News

This is Week In The Arts—a curation of virtual events, exhibits and reopenings around the Roaring Fork Valley.

Efforts to wind down the 2020 Census by Sept. 30 have been blocked for now as a federal judge in California has ruled that the U.S. Census Bureau must continue through October. Though, the Trump administration is appealing the order to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Bryan Alvarez-Terrazas is a program associate at the Aspen Community Foundation (ACF), which is part of the Aspen to Parachute Complete Count Committee (A2PCCC). He said the once-in-a-decade population count has a huge impact on the Roaring Fork Valley and the state because it’s used to determine federal funding for local schools, hospitals and nonprofits as well as to divvy up the number of seats Colorado gets in the House. 

Update 9/30/2020: Aspen Public Radio will continue to broadcast the Presidential Debates. The dates are:

Wednesday, October 7: Vice Presidential Debate - The University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT), 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, October 15: Second Presidential Debate - Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts (Miami, FL), 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, October 22: Third Presidential Debate - Belmont University (Nashville, TN), 7:00 p.m.

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Drive-in movies have seen a comeback this summer thanks to COVID-19 public health protocols, but the most recent films playing at Buttermilk’s drive-in theatre as part of The Meeting FilmFest have audiences dreaming of winter. 

A recent study from the University of Colorado Boulder found that forests in the southern Rocky Mountains are becoming less resilient in the wake of wildfires. 

“In the last fifty years, fires have, on average, become larger. And with larger fires, we have larger areas that are tree-less,” said the lead author of the study Kyle Rodman.

This is Week In The Arts—a curation of virtual events, exhibits and reopenings around the Roaring Fork Valley. 

The U.S. Postal Service has agreed to give Colorado the ability to review national media related to voting procedures and processes ahead of the November election to prevent future voter confusion as part of a settlement with the state. The Postal Service will also destroy remaining mailers that a federal judge previously banned the Postal Service from sending to voters in Colorado. 

Pitkin County is seeing a slight uptick in new COVID-19 cases among residents, the first steady increase since a spike in late July. The county has recorded fourteen new cases in the past fourteen days. Aspen Valley Hospital posted a fourteen-day positivity rate of 3.11%, well below the hospital’s threshold for concern, but the highest positivity rate in over a month.

Governor Jared Polis Extends Colorado Mask Mandate

Monday, Sept. 14 - Governor Jared Polis extended Colorado's statewide mask mandate for another 30 days over the weekend. The extension is set to expire on Oct. 12, but could be extended again, as it has been twice since it was originally adopted in July.

The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority is receiving a $13 million grant toward the construction of its new regional transit center in Glenwood Springs. The grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation is the second batch of federal funding RFTA has received this year, following $11.48 million from the Federal Transit Administration.

This is Week In The Arts—a curation of virtual events, exhibits and reopenings around the Roaring Fork Valley.

The Aspen Fire Department is holding a virtual memorial service on GrassRoots TV to mark the 19th anniversary of 9/11. Aspen Fire Chief Rick Balentine is the lead organizer and will be speaking as part of the program, along with Aspen Mayor Torre, local veteran Lt. Col. Dick Merritt, Rabbi Mendel Mintz, artist Patricia Blanchet Bradley and many others. 

A Denver judge has rejected a lawsuit that tried to delay the distribution of the state voting guide known as the blue book.

Firefighters working on the Grizzly Creek Fire that sparked over four weeks ago in Glenwood Canyon have been using new technology to help them. This includes everything from drones that drop small plastic spheres known as Dragon Eggs that contain potassium permanganate for burn operations to mapping software that allows aircraft to superimpose infrared footage with topographical maps to more precisely detect the fire perimeter and new burn activity.