Noticias

• Wildfires Continue to Challenge Firefighters Across Region
• SMART Board Discusses Decreased Ridership

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CBI Investigates Former Sheriff’s Deputy

The San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office announced on Saturday that the subject of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s investigation is a former Sheriff’s deputy. According the Sheriff’s Office, he was one of the deputies to resign last month.

No arrests have been made, and the Sheriff’s Office is not involved in the investigation.

The CBI executed a search warrant at a private residence in Norwood last Thursday as part of the active criminal investigation.

CBI officials state here is no threat to public safety.

As an active investigation they cannot share more information at this time.

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Wildfires Continue to Challenge Firefighters Across Region

Wildfires continue to grow across the Western Colorado region after lightning strikes late last week. The Dry Creek Fire, on the Utah-Colorado state line near La Sal, has expanded to over 10,000 acres. Meanwhile, the South Rim Fire, which began Thursday afternoon in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, has grown to more than 3,500 acres.

On Friday morning, a lightning strike ignited a tree in a remote area off Greyhead Mountain above Placerville. Telluride Fire Protection District Chief John Bennett said a resident called in a smoke report.

“We responded with firefighters. Engines investigated. It was deemed a Forest Service fire,” Bennett said. “A Missouri Forest Service engine responded from the Norwood area in combination with the fire district engines. Firefighters deemed it unsafe to approach on foot due to the extreme terrain in scree fields.”

The wildfire did not spread beyond a few trees, and Bennett said crews continue to monitor the situation.

“In the meantime, we were able to secure a K-MAX helicopter for two days of water drops,” he said. “We continue to monitor this fire on a daily basis and have lookouts that are positioned in the Sawpit area above Sawpit continue to monitor and request helicopters as necessary.”

The South Rim Fire north of Montrose continues to pose challenges as it grew to more than 3,500 acres by Sunday evening. Bethany Urban, public information officer for the Rocky Mountain Area Complex Incident Management Team 3, said a combination of conditions is fueling the growth.

“We did have an uptick in that fire behavior into the evening and overnight,” Urban said. “That is really due to the conditions that we’re currently experiencing. Both fuels wise, drought wise, weather wise—we really are in a period of drought. We have a lot of dead, dry fuels that are incredibly receptive to burning right now. In fact, the live fuels are also hitting sort of that critical moisture point where they’re more receptive to burning as well. That kind of condition can really lead to extreme fire behavior.”

Urban said two super scooper airplanes are arriving this afternoon to assist with water drops, and additional retardant drops are planned. With multiple fires burning across the region, she said fire resources are spread thin throughout the state.

The eastern flank of the fire remains along the South Rim of the canyon. Urban said that while it’s unlikely the fire will jump the canyon, it has dropped beneath the rim, leading to “rollout,” where burning debris travels downhill then ignites vegetation as it moves uphill.

Evacuations are in place for rural areas in Montrose County along the southwestern edge of the fire. Urban said weather conditions remain difficult.

“We are in kind of a challenging condition, challenging weather pattern here right now,” she said. “So we just want people to know they may continue to see some of that behavior, but that we do have—you know—we’re bringing in as many resources as we can, and we do have people out there actively getting around this fire and working to continue to assess potential and plans for any changes.”

Both Bennett and Urban emphasized the continued threat of lightning throughout the week. Bennett said the Telluride Fire Protection District remains on patrol and ready to respond to new ignitions.

Up-to-date wildfire information, evacuation notices and fire weather updates are available at inciweb.wildfire.gov.

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SMART Board Discusses Decreased Ridership

Ridership numbers are a mixed bag for the San Miguel Authority for Regional Transportation, known as SMART.

“Our down valley route is declining. Our Lawson Hill route is holding pretty steady. Mountain Village and Lawson Hill continues to increase – that’s a lot, I think, driven by parking,” SMART Operations Manager Keri Distefano said during a SMART board meeting last week.

Ridership in Rico has increased significantly since 2023, likely due to the route becoming free.

“Norwood is going down. We had a bump in 2023 on all of our routes, I think it was because gas prices were so high. Pretty much across the board, we’re losing riders. Not just the overall route, but each of the times we have,” Distefano said.

The decrease on the Norwood route is causing concern. According to the data, ridership on the Norwood route has dropped 16% between 2024 and 2025.

“I find it disturbing,” Distefano said.

“I have a hard time believing it because we added service, and the late-night Norwood run is going well,” SMART Executive Director David Averill added.

A challenge, Distefano said, is the timing of the routes.

“The two industries in San Miguel County that employ the most people are accommodations and food service, and recreation – I think we all know that. Here’s the problem and challenge, a lot of those people don’t work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. When this system got started, it was driven a lot by the San Miguel County employees who were living in Norwood, and they worked 8–5, it was a really predictable thing. That is not the case anymore. The challenge is it’s not easy to find route times that work for everybody, or even the majority of the workers,” she said.

San Miguel County Commissioner and SMART board member Anne Brown suggested there could be a community approach to understanding why ridership is down.

“This is such a small community, and relatively few people are riding from Norwood. I wonder if we could dig in and do some qualitative research where we find out from current riders who used to ride the bus, and talk to those people about why they’re not riding the bus, because we know all these people, or we know people who know these people,” Brown said.

When it comes to collecting information, Distefano also acknowledged the data may be unreliable.

“The number of people who get on does not always jive with the money. I’ve seen money collected that was 13 cents. We don’t have any 13 cent rides, so I don’t know if in that instance it was a kid and the driver said, ‘just give me what you got,’” she said.

Averill said clear data is the first step.

“I think we have to make sure we have good data before we even dive too deeply into this conversation,” he said.

SMART board and staff agree they need accurate data on what ridership numbers actually are. From there, they can work to determine how to get more people on the bus.

SMART provides free transit within the Telluride R-1 School District, with paid bus service to Norwood, Nucla, Naturita, Ridgway, and Montrose.

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DNA Folding Powers Microscopic Tools in Science and Medicine

Origami isn’t just for paper. Since the mid-2000s, scientists have been taking DNA, folding it and binding it into tiny, predetermined shapes – a technique called DNA origami.

Dr. Guillermo Acuna uses that technique in his work, creating microscopic antennas that play an important role in quantum optics.

This week, Acuna will break down the process and explain why the technology is a powerful tool in science and medicine as part of the Telluride Science and Innovation Center’s Town Talk.

The Town Talk will take place at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 15, at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village. The event is free and open to the public.

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Hickenlooper Draws First GOP Challenger in 2026 Senate Race

Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper has drawn his first high-profile Republican challenger.

Joshi Janak, a former state representative who also ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2022, has filed paperwork seeking the GOP nomination.

Janak, a former doctor, describes himself as a pro-Trump, “America First” Republican.

He is not the only Republican in the race. A former Marine with no prior elected experience has also entered.

Analysts currently rate the Senate seat as solidly Democratic in 2026.

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Skinny Farm Bill Offers Stopgap Support for Ag Producers

Republicans included a so-called “skinny” Farm Bill in their sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill package.

It provides much-needed relief for agricultural producers, but as Caitlyn Kim reports for the Colorado Capitol News Alliance, it’s not a substitute for a full five-year Farm Bill.

Story begins at 9:42.