Starting August 7, drivers in Colorado will be required to move over or slow down for any vehicle on the side of the road. The state is strengthening its Move Over law to provide greater protection for people and their vehicles on the side of the road.
This change goes beyond just safeguarding police and emergency responders. It now requires drivers to also move over when passing disabled vehicles. The new protections come as 2022 marked the deadliest year on Colorado roads on record. The governor also proclaimed next Monday as “Slow Down, Move Over Day” in Colorado.
USDA Rural Development recently ended a public review identifying areas that no longer qualify as rural for housing programs. That 90 day period ended and 11 people in the Montrose area successfully retained the community’s eligibility for the Single Family Housing Program. All 11 public comments received highlighted concerns about removal of this program. In the end, USDA recognized the quote “rural in character nature” of the City of Montrose.
More money than ever before is being spent on lobbying in Colorado.
The Colorado Sun reports more than fifty million dollars went to lobbyists from July 1, 2022 to the end of June this year. That’s an annual record, even when adjusted for inflation. Over that period, upwards of seven hundred lobbyists and lobbying firms worked to influence policy at the statehouse. Most of that work was focused on bills debated during this year’s legislative session.
Xcel Energy spent the most money on lobbying at more than $500,000. The power company is currently facing backlash over its rates and lawsuits over its role in the Marshall Fire.
Montrose Mayor Barbara Bynum announced her candidacy for Colorado Senate District 5 last Wednesday. Bynum will be running against New Castle resident and former House District 57 representative Republican Perry Will. Bynum, registered as a Democratic candidate as of July 25, intends to broaden her impact beyond Montrose as she ends the last few months of her final term on Montrose City Council.
She was first elected to City Council in 2017 and is now in her second turn as mayor. Additionally, she serves on the State of Colorado’s Department of Local Affairs Mineral and Energy Impact Assistance Advisory Fund Committee. Bynum also credits her background in public lands management to her time on the State Land Board, among other leadership positions around the community.
This segment features Part One of Bynum's interview with KVNF's Cassie Knust.
What is a small town without a bookstore?
That’s the question Lizz Martensen posed after opening Montrose’s new independent bookshop, Curiouser Books. As a bibliophile, Martensen says she may have been a little self-serving when she opened the book nook inside her other shop, Mauve, just off Montrose’s Main Street.
“I have always loved books," Martensen told KVNF during the shop's grand opening on Tuesday. "I actually used to be a children's librarian and I worked for our former bookstore here downtown in Montrose. We had this space and I was like, 'I really really want to open a bookstore.' And so that's that's kind of how it happened.”
Walking in, shoppers are first met with Mauve, a shop full of size-inclusive clothing, accessories and stationery. As one ventures toward the back, a canopy of book pages marks the bookshop’s entrance.
It’s a small nook, but stocked with books for all ages.
Curiouser Books fills a smaller, more independent nook space in the market that’s been empty for a few years now in Montrose. If patrons don’t see the book they want, the shop can order it for them…provided that book is still in print.
The new shop has both new and used books on hand, including a dollar bin book cart parked outside of Mauve. When a book is purchased, proceeds support one of the shop’s nonprofit partners…and patrons get to choose where to send that donation.
“We have Partners pure kindness the Montrose Children's Museum Valley Symphony," Martensen said. "We've been able to partner with a lot of amazing organizations. I'm excited because I love to go and peruse in a bookstore and I really love to talk to people about books. So having the bookstores a little bit self-serving because I get to talk to people about books now as my job.”
Curiouser Books is located inside Mauve at 324 E. Main St. in Montrose.
The shop opened August 1 with a ribbon cutting.
