Search and rescue teams on Wednesday used an avalanche-search dog to find the body of a snowmobiler buried in a large slide in the Never Summer Mountains of northern Colorado. His death brings the total number of people killed in avalanches in Colorado so far this season to 11, equal to the number who died […]

Dana Coffield
Dana Coffield is a Colorado native who became a journalist because of an outsized appetite for knowledge. On the quest, she has worked as an editor and reporter at a variety of publications along the Front Range ranging in size from the Rocky Mountain News to the Louisville Times.
Prior to helping start The Sun she was senior editor for News at The Denver Post, where she directed coverage of the Aurora theater shooting that led to the Post’s 2013 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. Sadly, it was her second shared Pulitzer for a gun massacre.
Coffield also did stints at The Associated Press and a couple of trade publications, where she developed a keen understanding of telecommunications infrastructure and organic food. She lives in Lafayette, in a historic home rescued from demolition, with her husband, a bee hive, chickens and a fresh cocker spaniel puppy.
Topic expertise: Business, environment, outdoor recreation
Location: Lafayette
Newsletter: Colorado Sunday, the best in Colorado news at a slower pace, with thoughtful articles, unique adventures and a reading list that’s a perfect fit for a Sunday morning
Education: I earned a bachelor's degree from Brandeis University and a MSJ from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and dabbled in make-up credits at the University of Colorado.
Honors & Awards: 2013 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news (shared)
Contact:
X (Formerly Twitter): @danacoffield
Two of three teens arrested in fatal northeast Denver fire will face adult murder charges
Two of the three teenage boys accused of murder related to a house fire that killed five members of a family in northeast Denver last summer will be tried as adults and Denver’s district attorney is asking for the case of a third defendant to be moved from juvenile court. Denver District Attorney Beth McCann […]
East Troublesome fire held in Rocky Mountain National Park; two deaths confirmed
Firefighters attempting to protect the town of Estes Park from the fast-moving East Troublesome fire on Saturday kept the flames within the road system in Rocky Mountain National Park. Heavy snow is in the forecast for Saturday night, but federal incident commander Noel Livingston said there was significant growth in what is now known as […]
Sunriser: Students, lawmakers, homeless prep for coronavirus / Skiers dig liftless resort / Telluride turns down noise / + more
Compiled by Dana Coffield, dana@coloradosun.comSenior Editor, @danacoffield For better or for worse, journalists tend to have a poor sense of self-preservation in times of crisis. This is probably why after teaching my last in-person class of the semester at the University of Colorado Thursday morning, I went to the Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Cafe to […]
Gas tax battle playing at the pump / Bennet’s presidential bid deconstructed / Targeting high drug costs / Conservation land eyed for housing / more
Compiled by Jen Brown, jennifer@coloradosun.com (and Dana Coffield, dana@coloradosun.com)Co-founders Fluffy snow on top of crunchy snow on top of frozen tire ruts in my cul-de-sac made me feel like I needed extra momentum when I backed out of the garage the last few days. That’s how I came to shoot out of there yesterday and […]
Drug-mule spotting on I-70 / Chairlift-free ski area opening / Pumping brakes on wolves / Bloomberg’s big money in Colorado / more
Compiled by Dana Coffield, dana@coloradosun.comSenior Editor, @danacoffield Happy Monday, friends! You had a solid weekend, right, and spent at least a couple of minutes enjoying the outdoors? Bees flying around one of two hives in my yard Saturday afternoon tricked me into thinking that a day of 50-plus temps indicated spring was really afoot. Of […]
Sunriser: Breaking “faithless electors” news / Why ER bills vary so much / Hick’s ripples in Senate race / Two to watch in the Colorado Classic / and much more
Compiled by Dana Coffield, dana@coloradosun.comSenior Editor, @danacoffield Some days things are moving so fast, I feel like I’m hanging on for my professional life. But then I look out the window from my desk on the 14th floor of the historic Petroleum Building and see people dangling from the Capitol cupola and think “Oh. Everything […]
Sunriser: The state’s mourner in chief; debating electric-vehicle rules; the real cost of care in Colorado; and why Axl Rose is mad at Oskar Blues
Compiled by Dana Coffield, dana@coloradosun.comSenior Editor, @danacoffield What an insanely glorious weekend we had after an insane weather week. I’m probably not the only one who spent less time indoors than out on Saturday and Sunday. My days were dedicated to reacquainting myself with the lovely community that is my block. While we checked for […]
Sunriser: All the water you can drink, if you can drink it; Colorado EV laws get makeover; 8 statehouse moments that made a difference and much more
Compiled by Dana Coffield, dana@coloradosun.comSenior Editor, @danacoffield Hi friends. Pardon the interruption from your regularly scheduled newsletter wrangler. I wish I could say that Eric is off doing something insanely fun, but no, we’ve dispatched him for the next couple of weeks to resolve some nagging barriers to our future. If you want to be […]
16 weeks and counting … on you
Be the change. The phrase has probably gotten more mileage lately than it has in a long time, scrawled in graffiti, plastered on bumpers, written on signs hoisted above throngs of (insert favorite affinity group here) marching for cause — enough mileage that their power has begun to diminish. And yet, we can’t stop thinking […]