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Colorado - Mon. 05/18/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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EXCELLENT PRIMER FOR COLORADO RIVER ISSUES, COMPACT, STATUS
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The Weekend Edition of the Wall Street Journal, May 16-17, 2026, has an excellent article, The Colorado River Is on the Brink of Disaster,” which provides an overview of the issues surrounding the Colorado River, the Colorado River Compact, the current debates and discussion of the solutions for low water levels and the impact the river has on some 40 million people. As to the current situation with water level so low in the river and its tributaries, the article’s authors, Carl Churchill and Josh Ulick, attribute it to the officials who formulated the Colorado River Compact in 1922. The article states, “Officials overestimated how much water the river would provide.” It goes on to detail how the current situation of drought, with accompanying growth in population now has led to a situation where the federal government is threatening to impose restrictive measures to ensure that dams can continue to generate power.
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NASA HIGH ALTITUDE AIRPLANE SEARCHING FOR CRITICAL MINERALS IN COLORADO
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The NASA ER-2 is an airplane modeled after the U-2 spy plane of the Cold War, and it has been based at the Colorado Springs Airport since April 1 as part of a joint program of the U.S. Geologic Survey and NASA to survey Western states for critical minerals. It will continue to operate out of Colorado Springs until Wednesday, May 20. The airplane is part of the ongoing effort to find minerals like titanium, nickel and aluminum, critical to the nation’s commercial economy and its national security.
To find these elements, NASA and USGS have equipped the ER-2 with an instrument that measures wavelengths of reflected light from the Earth’s surface. By analyzing what wavelengths are reflected back to the sensor, scientists can determine what kinds of rocks, minerals and materials there are 65,000 feet below. It is even more remarkable in that the ER-2 is capable of flying 12 miles high. America has been reliant on China for critical minerals, including 50 minerals and 17 sought-after rare-earth elements.
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POWER OUTAGE IN SILT, NEW CASTLE, GLENWOOD: DARK DINNER TIME SATURDAY
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Thousands of people were without power Saturday afternoon and evening, May 16, 2026, as residences and businesses went dark from Glenwood Springs to Silt. The loss of power forced many attractions, shops and restaurants to close. Power went out shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon and was not restored until approximately 8:20 p.m. Residents in New Castle did report a “big boom and flash” around 3 p.m. and there was a small fire near the bike path which residents immediately put out using their hand-held fire extinguishers.
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WILDLAND FIRE ACADEMY TO BE IN GRAND JUNCTION FOR 1ST TIME
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For 32 years, the Upper Arkansas Wildfire Foundation has held the Colorado Wildland Fire Academy, now called the Colorado Wildland Fire and Incident Management Academy, in recognition of the Academy Incident Management Team consisting of the following interagency partners: Colorado Division of Fire Prevention & Control, Colorado Dept. of Transportation, Colorado Dept. of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, National Park Service, National Weather Service, as well as many city and county agencies in the local communities.
June 1-5, 2026, the Colorado Wildland Fire and Incident Management Academy will be held at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction. It is the first time the Academy has been held in Grand Junction. More than 300 emergency responders are expected to attend the Academy, which offers more than 25 courses, with specific skills classes as well as exercises, scenarios and simulations related to all-hazard incident management, wildlife and leadership. Complete information is available at cwfima.org.
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CSU-ADAMS STATE CONTINUE TO BUILD JOINT ENGINEERING PROGRAM
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In 2022, Colorado State University and Adams State University launched a joint mechanical engineering program that provides an engineering degree from CSU but is delivered on campus at Adams State in Alamosa. It provides an affordable, in-state tuition-based degree in the rural San Luis Valley where there is no other engineering program within 100 miles. The first two years of instruction are from Adams State and then CSU provides all the upper-division coursework, with the CSU mechanical engineering faculty based in Alamosa. Adams State has an overall Hispanic student population totaling 40 percent of the student body and the program offers clear pathways for minority students into engineering fields. Six students in the program graduated on Saturday at CSU’s commencement and there are now 56 students currently enrolled.
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SAPPHIRE POINT OVERLOOK IN SUMMIT COUNTY CLOSED UNTIL JUNE 16
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The Dillon Ranger District has announced that Sapphire Point Overlook, the popular overlook and adjacent parking area above Dillon Reservoir, will be closed May 17 through June 13 for construction of a new overlook and other renovations aimed at improving the visitor experience. Crews will also widen the half-mile trail to improve accessibility and add benches, pullout areas, interpretive signage, and an additional vault toilet. Beginning on Sunday, June 14, all event reservations at Sapphire Point, popular for small gatherings and weddings, will move to the new North Overlook. The existing overlook site will no longer be used for events.
