 Good evening. I'm Herman Hansen. And if I had a pet turkey, I'd name him... And I'm a random lure. And this is Puppet News. These are this week's stories. The economy is slowly improving in rural parts of 10 plains in western states. But employment remains below the level it was at before the coronavirus pandemic began last year, according to a new monthly survey of bankers released Thursday. The overall index for the region increased to 53.8 in February from January's 52. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy, while a score below 50 suggests a shrinking economy. Crichton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, said the number of jobs in the region is down roughly 146,000, or 3.3% from the level it was at before the pandemic began. The surveys hiring index hit 51.9 in February, up from January's week 56 to suggest businesses are now hiring, but Goss said it will take several months of steady growth to get back to pre-COVID-19 levels. The bankers surveyed are optimistic about the economy as grain prices and exports continue to increase. The survey's confidence index increased to 64 in February from January's 60. Goss said the Federal Reserve's current record low short-term interest rates are also helping the economy. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming were surveyed. Llama Public Safety's use of force policies generally got good reviews from City Council Tuesday night, as did the decision last year to quit using the sedative ketamine on suspects who were showing signs of severe agitation. Llama Fire received a waiver from the Colorado Department of Health and Environment to use ketamine in early 2018, but suspended its use in September. Rob Spinlow, Llama's active Public Safety Chief, told Council during a study session. The waiver required the jug's use only by highly trained personnel and under specific conditions, and each time ketamine was used came under direct review by Public Safety Department Medical Director, Dr. Julie Krell Hall, according to the Deputy Police Chief, Jeff Satter. To date, there have been no adverse effects, outcomes, as the result of ketamine administration with the Llama EMS system, Satter said last week via email. Ketamine was administered 68 times to manage pain and 25 times for suspects exhibiting agitated delirium, Spinlow said Tuesday. Llama quit using ketamine on the advice of Krell Hall after the July 2019 death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain in Aurora. Ketamine was used on McClain while he was being handcuffed by police. McClain died of a heart attack while he was transferred to a local hospital. Some medical experts say ketamine should not be used while a suspect is handcuffed and on the ground. Media scrutiny on the uses of ketamine on suspects prompted Llama to shelve its use, Spinlow told Council Tuesday. The decision was praised by Councilwoman Polly Christensen who said agitated delirium is not a good excuse to use ketamine. Christensen said she asked for a council review of the city's use of forced policies to show the public that Llama police are well trained in handling difficult situations. I wanted our community reassured they are thoughtful and careful, she said. Once school is done for the day, 10-year-old Iramadul Ali rushes home to change out of his uniform so he can start his job as a scavenger in India's remote northeast. Armed with a gunny sack, he goes to a landfill in the slums of Gahadi, the capital of Assam state. Here he hunts through heaps of other people's garbage, searching for plastic bottles, glass, or anything salvageable he can recycle or sell. Around him, cows graze on the mountains of waste that line the site. Ali comes from a family of scavengers, or rag pickers. His mother, father, and elder brother all earn their income through it. He started doing it over a year ago to help his family make more money. The family was hit hard last year by the COVID-19 pandemic, as they couldn't go to the landfill and sift through garbage for things to sell. They struggled during months-long lockdown in India, but were able to get food through the help of aid organizations. Ali says he doesn't want to spend his life doing this, but he doesn't know what the future holds. I went to continue to go to school and would like to be a rich man, he said. Here ends up to 100 rupees, that is about $1.30, a day while the rest of his family makes about 250 rupees, that's $3.30 each. It's very difficult to run a family by rag picking, said Ali's mother Anuwara Begum. Scavenging is filthy and dangerous work. While there is no exact count, aid groups say around 4 million people in India work as scavengers. It is effectively the primary recycling system in the country, but the work is not environmentally friendly. Those who do it have few rights and are exposed to deadly poisons every day. India's last census in 2011 put the total number of child laborers between the ages of 5 and 14, including scavengers at about 10 million. No one was hurt Monday in a fire at the countryside village modular home community. Longmont Fire Services responded to the community at 11.09 a.m. Monday and found a home heavily involved in fire with