MESSAGE FROM ALPINE BANK: COLUMBUS DAY CLOSURE

All Alpine Bank branches will be closed Monday, Oct. 11 in observance of Columbus Day. We invite you to use Alpine Online or the Alpine Mobile app for 24/7 banking access, even when we are closed. Learn more at the link below.

UNITED AIRLINES RAMPS UP FOR HOLIDAYS, ADDS DECEMBER FLIGHTS

United Airlines Thursday said it will offer 3,500 daily flights in the United States in December. That's the most daily flights in any month since the pandemic began. The 3,500 December flights are 91 percent of the daily December flights United offered in 2019. Flight searches for holiday travel are up 16 percent compared to the same time in 2019, according to United officials. The majority of the searches are for flights to warm-weather destinations or to ski resort areas. Overall, air travel appears to have settled at about 75 percent of 2019 levels in September, according to data from the Transportation Security Administration.

JOBLESS CLAIMS DROP FOR FIRST TIME IN FOUR WEEKS

The U.S. Dept. of Labor Thursday reported that initial unemployment claims, basically an indicator of layoffs, fell 38,000 for the week ended Oct. 2, to a seasonally adjusted 326,000. That is down from an adjusted 364,000 the week before. The drop in initial claims is the first decline in four weeks. In addition to the initial claims, the number of Americans continuing to claim unemployment benefits again dropped sharply, a sign of the impact of states broadly ending several federal pandemic benefits programs. Even as claims remain near their lowest levels since the onset of pandemic, the number of job openings in the U.S. continues to outpace the number of unemployed workers.

TESLA: LEAVING CALIFORNIA, MOVING HEADQUARTERS TO TEXAS

Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Tesla Inc., was at the company's factory near Austin, Texas Thursday when he announced Tesla is moving its headquarters to Austin. Musk said that Tesla will expand operations in California, but scaling up operations in the San Francisco area is limited. The rocket company founded by Musk, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or Space X, already has major operations in Texas. Tesla is following companies like Hewlett Packard and Oracle, which both moved from California to Texas.

NOBEL PRIZES 2021

Now is the time for awarding Nobel Prizes. Every October, committees in Sweden and Norway name prize winners. This year there will be six prizes awarded. Winners include: the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded jointly on Monday to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch;” the Nobel Prize in Physics went to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, and Giorgio Parisi; the Prize in Chemistry to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan; and, the Prize in Literature to Abdulrazak Gurnah. Today, it was announced Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov have been awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.

GLENWOOD SPRINGS COUNCIL DELAYS WEST GLENWOOD ANNEXATION VOTE AGAIN

At their regular meeting Thursday, the Glenwood Springs City Council voted to postpone a decision on the 480 Donegan Project. The council was to vote on the annexation and change in zoning for the residential development project on a 16-acre plot in West Glenwood. Mayor Pro Tem Charlie Willman made a motion to deny the annexation permit and rezoning of the property, but then withdrew his motion and council member Ingrid Wussow withdrew her second of Willman's motion. Both Willman and Wussow agreed that the decision was so important that all seven council members needed to be present for the vote. Council member Paula Stepp was absent from the meeting Thursday.

TELSKI UNVEILS $102 MILLION CAPITAL PLAN

Officials of Telluride Ski and Golf hosted a special meeting Thursday at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village and detailed an expansive $102 million capital plan for the resort over the next ten years. In addition to the improvements planned for the ski operations, Telski officials also discussed plans for expanding worker housing. The largest element in the capital plan is $30 million for lift replacements and snowmaking. The lifts being replaced are 4, 7, 9 and 10. There is also funding for equipment, new restaurants, moving and upgrading the ski school and other projects.

FLC RECEIVES $748K FEDERAL GRANT TO SUPPORT ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT

Fort Lewis College has received a $748,624 grant from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce for its "Build to Scale" program. The money will support the two programs of the Build to Scale program, the Venture Challenge and the Capital Challenge. The Venture Challenge provides funding assistance for technology-based economic development. The Capital Challenge provides early-stage investment funds. For FLC, the grant money will be used to help launch businesses, create jobs, raise investment capital and retain regional businesses, in support of the mission of the college's Center for Innovation.

SUMMIT COUNTY FINALIZES ITS SHORT-TERM RENTAL CONVERSION PROGRAM

Summit County commissioners Thursday, in a work session, wrapped up work on the county's short-term rental conversion program which will officially launch on Friday, Oct. 15. The commissioners agreed on the incentives for each phase of the program. The first phase will have the highest incentives, with incentives as high as $13,000 for a six-month lease for a three-bedroom apartment. For a yearlong lease, the incentive for a three-bedroom unit is $24,000. The first phase will last until Dec. 15 or until the program gets 15 conversions, whichever comes first. In addition to individual property owners, there is a separate incentive program for property managers.

HAPPY TO GO TO WORK? WORKERS AT THESE PLACES ARE…

Comparably is a business research firm that uses anonymous employee surveys to rank companies in a variety of categories. This is Comparably's ranking of companies with the happiest employees:

1. Adobe, San Jose, Calif.
2. RingCentral, Belmont, Calif.
3. Hubspot, Cambridge, Mass.
4. Peloton, New York, N.Y.
5. Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.
6. Farmers Insurance, Woodland Hills, Calif.
7. IBM, Armonk, N.Y.
8. Medallia, San Francisco, Calif.
9. Zoom Video Communications, San Jose, Calif.
10. Experian, Costa Mesa, Calif.