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Families Offer $10,000 Reward as Two Hunters Remain Missing in Rugged Colorado Wilderness
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Local, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Families Offer $10,000 Reward as Two Hunters Remain Missing in Rugged Colorado Wilderness

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko sent their last communication Sept. 11. Porter’s fiancée says they are experienced, but whatever happened “depends on if they were in sound mind, if they were disoriented or panicked, or if they were hypothermic.” A search is on for two experienced elk hunters who went missing in the Rio Grande National Forest in Conejos County on Sept. 11, and the fiancée of one is imploring people with experience hunting, hiking or traveling by horse in the rugged terrain on the New Mexico border north of Chama to head to the Rio de Los Pinos trailhead or surrounding area to help search. Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko, both 25, were last heard from Thursday afternoon at around 2:45 p.m. when Porter shared his location with his fiancée, ...
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Western Slope Officials Push to Delay Shoshone Water Rights Decision
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Western Slope Officials Push to Delay Shoshone Water Rights Decision

By: Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun The request for a delay comes days before the state planned to decide whether two powerful Colorado River water rights could be used to help the environment. DURANGO — Western Slope water officials are asking for more time to negotiate before the state decides whether influential Colorado River water rights can be used to help the environment. A state water agency, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, is scheduled to make its final ruling Thursday on the future usage of a pair of water rights tied to Shoshone Power Plant, owned by an Xcel Energy subsidiary called Public Service of Colorado. On Tuesday, the Xcel subsidiary and Colorado River District — the Western Slope water entity leading the effort to use the rights to help the environ...
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Former Senate President Kevin Grantham Enters Race for Colorado Treasurer
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Former Senate President Kevin Grantham Enters Race for Colorado Treasurer

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun Fremont County Commissioner Kevin Grantham, a Republican, was president of the Colorado Senate in 2017 and 2018. A Republican who was once president of the Colorado Senate announced Tuesday that he’s running to be the state’s next treasurer. Fremont County Commissioner Kevin Grantham led the Colorado Senate in 2017 and 2018. During his eight years in the chamber, Grantham, who lives in Cañon City, also served on the legislature’s powerful Joint Budget Committee. Grantham was elected to the Fremont County Commission in 2020 and reelected in 2024. “I was raised in a rural farming community in southeast Colorado raising hogs, so I know a little something about how to cut the fat. Coloradans deserve leaders that will be careful stewards of their ...
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Religious Freedom and Property Rights Collide in Teller County over “Illegal” Greenhouse
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, Local

Religious Freedom and Property Rights Collide in Teller County over “Illegal” Greenhouse

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun A court battle over the greenhouse hinges on religious freedom, conflict of interest and the state Farm Stand Act. A battle between a Divide couple who built a greenhouse next to their home and Teller County commissioners who want them to tear it down has moved to the courthouse. Commissioners have sued Virginia and Zac Loop, seeking a judge’s order to force the couple to dismantle the 2,856-square-foot rectangular greenhouse where they had planned to harvest mangoes, avocados and other fruits and vegetables that don’t grow at 9,200 feet. The county is seeking $2,000 in initial fees plus $200 per day for every day the greenhouse has stayed up since the Teller County Community Development Department ordered the Loops to take it down. So fa...
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BLM opens 130,000 acres in Colorado to boost oil and gas production
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

BLM opens 130,000 acres in Colorado to boost oil and gas production

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun Planned lease auctions started Tuesday, with one of the largest offerings in more than 20 years that set a revenue record as the Trump administration reverses Biden-area slowdown The BLM on Tuesday leased 14 oil and gas parcels spanning 7,895 acres in Colorado for more than $6.7 million, setting a revenue record in one of one of the largest state lease sales in at least 20 years.  And more are coming as the BLM plans the largest sale in more than two decades in March 2026 and the second largest in December, with a total of 174 parcels spanning nearly 124,000 acres offered in both auctions. The pending auctions reveal the Trump administration’s stark shift from President Joe Biden, who offered fewer acres of public land for oil and g...
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Tourists may soon pay double or triple in lodging taxes in 7 Colorado counties
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Tourists may soon pay double or triple in lodging taxes in 7 Colorado counties

