The fraud was very clever. A counterfeit cashiers check for $4.8 million looking for all the world like the real thing, with coding designed to cause the check to hang up in the Federal Reserve's check clearing system long enough for the thieves to wire transfer real money to offshore banks. Jack McConnell, a fifty-six year old Colorado Springs lawyer who'd rather be fly fishing in the rivers and lakes of Colorado than practicing law, is called upon by longtime client, Front Street Bank, to find the thieves and put the money back in its customer's account before the bank is sued or, worse,...

The origins of Colorado place names offer insightful glimpses into the state's formative years. Emanuel Saltiel named his new community along the Arkansas River Cotopaxi, after a volcano in Ecuador. Rifle Creek and the town of Rifle earned their names thanks to a rifle left behind along the banks of the creek. Optimistic miners mistakenly believed Tarryall had an abundance of gold and thus named it as a place where prospectors could mine and tarry. And despite attempts by government officials to rename a small community along the I-70 corridor in western Colorado, locals refused to call it...