Financial support for this program was made possible by the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition a nonpartisan alliance of groups News organizations, and individu dedicated to ensuring the transparency of state and local governments in Colorad by promoting freedom of the pres Open courts and open access to government re and meetings.

We're not here to be some cheerleader for the Chamber of Commerce.

We're not here to do PR for anyo Congressman, it's not ten yet.

How does taking people off Medic and into emergency rooms for uncompensated care help medi providers in your in your distri I am an equal opportunity report I don't care what political party you are.

My only agenda is a truth.

We've had cases around the count where discovery violations have led to people that were escaping, convicted, and spent time in pri You know what?

It would be way easier to report from the point of view.

Right.

You can just vomit out some some opinion or some invect and you get 50 million page view and people are like, oh, they're awesome because they agree with me.

But that's morally in incorrect.

It's just wrong.

We're not the bad guy.

We actually have a really important purpose in this society, and it's import that we stick around to be able to tell those stories.

This role of the American journa in this American democracy, this grand experiment, is to be a mirror, to be a mirro Back to the communities that they serve, and then let the populace decide for themselv and form their own opinions and perspectives.

People vote yes on this.

Does that mean they are actually getting healthy school meals for What is the average stay hospita stay make you stay a bit of a pr I've always heard that you're in the media.

You're feeling left, you're libe you're this, you're that in the other.

And now you know, I'm like, I'm the middle of the road guy.

I'm not leaning one way or another as a journali because that's just who I am as a person.

Innovative housing options like Governor Paul's been ringing this bell for four now, and that's an important rol that we play, is still being that middle person and offering a little bit of rationality and logical interpretation out t That is it really agenda driven now, with all the battling bias, disinformation, personal threats to journalists, we have to just find every day doing the work and keeping the p and understanding that it's the importance of telling you the community of what's going on in their worl And west of the divides, I think the greatest concern wil we have a problem nationally with a lack of trust when commentary is being passed as news, and when alternative facts are being passed as news, the spectrum moves over here.

And so that actual fact based reporting that really strives to have balanced perspectives is going to feel bi because everything has been skewed over here.

We have a problem in this countr where people don't understand what the difference i between facts and opinion.

Welcome to the NewsHour.

The political fallout from the m of conservative activist Charlie Cook continues.

Last night, Disney suddenly susp ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Some of them don't care.

These hosts did it to themselves They have failed miserably to crack down on free speech, dominate the media and essentially render And they don't care if people ar allowed to use alternate effects I think back to that term when it first came out, you know, back when Kellyanne Co was the one who first coined any Sean Spicer press secretary, gave alternative facts to that.

But the point really.

Alternative alternative facts.

Four of the five facts he uttered when he got Zeke Miller for the five facts he uttered were just not true.

Look, alternative facts are not facts.

That was a huge turning point that has become so warped and twisted in recent yea And combine that with a lack of media literacy, with the rise of things like AI technology.

We're in a really dangerous spot right now.

The stoner massive fire is burni northeast of Dolores.

There is an evacuation order for San Juan National Forest lands on Stoner and Taylor Mesa.

Americans need to know that journalism is vitally impor It's the First Amendment, and we celebrate on the 4th of J What are we celebrating?

This profession is one of the th we're celebrating.

I reached out to Democratic Gove Polis, his office, about these ballot issues.

We really are defenders of democ We're the people who are paid to to all the meetings that you can to, because you have to go to wo that day and pay attention to what's going on in our govern I think the job of a journalist, what we do and what we have spec training in how to do is to be careful, is t attention, is to know what to look out for so that we can g right and get it clear and make sure that it's it accurate.

Why did you come at 16 years old by yourself, the newsroom and without journalism, people are not going to be accountable for their actions, are going to continue to be corr They're going to continue to be masters, be crooks, and take advantage of the system because nobody's putting their story out there of how they did somebody else wr Fernandez went to prison in 2017 after Denver prosecutors found he pretended to be a plastic sur We are critically reporting on those who are in power, those who have authority, those who are making decisions on behalf of broader community.

For me, it's part of my moral compass.

To tell the truth.

In addition to offering free healthy meals to all public school students.

If voters in November vote to preserve the government going to providing healthy school meals for all.

