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.

DENVER — Despite the chill in the air Friday night, it’s quite heated at auditions for the 2013 Colorado Firefighter Calendar in Denver.

This is the calendar’s first major event since a financial scandal last fall forced the former organizer to step down.

The screams firefighters hear are usually for help–not this–ladies screaming and squealing with delight.

And usually firefighters battle smoke and flames–not each other.

“Whether I make it or whether I don’t, just being asked to do it is a great honor,” says Eric Pingel from Buckley AFB Fire Department.

These professional firefighters compete for one of 14 coveted spots in the 2013 Colorado Firefighter Calendar.

“Firefighters are all about helping people. If we can use our role as firefighters to promote fire safety and help Children’s Hospital, I think any of us would take advantage of the opportunity,” says Matt Zavala with Boulder Fire Department.