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Colorado - Fri. 07/03/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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NOTICE OF HOLIDAY CLOSURE FROM ALPINE BANK: INDEPENDENCE DAY
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All Alpine Bank branches will be closed in observance of Independence Day on Saturday, July 4, 2026. The Alpine Bank family wishes you and yours a safe and happy holiday. 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.
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MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR FALLEN FIREFIGHTERS
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The public is invited to attend the memorial service honoring our fallen firefighters who were engaged in initial attack operations on the Knowles Fire - Emily Barker, assigned to the U.S. Forest Service Rifle Helitack; Nick Hutcherson, assigned to the U.S. Forest Service Kaibab National Forest; and Sydney Watson, assigned to the U.S. Wildland Fire Service Rifle Helitack. The memorial will be held Sunday, July 5, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Amphitheater at Las Colonias Park, 925 Struthers Ave., in Grand Junction. The memorial will be available via a livestream link that will be provided as soon as it becomes available. To learn more, visit the link below.
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ASPEN ACRES FIRE: EVACUATION NOTICES EXPAND AS FIRE GROWS TO MORE THAN 50,000 ACRES
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The Aspen Acres fire burning in Pueblo and Custer counties is currently more than 50,000 acres with no containment. It continues to be the top priority fire in the state. Officials were unable to give updates about the town of Beulah, which was completely surrounded by the fire on Thursday. They did confirm that the historic Horseshoe Lodge at Pueblo Mountain Park has burned. A 650-person crew from Alaska took over operations in fighting the fire. More help is pouring into the state, including 100 engines from California. Officials urged the public to use caution this holiday weekend and avoid any celebrations that pose a fire risk. To find the most recent information, visit online at COTrip.org.
In addition to the communities of Wetmore, Beulah, Rye and San Isabel, other evacuated areas include:
- Burnt Mill Rd East to Interstate 25
- South of Lake Isabel to Rye, 2-mile evacuation from San Isabel
- From Lazy Acres to Bishops Castle on Hwy. 165
- 12 Mile Road
- 3R Road to Crow Cutoff
- North Creek area from Central Road to the Custer County line
- Portions of Colorado City - Parts of Colorado City are under evacuation notice; parts remain under pre-evacuation notice. That means that folks should be ready to leave at a moment's notice. (This may not be the entire list.)
Evacuation centers are open at the following locations:
- St. Charles Mesa Recreation Center, 1650 Cooper Pl., Pueblo, CO 81006
- Lange Hall, Lange South 3rd St., Westcliffe, CO 81252
- Pathfinder Regional Park, Colorado 115, Florence, CO 81226
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USMNT DRAWS RECORD TV AUDIENCE FOR WORLD CUP WIN OVER BOSNIA
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The preliminary U.S. audience numbers are in for the USMNT’s dramatic knockout win Wednesday over Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the results are predictably unprecedented. Initial data from Nielsen is in, and the game drew 24.43 million viewers on Fox, making it the most-watched English-language soccer telecast in U.S. history. Telemundo reported 9.1 million total viewers over the game window, putting the game on track to be the most-watched Spanish-language soccer telecast in U.S. history once Nielsen determines the average. A combined average of 30-plus million U.S. viewers would make it one of the most-watched U.S. TV events of the year, rivaled only by the NFL playoffs and the State of the Union address.
Monday’s round-of-32 game between Netherlands and Morocco drew 10.58 million viewers to Fox, making it the most-watched English-language World Cup game in the U.S. not featuring the USMNT or a World Cup final matchup. The next night, Tuesday’s game between Mexico and Ecuador drew an average of 10.4 million viewers, the second most-watched non-USMNT, non-final English-language World Cup game ever in the U.S. The U.S. will play Belgium in the round of 16 on Monday night on Fox and Telemundo, with the same 8 p.m. ET kickoff. Expect this new audience record to last until then.
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FREE ENTRANCE TO ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK
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Rocky Mountain National Park will join other parks around the nation this week by offering free entrance July 3-5. Beginning in 2026, free entrance on these days will be for American citizens and residents only. Nonresidents will pay the regular entrance fee and any applicable nonresident fees, the National Park Service website states. Beginning on Jan. 1, foreign tourists are required to pay an additional $100 fee to visit Rocky Mountain National Park, according to a policy announced by President Donald Trump’s administration.