I didn't ask for a statement from the governor's office.

I asked, what did he mean by thi I just need a casual conversatio I don't need a two paragraph statement.

I have to take a hard to underst topic.

Makes them easy to understand in a visually compelling way in two minutes or less, and hope that you got all that you need to get out of it.

That the statement actually is not is a decent statement for on But I didn't need a statement.

I just needed to talk to a human Basically, if I could just get a direct answer is like, if Snap changes, he's the govern Looking at this additional fundi to cover with the federal govern would have used to have covered.

And then all healthy meals for all might be at risk, but that funding would be divert to covering healthy meals for the most needy.

An answer for my 6:00 story.

I don't need another statement.

I just need like just a basic li Here's what I found out.

First o all, I have to understand it.

But everyone watching is not at the same leve and so I just need to make sure there's the most basic level.

Everyone can understand what I'm presenting.

Why is today hard?

I see a news release, or I get a or I see a tweet or something that seems big, even if I think it's dense.

A lot of my coverage deals with you vote on legislation that's going to impact your life I guess my my question is you made this pitch to to people but it sounds like under not a h rule County, Douglas County is doing just fine.

So how is all that a pitch to make you home rule when it sounds like you're fine?

What's interesting and you're talking to the right person.

So this is my second term as county commissioner.

I believe today's story is Dougl County, Colorado is has a special election to become a home rule county.

It's basically, what is a home rule county?

What can and cannot do?

What about the argument that you're doing it in a special election in an odd because you want only people who pay close attention to elect to take part, not the general pu who generally participate in even your November election.

What I'm learning is I need to educate voters in Douglas County that here's what it can and cannot do.

And if you think otherwise, this is our chance to clear it u Home Rule County gives you the power to structure, but function is still based on w the state legislature has determ Does that sound right?

That's probably correct.

Someone wouldn't say this on cam but they said if you're a home county and you're thinking you're going to give the middle finger to the state, you're sorely mistaken.

I believe that's correct.

Okay.

I didn't get into this business to be the guy covering the topic that might put me at risk.

I got into this business to cover sports and then it converted into, I'm in this business because I'm really good at simplifying, really hard to understand topics in a fun, visually compelling wa And I enjoy what I do every day.

But sometimes when I'm asking a tough question to someb I have to tell them, you're wron A journalist can say you're wron That's a lie.

That's not true.

Mallory.

So you watched as I interviewed Douglas County, a commissioner, about a ballot i that I couldn't use most of what that commissioner told me on TV because it wasn't factually accu It wasn't true to what the ballot issue would actually And instead of putting it on TV or in the story and then explain why it wasn't t I made the editorial choice that I just couldn't show viewer that specific part of the interv I'm lacking just a little bit li I don't have enough examples to hit home for people about like what this is really d and not doing.

The gist is, if you're trying to become a cou that doesn't have to listen to the state, this is not the wa There is no way.

And this certainly is not the wa I think that's the essence of what we need to get across.

Even if you change your structur you can't suddenly pass new like local regulations that say if there's another pandemic, her what we're going to do instead.

Like, you can't do that or this or our law enforcement is going to do this instead.

You can't do that.

You well, I mean, if it's if it's not true, then don't hea I guess.

And if you want to hear more sound in the show, then I guess you should have the same thing with them.

So I had to pick parts of the interview that were safe and accurate, and that was part of the story.

Is the misinformation about this ballot issue in Douglas County.

But a lot of what was said in the interview with the county commissioner that supported the idea of home was not based, in fact.

The people who support the idea of home rule don't probably agree with what my final product look either they don't know enough and they truly believe what they were saying, or they just disagree and didn't want the public to know what I provided them.

Douglas County voters are being pitched the idea of Home Rule.

In part, you say, to free them f liberal safe policies coming out of the Capitol in Den As voters in Duncan prepare for the June 24th special electi our Marshall Zelinger found those claims by Republican county commissione Don't check out.

Douglas County residents are returning their ballots from about home rule.

A special election asks.

Hello?

Just charter commission, the fir step in becoming a home rule cou What the heck does that even mea A home rule charter for counties offers structural flexibility, but not legislative attempts at a home rule.

