Aspen Journalism

Aspen Journalism Aspen Journalism is a nonprofit journalism organization based in Aspen, Colorado.

Our mission is to produce investigative and in-depth journalism for those with a stake in the Roaring Fork Valley and beyond. Aspen Journalism:

covers local government organizations and the issues on their agendas;

makes local public data and information more accessible;

produces investigative reports;

collaborates with other local news producers on stories and projects; and

produces news content on the Aspen Journal website and on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

Expanded traffic monitoring in Aspen is revealing how congestion has spread beyond Highway 82 and into surrounding neigh...
05/28/2026

Expanded traffic monitoring in Aspen is revealing how congestion has spread beyond Highway 82 and into surrounding neighborhoods and commuter routes.

New AI-powered counters showed Power Plant Road carried about 7% of Aspen’s total traffic in 2025 and up to 34% of afternoon peak traffic as drivers bypassed Highway 82 bottlenecks.

Officials are using the data to guide future traffic management, including a new “Michigan left” intersection near Woody Creek and proposed West End signage and roadway restrictions aimed at improving safety and reducing congestion.

Officials also look to increased RFTA ridership as a solution, with Pitkin County Commissioner Francie Jacober suggesting that free fares for bus trips systemwide should be considered.

An analysis of a calendar year's worth of data confirms that the side-entrance traffic makes up a significant portion of total traffic, as drivers seek to beat the gridlock that typically chokes Highway 82 during the morning and afternoon peak periods. Added together, vehicle counts from Highway 82....

Glenwood Springs’ planning commission voted 5–1 to revoke a decades-old permit for an ICE short-term detention facility ...
05/01/2026

Glenwood Springs’ planning commission voted 5–1 to revoke a decades-old permit for an ICE short-term detention facility after evidence showed repeated violations of a 12-hour holding limit since 2011. Prior to the key P&Z meeting, Glenwood staff recommend upholding ICE facility’s permit. ⁠
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The decision followed community complaints and data analysis revealing a pattern of overlong detentions. ⁠Officials warned the facility may not immediately close, citing possible federal preemption and legal challenges.⁠
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This story was produced through a social justice reporting collaboration between Aspen Journalism and Aspen Public Radio.

About 160 residents attended the hearing, and the planning commission received a standing ovation after it revoked the permit, but Hanlon said it will be difficult to enforce the decision if ICE, the GSA or the landlord appeals within the seven-day period or simply continues operating the facility w...

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement data analysis by Aspen Journalism of an ICE detention facility in Glenwood Spring...
04/28/2026

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement data analysis by Aspen Journalism of an ICE detention facility in Glenwood Springs found at least 17 over-limit detentions since 2011, prompting scrutiny and an April 28 hearing held by the city’s planning commission to decide whether to revoke the facility’s special use permit after multiple detainees were found to have been held there for more than 12 hours.

Ahead of the hearing, city officials have recommended upholding the special use permit for an ICE detention facility despite data showing repeated violations of its 12-hour holding limit. Instead of revoking the special use permit, they suggested requiring ICE and the GSA to provide “quarterly reporting of the number of detainees that have been processed at the facility and the amount of time that each detainee is held in order to determine compliance.”

Glenwood Springs officials are recommending that the city’s planning and zoning commission uphold a special use permit approved in 2003 for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s short-term holding facility and administrative office near the Glenwood Meadows shopping area, despite data that shows...

Part 3: The history of B. Clark Wheeler, arguably one of Aspen's first larger-than-life characters in its long lineage o...
04/25/2026

Part 3: The history of B. Clark Wheeler, arguably one of Aspen's first larger-than-life characters in its long lineage of big personalities. As the indomitable man who trekked through driven winter snows to hammer a few stakes into pristine wilderness and name that 1880 mining camp “Aspen,” he lit a long fuse in time that begot today’s bastion of billionaires. ⁠

Possibly his betrothal hit a snag, or the countess puffery may have been a set up for a pretextual return to Aspen in 1907, when he took back control of the Aspen Times, announced he was running for the state House of Representatives and trumpeted reopening the Little Annie and Famous Tunnel.

Part two of a three-part series about B. Clark Wheeler recounts a brief, turbulent mayoralty and mounting legal troubles...
04/23/2026

Part two of a three-part series about B. Clark Wheeler recounts a brief, turbulent mayoralty and mounting legal troubles during Aspen’s silver boom.