Free entrance days at national parks:
- Feb. 16: Presidents Day (Washington’s Birthday)
- May 25: Memorial Day • June 14: Flag Day/President Trump’s birthday
- July 3–5: Independence Day weekend
- Aug. 25: 110th Birthday of the National Park Service
- Sept. 17: Constitution Day
- Oct. 27: Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday
- Nov. 11: Veterans Day
At least 80 percent of the money from entrance fees stays in the park where it was collected. Completed projects in Rocky Mountain National Park using park entrance fees include vault toilet replacement, hazard tree mitigation, hiking trail repairs, wilderness campsites improvements, bear management, and historic rock wall restoration.
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SANTA FE DRIVE IN DENVER TO CLOSE FOR WEEKEND AMID JULY CONSTRUCTION
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Construction on a new pedestrian bridge will shut down South Santa Fe Drive in Denver’s Overland neighborhood next month as cranes hoist the bridge’s structure into place, according to city transportation officials. Santa Fe Drive will be closed in both directions between Evans and Florida avenues in Denver while crews install the main spans of a new pedestrian bridge. The closure will last from 12 a.m. Saturday, July 11, to 5 a.m. Monday, July 13. If the weekend’s weather derails the project, the closure will shift to July 18-20. The pedestrian bridge, funded by the Elevate Denver Bond, has been “more than a decade in the making,” according to the city’s project webpage. City officials plan for the bridge to stretch over 370 feet of roadway and the adjacent train tracks. It will sit 30 feet above the ground and be roughly 12 feet wide. Large cranes will be used during the July closure to set two spans of the bridge in place, each weighing about 215,000 pounds.
- Northbound traffic on Santa Fe Drive will be detoured east on Evans Avenue, north on Broadway and west on Mississippi Avenue before returning to northbound Santa Fe.
- Southbound drivers will detour west on Florida Avenue, south on Platte River Drive and east on Evans Avenue to return to southbound Santa Fe.
- The West Evans Avenue on-ramp to northbound Santa Fe Drive will close at noon on Friday, July 10, to prepare for the full weekend closure. The on-ramp will reopen at 5 a.m., July 13.
- The southbound Santa Fe Drive off-ramp to West Evans Avenue will also shut down for the July weekend, but it will remain closed until Sept. 11 while crews build new sidewalks and perform other concrete work.
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U.S. SNAPS HIRING HOT STREAK WITH ONLY 57,000 JOBS ADDED IN JUNE
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The U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected in June, cooling from a strong spurt this spring. American employers added 57,000 new jobs last month, the Labor Dept. said Thursday, missing economists’ expectations for a gain of 115,000 jobs. That prompted investors to dial back their expectations for interest-rate increases by the Federal Reserve this summer. Still, the job market appears to be on firmer footing than it was in the second part of last year. The economy added, on average, 92,000 jobs a month over the first half of this year. In the final six months of last year it shed 8,000 jobs each month, on average.
The unemployment rate ticked down unexpectedly to 4.2 percent, as more people left the labor force. The share of the working-age population that is either working or looking for work—known as the labor-force participation rate—edged down to 61.5 percent in June, the lowest since March 2021. The labor force is smaller than a year ago, likely reflecting more hardline immigration policies and baby-boomer retirements. The size of the labor force declined by 720,000 from May to June. Thursday’s report showed job growth in May and April was weaker than previously thought. Employment in April and May combined was 74,000 lower than earlier reported.
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COLORADO BUSINESS CONFIDENCE IMPROVES BUT STILL PESSIMISTIC
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Halfway into the year, business confidence across Colorado has improved but is still negative, a new report found. The Leeds Business Confidence Index, a measurement of how business leaders across Colorado feel about the future of the national and state economy, increased by one point to a score of 43, according to a report released by the University of Colorado Boulder on Thursday. “It’s getting modestly better,” said Brian Lewandowski, an economist at CU Boulder. The survey of 214 business leaders across the state spanned between June 1 and June 19.
Businesses in the state are facing multiple headwinds including changing federal and tariff policies, the war in Iran, rising fuel prices and technological shifts with artificial intelligence. About 35 percent of business leaders said in the survey they were concerned about inflation, interest rates and cost pressures, political and policy instability (34 percent) and geopolitical conflicts (23 percent), the report said. About 9 percent of respondents cited Colorado-specific economic factors and 8 percent cited impacts caused by AI. “All of these things are sort of reinforcing each other and all contributing to business pessimism,” Lewandowski said.
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GOLD MOUNTAIN FIRE GROWS TO 15,000 ACRES
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The Gold Mountain Fire is now burning about 15,000 acres northeast of Ouray, according to the fire’s incident management team. The fire, which is still at 0 percent containment, started June 27 on private land two miles northeast of Ouray, and has been measured at 14,960 acres as of Wednesday. The fire had closed U.S. Hwy. 550 between Ridgway and Ouray, but the road is now open, according to the Colorado Dept. of Transportation. However, people should be ready for emergency road closures at any time. The Ouray County Road 14 area remains closed. On Wednesday, Governor Jared Polis announced Colorado has been authorized for a FEMA Fire Management Assistance Grant for the fire, which makes FEMA funding available to pay 75 percent of the state’s eligible firefighting costs.
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WILDFIRE DANGER 'THROUGH THE ROOF' AS FOURTH OF JULY TRAVEL KICKS OFF
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One of the busiest travel periods of the year is underway on Colorado’s Interstate 70 corridor as tens of thousands of drivers head to the mountains to celebrate the Fourth of July. With so many people hitting the roads for the holiday, transportation officials are urging travelers to plan ahead — not only to avoid the worst of the congestion but to ensure that their vehicles are prepared for the extreme fire danger in the mountains. “It’s going to be busy out there,” AAA Public Affairs Director Skyler McKinley said. “Despite high gas prices heading into the holiday, despite some economic uncertainty, we think a record number of Americans will be traveling — 72.2 million Americans traveling overall, 61.4 million by car.”
- That trend is reflected in Colorado, with the vast majority of travelers choosing to drive by car to their holiday destinations. AAA booking data shows Denver among the top 10 destinations in the U.S. for air travel this Fourth of July, and many of those who fly into the state will be renting cars to drive up to the mountains. Many folks don’t consider that their car can be a major source of sparks that can then burn acreage and can take lives.
- On I-70, the Fourth of July is the busiest holiday of the year, even busier than holiday weekends during the ski season, according to the Colorado Dept. of Transportation. Every year since 2019, CDOT has counted more than 200,000 vehicles passing through the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels on I-70 over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, except last year when a fatal crash led to closures.
The “saving grace” for the Fourth of July weekend is that travel is spread out over two weeks, from about Saturday, June 27, to Sunday, July 5, and is already underway. The extended holiday travel period should help spread out the traffic on the I-70 corridor over several days, leading to fewer “pinch points." One thing that could significantly delay travel over the Fourth of July is if a wildfire were to ignite along a major roadway, McKinley said. He noted that there are several major wildfires burning in Colorado heading into the holiday weekend and a wildfire earlier this year closed I-70 for several hours, leading to lengthy detours. Drivers can stay up to date on road closures and traffic conditions by visiting COTrip.org or downloading the COTrip mobile app.
How to prepare your car for extreme fire danger:
- As Colorado faces widespread drought and extreme fire danger, visitors will find that most mountain communities have instituted Stage 2 fire restrictions that ban all campfires and fireworks. Visitors to the mountains are also being urged to inspect their vehicles before hitting the roads to ensure there is nothing that could spark or potentially ignite a wildfire.
- Drivers should never pull off the roadway where dry grass could touch the hot undercarriage of their vehicle and should always make sure to secure trailer chains so that they cannot drag and spark.
- In the mountains, it is important not to overheat brakes on steep descents since the friction can ignite a vehicle’s tires. Drivers can use a low gear while going downhill to reduce the need to brake.
- Cigarettes should never be tossed out the window, where they could land on dry ground and spark a fire.
- With the risk of wildfires in the mountains over the Fourth of July holiday, the Colorado State Patrol said that travelers should do their best to avoid driving in or near an active wildfire.
- However, if travelers do have to drive near an active wildfire “it is important to remain calm, check for road closures and promptly leave,” the release states. Drivers should keep windows and doors closed to prevent toxic smoke from entering the vehicle, use their headlights but not their high beams, drive slower than the posted limit and leave extra space between the vehicle in front of them.
When safely out of the range of the fire, drivers should pull over and check their vehicle for mechanical issues, such as a clogged air filter, tire damage and ash buildup. The State Patrol also said a vehicle fire extinguisher could prove helpful in an emergency. “Driving during a brushfire or wildfire is extremely dangerous,” State Patrol Chief Col. Matthew Packard said in a statement. “If you feel unsafe, you don’t have to wait for an evacuation order. Pack up and leave.”
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MARKET UPDATE - 07/02/2026 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 07/02/2026)
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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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