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Colorado - Thu. 07/30/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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FED HOLDS INTEREST RATES STEADY, BUT 3 OFFICIALS VOTE FOR INCREASE
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The Federal Reserve on Wednesday voted to hold its key interest rate steady but not without opposition from three officials who have expressed concern over inflation and wanted to hike. The Fed held its benchmark rate steady, in a range of 3.5 to 3.75 percent, in a 9-3 vote. The rate-setting panel issued the same policy statement as it did in June, when it also held rates steady. It was the first time since 2016 that three officials dissented in the same direction over a policy change. All of the “no” votes came from regional presidents – Beth Hammack of Cleveland, Neel Kashkari of Minneapolis and Lorie Logan of Dallas – who had been the most explicit about the need for higher rates to address inflation that has been above the Fed’s 2 percent target for more than five years. The Fed will receive two inflation reports before their next regular meeting Sept. 15-16.
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TABOR AMENDMENT LIMITS TAX INCREASE, BUT HAS NO IMPACT ON FEES
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Colorado’s official state income tax rate is a flat rate of 4.4 percent, one of the lowest in the country. However, each Colorado resident paid $4,692 in state-sanctioned fees last year, over and above income tax payments. Voters approved the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) more than 30 years ago, but enterprises, or government-owned businesses are exempt from revenue limits established under TABOR. By 2025, enterprises brought in $28.2 billion, more than half the state budget. If all of Colorado’s fee enterprises were instead funded by the state income tax, it would have to rise to 14.22 percent to generate the same amount of revenue collected in 2025.
Enterprise fees often go toward specific programs or projects, like water conservation, transportation infrastructure and health care. According to the report, the enterprises that generated the most revenue in Fiscal Year 2025 were higher education, the Colorado Healthcare Affordability and Sustainability Enterprise and Unemployment Compensation, which brought in a combined total of over $20 billion in revenue.
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IN A STORMY MEETING RTD VOTES TO CUT SERVICE, REJECTS FARE INCREASES
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The 15-member board of directors of the Regional Transportation Authority held a marathon meeting Tuesday night and after considerable discussion, several votes on amendments, finally decided to proceed with $20 million in cuts to bus and light-rail service. The board rejected a proposal to increase rider fares, which would have generated a projected $8 million to $12 million. In voting for the service reduction, the board did not identify specific routes, lines, etc., but directed staff to come up with the service cuts based on several priorities, including preserving and growing ridership; local transit needs; and service standards.
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A RUSH OF FIREARMS SALES IN ADVANCE OF NEW REGULATIONS COMING INTO EFFECT
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With a new law going into effect Saturday that mandates individuals seeking to purchase semiautomatic firearms with detachable magazines to first complete a firearm safety course administered by the state’s wildlife division, Tuesday was the last day to purchase guns ahead of the effective date of the new law. The state imposes a mandatory three-day waiting period before a gun may be delivered to a buyer. As a result, buyers were swarming to shops to purchase weapons before the deadline. Kale Sykes, a manager with Shootist Gun Range in Englewood, said the store has been slammed with long lines and more than a hundred customers per day. The store set a monthly sales record for June, which was then immediately broken within the first week of July.
Sykes said the vast majority of sales have been for weapons under restriction by the new law. As of midday Tuesday, 6,504 applications for background checks were waiting to be accepted by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, with the longest wait for processing being two days, 19 hours and 25 minutes. If the wait time goes over 72 hours, people will be subjected to the expanded process that involves increased background checks and completion of a firearm safety training course of either four or 12 hours. The course must be taken from an approved third-party outlet overseen by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
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MORE PLANS FOR SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCED
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Sundance Film Festival officials announced the 2027 version coming to Boulder in January will feature an expanded schedule, more filmmaker talks and the return of the New Frontier. The New Frontier was launched in 2007 and is Sundance’s showcase for experimental storytelling beyond a traditional moviegoing setting. It has been paused for two years and will return as “New Frontier FLUX.” The 2027 festival will run Jan. 21-31. World premieres will be concentrated during the first six days, with additional screenings continuing through the final weekend. Online screenings will be available nationwide from Jan. 28-31. The U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, World Cinema Dramatic and World Cinema Documentary sections will each grow from 10 films presented in 2026 to 12 screened in 2027. Together, those sections will increase from 40 films to a total of 48 films, a 20 percent jump. Other Sundance film sections will also expand.
“Premieres” generally include new work from established filmmakers and recognizable actors. “NEXT” focuses on lower-budget movies that experiment with how stories are told. “Midnight” is where horror, thrillers and some of the festival’s stranger offerings tend to live. “Family Matinee” is built for audiences of all ages. Sundance is expanding “Offscreen,” its umbrella for public talks and events involving filmmakers, actors, writers and other guests. Festival organizers are also developing ticket options aimed at Colorado residents and students, though they have not said whether that will mean discounts, reserved tickets, lower-cost passes or another system. Ticket and pass details are expected to be announced in September. Passes and packages go on sale in October, followed by the film lineup in December and individual film tickets in early January.
