11/10/25: Colorado Parks and Wildlife has released information regarding the death of a female gray wolf late last month. The agency received a mortality alert for gray wolf 2506 on October 30th in Southwest Colorado. As a federally listed species under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is leading the investigation into the cause of death. This individual was part of the group of wolves brought into the state from British Columbia in January.
11/11/25: In the midst of the longest government shutdown in US history, the Garfield County Board of Commissioners unanimously submitted a letter to Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, demanding quote, ‘immediate action to bring the federal government back to full operation.’ end quote. Over 4,000 GarCo residents, nearly 200 of whom are unhoused, did not receive their SNAP benefits this month, including roughly 1,400 residents who are served by SNAP’s Women, Infants, and Children program, also known as WIC. The Garfield BOCC stressed that their demand was not political in nature, but that their primary concern is full operational funding to these crucial nutrition programs. The state of Colorado is distributing $10 million through food banks, with each county’s allotment based on population; on average, Garfield County receives $750,000 a month for SNAP alone.
11/12/24: Last week a federal appeals court ruled requiring the USDA to fully fund SNAP food benefits with the billions of dollars the agency has in contingency funds. Colorado AG Phil Weiser released a statement impressing the urgency with which the state should receive its share of funds to assist the over 600,000 people who collect federal nutrition assistance. Despite the court’s ruling, the Trump administration said Sunday that any full SNAP payments by states were unauthorized.
11/13/25: Leadville has a lot of fresh faces on its city council this year. According to the unofficial vote count Mitchell Dulleck and Shannon Grant won the two Ward 2 seats with 127 and 116 votes respectively. Gita Carey ran in Ward 1 against Steve Prestasch and won more than 71% of the vote. Lastly, Rebecca Thomas ran unopposed for reelection in Ward 3 and attracted over 160 votes. The council members will be sworn in in January.
11/18/25: The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission overwhelmingly voted against sending fifteen gray wolves to Colorado Saturday. Originally, the plan was to continue to capture and translocate the wolves from British Columbia, but the Trump administration declared last month that wolves must come from the US’s northern Rockies. This upcoming third year of wolf releases has been called “critical” by CPW Director Jeff Davis, who is having to take his team back to the drawing board. Washington saw its wolf population decrease by 9% from 2023 to 24, and the state commission suggested it would be willing to entertain a future request when its own wolves are no longer endangered.
11/20/25: Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is demanding answers from the Trump administration about how it’s using voter data it collected from states this summer. Griswold and nine other secretaries of state sent a letter to federal officials yesterday asking if the data is being shared with the Department of Homeland Security. They’re concerned officials may have misled states about how the data would be used. The group wants a response by December 1.