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On Thursday morning, a sinkhole opened up on County Road P north of Cortez. Rob Englehart, superintendent of the county’s road and bridge department, says that the sinkhole was created from days of rain and the melting of snowmelt. And a bill to help farmers and ranchers repair their own equipment got final approval by the state Senate Thursday. The bill would require agriculture equipment manufacturers hand over parts, software, instructions, and other tools necessary for owners to make repairs.

Since 2017, a Mancos resident named Rosa Sabido has been facing the threat of deportation by Immigration Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Sabido – who is originally from Mexico – says she’s lived in the United States since she was 23 years old, but has had to seek sanctuary at a local church while she works to remain in her community. And a bipartisan bill to expand Coloradans’ access to prosthetic devices moved forward at the State Capitol Tuesday.

This summer, Mesa Verde National Park will embark on a mission to bolster the health and resilience of the Mancos River. The park will start implementing restoration efforts in the stretch of the river south of the Mancos Valley. And a bill that would expand child labor protections cleared its vote in the state House of Representatives Friday.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza continues to affect poultry in the U.S., farmers, agriculture groups, and climate advocates ask Congress to do more to address climate change in the next farm bill, Brazil is set to export more corn than the United States in 2023, and ag products with labels stating “Product of the USA", are often misleading.

The Cortez City Council has unanimously approved a plan to rewrite the city’s land use code. In order to improve affordable housing options available for those looking to move or build homes in Cortez, the city applied for a grant from the Colorado State Department of Local Affairs to fund a land use code project. And state lawmakers want oil and gas companies to conserve more water. A new bill would require companies to report their water use for increased transparency.

A coalition of organizations in southwest Colorado is holding a year-long study that will seek to remove barriers to land access in the region. The three organizations are La Plata Open Space Conservancy, Montezuma Land Conservancy, and the Old Fort of Fort Lewis College. And the state budget for next year was introduced Monday. It totals 38.5 billion dollars.

Russa-Ukraine conflict may have long term consequences for agricultural production in the country, highly pathogenic avian influenza in wild birds could spread to chickens, and more precipitation may not be a good thing for the saguaro cactus in southern Arizona.

A new report by Todd Cordrey, superintendent of the Mancos School District, shows that there are major issues with teacher retention and recruitment in Mancos. And bills dealing with gun waiting periods, controlled substances and school discipline are getting their first hearings Monday.

On Thursday, the Utah Shakespeare Festival visited Montezuma-Cortez High School to perform and lead acting workshops with students. Festival actors led workshops in improvisation, how to perform Shakespearean texts, and fight choreography. And a bill that would make it easier for out-of-state teachers to work in Colorado is one step away from Governor Jared Polis’ desk.

Three years of La Niña-driven weather in the southwest could now be changing, the pitfalls of starting your own backyard chicken flock, a new USDA report predicts that net cash farm income will decrease by over 20% in 2023 from last year, and farmers in the midwest are keeping a watchful eye on rain and snowpack in the upper Mississippi and Ohio River drainages.