Regan Mertz
Arts & Culture ReporterRegan moved to the Roaring Fork Valley in July 2024 for a job as a reporter at The Aspen Times. While she had never been to Colorado before moving for the job, Regan has now lived in ten different states due to growing up an Army brat. She considers Missouri home, and before moving West, she lived there and worked at a TV station.
Regan graduated from the Jonathan B. Murray Center for Documentary Journalism, earning a Master of Arts in Documentary and Photojournalism in December 2022. She received her Bachelor of Journalism in Radio and Convergence Journalism from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in May 2021. Throughout college, Regan worked at every Missouri School of Journalism publication, including the local NPR station.
She spent her summers working as a fellow for the Reynolds Journalism Institute, where she worked on a podcast with The Oregonian and audio stories for South Dakota Public Radio. She has also worked in Washington, D.C., at the Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival and Symposium and at the Library of Congress as a research assistant.
Regan is a White House Correspondents’ Association scholarship recipient and has won awards from the Missouri Broadcasters Association and a Missouri Press Association, along with receiving an Edward R. Murrow in 2021.
When not reporting, she enjoys trying out new hikes with her dog and reading with her cat. Regan is also learning to ski for the first time this winter.
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This year’s Shortsfest includes 68 short films, with a program including dramas, comedies, narratives, documentaries and animated films. Many of the films this year are about older adults, and the program includes a robust series of comedy shorts. -
Living in the Roaring Fork Valley comes with a familiar set of challenges — like finding affordable housing, mental health care, and child care. Mountain Voices Project aims to tackle these issues by building coalitions and engaging with local governments. -
Jon Banks and Steve Smith are running for the Glenwood Springs Ward 5 city council seat. They talked affordable housing, economic growth and tourism and environmental impacts. Election Day is April 1. -
Aspen Public Radio News presents On the Ground: A Nonprofit Spotlight. This is the first installment in a new radio series highlighting solutions to local and global issues from Roaring Fork and Colorado River valley organizations. Lindsay Fallon, operations director at Towards Justice, sat down with reporter Regan Mertz in the studio. -
Tristan Feinberg hosted a Community Halfpipe Rodeo over the weekend, which is a session where athletes perform tricks one after another in a highly formatted way. Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club kids and coaches came to ski with the pros and learn some tricks on the halfpipe. -
Two candidates are vying for a council seat in Ward 5, and candidates for Ward 2 and an At Large seat are running unopposed in the Glenwoods Springs election on April 1. -
The Wheeler Opera House and The Collective Snowmass hosted a Valley Comedy Showcase Tuesday. Five comedians from the Roaring Fork Valley put on the inaugural show at The Vault. -
Candidates for Glenwood Springs City Council spoke at an issues and answers forum Tuesday to share their platforms on topics most effecting the city, like affordable housing, transit infrastructure and the growing Latino community. -
Dr. Geoff Tabin, who runs the Cure Blindness Project, was denied federal funds from the Trump administration to expand services into Africa. He spoke at the Pitkin County library last Thursday. -
After exhausting funds in 2024 for its Good Deeds Program, West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition is requesting more funds from local governments, including Glenwood Springs, the town of Snowmass Village and Pitkin County. Last year, the coalition paid down payments for eight homes in Garfield County, placing a permanent deed restriction on the homes as a part of the Good Deeds Program.
