Mike's Blog Roundup

By JIM SALTER (Associated Press) ST. LOUIS (AP) — Orville Allen lived a lifetime of service, and when he died at age 98 he had one last thing to give: his liver. Allen, a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War and a longtime educator in rural southeastern Missouri, is the oldest American to ever donate an organ, transplant organizations said.

A wildfire burning on 164 acres of land in the Interlaken Historic District near Twin Lakes — a popular hiking and camping destination about 22 miles southwest of Leadville — prompted multiple evacuation and pre-evacuation orders Tuesday. “Please evacuate the area of Interlaken and County Road 25 as there is an active fire in the area,” the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post just before 3 p.m.

A 23-year-old man was sentenced to 12 years in prison Tuesday for a drunken driving, multi-vehicle crash that killed a Colorado Ballet musician and hospitalized three others. Juan Ortega Torres Jr., 23, pleaded guilty to one charge of vehicular homicide and two charges of vehicular assault in May, according to a news release from the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office. The plea dropped four additional counts of vehicular assault, driving under the influence and reckless driving from his case, according to court records. On Tuesday, Ortega Torres was sentenced to 12 years in prison — half of the maximum 24-year sentence he could have received, according to the DA’s office. The crash happened after Ortega Torres ran a red light at West 64th Avenue and Lamar Street in Arvada, crashing into three cars while going 60 mph in a 35 mph zone, the DA’s office said in the release. Kresten Wolff Thomsen, 44, died in the crash and two children and the driver of another vehicle were injured, Arvada police said. Thomsen was picking his two children up from school and was a few miles from home when the crash occurred.

Who wore it best? Shame, that is, this campaign season. It’s early but we have some strong contenders. A Democrat-affiliated campaign organization, Rocky Mountain Values PAC, is working to elevate conspiracy theorist crackpot, election denier, Xerox machine executioner Ron Hanks over the strongest candidate in 3rd Congressional District race, Jeff Hurd.

TABOR refund becomes a redistribution Re: “State surplus: Child poverty focus of credits,” June 1 news story Several points from this article caught my attention: 1. “Traditionally, state revenue that’s over the cap would be returned to Coloradans largely through a six-tier system that gave higher-income households a bigger share under the idea they paid more in taxes.

Jerry West, who was selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame three times in a storied career as a player and executive and whose silhouette is considered to be the basis of the NBA logo, died Wednesday morning, the Los Angeles Clippers announced. He was 86. West, nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” for his late-game exploits as a player, went into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1980 and again as a member of the 1960 U.