Noticias

• Fire Season Ignites with Willow Springs Fire
• Telluride Discusses the Housing Waitlist
• Hetal Doshi Runs for Colorado Attorney General

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Fire Season Ignites with Willow Springs Fire

Fire season has officially arrived in San Miguel County.

The Willow Springs wildfire ignited near Greyhead and the Telluride Airport on Tuesday evening.

“The fire was determined human caused and accidental by our internal fire investigator this morning,” said Telluride Fire Protection District Chief John Bennett.

“Initial reports fairly small. With that wind it pushed it. With the terrain, typically a fire will push uphill. Given the location SSW winds certainly had some good potential. We had some houses above that — however quite a bit above that. That said, certainly our concerns were structure hazard, so time was of the essence,” Bennett said.

In total, the fire burned 2.1 acres. Bennett said the current weather is helping.

“We’re seeing some good moisture which, certainly will help in additional moisture on the ground and making sure those hotter spots are being cooled along with our firefighters out there turning the ground and making sure those hot spots are extinguished fully,” he said.

Bennett said they were initially alerted to the fire using the district’s AI fire detection cameras.

“As soon as the first puff of smoke went out, that alerts the fire district which gave us an early detection on that,” he said.

Response to the fire was a multi-agency effort, with resources from the Telluride Fire Protection District, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office.

“Everything went according to plan. The training and continued efforts to take care of our community really paid off last night. I couldn’t be more proud and satisfied that all of that work on the front side really pays off on the backside,” Bennett said.

While everything this week went well, with a fire this early in the season, Bennett said the community should prepare for a big season.

“When you look at the forecasted weather, I don’t want to say it’s totally grim, but it certainly provides for some concern given the forecasts of hot and dry. Certainly, given our winter condition, we’re not going into the summer with a great moister base so reservoirs are going to low. High country snow load, low. There’s concern. We’re going to be on high alert this summer,” he said.

Bennett added it’s up to the community to think and act collectively and individually to prevent and mitigate fire.

“What we’re trying to do in our communities is be active as a community rather than individuals, but it starts with the individual and it grows from there. It’s going to take all of us to create that safety zone,” he said.

Fire crews will continue to monitor the area to ensure there is no re-ignition or spread.

Members of the community can sign up for San Miguel County’s emergency alerts at sanmiguelcountyco.gov.

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Telluride Discusses the Housing Waitlist

The regional housing crisis is a common topic of conversation, which is why the town of Telluride is grappling with dozens of vacant rental housing units.

Telluride Community Services Director DeLanie Tapson said the issue is threefold.

“One has, undoubtedly, been the stale waitlist,” Tapson said.

Telluride recently combined all its housing waitlists — for Shandoka, Sunnyside, Virginia Placer and Voodoo — into one master list.

“By the time we got everything combined, we were at approximately 330/335 waitlist people,” she said.

Another challenge is the rent on units.

“Voodoo and Sunnyside have been particularly difficult to get placements. That is primarily driven by most of our recent applicants being tier A and tier B,” Tapson said.

Those tiers represent lower-income households. Given the town’s debt on Voodoo and Sunnyside, base rents are set at a higher level.

A third issue is the town’s ability to turn units quickly when someone moves out due to needed maintenance work.

“One of the units was occupied for more than 16 years and it shows,” she said.

Tapson provided an update to Telluride Town Council this week. While she described the issue as three-pronged, council members focused on the waitlist.

“I’m going to ask a question that maybe isn’t popular. I’m wondering at what point in time we sit with and recognize that maybe the waitlist doesn’t work. I struggle with the number of units that are available and ready to go, and the size of the waitlist. To me there’s a chasm there that makes zero sense to me,” said Councilmember Ashley Von Spreecken.

Tapson said the confusion is understandable. Over time, the housing department has shifted how it offers available units to people on the waitlist.

“It used to be that when you had a unit, or a couple of units, you would reach out to the next candidate in line that fulfilled the requirements for that unit and it was a one-by-one thing. It was not working,” she said.

