Darryl Glenn is ready for questions. The El Paso County commissioner from District 1 will host a town hall meeting from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Black Forest Community Center, 12530 Black Forest Rd.

The meeting will provide residents with updated information and the opportunity to get answers on a variety of subjects. County engineer Andre’ Brackin will speak about transportation and infrastructure projects. County development services project manager Craig Dossey will give a presentation on gas and oil exploration.

Glenn will also speak about election and ballot questions, along with economic conditions and trends affecting the county budget.

The meeting will begin with presentations from the Black Forest Transportation Committee and the Black Forest Area citizens group working to establish the Log School Park.

Secretary of State Scott Gessler filed suit Tuesday against El Paso County Clerk & Recorder Wayne Williams, who canceled the county’s Democratic and American Constitution parties’ primaries Friday.

Gessler believes if any party has a primary, then all primaries must be conducted. Williams believes the 2009 law allows a Clerk to cancel a party’s primary election while still conducting another party’s primary. The Republican primary is June 26.

Williams said the county will save approximately $68,000 by canceling the primaries and he intends to spend that on “Ballot on Demand Printers to improve our Early Voting proess this November, which is a direct benefit to our citizens. We want to spend the resources for the election that matters — not on uncontested races where there is no decision to be made.”

Uncontested candidates in primaries advance to November’s general election whether there is a primary or not, Williams said.

Technical difficulties with Colorado’s Driver’s License system have made license renewals unavailable in El Paso County and through the state.

Because of the difficulties, none of the four branches of the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s Office can currently process driver’s license renewals, according to the office. The office anticipates that renewals may be unavailable through Tuesday.

While the county’s renewal system is not working, people can still renew their driver’s licenses online at www.colorado.gov/vroom/renewlicense. This system can take up to 30 days for a license renewal to arrive in the mail.

All other motor vehicle services offered by the county office, including vehicle registration and titling, remain available.

Colorado Sen. Mark Udall was in Colorado Springs April 9, partially to gather support for his bill that would add financial support for public shooting ranges.

Here’s the link to that day’s story … http://www.gazette.com/articles/money-136562-ranges-shooting.html

Good news for Udall is that he’s progressed to the point of getting a committee hearing for his bill. A link at the bottom shows how citizens can watch the hearing online at 8:15 a.m. on April 24.

Following is the press release from Sen. Udall’s office:

Thanks to over 5,200 Coloradans who signed a petition and others who shared personal stories backing Mark Udall’s bill to develop public shooting ranges. The Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act (S.1249) is scheduled to be heard at the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works’ (EPW) Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife on TUESDAY, April 24, 2012.  The measure would give states the flexibility to spend their already-allotted Pittman-Robertson funds to create or improve public shooting ranges.

In February, Udall called on Coloradans to voice their support for the bill; he delivered the signatures and wrote to committee leaders asking for a hearing to facilitate its passage through committee and to the Senate floor.  Last week, along with leaders in the shooting community, Udall held a press conference at a Colorado Springs range again urging Coloradans to sign his petition calling on the EPW subcommittee to hear his bill.

“I am pleased that the Committee on Environment and Public Works heard Coloradans’ call to hold a hearing on my bill to develop public shooting ranges,” Udall said. “Progress in Washington is not always easy, but this goes to show that Coloradans actively engaging in the process can make a difference. This hearing is a step in the right direction for a common-sense bill that expands opportunities for sportsmen and sportswomen to practice their sport without costing taxpayers a dime.”

Udall will attend the hearing to make remarks in support of his bill. The first panel of witnesses will feature Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Dan Ashe and Dr. James Anderson, the director of National Institutes of Health’s Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives.  The second panel will comprise Dr. Doug Inkley, a senior wildlife biologist at the National Wildlife Federation; Dr. Greg Schildwachter with Watershed Results LLC; and Dr. Martin Wasserman of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

This event will take place Tuesday, April 24