I mean, you get to the one thing I left out that we cut out is like, okay, p what what is it then that you ca is a home rule county.

And there was a collective bargaining mistake that that US election, the state legislature powers collective bargaining.

Okay.

Is to shut down our.

What happened last time?

Our home rule charter would create a barrier, to some of those far overreaching state controls.

If you're trying to preempt state law, the home rule charter doesn't get you there.

Okay?

Home rule does not exempt counti from certain laws and policies l And gave me an example of how Douglas County cannot sign an agreement with Ic to allow the sheriff's office to cooperate with immigration enforcement, because state law says they can' Well, I learned they being a hom rule county would not change tha Kyle.

Well, shoot.

Marshall.

These pitches are fallen one by So if if home rule doesn't allow that, doesn't allow them to opt out of liberal state policies that they don't like, what would be in it for these county commissioners to get that home rule power?

You can change your structure, like how many county commissione there are, your term limits if you want.

There are certain state laws like unionization of county work that was passed in 2022, that exempts the state lawmakers that if you're a home rule count you are exempt from this.

So if there is a state law that says home rule counties don't have to follow it that would be something home rule counties could dance around I hear folks in Delco ballots in hand, yelling thanks to their TV, because a ton of them have writt in asking for a marshall Zelinge explainer on this.

And you delivered.

Thank you sir We are cut.

Ignacio.

Katie.

Angie.

Durango.

Okay.

Us, Flora Vista and CPGs.

Pagosa Springs.

We are four Corners public radio We invite you.

T was one of the first tribally founded stations in the country.

Where they are hosting the 2025 Southern Indian Tribe Growth Pla general meeting.

So at this point, not only Southern Ute tribe, we also served on the Ute Mounta Ute time, the Hickory Apache Nat in northwest New Mexico.

And then we also serve a large portion of the Navajo Na with our tribal radio signal.

The Waters Canyon Fire is approximately one mile outside of Mesa Verde National P and is currently estimated at 19 acres in size with 15% containme Tribal lands.

The vast majority of the time, our very, very rural folks may not have an internet signal, a broadband signal might not have reliable cell ser So these tribal stations, including Kut, really are vital to the communit that we serve.

Fort.

The fire is spreading to the eas and is now over 514 acres in size with no containment.

Please be safe out there.

We are the source of news and information in wildlands.

As you all know, the fire danger is extremely hig The Senate voted to defund public broadcasters like PBS and And then late last night, the House followed suit, leaving the funding for lo stations nationwide up in the ai So Cty lost 20% of our funding through the rescission package.

That's $330,000.

And right now we're trying to figure out how to backfill.

So it's significant.

And it's with a very short windo to to try to make up that.

And I know there's an argument a well, why should the government funding and supporting public me I mean, I understand that on the face of but if you think about the publi service, we're public media.

We have a public service mission and we all adhere to it.

Emergency alerting, public servi announcements, community announcements, being a voice for community memb if they request to be on air.

And we want to have their voices heard so that public service we take really seriously.

The fire restrictions will remai in effect until further notice.

And so with that clawback of fun it's essentially saying, well, you're really not actually that important to your community KSAT was one of the co-plaintiff with NPR and Colorado Public Rad and National Public Radio agains the early May executive order.

That completely goes in the face of the First Amendme and freedom of the press.

So that's why it was so importan for us as a small little station in southwest Colorado.

So it's obviously important to u even at the risk of, you know, retribution or who kno what with this administration.

So we definitely had to think lo and hard about joining that laws But on the principle of it is extremely important to us.

If you don't have free and independent media, it's a real threat to democracy.

And I think that media literacy educating folks about the vitali and how important community medi is to have an informed populace is absolutely essential They're inextricable.

3 to 1 coming up, DIA's proposal for a possible nuclear projects gets tripped up before the starting line, plus a crackdown on small manmade ponds over water rights and your chance to ask the gover your questions.

Here is the news in Colorado tod I like to be really hands on.

I like to be able to get in and create things on my own.

Something that I and many others are very concerned about is these same tools that we use Everybody can use them, and they don't all necessarily have that kind of eye or that kind of training or that journalistic training.

What do you want to ask Governor Jared Polis, Cbre's Rya Warner is interviewing him on st and you can take part.

