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Problems persist at sewer plant
Main, News...
Problems persist at sewer plant
City says it has fixed issue that triggered odors, but other troubles linger at $17M facility
By Mike Wiggins and Erin McIntyre mike@ouraynews.com erin@ouraynews.com 
August 13, 2025
When Ouray's new wastewater treatment plant is working, no one seems to notice. The electrical panels, motors, pumps and other equipment inside the nondescript, earth-toned building at the northern en...
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Fired federal rangers return to backcountry
Main, News...
Fired federal rangers return to backcountry
Patrol, education duties look similar, only now county foots the bill
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
August 6, 2025
Kricket Olin pulled the side-by-side ATV over to a cluster of off-highway vehicles and leaned over the door, sticking her head in the neon helmet out the window. “Hi I’m Kricket, an alpine ranger with...
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Girl survives fatal accident
Main
Girl survives fatal accident
Three die in wrecks on Highway 550 on back-to-back days
By Erin McIntyre erin@ouraynews.com 
August 6, 2025
An 11-year-old girl survived a car crash that killed two adults on Red Mountain Pass on Tuesday morning, after the vehicle she was riding in tumbled down a 320-foot cliff and landed on its roof in Red...
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Bill drafted to cede reservoir
Main, News...
Bill drafted to cede reservoir
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
July 30, 2025
Federal lawmakers are working on legislation to transfer Crystal Reservoir to the city of Ouray. The city received a draft of incomplete, boilerplate legislation last month that would grant it ownersh...
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Perfect swarm forms near state park
Main, News...
Perfect swarm forms near state park
Skipped spring mosquito treatment triggers complaints about pests
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
July 30, 2025
Complaints about increased mosquito activity near Ridgway State Park have prompted officials to ask what happened with preventative treatments, which usually happen in the spring and curb the populati...
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Town wins condemnation case
Main, News...
Town wins condemnation case
Judge: Ridgway proved trail 'serves a legitimate public purpose,' will pay property owner $45,000
By Erin McIntyre erin@ouraynews.com 
July 30, 2025
The town of Ridgway will be allowed to condemn private property to build a trail from the River Park subdivision to Ridgway Secondary School. According to an order from Seventh Judicial Chief District...
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‘It just took off very quickly’
Main, News...
WILDFIRE DEVASTATES BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON
‘It just took off very quickly’
Hot, dry conditions preceded blaze, as park closure set to deliver financial hit
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
July 23, 2025
BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON — Campgrounds filled with families just a matter of days before are surrounded by a web of spidery, blackened trees. Bare branches create windows between campsites where a...
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Ceremony ushers in new Ouray police era
Main, News...
Ceremony ushers in new Ouray police era
Audience greets trio of new officers with standing ovations, as chief emphasizes 'mindset of service'
By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com 
July 23, 2025
Five months ago, tension and resentment filled the meeting room inside the Ouray Community Center. Frustrated Ouray police officers lashed out at city leaders during a work session for a perceived lac...
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Crews start to gain ground on South Rim Fire
Main, News...
Crews start to gain ground on South Rim Fire
By lia@ouraynews.com 
July 18, 2025
BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON – Firefighters finally began to gain ground Friday on the South Rim Fire burning in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, though a timeline for reopening the par...
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Hunting down the ghosts
Main, News...
Hunting down the ghosts
Veterans services officer finds and assists those who served with benefits, problems
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
July 16, 2025
During his time as a bus driver in Telluride, Mikael Madsen encountered many of his fellow veterans struggling to survive a Western Slope winter. At the time, Madsen was what he calls a military ghost...
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Wildfires surge across region
Main, News...
Wildfires surge across region
Brief monsoon could bring relief — or lightning — before dry spell returns
By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com 
July 16, 2025
Four lightning-sparked wildfires that had scorched more than 20,000 acres in southwestern Colorado as of Wednesday continue to churn through tinder-dry terrain, as hundreds of firefighters struggle to...
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Signs of trouble in Ouray
Main, News...
Signs of trouble in Ouray
City halts production after public backlash over size, appearance of wayfinding signs
By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com 
July 9, 2025
Ouray business owners and residents threw up a symbolic stop sign in front of the city council on Monday, urging city leaders to pause or altogether abandon plans to install dozens of new wayfinding s...
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Go Fourth and celebrate
Main, News...
Go Fourth and celebrate
July 9, 2025
The crowd cheers as a fire department tanker truck sprays the wet side of the street during the July 4 parade in Ouray. Ouray Tourism and Destination Marketing Director Kailey Rhoten said cellular dat...
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Main, News...
County scrambles to pay for road repairs from rockfall
Leaders pull from multiple sources to cover $300,000 tab, look to replenish emergency fund
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
July 9, 2025
Ouray County is scraping together money to pay for emergency repairs on County Road 361 while looking for ways to replenish its emergency fund in anticipation of other disasters. During a work session...
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Get into the groove
Main, News...
Get into the groove
July 2, 2025
Carrie Ann Mund, left, dances with Tawnya Schiebel during the Mariachi de San Jose band’s performance in Ridgway’s Hartwell Park on June 29. The band performed as part of the fifth annual Fete de la M...
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Main, News...
Leaders object to public lands sale
Conservationists, ranchers, elected officials decry bill, though battle over federal property may return
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
July 2, 2025
Recent federal proposals to sell or develop Ouray County’s public lands would harm the county’s economy, identity and culture of ranching and public recreation, according to county officials and other...
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Main, News...
Sex assault trial moved to Montrose
By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com 
July 2, 2025
A judge has ordered the trial of a man accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl in 2023 to be moved from Ouray to Montrose. Seventh Judicial Chief District Judge Cory Jackson approved the tri...
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Ridgway schools dial up phone ban
Main, News...
Ridgway schools dial up phone ban
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
June 25, 2025
Ouray also aims to update tech policy for kids, staff Hallways and classrooms at Ridgway Secondary School will more closely resemble decades past this fall — without a cellphone in sight. During a Jun...
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Main, News...
Town clamps down on water usage
As supplies dry up, Ridgway stops watering parks, urges residents to conserve
By Erin McIntyre erin@ouraynews.com 
June 25, 2025
Ridgway town leaders are cracking down on water use, fearing limited supplies won't last the summer if they don't convince residents to curb their watering habits now. The town announced Wednesday mor...
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Saving Swiss Village
Main, News...
AFFORDABLE HOUSING PRESERVED
Saving Swiss Village
Collaboration to buy Ouray mobile home park could serve as model elsewhere in Colorado, as residents celebrate with applause, tears
By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com 
June 23, 2025
It took an attorney willing to work for free and hop on a midnight phone call in the middle of her vacation. It took two couples who had never met before performing remarkable acts of generosity and h...
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Editor Picks
Crews working to fill 1950s-era well along U.S. 550
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...
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Trump declares disaster for Gold Mountain, Aspen Acres fires
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...
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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...
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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...
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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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Ridgway, Colorado 81432
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