Ridgway’s wildland firefighters have mopped up hotspots in Nevada, fought wildfire on the front lines in California and protected structures at home in Colorado. Since the Ridgway Fire Protection Dist...

Ouray County is performing triage on its 2026 budget as 2025 revenues are coming in lower than expected, placing even more pressure on the county’s general fund savings. County leaders have been worki...

Ouray city leaders swore in a new mayor and city councilor Monday night, then turned their attention to the council’s most pressing issue: Finding and appointing two more councilors to fill out the ra...

A series of post-Thanksgiving storms delivered desperately needed snow to the moisture-starved San Juans, but snowpack at the start of December remains well below average in Ouray County and the surro...

Editor's note: The Ouray County Plaindealer is continuing its tradition of featuring nonprofit organizations based in Ouray County, serving Ouray County in a series of profiles called Season of Sharin...

A recent series of storms helped boost the paltry snowpack in the San Juans, but the amount of water in that snowpack in the Gunnison River Basin — known as snow-water equivalent — is still among the ...

The Colorado Department of Transportation plans to lower the speed limit for traffic along a half-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 550 north of Ridgway, near a section of road where the highest number of ...

A cautious Ouray City Council approved a $16.8 million budget for 2026 on Tuesday, leaving a handful of vacant jobs unfilled and slashing capital projects in anticipation of a potential economic downt...

Both Ridgway Secondary School and the Ouray School District have adopted guidelines for students to use artificial intelligence, joining the first wave of schools in the state to do so. Lining classro...

Anyone can become the victim of fraud. In Ouray County, one person lost $17,000 after being coerced into setting up a series of bank transfers. Property owners were duped by a home builder who created...

An article on Page 6 of the Nov. 20-26 edition incorrectly reported the Ridgway Town Council's votes on a new anti-idling ordinance. The ordinance was approved 5-1, with Councilor Michelle Montague vo...

An estimated 100% of potential firsttime homebuyers in Ridgway and 93% of those in Ouray County cannot afford to buy an average-priced home. Those are among the most striking findings in a housing nee...

Ridgway plans to spend more than $5 million from its general fund in 2026, while at the same time town leaders are predicting a drop in revenue. The town will need to draw on its reserves to balance t...

After raking in record-shattering sales and property taxes and socking away healthy reserves the last several years in the wake of the pandemic, local governments in Ouray County say revenues have fla...

Editor’s note: There’s a proposal to start a community paramedicine program here in Ouray County, and we wanted to know more about how these kinds of services work in other places in Colorado where th...

Ouray County Commissioner Michelle Nauer has asked Commissioner Lynn Padgett to take a "timeout" and attend meetings by Zoom while the county makes leadership transitions over the next few months, cit...

The Ouray City Council on Monday pitched and then quickly ditched a proposal to require police officers to live within 10 miles and a 10-minute drive from the city after local law enforcement and city...

The San Miguel Power Association board of directors on Tuesday approved dual rate increases in 2026 for the second year in a row, as the rural electric cooperative continues to grapple with higher who...

The town of Ridgway has hired a North Carolina-based agency for its tourism and marketing services, choosing an outside perspective familiar with rural communities. During a Nov. 12 town council meeti...

The city of Ouray will earmark up to $100,000 in 2026 for a down payment assistance program aimed at helping middle-income homebuyers who make too much money to qualify for other assistance. City coun...