News

• Plane Skids Off Runway at Telluride Airport
• Blues & Brews Announces 2026 Lineup
• Cat Movie Fisher with Risho Unda

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Plane Skids Off Runway at Telluride Airport

A private plane skidded off the runway after an eventful landing Tuesday at Telluride Regional Airport.

“A Cessna Citation X, landing runway 09, just past the midway point of the runway it exited due to some erratic crosswinds. It went to the north of the runway and ended up just to the east of our taxiway alpha 3,” said Kenny Maenpa, manager of Telluride Regional Airport.

Maenpa said the airport does not consider the incident a crash.

“The left main gear was collapsed and there are some damages to the wing on one side. There were no injuries, and everybody exited from the airplane without any assistance,” he said.

According to the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office, there were three people on the plane — two pilots and one passenger.

Maenpa said the incident was unfortunate, but airport and runway staff responded well.

“You want to make sure the airport is operating in a safe and efficient manner in any weather condition. It’s good news that the airport operated safety. We take pride in how we maintain the safety areas around the runway in case something like this does happen,” he said.

Maenpa said weather events can impact the airport, but the community should fell confident flying in and out.

“You just can’t control sometimes those conditions in a mountain airport like Telluride. We have a lot of highly skilled people that fly in here every day and take great pride in their career as a pilot. Everyone should take great comfort in that, and what it takes to maintain that and be a highly qualified professional flying out of any airport, including Telluride,” he said.

The airport was temporarily closed while the airplane was removed from the runway, impacting flights.

“Unfortunately, our afternoon Denver flight had to divert to Montrose, as well as a handful of other flights have had to divert,” Maenpa said.

Telluride Regional Airport reopened Tuesday evening. Maenpa said reopening the airport as quickly as possible was a priority.

“Because you just never know, what if we have a medivac flight that needs to come in, or what have you, so that’s our role to try and get the airport open and safe as quickly as possible,” he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the incident.

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Blues & Brews Announces 2026 Lineup

Festival season is in the air. This week, two Telluride music festivals dropped their initial lineups, including the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival.

“To be able to share it with the world is always a big moment of excitement and joy,” said Jacob Bomersback, director of marketing at SBG Productions, which produces Blues & Brews.

“We’re conscious of finding new, up and coming artists that are appealing to the younger folks, while also making sure that we have our main stays in the mix. It’s a good group overall,” Bomersback said.

From top to bottom, the lineup is strong.

“We’ve got seven-time grammy winner, Jon Batiste finally making an official Telluride debut at Telluride Blues & Brews Festival. This is one we’re all looking forward to,” Bomersback said.

“This is going to be with his big band. He’s from New Orleans, so we’re expecting horns, organs, all sorts of instruments. I think it’s going to be a really dynamic show,” added Patrick Shehan, partnership director for SBG. “I think it’s going to be a really dynamic show.”

Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ will perform together as TajMo.

“Taj Mahal has such a relationship with Telluride starting with Scrapple back in the day. He’s just love it here and he’s one of the old blues legends, so we have to get him while we can,” Shehan said.

Marcus King will also return to the festival.

“I can’t pinpoint the first year he came, but he was young. I remember he was playing Nintendo 64 back in his tour bus waiting for his set. We’ve watched him grow up and become this incredible musician. He’s just blossoming, so we’re excited to have him back as a headliner,” Shehan said.

Organizers say the festival experience extends beyond the headliners.

“I think one of the highlights that folk are going to walk away from talking about is Daniel Donato. He’s just on fire right now as an up-and-coming artist that will continue to make waves,” Bomersback said.

“His music is a journey. You’re going to see blues, you’re going to see jam, you’re going to see a little bluegrass mixed into his set,” Shehan added.

The lineup also includes Samantha Fish, Eddie 9V, Greyhounds, G. Love & Special Sauce, J & The Causeways, and Charlie Musselwhite & GA-20, as well as artists from the Music Maker Foundation.

“A lot of those names aren’t known to the common listener but they’re these incredible traditional blues artists and you’re not going to see that many places. So definitely go see that and see the blues tradition,” Shehan said.

At the heart of the festival, he said, “it’s diverse, but the blues are at the core of everything here.”

The 2026 Telluride Blues & Brews Festival will take place Sept. 18–20 in Town Park. A full daily schedule will be released in March, along with single-day tickets. Three-day passes are still available, and volunteer applications are open.