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun Chaffee, Custer, Eagle, Gilpin, Routt, Ouray and Park counties hope voters will approve increased lodging taxes — allowed under new legislation — to pay for budget shortfalls As revenue flowing into local governments ebbs, more communities are looking to visitors to pay bills.  At least seven counties will ask voters this November to double or triple the local lodging tax outside cities and towns to pay for roads, police, housing and early child care. These are the first counties to deploy a law passed this year — Senate Bill 1247 — that allows voters to raise county lodging taxes to 6%, up from 2%, to pay for infrastructure, conservation, emergency services and sustainable tourism policies.  Commissioners in Chaffee,...
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Shoshone Water Rights Could Bolster Fish, Wildlife and Recreation on Colorado River
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Shoshone Water Rights Could Bolster Fish, Wildlife and Recreation on Colorado River

By Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun Allowing the state to use Shoshone’s water rights to help the environment could save fish and improve the aquatic environment, according to state studies. Colorado water officials will gather in Durango this week to decide whether a pair of powerful Colorado River rights can be used to benefit the environment.  The Colorado River District, supported by a broad Western Slope coalition, has entered into a $99 million agreement with Xcel Energy to buy two key water rights tied to Shoshone Power Plant, located on the Colorado River near Glenwood Springs. Part of the deal is to add a newly approved use to the existing water rights: keeping water in the river to help the aquatic ecosystem.  That environmental use, called an in-stream flow ri...
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Xcel Energy to Sell Former Power Plant Water to Colorado Farmers
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Local, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Xcel Energy to Sell Former Power Plant Water to Colorado Farmers

By Jerd Smith | The Colorado Sun The deal, which could be worth more than $44 million, includes Colorado Springs Utilities and is expected to close early next year Xcel Energy will offer water it owns but no longer needs to farmers in the water-strapped Lower Arkansas River Valley, in an innovative deal advocates hope will help the struggling region regain control of vital water supplies and protect its agricultural economy. Under the preliminary terms of the proposal, valued at more than $44 million, Xcel will sell 12,500 acre-feet of water to a newly formed irrigation company, 70% of which will be owned by farmers and 30% of which will be owned by Colorado Springs Utilities. An acre-foot of water equals 326,000 gallons, enough to serve two to four urban households for one yea...
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Federal Investigation Finds Vehicle Likely Killed Colorado Wolf
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Federal Investigation Finds Vehicle Likely Killed Colorado Wolf

By: Olivia Prentzel | The Colorado Sun The male wolf was found dead in northwestern Colorado after Colorado Parks and Wildlife said it received a mortality signal from the wolf’s collar May 31 A Colorado gray wolf that died in May was likely struck by a vehicle, wildlife officials said Tuesday. Following a necropsy, investigators with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined the wolf died from blunt force trauma. The wolf, wearing tracking collar 2507, was one of the 15 animals captured in British Columbia and released in Pitkin and Eagle counties in January. The wolf was found in northwestern Colorado after Colorado Parks and Wildlife said it received a mortality signal from the wolf’s collar May 31.  Because gray wolves are listed as endangered ...
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SpaceX Boosts Starlink With $17 B EchoStar Spectrum Purchase
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, Local

SpaceX Boosts Starlink With $17 B EchoStar Spectrum Purchase

By Michelle Chapman | The Colorado Sun The Douglas County satellite technology company, which also operates Dish Network, is also selling off wireless spectrum to AT&T Elon Musk’s SpaceX has reached a deal worth about $17 billion with EchoStar for spectrum licenses that it will use to beef up its Starlink satellite network. The deal for EchoStar’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licenses includes up to $8.5 billion in cash and up to $8.5 billion in SpaceX stock. SpaceX will make approximately $2 billion in cash interest payments on EchoStar debt through November 2027. SpaceX and EchoStar will enter into a long-term commercial agreement which will allow EchoStar’s Boost Mobile subscribers to access SpaceX’s next generation Starlink Direct to Cell service. Shares of EchoStar su...
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