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Manager: Looking for ways to avoid cutting employeesOuray County leaders have loosely settled on wanting to cut $500,000 from the county’s 2026 budget...

January 28, 2026

News

County to discuss prairie dogs as nuisance

Ouray County commissioners will hold a work session next month to discuss prairie dogs as a nuisance, following a written demand from a citizen who sa...

January 28, 2026

Feature

In Ouray, artist’s creativity finds a home

Dots and other markings cluster in ripples, circles and shapes on canvases of wood, almost as if etched by insects. Altogether, the carvings and glimm...

January 28, 2026

News

New county manager tackles big ticket items

Ouray County’s new manager wants commissioners to start thinking about the county’s 2027 budget now — just two weeks into 2026 and three weeks into hi...

January 21, 2026

Feature

Film showcases climber’s return to sport

Anna Pfaff’s choice to move onward and, especially upward, resonates beyond world-class peaks in a locally made film on the elite Ouray-based climber....

January 21, 2026

Main, News

Tax questions linger as lodge proceeds with housing plans

MTN Lodge in Ridgway is moving forward with plans to convert the hotel to workforce housing for four years starting in February, though the town has y...

January 14, 2026

News

EV charging station approved for 4-H Center

A high-speed electric vehicle charging station is coming to the Ouray County 4-H Event Center and Fairgrounds parking lot as early as July.During a re...

January 14, 2026

News

Public renews debate over parking for recreation at Senator Gulch

New signs ordered for County Road 361 and the Senator Gulch parking area have renewed debates over how to improve safety at the high-use access point ...

January 14, 2026

News

Legislators seek to transfer reservoir to city

Bipartisan members of Congress representing Ouray County co-sponsored bills introduced in 2025 to transfer Crystal Reservoir from the U.S. Forest Serv...

December 31, 2025

News

Town builds public trail after judge allows land buy

The town of Ridgway won its case to condemn private property to build a public trail from the River Park subdivision to Ridgway Secondary School, afte...

December 31, 2025

Main, News...

Ridgway sues MTN Lodge

Town seeks payment of sales, lodging taxes; hotel calls lawsuit 'misguided'

By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com

April 1, 2026

The town of Ridgway is suing the owners of MTN Lodge over their plans to use the hotel as workforce housing for the next several years, aiming to suspend operations and demanding they pay lodging and ...

Main, News...

Board rebukes commissioner

Niece, Nauer censure Padgett for secretly recording closed-door meeting

By By Lia Salvatierra and Erin McIntyre lia@ouraynews.com erin@ouraynews.com

April 1, 2026

Two Ouray County commissioners publicly reprimanded their fellow commissioner after discovering she secretly recorded an executive session last week. Portions of the audio from that executive session ...

Main, News...

Proposed merger could make fire chief highest paid official

Latest draft bases members' voting power on financial contributions

By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com

April 1, 2026

The current proposal to combine fire and emergency medical services entities in Ouray County could eventually make the new fire chief the highest-paid public official in the county and may base partic...

News

Jury convicts mother in retaliation case

By Erin McIntyre and Mike Wiggins erin@ouraynews.com mike@ouraynews.com

April 1, 2026

A jury has convicted a former Ouray woman of retaliating against another woman who accused her son of sexual assault in 2023. Jurors deliberated for about an hour on March 26 before finding Kristyn Tr...

News

EMS moves overnight quarters with help from chamber grant

By Deb Hurley Brobst Special to the Plaindealer

April 1, 2026

Ouray County Emergency Medical Services is moving its sleeping quarters for on-call staff in Ouray into the former Public Health office location, with donations providing rent assistance. An EMT will ...

Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com

Remote-triggered avalanche in San Juan Mountains

First responders receive first COVID-19 vaccines