WET WINNERS

In the world of tap-water competitions, the Forest View Acres Water District, which serves just 282 homes in El Paso County, topped nine rivals in the Colorado Rural Water Association taste test this month.

Next stop: the national Great American Water Taste Test, starting May 1 in Washington.

It's anyone's guess how Forest View Acres would fare against Montpelier, Ohio, which took top honors for the third time in four years for Best Municipal Water in the Berkeley Springs (W.Va.) International Water Tasting.

Sources: The Gazette; Associated Press

MOURNING SHUTS ZOO

The Denver Zoo will be closed today in memory of Ashlee Pfaff, the employee killed Saturday by a jaguar. Staffers plan a private memorial on zoo grounds. The zoo will reopen at 10 a.m. Friday.

THEY SAID IT

"Voting 'yes' in committee doesn't mean I'm going to vote 'yes' when it gets to the floor."

State Rep. Cheri Jahn D-Wheat Ridge, on her planned committee vote for a bill to clarify the state's gift-ban law.

FARE NUMBERS

As RTD's stepped-up ticket-checking on light rail began Monday, the first day turned up just a handful of cheaters among several thousand riders checked.

86 first offenders' names will be added to a database to receive a summons for a second offense.

4 second offenders got summonses.

1 pass was confiscated because it had been altered for improper use.