smoke and flames coming from a residence, according to police reports. The homeowner was able to evacuate himself and his family to safety. The fire was contained within minutes, according to the post, but firefighters remained on scene for several hours, putting out hotspots and making sure the fire was completely extinguished. A GoFundMe fundraising campaign has been set out to help the family. Another GoFundMe page also started for the family states the fire was started after the homeowner attempted to thaw frozen pipes and that the home is a complete loss. In the Facebook post, authorities asked people not to use any kind of flame or torch to thaw frozen pipes. A hairdryer can be used if necessary or call a professional to help with a frozen pipe issue. Well, the abs are at it again. How about those Broncos? And now for sports. For generations, the historic handy chapel has welcomed visitors in need, offering food and shelter to anyone who asks. But because of the pandemic, regular services have been suspended for the safety of many of the chapel's elderly members. Nowadays, the chapel is quiet. That was until Dolores Cheney, caretaker and descendant of one of the chapel's original builders, broke out in song. Cheney shared many memories of the chapel, reminiscing of her time singing as a child in the choir. I was sitting somewhere in this area. The reverend told me, sister sing that song about Jesus loves me, Cheney said. Although Sunday services have ceased and the booming energy of the choir is no longer heard, the glorifying charm of the chapel can still be felt through its historic walls. Handy Chapel was built in 1892. The land for the chapel was deeded in 1883 by Grand Junction's founder George A. Crawford. Also noteworthy is that the deed was not made out to an individual person or organization, but to the Black residents of Grand Junction. It took nine years for the community to raise the $962.50 needed to build the chapel. Builders learned to be innovative, doing the best they could with limited materials, working to ensure the building would stand the test of time. That original deed has never been sold or transferred. In the late 1970s, according to Colorado Encyclopedia, the Rocky Mountain Conference of the AME Church attempted to sell the property. The congregation filed a lawsuit saying the Rocky Mountain Conference could not sell the building because they did not own it. In 1981, a judge sided with the congregation of Handy Chapel, ruling that the original deed still applied and that the chapel had to establish a trust committee of Black citizens to make sure the chapel was maintained for the charitable and religious use of the city's Black residents. Josephine Dickey, Cheney's grandmother, was named the chapel's first official chairman of the Board of Trustees. Their family has since welcomed all walks of life into the chapel, including Harry Butler, a former Grand Junction City Council member and District 51 board member, who led services at the chapel for several years. Renovations have helped to keep the chapel intact and energy efficient. Original materials are preserved whenever possible. The Sunday schoolroom shows its age in the original red brick wall. Grandma would rub her hand over the brick, saying, my great-great-grandfather may have laid these bricks. Doing that now is such a feeling of pride. Cheney recalled as she touched the wall herself. While the brick wall still stands strong, other areas around the chapel hint to the age and deteriorating integrity of its foundation, such as visible cracks along windows and doorways. The nearly 130-year-old building is the oldest chapel building in Grand Junction. In 1994, the chapel was added to the National Register of Historic Places. According to Cheney, the upkeep of the chapel will be a big concern in the future when they can allow the Sunday service to meet again. Without constant attention, old buildings like Handy Chapel can quickly fall behind. Longmont appears ready to spend $930,000 to buy a little more than 19 acres of land to provide a security buffer for the city's water supply while also preserving a group of historical buildings. The money would purchase the D.E. Montgomery Estate adjacent to the city's Nelson Flanders Water Treatment Plant. Larry Ueno, engineering administrator with the Public Works and Natural Resources told City Council during a work session Tuesday night. Yeno, speaking during the virtual meeting, said the Montgomery parcel would help shield the water treatment plant from trespassers who may want to harm the city's water system. The location of the Nelson Flanders Plant is easy to access by the public. It's just hard to secure that site at its current location. Yeno said, if acquired, the parcel would give the city more control over the Nelson Flanders Plant site, including during its planned expansion, he said. The expansion is being paid for by an $80 million bond issue approved by voters in November. As part of the expansion, the city wants to run a transmission line and place a storage tank on the Montgomery Estate parcel. And that's all we have time for. For Puppet News, I'm Herman Hechting. And I'm Aranda Ler. Good night.