Ryan, this is new.

What's happening?

Well, this is going to be in Grand Junction in just a few wee Now.

I've had the chance to inte Polis many times, but never like this in front of a live audience.

But we see the federal governmen saying no, we want to put more law enforcement on the stre because we're so unhappy with these teams that are violen So we want to put the money into this, you know, downstream approach to trying to I think of this new AI era.

There will continue to be even more information and a lot bad information, wrong informati that's just out there.

And so I think that just makes our work even more important that there are still professional and trained journal who are making sure that good information is availab and that people can find information they trust.

Today, I am driving out to Fort Morgan, Colorado, which is the county that I actually grew up in and a town that I spent a lot of in and I am interested to come back and visit and check in and understand what happening with the community her Especially I'm interested to understand what's happening w the various immigrant communitie that are in Fort Morgan.

So we are speaking today with one woman who herself came as an immigrant and was detained at one point and was separated for her childr and managed to sort of make it through that and went through a long journey in the court system and was able pretty recently to actually get permanent legal status.

She spends her time helping others who are going thr a journey similar to hers.

It is not new that politicians have complained about the media, that they're very unhappy if they think there's any opinio that they don't share expressed.

I don't think that's ever going I think it's exaggerated right n and that concerns me.

I'm concerned that people are being told that somehow journalists are the enemy, instead of what I believe to be true of my profe and about my colleagues, is that we're just neighbors who want to know what's going on in our communiti and want to tell people what's going on.

But most professional journalist are really committed to being factual, to being fair, to being thorough It's disheartening to hear attac on the people who are doing that work every da How did you end up in this commu Fort Morgan is a part of a community that the Fort Worth was over.

I see my primary role put myself in the shoes of our readers, our listeners, my neighbors, the everyday person who would li to have this information, who would like to try to underst this issue or this story.

That's where I start.

And, you know, I also would be curious to see a little bit Fort Morgan through her eyes.

Would you show me a few things about how you might like?

To.

Touch my base.

And this is her church.

And most people who live here, where do they work?

A lot more than I can think.

Officially, yes.

They work in the boonies.

I. I have a plan to do some work at the meat plant in the, I believe that we just have to be here every da And I hope that there will alway people who are seeking that good information.

And maybe it just depends on what else.

Yeah, but I think we could find ways to do it every.

Right.

I think it's really a privilege to be a journalist and to say, l this is the way I contribute to that broader good and that broader progress that we'd all like to have.

I go out and get my own stories.

I shoot my own stories.

I write my own stories, and I edit my own stories.

And I've been doing this for 34 years.

Back in high school, you know, I was a musician, and I always thought I wanted to be a music major.

I think it was my junior year of high school.

Our high school started out.

The video club kind of made the switch.

And that career, you know, kind You know, you meet governors, you meet preside you meet dignitaries from other countries, you know, having that front row seat for history being made is something that not a lot of p get to witness.

I'm here in channel nine and, put me in.

I like to meet with people.

I've got some stuff so I can get to talking to them face to face, one on one.

That's a little bit that you you're thinking they might ask you a couple of questions?

Is that o Sure.

Awesome.

I love to be able to provide a community service, get, you know, news and information out to the community that I serve that I live in.

I think that is probably one of the most gratifying things about this job.

So they know where I'm coming fr and kind of have a sense of the stories that I do coming up for.

And there's been so many different outlets out there in different layers of media.

It's frustrating to know that you know, my story is going to be out there with someone els who has an opinion or, you know, kind of wants to sprea and, and, and agenda and not really look up if this is true or not.

Not really.

Look up if this is factual or not.

Today is October 1st.

I guess we learned yesterday that the government was going to shut down.

So we're heading up to a food pa in the Broomfield area.

We're talking with her about sort of like the impact.

How long will it take for those benefits or those recipients to see a change in their benefit Could we see their benefits laps What kind of funding will be available?

Is there some kind of supplement in the interim?

So those are all the questions around the answer.

When did you first hear about the government shutdown?

The biggest impact for us and for our participants is actually on Snap.

And with the reliance week to we month to month, that's not going to change this process Correct.

So the impacts that we're seeing a lot of folks are are reliant on Snap for their fo The impact was years years.

