Updated at: 11/03/2009 11:24 PM

Non-profit Investigative News Operation to Launch

DENVER (AP) - A Denver public television station is planning a nonprofit investigative news operation with a Web site and on-air program.

KBDI-TV said this week it will launch the project when it raises an initial $400,000. A news release didn't set a target date. Wick Rowland, KBDI's president and CEO, says the project will ask for tax-deductible donations from community members, corporations and foundations - similar to the donor base for public television.

The operation will be called Colorado Public News. The editor-in-chief is Ann Imse, who was a reporter for the now-closed Rocky Mountain News. Rowland says the venture is in response to "the reduction of significant investigative journalism" nationally and locally.