IS IT IN THE WATER? LOVE IN THE AIR? RECORD MARRIAGE LICENSES IN DENVER

The city clerk's office in the City and County of Denver issued 1,123 marriage licenses in August, the most marriage licenses issued in a single month in the city's history. It is 12 percent more than the previous record of 985 issued in August 2017. There was a slight decline in licenses issued in the first three months of the year, but May, June, July and August all set monthly records for marriage licenses in Denver. Last year, a record 8,406 marriage licenses were issued in Denver.

COLORADO AG FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST OXYCONTIN MAKER

Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman Thursday filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma L.P., the maker of painkiller Oxycontin, making Colorado the latest state to join in suing the company for its role in the nation's opioid crisis. Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, in a statement, accused Purdue Pharma of violating the state’s consumer protection law, saying the company ignited the epidemic through “fraudulent and deceptive marketing of prescription opioids.”

FRONT RANGE IS A GROWING TECH CENTER

The Front Range from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs is undergoing a boom in high-tech companies gobbling up commercial space. Between July 2017 and June 30, 2018, tech companies purchased or leased 849,000 square feet of new office and commercial space in the Interstate 25 corridor, according to real estate firm CBRE. That is more than double the amount of space tech firms occupied in the preceding 12 months. The amount of space on the Front Range filled by tech firms now totals 17.3 million square feet.

WRNF, BLM LIFT FIRE RESTRICTIONS

The White River National Forest and the Colorado River Valley Field office of the Bureau of Land Management announced Thursday that all fire restrictions will be lifted Friday on White River National Forest lands and lands within the BLM Colorado River Valley Field office. In addition, the Garfield County Sheriff's Office said the Stage 1 restrictions will be lifted Friday on all unincorporated lands within Garfield County. All the agencies note that extreme dry conditions still exist and all hunters and others heading into the backcountry should be very careful with campfires.

FORMER CMC BUILDING IN GLENWOOD SPRINGS SELLS

According to records of the Garfield County Assessor, Discovery Place Investments Ltd., a Basalt-based firm, purchased the old McCoy Armory Building on Grand Avenue in downtown Glenwood Springs for $1.1 million. The building formerly housed the administrative offices of Colorado Mountain College, but had essentially been vacant since the college moved to its current location at Eighth Street and Grand Avenue in 2011. The building was built in 1913 by J.F. McCoy and was purchased by the state of Colorado in 1917 for the National Armory.

SKICO GETS ITS BELL MOUNTAIN CHAIR BACK

After making a public plea this week for the return of a missing chair from the Bell Mountain chairlift, the Aspen Skiing Co. was rewarded Thursday when someone called the Skico's administrative offices and said they knew where the chair was and would return it to the base of Aspen Mountain at the bottom of Lift 1A. The 250-pound chair was returned and Skico crews took it back up to the top of Bell Mountain. The return of the chair was imperative because the 33-year-old chairlift cannot operate without all 125 chairs connected.

BLM SELLS WRNF PARCELS AT LEASE AUCTION

The Bureau of Land Management Thursday held an oil and gas lease auction and included in the sale of some 20 parcels across the state were six oil and gas lease parcels totaling 4,755 acres in the White River National Forest. CPX Piceance Holdings of Houston was the winning bidder on four of the White River lease parcels. Montana-based Retamco Operating paid $13 an acre, or $2,080, for a fifth forest parcel. Rick Gallegos of Parker paid $4,460, or about $4 an acre for the sixth parcel.

MONTROSE MAKES LEASE DEAL TO HOUSE MIGRANT WORKERS AND HOMELESS

The Montrose City Council Tuesday approved a lease arrangement with Tuxedo Corn Co. for the former Brown Center which will provide housing for farm workers during the growing season and via a sublease, provide shelter for the homeless in the winter. Tuxedo, a collaborative of about 20 growers, signed the lease with the city, but it will sublease the facility to Montrose Lighthouse Inc. to provide housing for the homeless in the winter. The lease term begins Sept. 15 and has a three-year term at $590 a month.

NEW VETERANS CENTER IN DURANGO

Last month, the Veterans Outreach Center of La Plata County opened in Bodo Industrial Park, south of downtown Durango. The nonprofit center is run by veterans and provides emergency aid, free counseling and many other services for veterans. Already in operation, about two-thirds of the veterans that have come into the center are from the Vietnam era, and the rest are younger vets who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. The La Plata County chapter of the Disabled American Veterans bought the building in Bodo Industrial Park to house the new nonprofit center.

17,000 PARKING "CITATIONS" ISSUED IN BRECK

Last week, the Breckenridge Town Council received the annual parking report covering the 12 months from May 2017 through April 2018. Over that 12-month period the number of parking citations increased from 7,598 to 17,307. The town contracted with a private company, Interstate Parking in November, to take over parking enforcement. It was noted that "citations" do not translate to fines being imposed. Over three-quarters of the citations were warnings and required no action from the vehicle's owner. The total of payable citations for the period was 4,126.

WANT TO BID ON A RANCH IN TAOS?

Paramount Realty USA will place the Blackstone Ranch, about half a mile north of Taos, up for auction on December 6:

• The ranch has 15 structures spread across 190 acres
• Reserve price, $19 million
• A 27,000-square-foot main house, guest house, greenhouse, barns
• The seller, Samuel P. Black, an investor in the biodiesel industry, bought the land in 2003
• He built most of the structures from scratch at a cost of about $45 million
• It was listed for sale by the owner last summer for $55 million