Nervous dogs are soothed by the funky tones of reggae in one exam room of Robin Downing’s veterinary practice on Main Street in Windsor. In another room a continuous loop of classical music lulls distrustful cats while they are being looked at by Downing and her staff. The animals are also calmed by low doses […]

Monte Whaley
Special to The Colorado Sun
Twitter: @monteWhaley
RVs are housing health care workers worried about giving their families coronavirus. But some Colorado cities, HOAs put up roadblocks.
Boulder Community Hospital nurse Ernest Illo and his wife grew anxious that the COVID-19 outbreak would soon creep from Illo’s work into their Gunbarrel condo and infect their 5-year-old son. When the virus started spreading across the country, many medical front-line workers moved out of their homes to shelter in motels, or at the homes […]
For people without homes but wary of shelters, Longmont’s “safe lots” could be a haven
LONGMONT – Big, ruddy-faced and homeless, John is happy to work and sleep alone in the age of COVID-19. John, who asked that his last name not be used, works most days as a flagger for road crews in Boulder County. He is yards from his crew mates and rarely speaks to them — or […]
Colorado ranchers have beef with lab-grown and plant-based “meat” — and they want well-done labeling
Boyd Meyer runs about 4,000-head of American bison on the Colorado-Wyoming border, fully aware of the speed, power and cussed nature of the 1-ton beasts. “They can out-maneuver a horse and I’ve seen them jump a 5-foot fence flat-footed,” Meyer said. “They are not like cattle, if they don’t want to do something, they flat […]
50 years ago a nuclear bomb was detonated under the Western Slope to release natural gas. Here’s how poorly it went.
Long-time Parachute resident Judy Beasley has witnessed nearly all the failed attempts to wrench hydrocarbons from the dusty, high ridges and deep, desert valleys of the Piceance Basin. But they all pale in comparison to the stab taken on Sept. 10, 1969, when the United States government asked the 270 residents of Parachute to leave […]
How Colorado’s rural education network went from teaching home economics to fighting the opioid epidemic
CSU Extension agent Abby Weber covers a lot of wind-swept territory putting on workshops about rabbit and poultry care, sustainable living and cake decorating, and she also oversees shooting-safety classes, robotics challenges and dog-training courses for Bent County 4-H clubs. And now Weber and other extension agents are moving to the front lines in the […]
Campers now want more than just a tent. One Colorado campground is leaning into those changing tastes — and shorter attention spans.
LARIMER COUNTY — As Colorado’s rugged high country is only now emerging from a cold, wet spring and early summer, campers at the intersection of Boo-Boo Bypass and Ranger Road nudge up against Mother Nature while wrapped in the warm amenities of home. The environment is more “glamping” than camping at Jellystone Park Camp-Resort near […]