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Alpine Fax
Billie | 2 February 2006
Thursday, February 02, 2006
X GAMES: FINAL NUMBERS IN
The Winter X Games attracted a five-day attendance of 69,650, falling just 100 short of last year’s 69,750. On Saturday, The Winter X Games set a single-day attendance record of 28,250 visitors, while Sunday’s attendance was about 2,000 fewer than the same day in 2005.
-Aspen Daily News, 02.02.06
BOMB SCARE CLOSES C’DALE
About 2 ½ blocks of downtown Carbondale were closed down from about 3 to 8 p.m., and several downtown buildings were evacuated after a suspicious pipe, thought to be a bomb, was discovered at the Qwest facility at Fourth and Main streets. The Grand Junction Fire Department’s bomb squad was called, arrived at 6 p.m., and dispatched the pipe via robot, and streets were opened at 8 p.m.
-GS Post-Independent, 02.02.06
UNITED: OUT FROM UNDER
United Airlines emerged from its three-year bankruptcy Wednesday, a move hailed by economic leaders and business leaders in Denver. United has 5,311 employees in Colorado, but that’s down from 7,700 in 2002.
-Denver Post, 02.02.06
THE MINT AT 100
There were horses and wagons in the streets of Denver when the U.S. Mint opened in 1906. Wednesday, the Mint turned 100 years old. In 1906, 167 million gold and silver coins were minted; today, 30 million coins are produced a day; and, this year the Mint will produce the commemorative Colorado quarter.
-Denver Post, 02.02.06
$15M IN JOB GRANTS
The Denver area will get $15 million in federal economic-development money to help create high-paying jobs. The grant is part of the Dept. of Labor’s WIRED –Worldforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development – initiative.
-Rocky Mountain News, 02.02.06
BREAKING NEWS…
Punxsutawney Phil rolled out from his burrow at 7:23 a.m. EST and saw his shadow, a sign that there will be six more weeks of winter. The assembled crowd booed and his handlers draped a Pittsburgh Steeler Terrible Towel over him as he emerged.
-Associated Press, 02.02.06
NAVAJO NATION OK’S DEAL
The Navajo Nation Wednesday approved the Large Water Master Agreement, a 40-year plan that guarantees at least $3 million in annual water sales to the tribe for the development of the $2.2 billion coal-fired Desert Rock power plant near Shiprock. The pact will transfer 4,500 acre feet of groundwater each year to the power plant.
-Durango Herald, 02.02.06
“FOOD CHECK-OUT WEEK”
Local farmers and ranchers on the Western Slope, who are members of the American Farm Bureau, are participating in the bureau’s “food check-out week,” this week. The bureau uses the program to point out the affordability of food from American agriculture producers and to promote the work farmers and ranchers do.
-Craig Daily Press, 02.02.06
AVALANCHE AWARENESS
The San Juan Field School will conduct the Avalanche Refresher Course, a one-day workshop, on Saturday, Feb. 11, designed for individuals who have completed the Avalanche Level I course to update their backcountry skills. The morning will be a classroom session, with an in-the-field session at Lizard Head Pass in the afternoon. A Women’s Avalanche Level I course will take place on Feb. 24-26.
-Telluride Daily Planet, 02.02.06
MANAGING OPEN SPACE
The Summit County open space and trails department will focus on managing projects in 2006, with primary attention to the Golden Horseshoe property, as well as targeting pine beetle outbreaks. Funding for the open space program brings in about $2 million annually.
-Summit Daily, 02.01.06
WEATHER CHANNEL IN VAIL
The Weather Channel’s Road Crew is coming to Vail, following a visit this week taping shows in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. Host Jeff Mielcarz will be in Vail Feb. 7-10 to tape segments for the Weather Channel. The segments filmed in Vail will air on the channel’s “Evening Edition” and “Weekend View” programs.
-Vail Daily, 02.01.06
MORE URANIUM MINING
Mesa Uranium Corp., a Canadian corporation, announced plans to drill exploratory holes for uranium in Utah’s Lisbon Valley, in the same spots where 100 million pounds of uranium were produced from 1952 to 1990. According to the Utah Geological Survey, more than 6,000 uranium claims were filed in 2005, compared with about 3,000 in Colorado.
-GJ Sentinel, 02.02.06
NO MORE WINTER OFF
The Arrabelle at Vail Square project is continuing construction through the winter season, evidence of the newest construction trend in resort areas, construction no longer stops in the winter…commercial projects are aiming for completion by the next ski season and home builders don’t want to wait. At the Arrabelle, diesel heaters, used to keep fresh-poured concrete warm, burn at least 1,000 gallons of fuel a month and natural gas bills for other heaters can run as high as $150,000 per month.
-Vail Daily, 02.01.06
NEW RADAR COMING
Colorado Aeronautics Director Travis Vallin, speaking the annual Airline Summit in Steamboat Springs, said the Federal Aviation Administration and the state had reached agreement on the first phase of a $12 million project to install the latest version of radar equipment at airports in Rifle, Craig, Steamboat Springs and Hayden. The new radar is the first step to FAA’s goal of using GPS technology to guide aircraft to landings.
-Steamboat Pilot, 02.02.06
DUBAI, ON HIGH
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has secured a number of “firsts”: the Mall of the Emirates has the only indoor ski slope in the Middle East; the Burj Al Arab is the only seven-star hotel in the world, with rooms as high as US$13,900 a night; the set of man-made islands arrayed like a map of the world…now, the world’s tallest skyscraper…make that the world’s top two tallest skyscrapers. The Burj Dubai (“burj” is tower in Arabic) will be 2,600 feet high when completed in 2008. It will top the Al Burj, being planned for 2,300 feet tall.
-International Herald Tribune, 02.01.06
SINGAPORE: TRAVEL, SPEND
Both visitor arrivals and tourism spending in Singapore hit record highs in 2005, and Singapore tourism officials have set targets of 9.4 million visitors and US$7.3 billion in spending for 2006. Nearly US$600 million of the tourism spending in 2005 was at Changi International Airport, where more than 32 million travelers passed through the airport’s 160 shops and 50 restaurants.
-Singapore Business Times, 01.27.06
WHO’S WHO AT DAVOS
The World Economic Forum brings business and government officials from around the world. This year’s line-up for the conference which concluded Jan. 29:
-2,340 people from 89 countries;
-12 heads of state; 77 cabinet ministers; 23 religious leaders;
-735 chairmen or chief executives;
-AND, Bono, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
-New York Times, 01.25.06
WORLD’S MOST COMPETITIVE
The World Economic Forum’s competitive index:
1. Finland
2. USA
3. Sweden
4. Denmark
5. Taiwan
6. Singapore
7. Iceland
8. Switzerland
9. Norway
10. Australia
11. Netherlands
12. Japan
13. UK
14.Canada
15. Germany
-Wall Street Journal, 02.02.06
TOPS FOR FOODIES
From the Top 10 World Food Cities, compiled by Lonely Planet:
Guangzhou, China
Bologna, Italy
Cape Town, South Africa
Lyon, France
Singapore
Oaxaca, Mexico
Melbourne, Australia
New York City
Montreal, Canada
San Francisco
-www.lonelyplanet.com, 01.25.06