We've heard fake news.

Fake news Oh that's fake news.

Oh that's fake news.

Yeah.

That's easy to slap a label on something that doesn't agree with what you want your news to But understand that not all news is fake.

We're out here fighting each and every day, competing against the bloggers, the the TikTok people, the Insta and I just want people to know that we will continue to do that for all you do.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

All right.

Have a good day.

I've always loved the mechanics of assembling a st First started the project back in 2010 Oh, wow.

Have you lost our audie Endlessly fascinating.

The different ways that you could build this cabine You know, like I said, I've always thought that I'm doi is I'm a cabinet maker.

The mighty Argo cable car.

It's not a resort.

Denver Business Journal did that and I wanted to kill him.

I would describe it as an outdoo adventure, recreational area for people to experience the mountains and the outdoors who've never been here.

It's fun to go meet interesting characters.

You got to look there for the 300 person amphitheater.

Music, corporate events, wedding This is the Instagram moment to come in here.

Just the enthusiasm that people for their place, for their visio That's something that I will endlessly enjoy sharing.

You guys finding great.

Art.

They're not telling me.

Yeah.

I thank you for joining us this morning.

All of a sudden is an online new organization that will cover the news that matters in Colorado, in the Eastern Plains to the Front Range.

So we were ten journalists from the Denver Post who came over and created the Colorado Sun.

And we had the richest, most rob journalistic chops of any ten people in this state.

I can't believe I was included in that group.

We did not know anything about how to run a newspaper, how to make money.

And it was devastatingly obvious We are a crew of no less than 30 reporters, and it's a challenge not write a story that, you know, that you wrote in the past.

You wrote 20 years ago.

You would have been all over that story, and now you you can't even look at it, and you can still shine lights in places and hold hold people in power accountable you know, investigate things and you know, it's still happening.

It's just much smaller, but it's no less important.

How do we put this on planet Ear Where are our values?

One of the things that was a requirement was this could be an unbroken point.

So we staggered them and we brought them out to make the code requirements for the frontage.

Yeah.

We just visited with Jerry Champ over at Buena Vista Base Camp downtown Buena Vista.

He is building what is the largest housing proj entirely built with shipping containers.

Idea was, creating some affordab attainable type of housing.

A very unique project in and of itself.

And we spoke a good bit about some of the challenges.

That a builder faces in small to and really anywhere in Colorado, going to write about stuff that maybe people don't know abo and that will draw them together and maybe they will see, hey, I' not that much different than those folks in that small t or in even in that big city.

And there's a similarity there, I respect that.

That person's viewpoint.

That's so interesting.

It's a curiosity when you when you pop that open, when you click over to the Colorado Sun, what are you going to hit and see that day?

You don't know what you're going to get.

And that's part of, you know, curiosity that I hope we all can maintain as humans that not just this, you know, not just scrolling endlessly.

That's not curiosity.

That's not consumption.

That is idle brain.

This that scroll mechanism is as dangerous as cigarets.

You had to have your bars, your brothels, your church and your newspaper.

It was.

It was part of what made, city a city.

The Erie County Plain Dealer has been serving Erie County since 1877.

And it's only one year younger than the city of Uri.

It was something that people really needed.

The Plain Dealer prides itself on not being a tourism newspaper We are not a Chamber of Commerce newspaper.

We are not a public relations newspaper.

We are very serious about covering the people and events and news happening here in Erie County.

And there's a lot.

Hey.

How's it going?

Good.

I'm good.

So let's talk about the Alpine ranger story.

Yeah.

Leah, you went out on the ride along with Cricket?

Yes.

How did that go?

Most of the day, she was performing work.

Pretty much everything she did with the Forest Service.

But now she's just basically being paid for, being paid for by the county.

You know, they're still unsure h they're going to fund it in the which I think is something of no Right.

Like that.

They kind of they call an emerge They're going to pay for it this time, but who knows what's going to ha next time.

Mike, you have city council toni Can you tell us what you have going on there?

That good?

A bit unclear to me what?

Michelle.

The tier the city administrator is, is do but it appears that she is setti for potentially going and starting over on a national search for a new police chief.

All right.

I think we're good to Oh, man.

