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Last year saw vicious wildfires tear through Colorado. That included the three largest blazes in the state’s history and the Grizzly Creek Fire, which burned more than 30,000 acres near Glenwood Springs. This year, with much of the area in drought and summer right around the corner, experts say conditions in the Roaring Fork Valley are again ripe for wildfires.

Skyler Lomahaftewa is a Basalt resident and a member of the Uncompahgre band of the Ute tribe. In the winters, he gives snowboard lessons at Aspen Snowmass and in the summers, he does audio-visual work for events like Food & Wine and the Aspen Ideas Fest. Every year around this time, Lomahaftewa goes back to the Northern Ute Reservation in Utah, where he grew up, to prepare for the annual bear dance. Now he’s trying to bring the spring tradition back to the Roaring Fork Valley.

The snow is melting, the days are getting longer, and skis are getting shelved in favor of hiking boots and mountain bikes. But in some parts of the Roaring Fork Valley, hikers and bikers will have to wait a little longer to venture out on certain trails.

Years before Beth Malone found fame on Broadway for her work in the musical “Fun Home,” and a Tony Award nomination along the way, she called the Roaring Fork Valley home. Malone, a Colorado native, came to the Aspen area in 1992 to perform at the now-closed Crystal Palace.

Every year around this time high school seniors in the Roaring Fork School District present their final capstone projects to their teachers, classmates and community members. Basalt High School’s capstone coordinator , Nannette Weinhold says the projects are a chance for students to take control of their own learning and to pursue a topic they’re curious about. Pueden encontrar la versión en español aqui .

When it comes to water in the West, a lot of it is visible. Snow stacks up high in the mountains then eventually melts and flows down into valleys. It’s easy to see how heavy rains and rushing rivers translate into an abundance of available water. But another important factor of water availability is much harder to see.

Dr. Duane Vandenbusche was designated as Colorado’s State Historian this past Colorado Day, Aug. 1, 2020, a title that he will hold until Colorado Day this year. Vandenbusche is also the state’s longest serving professor; he started teaching at Western State University in Gunnison in 1962, and he has authored a handful of books that have become the go-to classroom texts for Western Slope history. This week, he will join Aspen Historical Society for a virtual event covering Aspen and the state’s colorful ski history.

There were a few days during the second week of Mar. 2020 when the coronavirus started to feel present and immediate in Aspen. Like it was no longer a distant problem. Like there was a pandemic knocking on the front door.

T he votes have been counted for Aspen’s next Mayor and two city council members. The preliminary election results were announced on Tuesday night and will be officially certified on Friday, March 5. Aspen Public Radio’s Morning Edition host Eleanor Bennett caught up with Aspen Daily News reporter Alycin Bektesh who has been covering the election to learn more about what the preliminary results mean for the Aspen community.

If you find yourself wandering the streets of Aspen, Carbondale, or Glenwood Springs this month, you will be greeted by collages of oversized self-portraits pasted on Colorado Mountain College buildings.

Since 2018, Glenwood Springs community members have banded together to fight against Rocky Mountain Industrials' expansion proposal at the Mid-Continent Quarry. They say protecting the city’s tourism economy is one of the main reasons for the years-long battle, and it wasn’t until the pandemic began that the community got a glimpse of what life could be like if the expansion were to be approved.

Since its inception in 2015, Rocky Mountain Industrials, or RMI, has lost tens of millions of dollars. What that means for the company remains unclear as the Bureau of Land Management continues to navigate the permitting process to approve RMI’s proposal to expand the limestone mine just north of Glenwood Spring.

When a mining operation spreads out across hundreds of acres, some environmental impact is inevitable. Opponents of the Rocky Mountain Industrials limestone mine expansion near Glenwood Springs say its proposed footprint of more than 400 acres would push that impact beyond what they consider acceptable.

Taking a limestone mine from less than 20 acres to more than 400 is no small feat. Not only does it require expensive and heavy machinery to move the earth, it also takes money and persistence to clear a long road of regulatory hurdles before an expansion is allowed in the eyes of the law.

The Mountain West has some of the highest suicide rates in the United States. Colorado is no exception; the state has been in the top 10 for highest suicide rates in the country since 2009. Ski towns, in particular, have significantly higher rates of suicide than the national average. Mental health experts have called it the “paradise paradox,” and the University of Colorado’s School of Public Health cites factors ranging from financial instability, geographic isolation, lack of healthcare, easy access to firearms and the transient nature of resort communities as being some of the reasons communities in rural areas across the Mountain West continue to suffer from high suicide rates. In Aspen, that rate is two to three times the national average, according to CU’s School of Public Health.

Aspen Highlands Ski Patrol Director Mac Smith passed the baton on Jan. 31 after 42 seasons on the job. Though, he will remain on the patrol during the winters and help as needed throughout the next several years. He first stepped foot on Highlands when he was only 8-years-old, and got his start on the mountain washing dishes at the Merry-Go-Round restaurant after graduating from Basalt High School in 1971.

Almost half a million Coloradans have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. While that number indicates a promising start on the road to the state’s pandemic recovery, advocates say vaccine distribution has been marred by inequity.

One way to take care of yourself during the coronavirus pandemic is to stay connected to your loved ones, but what happens when you have a disagreement or a falling out with the people you’re supposed to feel most connected to, and how does that affect your mental health?

Doc Eason has been a Snowmass staple for visitors and locals for over four decades. His card tricks and sleight of hand magic delighted audiences at the Tower Restaurant’s bar until it closed in 2004, and he took his act to the StoneBridge Inn, where he performed right up until the pandemic shutdowns last March. He’s performed at venues and parties around the world, and has been named the Magician of the Year by Hollywood’s Magic Castle five times. According to Eason, the magic behind his act is connecting with audiences throughout the course of his career.

In a normal year, local musician Shea Freedom can be found tearing up the stage at Belly Up in Aspen or performing for passersby on main street in Carbondale, but when the pandemic hit, his gigs were cancelled. As protests and social justice movements spread across the country, that forced free time gave Freedom a moment to reflect on what he was seeing and he used his creativity as a way to process everything.