Author - News

Feature

With help of Ouray volleyball coach, player enthusiasm spikes on court

Four seasons ago when Brian McDowell came on the scene to assume the head coaching reins of Ouray High School volleyball, he was called to resurrect a...

August 26, 2026

Columns, Feature

Reflection, projection as Ridgway girls’ soccer season comes to close

Although the Ridgway girls’ soccer team’s run for a championship ended earlier this month in Westminster with a second round 6-1 defeat at the feet of...

May 27, 2026

Main, News

Runners go the distance to claim state titles

LAKEWOOD — Both runners had established new personal bests and school records during the regular season. Both entered the state track and field champi...

May 20, 2026

Feature

After big rivalry win, Ridgway eyeing playoffs

The Ridgway girls’ soccer team took the home field ranked No. 12 in Class 2A for a pivotal rematch against long-time nemesis and second-ranked Crested...

April 29, 2026

Feature

Ridgway senior a study in honesty, leadership

Sancho Panza, in Miguel de Cervantes’ classic “Don Quijote,” often uttered, “Honesty is the best policy.” If that mantra was true for the late 1500s a...

April 15, 2026

Columns, Feature

Inaugural home meet sets stage for course records

It’s not uncommon for track athletes to break in a new pair of shoes at the dawn of a new season. But it is exceedingly rare for all of them to have t...

March 25, 2026

News

Crews working to fill 1950s-era well along U.S. 550

Reclamation part of orphaned and abandoned well program

By Chart Riggall

September 4, 2026

It’s not what you think. A towering steel drill rig that’s been perched along the side of U.S. Highway 550 in recent weeks isn’t probing for gas, or oil, or even a route to the Far East. The operation...

Main, News...

Trump declares disaster for Gold Mountain, Aspen Acres fires

By Chart Riggall

September 4, 2026

President Donald Trump has signed off on a major disaster declaration for the Gold Mountain and Aspen Acres fires that unlocks millions of dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency relief funds f...

Main, News...

Hickenlooper hopeful for fire disaster order

Senator tours flood-damaged areas, surveys planned fire mitigation efforts

By By Chart Riggall chart@ouraynews.com

September 2, 2026

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper said Friday he was optimistic the Trump administration will declare the Gold Mountain Fire a federal disaster, arguing Congress “wouldn’t settle for” the White House withho...

Main, News...

County employees remain on paid leave

EMS paramedic, deputy emergency manager sent home days after fire started

By By James Hanlon james@ouraynews.com

September 2, 2026

Ouray County has had two emergency-related employees on paid administrative leave since the early days of the Gold Mountain Fire. A third employee, Road and Bridge Superintendent Ty Barger, was placed...

News

Businesses share struggles with senator

'You guys are in crisis,' Hickenlooper tells proprietors wrestling with aftermath of Gold Mountain Fire

By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com

September 2, 2026

Ouray County business owners bent the ear of U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper on Friday, sharing stories of declining profits and mass cancellations in the wake of the Gold Mountain Fire in the hopes the D...

By Bernie Pearce Special to the Plaindealer

Remote-triggered avalanche in San Juan Mountains

First responders receive first COVID-19 vaccines