After months of planning, writing and meetings with local businesses, Official Guide Leadville Twin Lakes finally hit the streets over Memorial Day weekend and is now circulating throughout central Colorado and parts of the Front Range. 

Last week the Lake County Community Fund hosted its annual State of the Community event at FREIGHT, featuring presentations from government entities, the Historic Preservation Commission and a handful of businesses along Harrison Avenue. 

The Herald’s coverage of the local affordable housing crisis over the years is extensive, spanning multiple government administrations and touching on many key subtopics. But for a year and a half now, we’ve published a string of headlines related to one specific initiative within housing: t…

Readers of the Herald are familiar with the financial state of St. Vincent Health (SVH), but a recent article in The Denver Post reveals that our local hospital is not alone. In fact, the article states that a majority of hospital systems in Colorado lost money in 2022. 

After a dominant regular season of 14 wins and a scrappy four-game regional tournament run, the 2022-23 Lake County High School men’s basketball team is among the most successful teams to play in local basketball history.

Nestled high in the mountains of central Colorado, it’s no secret that Leadville and Twin Lakes are special places on this terrestrial ball. 

This week’s edition of the Herald features a lot of talk about this winter’s snowfall – or lack thereof so far. 

The appointment of Lake County Judge Jonathan Shamis to Fifth Judicial District Court is great news for Lake County and the Fifth as a whole. He spoke with the Herald earlier this week following the announcement by Governor Jared Polis. 

The votes are in for the Herald’s Best Of competition and congratulations are in order for this year’s winners, all of whom will be formally recognized when the 2022 Best of Leadville and Twin Lakes publication is printed in March. 

Since December’s news that St. Vincent Health (SVH) accepted a $480,000 bailout from the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to help with payroll expenses, the Herald has been anticipating a moment that we didn’t want to miss. 

The City of Leadville has its hands full these days with ongoing housing projects and the uncertainty surrounding Chief of Police Hal Edwards, but City Council will soon add another item to its agenda regarding Leadville’s next mayor and that individual’s salary, according to City Administra…

Two main stories were the focus of this week’s edition of the Herald Democrat: the appointment of Ken Chavez as interim chief of police and the swearing in of Lake County’s newly elected public officials. 

As Leadville and Lake County step into a new year, community members and the Herald Democrat will be watching the hospital closely in hopeful anticipation of yet another financial turnaround in 2023. 

In this final edition of the Herald Democrat for the year, the newspaper is taking a look back at 2022, a year filled to the brim with breaking news and lively community events. Here are a few things that stuck out as we compiled the 2022 Year in Review, found throughout this week’s paper:

Last week the Herald ran a story about a handful of high school students who are researching recreation gaps for youth in Lake County as part of a semester-long class. 

St. Vincent Health (SVH) opened its new hospital just over a year ago, and since then the Herald has noticed a lot of talk from hospital leaders about the SVH “family,” meaning the network of employees that staff Lake County’s hospital. 

Last week the Herald reported on the local impact of a national news story involving Bright HealthCare, an insurance provider that recently canceled coverage in markets throughout the country, including Colorado. 

Winter has officially set in in Lake County (not that we really needed to tell you that after the snowfall that hit this week, but it’s worth noting for the record).

We at the Herald Democrat have an awful lot to be grateful for this year. 

Historic accounts of Leadville and Twin Lakes often start in the mid-19th century when miners began working their way into the mountains of Colorado in search of valuable ore, bringing with them tools of industry, infrastructure and the heavy hope for a better life. 

Earlier last month the City of Leadville hired a third party to investigate a letter outlining concerns about Police Chief Hal Edwards which was signed by multiple personnel at the Leadville Police Department (LPD).

This year’s Colorado Blue Book features several state ballot issues that Lake County citizens will vote on this November, including initiatives for healthy school meals, access to psychedelic substances and statewide affordable housing development. 

An article published by NBC News on Oct. 10 stated that Lake County uses the most glyphosate of any other county in the United States, with nearly 2,000 pounds of the pesticide sprayed per square mile. 

The vast majority of Colorado residents should receive a check in the mail this month as part of a state rebate for taxes collected in 2021. Individual tax filers should receive $750 and joint filers should receive $1,500. 

A crowd of locals gathered at FREIGHT Monday night for a screening of “A Decent Home,” a documentary film by Sara Terry that follows the lives of manufactured home residents throughout the country.

Last month, the City of Leadville announced that it intends to purchase a five-bedroom Victorian on Spruce Street to be used for workforce housing as early as this summer.

As Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, dedicated journalists from throughout the world are playing important roles.

This week marks my last editorial at the Herald Democrat, a bittersweet reality.

In a recent meeting, an individual asked why the Herald Democrat can’t put a more positive “spin” on stories. The person felt that the newspaper’s coverage sometimes seeks to divide the community, not bring it together. Nothing a little spin can’t fix, right?

Congratulations are in order for the winners of the Herald’s Best Of competition, all of whom will be formally recognized when the 2021 Best Of Leadville & Twin Lakes publication hits stands on March 3 — just in time for skijoring weekend!

Colorado’s red flag law has served as a sturdy intervention against gun violence for two years now, creating a safer place for the state’s 5.8 million-some residents.

When the Marshall Fire sparked in Boulder County on the morning of Dec. 30, it was cold and overcast in Leadville. Snow covered the sidewalks of Harrison Avenue and another storm was on its way.

It’s common these days to recapitulate the bygone year with a data-driven lens. Spotify tells us our top played songs, Strava reports how many miles we ran and the Herald editorializes on our most frequently reported topic (think my Dec. 16 editorial).