Michelle Beckmann's Page

Two Academy Blvd. retail centers reel from multiple blows

A decade or so ago, the Rustic Hills Shopping Center had gotten a new lease on life. Now it and its neighbor across the street, Rustic Hills North, are largely empty — the victims of changing demographics, shifting retail, building design and...

Harpist tries to calm kids' minds at middle school

Kimberly Opfer is trying to find out whether music can soothe the savage middle-schooler. So far so good. For the past month, Opfer, who teaches eighth-grade technology classes at Carmel Middle School has been strumming away on her harp every...

Surviving meth: Local dads win back their lives, their kids

On a recent day in the late afternoon, Todd Meyer is deep in conversation with a visitor, and his two young children are hungry. Because he wants to finish the train of thought, he turns to a third adult in the room — his next-door neighbor Justin...

Colorado makes first cut for millions in federal education funds

DENVER — Colorado is among 16 finalists in the national competition for millions of dollars in federal education funding, the only Western state to make the first cut in the Obama administration’s “Race to the Top” initiative. Thursday’s...

19-year-old hailed as hero for saving kids who fell through ice

A man walking along Prospect Lake in Memorial Park on Tuesday afternoon is being credited with saving two children who fell through the melting ice into the frigid waters. Welvin Washington, 19, said he was walking along the lake's northern shoreline...