COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) A Colorado Springs senior who feared she was being targeted by fraud is now finding relief. News5 first met Elinor Makings in March when she reached out with concerns about suspicious emails.

Since then, she says the emails havent stopped coming.

They're no longer saying I've transferred money to a person. It says that an Apple iPhone has been purchased on my account, an orange Apple iPhone every time, said Makings.

The repeated messages left her questioning what was real and what wasnt.

Looking for clarity and prevention tips, Makings sat down with Brad Lynch, a former FBI agent who now serves as Director of Fraud Investigations at Ent Credit Union, which is becoming Wings Credit Union.

During the conversation, she asked a question many victims share.

Can I just cancel that thing?" asked Makings. "Will that stop all the emails, or are they still going to come?

Lynch explained that stopping scams isnt always that simple, but understanding how they work can make a big difference. He shared practical tips to help identify suspicious messages.

If you take your mouse and hover over the link in an email, it will show exactly where it's coming from," said Lynch.

He also emphasized the importance of not going through it alone.

Have a trusted buddy or a friend because a lot of times what these fraudsters are trying to do is isolate you," said Lynch.

Lynch says the biggest red flag often comes down to instinct.

If their story makes you go, wait a minute, that doesnt make sense, then slow down that flag should go up in your mind," said Lynch.

His advice is to pause, question and not rush into action.

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The city has prioritized creating accessible spaces for all abilities, including wheelchair and stroller-friendly trails on the East Side and across the city.

As part of these improvements, Woodland Hills and Rampart Park recently reopened with new features designed to make the playgrounds safer and more accessible.

Woodland Hills held a ribbon-cutting in October for its new playground, which includes a ramp into the play pit and an accessible picnic table. Rampart Park followed with updates in November, adding artificial grass to the play area.

Nearly half a year later, visitors are enjoying the changes.

On a sunny Monday afternoon, two-year-old Colton visited Rampart Park. He is a regular at the park, and while he still needs a little help from his mother to get to the top of the slide, the additions make the jungle gym friendlier and safer for little ones.

Jordan Gauson recently brought family to Rampart Park for the first time.

"I have four kids. Oldest is eight, twins are six and my baby is one," said Gauson. "When they do have a chance to run around, we got to let them roam free. We should get our kids out more, and the fact that we have this park, it gives us a safe place to go and do that," said Gauson.

Neither of these parks is just for young children. Danny and Teresa Hensley visit Rampart Park to walk their dog or take their grandchildren to the playground.

"We live just two blocks down the road," said the Hensley's.

"My 10-year-old granddaughter always makes friends at the park," said Teresa Hensley.

Whether it is Colton, Gauson's four kids, or the Hensleys' grandchild, these improvements are helping to build a sense of community.

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Construction at the Peterson Road and Highway 24 interchange outside Peterson Space Force Base's North Gate continues with the current phase of the $15.3 million project expected to last through fall 2026.

Earlier in 2026, the northbound lanes on Peterson Road closed for improvements. A City of Colorado Springs traffic engineer said the full closure of the northbound lanes is essential to leave enough safe space for construction crews.

All cars must adhere to traffic cones on the west side of the road. The city advises drivers to seek alternate routes to Highway 24 and avoid the area if they can.

However, for drivers living nearby, there are few better options. Diane Schmidt lives off Peterson Road and said the interchange is her best bet to get into town.

She noted that the change from two lanes merging to one at the Peterson Road underpass creates a bottleneck, and drivers need to pay extra attention.

"During the week, it gets very hectic. Ive seen so many near accidents," said Schmidt. "In fact, we almost got into an accident nearly an hour ago."

Jakob Nyquist also relies on the route to get home.

"We have to come towards this intersection," said Nyquist. "If I took powers instead, thats easily an extra 10 minutes home."

Nyquist added that it is especially hard for drivers to see road signs going northbound on Peterson Road when it is dark out.

"Me and my girlfriend, every Wednesday, we go to the bowling alley so we come back this way. At night the one side is pretty easy, the other side not so much," said Nyquist.

The goal of the project is to increase traffic along the roadway outside the base's North Gate. City estimates show the project should cost about $15.3 million. Of that total, $10.7 million came through the Defense Community Infrastructure Program, a federal grant.

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A local nonprofit is hitting the streets of Central Springs every day to help unhoused residents care for their dogs, providing everything from food to medical care to weekly room rentals.

Husband and wife Josh Deely and Amanda Page run Pay It Fur-Ward. They drive a bright blue pickup truck to distribute essentials to people and their pets. And they say they've become quite recognizable in the homeless community around Central Springs.