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Cat Movie Fisher with Risho Unda

It’s time for Cat Movie Fisher, where Telluride High School’s Risho Unda chats with members of the community about their favorite movies. This week he’s talking with Telluride Marshal Deputy and School Resource Officer Brunner Hill.

Story beings at 8:25.

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KOTO Board Names New Members

The San Miguel Educational Fund, KOTO’s governing board, has seated a new board.

On Monday, the four elected board members appointed the final three seats. Kathleen Erie was reappointed to her seat, while Kim Perutz and Seth Weatherfield were newly appointed. All three will serve one-year terms.

They join board President Gene Weil, Meghan Knowles, Patrick Shehan and Brian Wolahan to complete the KOTO board.

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Telluride Backcountry Chat to Focus on Winter Decision-Making

The arrival of winter is a beautiful, but potentially dangerous, time of year.

Recreating in the backcountry can bring stoke and adventure, but also accident and heartbreak. To help people stay safe during the winter season, Telluride’s Backcountry Chats are continuing.

Whether seasoned backcountry skiers or those new to the terrain, the talks are designed to help recreators and interested community members learn more about snowpack, snow science, safety and other topics.

The second chat of the season will focus on backcountry decision-making.

Backcountry Chats are a collaboration among the Peter Inglis Avalanche Education Fund, the Telluride Mountain Club, Mountain Trip, Telluride Mountain Guides, San Juan Outdoor Adventures and Telluride Helitrax.

The second Backcountry Chat of the season will take place at the Wilkinson Public Library on Thursday, Jan. 15, at 6 p.m.

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Colorado Joins Lawsuit Over Federal Funding Freeze

Colorado and four other states are suing the Trump administration over a freeze on more than $10 billion in federal funding for low-income families.

The withheld money supports programs that provide cash assistance, child care and other essential services. The administration says the freeze is tied to concerns that benefits may be going to noncitizens.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser argues the administration has provided no evidence of fraud to justify the move.

The lawsuit is the 50th Weiser has filed against the Trump administration since January 2025.

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Feds publish possible playbook for managing dwindling Colorado River supply

The federal agency overseeing the water supply for tens of millions of people in the West has published a list of options for how it might manage the drought-stricken Colorado River in the future.

The five proposals range from taking “no action” to a scenario that might result in water cuts to the lower basin states of California, Nevada and Arizona. One alternative developed in partnership with conservation groups would incentivize states and water users to proactively conserve the river.

But the Interior Department is not identifying a preferred option, and the scenarios outlined in hundreds of pages of documents will only move forward if all seven states that depend on the water fail to agree on their own conservation plan soon.

The current operating guidelines for Lake Powell and Lake Mead along the Colorado are set to expire in August.

Colorado and the six other states that depend on the waterway have been at an impasse for almost two years as they negotiate how to share and conserve its water in the face of drought and growing demands on the river.

A gathering of the state’s top river negotiators in December appeared to pass without a breakthrough, and the next deadline for states to come to terms looms Feb. 14.

John Fleck, a water policy expert at the University of New Mexico, told KUNC after the negotiators missed a key November deadline that it would be unfortunate and risky if the states don’t reach an agreement and head to court.

“We end up handing off water management responsibilities to courts because we haven’t been able to take charge of our own water management fate in the basin,” he said. “And I think that would be unfortunate and poses a lot of risks, but that may be the only way, is that courts make us do the right thing [to conserve water].”

As of Jan. 11, Lake Powell and Lake Mead were sitting at 27 and 33% full, respectively.

The Interior Department says drought conditions over the past 25 years and forecasts for dry conditions have made it “particularly challenging” to come up with new management plans for the river.

“The Department of the Interior is moving forward with this process to ensure environmental compliance is in place so operations can continue without interruption when the current guidelines expire,” Assistant Secretary – Water and Science Andrea Travnicek said in a statement. “The river and the 40 million people who depend on it cannot wait. In the face of an ongoing severe drought, inaction is not an option.”

The Interior Department said a decision about future management of the river will land before Oct. 1 “to provide certainty for communities, tribes and water users.”

Public comment will be accepted on the draft plans through early March.

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Aspen Schools Explore Underground Energy Network

The Aspen School District is exploring a fairly novel concept: partnering with the city on an underground energy network.

The district started testing the feasibility of installing a geothermal system on campus in November.

It’s a well established technology, but as Aspen Public Radio’s Michael Fanelli reports for Rocky Mountain Community Radio, connecting that system to other buildings with different owners is a new idea in the U.S. that brings added complications.

Story beings at 15:10.