KJCT · Delta, CO
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) - Colorado Gov. Jared Polis was on the Western Slope Tuesday for two events: one in Delta County honoring educators, and another in Grand Junction celebrating the region’s prehistoric history. From a highway dedicated to teachers to a life-size dinosaur at Grand Junction’s airport, the visits highlighted some of the people and places that help define western Colorado. Highway dedicated to educators In Delta County, a four-mile stretch of Highway 92 has been named the Educators and Teachers Memorial Highway, a tribute that started with a personal loss for state Rep. Matt Soper. “My mom had been a teacher here in Delta County for 40 years. She passed away almost a year ago. And really just kind of in the wake of her passing, thinking about her career and her time being a teacher,” Soper said. “She always would say, I wish you guys in the legislature would do more to honor teachers.
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel · Grand Junction, CO
Nearby: Grand Junction, CORob Courtney Rob CourtneyTo the Grand Junction community, thank you for supporting Colorado Mesa University Athletics. This fall, we saw many firsts for Maverick Athletics. We broke ground on the new football facility — the Canvas Credit Union Champions Center, coming Fall 2027. We introduced our equipment partnership with Nike through BSN Sports. We launched the largest capital initiative in CMU Athletics’ history, Building Maverick Champions. We also unveiled a new Maverick mark — a secondary logo for Athletics and the university as a whole. This fall has truly symbolized the start of a new era for Maverick Athletics.Whether you’ve seen it in the news, your inbox or on social media, Building Maverick Champions has been a focal point of CMU Athletics. CMU has invested in Athletics before, but Building Maverick Champions ushers in a new era.
The Adventurist Magazine · Grand Junction, CO
Nearby: Grand Junction, COPalisade fruit, Western Slope beef, inventive tacos, and a serious chef-driven restaurant give this Colorado city plenty to put on the table. Bin 707 AUTHOR BIO: Mei Chen has worked for nearly a dozen start-ups in as many years, taking her to several West Coast cities. While she’s sure her current day job is permanent, she also has her eye on Carmel. Grand Junction has an advantage that plenty of bigger restaurant cities would envy: an enormous agricultural valley right outside town. Drive east and you'll find Palisade's orchards and vineyards; head farther into the surrounding country and there are cattle ranches, vegetable farms and producers growing ingredients that don't have to travel halfway across the continent to reach a kitchen. What chefs do with all that food is getting more interesting, with everything from chef-driven bistros to incredible tacos that’ll cost less than the Uber ride to get there.
Kool 107.9 · Grand Junction, CO
Nearby: Grand Junction, COShare on Facebook Share on Twitter The Orchard Mesa Pool has been a fun place for Grand Valley families for 43 years, and now that voters have rejected a tax increase to fund operations, the facility's final days are likely drawing near. Issue 2B failed to pass by over 3000 votes, according to the Grand Junction Sentinel. Following the November election, several details remain unsettled, including when swimmers will lose access. Here's what we know. Grand Junction Voters Reject Orchard Mesa Pool Funding Read More: How Many Lakes Are on the Grand Mesa? Outdoor Guide Has there ever been an election in Colorado that didn’t leave voters scratching their heads? From the state that brought you three different Governors within 24 hours (1905), at least the rejection of Issue 2B in Grand Junction was not a complete surprise. A sales and use tax increase from 3.39% to 3.46% might have kept the pool running for a little while, but it failed by a vote of 13,069 in favor and 16,327 against.
The Daily Sentinel · Grand Junction, CO
Nearby: Grand Junction, COA screenshot from the body-worn camera of Mesa County Sheriff’s deputy Alexander Zwinck showing Caroline Dias Goncalves during a traffic stop on Interstate 70 near Loma on June 5, 2025. Former Mesa County Sheriff’s Deputy Alexander Zwinck appears to be working at Immigration and Customs Enforcement after facing discipline for collaborating with ICE last year in the arrest of Utah college student Caroline Dias Goncalves, according to federal data hacked and published by activists.Zwinck is listed in the published data as a special agent at Homeland Security Investigations, an office that is part of ICE, in Grand Junction.
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel · Grand Junction, CO
Nearby: Grand Junction, COGrand Junction Fire Chief Pete Skeris is leaving the job after just nine months, the city announced Tuesday. Skeris said in a video announcing his departure he was leaving for family reasons. “From the moment I arrived in Grand Junction, I was grateful for the opportunity to lead this organization. Over the past nine months, I have developed a genuine love for this department, its people, and the community we serve. I am grateful to City Manager Mike Bennett for his friendship and leadership, his trust in me, and the opportunity to serve as Fire Chief,” said Skeris. “Leaving is difficult precisely because of how much I care about this department. Ultimately, this decision comes down to family. While we knew moving to Colorado would bring challenges, the distance and sacrifices have been greater than we anticipated.