The closure comes around a month after access to the area was impacted by reconstruction work on the adjoining Swan Mountain Road, which offers the only public-access route to Sapphire Point. Summit County began the second phase of its Swan Mountain Road reconstruction project in April. The stretch of road between Colorado Hwy. 9 near Farmer’s Korner and Sapphire Point remains closed through mid-July.
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SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL: PRE-EVENTS FOR VIEWING THIS SUMMER
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The Sundance Film Festival will make its debut in Boulder in 2027, but in advance of the festival, the parent organization of the Sundance Film Festival this week shared details about the titles appearing at Film on the Rocks, Boulder Creek Fest, and other major events as part of its co-sponsorship with various local programmers. The movies offer “early opportunities for Colorado audiences to connect with (Sundance’s) legacy of independent storytelling through film, music and poetry,” Sundance officials said.
Summer screenings for the Sundance co-presentations include “Andrea Gibson: Love Letter from the Afterlife,” a 20th anniversary celebration of “Little Miss Sunshine” in partnership with Denver Film’s Film on the Rocks, “Napoleon Dynamite” at the Boulder Creek Festival, “The Best Summer” at Outside Days, and “BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions” in collaboration with Biennial of the Americas, MATTER and MCA Denver, according to the festival’s new agency of record for Colorado, Bloomerang PR. The agency was launched in January by PR and film-fest veteran Jenny Bloom.
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ON-LINE SCHOOL ENROLLMENT IN COLORADO: GROWING, PROBLEMATIC?
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In 2016, the Colorado Legislature passed a statute requiring increased investment in supplemental online courses for Colorado’s K-12 schools. The law sought to ensure digital equity by providing assistance to school districts and charter schools that didn’t have the capacity to build their own online offerings. Colorado has three main online education categories:
Single-district online programs
- 58 programs in 39 districts and the Charter School Institute
- These programs have fewer than 100 fully online students. They cannot enroll more than 10 out-of-district students. They are not considered standalone schools.
Single-district online schools
- 19 schools in 16 districts
- These programs have 100 or more online students. They cannot enroll more than 10 out-of-district students.
Multi-district online schools
- 44 schools are authorized by 23 school districts, 2 BOCES, and the Charter School Institute
- These are online schools serving students from two or more school districts. The Colorado State Board of Education must approve these schools before they launch.
More than 30,000 Colorado students attend multi-district online schools. Often the schools are authorized by entities far away from students’ home districts. However, these multi-district online schools are drawing state funding away from the district where the online student lives and as a result, more school districts are starting their own online programs. Last year, 17 Colorado districts, most of them small and rural, started online programs.
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COLORADO DISASTER RECOVERY NAVIGATION TOOL
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Earlier this month, Gov. Jared Polis announced the creation of the new Colorado Disaster Recovery Navigation Tool to help Coloradans navigate recovery and rebuild after natural disasters.
The tool is organized around information tailored specifically for:
- Homeowners
- Renters
- Landlords
- Small Business Owners
- Agricultural Producers
- Unhoused
The key element is access to “Resources” where those in need can search on a vetted database of services and support. To learn more about the tool or check it out, access the site through the article at the link below.
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FORBES SAYS A BAG OF GROCERIES COSTS 50% MORE TODAY THAN IN 2020
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The price of a basic grocery basket featuring common items like eggs, milk and ground beef has far outpaced inflation since it first surged during the pandemic—a whopping 55.6 percent jump since 2020—while other increasing costs, like energy prices, continue to strain Americans’ finances.
2020: By Forbes estimates, this grocery basket of 11 staples cost $46.95 in June 2020, when annual inflation was last under 1 percent:
- Bananas, $1.16 per bunch
- A loaf of bread, $1.83
- A box of butter, $3.49
- One package of chicken breasts, $8.01
- A large bag of potato chips, $3.96
- A tub of coffee grounds, $7.75
- One package of chocolate chip cookies, $3.01
- A dozen eggs, $1.55
- One package of ground beef, $4.73
- A large bottle of orange juice, $6.78
- A 12-pack of soda, $4.68
2026: Now, this same grocery basket costs $73.07 as of April:
- Bananas, $1.30 per bunch
- A loaf of bread, $2.32
- A box of butter, $4.21
- One package of chicken breasts, $9.98
- A large bag of potato chips, $5.26
- A tub of coffee grounds, $16.70
- One package of chocolate chip cookies, $4.20
- A dozen eggs, $2.25
- One package of ground beef, $6.89
- A large bottle of orange juice, $14.08
- A12-pack of soda, $5.88
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MARKET UPDATE - 05/15/2026 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 05/14/2026)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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