| Commissioners approve renovations to Larimer County Justice Center
The county commissioners on Tuesday approved a proposal to renovate the Larimer County Justice Center in downtown Fort Collins to create courtroom and office space for three new judges. Renovation plans include adding more heating and air conditioning units to the building at 201 LaPorte Ave. The renovation is expected to cost up to $2.5 million.
Money for the project will come from a 0.2 percent sales tax that county voters approved in 1997 to build a new courthouse.
County officials hope to have the work completed by July, when the new judges are expected to come on board. .
Court orders ex-owner of Tougher Industries to pay business partners
ALBANY The former owner of Tougher Industries has lost the first of several federal court cases related to the near demise of the heating and air conditioning company. In Albany on Monday, U.S. District Court Senior Judge Lawrence Kahn ordered Steven Shaw to pay $100,000 plus interest to the three business partners from whom he bought Tougher in 2005. The judge also directed Shaw to deliver at least $1.65 million to a surety as collateral for certain bonding obligations. In November 2006 — about three weeks after Tougher filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Albany — Richard Abramo, Robert Brown and John Tomassetti sued Shaw over breach of contract allegations. Shaw and the trio of investors acquired the downtown Albany HVAC company — once one of the largest in the Northeast, with more than 200 employees — from PSEG Energy Technologies in 2003.
Contractor emerges as charity's Champion
Vandals destroyed the heater at the American Red Cross' headquarters on Sixth Street in Modesto last week, sending a shiver through the charity, but things began to warm up again Tuesday. Champion Industrial Contractors Inc. of Modesto donated the $2,500 deductible the Red Cross would have had to pay to replace the heating and air conditioning unit, said Rebecca Ciszek, executive director of the Red Cross's Stanislaus County chapter. Then the contractor installed a $5,702 replacement unit. The balance will be covered by insurance. By early afternoon, the place was heating up. "The classroom is nice and warm," Ciszek said about 1 p.m. "It took a little while because that room had been cold now for a week." The donation means the organization won't have to dig into its charity funds to fix the unit, Ciszek said.
Parish hopes to reopen improved office annex
ST. FRANCISVILLE — West Feliciana Parish Police Jury officials said Thursday they hope improvements made in recent weeks would allow them to reopen the parish’s courthouse annex Monday. Jury President Bert Babers and Parish Manager Ambrose Sims said the jury will monitor the air quality in the building through the weekend and again Monday morning. "All things being equal, we hope we can reopen Monday," Babers said after meeting with a consulting engineer the jury hired last month when workers in the building began complaining of illnesses. Investigations into possible causes for the illnesses showed a buildup of carbon dioxide in the building, as well as dirty ductwork in part of the building’s heating and air conditioning systems. A year ago, dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide made workers ill and forced the jury to close the building until the jury sealed an exterior opening in its boiler room wall near the boilers’ exhausts.
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