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New USDA grant funding is available for meat and poultry producers, Southwest Colorado Meat and Livestock Day scheduled on May 11th, the shifting landscape of farm sizes and subsidies, and solar "farms" innovate to better serve rural communities.

The beginning of the 2023 water year is off to a good start, reservoirs in the southwest will see some filling but may still be below average this year, calving season has been rough due to cold and wet spring weather, farm bankruptcies are going down, and census data show that the nation’s rural population grew slightly last year.

In southwest Colorado, rain and snowmelt are projected to fill McPhee Reservoir and result in a scheduled release of water, known as a “spill.” According to Ken Curtis, the general manager of the Dolores Water Conservancy District, the spill will likely occur in early May, and will benefit water users and irrigators along the Dolores River. CORRECTION: In our original audio, we incorrectly stated that there was a meeting open to the public hosted by the DWCD on this issue next week. The real date and time for the public meeting on the "spill" will be determined soon, and is not on Monday. And state lawmakers are moving forward with efforts to mitigate negative impacts of wolf reintroduction.

In Dolores, unusually high amounts of winter snowpack are rapidly melting and causing severe flooding throughout town. Vicki Shaffer, the public information officer for Montezuma County, says that the snowmelt is mainly coming from nearby Granath Mesa. And lawmakers moved forward on Tuesday with a bill that would change how the government deals with disease outbreaks among livestock.

The Farm Bill is up for renewal this year, and lawmakers in Congress have been holding hearings on this massive once-every-five-years piece of legislation. Democratic United States Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado says he has high hopes for the bill. And Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo of Colorado’s new 8th Congressional District, introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would protect access to abortion medication.

Last month, Montezuma-Cortez Middle School was named as one of the top schools for music in the United States for its commitment to music education. The National Association of Music Merchants Foundation selected only 78 elementary, middle or high schools in the entire country for their music merit award. The school was one of only two in Colorado that made the list. And Governor Jared Polis and Democratic lawmakers’ ten-year plan to reduce property taxes cleared its first legislative committee Tuesday.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Cove Chapter of the Navajo Nation and the Environmental Protection Agency held a community meeting on the EPA’s proposal to add nearby uranium mines to its Superfund National Priorities List. The mines are located in the Lukachukai Mountain Mining District in northeastern Arizona. According to Kenyon Larsen, a remedial project manager for the EPA, for years, they’ve been working to address the dozens of uranium waste piles in the district, which have contaminated groundwater and killed livestock in Cove and surrounding areas. And Governor Polis signed two measures into law Wednesday that will impact property taxes in the state.

On Thursday evening, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser visited Cortez as part of a listening session tour concerning the proposed Albertsons-Kroger merger. In the meeting, Weiser fielded questions on how this merger would impact southwest Coloradans. And Governor Jared Polis signed a bill into law Friday that creates a nontoxic bullet replacement program for hunters. The pilot program will provide vouchers for purchasing non-lead bullets. It will also focus on educating hunters.

Elections for the Empire Electric Association’s board of directors are underway. Elise Goggin is a resident of Cortez and is running for a board seat against incumbent Kent Lindsay in the utility cooperative’s fifth district, which includes McElmo Canyon, Towaoc and parts of Cortez. Board members are elected by the members of the cooperative in a democratic election, and can play a role in determining what utility rates will be. And Governor Jared Polis signed a bill last week that supports the practice of agrivoltaics.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling Thursday making it harder for the federal government to enforce clean water rules has New Mexico environmental groups urging Congress to take the lead. The five-to-four opinion by conservative justices, minus Bret Kavanaugh, is a blow to the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate wetlands and waterways. And public buildings in Colorado will be required to include all-gender restrooms later this year. That’s thanks to a new law signed by Governor Jared Polis this week.