Neighbors in the Papeton community are coming together to transform the grounds of Edison Elementary School, installing garden beds designed to fight local food insecurity and teach students about growing fresh produce all made possible by a last-minute $5,000 grant from Sprouts.

Watch Liv Wood's report in the video player below: Community rallies around Edison Elementary with garden bed build

The original plan was modest: install just two garden beds each year. But after PTA Vice President and garden manager Sarah Hernandez applied for the grant at the last minute, the entire vision became a reality at once.

"Thank God we did because we were able to get the full $5,000 and so we're here with 10 extra garden beds to do the whole full garden that we planned," Hernandez said.

As a Title One school, Edison Elementary faces unique challenges in securing funding.

"It's free and reduced lunch, poverty level, and so we do everything that we can to support our families and our community," said Edison Elementary School principal Robin Moore.

But for Hernandez, the garden was never just about the money it was about meeting a deeper need in the community.

"We wanted to find a way to help feed the community because there were a few months where there was food insecurity and a lot of people hitting up food pantries. So we just wanted to make sure that, like, we could grow fresh produce so that they'd have healthy food," Hernandez said.

The garden also doubles as an outdoor classroom, where students are learning how ecosystems support each other.

"We also taught the kids about how having flowers in a garden is good, that actually helps bring beneficial insects and also keep away the insects that want to eat all of the fruits and vegetable," Hernandez said.

One of the students learning about gardening and plants is Hernandez's son.

"We were a little late getting planting season started last spring, but we're gonna be running and going on the 3rd grade class; that's where Sarah's son was in 3rd grade last year," Moore said. "It's kind of their project, and now that they're 4th graders, this will kind of be their legacy project until they leave, so that's exciting for them."

When the supplies arrived and the work began, the community showed up no questions asked.

"It's just nice actually seeing everybody helping, and it's really cool seeing that there's more community than we thought," Hernandez said.

Moore said the response was no surprise.

"I really believe when we do need something, and we put the word out, people do respond here because they believe in our school, they believe in our kids, they love our teachers," Moore said.

The outpouring of support left the project's organizer overwhelmed with emotion.

"It is truly amazing, and it kind of makes me wanna cry a little bit because I didn't expect as many people to show up," Hernandez said.

The school is always looking for donations and help from the community. Hernandez said she is now hoping to get a fence installed to finish the project.

Mahjong, a tile-based game, is building a fast-growing following in Central Springs and for many players, what happens around the table goes far beyond the game itself.

Front Range Mahjong, a local organization, hosts open play events that have expanded dramatically since they first launched. Owner Courtney Schreier says she remembers the group's very first open play event.

News5 reporter Liv Wood has more on the impact mahjong is having in Central Springs in the video below:

Mahjong is bringing people together one round at a time

"We had 4 tables at Kinship Landing, and now we have, we have 11, so it's grown so much in the last year," Courtney Schreier said, "I think mahjong is just a great way to get off your phone and talk to people, and it's a very tactile game, and I think that's something that's really cool about it."

The organization plays at many locations all around Colorado Springs including The Brit Pub, Kinship Landing, Bristol Brewing Comapny, and Carboy Winery to name a few. They have intro classes, tournament practice, and open play sessions for all skill levels. They provide all the equipment including tiles, racks, mats, and beginner guides so people can focus on playing and connecting with others.

The game itself, which involves swapping tiles to achieve the right pattern, has a little bit of everything, according to player Sandy Halby.

"It's a little bit of chance, a little bit of gambling, a little bit of almost poker-like experience," Halby said.

But for many players, it's the social connections the game creates that matter most.

"It just brings all these people together. You get to meet new people," Halby said.

Fellow player Pamela Walsh says there is something especially rewarding about watching a newcomer catch on.

"You can see somebody at the beginning being so confused thinking, 'how am I ever gonna do this?' and then that moment where it clicks for them and then they're like they are off and running," Walsh said.

For Walsh, mahjong offers a kind of connection that can't be found just anywhere.

