestler had trained here. Reis was shooting legendary Russian Olympian Alexandr Karelin, “never expecting to see Rulon beat him.” Reis was there several years later for Rulon’s final medal match when he left his retirement shoes in the center of the mat, as is tradition. He also followed local gold medal wrestlers Henry Cejudo and Kyle Snyder.

Reis covered six Super Bowls and his photos were on shirts from those games.

SEE PHOTOS • PAGE 31

Sunday, March 27, 2022

THE GAZETTE FILE

Some of photographer Mark Reis’ favorite Olympic memories on assignment for The Gazette involve wrestlers who train in Colorado Springs, he said. He was in Sydney in 2000 for Rulon Gardner’s gold medal win over Russia’s Alexandr Karelin. Reis was with Gardner again in Athens in 2004, he said, when Gardner won the bronze medal and retired from the sport. “By tradition, retiring wrestlers leave their shoes in the center of the mat following their final match. I was able to mount a remote camera in the catwalk above the mat prior to the competition for this photo,” Reis said.

150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

PHOTO BY STAN PAYNE, COURTESY OF PIKES PEAK LIBRARY DISTRICT

Square dancers show their skills in front of Kaufman’s Department Store in downtown Colorado Springs. A Gazette article on Aug. 7, 1953, said: “Square dancers perform: As part of Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo week activities the Pikes Peak Promenaders, square dance set, have been entertaining during the noon hour. Bill Grover is the caller for the set and members are Myron Gates, Jennie Lou Cleaver, Len Suthers, Doris Batchelder, Dave Collier, Jeanette Jackson, Ray Robinson, and Florence Wolford.”

COURTESY OF PIKES PEAK LIBRARY DISTRICT

Longtime Gazette photographer Stan Payne, 1947-1976

PHOTOS FROM PAGE 30

For Reis, like the other Gazette photojournalists, the major wildfires — Hayman, Waldo Canyon and Black Forest — are never forgotten.

There are a photographer’s “vivid memories of news involving death. But as a news photographer it is our job to capture what is there,” Reis said.

He’ll never forget a car accident in eastern El Paso County. Two teens thrown out. Dead. His picture of blanket-covered bodies. On top, a pair of a teen’s tennis shoes. Some people

objected to the photo, but Reis knew there had been breakfast conversations with parents talking to teens about not being invincible, about not speeding, about not drinking and driving.

Readers were upset when his state basketball photo showed a local player crying over loss while others were celebrating in the background.

Weakness? Why did he do that to that kid, people wondered. A year later he learned that a local high school player had taped the photo in his locker, “a genuine moment of pain” to use as inspiration.

That’s what defines photojournalism over all these years, shooting what is there, Reis said.

150 Years of

Business Advocacy

cscedc.com Sunday, March 27, 2022

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

More than just a newspaper

BY WAYNE HEILMAN

wayneh@gazette.com

The Gazette has become more than just a print newspaper delivered to residents of the Pikes Peak region.

The company — under the umbrella of Colorado-based Clarity Media Group — now includes The Denver Gazette, Colorado Politics, OutThereColorado, two weekly newspapers and is widely known for Best of the Springs, Empty Stocking Fund, annual events and other projects.

“Our model of newspapering is really based on a mission, and that mission is building community, making the communities we publish in —such as Colorado Springs and Denver and Woodland Park and Monument — better places to live. We do that by shining a light on both problems and successes in the communities we serve, and by celebrating the people who live there by telling their stories,” said Chris Reen, president and publisher of The Gazette and CEO of Clarity Media, the Anschutz Corp. subsidiary that owns The Gazette and its affiliated publications.

WINTER GUIDE 2021/ 2022

OutThereColorado

Started as a weekly edition of the Lifestyle section in The Gazette in 2010, OutThereColorado became a separate company in 2015 focused on outdoor recreation in Colorado. OutThereColorado tries to inspire, inform, and guide readers as they seek meaningful experiences beyond the screen with a mission to inspire the world to explore the incredible places in their own backyards, according to the website.

