2015

January 2015

• Hunter is outspoken in last P&Z meeting

• Hands across the water: A diverse coalition achieves long-sought protection for the Hermosa area

• Research into marijuana’s benefits for PTSD lacks one ingredient: pot

• Gambling prompted embezzlement, records say

• County trims mill levy, eyes fee

• College students find water quality high in the Dolores

• Plaintiffs drop lawsuit over river plan

• Sage-grouse fight continues

February 2015

• Polishing a diamond in the rough: Montezuma County is confident it can revitalize recreation at McPhee

• Lost in translation: A fluency requirement has left the Navajo presidency in limbo

• Guitar man: Love of rock music inspired Bill Riegel to become a renowned luthier

• Sport or slaughter? A Cortez coyote hunt raises hackles, but supporters say the animals are fair game

March 2015

• Murder in canyon country: Eighty years ago, a sensational double homicide rocked the Four Corners

• Dolores River NCA idea encounters turbulence: Montezuma County opposes the proposal, but others say it would protect water, values

• Collateral damage

• There’s no place like… : Habitat for Humanity has three new houses in Cortez to provide to families

• Public-lands restrictions may affect wood-cutting

• Making their voices heard: As San Juan County, Utah, mulls public-lands management, a grassroots Navajo group weighs in with proposals of its own

April 2015

• Letting go: Author Craig Childs says we can’t save everything from the past

• Gridlock over travel: A proposed permit system on two Canyonlands roads meets resistance

• A change in direction: After hiring a new director, the Cortez Cultural Center board is optimistic

• A delay for ‘The Grand Bargain’: March 27 deadline passes; work continues on Utah lands bill

• Should federal lands be turned over to the states? The Montezuma County Commission says yes

• Cortez woman sentenced in tax-fraud case

May 2015

• Permaculture in practice: A Cortez-area ranch is hosting a workshop on sustainable agriculture

• Down to the wire: San Juan County is still in discussions over public-lands recommendations

• Methane mystery: Researchers converge on the Four Corners to study a ‘hot spot’ of the gas

• Winds of change: The Navajo Nation’s new president pledges to listen to chapters

• Phil Lyman speaks out about his conviction: Provocateurs usurped event

• Two Utah men found guilty in protest ride

• Free Press wins 9 awards, 6 firsts

• Fluidity at The Farm

June 2015

• Wild horses, feckless bureaucrats, and Civics 101

• ‘Run Free’: A romanticized view of a native people

• Pros of prose: 3 local authors are nominated for Colorado Book Awards

• Judge refuses to dismiss voting suit

• Connecting carrots with consumers: Southwest Farm Fresh Cooperative offers a necessary link in a chain

• An alphabet soup of ideas: A new SMA plan joins the mix of public-lands proposals in San Juan County

• Plight of the pollinators: From monarchs to honey bees, the helpful insects are in decline

• Judge: Sinclair can remove ‘Dino’ from Mancos site

• Debate continues over lands-transfer concept

• ‘American Meteor’ is a fine frontier yarn (Prose and Cons)

• The taxpayer money that fuels federal land transfer demands: How the behind-the-scenes lobby group American Lands Council gets funding

July 2015

• The sky’s the limit: Karen Kristen finds her purpose in art that reflects the great blue beyond

• Songhaven Farm seeks funds to egg-spand

• Utah lands talks produce a new idea

• Lawsuit seeks to halt Wolf Creek resort

• CO2 proposals prompt concern: Some Pleasant View residents balk at communications tower

• Up in smoke? County denies permit for Stoner ‘Bong-a-Thon’

• Court puts kibosh on local Bong-a-Thon

• Court puts kibosh on local Bong-a-Thon

• SWOS students create garden

• County files for injunction against Bong-a-thon

• ‘Darkness’ helps fill void left by Hillerman (Prose and Cons)

• Bong-a-Thon’s future cloudy in Montezuma County

• Scalia’s dissent is far out, man!

August 2015

• Hospital seeks support for new wing

• Users asked to avoid trail

• Village at Wolf Creek awaits court ruling: Construction on the controversial resort is halted by a stipulation agreement

• Cautious about cannabis, blind to booze?: Local officials struggle to navigate issues around mood-altering drugs

• Animas River reopened for recreation

• Spill will have long-term impacts, officials say

• Notes from a disaster: Part 2

• Notes from an environmental disaster: The Animas River contamination

• Words’ worth: A vote to strike down a Navajo fluency requirement raises questions

• Animas River closed to recreation because of spill

• Oil boom leads to crime (Prose and Cons)

• Judge accused of bias in Lyman case

September 2015

• Lyman seeks new trial in ATV ride: Utah commissioner who organized protest says old map exonerates him

• Montezuma County seeks to be on equal footing with the feds

• Pollution solution elusive: Water clean-up is proving a herculean task

• Evison is getting better all the time (Prose and Cons)

• A legacy of distrust: Residents of the Utah Navajo Strip are worried, skeptical about water quality

October 2015

• ‘This just in…’: KSJD launches a campaign to provide news that is both live and local

• Next steps for the Animas: Superfund status remains a controversial idea, but cleanup efforts continue

• A smattering of issues: The Nov. 3 election features one state question, several local ones

• Something new: Cortez’s ‘Little Free Library’

• NCA talks begin: A water attorney says a conservation area could help constrain federal agencies and protect rights

• The ‘new math’ that hurts schools: Colorado’s legislators employ a formula to circumvent Amendment 23

• High adventure and low characters (Prose and Cons)

November 2015

• School mill levies, hospital project, ambulance district get thumbs-up

• Preserving Phil’s World: Montezuma County says it doesn’t need a Master Leasing Plan to protect bike trails, but the state rule it wants to use is complicated

• A monumental idea: A coalition of tribes asks President Obama to use the Antiquities Act to protect a swath of Utah lands

• Monument idea prompts mixed reactions

• Guns don’t kill people

• ‘City on Fire’ an impressive debut (Prose and Cons)

December 2015

• Wanted: Mary Poppins: Child care can prove difficult to obtain in Southwest Colorado, but there are options if you persist

• Caucuses: A great way to have sway

• Pot: A growing menace on public lands

• A turn for the better?: A proposed revamp of U.S. 160 through Cortez is designed to improve safety

• On the trail of buffaloes and history (Prose and Cons)