Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns

Hutchins’ year in review: Here’s what happened in Colorado’s media world in 2021

If 2020 was a bruiser for the local media business with layoffs, furloughs and deep cuts from COVID-19 thinning our news scene, 2021 ushered in a kind of “new normal.” The local media industry tentatively bounced back as the year produced a bumper crop of digital news startups from Boulder and Denver, Broomfield and Franktown, […]

Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, News

How a rural Colorado traffic stop left a man dead and a sheriff’s deputy facing criminal charges

KIOWA COUNTY – Nearly a year has passed since a traffic stop ended with Undersheriff Tracy Weisenhorn and Deputy Quinten Stump shooting Zach Gifford, the unarmed passenger, in a nearby field, three bullets in his back. In the 11 months since the 39-year-old handyman’s death in Brandon on April 9, 2020, a state criminal investigation has concluded, […]

Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns

Opinion: Voluntary, piecemeal actions by online companies to cut down on misinformation are not enough

Ever since the attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists on Jan. 6, social media and online platforms have been scrambling to take action.  Twitter permanently suspended and Facebook blocked President Donald Trump’s accounts, while Amazon removed Parler from its cloud hosting service. Stripe, Apple, Venmo, Paypal, YouTube, Telegram, and more deleted and suspended […]

Posted inBusiness, Climate, Coloradans, Environment, Health

On Edge: In a rural Eastern Plains community plagued by drought, stigma won’t be easy to overcome

EADS – “The Splotch,” as some here call the brown mark on the map they check weekly, is the color of scorched earth. Here in Kiowa County, farmers have always relied on whatever moisture happens to fall from the sky rather than on irrigation. In August, this 1,300-person community bordering on Kansas was the first […]

Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns

Opinion: Colorado’s small-town newspapers connect communities – and deserve community support

Imagine, for a moment, that you live in a rural Colorado community of, say, 1,000 people. Then imagine a major news event happening in your town. You know, like a dangerous pandemic, invisible and deadly, that threatens your neighbors, your friends, your family.  Where do you go for the latest information on health guidelines, on […]