Dear Editor: Colorado's economy continues to grow every year, yet the state is near the bottom of the list of states in funding K-12 education and teacher pay, according to the Colorado Education Asso...

Editor’s note: We hope you enjoy the first column from our newest contributor, Willie Richardson of Ridgway. Willie is a natural storyteller who has translated his ability to mesmerize audiences by a ...

Stand up and be counted. Since 1790, every person in America has been counted every 10 years through the U.S. census. Data gathered is used by the federal government to distribute money to states to p...

In the article “Man, town clash over candidacy” published on Feb. 13, the story should have indicated the protection order granted to Andy Michelich against David Gottorff is temporary, not permanent....

It was the first day of the new year, and Sarah Kaplan from The Washington Post was all doom and gloom: “Global emissions are expected to hit an all-time high this year, and humanity is on track to cr...

A group of legislators toured the Winter Colorado Outdoor Recreation Convention in Denver last week, where companies from around the world touted their incredible selection of outdoor equipment, cloth...

We’re launching our new readers’ choice awards in today’s edition of the Plaindealer and online at ouraynews.com. You might wonder why we’ve taken this on, in addition to the other changes we’ve made ...

After a couple of weeks celebrating our Western heritage at the National Western Stock Show, hobnobbing with steers in the Brown Palace Hotel during their high tea, enjoying dinner with members of the...

President Ronald Reagan signed a bill marking the third Monday of January as Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983, and for years the Ridgway School District took that Monday as a holiday break. Faculty ...

Janus, the two-faced Roman god of doors who sees both past and future, might be the most appropriate symbol for this third decade of the 21st Century. The deep winter doldrums of January slow down the...

New organizations in Colorado will soon get some much-needed extra legal firepower to fight wrongful denials of access to government records and proceedings. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the...

FROM THE PUBLISHER Getting to the bottom of a story often means locating a public record, or some piece of paper documenting what happened. Sometimes that takes considerable effort. It takes some digg...

Our rivers are shrinking, populations are rising, and many rural communities are suffering from drought and economic dislocation. Urban water use is declining, despite population growth, and communiti...

We’ve all said it, or at least heard someone say it. It happened to be the day after Christmas and I got to wondering where the saying came from. Purely coincidental, of course. A piece in the New Yor...

TROOPER TIPS One of the things about living in rural parts of Colorado means often having to travel on two lane roads. Where it is sometimes a lot more pleasant than driving on a big highway, it can h...

FROM THE PUBLISHER You might notice the Plaindealer looks a little bit different today. If you’re reading this, it means we’ve successfully upgraded our computer system and designed the paper using a ...

ERIN STADELMAN As I look outside the window today, the snow is falling ever so slightly. It is just enough to cover up the dirt of the driveway and make the vehicles on the highway seem to be moving a...

TROOPER TIPS How often do you ask yourself if you are driving impaired? I know you’re asking why you would ask yourself that if you are not drinking. But are you actually impaired and don’t realize it...

FROM THE PUBLISHER Even small places deserve good journalism. That was one of our mantras when we decided to purchase the Plaindealer. Since the two of us took on the jobs of publishers, editors, repo...

The season of winter is well upon us these days. I do love the snow. It covers up all the stuff you have in your yard that you didn’t have time to put away before the snow came. All the hay meadows ar...