“We always include safety messaging and best practices, such as leave no trace and how to avoid getting lost on a trail,” said Spencer McKee, OutThereColorado’s director of content and operations. “We try to tell readers how much water to bring on a hike, how difficult the trail is, what equipment they will need, the rules that apply, what preparation they need to make and the skills they will need.”

The site also includes news of statewide interest from the Colorado Springs Gazette and The Denver Gazette about local growth, new restaurants and retailers, podcasts, a newsletter, and an online store for clothing and accessories. McKee said the site, which attracts about 40 million user sessions a year and was SEE MORE • PAGE 33

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UNWIND. F I N D R E S T, R E L A X A T I O N A N D R E N E W A L T H I S W I N T E R

The OutThereColorado Winter Guide 2021/2022 cover

PAGE 5

150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE Firefox

https://daily.denvergazette.com/the-denver-gazette/2

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FEBRUARY 18, 2022

EIGHT’S A CROWD

Field of Bennet’s GOP challengers moves toward Senate primary ballot

Gino Campana

State Rep. Ron Hanks

Joe O’Dea

Eli Bremer

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet

Deborah Flora

Peter Yu

Gregory Moore

Daniel Hendricks

BY ERNEST LUNING

once-a-decade redistricting as political rhythms begin to resume two years into the pandemic — the eight Republicans and one Democrat hoping to deny the incumbent a third full, six-year term have been raising and spending campaign cash, amassing endorsements and squaring off in a series of candidate forums for long enough to take stock of the contest’s contours.

Within weeks, the two major parties

will be in the thick of nominating their candidates to the June 28 primary ballot.

With precinct caucuses scheduled for the first week of March — the dates vary by county — and a March 15 deadline to turn in petition signatures, Republicans will soon have a clearer idea who will be taking on Bennet.

ernest.luning@coloradopolitics.com

T

he outlines of the 2022 race for the Colorado Senate seat held by Democrat Michael Bennet are taking shape as the official start of the nominating process rapidly approaches.

While the crowded field of Bennet challengers took longer than usual to assemble — driven by uncertainty over

SEE EIGHT • PAGE 16

RACE BEGINS Polis officially launches reelection campaign with statewide tour. Page 2

‘THE CREEK’ Cherry Creek School District at center of federal investigations. Page 9

A recent front page from The Denver Gazette

A recent issue of Colorado Politics

MORE FROM PAGE 32

voted best blog by the Outdoor Media Summit, plans to use its two writers to expand into feature coverage later this year.

Pikes Peak Newspapers

The Gazette expanded into weekly newspapers in 2015 by acquiring the Cheyenne Edition and Woodmen Edition and adding the Ute Pass Courier and Tri-Lakes Tribune a year later.

All four weekly publications were consolidated under the Pikes Peak Newspapers group and the Ute Pass Courier was renamed the Pikes Peak Courier, which covers Cripple Creek, Florissant, Green Mountain Falls, Vic-

tor, Woodland Park and Teller County.

And the Tri-Lakes Tribune’s name was shorted to The Tribune, which covers Black Florest, Gleneagle, Monument, Palmer Lake and Woodmoor.

“We are focused on hyper-local, community-level coverage,” said Michelle Karas, editor of Pikes Peak Newspapers and one of two full-time staff members of the weekly publications.

1 of 1 Publication of the Cheyenne and North Springs Edition (formerly the Woodmen Edition) ended Dec. 31.

Colorado Politics

The Gazette launched ColoradoPolitics.com in 2016 to cover the Colorado General Assembly, state government and political news statewide, then acquired the weekly Colorado Statesman newspaper a year later, folding it into ColoradoPolitics.

The staff of nine, which includes a

publisher, four reporters, two editors, and a reporter who also serves as an editor and an opinion editor, covers state politics, public policy, Colorado’s congressional delegation, state and federal courts and some local politics. The stories appear in the weekly Colorado Politics newspaper, the daily Colorado Springs Gazette, and the daily Denver Gazette, as well as websites for all three publications.

