COS Town Tidings #26-076

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🤣 Today’s Chuckle

📰 She Just Got 18 Years in Funeral Case ⚖️

📰 Pulitzer Winner at Rico's Café & Wine Bar TONIGHT 📚

📰 Neighbors Raise Red Flags ⚠️

🎺 Trivia Time: Thousands Once Packed This Spot… Why?

🛍 New: Bargain Box Weekly Sales, Mar 17-21!

📆 Local Events + Concerts & Special Events

🌤 COS Weather - Mostly sunny, dry with above average temps

Yesterday, former Return to Nature Funeral Home co-owner Carie Hallford was sentenced in the federal case that rocked Colorado Springs. She’ll serve 18 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, and must pay $1,070,413.74 in restitution. She pleaded guilty to fraud and misuse of pandemic relief funds.

Over a four-year period, nearly 200 bodies were not properly cremated or buried, despite families paying for those services, and in some cases, families were given ashes that were not their loved ones. The discovery of the remains in 2023 left many families facing renewed grief, unanswered questions and lasting emotional trauma. While the sentencing offers a level of accountability, it cannot undo the harm caused, and additional state sentencing is still pending as families continue navigating a long and difficult healing process. Full Story

If you enjoy author talks and thoughtful conversations about current events, there’s an upcoming evening worth noting in downtown Colorado Springs.

Poor Richard’s Books & Gifts will host Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Carol Leonnig for a special book event TONIGHT, Tues March 17 at 6pm. The gathering will take place at Rico’s Cafe & Wine Bar, just next door to the bookstore.

Leonnig is visiting Colorado Springs to discuss “Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America’s Justice Department,” a book she co-wrote with fellow investigative journalist Aaron C. Davis of The Washington Post.

A new week means new treasures! We're giving you a first look at the incredible finds and amazing sales hitting the floor for Mar 17-21 (New Deals). Watch now to see what's waiting for you!

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Location: 405 S Nevada Ave, Open Tues - Sat 10am-2pm. (719) 475-1029

A proposed 330-unit affordable housing development near Marksheffel is drawing attention from residents in nearby neighborhoods. Some residents of The Enclaves at Mountain Vista, are concerned about how increased traffic could impact safety in an already busy area. The Copper Station project would be located between Graphite and Zircon drives, using the same access points many residents rely on today.

With recent accidents and ongoing congestion along Marksheffel, neighbors worry that additional vehicles could make daily travel more difficult. Developers have begun early outreach through neighborhood meetings, but no formal application has been submitted to the City of Colorado Springs yet, leaving time for continued community input as the proposal evolves. Full Story

👵 From "Too Fragile" To Daily Adventures... with Kristen Nielsen

Did you know downtown Colorado Springs once packed 2,500 people into Acacia Park for a single night of dancing under the stars?

Picture standing there today, coffee in hand, traffic humming on Tejon, and then stripping it all away. This block was first set aside as a public park way back in 1871, our very first city park, long before most of downtown existed. By 1888 there was already a simple frame bandstand near the center of the park, a hint that music and public life were going to live here for a long time.

In 1914, the city took it further and hired local architect Thomas P. Barber to design the permanent bandshell on the south end, giving Colorado Springs a real outdoor stage where people came to hear the world: brass bands on summer nights, war‑time speeches, kids running in the grass while parents leaned on the railings and listened. That curved shell didn’t just project sound, it gathered people who otherwise might never have stood shoulder to shoulder.

A bronze plaque on the front of the Acacia Park bandshell honors a famous American speech. Which one is it?

By 1940, when the city poured a concrete dance floor just north of the stage, thousands of residents showed up to square dance under bare bulbs and Pikes Peak’s silhouette. Imagine your grandparents or great‑grandparents laughing through missed steps, the band echoing off the shell, the whole town briefly breathing in the same rhythm. The same structure you walk past now has held first dates, campaign rallies, protest chants, holiday concerts, and quiet weekday lunches for more than a century.

So when you see fencing and hard hats around the bandshell this year, it is not just another construction project. It is your city voting to keep a shared living room in the middle of downtown, so future summer nights still have a place to land.

Answer: Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, commemorated by the Woman’s Relief Corps in 1917. *Source

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