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THE HISTORY OF PALISADE PEACHES
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Palisade peaches are one of, if not the best-known, agricultural product from Colorado. There are more than 25 orchards and farms in Palisade. Palisade Days attract some 10,000 people every year. In 2025, Colorado produced about 13,000 tons of peaches valued at almost $36 million. The first fruit tree planted in Palisade is attributed to John Harlow, one of the early white settlers in Mesa County. He planted fruit trees in 1882 at his farm at Rapid Creek. It was a difficult start, he lost most of the first trees, but soon the Grapevine Ditch diverted water from the creek to his farm and by 1886 the Grand Junction News reported his orchard numbered over two thousand peach and two hundred apple trees and twenty-four trees were producing peaches.
In 1887, Harlow sent some peaches to the Denver Exhibition and won a blue ribbon. The next year, he grew about one ton of peaches. Peach Day began in 1887 to celebrate the area’s agricultural growth, and by 1895 over 6,000 people attended the festivities. President William Howard Taft attended Peach Day in 1909 as part of a visit to Grand Junction. The modern Palisade Days peach festival began in earnest in the 1970s.
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CHANGES AT THE BASE OF ASPEN MOUNTAIN, LIFT 1A REMOVAL STARTS THIS WEEK
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The Aspen Skiing Co. advised skiers this past season to get their rides in on Lift 1A, the Shadow Mountain Lift, as it would probably be the last season for the 55-year-old chair lift. That was confirmed this week as crews began removing its chairs and cables, with lift towers to come down later this summer or fall. The double chair will be eventually replaced by a high-speed lift that will load further down the hill where it will be surrounded by a new development. The development plans include an Aman hotel and complex called Chalet Alpina, with condominiums and timeshares.
The Chalet Alpina project will also involve the restoration of the Skier’s Chalet Lodge, Skier’s Chalet Steakhouse and some original Lift One infrastructure. The city of Aspen is investing in some public improvements at the base, and the Aspen Historical Society is planning a snowsports museum in the Skier’s Chalet Lodge. In addition to the new lift, some other facilities for SkiCo’s operations, like guest services and ski patrol, are in the plans for the Chalet Alpina complex.
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VAIL DANCE FESTIVAL: 11 DAYS OF DANCE
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The Vail Dance Festival opens Friday, launching an 11-day celebration of dance featuring world premieres, internationally acclaimed artists, and a milestone season marking 20 years under the artistic direction of Damian Woetzel. Running July 31 – Aug. 10, the festival brings together artists from across the dance world for 13 performances and more than 30 events throughout Vail, Beaver Creek and Avon. This year’s festival features celebrated choreographer Alexei Ratmansky as Artist-In-Residence; performances by the Martha Graham Dance Company during its centennial season; Rennie Harris Puremovement American Street Dance Theater in its festival debut; Colorado Ballet and Cleo Parker Robinson Dance; and artists from New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Trinity Irish Dance Company, Royal Danish Ballet, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, and other leading companies. For complete details and tickets, go to vaildance.org.
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FIFA ENGAGED IN CONTROVERSY AGAIN, WITH PLAN TO SELL A STAKE IN THE WORLD CUP
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The extremely successful FIFA World Cup 2026 has barely been concluded, and FIFA is making news again. After news began leaking out Tuesday, FIFA, the world soccer governing body, released a statement confirming its plan to sell up to 21 percent of its new entity called FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE) that would take over all commercial operations, including the World Cup, while FIFA would remain soccer’s global governing body and hold a majority stake in FFE. The 21 percent stake of FFE to be sold to private investors would generate an estimated $4.2 billion. The plan, which was formulated by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, requires approval by a majority of FIFA’s 37-member council and its 211-member national associations. Infantino’s plan has already drawn strong backlash from across the board.
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EUROPE ON FIRE: A RECORD-SETTING SUMMER FOR WILDFIRES
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Summer heat has engulfed Europe, with soaring temperatures producing record-breaking wildfires. It will only get worse as temperatures are forecast to climb to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees Celsius, in some areas. Last year saw a record-breaking fire season across Europe, with more than 2.5 million acres burned. This summer, the fires of the last two weeks have propelled 2026 ahead of last year at the same time, with more land burned than by this point in 2025. Forty percent more land has already burned in France than in the previous record year documented by the European Forest Fire Information System, which began tracking burned areas in 2006.
In Spain, the amount of land consumed so far this year is nearly at record levels for the last two decades. The two largest wildfires are the largest recorded in France and Spain since European Union data began. They have forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate and threatened Bordeaux in France and Madrid and Valencia in Spain. Three of the fifteen largest European fires in the last decade have burned this month: two near Madrid and one near Bordeaux. With the continued heat wave, it appears that the wildfires are not over yet. Last year, about 60 percent of wildfire damage occurred in August alone.
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EXPATS RATE THE BEST PLACES IN THE WORLD FOR EXPATS
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InterNations, the world’s largest expat community, just published its annual Expat Insider report. As more people look at options to live overseas, this report is generated from surveying nearly 7,800 expats representing 162 nationalities, who rated everything from healthcare and housing to work-life balance, safety, finances and how easy it is to make friends. To determine the overall rankings, those responses were combined into five major categories: quality of life, working abroad, ease of settling in, personal finance and expat essentials.
The Best Countries to Live In 2026
- Panama
- Mexico
- Thailand
- United Arab Emirates
- Brazil
- Spain
- Singapore
- Portugal
- Malaysia
- Luxembourg
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MARKET UPDATE - 07/29/2026 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 07/23/2026)
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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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