Mike Lemmer

KDNK’s news team brings you local and regional news from the Roaring Fork Valley ... and beyond.

The Carbondale and Rural Fire District covers a swath of land stretching from McClure Pass to Missouri Heights and a good chunk of the Hwy 82 corridor. Voters there will decide a ballot question asking for more money for firefighting and other emergency services. Citizens for a Safe Community is campaigning for the measure. Meagan Holland spoke with KDNK’s Mike Lemmer about why she supports it.

The 46th annual Colorado River Valley Chamber Chili Cook-off brought chili and salsa chefs from across western Colorado to Rifle last week. KDNK’s Mike Lemmer was there.

KDNK’s news team brings you local and regional news from the Roaring Fork Valley ... and beyond.

There will be a free screening of 'A Decent Home' tonight (10/3/25) in Carbondale's Third Street Center, as well as a speaker panel. Any donations will go towards the purchase efforts of the Mountain Valley Mobile Home Park.Mobile home parks are a new front in the struggle for affordability, as they are snatched up by distant investors who ratchet up rents for the lower-income families who live there. Two mobile home parks in the RFV are in a high-stakes fight to control their destiny on a short deadline. April Long stopped by the KDNK studios to tell about a new front in the battle to hold onto affordable neighborhoods from Aspen to Parachute.

A Way Out is a nonprofit organization serving Garfield, Pitkin, Eagle, and Summit counties. Their dedicated staff connects people suffering from Substance Use Disorder to treatment and rehabilitation services. They can even provide partial or full scholarships to those who can't foot the bill. Executive Director Becky Gordon came to speak with KDNK's Mike Lemmer on serving the community in uncertain times.

It was just this time of year in 1997 that a mix of artistic passion and mud was molded by loving hands into the Carbondale Clay Center. Since then the elemental art form of ceramics has had a vibrant home on the last block of Carbondale's Main Street, where established artists, students, children and others exhibit and create. Matt Eames directs operations at the Clay Center, and he joined Mike Lemmer in the KDNK studios yesterday.

Wilderness Workshop, based in Carbondale since 2004, has a storied history and legacy of big wins for mountain landscapes and the environment. Founded back in 1967 by Joy Caudill, Dottie Fox and Connie Harvey, this powerhouse trio of Aspen women convinced Congress to designate capital-W Wilderness in the Hunter-Fryingpan, Collegiate Peaks, Raggeds and West Elks, and doubled the size of the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area. That was in the 1970s and 80s. A string of policy victories followed. More recently, energy has focused on staving off ravages from gas and oil extraction, including the hard-fought cancelling of gas leases in the Thompson Divide outside Carbondale.The hard work is not over for Wilderness Workshop. Advocacy director Erin Riccio (RICH-eeyo) just returned from Washington D.C. She stopped by KDNK this morning to tell news host Mike Lemmer about the trip, and new threats to wilderness and communities from the energy sector.

Steve Kuschner is the Roaring Fork Valley coordinator of 350 Colorado. During our fund drive, KDNK is inviting nonprofits in our listening area to join us in our studio and tell us, and you, what they are up to and why you should care.

KDNK’s news team brings you local and regional news from the Roaring Fork Valley ... and beyond.