Ute Mountain Ute Tribe

Food insecurity is a genuine problem in Montezuma County. Four people who deal with that issue discussed it Thursday night at the Sunflower Theatre in Cortez.

Concerns about violence have prompted the Ute Mountain Ute tribal council to implement a nighttime curfew on the reservation.

After a lengthy discussion during a very lengthy meeting, the Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 school board voted Tuesday night to engage a law firm to review contracts for the district’s new and departing superintendents. And GOCO, or Great Outdoors Colorado, has awarded $2.6 million to projects in Southwest Colorado.

How do you balance outdoor recreation with conservation of landscapes and wildlife? A group called the Montelores Coalition has come up with a draft plan for dealing with that issue.

Recent storms brought record rainfall across the Four Corners — with some areas seeing a third of their annual total in a single day — but drought conditions remain. Water users across the Upper Colorado River Basin are facing deep, uncompensated cuts, forcing widespread farmland fallowing and new pressure on long-term water management.

The federal government shutdown has reduced local tourism by about 20%, according to Mesa Verde Country CEO Brian Bartlett, though some visitors are still exploring the region’s fall colors and outdoor recreation. Mesa Verde National Park and nearby Utah monuments remain open in a limited capacity, while the Ute Mountain Tribal Park continues to offer select tours. Despite fewer visitors overall, Bartlett notes that visitor spending in 2025 is up compared to last year.

A local citizen spoke up at Tuesday’s meeting of the Montezuma County commissioners to challenge the idea that the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and other sovereign nations don’t pay their fair share for public services.

A 31-year-old Towaoc man has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a woman early on the morning of Aug. 12.

Heat and drought are helping spread wildfires in the Four Corners area and across the West.

While Colorado’s Front Range is experiencing abundant rainfall, the state’s Western Slope continues to bake and even burn