The department then shifted to sending offers to batches of applicants on the waitlist, awarding units to those who submit a full application first. However, that approach has also fallen short.

“Two months ago, the batch was 123 in total. We had 18 responses out of 123,” Tapson said.

Council directed the housing department to conduct a mass outreach to everyone on the waitlist, regardless of how long they have been on it, and offer all available units.

Depending on the results, the council will assess whether a broader overhaul of the waitlist system is needed.

The council also took steps to create a resident advisory committee made up of tenants in town-owned rental properties to gather ongoing feedback.

“We get a lot of people coming in and telling us what they hate or what doesn’t work for them. I think a more solutions-oriented perspective is what I think would be more helpful to me as someone who sits on this board,” said Councilmember Elena Levin.

Council plans to offer rent reductions for those who serve on the committee and will hold another work session on April 28 to finalize details.

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Hetal Doshi Runs for Colorado Attorney General

Hetal Doshi is one of five Democrats running to serve as Colorado’s next attorney general. The daughter of immigrants, she lives in Denver with her husband and dog, Zuri. Doshi was an antitrust litigator at the Department of Justice during the Biden administration, suing corporations including Google and Ticketmaster.

Doshi visited Telluride last week on a trip across the Western Slope and stopped by KOTO to share more about her campaign.

Story begins at 7:45.

Hetal Doshi (HD): I’ve been a lawyer for 20 years, and the majority of that time I’ve spent in public service. I just resigned after more than a decade of service at the United States Department of Justice, which a lot of people think that those offices are only in Washington, D.C., but in fact, we have a U.S. Attorney’s Office here in Colorado that covers the four corners of the state.

I was a federal prosecutor for almost a decade. I started out in Denver, traveling to the four corners of the state. I did white collar criminal prosecution, corporate misconduct, public corruption work and civil rights. Then I went on to be a senior political appointee of the Biden-Harris administration. I was the Biden-Harris administration’s top antitrust litigator, all civil and criminal antitrust cases across the country for three years, and that is a position I resigned from.

In terms of how it is that I ended up here talking to you about being a political candidate, this was very much not on the bingo card. I thought this season of my life was going to look really different. I thought maybe I’d be doing some public policy work or think tank work around issues related to consumer protection and the economy. Instead, I watched this administration take a wrecking ball to democratic institutions, and then I watched the most powerful interests in society bend a knee to that.

Simultaneously — and this was something that’s really deeply felt for me and pushed me off the sidelines in this moment — I watched an administration redefine what it means to be an American and a patriot in a way that excludes me, my family, and my service to our country and our flag. I’m a first-generation American, proud daughter of two immigrants, and my story is very much the best of America in terms of one generation from when my parents got here to being a senior immigrant part of the administration.

So the question I came back to in terms of running for office is: if those of us of goodwill, character, experience, and judgment, if we all opt out of politics because it’s hard, it’s exposed, some people would say scummy, right? Maybe we get exactly the government we deserve. I was tired of being an observer to that. And I said, put me in coach. And so here we are.

Julia Caulfield (JC): When you think about, obviously the role of attorney general for a state is, it’s a big job. There’s a lot of weight for what you deem important for fighting in the justice system in Colorado, right? What do you see as your vision for what that would be if you were to be elected as attorney general?

HD: The attorney general’s job is huge. It is the state’s top law enforcement officer, as you note, so there are lots of ways that you could focus your time.

I think how you spend your time and your priorities sort of reflect your values. So for me, I organize that into three buckets of things that I think are really important.

The first is not going to surprise you. It’s defending Colorado and the rule of law against a lawless administration that seems to have a very casual relationship with democratic institutions. The one thing that I think is really important to emphasize there, though, in terms of protecting Colorado and rule of law, is that I’m the only candidate in the field of Democratic candidates for attorney general that has deep expertise in federal law because I was a federal prosecutor.

And so I think understanding the limits of the Fed’s power is something that is unique to me. I think I’m well suited to do it. Equally important, if not more so, is this idea that being anti-something, your anti-lawlessness, is not the same as being for something, right?