News5 followed along with them near Cimarron Street and North Nevada Avenue to see their work firsthand.

In the bed of the truck, Page and Deely have clothes, sleeping bags, dog food, hygiene products, and nonperishable food to name a few.

"A common misconception is that these people don't like to clean up after themselves. They do. They love to clean up after themselves. They don't have the capacity or the means, so they ask us for trash bags all the time," Amanda Page said.

Many of the pet owners say they choose to feed their dogs before themselves.

"Everything's for them. I've slept in cold nights with just one blanket to keep them warm. It doesn't matter. It's all about the dogs," Daniel Retherford said.

Retherford owns three dogs: Willow, Nikita, and Bones. He said Pay It Fur-Ward helped when Bones was attacked while Retherford was helping a woman fix her van.

"I had two leash dogs attack him when I was helping a homeless lady do a motor swap on her van, and he had a hole in his leg, and they took him to the vet for me and stuff because I couldn't afford it," Retherford said, "They're my life. It's what keeps me going, pushing positive, no matter how hard life can get it."

Corey Haight also prioritizes his dog, Aurora. She is his service dog and they now both live in a sober living facility across from the Colorado Springs Police Department.

"I'd starve first before she would," Corey Haight said, "That's my daughter. That is my daughter. I've raised her. Like if anything happens to her, I don't know what I'd do."

"This is my accountability buddy. Every time I get up in the morning, she jumps up on my bed or she's sleeping next to me and I get a look in the face and my day starts off happy," Christina Martin said. She is one month sober following a meth and fentanyl addiction.

Martin shares the same bond with her dog, Baby Girl, who is pregnant and facing a potential infection.

"Pay It Forward has got it set up for us to go see the vet in two weeks. Amanda noticed some things that she didn't like with her pregnancy right now so we're gonna go have that all checked out with the vet in two weeks and hopefully everything will be OK," Martin said.

Pay It Fur-Ward keeps medical supplies in their backseat for both people and dogs. And if the medical emergency is too much, they set up appointments and pay bills. They also rent out rooms weekly so people do not have to sleep on the streets.

It has been a lifesaver.

"More support is getting more support for her. Aurora is behaving more. We're not actually being out there having to worry about someone coming and stealing all of our stuff at night or anything like that," Haight said.

For some, the organization's support has led to sobriety. Jeremiah Arbuckle said Pay It Fur-Ward helped him get clean so he could care for his dog, Little Bear.

"When I was homeless and on the streets, my addiction fed everything, so I couldn't really take care of her. Amanda and Josh and Pay it Fur-Ward really has helped me get to the point where I can take care of her myself in the, in the way she deserves," Jeremiah Arbuckle said.

He says he named his dog, Little Bear because when he first got her, she looked like a little bear. She loves butt scratches. And when asked about what Arbuckle loves most about his "daughter"?

"She's a weirdo... She's a weirdo like her owner," Arbuckle said.

Now clean and sober, Arbuckle and Retherford are volunteering to help the organization.

"After I got clean and sober and they helped me get to the point I'm at now, the only question in my mind was how can I be a part of it? It's a very powerful organization, maybe small, but it has some power behind it," Arbuckle said.

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A fuel truck flipped over on I-25 in Pueblo, and crews worked overnight to reopen the interstate. The accident occurred on March 17.

One day later, the debris was seemingly cleared, but approximately 2,700 gallons of fuel had spilled into the Arkansas River without many being alerted

Jim Prioreschi, president of the Pueblo Conservancy District, is responsible for maintaining the land around the Arkansas River. He said he was alarmed to find out through the grapevine that the fuel from the truck was unaccounted for.

"They knew something was going on with the dead fish, the booms, the sheen down at the confluence," Prioreschi said.

Prioreschi emailed Pueblos Stormwater Director, Kurt Patrick, who replied that the majority of the fuel flowed into the Arkansas River. However, Prioreschi and many others had no idea the contamination had occurred.

"Ive talked to people just today. The lady I was meeting earlier, before this, she didn't even know anything about it, and she's with the chamber," Prioreschi said.

The Environmental Protection Agency told me that after receiving a spill report from the state, the agency notifies downstream water systems to close their intakes. An EPA coordinator touched base with several local organizations.

While some mention the truck spill online, only the EPAs website mentions the gasoline contaminating the river.

"I don't know too many people that actually go to the EPA website. If it would have been publicly announced, they might be, you know, have more response to it," Prioreschi said.

I asked Pueblo Public Works why this contamination wasnt shared with Pueblos residents. Their email response directed me back to the EPA.

The City of Pueblo told me that lead agencies like the EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment would give public notice.

