A local detour around the bridge closure on U.S. 50 over Blue Mesa will open Monday, allowing only people who live in Gunnison and Montrose counties to reach work, school and medical care. Gunnison County Emergency Management said Sunday that County Road 26 will open as a detour route two times per day in each direction for “critical local public travel.” A pilot car will help traffic navigate safely through the dirt mountain road that is not designed for high traffic levels. The county and state are working to improve the road, also known as the Lake City cutoff, in case of a prolonged closu ..read more

Transportation crews are still inspecting the safety of a bridge over Colorado’s largest reservoir to determine a timeline for when the bridge can be reopened, after a 3- to 4-inch crack was discovered along a steel beam last week. The bridge over Blue Mesa Reservoir on U.S. 50 was shut down Thursday evening at the urging of federal highway officials after an inspection crew identified “anomalies” in the bridge, the Colorado Department of Transportation said Friday morning. No traffic is allowed over the bridge and currently there are no available routes for emergency vehicles or local traffi ..read more

Broken glass sparkles in the sun across a stretch of weedy land between a gully and a highway bypass not far from downtown Montrose in western Colorado. When Carlton Mason stands in the middle of these nondescript 15 acres, he doesn’t see emptiness. He envisions the next big step in his decade-long attempt to make life easier for youth who have spent the better part of their childhoods in foster homes. Mason points to where there will be 45 homes, clustered in trios with front porches and walking paths between them. Most of those will be for young people between the ages of 18 and 24 who are ..read more

State Sen. Don Coram, a Republican from Montrose, says he will launch a primary bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert this year. Coram told a group of constituents in Montrose on Wednesday morning “the papers have been filed” for his congressional bid. He said he plans to formally announce his campaign on Friday. TODAY’S UNDERWRITER The Colorado Sun first reported in December that Coram was considering whether to launch a primary challenge to Boebert. Coram is considered a moderate Republican while Boebert is aligned with the party’s far right wing.  “If you’re not willing to reach out ..read more

MONTROSE — After more than a half-hour splashing through the dank dark of one of the world’s longest irrigation tunnels, Dennis Veo grins in the sunshine showering the cliffs of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River.  “The guys who did this were dang sharp,” says Veo, the operations manager of the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association. “The engineering that went into this back in the early 1900s, it’s just hard to wrap your head around.” This story first appeared in The Outsider, the premium outdoor newsletter by Jason Blevins. Become a Newsletters+ Member to get The Outsider at col ..read more

KREMMLING — Becca Pearson thought it would be impossible to find child care for her 1-year-old daughter in her rural community of 2,000. Instead, the speech pathologist found a provider that fits with her work schedule — where she gets a discount and could breastfeed her daughter during the day.  She’s among a handful of teachers and staff at West Grand School District in Kremmling who receive not just a paycheck from the district — but child care. It’s a benefit some rural school districts have started to offer in an effort to hire and retain more teachers amid soaring housing costs and ..read more

Salsa -maker Amy Lasley used to throw away the disposable gloves she wears during food preparation. But as the price of nitrile gloves skyrocketed in recent months, she’s started to disinfect them with bleach and reuse them for cleaning outside the kitchen.  Other items are more expensive, too: The glass jars she packs her salsa in cost 8.5 to 17 cents more each. A case of cream cheese used to make dips went up $10 in less than a month and a half. And the rising price per gallon of fuel has prompted her to try to make fewer van deliveries from her Fort Collins warehouse.  TODAY’S UN ..read more

Chase Beck has fielded dozens of calls like this in the past few months.  “They say ‘I just had the floor taken out from under me. I’ve been living here for years. I need to move out in 30 days and I’ve got nowhere to go. Can you help?’” Beck says. The waiting list at his family’s All Valley Storage in Frisco is long, same as their Breckenridge facility.  “I feel their pain and I really do try to prioritize the locals, especially if they are teachers or essential workers, you know,” Beck says. “I have five public school teachers who are renting units from me because they live in the ..read more

Colorado’s forests have been waging a losing battle against tree-killing beetles for more than 15 years. Now, after marching across the state and killing millions of acres of pine forest, the burrowing, fungus-spreading mountain pine beetles are slowly losing steam.   While other beetles have thrived in Colorado’s drought-ravaged mountains, the mountain pine beetles have reigned as the state’s most nefarious pest. But the mountain pine beetle epidemic was always going to end, as there are only so many ponderosa and lodgepole trees in the 3.3 million acres affected by the tree-killin ..read more

  Two Western Slope startups sold to industry heavyweights this month, reflecting a win for rural entrepreneurs who have been championing Colorado’s nascent rural startup ecosystem beyond Denver and Boulder. This week, Eagle e-bike pioneer QuietKat sold to outdoor conglomerate Vista Outdoor Inc., which owns brands like CamelBak, Bell, Giro and Camp Chef. Vista Outdoor announced the acquisition during an investor presentation on Wednesday. Details of the deal were not announced. This story first appeared in The Outsider, the premium outdoor newsletter by Jason Blevins. Become a Newsletter ..read more