In a basin high above Ouray’s bustling tourist shops and hot springs pools, one of the precious metals that birthed this town and fired up its early boomtown days, is readying for a comeback. The first major silver mine in the San Juan Mountains in at least 80 years is on course to be in […]
Nancy Lofholm
Special to The Colorado Sun
Email: nlofholm35@gmail.com Twitter: @nlofholm
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Growth, News, Transportation
Durango’s ridiculed Bridge to Nowhere suddenly has clear road ahead
A decade ago, it was snickered at as “the Bridge to Nowhere.” It was a concrete overpass curling over a highway in a then mostly undeveloped section of Durango. The span had a cow pasture on one side and dead-ended in a scrubby hillside on the other. It truly did not go anywhere. Now, that […]
Posted inColoradans, Election 2020, Politics and Government
How Lauren Boebert rose from unknown to a candidate for Congress to someone in Donald Trump’s orbit
Lauren Boebert blasted into Colorado politics at an Aurora rally with an in-your-face microphone moment and a gun. She emerged from the crowd at a rally for then presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke of Texas and grabbed the mic to shout, “Hell no, you’re not!” in response to O’Rourke’s pledge to take away assault-style weapons. That […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, News, Outdoors, Wildfire
No mess-tent meals, no giant camps: This is wildfire fighting in Colorado during coronavirus
The base camp for the fourth-largest wildfire in Colorado’s history would normally be teeming with ash-smudged firefighters coming in from shifts on the Pine Gulch fire burning north of Grand Junction. But this camp in a parking lot at the Mesa County Fairgrounds is a mostly deserted lineup of yurts, supply trucks, personal vehicles, shade […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Health, News, Politics and Government
Are you wearing your mask? Because public health officials in Colorado are watching you to find out.
They really are watching you. From their cars and trucks, parked in the lots of King Soopers, Whole Foods and the corner store, they are staring out their vehicle windows as you shop. But these guys — volunteers from the public health department — are only interested in what’s on your face. Mask or no […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Politics and Government
The attempted recall of Mesa County’s clerk comes up short. But the battle over her office isn’t over.
An attempt to gather enough signatures to force a recall vote for controversial Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters has fallen shy of the minimum 12,129 needed signers. But that doesn’t mean one of the county’s ugliest political skirmishes in modern times is over. Clerk Tina Peters will remain in the job without a voter challenge […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News, Technology
Your poop may soon serve as an early warning system for Colorado coronavirus outbreaks
Toilets from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs will soon become important tools in Colorado’s efforts to establish an early warning system for the novel coronavirus. The state of Colorado has committed half a million dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funds for a year-long pilot program to test sewage. The testing will pinpoint COVID-19-carrying genetic fragments […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Culture, News, Politics and Government
A cartoonish Native American towering over Durango has divided the city. Should “the chief” stay or go?
He has a wide grin under a big nose. A single feather dangles beside one of his braids. His hand is raised in a howdy-friendly wave. And his bow legs and moccasins are planted atop a commercial sign. He is “the chief,” a two-story-tall metal depiction of a Native American that has been part of […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Politics and Government
Forgotten ballots. Allegations of errors. Missed deadlines: The recall of Mesa County’s clerk is a political potboiler
GRAND JUNCTION — Charlayne Higginson was waving a recall sign at passing motorists on a windy corner near the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder’s office in Grand Junction a few weeks ago when she noticed something yellow stuck in nearby weeds. It was a completed ballot for the upcoming primary election. Within days, someone else […]
Posted inColoradans, Environment, News, Outdoors
Great blue herons claim a dreamy stretch of river near Crested Butte for high-altitude love nests
Beyond a boggy meadow studded with beaver ponds, along the Slate River where it meanders past a bottom-rung ridge of Mount Emmons, is a prime patch of real estate for wetlands critters. Great blue herons have claimed it. The busy avian penthouse subdivision here — believed to be the highest altitude great blue heron colony […]