News

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Town of Norwood Purchases Public School

The Norwood School lives on, following a recent agreement between the Town of Norwood trustees and the Norwood Public School board.

In recent years, town administrators have emphasized the need for asbestos abatement and upgrades to the existing Norwood School in order to ensure the health and safety of students and staff.

Two previous ballot measures for a mill levy to support a matching fund for the BEST (Building Excellent Schools Today) grant, a state grant that would have funded the construction of a new school, were unsuccessful. The estimated potential funds for the grant were close to $80 million.

On Jan. 29, both boards met during a special meeting to discuss the Town of Norwood’s letter of intent to purchase the school.

The agreement comes as part of a strategy to fund asbestos abatement, which the Town of Norwood will manage through a Brownfield Environmental Protection Agency grant. The town will also help facilitate a third attempt at securing a state BEST grant, which would fund the construction of a new school.

The school board first discussed its BEST grant application. Randy Harris, vice president of the school board, said, “So this is where we were last year at $72 million, nine hundred and sixty dollars, based on a larger project, square footage-wise. So, with all the discussions and everything we’ve had here recently, we are proposing, granted right now I have abatement and demo in it, but I heard that might change. So if we take out right now, I just have it plugged in as a lump sum, a little more than four million dollars. If we take that out, we are at $61 million, roughly $11 million cheaper than last year. So that’s just a reduction of square footage, with abatement taken out. Six million of reduction of square footage and site scope. Combination of square footage, site, and site work.”

The new grant application is $11 million less than the application proposed through the ballot measure last November. Additionally, the asbestos abatement, which Harris estimates at around $4 million, will be funded through a Brownfield EPA grant by the Town of Norwood.

Both boards then entered into executive session. Harris moved, “I move that the Board of Education enter executive session to discuss the sale of the property located at 1225 Summit Street, Norwood, Colorado, in the Town of Norwood as authorized by CRS 24-6-402 4k, and that the board be joined in executive session by the Town Board of Trustees and the following persons—Todd Bissell, district superintendent; Sara Owens, Town of Norwood administrative director; and Amanda Pierce, town clerk.”

After the executive session, the boards returned to regular session. Town Trustee Mike Grady then motioned to approve the letter of intent to purchase the Norwood School for $250,000, contingent upon a successful BEST grant application and an agreement for the Town of Norwood to conduct asbestos abatement.

Grady said, “I’ll make a motion to approve the letter of intent, between the Town of Norwood and the Norwood School District, with the suggested amendment to the successful BEST grant and a fully funded project bond.”

The BEST grant application was due in early February, and the school district is expected to hear soon about the status of the bond. As for the potential future ownership of the school, the Town of Norwood said it will take time to determine what the community wants.

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Telluride Jazz Festival Announces 2025 Lineup

Shine the trumpet and saxophone, tune up the bass, dust off the drums. The 2025 Telluride Jazz Festival will be back again this summer. Last week, the festival announced its lineup.

Before you know it, music will be wafting from Town Park, Jazz on Main will bring the energy, and the Society Stage at Elks Park will be packed.

“We’re really excited, we’ve got some bangers of headliners coming in this year,” said Courtney McCleary, director of operations at SBG Productions, which puts on the Telluride Jazz Festival.

Patrick Sheehan, director of partnerships at SBG Productions, agreed. “This year’s lineup is a great representation of modern jazz,” he said.

Headlining the festival this year is jazz icon Kamasi Washington.

“Kamasi kind of represents what jazz is right now. He’s the king of west coast jazz. He sat in on Kendrick Lamar’s latest album, amongst many other hip-hop collaborations. He’s just on fire,” said Sheehan.

Moving from the west coast to New Orleans, another king of the genre will perform: Trombone Shorty.

“He and Jon Batiste are really pushing the genre forward for New Orleans jazz,” Sheehan said.

Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe will also take the stage, along with Cimafunk.

“Cimafunk is an Afro-Cuban band and throws in hip-hop and funk. We get Latin jazz, and it’s normally a hit, so they should be a hit,” McCleary said.

The Butterfly Quintet, which may be unknown to some, will also perform.

“It’s a Denver supergroup. Adam Dyche… A lot of those groups are electronic/jazz mashups, but they were students of jazz,” McCleary said.

Other performers include Balthvs, Kokoroko, Parlor Greens, Brass Queens, and Joslyn and the Sweet Compression. The festival will also feature a number of student bands.

