Northern Exposure: Although questions still hover over funding for the Regional Transportation District’s FasTracks project, designs have been approved to begin on the north route, with tracks running from Denver to Thornton (Denver Business Journal).

ECAC Power: The University of Denver men’s lacrosse team is perhaps the hottest ticket in local sports right now. The Pioneers are heading into this weekend’s inaugural Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed and having never lost an ECAC game (DenverPioneers.com). Earlier this week, coach Bill Tierney was named ECAC coach of the year for the second consecutive season, and two DU players were named offensive player of the year and rookie of the year (Denver Post).

Credit Where It’s Due—and Not: Greeley’s Gary Faulkner believes he had a role in Osama bin Laden’s death—and it’s worth $25 million (7News). Oklahoma’s Fort Sill Apache tribe wants something, too: an apology from the White House for its use of the Apache warrior hero Geronimo as code for OBL (Associated Press).

The Google Vote: You may not be excited about the race for Denver mayor, but what about Northglenn’s Sara Reder and her shot at Doodle for Google (9News)? The 9-year-old is a regional finalist in the global kids’ competition to design a logo for the search engine (and win scholarship money). Voting begins tomorrow.

The Pot Wasn’t His: Former Denver Broncos quarterback Chris Simms was busted for driving while high on pot last July in New York City, but he took the case to court and a jury acquitted him. His defense? His buddy in the backseat was the stoner, not him (New York Post).

AJ Vicens contributed to this roundup.