Living in southwest Colorado means the risk of fire and flood is never far from home.

First responders and firefighters are currently fighting the Rio Blanco Fire, located 12 miles south of Pagosa Springs. The lightning-caused fire started on Tuesday, July 28, and as of Thursday evening, it has grown to 781 acres with 0% containment.

Nearly a year ago, communities just west of town experienced a similar threat: the Oak Fire, fueled by dry conditions, quickly outpaced on-the-ground resources with its extreme behavior. Sixty days later, historic, climate-fueled floods resulted in the third-largest flows on record for the San Juan River. These forests are increasingly defined by cycles of extreme multi-year droughts and wildfires interspersed with catastrophic precipitation in a warmer atmosphere.

Beyond the Embers, a new short film produced by local filmmaker, Christi Bode, reflects on 2025 events and expresses the continued need for community preparedness before the next natural disaster. The film was produced with support from the San Juan Headwaters Forest Health Partnership, Wolf Creek Ski Area and Best of Pagosa Springs Real Estate.

By Christi Bode

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Table to Farm Compost is a Durango based climate activist business that has been turning food scraps into compost since 2016. Co-owner Monique DiGiorgio was recently named the 2025 Entrepreneur of the Year by Southwest Colorado Rocks for her leadership in growing the company to more than 800 subscribers and achieving the highest level of compost certification in Colorado. The company offers curbside pickup of food scraps and transforms them into high quality compost used by local gardeners and agricultural producers across La Plata County. With Durango's Bonded Landfill at 70% capacity and Durango City Council set to decide on composting requirements this fall, Table to Farm is at the center of an important conversation about how Durango handles its organic waste.

By Sadie Smith

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This story is sponsored by FASTSIGNS Durango, Legacy Financial Advisors and RMW/Tafoya Barrett & Associates.

And presented by the La Plata County Economic Alliance and the Durango Chamber of Commerce.

Aztec Riverside BMX aims to break ground this October on a two-acre, city-owned lot for a new BMX track, giving local children a home course instead of long drives to Durango or Albuquerque to race. The nonprofit is working with USA BMX to design the track to national standards. Beyond race day, organizers plan a loaner bike fleet, Strider races for the youngest riders and a school partnership teaching children how bikes work through a STEM program.

By Tanner Waite

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This story is sponsored by Home2Suites and Sunray Park & Casino.

Brett Lanier is a born-and-raised Aztec local who was elected city commissioner in 2025 and recently chosen as the city's newest mayor.

Under the city's commission-manager government, Lanier and four fellow commissioners set policy and direct a city manager who handles day-to-day operations. His priorities include strengthening infrastructure and supporting local jobs and businesses to keep the next generation in Aztec. Watch the full interview to hear his vision for Aztec's future.

By Tanner Waite

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This story is sponsored by The Big Idea Makerspace at San Juan College and Boon's Family Thai BBQ.

For more than 60 years, Farmington has hosted the Connie Mack World Series, one of the nation's top amateur baseball tournaments for players ages 16 to 18. Many of those players go on to compete in college and, in some cases, the major leagues.

In 1975, tournament organizers started the foster parent plan to ease the cost of travel for visiting teams. Since then, local families have opened their homes to teenage ballplayers during the tournament. Many of those relationships have lasted decades including Yan Gomes, a 2026 Connie Mack Hall of Fame inductee and Major League Baseball 2019 World Series champion, who stayed with the Campbell family in 2006.

By Tanner Waite

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This story is sponsored by Four Corners Regional Airport and Durango Motor Company.

Analyss Benally grew up in Shiprock on the Navajo Nation and went on to play Division I basketball at San Jose State before launching her professional basketball career in Europe. Today, her nonprofit, AB Five Basketball, brings free camps and clinics to Native youth across the Southwest.

This summer, AB Five returned to Shiprock with volunteer coaches, including former Los Angeles Lakers guard Andre Ingram.

By Tanner Waite

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This story is sponsored by Ace Hardware in Farmington and Fitness World.

A former Farmington grocery store has become a hub for local youth sports, thanks to the Pennington family. The Penningtons have owned the building since the 1980s and began converting it into practice space for their children's volleyball and baseball teams before opening it up to the wider community.

Today, Empire Athletics offers batting cages, volleyball and pickleball courts, a yoga studio and a gym, with a new turf field project already underway. Owners say every dollar the business makes goes back into equipment, not a paycheck. Empire Athletics sits near Costa Vida and Nutra Mills in Farmington, with league, camp and clinic updates posted on Facebook and Instagram.

By Tanner Waite

This story is sponsored by FASTSIGNS Farmington, Legacy Financial Advisors and Rocky Mountain Safety.

And presented by Four Corners Economic Development, the Farmington Chamber of Commerce and the Aztec Chamber of Commerce.

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Under the sandstone bluffs of Farmington, a professional musical theater company draws record crowds with its production of "Grease." Artistic Director Randy West sits down to talk about how Four Corners Musical Theater grew from a request by city leaders seven years ago into New Mexico's only professional musical theater company, and why he says nights at Sandstone, rainbows and all, are unlike any other stage in the state.

By Tanner Waite

This story is sponsored by Express Employment and Dickey's Barbecue Pit

Watch this story at LNN.news