"It's just a way to connect with other people that is um very magical in my opinion and I've met some wonderful people that I never would have met any other way," Walsh said.

The game's popularity is growing so quickly that Walsh says supplies are struggling to keep up.

"It has experienced a resurgence in popularity. It's really hard to get tiles now," Walsh said.

Halby says the friendships formed over mahjong can last a lifetime.

"It's great for your social interaction and I love the game and I love the friends that I've made through the game," Halby said.

And for those who make it to a winning round, there's one moment that never gets old.

"There's nothing like that first time you get to say, 'mahjong!'" Walsh said.

Colorado Springs Utilities is switching from summer to winter electricity pricing today, bringing a nearly 50% drop in on-peak electricity rates for residents and businesses across the city.

The utility provider says the average residential customer pays about five percent less on electricity during winter months. The on-peak rate the premium customers pay during high-demand hours drops from 29 cents in the summer to 15 cents in the winter. On-peak hours will continue to run weekdays from 5 to 9 p.m.

The rate change applies to homeowners, renters, and business owners alike.

Watch the Full Story Below

The timing comes as many Colorado Springs residents are already feeling squeezed. Gas prices are straining budgets, and grocery bills remain elevated.

"Every day I go to the grocery store and I realize that from a year ago my bills have jumped 50%, possibly 30%, you know, and that it weighs on me," Kevin Smith said.

Despite those pressures, Smith, a homeowner in the Papeton neighborhood, said the lower utility rates signal that Colorado Springs Utilities understands what its customers are going through.

"It feels like Colorado Springs Utilities is reading the room and understanding that affordability is affecting all of us," Smith said.

Renter Andy Dolan has also felt the weight of rising utility costs. He said he has had to adjust his daily routine to keep his bills in check.

"We unplugged the microwave we used to use, um, just because we weren't using it," Dolan said.

Each month, the arrival of a utility bill brings its own kind of anxiety.

"Every month, it's kind of like, oh I hope it's not gonna go over what we can afford," Dolan said.

While the lower winter rate is a step in the right direction, Dolan said he wants to see the savings on an actual bill before he gets his hopes up.

"I'll believe it when I see it. I just don't think it's going to go down enough to where I'm going to be like, oh, great. Now, I get some extra money to get groceries for me and my father," Dolan said.

He's also already thinking about what happens when summer rolls back around.

"They might cut it down for the winter months, which, yeah, that's great, but if you're just going to jack it back up in the summer when we really need it, I just don't see how it's going to help your average citizen," Dolan said.

Business owners are also in line for relief.

Aubrey Day, co-owner of Bread and Butter Neighborhood Market, said the seasonal drop in rates is especially welcome after a difficult summer. The store's coolers run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and the summer heat meant frequent, costly repair calls just to keep food cold.

"We had a lot of repair issues and having to have our guy constantly come out and work on them just to keep the food cool with the hot temperatures and so in that way we also are always happy about the cooler weather because it's just easier on our equipment as well, so it's a, it's a double bonus. You get the cooler weather and the lower rates that's helpful for us," Day said.

Day said the market's utility bill ran between $1,400 and $1,600 per month during the summer.

"We have pretty high usage here and that's part of running a business like this," Day said.

Even for those with far lower monthly bills, or at least lower than $1,000 a month, any savings are a welcome sight.

"When I see savings anywhere, especially from our utility company, I'm appreciative," Smith said.

Parent caregivers in Colorado say they are alarmed by discussions of potential cuts or reductions to a Medicaid program called Community First Choice, or CFC a program they say is essential to keeping their families stable and their children healthy.

The concerns surfaced after a Medicaid Commission meeting earlier this month, where parents said they heard two senators on the Joint Budget Committee raise the possibility of changes to the program.

Jo Remund, a parent caregiver, said she attended the entire nine-hour meeting.

Watch Jo Remund's Story in the Video Player Below Colorado parents fear cuts to Medicaid's Community First Choice program

"I was absolutely just floored. I was floored. They said the quiet thing out loud. That families like mine don't matter," Remund said.

