Free Republic

The mountain hamlet of Crested Butte, Colorado, covers less than a square mile and, at an elevation of nearly 9,000 feet, it is taller than it is wide. So when a Chicago-based billionaire began quietly buying up its historic buildings, residents took note. “I was alarmed that someone would come in and buy up so much commercial property in the community,” former Gunnison County Commissioner Jim Starr told The Daily Beast. “That had not happened before. We've got few owners who own two or three different commercial properties. But the scale of this was larger than what we have seen...

A Colorado nurse says her bout of coronavirus started with the “sniffles” — but soon involved nightmarish symptoms that were “nothing” like what she expected, according to a report. Lisa Merck of Crested Butte said she tested positive for the virus after a vacation to Hawaii, where she attended a medical conference, news station KDVR reported. “We went to a medical conference over there and on the day we were going to leave, I had little sniffles. That’s it,” Merck said.

Once again the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] has failed to notify the appropriate local officials and agencies of the spill in a timely manner.” These are the words of U.S. Congressman Scott Tipton (R-CO) of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District in response to another toxic spill resulting from EPA activities at an abandoned mine in western Colorado. According to the Denver Post, an EPA mine crew working Thursday at the Standard Mine in the mountains near Crested Butte, triggered another spill of some 2,000 gallons of wastewater into a nearby mountain creek. Supporting Tipton’s remarks to Watchdog Arena, the Denver Post...

The resort town of Mount Crested Butte is giving away free pepper spray after several women reported being assaulted. Police spokeswoman Julia Shirk said 200 spray key chains were ordered and about 30 women have come by to pick one up. Shirk said that even though it is a small town, people feel safer carrying the pepper spray, especially with the ski season approaching and thousand of out-of-towners will be visiting.