{"id":6595,"date":"2025-09-04T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koto.org\/?post_type=news&#038;p=6595"},"modified":"2025-09-04T16:18:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T22:18:38","slug":"newscast-9-4-25","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/koto.org\/es\/news\/newscast-9-4-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Newscast 9-4-25"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The West End Roundup with The San Miguel Basin Forum<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stoner Mesa Fire Winding Down<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>County Ballot Measures Finalized for November Election<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>But First&#8230; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>San Miguel County is downgrading fire restrictions for all unincorporated land to Stage 1 effective at midnight tonight. The recent moisture has improved wildland fuel conditions, and aligns with jurisdictions across the region. The Sheriff\u2019s office reminds residents and visitors that fire danger is still high and they urge all to be extremely careful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The West End Roundup with The San Miguel Basin Forum<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Today on the West End Roundup with the San Miguel Basin forum KOTO\u2019s news team chats with editor Regan Tuttle. In today\u2019s headlines: Uranium Heats Up in The West End, What&#8217;s up with The Leopard frogs in Nucla? And Basin Clinic Recognized Statewide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Story begins at<\/em> :58<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Stoner Mesa Fire Winding Down<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Stoner Mesa fire southeast of Rico has burned just over 10,000 acres of remote national forest land. Started by lightning on July 28, the fire rapidly expanded through August, prompting an elevated evacuation status in Rico and surrounding communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With 47% containment, firefighters have begun transitioning to cleanup and preparing to leave the landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Information Officer Mike DeFries said there is still plenty of work left before crews depart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo what&#8217;s going on right now are the firefighters have been removing hose, fire hose from fire lines,\u201d DeFries said. \u201cWe&#8217;re also removing a lot of the structure protection equipment that went out in both the 145 and county road 38 corridors, so that is no longer needed. So we&#8217;re pulling that away from homes and other structures and really trying to clear the area of firefighting equipment that&#8217;s not needed. And we&#8217;re working to repair dozer line and hand line that is no longer needed as well. So as we work on making sure that areas where there&#8217;s still heat are being addressed, we&#8217;re also with crews getting rid of the equipment and other areas of fire suppression that are no longer needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With no current evacuation statuses in the region, DeFries said crews will focus on reseeding areas that burned, removing equipment and preparing the landscape to transition post-fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re only finding occasional hot spots near fire lines or fires edge, and overall, we&#8217;re expecting that to further diminish over the next few days,\u201d DeFries said. \u201cWe have a rain front that&#8217;s moving in, starting this afternoon. We&#8217;re expecting showers, possible thunderstorms this afternoon, there looks like there&#8217;ll be more tomorrow, and possibly also on Sunday as well. So it&#8217;s looking like we&#8217;ve got significant amount of rain, which is really going to reduce and probably put a real damper on some of the more remote areas of heat on the fire that are just too difficult for firefighters to access.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About 200 personnel remain working on the fire, down from more than 600 during peak activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DeFries said the San Juan National Forest has reopened Priest Gulch and Calico trails for recreational access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd just to be clear, so there was a recent reduction in the forest closure,\u201d DeFries said. \u201cSan Juan National Forest has really been trying to be, as you know, as aggressive as possible in minimizing the impact as far as the closure. In other words, if there&#8217;s an area that can be open, they really would like it to be open.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no estimated time for full containment. With cooler temperatures and expected moisture, teams will continue work on the Stoner Mesa Fire. Updated closure and fire information is available at the Stoner Mesa Fire Facebook page and inciweb.wildfire.gov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">County Ballot Measures Finalized for November Election<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Two county ballot measures are headed to voters in San Miguel County for this year\u2019s election. County commissioners passed resolutions approving the ballot language at their Sept. 3 meeting, foregoing a potential third measure that would have raised the mill levy for the Road and Bridge Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first ballot measure would remove the state statutory revenue limit of 5.25% on the Early Childhood Advisory Panel (ECAP) and the Mental Health Advisory Panel (MHAP). Both funds currently bring in just under $1 million each year. Removing the cap would add about $259,000 in additional revenue. The limit was set in the 2024 state legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The measure would allow San Miguel County to collect its full mill amount without raising taxes. ECAP and MHAP funds are used for mental health and substance abuse treatment services and to reduce costs associated with early childhood education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second ballot measure reallocates 1.4 mills from the county\u2019s general fund into the Road and Bridge fund, which currently receives .5 mills. The change would add $328,000 to Road and Bridge, again without raising taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Road and Bridge Director Ryan Rigetti said the increase will help the department catch up on deferred maintenance, but warned that more money will be needed in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo if we want to get into where we&#8217;re doing improvements on these roads, we have to look at an increase in revenue in one way, one shape or form,\u201d Rigetti said. \u201cBut one thing to consider also is that we do have close to 70 miles of paved road now and some newer roads, but the majority of them are older. Roads have been paved 15 to 20 years ago, so they&#8217;re going to be nearing the end of their lifespan. Even just maintaining the existing asphalt surfaces that we have is going to be a lot more costly than when we put them in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Commissioners considered a third ballot measure that would have raised the Road and Bridge mill levy by .2 mills, increasing taxes. Rigetti said that extra funding would have gone toward paving some of the county\u2019s steepest and most problematic dirt roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Commissioner Galena Gleason said she was hesitant to put more costs before voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI still have those concerns and the voter fatigue on that particular ballot that the Norwood R-2 school district voters will be voting on,\u201d Gleason said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Commissioner Anne Brown agreed, pointing to a school bond measure also appearing on the Norwood ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy concern is that the Norwood ballot has a school bond,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt has failed twice. It has a better chance this year because they&#8217;ve been awarded the BEST grant, and in support of that ballot measure, I feel like the less we can load on in terms of tax increases this year, the better. I think it will also be good to see what we can do with the money that we do get, and some other changes are being made in the Road and Bridge Department.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Commissioners agreed to hold off on the mill levy increase until next year\u2019s election cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Election coverage on KOTO Radio begins in late September, covering all local races and ballot measures. More information is available at KOTO.org.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Thousands Fired from USDA Amid Federal Downsizing<br><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Thousands of people in the U.S. Department of Agriculture were fired in February as part of the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to downsize the federal workforce. Although wildland firefighters were exempt from the mass firing, many fired federal employees had secondary wildfire-fighting responsibilities. This came during a busy wildfire season in Western Colorado, which included the fourth-largest wildfire in state history. For Rocky Mountain Community Radio, KDNK\u2019s Lily Jones reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Story begins at<\/em> 13:07<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Colorado Health Officials Order Expanded COVID-19 Vaccine Access<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Colorado health officials issued an order Wednesday to ensure widespread access to COVID-19 vaccines. It takes effect Friday. From the Colorado Capitol News Alliance, Lucas Brady Woods reports it\u2019s a response to new federal rules for who can get the shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Story begins at<\/em> 15:00<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Congress Cuts Climate Programs in \u2018One Big Beautiful Bill\u2019 Act<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><br>When Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July, it clawed back billions of dollars from the Biden administration\u2019s landmark climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act. Programs under the IRA that were set to expire in the 2030s are now ending this year, including a tax credit for new electric vehicles, which is set to expire at the end of September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Story begins at<\/em> 15:57<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>-The West End Roundup with The San Miguel Basin Forum<\/p>\n<p>-Stoner Mesa Fire Winding Down<\/p>\n<p>-County Ballot Measures Finalized for November Election<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-category":[515],"news-tag":[],"class_list":["post-6595","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","news-category-newscasts"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Newscast 9-4-25 - KOTO FM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In Today&#039;s Headlines: The West End Roundup with The San Miguel Basin Forum. 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