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A Minnesota-based fresh produce distributor on Monday announced plans to expand into Colorado by opening a 163-worker processing and distribution center at the vacant former Mars/Doane building at the airport industrial park.

Russ Davis Wholesale, based in Wadena, Minn., plans to invest $8 million to $10 million to purchase the 125,000-square-foot building and ready and equip the site for operations by September.

Company executives detailed their plans at a jobs announcement Monday afternoon at the Lake Elizabeth pavilion at the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo.

The city of Pueblo offered the company a $2.6 million jobs incentive grant from its half-cent sales tax fund for economic development, which was approved by City Council later Monday.

Pueblo Community College will provide an estimated $130,400 in pre-employment training.

The jobs will pay an average wage of about $17 an hour, PEDCO officials said.

The company chose Pueblo for its available real estate and labor force as well as its centralized location as a launching point to the Mountain West market, Chief Executive Andy Gamble said.

“Colorado doesn’t currently have a company that does what we do and we feel that it is a great market for our business model,” he said in a statement prior to Monday’s event.

The Pueblo processing center will operate as a multipurpose center, Gamble said. The prospect for growth beyond the 163 jobs is strong.

Read more on the Chieftain!

The Pueblo area’s unemployment rate fell to a near record low of 3.5 percent in May.

The rate is a tick higher than the area’s modern-era low of 3.4 percent, set 18 years ago in May 2000, according to preliminary employment estimates released Friday by the state Department of Labor. The state’s current record keeping began in 1990.

The drop comes as Colorado and the nation also report the lowest jobless rates in decades.

The U.S. jobless rate fell to 3.8 percent last month.

Colorado’s rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 2.8 percent in May.

The state’s job market remained among the hottest in the nation with a solid 7,700 nonfarm payroll jobs added in May, the third time in four months for larger-than-usual job growth. The Fort Collins-Loveland area reported the state’s lowest jobless rate at 2 percent.

Pueblo’s primary job creation efforts also are finding success. Primary job employers bring so-called “new money” into a community by producing goods and services to sell to customers from outside of the area.

Last week, Midwest produce distributor and processor Russ Davis Wholesale announced plans to open a Pueblo plant and hire 163 or more workers starting in the fall.

Andy Gamble, chief executive of Minnesota-based Russ Davis Wholesale, said the company chose Pueblo for its expansion West in part for the available labor force and after passing on Denver metro area due to its crowded and costly real estate market.

At the same event, Pueblo Economic Development Corp. leaders said they expect more unspecified primary job announcements in coming months. PEDCO President Jeff Shaw has described interest in Pueblo among prospective employers as the strongest in years.

Read more from the Chieftain!

Xcel Energy has cut carbon emissions 35 percent since 2005 and expects to surpass 50 percent by 2022, largely by retiring aging coal plants and replacing them with renewable sources.

Xcel has announced the retirement of 20 coal units, accounting for 40 percent of its coal-powered capacity, from 2005 to 2026, including several in Colorado. To fill the gap, the company has invested heavily in wind-powered sources, and to a lesser degree solar, while also promoting energy conservation.

Last year, about 40 percent of the electricity Xcel supplied came from carbon-free sources, and half of that amount from wind. Besides reducing its carbon output, the company said emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides were down by more than 70 percent. It also has cut its water consumption by 40 percent.

Read the story in the Denver Post…

Here’s the full story about Xcel’s 2017 highlights and look into the future.

Hope to see you all there!

For the past three years, Heaton Middle School has been rated as a “certified” AVID School for its exemplary work in readying young Hawks for a productive and enriching life beyond middle school.

On Thursday, Heaton was rewarded for those years of dedication by being named an AVID Demonstration School. Nationwide, only about 170 schools — 2 percent — have reached this distinguished level.

Gordon Mosher, an official validator from AVID, was on hand Thursday to bestow the honor during an afternoon school-wide assembly.

Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID, is a curriculum designed to help students — especially those traditionally underrepresented in higher education — develop the skills to be successful in college.

Big congratulations for the District 60 middle school!

On Tuesday night a community meeting was held to discuss the future of PEDCO and what Pueblo residents want to see from the organization that uses their tax dollars to attract businesses.

About 50 people gathered at Saint Pius X Catholic Church.

Many came with ideas, but also a lot of questions: where is Pueblo headed? What is PEDCO doing to make it a better city?

Read the article about PEDCO’s first Town Hall of 2018 at KOAA.com!