An inmate at the U.S. Administrative Maximum Prison (ADX) in Florence, Colorado, pleaded guilty to first degree murder and murder by a life prisoner of a fellow ADX inmate.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer of the District of Colorado and Special Agent in Charge Calvin A. Shivers of the FBI’s Denver Division made the announcement.

Flu activity on the rise; CDC urges ongoing vaccination

As of early November, only about 2 out of 5 people in the United States reported having gotten this season’s flu vaccine, yet flu vaccine offered substantial benefit last season by preventing an estimated 5 million flu illnesses and 71,000 flu hospitalizations. CDC is releasing this information during the 11th National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW), an event to encourage ongoing flu vaccination into the holidays and beyond.

Whether you’re traveling on foot, on skis or by snowmobile into the mountains in Colorado during the winter, you need to know about avalanche danger.

To help backcountry travelers, Ridgway State Park is sponsoring an avalanche workshop, 10:00 a.m., December 17 at the visitors’ center. The workshop will be led by Jeff Davis from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

By Chris Sorensen

After last week’s sub-freezing temperatures, a relatively warm stretch will kick of the coming week.

Mostly sunny skies will prevail Sunday and Monday, as temperatures reach the mid- to upper 40s. Overnight lows will be in the mid-teens.

Tuesday marks the start of another cooling period as the temperatures drop to the upper 30s during the day and low teens at night.

Below-freezing conditions continue Wednesday, with a high only in the mid-20s, and an overnight low in the single digits.

Birthdays

December 12

Esther McCoin

Mollie Kelley

Derik Ingram

Hadlee Ann Dunlap

Mary Eikner

Kenzie Wyatt

December 13

Cheri Hopkins

Sandra Stum

Shelly Koets

Jack Barnes

Jessica Sierra

Harvey Shade

December 14

Ron Phillips

Peyton Eder

Treya Tate

Haili Igou

December 15

Brandy Blanton

Slim Randles

There is a nighttime sweetness and hope that hovers over us this time of year here at home. This is a time for summing up and looking ahead … and a time for dreams.

And at night… ah, that’s the time, isn’t it? Outside it’s dark, December dark, and we’re inside and warm and cocooned up. The cold makes our world shrink, especially at night.

But we have our dreams.

By Pastor Rich Z

CHRISTMAS

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit...” Matthew 1:18

One of our most popular features from the past 15 years - a full-page color photo on the front of the Kiowa County Press showing various impressions of life in Kiowa County. While a limited number of copies continue to be printed and distributed each week at Kiowa Healthmart, COOP C-Store in Eads, Haswell Propane, and Thunderbird Petroleum, we wanted to bring this feature to our online readers as well.

Shown below - the front page of the December 9, 2016, Kiowa County Press - trails in the sky. Photo by Jeanne Sorensen.

The U.S. Senate approved the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), legislation that included language authored by Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) to expedite payments to entities that assumed response costs associated with the Gold King Mine spill and direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to work with affected states, Indian tribes, and local governments on a long-term water quality monitoring program of the rivers contaminated by the spill.