San Luis Valley potato farmers got a small boost for a glutted market Friday, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $9 million for the purchase of fresh potatoes off the national market.

Alamosa County commissioners gave their conditional approval Wednesday to land-use permits for a 35-megawatt solar plant at the north end of the county.

On Wednesday Alamosa County Public Health Department Director Julie Geiser confirmed that a death has been associated with hantavirus. To protect confidentiality, the health department was unable to disclose the identity of the deceased adult.

A billionaire who objects to a proposed power line crossing his ranch in south-central Colorado says the utilities behind the project have illegally met separately with state regulators who will decide whether to approve it. The ranch claims that Xcel Energy employees took part in discussions with PUC commissioners that violate state regulations and deprived the ranch of its right to due process, the ranch's attorneys say.

Habitat for Humanity is planning a ReStore Sale in order to divert usable building materials from going to the landfill and to help make home improvements more affordable for everyone. The sale will be held on Saturday, February 6 from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at Apple Tree Storage on south State Avenue in Alamosa. All proceeds from every sale will go towards building Habitat for Humanity homes in the San Luis Valley. Habitat continues to accept donations of new and gently used building materials. Call the Habitat office at (719) 589-8678 for more information.

This weekend, Senator Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass) will be joined by Rep. Ed Vigil (D-Alamosa) and John Stulp, Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture, at several SLV events. Please join them!

SATURDAY:

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM: Morning get-together
Where: Lu's Main St. Cafe, 609 Main St., Blanca, CO

11:00 AM - Noon: Meeting Colorado Potato Administrative Committee with Commissioner Stulp
Where: CPAC Building, 1305 Park Avenue, Monte Vista, CO

12:30 PM - 1:30 PM: Town Hall meeting
Where: Carnegie Public Library, 120 Jefferson Street, Monte Vista, CO

SUNDAY:

10:00 AM: Open conversation with the public
Where: Wolf Creek Lodge (at the Wolf Creek Resort), Top of Wolf Creek Pass Hwy 160 E
Pagosa Springs, CO 81147

1:00 PM: 10TH ANNUAL Celebration of Ranching and Frontier Spirit
Where: Saguache Community Building, Saguache, CO

The lead attorney in Lobato vs. Taylor - the courtroom portion of a 50-year range war over access to the Mountain Tract near San Luis - was sent off to a new job with a resounding hurrah Jan. 11.

Monte Arts Council chooses leaders, officers elected later

MV after prom raffles blanket

First 'Fire and Ice Ball' benefits fire department

Animal shelter regroups

Schools move ahead with projects

Center water tower still needs repair

Students participate in school facilities planning

Lobato suit update: It's not all about politics

Trustee Suit Dismissed
Russ Espinoza's petition to void the results of the Dec. 8 Antonito Board of Trustees recall election was dismissed by 12th District Judge Pattie Swift Thursday morning Jan. 14.

Lockout Ends
Harborlite Corp. has informed the Teamsters Local 455, that it is ending the lockout immediately.

Spring semester enrollment at Adams State College is up 21 percent over last year with a total enrollment of 2,968.

A Denver think tank urged San Luis Valley county commissioners Monday to take up the fight against a trio of ballot questions it says would decimate state and local budgets.

In many faiths, there are places where it is believed that the physical and spiritual worlds overlap. As I bumped along a dirt road toward a Tibetan temple just south of Crestone, Colo., that seemed like a reasonable proposition.

Read more...

The spruce bark beetles chewing through the Rio Grande National Forest have expanded their territory, according to aerial survey results released Friday by the U.S. Forest Service.

So give hedge-fund billionaire Louis Bacon his due for the high-powered effort of recent months to spare his 171,000-acre Trinchera Ranch from being crossed by a 235-kilovolt transmission line proposed by Xcel Energy and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association — a line linking the San Luis Valley with a new power substation near Walsenburg east of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. When all is said and done, however, Bacon is funding on a grand scale what amounts to a NIMBY campaign. He may own the largest backyard in the state, with some of the loveliest views, but he is also merely one more property owner stunned to learn that the most logical route for a power line — and this route is the most logical — traverses his land.

Read more...

The sheriff's deputy who stopped the 14-year-old driving his stepfather's truck tried unsuccessfully to find the boy's parents. They had been dead for hours. Court documents obtained by the 9Wants To Know Investigators indicate 14-year-old John Caudle confessed to the killings after his arrest. "Caudle said the reason he shot Joanne Rinebarger was because he did not want to do household chores," the affidavit read. Caudle allegedly confessed he hid in the laundry room until his stepfather Tracy arrived home and then shot him as he walked past his hiding spot.

The snowstorm that moved in late Thursday buried the eastern San Juan Mountains, leaving just under 3 feet of snow in some places, closing off mountain passes and boosting snowpack levels.

The city is still trying to decide how best to deal with a levee system the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says is no longer viable.

A storm system that could dump up to 4 feet of snow in the eastern San Juan Mountains hit Thursday afternoon and was expected to sit over the area through late Friday.

The environmental group engaged in negotiations over the mineral rights beneath the Baca National Wildlife Refuge could be on its own for a while. Whether the group will get any help from the federal government by the time the May 17 settlement deadline expires remains to be seen.