Stories about the shortage of affordable housing, particularly for the local workforce, have been appearing in the Plaindealer for more than two decades. But 2022 saw some of the most substantial prog...

Voters in the Ridgway Fire Protection District, the largest and busiest in Ouray County, approved the district’s first tax increase since 2000 by a nearly three to one margin in November, more than do...

TOP STORIES OF THE YEAR: COUNTY REVISES MARIJUANA REGS After an 18-month moratorium on grow licenses, dozens of complaints, over 10 workshops, hundreds of pages of public comments, a lawsuit and nearl...

While most COVID-19 restrictions and precautions have now been removed in Ouray County, there were almost 500 cases of the virus locally in 2022, almost half of which came during the January surge of ...

Three structures and more than 300 acres were burned in May when a prescribed burn ignited by the U.S. Forest Service rapidly grew out of control, angering residents who questioned why the fire was st...

The city of Ouray’s budget is projected to soar to an all-time high of $36.6 million in 2023, fueled by a pair of major infrastructure projects in new sewer and water treatment plants and some onetime...

For years, residents of Ouray County have pointed to Ridgway as the inevitable place for growth to happen. Unlike Ouray, boxed in by the canyon walls, and unlike the unincorporated county, where zonin...

Top: Amy and Rudy Stauffer stand among the rubble of their Wildcat Canyon Road home that was destroyed by the Simms Fire in northern Ouray County in May. High winds blew up a U.S. Forest Service pres...

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: Every Friday and Saturday morning at 9 a.m. and every Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. at St. Daniel’s Church, 614 Fifth St., Ouray. Every Thursday and Sunday at 7 p.m. in the sanctu...

The city of Ouray will likely raise its daily pass, punch pass and membership rates for the Hot Springs Pool and Fitness Center in March, as well as admission to Box Cañon Falls. The increase at the p...

Frustrated Ouray County officials agreed to temporarily extend an agreement for Ouray Silver Mines to maintain Camp Bird Road in the winter on Tuesday, after debate over proposed changes to the curren...

Armed with a glowing job performance review from his bosses on the Ouray City Council, City Administrator Silas Clarke will be rewarded with a hefty pay raise in 2023. City councilors on Monday unanim...

Controversy over winter maintenance on the upper portion of County Road 5 is an issue that just won’t die. Over several years, the road section has been the subject of lawsuits and hours of public mee...

When COVID-19 first struck and people started spending more time outside, Ridgway-based contractor Matt McIsaac headed to the town skate park – and felt like, as the only adult there, he was witnessin...

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: Every Friday and Saturday morning at 9 a.m. and every Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. at St. Daniel’s Church, 614 Fifth St., Ouray. Every Thursday and Sunday at 7 p.m. in the sanctu...

The Ridgway Fire District is gearing up to hire new staff, budgeting $350,000 toward this aim in 2023, following the landslide victory of its ballot question more than doubling mill levy funding last ...

A Ridgway man has been sentenced to two years in prison for causing a fatal accident that killed two people when he hit two motorcyclists with his van. Barrie Bloom, 69, pleaded 'no contest' to charge...

Amid a statewide surge in respiratory viruses, local healthcare providers are reporting an uptick in cases in the region, though local data is limited. According to the Colorado Department of Public H...

John Hollrah remembers walking into a Ouray County bank and stunning the person behind the counter when he asked to open an account for the county Democratic Party. “I didn’t think there were any Demo...

50 YEARS AGO December 7, 1972 - Monday night, the Ouray City Council passed Ordinance No. 8 which will raise water rates about 50 percent. In a discussion prior to passage of the ordinance Wardell Joh...