Dec 31 Newscast ~ Rio Blanco County News #36

Thanks for listening to another edition of Rio Blanco County news. Here’s our community newscast for the week of December 31st Music | http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Pop_Music/Synthwave Copyright: Attribution-NonCommercial: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Composer: Ryan Andersen Happy New Year, and goodbye to 2020. To wrap up a year like no other, we asked readers to tell us what kept them going. Thanks to all who submitted! You can read those responses on the front page. HT Editor Niki Turner says Good Riddance, 2020 in her column on page 4A. Rangely District Hospital CEO Kyle Wren and an Eagle Crest Assisted Living resident were the first two recipients of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Rio Blanco County, along with other providers. Vaccinations also happened at Pioneers Medical Center on Wednesday. Photos, including a caption with more on how the new mRNA vaccines work is on the front page. You can also find a vaccination tier schedule printed on PAGE 4A. The CoLab On Edge mental health series continues this week on page 2A with the story of Jimmy Brown from Kiowa County. Brown shares his experience in an area plagued by exceptional drought, where data show residents’ discomfort talking about personal problems is 11% higher than the statewide average. That story on page 2A. Watch for more coverage, and features from Rio Blanco County residents, in the coming weeks. Aspen Journalism’s Heather Sackett dives deep into the upcoming water court trial for Wolf Creek Reservoir. As its trial date in water court approaches, hundreds of pages of depositions obtained by Aspen Journalism reveal state engineers’ sticking points regarding a proposed reservoir project they oppose in northwest Colorado. The trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 4 in Routt County District Court in Steamboat Springs. Among the witnesses that Rio Blanco plans to call are Colorado River Water Conservation District Manager Andy Mueller, Colorado Water Conservation Board Chief Operating Officer Anna Mauss a