March 2023

Recent research from CU Boulder may have finally revealed why humans tend to get sick from airborne viral diseases more often in drier environments. Published in December in PNAS-Nexus, the study found that airborne particles carrying a mammalian coronavirus closely related to the virus which causes COVID-19 remain infectious for twice as long in drier air, in part because the saliva emitted with them serves as a protective barrier around the virus, especially at low humidity levels.

Colorado oil and gas companies are proposing to meet new state requirements by putting up $459 million in guarantees that their wells will be plugged at the end of their lives — 60% of the amount regulators targeted. But more than a quarter of the companies filing financial plans, primarily smaller operators with lowproducing wells, are offering to cover only 14% of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s $360 million estimate for their plugging and remediation costs.

County employees will see the way they record their working hours adjust, after county leadership approved a contract to move time-reporting to an electronic format. The Las Animas County Board of County Commissioners approved a contract with Tyler Technologies for time and attendance software during its regular session Tuesday, March 7 — moving the county into a “new era,” as pointed out by Las Animas County Commissioner Luis Lopez II.

Coal Town Reunion, a band comprised of Trinidadians and Denverites, has released its second full-length EP, and its third release overall, touching on themes of reflection and growth in its latest music drop.