If we spend all of our time reacting to a federal government and not affirmatively building something that reflects our values, I think that’s a real missed opportunity. So, for me, the second area of priority is very much dealing with making sure that we address the social and economic conditions that gave rise to this presidency.

That means a deep, unflinching look at our market structures and making sure that everyone has that same fair shot at the American dream that my life story is a manifestation of. I come by my love of antitrust, honestly, because I was an antitrust prosecutor, and I led the cases against Google and Apple and Ticketmaster. But I also think that structural type of approach to the economy is hugely consequential for affordability related to housing, healthcare, food. So that’s the second bucket.

Then, briefly, the third bucket really relates to freedom, because that is one of the hallmarks of democracy, or at least I thought that was, until this particular moment. In Colorado, we are really lucky to be in a state where we have control over our bodies and what our families look like and being able to build a family and a partnership, an intimate partnership, that reflects our values. I want to make sure that our next attorney general is a fighter on that front. For me, that freedom bucket is those personal liberties, but it’s also our air, water and land.

JC: I just said that it is a huge job that has a lot of power and weight, but on the flip side, what would you say to folks who maybe hear those things that you see as priorities and say, ‘yeah, I’m with that, too.’ But those are huge, ambitious goals. How can one person, one attorney general for the state actually do all that stuff?

HD: You’re exactly right. Each one of these issues — fixing health care, for example — is something that could take as much time as we have to devote to it. But unfortunately, we find ourselves in an existential crisis where we’re going to have to walk and chew gum simultaneously in terms of taking on these battles. This is a place where I share people’s frustration that, like, how many politicians have we heard come in and say, ‘oh, I’m going to fix this and, you know, affordability. Here’s my seven-point plan solution.’

The reality is, and the thing that I want to bring a lot of candor to, is that the judicial system is really the only functioning branch of government right now. The executive branch seems to be operating as an open-air, pay-for-play corruption market. The legislative branch? Not really super sure what they’re doing.

So bringing the right cases to the courtroom — that’s the whole battle. For me, it’s experience in terms of the next AG that can’t be a nice-to-have. The next AG can’t be a figurehead who says, ‘I’m going to come in and just tell my staff to do these things and they can be the experts.’ The next AG has to herself be experienced, the expert, to be able to make these thoughtful and important decisions about trade-offs.

JC: When you think of Colorado and you think of the laws within the state, if you could wave a magic wand and have one thing shift that you think would make Colorado better for the people who live here within the context of your work, what would you do?

HD: I am a firm believer that economic opportunity is the path to every other piece of democracy that matters, like our individual liberties. People often miss the second part of the March on Washington, where MLK gave his famous speech that it was actually a March on Washington for jobs.

What my magic wand skill would be is to figure out how to restore all of the main streets across the great state of Colorado to the place they were before the enormous consolidation of our markets in terms of retail and opportunity.

Having had the privilege of being on the campaign trail and driving across our great state, Telluride has an incredible main street full of thriving businesses, but not every other main street across Colorado looks like that. And so for us to invest in our communities, outside the Front Range in particular, the magic wand power would have to be: how do we make it so that those small and medium-sized businesses lead the community in terms of economic opportunity, and then the rest of it will follow.

She is running in a crowded Democratic field against Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, Colorado House Representative Crisanta Duran, workers’ rights lawyer David Seligman and Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty in the primary election.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face the Republican nominee in November. Colorado District Attorney Michael Allen and Conner Pennington are seeking the Republican nomination.

The winner of the race for Colorado attorney general will fill the seat currently held by Phil Weiser, who is termed out and running for Colorado governor.

Telski Closes Early and Reopens for Closing Weekend

Rounding out an impressively unusual winter, Telluride Ski Resort closed on Wednesday but plans to reopen Friday with hopes of staying open through the weekend.

The tentative operating schedule for Friday includes Lift 4, with access limited to blue terrain.

Village Bypass is closed, along with Meadows and Lower Double Cabin. There is no beginner terrain available on the mountain for the remainder of the season.

The Chondola will be open for skier access.

