Colorado’s Western Slope communities could generate about $40 million in new tax revenue from vacation rentals to support affordable housing
Salida
“Impossible challenge”: Colorado father-son adventure racers are pushing the limits of Alzheimer’s
LEADVILLE — Adventure racing pioneer Mark Macy just got a new tattoo. There on his forearm, in big block letters: “IT’S ALL GOOD TRAINING.” “He’s said that a million times throughout my life,” says his son, Travis, one of Colorado’s most accomplished ultra athletes. “When he says it now, I tell him, ‘Well, Dad, I […]
A caring high school principal or a criminal? A situation in Salida may have national implications.
When Salida High School Principal Talmage Trujillo encountered a student in crisis earlier this year, he followed his playbook. Trujillo went off looking for the kid for a one-on-one conversation. But Salida police were looking for the teenager too, fearful he had a gun and unsure of his intentions and whereabouts after he threatened to […]
A live .22 caliber round was found next to Suzanne Morphew’s bed after she disappeared
SALIDA — An unused .22-caliber round was found next to the bed of a Colorado woman who disappeared last year and whose husband is charged with killing her, and a tranquilizer gun and accessories were also found in the couple’s home, investigators testified Monday. Prosecutors also showed body camera footage of Barry Morphew with deputies […]
Dig it or chew it? Gravel mine expansion near Salida mountain bike trail latest clash of industry, recreation
The Bureau of Land Management has released a draft of its environmental analysis of a Salida gravel mine’s request to expand onto public land outside Salida that includes a popular bike trail. The agency collected more than 1,900 public comments on Hard Rock Paving & Redi-Mix Inc.’s proposal to expand its operations and realign an […]
In the small town of Salida, a very unlikely circus thrives
By Seth Boster, The Gazette SALIDA — Beside a chicken coop in the backyard of a home on the countryside, a dozen kids are flipping, twirling, cartwheeling, juggling, walking on balls and contorting their bodies on silks and rings suspended in the air. Their ages range between 9 and 13. Their tutor is Joe Lobeck, […]
Off-highway vehicles are revving up locals (in a bad way) in Colorado’s remote mountain towns
When Teri Havens bought two acres tucked in a thick stand of aspen on a hill south of Marble in 1995, it was her bit of backcountry nirvana. Yes, it sat along a popular jeeping trail ̶ a county road leading to the historic Lead King Loop. But she could live with four-wheel-drive vehicles jouncing […]
Suzanne Morphew’s husband arrested, charged with murder almost a year after her disappearance
Suzanne Morphew’s husband was arrested and charged with murder on Wednesday, nearly a year after the Salida woman went missing in a case that’s gripped Chaffee County. Barry Lee Morphew was taken into custody without incident, investigators announced at a news conference on Wednesday. He has been charged with first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and […]
How bad are Coloradans at recycling? Chaffee County contractor closed its free sites over bad actors, slim profits
Angel of Shavano Recycling spent 15 years sifting through Chaffee County’s trash collecting its treasures — plastics, cardboard, paper, newspaper, tin and aluminum. But slim profits and bad behavior by customers led the owner, Mickey Barry, to close the gates on the four free community recycling sites. “In the recycling industry the drop sites have […]
Transportation board kills plan for trains to return to Colorado’s dormant Tennessee Pass
The Surface Transportation Board on Thursday rejected a plan by a rail operator to revive train traffic on Colorado’s mountainous Tennessee Pass Line. Colorado Midland & Pacific Railway Company — a new division of Texas-based Rio Grande Pacific Corp. — asked the transportation board on Dec. 31, 2020 for streamlined approval of its plan to […]