Noticias

• Technical Glitch Puts Telluride Schools in Lockdown
• Colorado General Assembly Convenes for 2026

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Technical Glitch Puts Telluride Schools in Lockdown

Telluride Middle High School was placed on lockdown Monday afternoon due to a technical glitch.

“At about 1:28 this afternoon the school was placed into a lockdown. It was later determined it was technical glitch,” said Telluride Chief Marshal Josh Comte.

Comte said law enforcement responded as if the situation were real.

“We treated the lockdown like it was an actual lockdown. We sent all our resources over there. We had responding units to the schools in under two minutes. Obviously our SRO was already on campus at the middle school and high school. By 1:42 the lockdown was lifted, so it lasted approximately 14 minutes,” Comte said.

The SRO is the district’s school resource officer, a marshal’s deputy stationed at the school.

Telluride School District Superintendent John Pandolfo said the lockdown was triggered when a phone code was accidentally activated.

“In addition to the emergency buttons in each office, there’s a phone code that can be used to initiate a lockdown. Typically, that phone code takes several steps, it’s not just dialing a phone number,” Pandolfo said. “Today that phone code was inadvertently activated, and our belief is that a default got reset so it didn’t require the multiple steps it typically requires.”

Pandolfo said the district is still investigating why the process was reset and plans to conduct additional testing over the weekend.

Comte said he understands the emotional toll lockdowns can have on the community.

“We don’t take any of these things lightly when a school is placed in lockdown. Even the drills we treat very seriously, and we understand those can have pretty significant impacts on people’s mental health and mental wellness and the stress involved for both the students and parents when these things happen,” Comte said.

He said he was grateful the lockdown procedures were taken seriously.

“Everyone responded very well to the lockdown, which made our job easier. From an officer standpoint, we were able to get in the schools, we were able to clear them very quickly and deem them safe and lift it very quickly,” Comte said. “While we hate to see these happen, it’s a good reminder that when it does happen, they’re treated seriously and everyone responded very well today.”

School operations returned to normal following the lockdown.

Pandolfo said that while the incident was unfortunate, situations that occur in real time help the district better prepare for future emergencies.

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Colorado General Assembly Convenes for 2026

Colorado’s General Assembly reconvenes this week for the start of the 2026 legislative session.

KOTO will again provide coverage of state lawmaking through its ongoing segment, Capitol Conversation.

This week, statehouse reporter Lucas Brady Woods provides a preview of what to expect during the session.

Story beings at 2:50.

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Improv, Comedy Night Brings Community Together

The Sheridan Opera House, San Miguel Resource Center, San Miguel County Public Health and the Fig, a local arts collective, are teaming up this week for a night of improv and stand-up comedy.

The event will feature low-stakes, high-energy improv games focused on building connection and community while having fun.

The night is part of the organizations’ Dry January at the Show Bar program and is free and open to the public. Nonalcoholic beverages will be available.

The improv and comedy night will take place Wednesday, Jan. 14, at the Show Bar, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

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Snowpack Lags Across Upper Colorado River Basin

Snowpack is well below average across the Upper Colorado River Basin, in part due to an unusually warm winter.

Temperatures in December were nine to 12 degrees above normal across the region, resulting in more precipitation falling as rain, particularly at lower elevations.

Seth Arens, a scientist with the Western Water Assessment, said climate change is likely to bring more winters like this in the future, though he cautioned against calling it “the new normal.”

“We’re going to keep going through these cycles of having warm winters and cold winters, but that average is going to get higher and higher,” Arens said. “So that means on these extremes: our extremely warm winters are going to be warmer and warmer, and the extremely cold winters aren’t going to be as cold.”

Arens said there is still time left this winter for snow accumulation, but long-term forecasts point to continued warm and dry conditions.

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A crowd of people gathered in downtown Carbondale last week for a vigil honoring Renee Nicole Macklin Good. She died last Wednesday after a federal immigration agent shot her in Minneapolis.

For Rocky Mountain Community Radio, Aspen Public Radio’s Sarah Tory reports under falling snow, people gathered around a large, black and white photo of Good. She was a poet, writer, wife, and mother to three children.

Trump Administration officials defended the shooting, saying the immigration agent fired in self-defense. But a video analysis by the New York Times shows Good’s car turning away from the agent as he opened fire.

For Willits resident Bettina Slusar, Good’s killing was a disturbing realization about the escalation of violence at the hands of immigration agents.

“There was a point where I was worried that protesting ice might get me, you know, handcuffed and taken away, but now what we have to worry about is being shot in the head for honking our horns,” said Slusar.

Volunteers with the nonprofit, Mountain Action Indivisible organized the vigil. They’re urging people to speak out against Good’s killing by attending future protests — and calling their elected representatives to demand an end to the Trump Administration’s violence.