MBC Grand News: Monday February 25, 2013

The price of gas in Colorado is another 6 cents higher this week, bringing the price in the state to an average $3.56/gal. GasBuddy.com says the tide has turned. The national price has gone up every day since January 20th, but has dropped the last two days. Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan says motorists shouldn't be overly thrilled as prices are expected to linger near these levels for sometime.

For the first time since 2008, sales tax collections in Montrose were up last year compared with the year before. The Montrose Daily Press says the increase was just 1.6%, but significant considering the declines of the three years before, including a 9% drop in 2009 compared with 2008.

The Mesa Land Trust is working on an idea to connect the Three Sisters bike area on Monument Road to downtown Grand Junction and to the entrance to the Colorado National Monument. The public process is underway with a website to add input. It's monumentroadvision.com. The site says comments are being taken there for 34 more days.

The BLM is getting ready to move 700 wild horse from short-term facilities in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada to a ranch in southwestern Montana. Accordng to The Denver Post, some neighboring ranches are worried the horses could escape, and that the land can't sustain them. The BLM says the Spanish Q ranch will house the horses for $1.36 per horse per day, compared with the $5.50 cost of the short term facilities.

Colorado stands to lose $85 million in federal funding if lawmakers can't agree on a budget by the end of the month. The Denver Post says if automatic cuts happen, the sequester is designed to cut $1.2 trillion from the federal government over over 10 years. Governor John Hickenlooper tells The Denver Post he's most concerned about job losses. And Colorado Senator Mark Udall says the automatic budget cuts are coming because some in Congress are not interested in the balanced, deficit-reduction approach that Coloradans want. In the meantime, the White House has released a 7 page document outlining specifics of federal cuts in Colorado.

White House Releases New State-by-State Reports on the Impacts of the Sequester

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the White House is releasing new state-by-state reports on the devastating impact the sequester will have on jobs and middle class families across the country if Congressional Republicans fail to compromise to avert the sequester by March 1^st.

These reports are EMBARGOED until tonight at 8:00PM ET. The link to each state report can be found below:

1. Alabama

2. Alaska

3. Arizona

4. Arkansas

5. California

6. Colorado

7. Connecticut

8. Delaware

9. District of Columbia

10. Florida

11. Georgia

12. Hawaii