DENVER HIGHER ED CONSTRUCTION GETS BOOST

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(AP) _ Governor Bill Ritter says higher education will get a one-time boost of about $200 million in construction money from a new law governing oil and gas revenue.

Ritter signed the measure Monday in front of a giant excavated pit on the Auraria Campus that will become the new science center for college students.

The governor says the bill also will provide money for 11 other college construction projects across the state.

DENVER BOY HURT IN FALL

(AP) _ The Colorado State Patrol says charges are pending after a 6-year-old boy fell off of a trailer at his family's Livermore farm and hit the ground.

Trooper Gilbert Mares says the boy's father, 33-year-old William Greenwood, was driving a pickup and pulling a homemade trailer behind it Sunday evening. Authorities say the boy was riding on the trailer, but fell off.

The trailer then struck the boy, causing serious injuries.

Nicholas Boaz was taken to the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, and later airlifted to The Children's Hospital in Aurora.

His condition is unknown.

BRIGHTON, Co. INMATE FOUND DEAD

(AP) _ Adams County authorities say an inmate was found dead in his jail cell over the weekend.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Candi Baker said Monday the 56-year-old man was found unresponsive on Saturday. He was pronounced dead after efforts to revive him failed.

Authorities have not disclosed the cause of death. Baker says hanging, poisoning and knife wounds don't appear to have been factors.

She says he was alone in the cell and his death doesn't appear to be suspicious.

The man's name hasn't been released. He was being held on drug and false reporting charges.

DENVER BENEFITS TO BE SENT ELECTRONICALLY

(AP) _ Colorado has begun paying unemployment benefits with a Visa debit card instead of a paper check.

The state Department of Labor and Employment began using the Colorado Automated Payment Card on Monday to pay unemployment benefits.

It's expected to save $210,000 a year in postage.

The last unemployment check was printed Friday, ending a 73-year-old practice of using checks to make unemployment benefits payments.

The department says it would like to eventually offer direct deposit into recipient's bank accounts.

MONTROSE, Co. SUICIDE RATE TWICE NAT'L AVERAGE

(AP) _ State and local officials are looking at ways to get more agencies involved in preventing suicides in Montrose County, where the rate is nearly double the national average.

Authorities say Montrose County has nearly 20 suicides per 100,000 residents, compared with about 11 per 100,000 nationwide.

The state rate is about 17 per 100,000 residents.

Officials from the state Office of Suicide Prevention met last week with the Midwestern Colorado Mental Health Center in Montrose.

The center wants to educate court officials and others who deal with vulnerable people to look for opportunities to intervene early and prevent suicide.

GREELEY, Co. SCHOOLS WON'T LET PARENTS SEE BUS VIDEO

(AP) _ Greeley school officials say privacy laws prevent them from letting a parent see a surveillance videotape after his son was disciplined for a fight on a school bus.

Mike Moskalsk says he asked to see the video taken on the bus after his son was suspended for 10 days after the April fight. Moskalsk says his son didn't start the fight but was defending himself.

Greeley-Evans School District officials say that to release the tape, they would have to get permission from the parents of all the children shown, or digitally blur their faces. They say either option would cost too much.

About 80 percent of the district's buses have surveillance cameras. Officials say surveillance tapes are reviewed only if problems are reported on a run.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Co. MOCK BATTLES TRAIN SOLDIERS

(AP) _ A group of Fort Carson soldiers spent last week fighting a mock war in the California desert to get ready for fighting in Iraq this fall.

The 3,800-soldier 2nd Brigade Combat team, 4th Infantry Division, found itself locked in realistic battle with insurgent groups that included Iraqi-born role players who work at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif.

For the troops, it's a graduation exercise that proves their readiness for war service.

"They will do everything from a cordon and search to area patrols," Col. Butch Kievenaar said in a telephone interview.

Originally designed to get troops ready for tank battles in World War III, the training center in the Mojave Desert has radically changed its regimen in recent years to reflect the counterinsurgency fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A prime example of the change is the threats troops face at Fort Irwin. Five years ago, troops were in tank battles. Now they search for roadside bombs. And in another touch of realism, for commanders to win, they have to track down who is building the bombs and providing the raw materials for the explosives.

"We have to get after the network," Kievenaar said.

At the same time, the commanders have to meet and work with simulated Iraqi leaders to rebuild the mock communities they patrol in the exercise.

If the leaders, at all levels, don't work well with their Iraqi counterparts, the mock war would go badly for the Fort Carson troops.

"My soldiers are starting to get comfortable in that uncertain environment," said Kievenaar.

The 2nd Brigade is heading for its first trip back to Iraq since it was reorganized at Fort Carson in 2006. The unit was built largely from Iraq veterans from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which left Fort Carson after its last tour in Iraq to make room for the incoming troops of the 4th Infantry Division.

The unit also has plenty of green troops, so Kievenaar is happy with the leavening of veterans.

"They can explain to the younger soldiers why we do what we do," he said.

The brigade could head to Iraq as soon as August under Pentagon deployment plans.

The soldiers are working to be ready for the intense fighting seen in Baghdad in recent weeks as a Shiite uprising shattered months of relative calm.

"That's exactly what this is all about out here," Kievenaar said.