|
Colorado - Thu. 12/26/24 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
|
|
View in Browser
|
|
|
| |
MOFFAT TUNNEL DEAL BOOSTS POSSIBILITIES FOR PASSENGERS
|
| |
|
|
| |
On Monday, state of Colorado officials announced that they had reached a tentative agreement with Union Pacific Railroad to extend the lease for use of the 100-year-old Moffat Tunnel. The state owns the tunnel and leases the tracks that run through it to Union Pacific. The 99-year lease was due to expire in a few weeks and the agreement would extend the use by Union Pacific for another 25 years. The agreement provides for the state to receive expanded access to Union Pacific’s railroad tracks for passenger trains from Denver to Craig. Regular daily passenger train service between Denver and Grand County, or a portion of the full corridor, could begin in time for the start of the ski season in late 2026.
For several years, Amtrak has run the revived Winter Park Express ski train along that route seasonally, but only around weekends, including from Thursdays through Mondays this season. The mountain rail expansion could eventually lead to up to three roundtrip services per day between Denver and Craig, with several stops, including Winter Park and Steamboat Springs, along the way.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
COLORADO UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN NOVEMBER TOPS NATIONAL RATE
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
The Colorado Dept. of Labor and Employment announced that the state’s unemployment rate increased two-tenths of a percentage point from October to November, reaching 4.3 percent. The November increase marked the eighth time this year there was a month-over-month increase and the first time in almost three years that the unemployment rate in Colorado surpassed the national rate. With the national rate only increasing by one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.2 percent from October to November, the state has now surpassed the national unemployment rate for the first time since December 2021. The unemployment rate for Colorado has ranged between 3.3 percent and 4.3 percent over the past year, while the U.S. has ranged from 3.7 percent to 4.3 percent. The total number of unemployed Coloradans is now 139,300. Despite the increase, November’s 4.3 percent unemployment rate still falls within the threshold for what economists consider full employment.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
BIEL NAMED DIA FINANCIAL CHIEF
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
On Monday, officials at Denver International Airport named Michael Biel the new chief financial officer for DIA. Biel is currently DIA’s deputy CFO. Biel succeeds Mike Nakornkhet as CFO after Nakornkhet was selected earlier this month to be the director of San Francisco International Airport. Biel will be responsible for overseeing DIA's annual budget, which includes about $1.1 billion in revenue per year and about $8.6 billion in assets and deferred outflow of resources, DIA officials said. Prior to joining DIA, Biel worked in aviation finance for the Clark County Dept. of Aviation in Las Vegas. Biel has also spent nearly 20 years in the private sector working in audit, accounting and finance, DIA said in a news release.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
BISHOP MACHEBEUF HIGH SCHOOL PROPERTY ACQUIRED BY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
The Archdiocese of Denver announced in September that Bishop Machebeuf High School, at 458 Uinta Way, would combine with St. John Paul the Great High School, at 2330 S. Sherman St., in Denver for the 2025-26 school year. Citing financial challenges and declining enrollment, the archdiocese also announced two other schools would close at the same time. Last week, the International School of Denver, which serves pre-K through the eighth grade, announced it has a contract to purchase the 75,000-square foot Bishop Machebeuf High School, which is situated on 10.5 acres. The purchase price was not disclosed but was reported to be at “fair market value.” The International School opened in 1977 and has about 675 students. Tuition for this school year is $28,600 for middle school and just under that for lower grades. The International School said it will start using the property this coming fall, adding one grade a year until the school runs through the 12th grade. The school’s lower grades will continue to operate where they do now, at multiple buildings about a half mile from Bishop Machebeuf.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
ANOTHER MILESTONE REACHED IN MOAB URANIUM TAILINGS REMOVAL
|
| |
|
|
| |
At a ceremony Dec. 19 in Moab, community leaders and members, along with representatives of the U.S. Dept. of Energy, held a Tile Transfer Ceremony in recognition that 15 million tons of radioactive uranium tailings have been removed from the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action site. The Tile Transfer Ceremony included the moving of a tile, one inscribed with the date that the 15 millionth ton was reached on Oct. 14, 2024, from one plaque to another. The two plaques represent the project’s two work sites, i.e., the Moab site with the uranium tailings pile and the Crescent Junction site with the disposal cell.
