FEATURE: Indigenous musicians are using heavy metal to express their feelings about climate change and colonialism. Our Living Lands Producer Daniel Spaulding spoke with Grist reporter Taylar Stagner about some of the music that embodies that connection. This story was produced for Our Living Lands, a collaboration of Koahnic Broadcast Corporation, Native Public Media, and the Mountain West News Bureau.
TOP STORIES: Students at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction are planning to organize a counter event in protest to the invitation of a supposed ‘white supremacist’ speaker Jared Taylor. Taylor, who does not identify as a ‘white supremacist,’ has been flagged by experts on white nationalist and watchdog groups. Taylor was invited to speak by the student group Western Culture Club. Protestors will host their counter event called the Mav Unity Party Celebrating Diverse Community on March 27th, the day Taylor is scheduled to speak. More on this story can be found at gjsentinel.com
More than $13 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture funding meant to help Colorado food banks and schools purchase locally grown produce has been abruptly cut off by the Trump administration, reports the Colorado Newsline. Colorado was due to receive $7.6 million for school districts and child care centers through the USDA’s Local Food for Schools and Child Care Agreement Program, and $5.5 million for food banks from the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program. More than $1 billion in funding for the two programs is being canceled nationally. A USDA spokesperson told Politico that the programs “no longer effectuate the goals of the agency.”
An important river restoration project is taking place in Ouray County. According to the Ouray Plaindealer, the Uncompahgre Multi-Benefit Project, which began with repairs to a headgate for the Ward Ditch, will eventually rehabilitate a mile-long section of the river. The work, roughly from the Ward Ditch headgate to the County Road 23 bridge, is budgeted at roughly $1.6 million. Funds have come from several sources, including a Bureau of Reclamation grant, the state’s water supply reserve fund, the Colorado River Water Conservation District, the Ward ditch users group and American Rivers. You can find all the details at ouraynews.com
Dmarian Lopez, a former Montrose High School wrestler, is repeating success at the college level. Lopez, who captured MHS's first championship since 2012, won Colorado's state heavyweight championship in 2023. Lopez, who now wrestles in the heavyweight class for Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, Wyoming, snagged a national title at the 2025 NJCAA Wrestling Championships.
COLORADO NEWS CONNECTION: Eric Galatas reports on a new report commissioned by faith leaders outlines the high morale stakes at play as the Trump administration pushes to cut federal programs to pay for extending tax cuts passed in 2017.
