VAIL, Colorado – The town of Vail has begun negotiating with Comcast again over the cable company’s franchise agreement with the town.
Comcast’s 15-year franchise agreement with the town of Vail expired last December, and Town Attorney Matt Mire is working on a new deal with Comcast and expects to have something ready to present to the Town Council within a couple of months, he said. The Town Council would have to approve a new agreement by voting on an ordinance, Mire said.
The franchise is an agreement that allows Comcast the right to use town of Vail public rights of way for its equipment and infrastructure. The agreement is not exclusive, meaning other cable providers can still bid on the infrastructure, although those providers would have to strike a deal with Comcast in order to buy its local cable plant, said Don Braden, Vail’s information technology director.
“It’s the law of economics,” Braden said. “How much would (cable providers) have to pay for

EAGLE, Colorado – What is a mutton and how do you bust it? That question might best be answered in no words at all by children ages 5 to 8. Just watch those tough kiddos hop on bucking sheep and hold on as long as they can. That’s mutton busting for you.
At 7:45 p.m., the event takes place at the Eagle County Fairgrounds’ large outdoor arena before the pro rodeo starts.
For those who might think riding a sheep is a fluffy matter, think again.
Stephanie Renzelman, 19, of Gypsum, is working at the Eagle County Fair & Rodeo this week. When the mutton busting event takes center stage in the rodeo arena, she flashes back to her own experience, abbreviated as it was.
“I did with two of my cousins,” said Renzelman. “I just remember I didn’t stay on for even one second.”
That’s what 19-year-old Jaime Proctor of Eagle remembers as well. She recalls she really wanted to ride the sheep, but mutton busting is harder than it looks.
Sometimes, however, a child tur

PINE CITY, Minn. – Cindy Hickey was sitting in her home office last summer, preparing a receipt for a client of her animal physical therapy business when the phone rang. She picked up, then nearly hung up, thinking it was a sales call.

“Then I heard ‘Baghdad’ and ‘embassy’ and that got my attention,” Hickey said. “And she told me, ‘Your son Shane is believed to have been taken by Iranian authorities. That’s all the information we have, we will call you as soon as we have more information.’ My adrenaline peaked. My heart sank. And I immediately went into a mode of, what are we going to do to take care of this immediately?”

A year later, Hickey and the other mothers of three Americans detained in Iran since July 31, 2009, are still in that mode. They have put their own careers on hold and turned to what’s become a full-time job for them: attempting to secure their children’s release from Tehran’s Evin Prison in the face of espionage accusations by the Iranian government.

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PALMDALE, Calif. – Firefighters say most people who were asked to leave about 2,000 homes overnight have returned as crews continue battling a wildfire in the high desert northeast of Los Angeles.

Officials say no homes are in imminent danger early Friday but they expect another day of high heat and gusty afternoon winds that could hamper containment efforts near the dense suburbs of Palmdale. The fire is 12 square miles and 5 percent contained.

Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief Michael Bryant says firefighters will concentrate on protecting homes and transmission lines that carry electricity to much of Southern California.

Bryant says the fire destroyed four homes along with garages and outbuildings.

Bryant says an investigation into the cause of the fire is centering on workers who were hammering on some bolts to remove a tire rim.

COOKE CITY, Mont. – Wildlife officials expected DNA test results to confirm Friday that a captured grizzly bear and her three cubs were the animals that killed one camper and injured two others in a rampage that has set tourists in this Yellowstone National Park gateway community on edge.

Fibers from a tent or sleeping bag were in the captured bears’ droppings, and a tooth fragment found in a tent appears to match a chipped tooth on the 300- to 400-pound sow. But officials say they will decide the bears’ fate only after the test results are in.

“Everything points to it being the offending bear, but we are not going to do anything until we have DNA samples,” said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim.

On Thursday, a day after the maulings at a crowded campsite, many in Cooke City carried bear spray, a a pepper-based deterrent more commonly seen in Yellowstone’s backcountry than on the Cooke City streets.

Those who live in the small tourist town tucked

ASPEN – Bear-friendly doorknobs could be out in the Aspen area.

The county commissioners have given preliminary approval to a ban on lever-style door handles on new or remodeled homes. Bears looking for food can hit the levers and open the door but have a much harder time with round doorknobs.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife asked Pitkin County to require more bear-resistant doorknobs to try to reduce the bear-human conflicts in the area, which is prime black bear habitat. Bears take advantage of open doors and windows to rummage through houses in search of goodies.

Wildlife officers killed 20 bears in the Aspen area last year after the animals broke into houses or had other clashes with people.

BRECKENRIDGE – Building plans for a lot along Highway 9 north of Breckenridge have run into hard times, and town officials are giving the potential developers one last chance before abandoning the parcel’s annexation.

The roughly 4 acre lot – across County Road 450 from 7-Eleven – on county land was approved several years ago for mini-storage and commercial space.

But the site’s high visibility led to negotiations between developers and the town for annexation: The developers wanted access to town water and town leaders wanted input on the aesthetics of what’s been called the “gateway” to Breckenridge.

A year ago, it appeared the two parties had reached a compromise for development separating commercial space, affordable housing and mini-storage units into thirds. The town would develop the 1.6 acres in the middle for housing.

Today the Entrada property, purchased in 2006 for $2.5 million, is under foreclosure with a Sept. 3 sale date. Breckenr

DURANGO – Sheriff’s officials say a bicyclist who organized a charity race was injured by a small cannonball that was shot at him and investigators suspect five teenagers of the crime.

The La Plata County Sheriff’s office say they plan to interview the teenagers with their parents next week about the cannonball that was fired at the bicyclist Sunday during a multiple sclerosis fundraiser in Durango.

Authorities say the cannonball was similar to what is used at high school and college games to celebrate a touchdown. Sheriff’s officials say a gauze-like wadding soaked in an unknown chemical caused an explosion near the legs of 37-year-old Ian Altman. The explosion lodged particulate in his legs and arms and he was hospitalized with a 102.5-degree fever.

LOS ANGELES – Ellen DeGeneres is dancing off “American Idol” after one season, leaving Fox’s hit show with two vacancies on its judging panel.

If the singing contest intends to revamp itself to stem a ratings slide, it has the opportunity to bring in two new faces for season 10 in January.

Fox has yet to announce a replacement for Simon Cowell, who left after the season finale in May to start a new talent show for the network.

“A couple months ago, I let Fox and the ‘American Idol’ producers know that this didn’t feel like the right fit for me,” DeGeneres said in a statement. The comedian-talk show host said she realized that while she “loved discovering, supporting and nurturing young talent, it was hard for me to judge people and sometimes hurt their feelings.”

DeGeneres said she told the network she would delay any action until it had time to “figure out where they wanted to take the panel next.”

A Fox statement contained no announcement of a replacement for DeG

EAGLE, Colorado – Like lots of kids raised in western Eagle County, Jesse Echtler and has been riding and roping since he was tall enough to see over the saddle horn.
Jesse is chasing the rodeo rainbow, with his adorable wife Samantha and their beautiful daughter Riata along for the ride. It’s a great life and they’ll ride it as long as it lasts, they say.
Rodeo is a dream, they all know that. But Jesse comes from a long line of dreamers. His parents, Alan and Debra Echtler, front the local band Airborn and they’re playing Friday night at the Eagle County Fair and Rodeo.
“After I spent my life making a living at music, I couldn’t very well fault him for making a living in rodeo,” Alan said. “It’s time for him to follow his dream.”
Jesse had the good sense to convince the beautiful and delightful Samantha to marry him. They met at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, where Jesse was competing on a rodeo scholarship. She graduated Texas A&M