CDPHE tells me Staff members from our Water Quality Control and Hazardous Materials and Waste Management divisions supported the response and cleanup efforts in partnership with the City of Pueblo, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and the EPA. Our main role in these efforts has been in directing water and soil testing, inspecting the storm drain, and advising the contractor handling cleanup and recovery.

We contacted drinking water systems downstream of the spill to verify that the impacted area of the Arkansas River was not used as a drinking water source at the time of the spill. We also contacted local health officials and the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment. They may have more information about the evaluation of impacts to local recreational uses in the Arkansas River, and further public outreach.

Prioreschi remains concerned by the amount of gasoline that disrupted a river he is proud of.

"They might have got these [booms] up after it all went through, you know. You send that much down through here, it's, it's going to cause a lot of havoc," Prioreschi said.

U.S. military men and women now facing danger in Iran are following orders out of patriotism and duty. Their service is honored in the art of a Manitou Springs artist who was inspired by her own family serving in other conflicts.

Brush strokes inspired out of a mother's love and concern led to a work called "Fallen Soldier." It was created by Sharon Dahlen for her soldier son who was deployed to fight in Afghanistan after 9/11.

"I had never had a child in a war zone, and he wasn't there very long before he lost 8 men in the field, and when that happened, I didn't know if he was going to be OK," said Dahlen.

Dahlen creates and sells her art, and the works of others, out of her shop, Cherokee's of Manitou. It is often recognized for the whimsical bear carvings out front. Inside and upstairs, there is a series of heartfelt military paintings motivated by her son's reports from war.

"I thought if I could touch his heart when he got home and he could talk about it, then he would be OK, he would be able to heal," said Dahlen.

Just in the past few days, stories of A-10 missions in Iran have resulted in multiple requests for prints of Dahlen's painting of the airplane.

"Called The Sound of Freedom, and that painting, he said every time he [her son] heard that A-10 fly overhead he knew he had a chance to get home alive," said Dahlen.

There is also the current relevance of a piece called "Leave No-One Behind."

"I just love that and what they just did rescuing the pilots, that just happened in Iran because they spent spared no expense going in and getting those young men and getting them home safe," said Dahlen.

The military art is located on the second floor of Cherokee's on purpose. It is less busy, quieter, and a place where there can be introspection.

"Some of the post-traumatic stress syndrome people, they'll actually go and put their hand up on the painting and start talking and telling stories," said Dahlen.

Art that started for a son in the Army, another son in the Navy, and a husband who served in the Air Force, is now a nod to all who serve.

"They believe in good and in God and they go out there and they risk their lives," said Dahlen.

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The cost of electricity for Colorado Springs Utilities customers is a big part of the debate over shutting down the company's last coal power plant.

Current state mandates would have the plant gone by 2030.

"We shouldn't be looking at just the environmental. We've got to look at reliability and cost," said Travas Deal, CEO of Colorado Springs Utilities.

The Nixon plant, located south of Colorado Springs near the raceway track west of I-25, has been generating power since the 1980s. It is the last coal-fired plant in the Colorado Springs Utilities fleet.

Deal is on board with the state's plans to lower carbon emissions with renewable energy. His issue is a timeline he says favors environmentalists while hurting the average person paying their electric bill.

"Our ask here isn't whether we want or not want. It's about maintaining costs, maintaining reliability, and making sure we have the infrastructure out there to bring in these resources that are cost competitive, you know, for our ratepayers," said Deal.

A tour of the Nixon coal-fired plant shows it could go for another 10 to 20 years. Deal compares shutting this down early to being forced to get rid of a vehicle that is paid off and functioning well, then having to replace it with a new, more expensive one.

"Roughly to replace 200 megawatts right now, $400 to $500 million," said Deal.

That could lead to a major spike on utility bills. Colorado Springs Utilities staff have gone to state leaders hoping to negotiate a deal to keep using Nixon beyond 2030 to buffer costs for the company and its customers.

One bill before the state legislature could give an extension to 2040. There are other negotiations happening at the Capitol with extensions in the range of two to five years.

"You know, somebody is paying that bill. I have to do everything in my power to represent our community and not pass off undue cost to customers," said Deal.

Negotiating is happening as the end of the legislative session nears. If an agreement is not made this year, utilities leaders say they will be back next year.

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Concerns about the planned decommissioning of the Ray Nixon Power Plant and its potential impact on utility costs are raising questions about how residents will be affected.

In Southeast Colorado Springs, residents say even small increases in utility bills could make a difference, but many are not aware of assistance programs available to help.

"I'm sure it's gonna be a factor, but it's not something we'd want to budget in," said Analilian Sorensen one Southeast resident.