Purchasing and running the Plain Dealer mea that Aaron and I are both partne in life and partners in business I think we're just really well suited for each other, personally and professionally.

Both.

And that's tricky, you know, because it's one thing to be mar to someone for 20 years.

It's another thing to also be business partners.

We have managed to, not kill each other yet, and, Yeah, well, we have Walter Cronkite, the news hound, to, help keep us honest and and keep us grounded.

Fearless.

I think our readers appreciate knowing that we are putting out the best information we have.

What we know is true every week, and we know that they are smart enough to make up their own minds.

I just had to post some, a breaking alert here on social letting people know that Red mountain's house is clo between Ury and Silverton right now for a vehicle recovery Somebody called and reported that there was a vehicle that had been spotted at the bot I definitely want to let people that they should take an alterna route to.

And to resolve this status under God, indivisible, change.

Thank you.

So with that in mind, I want to be very sensitive to ensuring that I am to make my diligence.

We have a very engaged readershi This place has this special qual that just gets at people's heartstrings.

The Plain Dealer is the way that people keep conn to this place that they care so deeply about.

I think that in a small place like, you know, it's the relatio is a little bit different and there are good things and bad things about that, right It can be really challenging.

I have a friend who is a retired journalist who I think he put it the best.

He calls it close to the bone journalism because there's really no wiggle room.

Right?

You might hang out with someone socially at a public event or something, but if they get arrested for mur next week, you're writing about That's it.

And there's really no one else to pass it off to.

Is it hard to make friends when you are the co publisher, co-owner, coeditor, co janitor of a newspaper in a small community?

Yes.

It's hard to make friends.

Absolutely.

Because with some people there are strings attached.

And you do one thing that they d agree with and poof, they're gon Although I also want to say that some people have been so welcomi and wonderful and supportive, and they know we're doing our jo and they outnumber the people who are mad at us every week.

I try to remember th I trust our readers.

They're pretty savvy.

We have intelligent people reading The Plain Dealer.

People have an emotional relatio to the printed newspaper.

There's a permanency to it that they love.

Well, there's Christy.

Christy.

Hey, how's your new grandbaby?

Oh, good.

Yeah.

You tell me your baby do I her?

I don't know.

Oh, I love her.

I love.

I live next.

I love to hear.

We had a story break that involv the Euro police chief's home.

What?

We knew in the beginning, we had a group of kids that were partying at the police chief's home, which we later found out wasn't that uncommon.

The story broke that this girl h reported that she had been sexually assaulted maybe three individuals at the police chief's home while chief was upstairs sleeping.

And so, of course, this was of public interest for a lot of reasons.

The day that story, published in January 2024, we discovered that most of the copies of that editi containing that story were stolen out of our racks here in Erie County.

A business owner here in Ridgewa was the responsible party that he had gone around that mor put four quarters in each rack and then took all the newspapers We had people that thought that it was somehow connected to the Erie police chief, that somehow he must have not wa people to read this story.

It turned out it had nothing to do with anyone down there that nobody at the police depart had anything to do with the thef and it was another individual who had a grudge against us.

This person did ultimately confe to stealing the newspapers.

We took that theft very seriousl We view that as an attack on the First Amendment.

So we got the papers reprinted, and we went around and restocked the racks that same day.

And that was when the calls star coming in from news outlets all over the place.

I mean, it ended up in the Washi Post, The New York Times.

We had so many outlets calling.

I mean, the story about our pape being stolen and the attempt to prevent others from accessing that they needed to know.

It went way farther because of the attempt to suppress it.

People who try to suppress the p give us a chance to show everyone else how we can stand u And I'm grateful for that.

I don't know how you teach people how to grow up.

Hair.

I don't know.

This is our highly technical system that we use to sort of pass out space in the in the pap every week.

Our top stories this week, our feature about the an alpine ranger program that you're a county took on.

It used to be a program that was run by the Forest Servi but federal budget cuts, led to the two alpine rangers here in your county being fired.

The other story, unfortunately, is a fatal accide that happened on Red Mountain Pa A car ended up actually backing off of Red Mountain Pass and off a very steep cliff.

Incredibly, an 11 year old girl who was in the car survived.

What have the.

This is one of these examples where it.

It's the space.

Little fit nicely sometimes.

