DENVER — There’s at least one booming industry in Colorado right now, desperately looking for workers:  the construction industry.  After a decade of doldrums, Colorado construction is hot again. 

Between February 2011 and February 2012, the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield area added 6,300 construction jobs, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.  That’s more than anywhere else in the United States. 

Right now, about 137,000 Coloradans are working in construction.  Times are good.

“The first quarter of 2012, we will equal the construction volume and revenue that we had in all of 2011,” said David Sinkey, managing director for Boulder Creek Builders.  His company is hard at work developing the Steel Ranch neighborhood in Louisville.  But there’s a problem.  He can’t find enough construction workers.

DENVER – Denver Public Schools is asking the state to investigate possible cheating on the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) tests at two Denver elementary schools.

EdNewsColorado.org, a news website that covers education issues across the state, has identified the schools as Beach Court Elementary and Hallett Fundamental Academy.

The principals of both schools have been placed on paid administrative leave.

Beach Court has been among the district’s highest-performing, low-income schools for several years.

Small businesses in Colorado are getting a $17 million boost through two new capital access programs announced by Gov. John Hickenlooper, the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), and Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA).