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Colorado - Thu. 05/14/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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SENATE CONFIRMS KEVIN WARSH AS FED CHAIRMAN ON PARTY LINE VOTE
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The U.S. Senate, on Wednesday, confirmed Kevin Warsh as the Federal Reserve’s 17th chair Wednesday in a party-line vote. Warsh won confirmation 54-45. No Fed chair has been confirmed by such a narrow margin since Senate approval became a requirement for the job in 1977. Chair Jerome Powell, whose leadership tenure ends Friday, captured at least 80 votes in Senate confirmations for each of his two terms atop the Fed. The previous chair, Janet Yellen, was confirmed 56–26 in 2014, with many senators absent because of bad weather. Warsh, age 56, has been immersed in monetary-policy debates for decades, frequently as an outspoken critic of the Fed. A former Morgan Stanley investment banker, he became the youngest Fed governor in history at 35 when former President George W. Bush appointed him to the central bank’s board in 2006. The Senate already confirmed Warsh to the Fed’s seven-member board of governors on Tuesday.
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BLM RESCINDS CONSERVATION-USE REQUIREMENT ON BLM LANDS
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On Tuesday, May 12, the U.S. Dept. of Interior posted its final decision rescinding the Bureau of Land Management’s Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, also known as the Public Lands Rule, which mandated conservation the same priority for use on BLM land as energy development, grazing, timber production, recreation and other uses. The BLM manages around 245 million acres of public lands in the U.S., including 8.3 million acres in Colorado. It also manages 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate across the country and around 27 million subsurface acres in Colorado.
Uses on BLM land were documented in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, which established the BLM’s multiple-use mandate. The 1976 law tasked the BLM with managing the following “principal or major” uses: recreation, range, timber, minerals, watershed, wildlife and fish and natural scenic, scientific and historical values. While it required the agency to balance these uses in a way that avoided permanently impacting land productivity and the quality of the environment, it did not explicitly list conservation as an official use to be considered until the Public Land Rule was implemented.
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GLENWOOD SPRINGS CELEBRATES GRAND OPENING OF 6TH ST. & NORTH LANDING
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The City of Glenwood Springs will celebrate the grand opening of the newly renovated 6th Street and North Landing public space with a community ribbon cutting today, Thursday, May 14, at 4:30 p.m. at North Landing, at the intersection of 6th and Pine streets. Community members, project partners and visitors are invited to attend the celebration to help commemorate the completion of two long-awaited community enhancements. Brief remarks from Mayor Marco Dehm and Downtown Development Authority Chair Charlie Willman will kick off the event at 4:30 p.m. followed by a community ribbon cutting and photo, light refreshments and a performance by the Glenwood Springs High School Jazz Band on the North Landing Stage. Sixth Street businesses also plan to host festivities around the event as part of a neighborhood block party. All are invited to join in the fun. For more information, e-mail bryana.starbuck@cogs.us.
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NEW STUDY FROM COLO. SCHOOL OF MINES: MORE ISSUES FOR WATER RIGHTS/USERS
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A new study from Colorado School of Mines economist Steven Smith and climate change researcher Adrienne Marshall, published April 30 in Nature Water, uses data from the headwaters region of the Rio Grande River in southwestern Colorado and calculations from changes in temperatures and other factors to indicate there could be more problems with water users. The warmer temperatures from climate change are causing more streamflow coming from rainfall rather than snowmelt. That tends to spread out runoff periods. That “evening out” of runoff increases drought impacts on those with junior water rights, who normally receive water only after senior water rights are fulfilled.
Using data from 70 years in the Rio Grande basin, the “spread” of water flows in some years can last 10 days longer than average and that greatly impacts the timing of water rights. According to Smith, “We were seeing a change where the junior irrigators were getting reduced by 20 percent of their water, whereas the seniors were getting 12 percent more water than normal,” even as the total amount of stream water over the course of the year stayed the same. “That was a pretty large swing for just this change.”
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LUNCH IN THE PARK: CIVIC CENTER EATS WILL HAVE FOOD TRUCKS ALL SUMMER
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This week, Civic Center Eats returned to Civic Center Park in Denver, with a bevy of food trucks offering great lunches from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday on Bannock Street and Civic Center Park Meadow. Civic Center Eats will continue through Oct. 15 with as many as 54 food trucks offering virtually something for everyone.
The summer schedule:
- Spring: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., May 13 – June 25
- Summer: July 8 – Aug. 27 • Fall: Sept. 9 – Oct. 15
- NO EATS on the following dates: 7/1, 7/2, 8/12, 8/13, 9/2, and 9/3
You can check out what trucks will be available each day at civiccenterpark.org/events/eats.
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WORLD MIGRATORY BIRD DAY CELEBRATION IN BOULDER
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Friday through Sunday this week, Boulder will celebrate World Migratory Bird Day of the Rockies, a free community festival organized by the Boulder-based nonprofit Environment for the Americas. The main event is happening Saturday morning at Walden Ponds Wildlife Habitat where 17 local and regional organizations will set up education stations along the trails, including the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, Lights Out Colorado, Boulder County Parks and Open Space, Wild Bear Nature Center, and Boulder County Audubon Society.
Boulder is an excellent location for observing migratory birds as Boulder County sits at the edge of the Great Plains, where the land rises abruptly into foothills and mountains, and that geographical seam creates a rare concentration of varied habitat in a concentrated area. Creeks, ponds, wetlands and tree-lined riparian corridors run through all of it, offering reliable food, water and cover in a region that is otherwise pretty stingy with all three. Saturday’s celebration at Walden Ponds, 3893 N. 75th St., runs from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Guided bird walks begin at 7:30 a.m. and leave every 30 minutes. Education stations open at 9 a.m., and a live birds of prey presentation will run in the morning.
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WHOLESALE PRICES SOAR IN APRIL – HIGHEST ANNUAL INCREASE SINCE 2022
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Wholesale inflation, the prices charged by producers, increased 1.4 percent in April, the highest annual increase in more than three years. That is much higher than the 0.5 percent Dow Jones consensus forecast and the upwardly revised 0.7 percent March increase, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday. This was the largest monthly gain since March 2022. On an annual basis, the index was up 6 percent, the biggest increase since December 2022. Excluding food and energy, the core PPI accelerated 1 percent, compared with the 0.4 percent estimate. Excluding food, energy and trade services, the PPI rose 0.6 percent. Energy was at the root of the unexpectedly high gain in producer prices, as it was for a surge in consumer prices that the BLS reported Tuesday, though there was evidence that the price pain is extending beyond the gas pump. Some three-quarters of the gain in goods prices stemmed from a 7.8 percent jump in final demand energy, the BLS said.
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1ST I-70 VISITOR CENTER COMING IN FROM THE WEST NOW SPRUCED UP & OPEN
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In June 2025, the Colorado Visitors Center in Fruita, the first visitors center on Interstate 70 for those traveling into Colorado from the west, was closed for renovations. On Tuesday this week, state and local officials gathered at the center just off a roundabout connecting I-70 with Colorado Hwy. 340, for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the re-opening of the visitors’ center after a major rework. The center in Fruita represents the first step of a broader modernization effort across the state’s roughly 55 visitor centers, according to Colorado Tourism Office Deputy Director of Destination Stewardship Jill Corbin. She said other locations would model any number of the Western Slope center’s changes, drawing inspiration from its improvements as they make their own.
The renovations go beyond the building’s more modern, visual appeal. The state’s to-do list also included a complete reconstruction of the welcome center’s restrooms to meet ADA requirements. And the new building has a heightened focus on sustainability, with more water-efficient fixtures and about 20 percent of the old space’s printed brochures, replaced by sleek digital kiosks with more information and less paper waste. All said, the improvements cost approximately $2 million, funded by a mix of state and federal dollars.
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ASPEN BUMPS UP WATER RESTRICTIONS TO STAGE 3
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The city of Aspen will enter a stage 3 water shortage for the first time since the city adopted a formal drought mitigation plan in 2020. Aspen has been under stage 2 restrictions for nearly eight months. The new restrictions will limit residential watering schedules even further. Irrigation will be restricted to two days per week. Water users with even home addresses can irrigate on Tuesdays and Fridays, while those with odd home addresses can irrigate on Wednesdays and Saturdays. No outdoor water use will be allowed between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. New turf from seed or sod can be watered for up to 21 consecutive days after it is planted. Other new plants are allowed to be watered on the day they are planted.
Residential swimming pools and hot tubs, and other existing water features cannot be filled or refilled using city water. The city's Ki Davis and Dancing fountains will not be operated during the stage 3 shortage. Non-commercial car washing is not allowed, nor is the washing of sidewalks, driveways, parking areas, tennis courts, patios or other paved areas unless for the purposes of health and human safety.
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LOOKING FOR A REMOTE ADVENTURE? TRY THE BUDDHIST KINGDOM OF BHUTAN
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One of the most remote least-visited countries in the world may be opening up in a few years. The land-locked Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan lies in the High Himalayas, with a 24,000-foot mountain as well as subtropical plains, steep mountains and valleys. Not only remote, but the country is also known for its strict environmental preservation, with 60 percent of land legally required to be forest. All these factors are part of Bhutan's mystique, not to mention the fact that even getting there is an adventure in itself. The only international airport is in Paro, in western Bhutan. It is served by only two airlines, Drukair and Bhutan Airlines, with a total of eight flights a day. For travelers from the U.S. or Europe, it usually requires multiple days to arrive there. Paro sits at almost 7,800 feet in a narrow valley requiring pilots to make multiple turns with no radar or computer assistance. There are fewer than 50 pilots qualified to land in Paro.
The airport had just 88,546 visitors last year. Most of the visitors remain in the north of the country: the Punakha Valley, Pobjikha Valley, Thimphu and Bumthang. That may change as the country has targeted the south to develop as a travel, economic hub, focused on Gelephu. The Gelephu International Airport is due to open in 2029 and Gelephu is also set to get a 40-mile rail connection to Assam, India that will help form the country's first-ever railway. Two national parks flank Gelephu, including the country's first, Royal Manas National Park, with elephants, tigers, rhinos, clouded leopards, golden langurs and more than 360 species of birds. Among them is the critically endangered, white-bellied Heron, half of whose entire world population resides in Bhutan.
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INTERNATIONAL ARRIVALS TO U.S. IN APRIL CONTINUE DOWN
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The National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) recently reported visitor data for April 2026 which showed:
- Non-U.S. citizen air passenger arrivals to the U.S. from foreign countries totaled 4.5 million in April
- That is down 9.8 percent compared to April 2025
- Overseas visitor arrivals totaled 2.6 million in April 2026
- That is down 14.1 percent from April 2025
- Year-to-date overseas visitation was down 4.3 percent compared to the corresponding period in 2025
- In a change from previous months, U.S. citizen air passenger departures from the U.S. to foreign countries in April was down on a year-over-year basis
- U.S. citizen departures totaled 5.8 million in April 2026, down 2 percent from April 2025
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MARKET UPDATE - 05/13/2026 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 05/07/2026)
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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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