It doesn't always come together.

I just have this one.

Newspapers in their heyday used to employ teams of copy editors, proofread making sure pages are clean, making sure copy was clean.

On Wednesday, we are two people.

Rangers from one.

It's a clean break.

Yes.

Well, you go to 11.

I see it from ten.

Let's see.

Accident 11.

Chief, from page two, clean brea We've done all the other jumps.

We're set.

Okay.

All right.

Okay.

Thank you.

That's it.

There's a reason we call it the weekly miracle.

Oh, it always somehow comes toge Even if we're never really sure sometimes how we're going to get there.

Is that something that a mouse has to?

I think engaging your public and getting them to take ownersh in local journalism is absolutely.

Do I know how to do it on a larger level than this?

No, I don't.

We're this microcosm.

I mean, we're in a county of just over 5000 people.

So if we can keep it going and keep it going strong and serve as an example o how you can run a paper in a rural place in an ethical w with rigorous, relevant news, then I want to do that.

I don't know how it's going to turn out.

Talk about some of the antiquated rules around ownershi whether it be cross-ownership, foreign ownership.

You know, what about that side of things?

We're gonna try to walk and chew at the same time.

There is a whole set of ownershi issues that I want to take a fresh look at as well.

I worry about the people are turning away.

And I worry that, you know, that they are worrying about the busi because I want them to be able to do the job that they love.

Okay, well, I did this because i you and we have a relationship.

Thank you.

Appreciate your journalism.

Okay.

Thank you.

That's importan Take care.

Things are so in flux that you c calm everybody's nerves every day on this road.

These are 216.

The nays are 213.

The resolution is adopted withou Congress has passed the Rescissi proposal or immediate cuts proposal from President Trump.

It would be total elimination of the planned funding for the next two years for public broadcasting.

I'm concerned, and I'm overwhelmed by the support we've seen from our community.

We may have to make some cuts that we don't want to make these two years.

What I'm more worried about is the sustainability.

The southern Indian Montessori Academy open enrollment for the 2025.

A year or two from now, when there's a lot more crises that are happening and need $330,000 is a lot to backfill.

Over the course of, you know, multiple years.

I'm most, most anxious about the degradation of truth being somewhat so deeply paranoid, but I can't help it that we're allowing, like, this government to just go into the shadows.

And I think that's kind of anti-america.

We ostensibly have this, you know, government for the peo and by the people.

And that seems to be being taken away.

If we lose journalism, we're probably losing democracy, because then you're just getting state bad news from a government that only wants you to believe whatever they want you to believ Trump describes the 45 year old attorney as, quote, a warrior for free sp Carr wrote about the FCC in the Conservative Policy Prior Handbook Project 2025.

There's definitely other challen kind of going on up there.

And she's not really.

We decided that we wanted to be people who doubled down and invested our own skin in the game.

We really believe in journalism, and we believe that it's integra to sustaining our democratic soc If people aren't informed, they can't be involved.

They can't make decisions.

And if you aren't involved in a democracy, other people mak the decisions for you.

To be clear, this is still in the study phase and this time, r Da was nowhere close to building the small nuclear power plant.

That's right.

The idea for now is to spend more than $8 million trust as the glue in our broader syste and we need those systems to function.

Journalism is one of those important system that we need in a democracy, because without it, you know, we we become that corrupt society, that corrupt community.

Can we work around fire mitigati And, you know, a new town says, well, the code system people are maybe tricking themse into thinking that they don't need journalism.

That is a dangerous path.

You don't want to live in a plac that doesn't have a newspaper.

Communities without that common shared information source will will dwi and they will become less of a community.

I'm struggling because I can't u most of what Amy told me, because I don't find I don't believe it's true.

The work we do is too important to let it Even small places deserve quality journalism, especially small places.

All right.

I think that's it.

We're your neighbors.

We cover the items that impact your day to day life And we can be held accountable because we live next to you and were impacted also by what we cover.

We're here to find the truth, speak truth to power, keep journalism alive.

Financial support for this program was made possible by the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition a nonpartisan alliance of groups News organizations, and individu dedicated to ensuring the transparency of state and local governments in Colorad by promoting freedom of the pres Open courts and open access to government records and meetin