The Tabor Opera House in Leadville- it's the scene of a famous American opera and is now, an actual National Treasure. It was built and then lost on the fortunes of Leadville's silver boom. Horace Tabor constructed the opera house in 1879, when Leadville was boisterous town of 30,000 people and 100 saloons. Tabor had struck it rich on claims at his Matchless Mine and used some of that wealth to make his mark on Colorado. in Leadville and Denver. He built the Tabor Opera House and the Tabor Grand Hotel in Leadville. In Denver, he constructed a huge, opulent opera house in Denver that consumed an entire city block but has since been demolished. At the time he was building his Leadville Opera House, he had just been elected as the Lieutenant Governor of Colorado. But it was his personal life that has made him most notorious. He left his wife, very publicly, for Elizabeth McCourt. Better known as “Baby Doe” their affair, and later extreme fall into abject poverty, inspired the 1956 American opera by Douglas Moore “The Ballad of Baby Doe.” Today the town with just 2,500 people is launching a campaign to buy the historic opera house. The idea is to run it as a non-profit performance and community space. Leadville Town Administrator Sarah Dallas is among the key personnel working on the “Save the Tabor” campaign. She speaks of it with affection, “The Tabor Opera House just pulls on everyone’s heart strings and you instantly feel like you have been taken back in time and understand the value of such a historically significant place.” Just this year, the Tabor Opera House was designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and it received an “Endangered Place” designation from Colorado Preservation Inc. The entire town was named as a National Landmark District from the National Park Service in the 1960’s. The three-story, 650-seat theater came up for sale last fall after being privately owned and managed for the last 60 years by Sharon and Bill Bland. Dallas explained town officials we were able to convince the Blands it would be in the best interest of the community to be owned by the public. Leadville has negotiated a price of $600,000 and the Blands will receive additional funds from related tax incentives. Now to meet the terms of the deal, Leadville needs to raise $325,000 by October 2016. Dallas says they are actively fundraising, grant writing and having performances at the Opera House to meet their goal. The most notable show will be a revival of the Silver Cities Circuit, a network of opera houses that performers worked throughout the west from the 1880's until the 1950's. Leadville's Tabor Opera House will kick off the revival on Friday, July 23rd with Colorado band King Cardinal. Performances will follow at the Trinidad Opera House and the Chief Theater in Steamboat Springs. The Tabor Opera House is open daily for tours throughout the summer. Information about tour times, events and Leadville’s efforts to preserve the building can be found at savethetabor.com.

KDNK’s January Jones attended the Western Conservative Summit in Denver to get a feel for what the next generation of evangelicals are thinking about Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump.

With all the arguments in the media about immigration reform, voices of real people get lost. In this feature produced by Laurel Henderson and January Jones, we hear perspectives from two local young women in their own words.

Othello Clark is a former pro snowboarder and now an entrepreneur turned actor living in Aspen, Colorado. His career has taken him all over the world and everywhere he goes, he makes friends. On his podcast, Friends For Real, Othello takes listeners along on his travels to introduce people that some may know as celebrities.

KDNK’s January Jones talks with visitors at the Aspen Art Museum opening night about what they think about artist Cai Guo-Qiang's project, “Moving Ghost Town” which uses three tortoises mounted with iPads in an on-going exhibition.

In the March 16th edition of High Country News, Jonathan Thompson writes about Farmington, New Mexico- an extreme example of a town that has locked fortunes with the oil and gas boom and bust cycles, for the last hundred years. KDNK’s January Jones spoke with Thompson in this edition of Sounds of the High Country.

KDNK's January Jones reports back from a site visit to the rock slide that has closed I-70 through Glenwood Canyon. I-70 through Glenwood Canyon will not be reopening until Saturday, at the earliest, say Colorado Department of Transportation officials. Two rockslides on Monday closed the road and it’s been slow progress to remove the debris and evaluate the extent of the damage. CDOT initially estimated the road would reopen by Thursday afternoon to limited traffic. At the site of the slide, CDOT Program Engineer Steve Olson told KDNK the recent freeze and thaw cycle caused the rockslide that trapped one semi-truck but injured no one. Now the continued varying weather pattern could delay repairs. If it’s overcast or rainy, Olson says they will be unable to fly their helicopters to the higher slopes with supplies. CDOT’s current rock scaling operations are using airbag detonators to break up the rocks still perched on the cliffs above the roadway. At the same time, they are repairing the road below so crews have to alternative activity for safety. Monday evening boulders and rocks tumbled down into I-70’s westbound lanes, completely knocking out the guardrail and landing on the eastbound lanes below. The damaged section of I-70 has stacked lanes that fit compactly in the narrow canyon. Other boulders went straight through the westbound road decking. Even after the road reopens to minimum traffic, CDOT expects months of work before completely finishing needed rock scaling and road repairs. Thousands of vehicles pass through Glenwood Canyon on I-70 each day, peaking at around 300 per hour. When the largest rockslide occurred around 9 p.m. on Monday, CDOT estimates the traffic volume was at 150 vehicles per hour. CDOT officials say the total cost of the incident could near $5 million dollars. They may seek federal disaster assistance to defray state costs. The initial reopening of the road, if it happens this weekend, will be in just one lane headed one-way through six miles of the canyon. Drivers will be guided by a CDOT pilot car and should expect delays exceeding one hour. The recommended detour around Glenwood Canyon is about 200 miles and nearly four hours.

The Planned Parenthood Glenwood Springs Health Center lost funding from a Garfield County grant program on Monday. KDNK's January Jones has more.

Garfield County is at the epicenter of natural gas development and fracking. A new Colorado State University study looks at air toxins from early phases of well development. KDNK’s January Jones spoke with Professor Jeff Collett about his results.

On this week’s News Brief, KDNK’s January Jones discusses river deaths with Denver Post reporter Jennifer Brown.

Click here to listen the KDNK and Sopris Sun Community Election Forum, broadcast live on October 15, 2015. Tonight we have invited representatives of the Roaring Fork School District and the Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District to the airwaves for a public forum. Both entities are asking for funding increases. Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District Board Director Bob Emerson, Fire Chief Ron Leach and Secretary/Treasurer Louis Eller Roaring Fork School District Assistant Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer Shannon Pelland and Board of Education Member Matt Hamilton

Oil and gas played a big role at Garfield County Commissioner meetings this week. KDNK's January Jones has this update.

Carbondale and other communities in the KDNK listening area face challenges retaining police officers. KDNK's January Jones spoke with Carbondale Police Chief Gene Schilling recently about what factors affect his department. We’re now hearing that Carbondale PD has made a conditional job offer to a candidate in the police academy at Spring Valley.

The Town of Basalt controls 61 housing units for sale or rent in the town's affordable housing program. The new town council has decided to look over how the program is run and consider changes. KDNK's January Jones has this report.

Read the HCN feature story "Why rare-earth mining in the West is a bust" by Tim Heffernan. Listen to KDNK Radio interview Heffernan about his story here.

The Roaring Fork School District is out for fall break and local emergency responders are taking the opportunity to conduct a crisis drill at Glenwood Springs High School at 8 am 10/23/15. KDNK News Director January Jones spoke with Travis Rohe of the Glenwood Springs Fire Department and Assistant Superintendent Shannon Pelland from the Roaring Fork School District about the mass casuality drill.