Chair of the Moab Tailings Project Steering Committee Mary McGann moved the tile itself from the Moab plaque to the Crescent Junction plaque. The Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action project began in 2009 and has in recent years been able to accelerate the pace at which it is removing radioactive uranium tailings to one million tons per year. The project is expected to reach cleanup completion in 2029, with the Dept. of Energy looking at beneficial reuse plans for the land.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
VAIL, OTHER RESORTS, HAVE SPLIT CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY BOOKINGS
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
With Christmas Day coming mid-week, Vail and many Colorado resorts have generally had lower pre-Christmas bookings, with bookings from Dec. 26 to Jan. 9 reflecting a more common holiday pattern of strong lodging reservations. Compounding the problem for the pre-Christmas period was Thanksgiving coming very late this year, Nov. 28, which meant a very short period of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Most school vacations did not begin until this week, Monday, Dec. 23. The Vail Valley Partnership is reporting pre-Christmas lodging reservations were down between 12 percent and 15 percent from pre-Christmas 2023. Vail Valley lodging consultant Mark Herron notes that Easter in 2025 falls three weeks later than it did in 2024. That’s having a positive impact on April reservations, he said.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
CATHOLIC JUBILEE 2025: ROME PREPARING FOR CONSEQUENCES
|
| |
|
|
| |
On Tuesday, Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launched the Roman Catholic Church Jubilee 2025 by opening the Holy Door in the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica. The Holy Door is a heavy bronze door that symbolizes conversion and entering God's presence and begins the Jubilee which occurs every quarter century and will continue until Jan. 6, 2026. It is a year of faith, penance, and forgiveness of sins for Catholics and will bring an estimated 32 million visitors to the Vatican. Rome has already been struggling to balance the needs of its 2.75 million residents while serving the more than 21 million tourists who passed through this year and already preparations for the Jubilee have caused additional detours for construction, traffic jams and many unhappy residents.
Once considered one of Western Europe's more affordable travel destinations, rental prices in Rome have increased 20 percent and the inventory of available rentals has dropped by as much as 35 percent. Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, has acknowledged the difficulties, but notes, “The Jubilee is not a policy choice, it’s been around since 1300. It exists, so the question becomes how do you handle it.” One major project opened this week, when the ribbon was cut on an underpass along the Tiber River near the Vatican that immediately cleared traffic from Rome’s largest pedestrian area.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
WALL STREET JOURNAL'S “PLACES TO GO IN 2025”
|
| |
|
|
| |
The Wall Street Journal offers an annual list of the “places to go” in the upcoming year. These are on the WSJ’s list for 2025:
- Morocco
- Amsterdam
- Malta
- Niseko, Japan
- Traverse City, Michigan
- Madhya Pradesh, India
- Maui, Hawaii
- Magdalena River, Colombia
- Macon, Georgia
- South Caicos, Turks & Caicos
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
SOME TOP PLACES IN THE WORLD TO CELEBRATE NEW YEAR’S
|
| |
|
|
| |
Everyone knows about the ball drop, in Times Square, bringing in the new year in New York City. Here are some other places that Condé Nast Traveler offers as choice locations to celebrate the arrival of 2025:
- Kiritimati, Kiribati: The largest island of the South Pacific island nation of Kiribati is Kiritimati (also known as Christmas Island) and is among the first inhabited places on Earth to welcome the New Year
- Edinburgh, Scotland: the traditional Hogmanay celebrations are the four-day-long farewell to 2024, beginning Dec. 29, culminating with a street party in the city center and midnight fireworks over Edinburgh Castle
- Tokyo, Japan: celebrate hatsumode, the first visit of the year to a Shinto or Buddhist shrine at Tokyo's Meiji Jingu Shrine to listen as the bells toll 108 times, representative of the number of earthly temptations you must overcome to reach nirvana, then toast 2025 with sake Hong Kong: known for its spectacular fireworks displays, this year Victoria Harbour will have a 12-minute musical show depicting the four seasons, but before that, "wish-making" sessions start a 11 p.m. for every 15 minutes, with shooting stars
- Dubai, UAE: also, the place for fireworks, known for its world-class Grucci fireworks show
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
MARKET UPDATE - 12/24/2024 Close
|
| |
|
(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
|
| |
|
Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 12/19/2024)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
|
| |
|
| |
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.
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Make changes to your subscription or unsubscribe here. |
| © 2025 Alpine Bank. |
| |
|
|