24/7 Wall St. · Grand Junction, CO
Nearby: Grand Junction, COLife After Work desk. Editor: David Beren. This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them. It’s time to take a long and hard look at whether retiring in Grand Junction, on Colorado’s Western Slope near the Colorado National Monument and the Palisade wine region, stretches savings further than retiring in Denver. Here’s what a Western Slope retirement costs, and what you’d need to have saved to pay for it. Cheaper Than Denver, but the Gap Is Closing In October 2026, Grand Junction’s median home price was $474,625,000 while Metro Denver’s median was $575,000. On Sperling’s BestPlaces cost index, Grand Junction scores 96 and Denver scores 127.8, where 100 is the U.S. average, so there is a pretty big difference between the two areas. That said, the price gap is narrowing, though. Federal housing data shows Grand Junction prices up 8.78% over the past year, while Denver’s fell 0.46%.
Colorado Mesa University · Grand Junction, CO
Nearby: Grand Junction, COIn 1929, when Colorado Mesa University was still Grand Junction Junior College, James Groves was among the college’s earliest graduates. Raised on a peach farm near Grand Junction, Colorado, James continued his education by pursuing a law degree before returning home to establish his practice. He spent much of his career serving the local community before eventually joining the Colorado Supreme Court, where he served as a justice for 12 years. In 1969, CMU recognized Groves as a distinguished alumnus. His connection to the college would become part of a family story that still continues nearly a century later. “If you are looking for proof of what can start at [Colorado Mesa University], you could not invent a better example,” says Erik Groves, ’05, James’ grandson. “His life is the argument for CMU. He grew up on a peach farm a few miles from campus, graduated in the school’s very first years and ended his career in the highest court in Colorado.” The connection continued with Erik.
Kool 107.9 · Grand Junction, CO
Nearby: Grand Junction, COShare on Facebook Share on Twitter Everybody does the Monument in July. Out-of-town relatives, road-trippers, the guy in the rental Jeep who stops in the middle of Rim Rock Drive to take a picture. But the average high up there in July is 92 degrees. In November? About 49. One of those is hiking weather. The other one is a cardio test inside a pizza oven. Colorado National Monument Without the Summer Crowds The Park Service says it right on its own website: the colder months are the quiet season. No heat, no crowds, and a real shot at having an overlook all to yourself. We live next door to one of the prettiest places in Colorado, and for a few months a year it basically goes back to being ours. November Hiking on Monument Canyon Trail If July nearly killed you on Monument Canyon, this is your window. It’s about 6 miles one way, dropping roughly 1,400 feet past Independence Monument, the Kissing Couple, and the Coke Ovens. Park a second car at the lower trailhead off Highway 340.
Kool 107.9 · Grand Junction, CO
Nearby: Grand Junction, COShare on Facebook Share on Twitter You know the morning. You walk outside, coffee in hand, look north for the Bookcliffs, and they're just gone. Not cloudy. Not foggy, exactly. Just a flat gray nothing hanging over the whole valley like somebody forgot to clean the windshield on Grand Junction. And it's not going anywhere. Not today, maybe not this week. That's the inversion. If you've lived here more than one winter, you already know it by sight. If you're new, welcome. You're going to get to know it real well. What a Temperature Inversion Actually Is in Grand Junction, Colorado Here's the nerdy part, and I promise it's quick. Normally, the higher you go, the colder the air gets. That's why there's snow on the Grand Mesa while we're down here in a light jacket. An inversion flips that around. Cold, heavy air settles on the valley floor, and a layer of warmer air slides in on top of it. That warm layer acts like a lid on a pot. The cold air can't rise, so it just sits there.
Ouray County Plaindealer · Ridgway, CO
Nearby: Ridgway, CORidgway School District Lego robotics team members celebrate as their autonomous Lego robot completes its mission on a tabletop game field on Saturday during the FIRST Lego League Challenge held at Ridgway Secondary School. Pictured here, from left to right, are eighth graders Sawyer Mullins, Brielle Haag and Sadie McCracken, members of the RoboRidgway team that qualified to compete at the state competition on Dec. 5. Ridgway’s sixth-grade team, Sensory Overload, earned first place for robot performance and will also compete at state. Erin McIntyre – Ouray County Plaindealer Ouray School fifth-graders Quinn Mathews, Declan Doose and Jonah Skalsky nervously celebrate as their Lego robot performs tasks on the table top game field on Saturday during the FIRST Lego League Challenge. Their Mission Impossible team and the Tommyknockers team competed for Ouray this year, and the Tommyknockers won the core values award.
Ouray County Plaindealer · Ridgway, CO
Nearby: Ridgway, COThe town of Ridgway will continue to draw down its general fund reserves to cover expenses in 2027, even as town leaders plan to discuss more budget cuts later this month. During a budget retreat on Halloween, Town Manager Preston Neill alerted the town council to a trend of expenditures exceeding revenues in the town’s adopted budgets since 2020. That will continue in 2027, as next year’s draft general fund budget will draw $1.36 million from reserves to end 2027 with a $2.65 million fund balance. The numbers are not as bad as they look, however, since actual revenues this year have generally been higher than budgeted and actual expenditures have been lower. In 2025, for example, revenues were budgeted at $3.52 million and expenditures were budgeted at $4.91 million, but the revenues and expenditures were both nearly $4 million. From an accounting perspective, Neill said he wants to budget closer to actual amounts.