Pueblo to purchase city-owned firearms for its police officers
Pueblo police officers will soon be issued city-owned firearms, instead of purchasing their own, thanks to a measure approved unanimously by Pueblo City Council Monday.
Pueblo Police Chief Troy Davenport told council members that funds for the firearms would be essentially “whipped cream on top of his budget,” as phrased by Councilman Bob Schilling. The funds would specifically be drawn from Federal Forfeiture receipts, which are drawn from large police seizures of cash or property associated with illegal acts.
Davenport told council that forfeiture cases are required to have more than $50,000 in seized cash or property to be eligible for inclusion in the pool of funding.
Pueblo Police Chief Troy Davenport presented the fee increase to Pueblo City Council on Monday night.
Since 2009, the city of Pueblo has received 70 cents each month from phones linked to Pueblo, collected by the state Department of Revenue. Council s change raises the emergency 911 surcharge to $1.72 for each phone per month.
The maximum rate for emergency telephone charges is set by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, which raised it to $1.72 in July last year due to the rate of inflation and increased statewide costs of providing service. All phone lines in Colorado are impacted, from cell phones to land lines. The surcharge is based on each phone line, no matter the provider. The increased cost is driven largely by the statewide migration to the new Emergency Services IP-Network (ESInet), which is provided by CenturyLink.
Vaccinations underway for some of the public in rural Colorado
COSTILLA COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) Many counties in Southern Colorado are still preparing for the next phase phase in the vaccination process. However, some counties have already begun vaccinating the public, specifically their elderly population.
Costilla County, a small county in the San Luis Valley, has already finished with the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and people ages 70+ are already receiving the vaccine. The first part of us moving onto the 70-year-old individuals started this past weekend this Sunday, said Paul Wertz with the Costilla County Public Health.
Wertz and Costilla County Public Health along with Valley Wide Health Symptoms and local law enforcement organized a drive thru vaccination center for Costilla County s elderly.
Words are one thing, while actions are another. Skeptical communities were given another reason to believe in the country’s COVID-19 efforts Wednesday.
Pueblo Police Chief Troy Davenport took part in the state’s vaccination efforts at a local drive-thru testing station on Wednesday. He chose to bring his injection into the spotlight in hopes that others will follow.
“I’m absolutely confident in this vaccine,” Davenport said. “They have the brightest minds in the world not just our country but the world working on this topic. They have sunk millions of dollars into this effort and I’m absolutely confident that this will bring this pandemic to an end eventually.”
The Pueblo Chieftain
For the New Year, we thought it would be interesting to ask leaders from around the community for their 2021 wishes for Pueblo. The response was great. Some were personal. Some related to the contributor’s position. Many, of course, focused on COVID-19 challenges. So here we go …
Let’s start with of our two local hospitals leaders, who, given the pandemic, certainly played a critical role within our community this past year.
“I wish for the acceptance of the Covid-19 vaccines. There has been way too much pain and suffering for patients and families around the world.” Leslie Barnes, president and CEO, Parkview Medical Center.