The Sunriser | Another rural news outlet prints final edition

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Good morning and happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! It may still be below zero in the metro area, but Denver’s annual Marade down Colfax is still happening (with a few schedule changes).

Whether you’re bundling up for a day of service or staying warm and toasty at home, we have a full weekend’s worth of news to catch up on.

But before we dive in, here’s a reminder to come watch our free High Cost of Colorado event tomorrow on YouTube. Click here to RSVP and submit a question for reporters Jennifer Brown and Michael Booth and their panel of economic experts as they discuss why everything is so dang expensive in Colorado. The panel airs at 6 p.m. Tuesday and includes a live chat with the panelists. It’s going to be a fascinating one, so don’t miss out!

OK, I think I’m almost thawed out, so let’s get into the news, shall we?

THE NEWS

JOURNALISM

In southwestern Colorado, another publication succumbs to economics and prints its final edition

The Four Corners Free Press, an alternative monthly based in Cortez that served up award-winning news coverage, a wide range of editorial voices and even a popular police blotter, will publish its final edition this weekend, ending a 20-year run and becoming another casualty in the decline of rural print publications. Kevin Simpson has the whole story.

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POLITICS

A lot of people want to run for office in Colorado this year. Here’s what it takes to actually get on the ballot.

The starter’s pistol has fired for the 2024 general election as this week is the first time candidates for state offices can begin gathering petition signatures. In this excellent explainer, Sandra Fish breaks down the process and deadlines for people wanting to run for office.

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HEALTH

In Colorado’s fourth pandemic winter, examining one of COVID’s “fascinating and beguiling” patterns

Every year since 2020, the state’s peak for COVID-related hospitalizations has happened in the second-to-last week of November. That turnaround is specific enough that the state’s epidemiologists aren’t treating it as a random pattern. Reporter John Ingold has more on the current state of COVID in Colorado — and what we still don’t know about the virus four years later.

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• Colorado’s rural hospitals are caught in an aging-infrastructure conundrum. Surgeries bring in money for rural hospitals, but hospital administrators are stuck in a Catch-22 as facilities age and they are unable to raise funds to remain surgery-ready. Markian Hawryluk with KFF Health News has more.

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ECONOMY

Colorado’s arts budget hasn’t budged in 10 years. This year, it could more than double.

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In this week’s “What’s Working” column, Parker Yamasaki and Tamara Chuang explore why Colorado has slipped to the 46th-lowest spot for state funding of the arts — and what a one-time $3 million infusion proposed by Gov. Jared Polis could do.

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MORE NEWS

• Cost to repair damage to Colorado Supreme Court building estimated at $35 million. “It is a disaster recovery site and not a workplace at the current moment,” State Court Administrator Steven Vasconcellos told lawmakers last week. Olivia Prentzel has more on the incident, in which a man allegedly broke into the building and set a fire that triggered the sprinkler system and caused extensive flooding damage.
• Two children, man found dead in apparent murder-suicide in tiny Routt County town. The deaths of James “Jake” Hill and the two children, ages 3 and 7, were being investigated as murder and suicide, according to a news release from the Routt County Sheriff’s Office.
• 10 cars buried, no injuries after avalanche hits Berthoud Pass as storm continues to pound Colorado mountains. As of this writing Monday morning, Berthoud Pass is still closed because of ongoing avalanche danger.

COLORADO SUNDAY

After “Snowpocalypse” killed their power, Silverton is turning on microgrids

There was a total whiteout, snow blowing sideways and two mountain passes on U.S. 550 were closed during the “Snowpocalypse” last year, cutting off the high mountain town of Silverton. Now, San Miguel Power is using community-sized solar grids to keep the lights on in some of Colorado’s most remote towns during some of the biggest storms.

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THE COLORADO REPORT

• El Paso County firefighters tried to reduce the fire risks at encampments. The effort went up in smoke. Without greater cooperation from the county in enforcing fire code violations or greater authority given to fire officials, the Colorado Springs Fire Department could only watch as fire hazards grew.
  — Colorado Public Radio
• Concerns over gas smell light up 911 boards across Denver metro. Temperature inversions can trap odors and meters can sometimes “burp” gas to regulate pressure, South Metro Fire said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
  — Denver 7
• Coloradan becomes a master cicerone, a rare beer title held by just 28 people in the world. To get to the final level, Patrick Combs, of Stem Ciders, had to have an “encyclopedic knowledge” of every aspect of beer, from styles, flavors and ingredients, to brewing and serving processes, and from how to troubleshoot draft systems to properly pairing beer with food.
  — The Denver Post

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

THE OPINION PAGE

COLUMNS

• Will Colorado GOP musical chairs bring rational candidates back or pull the seat out from the party forever? With three open congressional seats across Colorado drawing plenty of challengers, the choice for the party’s future is stark.
  — Mario Nicolais
• On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, it’s pretty obvious that Republicans have blown it once again. In the words of Chris Christie, if Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis refuse to call Donald Trump unfit for office, then they are unfit, too.
  — Mike Littwin

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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Hope everyone stays warm, takes a moment to read “Letter from Birmingham Jail” one more time and has a great day. See you back here tomorrow!

— Eric and the whole staff of The Sun

Corrections & Clarifications

Notice something wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical responsibility to fix all factual errors. Request a correction by emailing corrections@coloradosun.com.

Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.