Author: RACHAEL WRIGHT Special to The Gazette
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Mediation canceled for trans woman alleging civil rights violation by Mesa University
Two days before a mediation was scheduled, Tammy Powers, a transgender woman who filed a Title IX complaint after allegedly being denied entry into a Colorado Mesa University Tech class, was told the mediation had been canceled. Powers found out about the cancellation in an email from her Greeley-based attorney, Richard Blundell. Powers had been admitted to…
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April freeze leaves some Western Slope farmers without a crop
On April 17, a spring freeze wreaked havoc on the orchards across Colorado’s Western Slope, resulting in nearly complete crop loss in Delta County and severely damaging fruit on smaller, less well-equipped farms in Palisade. April snows and freezes aren’t uncommon on the Western Slope, with the National Weather Service reporting that the average last…
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Transgender woman files complaint after she was denied entry to Colorado university class
A transgender woman has filed a Title IX complaint after allegedly being denied entry into a Colorado Mesa University tech class, and the Colorado Civil Rights Division has set a date for mediation in the case. In November 2025, Tammy Powers moved from San Francisco to Grand Junction and at the urging of her son…
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Five years from the fall of Afghanistan: A refugee’s plight
Danger was never far away. “The International Assistance Mission told us two days before the Taliban were coming to the city,” Fatima H. said. “The next day, after the Taliban took over Kabul, it was horrible just to leave the house for grocery shopping, especially the people who were working with USAID or the military.” For a…
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Colorado, some Coloradans make appearances in the Epstein Files
With the U.S. Department of Justice’s release of 3 million more files pertaining to convicted sex felon Jeffrey Epstein, multiple written mentions of alleged connections to Colorado towns and business owners have come to light. A word search of the documents for “Colorado” generates 1,485 hits, with inquiries for cities including Denver and Aspen generating several thousands more. Chad McWhinney, a Colorado real estate developer and chairman and co-founder of Realberry, a Denver-based real estate organization, was referenced in an…
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How healthy is the Western Slope’s agricultural industry? New report lays it out
On Jan. 19, Colorado Mesa University and the Business Incubator Center unveiled the results of their groundbreaking study — Western Slope Agriculture Report — to a packed conference room of ranchers, farmers and community leaders. “This study places us on a level playing field,” said rancher Janie VanWinkle. “We’ve made assumptions for years, but this…
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Telluride celebrates end to ski patrol strike
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The Telluride Ski Resort and the ski patrol union reached an agreement on Jan. 8, ending the longest ski patrol strike in U.S. history. Details of the agreement weren’t immediately released, and many remained worried about the economic damage to the community and how quickly it could recover. The strike by the 72-member Telluride Professional…
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Ski patrollers end strike against Telluride
After 13 days, the longest ski patrol strike in U.S. history has come to an end. On Dec. 27, the 72-member Telluride Professional Ski Patrol Association voted to go on strike after approaching Telluride Ski Resort (Telski) owner Chuck Horning with a demand for pay increases. The union and the resort’s ownership spent many months…
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Trump administration announces $12 billion soybean aid package
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced Monday that the administration was planning to disburse a $12 billion dollar aid package as part of the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program, to make targeted, one-time payments to crop farmers. The FBA is designed to be an “economic bridge” to the next planting season.…
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Federal funding suspended: Palisade sewage lagoon project in limbo
Overlooked by sloping vineyards and peach orchards, Palisade’s four sewer lagoons will soon stand empty without the $3 million in what is known as B2E (Bucket 2 Environmental Drought Mitigation) funding from the Bureau of Reclamation. In the 1960s, the town of Palisade built four sewer lagoons on a raised bank of the Colorado River…