The Denver Gazette

The Denver Gazette published its initial edition Sept. 14, 2020, as a daily alternative to other publications in the Denver area, featuring city hall and legislative news, suburban and statewide reporting, business, national and international cover, outdoor trends, entertainment and local editorials.

The newspaper is a digital-only publication that resembles a printed

newspaper in a tabloid format with a front page, sections and news pages readers can move through with their devices. The publication also includes interactive features, including photo galleries, videos and an audio version of any story.

The publication’s 17-person staff includes six reporters, three editors, four page designers, a multimedia journal- 3/11/2022, ist, a photographer, and a three-person investigative reporting team that is shared with the Colorado Springs Gazette. The Denver Gazette focuses much of its coverage on Denver and Aurora but is increasing its coverage of Denver’s southern suburbs, including Castle Rock, Centennial, Parker and Jefferson County, said Jim Bates, managing editor of the paper.

SEE MORE • PAGE 34

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150 YEARS OF THE GAZETTE

MORE FROM PAGE 33

Gazette Charities Foundation

The foundation was formed in 2019 from what had been Gazette Charities to operate the Empty Stocking Fund and the Best and Brightest scholarship program in the Colorado Springs area.

An affiliate of the Denver-based Anschutz Foundation, along with the Foundation for a Better Life and the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, the Gazette Charities Foundation manages all grant-making in El Paso and Teller counties for the Anschutz Foundation. The Gazette Charities Foundation board is chaired by Chris Reen, president and publisher of The Gazette and CEO of Clarity Media, and focuses on health and human services, arts and culture, and education.

The Empty Stocking Fund was started 38 years ago with a story in The Gazette about helping to fill Christmas stockings with toys and other

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gifts to give away, raising $40,000 in the first year. The effort continued with fundraising to benefit five social service agencies, which has grown to 20 as contributions increased. Last year’s campaign raised $1.73 million, the fourth consecutive annual record total. Expenses and overhead costs are paid for partner agencies and contributions are matched by the El Pomar Foundation — $1 for every $3 donated up to $200,000 — and Bruni Foundation — $1 for every $10 donated up to $70,000.

The Best and Brightest program gives $500 scholarships annually to 20 Colorado Springs-area high school seniors, selected by a committee, from candidates who submit an application, letter of recommendation, academic transcript and complete an essay answering three questions about their community service efforts, a defining moment or lesson in adversity, and their vision for the future. The program, now in its 31st year, includes profiles on each winner, published in the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Gazette Charities Foundation also

Sunday, March 27, 2022

is part of the Colorado Mental Health Consortium, which has helped advocate for and even author mental and behavioral health legislation, including parts of a package of 19 bills signed into law last year by Gov. Jared Polis.

Annual events

The Gazette hosts three large events to celebrate its Best of the Springs edition that honors businesses and organizations readers have selected as the area’s best; the Senior Life Expo; and the Best Workplaces program.

Best of the Springs started in 1994 and honors top businesses and organizations in more than 300 categories across six major areas — arts and entertainment, city life and recreation, family and health, food and drink, services and professionals and shopping. Last year, more than 57,000 people cast more than 400,000 votes to determine category winners. A virtual celebration will honors this year’s winners April 21.

The Senior Life Expo started in 2015 as the Successful Aging Expo and changed its name to the current

identity after two years. The expo was a drive-thru event in 2021 and virtual in 2020. The last in-person event attracted more than 1,500 people to visit 72 exhibits and attend 48 seminars on everything from Social Security to long-term care insurance. A date and location for this year’s event are in the planning stages.

The Best Workplaces program began in 2017 to honor top local employers, recognizing hundreds of organizations in the past five years. Last year, the program honored 108 companies, nonprofits or other groups from the 269 nominated. The selections are based on employee surveys on organizational health, engagement and leadership.

This year’s winners will be honored Dec. 1 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Colorado Springs.

Jim Broyles, The Gazette’s vice president of sales, said the events “are a way for us to build our brand and connect to the community in nontraditional ways. Many attendees of our events are not readers of our print and digital products; events allow us to connect to a new audience.”

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