OURAY — Before the million-dollar homes, ski hills and film festivals, Colorado’s high mountain towns were home to the first white settlers who came prospecting for gold, silver, and other precious metals. There is a saying, “if it’s not grown, it’s mined,” referring to all the minerals and metals that are used in our daily […]
Ouray County
Posted inBusiness, Growth, Housing, News
Ouray County can’t keep up with monitoring its short-term rentals. Here’s how the mountain community is trying to adapt.
As the city of Ouray works to crack down on illegal short-term rentals, Ouray County is considering ways to improve its own enforcement, potentially by outsourcing that work. The county allows 100 active short-term rental licenses, County Planning Director Mark Castrodale said, all of which are currently issued. But they have no way to know […]
Posted inArts, Coloradans, Culture, News
Daniel Wolf, rancher and visionary art collector, dies in Ridgway
In the last few weeks, Daniel Wolf made time to help his eldest daughter with a new project. He helped India shovel through frozen dirt buried beneath the snow, unearthing peony rhizomes and planting them in her newly built greenhouse. It wasn’t unusual for him to take an interest in his daughters’ passions, to spend […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Politics and Government
Lauren Boebert vowed to shake things up in Congress. She has delivered in her first week.
As she barnstormed across the 3rd Congressional District last year with a pistol on her hip and a steady stream of Democrat-aimed insults rolling off her tongue, Lauren Boebert promised to make a big, loud splash in the nation’s capital if voters sent her to Congress. Colorado’s newest U.S. representative has delivered on that – […]
Posted inColoradans, Education, Growth, Opinion, Opinion Columns, Politics and Government
Opinion: Former Agriculture Commissioner Peter Decker fought for equity for rural Colorado
“Morgan, Roy wants me to be Commissioner of Agriculture. What do I do?” Peter Decker asked. It was 1987 and Gov. Roy Romer was about to announce this appointment. “Get out to rural Colorado,” I answered, having served as commissioner several years earlier. “Go to those Farm Bureau and Farmers Union dinners. Show rural Colorado […]
Posted inCOVID, News
Small Colorado mountain counties aren’t sure how bad their COVID situation is. So they’re testing the masses.
With the thermometer well below zero, cars full of Crested Butte residents lined up on a private air strip starting at 7 a.m. last week to stick swabs up their noses. While that doesn’t sound like a fun morning for anyone involved, Gunnison County residents and public health officials were eager for the chance to […]
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 […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Energy, Environment, News
Vancouver company digs deep on due diligence in effort to revive historic Ouray silver mine
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 […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
In Colorado’s hard-to-count communities, census outreach and coronavirus support are one and the same
To say that 2020 has not been a normal year to take a national census — well, it doesn’t quite capture the full extent of the situation. The Census Bureau’s normally nonpartisan operations have been repeatedly undercut, whether it’s in the form of chronic underfunding, the federal administration’s fear-stoking attempt in 2019 to add a […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, Health, News
Don’t use coronavirus antibody tests for workplace decisions, western Colorado health officials say
Some Ouray County employers have asked workers to get coronavirus antibody tests in order to return to work, against the advice of medical experts who question the value and accuracy of the tests. In the last seven weeks, 27 people have had blood drawn at Mountain Medical Center for the testing, which measures whether people […]