The hidden costs of the great outdoors

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Good morning and happy Cyber Monday, the retail holiday named during that brief window of history when people actually disconnected from the internet during the Thanksgiving weekend and only did their online shopping when they got back to their in-person office jobs — where the good internet connection was.

Sure, I’ll admit it: I have a little bit of nostalgia for the days when disconnecting was as simple as not booting up the modem on the family computer (we need to keep the phone line open, after all). But one of the core goals we have here at The Sun — of which this very newsletter is a big part — is to provide readers a way to stay informed without being overwhelmed.

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Already a member? First of all, thank you. Second of all, you can amplify your membership by telling your newsy friends, family and coworkers about this sale before it ends tonight! (And if you’re doing a little holiday shopping today, the gift of a membership makes a great stocking stuffer, hint hint.)

We believe in the future of local news here at The Sun, and we hope you join us to help build it.

So let’s dial up this modem and get to today’s stories, shall we?

THE NEWS

HIGH COST OF COLORADO

Hiking in Colorado is free, but it’s not always cheap

Technically, hiking in Colorado is one of the last great activities one can engage in without a cover charge (and even that depends on where exactly in the state you want to hike). In the latest installment of our High Cost of Colorado series, reporter and resident super hiker Olivia Prentzel took a look at her own gear bag, made a money diary of a typical day hike and looked into the rising costs of everything from boots to permits to see just how much the great outdoors can cost these days.

READ MORE, LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

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SCHOOLS

Most of the Colorado school board candidates backed by teachers unions won their races this year

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The conservative push to take over school boards in Colorado this year mostly failed, echoing national trends, according to data analyzed by The Sun. And though voters expressed a strong desire to “get back to the basics” at schools, a contentious general election and messaging from presidential candidates could provide an opening next year, Erica Breunlin and Sandra Fish report.

READ MORE

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WATER

Want to test a theory on how to fix the Colorado River’s drought issues? There’s a model for that.

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The thing to know about water policy is that seemingly small changes can, fittingly, have big ripple effects for water use and the economy. For decades, increasingly complex models have been part of the planning process for the Colorado River Basin, but as Shannon Mullane reports, a new model is not just one of the most sophisticated ever created — it will soon have a user interface that will allow just about anyone to test out their own theories.

READ MORE

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MORE NEWS

• What a Colorado town of 600 residents plans to do with a $500,000 grant to attract visitors. In this week’s “What’s Working” column, reporter Tracy Ross digs into how San Luis will use a half-million-dollar grant to help the second-poorest county in the state become more economically viable.
• Joe Biden is coming to Colorado. He’ll be in the Denver area Tuesday and Pueblo on Wednesday. On the docket for the president is a fundraiser in Denver and a visit to the largest wind turbine tower factory in the world in Pueblo.

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Colorado Sunday

Gunnison elects first Cora Indian to city council, giving voice to community that lived mainly in the shadows

After Marisela Ballesteros, 26, is sworn in as a Gunnison city council member on Dec. 12, she hopes she can be a voice to people across the county, using English, Spanish and Cora languages to help those who are struggling.

Her win has landmark significance in Gunnison, which is believed to have the largest U.S. population of the Indigenous Cora people, who over decades have come to the Western Slope from an area in the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains of Nayarit state in Mexico.

READ MORE

THE COLORADO REPORT

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

• Denver isn’t complying with full settlement terms in police lawsuits, citizen oversight board says. A citizen watchdog board is calling for independent oversight of settlements in lawsuits involving Denver’s police and sheriff’s department after it says it found the city hasn’t complied with all of the non-monetary terms required by several high-profile agreements.
  — The Denver Post
• Ahead of the trial of paramedics charged in the death of Elijah McClain, Aurora Fire Rescue practices de-escalation. The anger around McClain’s death inspired Aurora Fire Rescue to treat critical incidents differently and in 2022, Aurora Fire Rescue and the state attorney general’s office entered a consent decree that requires the fire and rescue agency and police department to improve how they interact with the public.
  — Colorado Public Radio
• Part of a house slid down a mountain in Colorado. What did it take for a tow company to recover it in one piece? Mountain Recovery handles some of the trickiest tow missions in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, but this mission to save a modular home that slid off a cliff (and not damage it beyond repair) was one of the company’s hardest.
  — Summit Daily
• Amber waves of grain early glory for Colorado farmer who took first in national wheat yield contest. Marc Arnusch, who owns 5,000 acres in Keenesburg, beat the Weld County average yield by about 330%.
  — KUNC

THE OPINION PAGE

COLUMNS

• 5 big ways Coloradans could save money other than cutting property taxes. To make Colorado truly affordable, we need to build a robust middle class and start saving dollars instead of pinching pennies
  — Trish Zornio
• Tina Peters is not just suing her prosecutors, she is attacking democracy. Peters’ lawsuit follows the same pattern as other far-right leaders, including Donald Trump, in a relentless attack on the impartiality and independence of our nation’s judicial system
  — Mario Nicolais
• What can Democrats do about Joe Biden and his awful poll numbers? It may be too late to ask. If there’s anyone who can bail out Biden, it’s, of course, Donald Trump himself. He’s done it before, all after.
  — Mike Littwin

COMMUNITY

• Number of Colorado students who aren’t proficient readers is alarming, but a fix is out there. Colorado education officials should create a reading research center in conjunction with colleges to get to the core of the state’s literacy problems
  — Alfred W. Tatum, literacy researcher and professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver

The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy and submit columns, suggest writers or provide feedback at opinion@coloradosun.com.

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Oh, and also the Broncos somehow have a winning record heading into December. Yeah, I’m just as surprised as you are. See you tomorrow!

— Eric & the whole staff of The Sun