Elected in 1890, Wheeler balanced roles as a promoter, miner and politician while facing accusations of manipulation and financial instability. As lawsuits and debts mounted, he delayed obligations and maneuvered assets. His experience reflects both his volatile leadership style and the broader speculative, boom-and-bust conditions shaping Aspen’s early development.⁠
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The Aspen Times Aspen Historical Society

Newspaper accounts reported claims against Wheeler, painting a pattern of manipulation and a life under pressure. But in the frontier era, when physical distance from problems created more insulation, Wheeler put off what he could by traveling and conducting state senate business, as he delayed and....

Without B. Clark Wheeler, Aspen might still be Ute City. This is the first of a three-part series by Tim Cooney for the ...
04/23/2026

Without B. Clark Wheeler, Aspen might still be Ute City. This is the first of a three-part series by Tim Cooney for the Aspen Journalism History Desk chronicling the life and times of B. Clark Wheeler, one of the most influential figures in Aspen history.⁠

https://aspenjournalism.org/b-clark-wheeler-a-nimble-man-in-his-time/

The yarn is often spun of Wheeler’s Herculean mid-February 17-day roundtrip snowshoe odyssey from Leadville to Ute City over Independence Pass to inspect mining prospects and lay out a town.

A California investment firm has acquired seven mobile home parks in Rifle and Grand Junction, representing a significan...
04/23/2026

A California investment firm has acquired seven mobile home parks in Rifle and Grand Junction, representing a significant share of manufactured housing in Mesa County and raising questions about housing stability, resident protections and the future of one of the region’s most affordable housing options.

With more mobile home parks for sale in Glenwood Springs and Rifle, the transition to "resident-owned communities (ROC)" is raised, but "without broad community buy-in, the work that needs to be completed falls to just a few residents, which doesn’t lead to a successful community," shares Justin Holman, Thistle ROC senior manager.

A 39-unit manufactured home community in Rifle that a California real estate investment firm purchased in December is part of a portfolio of seven Western Slope parks consisting of more than 700 homesites and recently acquired by the company.

Upper Colorado River Basin states are testing new methods to create a “contribution pool” in Lake Powell, aiming to boos...
04/13/2026

Upper Colorado River Basin states are testing new methods to create a “contribution pool” in Lake Powell, aiming to boost reservoir levels amid ongoing drought and management negotiations.

New Mexico plans to release leased water from Navajo Reservoir, while officials explore alternatives to traditional agricultural conservation, which can be unreliable in dry years. The effort reflects growing consensus that a formal Upper Basin conservation pool is likely in future river management.⁠
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Thank you to Eco Flight for the image⁠

With a Lake Powell conservation pool nearly guaranteed for the future of Colorado River management, the four Upper Basin states are exploring and refining the ways they could fill it.

A March heat wave accelerated snowmelt across the region, leading to the lowest end-of-winter snowpack on record.Aspen J...
04/13/2026

A March heat wave accelerated snowmelt across the region, leading to the lowest end-of-winter snowpack on record.
Aspen Journalism reports how a warm, dry March compounded an already weak season, rapidly diminishing snowpack levels at a critical time.

Water managers are planning for an extremely dry summer as Colorado wraps up winter 2026 with the worst snowpack on record for early April.

Amid one of the worst snowpack years on record, Denver Water and Xcel Energy enacted a rare agreement to ease looming sh...
04/02/2026

Amid one of the worst snowpack years on record, Denver Water and Xcel Energy enacted a rare agreement to ease looming shortages by allowing additional diversions from the Colorado River. The temporary policy reduces flows required at the Shoshone hydropower plant, enabling more water storage and use for the Front Range’s 1.5 million residents. As a result, Western Slope users may see shifting river flows until May 20, as the agreement reduces the call at the Shoshone hydroelectric plant in Glenwood Canyon by half, from 1,408 cfs to 704 cfs.

https://aspenjournalism.org/denver-water-xcel-enact-plan-to-ease-shortages/

Denver Water put the Shoshone call reduction agreement into effect with water rights owner Xcel Energy, which allows Denver Water to divert more water from the headwaters of the Colorado River in an attempt to alleviate shortages.

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