CFC allows the state to provide certain home and community-based services to eligible Medicaid members, including personal care services and homemaker services. For families like Remund's, those services are woven into the fabric of daily life.

"I mean it sounds like that's a normal thing for parents to do, but when it comes to my 8-year-old, it's just so much more and it is a consistent reminder, it is a consistent hands-on for 2 hours before we go to school," Remund said.

She said she has to help her son tie his shoes, button his shirts, brush his teeth, and many other tasks.

Krystal Edwards said the program has been critical to the development of her 10-year-old son, Jude, who receives speech therapy and occupational therapy at home twice a week.

"When we look at our life and him as an individual in our family. We weigh very heavy on the fact that he does have these services. It's the amount of therapy and the growth that we are seeing in him as an individual? Just watching him blossom is incredible," Edwards said.

The family also relies on the CFC program to keep Jude integrated into the community.

"We are always out in the community with him we are out doing concerts, we went to the CU Boulder game. It's constant because you want them to feel normal, or as normal as they can. You don't want them to see that disability," Edwards said.

But community connector hours have already been reduced. Edwards said her family went from receiving 10 to 12 hours to just 5.

And Remund said she also faced cuts to her hours for protective oversight. Her daughter has severe mental health issues and needs attention to ensure her safety.

"I used to have 7 hours a day of protective oversight for my 15-year-old, which was so needed because it wasn't just the morning, it was also after school. It was also during school. It was also overnight. The amount of times where I had to lay next to her door to make sure that she was not getting up in the middle of the night to go and find something to harm herself is insane," Remund said, "When we had our reevaluation, they said, listen, I'm so sorry, but you are only going to get 1 hour a day of protective oversight. One hour a day? Are you kidding me?"

For Jinny Arrington, who lives on the Western Slope four hours from the nearest children's hospital the services are a lifeline.

"I don't know how we would stay out of the hospital in all honesty. I would see us having to need higher level of care, and it's really difficult because here on the western slope, we're so far," Arrington said.

At the Medicaid Commission meeting, the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, known as HCPF, shared a document about the growth of the CFC program. The document states that when CFC was implemented in 2025, the department projected $45 million in general fund savings, but that "actual experience has differed from those assumptions. As a result, the addition federal funding available through CFC has not been sufficient to offset the increased spending."

As we work to address the growth in expenditures and bring spending in line with the budget the legislature has appropriated to HCPF, we will be guided by the core commitment to protect the health and safety of members. The Department is focusing its work in four areas: <ul class="rte2-style-ul" style="list-style-type: disc"><li>Driving administrative efficiencies</li><li>Aligning benefits and services to maximize impact and value</li><li>Ensuring program integrity and fiscal accountability</li><li>Maximizing federal and non-general fund resources</li></ul>

The department said no cuts have been finalized for the upcoming fiscal year. Governor Polis' 2027/2028 proposed budget for the state will be released November 1, 2026.

But parent caregivers say the uncertainty alone is frightening. Remund said if the program were eliminated entirely, the consequences for her family would be severe.

"I will be making $0. That literally will leave me and my two children homeless because I will not have money. I will not have money because I cannot go and get a normal 9 to 5 like anybody else," Remund said.

She said she is always on call if something were to happen to either her daughter or son while they are at school.

"How in the world am I going to manage that? Because the need is still there. It doesn't go away," Remund said.

Edwards said the stakes extend beyond her own family.

"You've got people like me who are like, oh no, I've got to go back to work in order to support the family. Where does that leave Jude? Where does that leave him? Where does that leave all these individuals who are in these needs?" Edwards said.

Edwards said she often gets calls to pick up her son, Jude, early from school. He has sleep apnea, and she said he is almost always in the red or yellow zone.

Arrington said she hopes decision-makers will see the human cost of any reductions.

"I think there's a lot of work that needs done. I personally don't even know where to start. I just hope that they can see us as people, rather than a budget item," Arrington said.