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Daniel Schmidt daniel@ouraynews.com

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Town extends contract with chamber
After criticism last spring, group must meet several tourism promotion standardsThe Ridgway Area Chamber of Commerce will continue marketing tourism p...
January 17, 2024
Deal helps protect bighorn sheep habitat
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Deal helps protect bighorn sheep habitat
Montrose sheep ranch retires grazing permits south of OurayEfforts to protect bighorn sheep habitat in the San Juan Mountains recently received a boos...
January 10, 2024
News
Fire District struggles to fill open seat
For more than two months, the Ridgway Fire Protection District Board of Directors has been short a board member and the district has struggled to find...
January 10, 2024
News
Fire Department plans training center
Shipping container in Ridgway would offer permanent, year-round opportunitiesLocal public safety organizations may soon have a permanent training faci...
January 10, 2024
‘What else is there for me but this?’
Feature
‘What else is there for me but this?’
Throughout Shea Freedom’s life, timing has been everything for better and for worse. It was everything when his mother passed away right before he was...
January 10, 2024
News
New program to fill energy workforce gaps
Initiative aimed at training for small-scale energy efficiency jobs For years, local renewable energy companies have struggled to find enough qualifie...
January 3, 2024
News
County eyes permit fee increases
Marijuana businesses expected to bear largest brunt of hike For the first time since 2008, Ouray County is expected to increase user fees across a bro...
January 3, 2024
News
County attorney receives glowing review
County Attorney Leo Caselli on Dec. 20 received glowing remarks from Ouray County commissioners during his annual performance review, earning 97 out o...
January 3, 2024
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Crews working to fill 1950s-era well along U.S. 550
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Crews working to fill 1950s-era well along U.S. 550
Reclamation part of orphaned and abandoned well program
By erin@ouraynews.com 
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...
Hickenlooper hopeful for fire disaster order
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...
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Remote-triggered avalanche in San Juan Mountains

First responders receive first COVID-19 vaccines

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