Lifts 5 and 6, along with Angle Station, will also be open, though terrain is subject to change.

In a news release, Telski spokesperson Nancy Clark said safety is the top priority and operations remain subject to change. She said decisions may be made on short notice because “everything is dependent on how the snowpack holds up.”

The resort is tentatively planning to reopen Friday, April 3, and close Sunday, April 5.

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Bardic Trails Poetry Night Features Nancy Takacs

Hollyhocks rise
with their sturdy skirts,
like the women who grow up
in this desert town,
not meaning to go anywhere
but where they must,
impossible to uproot.

Mother-of-thyme
creeps on. Sage holds one
blue leaf. Chives thicken.
I never liked them, but I gather
their violet-scented flowers.

My prickly fronds and pods
of poppies are the ones raising hell
in the stubble
along my chain link.

I rake sorrel and thistle
away from their maze,

for the coming rain,
their flaming crepe,

their centers dark
and alive as bees.

* Nancy Takacs / Dearest Water (Mayapple Press 2022)

Nancy Takacs, a Utah author, poet and fiber artist, is the featured poet for this month’s Talking Gourds Bardic Trails Poetry Night.

At the event, Takacs will share some of her work, with time for questions. Attendees are also encouraged to bring a poem to share, whether their own or someone else’s.

For those looking for a poetic prompt, the theme this month is “Spring in the Time of War.”

The April Bardic Trails Poetry Night will take place Monday, April 7, at 7 p.m. via Zoom. The Zoom link is available at tellurideinstitute.org.

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Trump Administration Moves to “Restore” History in National Parks

Trump administration officials say they are “restoring truth and sanity to American history” in celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday.

In national parks, that means removing information from signs and exhibits that officials say “disparage” American historical figures and those that do not focus on the “beauty, abundance, or grandeur” of natural features.

Newly leaked data from the Department of the Interior shows parks in the region questioning what qualifies under the executive and secretarial orders, creating confusion about how to present history and nature to visitors.

In Canyonlands, park officials wondered whether it violated executive orders to keep a sign describing the harmful effects of past mining and extraction.

At Mesa Verde, signs were flagged that described the ancestral homeland of the Ute people and how white settlement pushed them onto reservations.

Ean (Ian) Thomas Tafoya (tuh-FOY-uh), vice president of state programs for advocacy group GreenLatinos, said removing information that helps people understand and engage with public lands deprives visitors of the opportunity to get more involved.

“All this is important, because when you make that connection, you bring it home… when I think of, ‘what are my initial connections to these lands?’ I take that love of it into… engaging in designing where roads are gonna go or who gets to recreate here or which species are we going to participate with,” Tafoya said.

He said these actions mirror those at other agencies, like removing historical climate and environmental justice data.

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U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Colorado Ban on Conversion Therapy

The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Colorado’s law that bans conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth, according to Bente Birkeland of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance.

The case was brought on behalf of a therapist who said she had the right to speak freely with her clients. Colorado’s law prohibited mental health professionals in the state from attempting to change a minor client’s sexual orientation or gender identity during talk therapy sessions.

Major psychological governing bodies say the practice is harmful, and the state argued it has the authority to regulate licensed therapists.

But an 8-1 Supreme Court majority sided with a Christian counselor who argued the law banning certain therapies violates the First Amendment. The majority found the Colorado law regulates speech based on viewpoint and permits some types of speech but not others.

One of the sponsors of Colorado’s law said the ruling could put some children in jeopardy.

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Singing Resistance Into the World

Earlier this year in Minneapolis, thousands of people gathered in the streets and in churches, not just to protest, but to sing, denouncing federal immigration enforcement in their communities.

Singing as a form of resistance is nothing new, but new organizing tools like social media and encrypted group chats are helping these efforts spread, connecting people across the country and bringing them together in person.

For Rocky Mountain Community Radio, KGNU’s Nikki Kayser reports on a singing resistance group in Boulder, where members say singing together is an antidote to feelings of fear and discouragement in the face of national and international news.

Story beings at 21:00.