According to information presented at the January 2013 Advisory Board meeting of the Northeast East Central Colorado Small Business Development Center (NEECCO SBDC), small businesses in Weld County are growing and thriving.

According to Richard Pickett, executive director of the SBDC, the Northeast East Central Region, to which Weld County belongs, realized $17,582,840 in capital formation in 2012.

DENVER — A man who was being deported to Gambia escaped just after arriving at Denver International Airport Tuesday morning and he was still on the run several hours later.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman says two officers were escorting 25-year-old Phoday Dumbuya when he escaped from them at 8:30 a.m.

ICE officers launched a search right away, and asked other law enforcement at the airport for help according to a statement.

Officials describe Dumbuya as a black male, 6’1″ tall who weighs 175 pounds.

He received two years probation for an assault conviction in Denver in 2008.

No information about his immigration case was released.

Anyone with information about his whereabouts can call ICE at 720-873-2828.

The Weld County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution on Wednesday, January 16, 2013, calling upon the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) to dismiss its recent decision to increase setbacks for oil and gas facilities and to convene “a meaningful stakeholder process that will consider the need for a close working and coordinating relationship between local governments and the COGCC…”

The resolution cities numerous issues with the COGCC rule-making process including: the lack of stakeholder outreach by the COGCC to the Local Governmental Designees (LGD’s) of three of the highest producing counties in the state, including Weld County; the violation of C.R.S. 24-4-103(4)(a) regarding the rule-making process of the COGCC ruling; and the underestimation of the comparison of the probable costs and benefits of the proposed rule to the probable costs and benefits of inaction as is also required by Colorado Revised Statue (C.R.S.