Memorial Day Travel Advisory
CDOT is warning of heavier than usual holiday traffic this Memorial Day weekend. The culprit is familiar to Western Slope listeners — low snowpack means high-country roads are more accessible than normal. On I-70, avoid Friday afternoon and Monday after lunch. If you're headed south, Highway 550 between Purgatory and Silverton closes Saturday morning from 7:30 to 1:30 for the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic. Take Highway 145 through Telluride and over Lizard Head if you need through. Check COtrip.org before you head out.
News Briefs
- The city of Ouray will rebuild its own police department rather than hand services to the county sheriff permanently. Sheriff Justin Perry will lead hiring and training in the interim. Full story at ouraynews.com.
- Telluride's downhill bike park won't open this summer — a Lift 4 upgrade is to blame. Meanwhile at Powderhorn, the historic West End chairlift is coming down to make way for a new detachable quad called the Wild West Express. A chair auction runs June 1st through 7th.
- State investigators have now identified 18 of the bodies found at Davis Mortuary in Pueblo — six remain unidentified. Former coroner Brian Cotter has resigned but faces no criminal charges yet. The case echoes the Montrose-based Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors scandal, whose owners are now serving prison time.
- In Grand Junction, Mesa County Valley School District broke ground on a Central High School renovation — funded by a 2024 bond that passed the same year Montrose County voters rejected a similar measure.
Class of 2026
Communities across the Western Slope celebrated their graduating seniors this week. More than 700 students crossed the stage within the KVNF listening area. Montrose High School's 277 graduates earned nearly six million dollars in scholarships — about one million of that from local and regional partners. More than half are heading to college, with others entering the workforce or pursuing trade programs. Olathe's class left one chair empty in memory of a classmate lost in third grade. Delta, Cedaredge, North Fork, and Vision Charter Academy all celebrated in Delta County. And this afternoon, Ridgway sends 20 seniors across the stage. Ouray celebrates its 13 graduates Sunday afternoon at Phalen Park. Congratulations, Class of 2026.
Farm Friday: Fire Mountain Canal Back Online
It's been a brutal spring on the North Fork. The Fire Mountain Canal shut down in late April after a hillside slip threatened to breach the canal. Crews installed roughly 200 feet of large-diameter pipe — but setbacks kept coming. A new leak at Roadcap Creek forced a second shutdown on May 6th. A landslide on Garvin Mesa followed on May 9th. By May 13th, crews undertook a major hillside removal and installed interlocking concrete blocks. Finally, on May 16th — thirty days after the initial shutdown — water began flowing again to nearly 500 users. One bright spot: the Paonia Reservoir filled to capacity and began to spill on May 8th, the only full reservoir on the Western Slope.
North Fork fruit grower Harrison Topp told KVNF his operation lost its entire crop in an April 17th freeze. With no fruit to harvest, he made the difficult call to send his crew home for the season. But with water back on and new growth appearing in his orchards, Topp says he's cautiously optimistic the trees will survive. Crop insurance and FSA programs will help the farm get through to next year.
The next KVNF Regional Newscast will air Tuesday, May 27th.