The festival will also feature the quintessential parade down Main Street, Jazz on Main (featuring jazz acts in free performances at Main Street locations), and free performances at the Society Stage in Elks Park.

The 2025 Telluride Jazz Festival will take place in Town Park from Aug. 8 to 10, 2025.

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Uranium Mining Continues in San Miguel County

The largest uranium mining operation in San Miguel County, the Sunday Mine Complex, is set to begin hauling ore by March 1.

San Miguel County Planning Director Kaye Simonson shared an update on the Sunday Mine during a Wednesday, Feb. 12, County Commissioners work session.

“So, yeah, they need to haul, they need to start hauling by March 1. They have a road and bridge permit. It was verified that they are within the purview of their existing special use permit, and it looks like they are, so I’ll be contacting Ryan regarding getting that haul permit issued,” Simonson said.

The Sunday Mine Complex in Big Gypsum Valley is owned and operated by Western Uranium and Vanadium.

The uranium mine has a long history of mining dating back to the 1970s. Derek Padilla, the Bureau of Land Management Tres Rios Field Office manager, shared, “Two plans of operations are currently active, that’s with the Sunday Mine Complex out there. They are actively doing underground mining, from what we understand, but there has been no hauling or anything like that to this point.”

Padilla joined the county work session to update commissioners. He also shared details about the six ongoing uranium and vanadium exploration projects.

“We also have six different uranium-vanadium notices in the area that are active currently, which means they intend to, at some point, become active, but we have not been told by any of these companies that they have any intention to become fully operational at this point in time,” Padilla noted.

Anfield Energy, a Canadian-owned mining company, shared an update on its uranium exploration project in Slickrock on Jan. 29, saying, “We are very pleased to have completed our Slick Rock drill program as part of our plan to advance our Slick Rock project through the permitting stage and, ultimately, to production. Anfield will pursue a Plan of Operations and mine plan for Slick Rock in 2025.” The Slickrock exploration project was approved by the County Commissioners last year.

These updates come amidst comprehensive mining land use codes in San Miguel County, which are currently in draft form. Padilla said he’s met with the county on BLM-specific comments. “A cursory review by some of the other members of my staff said that there were a lot of changes based on the discussion that we had, so thank you for that,” he added.

The San Miguel Planning Commission meets on March 13 for the second public meeting of the mining land use code revisions, the first of which prompted comments from both the mining industry and environmental advocates.

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Kathleen Sgamma Named Head of Bureau of Land Management

An oil and gas industry advocate has been tapped to head the Bureau of Land Management. Formerly Tracy Stone-Manning, President Trump announced Wednesday that Kathleen Sgamma will lead the agency that manages over 247 million acres of public land. Sgamma is the president of Denver-based Western Energy Alliance, an oil and gas trade group.

In a press release, Rachel Hamby, policy director for the Center for Western Priorities, said, “This appointment will hand the keys to our public lands over to oil and gas companies.”

This announcement follows the selection of Doug Burgum for Secretary of the Interior in mid-January. Burgum, formerly the governor of North Dakota and a software developer, was appointed to the position earlier this year.

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MountainFilm Hosts Adventure Shorts Fundraiser

Looking for some adventure short films? Join MountainFilm for its annual Winter Fundraiser this Sunday at the Palm Theater.

The evening will feature adventure shorts, classic concessions, and a live auction with items from YETI, Helitrax, and Opus Hut.

Tickets are $30, and doors open at 6 p.m. with the show starting at 7 p.m.

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Musk’s DOGE Group Gains Access to NOAA Headquarters

Federal lawmakers have confirmed that billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has gained access to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) headquarters in Maryland.

This comes despite the group not actually being a part of the federal government, and its members likely not having security clearance.

Rocky Mountain Community Radio’s Caroline Llanes reports this could impact the agency’s presence in other parts of the country.

Story begins at 12:30.

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Advocates Frustrated by Delay in Prosthetics Law

Disability advocates are frustrated that the state has not yet implemented a new law on athletic prosthetics for those with limb loss. For the Colorado Capitol News Alliance Bente Birkeland reports.

Story begins at 14:02.

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Homelessness Soars in Colorado’s Rural, Resort Communities

Homelessness and housing insecurity are growing issues throughout the region. Last year, the number of homeless families in Colorado surged by 134% compared to the previous year.

As KDNK’s Lily Jones reports for Rocky Mountain Community Radio, rural and resort communities—where the cost of living can be among the highest in the nation—are facing increasing difficulty in both finding and retaining housing.

Story begins at 14:59.