Greta Anderson

Colorado Springs School District 11 will add 256 more slots for children in its preschools, an effort to address high demand for early care and education in the region ahead of Colorado’s state-funded preschool program launch in 2023. The district will open eight new preschool classrooms at its elementary schools — with two available as early as November — increasing its overall preschool space by 43 percent, according to an Oct. 20 press release from D11.

Becky Ellefson can’t help but feel like Westside CARES was forced out of the B Street commercial space that it and church partners rented and ran as a community pantry for more than a decade.

Parkview Health System will join UCHealth in 2023, and UCHealth plans to inject $200 million into the system over the next few years. The two health systems announced the plans in a news release Oct. 11. The $200 million investment in Parkview, which has hospitals and clinics in Pueblo, Cañon City and Colorado City, includes a $5 million donation to the Parkview Foundation to create a fund for patients, the Pueblo community and Parkview Medical Center, the system’s hospital.