Thursday, December 29, 2005
LOOKOUT MTN. RANCH SOLD
A Denver-based real estate holding company has bought the 2,212-acre Lookout Mountain Ranch for $6,924,000. The ranch stretches from the Red Canyon Road to the Glenwood cemetery and is subdivided into 61 lots of 35 acres each. The adjacent Spring Valley Ranch, formerly known as Chenoa, reportedly also closed last week for $28 million, according to Aspen realtor Robert Ritchie, who handled the Lookout Mountain deal.
-GS Post-Independent, 12.29.05

THE INS AND OUTS OF RUEDI
An unusually wet winter in the Fryingpan Valley has caused a higher water flow than usual into Ruedi Reservoir, causing the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to increase the water released from the reservoir. Normally, the in-flow is about 45 cubic feet per second in December, this winter it is running between 60 and 65 cfs.
-Aspen Times, 12.29.05

XCEL: BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND
Xcel Energy announced Wednesday it will purchase 775 megawatts of new wind power in Colorado by 2007, which would make it the nation’s largest wind power user. One of the proposed new suppliers would be a $480 million wind farm in Weld County.
-Denver Post, 12.29.05

WILDFIRES CONTINUE
Wind-whipped fires, sparked in the worst drought in a half-century in Texas and Oklahoma, have destroyed 100 homes, have burned over 20,000 acres since Tuesday and have left at least five people dead. Some counties in the two states haven’t had significant rain in more than two months.
-USA Today, 12.29.05

BUYING A HOUSE
Nationwide, a family earning the median income, the exact middle of all incomes, would have to spend 22% of its pre-tax pay this year on mortgage payments to buy the median-priced house.
-NY Times, 12.29.05

BUYING A HOUSE II
The U.S. median price of a single-family home was $218,000 in October, but its more than three times that in the San Francisco area, $721,900, double that in Boston, $430,900, and more than twice that in New York – not including Manhattan - $461,000.
-New York Times, 12.29.05

NM FIRE WARNING
The moisture over the past year in New Mexico caused vegetation to grow around the state, but without precipitation in the fall and early winter, New Mexico State Forester Butch Blazer urged residents and visitors to be mindful of the increased fire danger. The fire danger is especially high in the grasslands.
-Albuquerque Journal, 12.29.05

I-70 CRASH
The driver of a FedEx tractor trailer died early Wednesday morning when her truck slid on ice on Interstate 70 and spilled low-grade explosives on an embankment just above Highway 6. The nearly 300 pounds of explosives did not detonate, but the area was cordoned off until a hazardous material crew could secure the area.
-Vail Daily, 12.28.05

WESTSIDE DEVELOPMENT
Overlook Park, a subdivision of 135 single-family lots on 58 acres just inside the western boundary of Steamboat Springs, is in the planning stage. City officials intend to put the development on a fast-track for approval to relieve the tight housing market and indicate the development can be expedited as part of the West of Steamboat Springs Area Plan.
-Steamboat Pilot, 12.29.05

BLM: OIL SHALE EIS
The Bureau of Land Management will hold a series of public meetings as part of its environmental impact statement-creation for the commercial leasing of oil shale. The BLM will hold meetings in Garfield County on Jan. 18, with public meetings also scheduled for Salt Lake City, Price and Vernal, Utah and Rock Springs and Cheyenne, Wyoming and Denver. For information and comment go to www.ostseis.anl.gov.
-GS Post-Independent, 12.29.05

GJ: MORE JETS, LESS SEATS
Officials at Grand Junction’s Walker Field Airport estimate there will be 19 fewer seats each day available out of Grand Junction this January, compared with January 2005. The largest reduction, a loss of 30 seats, will be on SkyWest’s service to Salt Lake City, which will replace six 30-seat turboprop aircraft flights with three 50-seat regional jets.
-GJ Daily Sentinel, 12.29.05

STRONG NUMBERS IN S’BOAT
The Lodging Barometer prepared by the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association projects there will be 13,800 people in town on New Year’s Eve, about 91% of the bed base, up from 10,700 on New Year’s Eve last year. In early January several hundred scientist from around the world will convene at the Sheraton Steamboat Resort Hotel for the Keystone Symposia.
-Steamboat Pilot, 12.29.05

AIRFARE DEALS
American Airlines, Continental and America West are offering special fares to Montrose in hopes of luring travelers this winter. American has fares of $258 round trip on selected flights in January and February from Dallas, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. Continental has $255 round trip fares from Los Angeles, and America West has flights from Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego and Seattle for less than $248.
-Telluride Daily Planet, 12.29.05

A LEGEND DIES
Kerry Packer, Australia’s richest man, died at his home in Sydney Monday. Packer, whose wealth, as owner of Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL), was estimated at US$39 billion. Packer led PBL from its core media business to ownership of ski resorts, rural properties, diamond exploration and, most recently, control of Australia’s largest casino as well as development of two new gaming complexes in Macau. Packer’s love of gambling reportedly cost him millions at casinos and race tracks around the world and stories of his gambling sprees became the stuff of legend.
-Reuters and Agence France-Presse, 12.28.05

BALI WARNING
The Transportation Security Administration announced on Dec. 23 that the Bandara Nhurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia does not meet international security standards and warns travelers of this security deficiency. The Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Australia repeated the warning for Australian travelers. Both countries said that airlines carrying passengers from the U.S. and Australia directly to Bali are temporarily providing additional security measures to counter the deficiencies. Neither country precluded their country’s carriers from flying to Bali.
-Transportation Security Administration, 12.23.05
-Associated Press, 12.28.05

TSUNAMI IMPACT
“Phuket’s Back” proclaim billboards at Phuket’s airport, but the impact of the tsunami on tourism has been devastating:
-Jan. – Sept. 2004: 3.5 million visitors to Phuket;
-Jan. – Sept. 2005: 1.63 million visitors;
-In the same period, revenue from the tourism economy fell 70%
-Wall Street Journal, 12.28.05
 
   

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