The proposal strays from a plan to centralize all V.A. medical services at the Fitzsimmons facility.

Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs James Peake sent a letter to the Colorado legislature last week saying that “evolving medical practices and the geographical location of Colorado’s veterans, spread throughout the entire Rocky Mountain region, required lawmakers to consider something other than a large, centralized facility.

Even though land for a central hospital near the University of Colorado medical center was acquired by the VA at Fitzsimmons during 2004, Peake asked that the project undergo further review.

Cost of a new central VA hospital is estimated at $1.1 billion, although the VA said a smaller facility with two satellite medical centers would cost about $769 million.

www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator

The calculator provides personalized retirement benefit estimates that are tied to a person’s Social Security earnings record, thus eliminating the need to manually enter years of earnings’ information.

The estimation is interactive and allows users to compare different retirement options. A person can change retirement dates or expected future earnings, print three different scenarios at one time and get information about their benefits at age 62 or full retirement age and age 70.

Clusterstock.com is reporting that McDonald’s espresso sales have fallen sharply, and that investors are questioning the logic of entering the espresso business when Starbucks announced the closing of 600 stores across the nation last week.

McDonald’s started selling espresso drinks earlier this year at 1,700 locations, but sales in most markets peaked about three weeks after the launch, then declined.

The dogs were treated on-scene during two house fires. Three rabbits were also rescued from one of the fires but did not require oxygen treatment, fire officials said.

The masks were donated to the fire department from the Colorado Springs Kennel Club.

Fire Captain Kathleen MacLaren said the dogs’ owners were overwhelmed with gratitude.

“Outside of ensuring their family members are safe, they want their pets retrieved,” she said.

Colorado Springs firefighters are trained to rescue pets when conditions permit and will provide on-scene basic medical treatment when needed, MacLaren said.

The office will be the hub of local census activity for southern Colorado and the western slope for early operations in 2009 that support the upcoming 2010 Census.

The office is scheduled to open on Oct. 1.

Managers will oversee activities such as recruiting and training, updating address lists, collecting data from area residents and working with local officials to ensure an accurate count.

Census office managers earn $52,000 a year and assistant manager salaries range from $36,000 a year to $43,000 a year.

“By September, we hope to hire qualified and skilled managers who are familiar with the local culture in Colorado Springs,” said Cathy Illian, director of the Census Bureau’s Denver Regional Census Center. “These positions offer competitive wages and the opportunity to help your community obtain an accurate count in 2010.”

To learn more about the positions or to apply, visit the bureau’s Web site.

The 2010 Census is the largest peacetime operation conducted by the federal government and is the basis for the reapportionment of congressional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Subprime Mortgage Group consists of an interdisciplinary team of attorneys with experience counseling clients about business disputes, litigation and government investigations relating to the subprime mortgage crisis.

“Stories continue to develop daily covering the threatened mortgage market,” said group manager Wiley Mayne. “Holland & Hart has created this industry group to enhance client service through a comprehensive approach to legal issues from both near- and long-term market impacts.”

The audio sample ballot is for visually impaired voters, who can listen to the ballot information being read so they can prepare in advance to vote.

To access the audio ballots, visit http://car.elpasoco.com/Election, and click on “2008 Elections – 2008 Primary Sample Ballot”.

An audio Sample Ballot also will be made available on the Web site for the Nov. 4 general election.

Starbucks officials released a list yesterday of 600 underperforming U.S. stores the company planned to close in order to save money, and it appears that all Colorado Springs locations will remain open.

However, nine stores in Colorado will close – three in Denver, two in Loveland and single stores in Longmont, Lakewood, Broomfield and Conifer.

No specific closing date has been announced, but the company said many will start closing this month. The shutdowns will continue through the first half of 2009.

discouraging would-be entrepreneurs

The latest reading on job-market conditions reveals that the percentage of jobless managers and executives starting their own businesses fell to its lowest level since the onset of the dot.com collapse.

The start-up rate among unemployed managers and executives fell to 4.3 percent during the second quarter, compared to 7.2 percent during the first quarter. Last year, 6 percent of job seekers abandoned the traditional job market for entrepreneurship during the second quarter, according to the latest Challenger, Gray & Christmas Job Market Index.

The second quarter figure was the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2000, when only 3.5 percent of job seekers started their own firms.

The American Road & Transpiration Builders Association reported this month that 357,400 workers were employed in highway and bridge work during May – 5,300 fewer last year.

ARTBA Economist and Vice President of Policy Alison Premo Black said transportation construction industry employment continues to reflect larger market trends, "especially the impact of higher material prices."

Contractors have seen the cost for a liquid ton of asphalt used in road building increase by 40 percent to 60 percent in a few months’ time. The material used to make asphalt is petroleum-based, and as the market for crude oil used for fuel has soared, less valuable oil derivatives used in asphalt production has declined.

That trend has already had an impact on the Colorado Department of Transportation, which last week announced delays and scaled back road improvement projects for the remainder of 2008.