I asked a handful of Southeast Colorado Springs residents if they were familiar with the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program, also known as LEAP, and the Citizens Option to Provide Energy, known as Project COPE. They all said no.

"I have not heard about it," said Israel Rivas.

"Uh no, I'm not familiar with them," said Analilian Sorensen.

LEAP is a federal program that helps qualifying households pay heating bills during the winter application period from November through April.

To qualify for LEAP, a person must earn a maximum family household income that does not exceed 60% of the state's median income level, and pay home heating costs either directly to a utility company or to a landlord as part of rent.

If you are approved for LEAP, payments are made directly to your primary heating fuel vendor and a notice will be sent to you informing you of the benefit amount.

Project COPE is a local program where emergency assistance is used only when additional help is needed or when LEAP is not enough.

"I do pay around like $300 already, so if it gets higher, it would... not be good for me and my family," said Rivas.

"I think I would definitely look into it, especially if it's something that's going to assist," added Sorensen.

LEAP applications are currently open with a deadline of April 30.

As utility costs remain uncertain, understanding what assistance is available could be key for families trying to keep up with rising bills.

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Despite getting some much-needed moisture in the Pikes Peak region Thursday, warm and dry temperatures expected this weekend will likely keep fire risks high throughout El Paso County.

In eastern Colorado Springs, residents experience wildfires spreading from a different source than most of the city.

While many are familiar with the wildland urban interface, where the forest meets city neighborhoods, the Colorado Springs Fire Department introduced a new term last summer, the prairieland urban interface.

Out by Banning Lewis Ranch, this is the main fire risk homeowners face. Colorado Springs Fire Department Marshal Kris Cooper said vegetation in this part of town tends to dry up quicker than trees do further west.

"In the east side of town, there's all this undeveloped area," said Marshal Cooper.

It tends to be a bigger problem when a home backs up to these grassy, undeveloped spots.

"The challenge for most homeowners out east is the risk may not be on their specific property," said Marshal Cooper.

Krista West, who has lived in Banning Lewis Ranch for more than three years, refers to herself as a "fire nerd."

"You asked me what I put in my go bag all of these things," said West. "It's a very different environment out here. The last three years, I've seen wildfire smoke from my own home."

West said she interacted with firefighters professionally, which inspired her to go back to school to study grassland area fires.

"I interacted with a lot of firefighters professionally, and it inspired me to go back to school where I studied in part grassland area fires," said West.

She got to work on her own home to prepare for the risks.

"My husband and I started in that zero to five foot clearance area of our home removing anything that's flammable or combustible. We then made sure there were no additional plants or patio furniture which could easily catch fire," said West.

In spite of the work she and her neighbors have done, West said overall, this part of Colorado Springs could be doing more to protect their homes and those of neighbors.

Marshal Cooper said overall, the potential risk remains the same. But with so many homes close together next door to open prairie, West emphasizes the importance of neighbors helping each other out.

"Make sure you are hardening your structure, or making sure you're not building with materials that catch fire easily," said West.

Though West works from home, she said many of her neighbors commute long distances from the area.

The fire department said people who plan to be some distance from their home should abide by their Ready, Set, Go plan. Officials advise residents to have Peak Alerts on, keep a go bag in their car and monitor Red Flag Warnings.

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Police were investigating a situation at a Colorado Springs hospital on Thursday involving a bomb threat. A shelter-in-place order was issued for the surrounding area. As of 12:27 p.m., that shelter-in-place order has been lifted.

News5 started taking calls from viewers at Penrose Hospital in the area of N. Nevada Avenue and Jackson Street at about 10:45 a.m., concerned about the status of the hospital. A spokesperson with CommonSpirit confirmed they were under "controlled access" as of 11 a.m.

Police could only say the situation was tied to a potential bomb threat that has since been unfounded. Certain things, such as a crockpot, were flagged as potentially suspicious devices located near the parking garage but were not listed as part of the original threat.

"No one is allowed IN the hospital," a CommonSpirit Spokesperson wrote to News5 about what 'controlled access' is. "People can leave. We are limiting activity inside the hospital."

A shelter-in-place alert was issued at 11:07 a.m.

"The Colorado Springs Police Department has issued a SHELTER IN PLACE ORDER for 1 block north of Penrose Main Hospital between Cascade & Nevada due to LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITY near 2222 N Nevada Ave; Penrose Main," a notice from Peak Alerts reads. "SECURE your home/business and STAY AWAY from doors and windows. SHELTER in a safe place until further notice. You will receive an alert when the order is lifted."

Click here for a map of the impacted area.

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