Author Archives: KRAI

Triple Crown Sports wants to use the baseball diamonds at Emerald Park this summer. They’ll be asking Steamboat Springs City Council for an amendment to Triple Crown’s contract with the city at this Tuesday’s meeting. They are hoping to use the fields in Steamboat because two baseball fields at Hayden Elementary School will be out of commission this summer as the school district there starts building a new school. Triple Crown uses the ball fields in Steamboat, Hayden, and Craig.

  Continue reading →

A couple from Moffat County died in a plane crash last Friday in Nevada. 72-year-old Phillip Bethell and 66-year-old Linda Bethell were the only two in the small plane. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash which happened in a place called the “Nevada Triangle.”

Continue reading →

Hayden Tigers. Photo courtesy Shannon Lukens.

Hayden schools are moving to a four-day school week, starting during the upcoming school year. The Hayden School District Board of Education voted unanimously to move to the four-day week. About 58 percent of Colorado’s 178 districts have gone to four-day weeks, the majority of which are in rural areas.

Continue reading →

Be aware of scam phone calls, and robo calls, which are mostly illegal. One of the biggest scams right now is people say they’re calling from the Social Security Administration and you owe money. You don’t. Last year, 35,000 people were scammed and they lost over $10 million dollars. It’s even more convincing because of “neighbor spoofing,” where the callers make it look like a local call. It isn’t. Remember that the IRS will never call you demanding payment of anything. Never give your credit card or debit card number over the phone. Call the police if you have any doubts. And if you do get a strange call, block that number from calling you again.

Continue reading →

Craig police have donated two historic firearms to the Museum of Northwest Colorado. A bolt-action Gewehr 88 rifle had been locked in the evidence locker for years. It was built in Germany in the late 1800s. A Stevens 12-gauge pump-action shotgun was also in the police armory for decades, and produced sometime between 1912 and the 1940s.

Continue reading →

Be aware of avalanche danger because of this storm. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center reports an Avalanche Watch for Steamboat and the Flat Tops areas, with very dangerous avalanche conditions expected to continue through this afternoon.

Continue reading →

Counterfeit 20 and 100 dollar bills are being passed around in the Craig area, according to Craig Police. Police says some of the bills are missing watermarks, color changing ink, and holographic strips. The bills had distinctive stamped markings, slightly blurry printing, and had a distressed printer paper feel. Some have a Chinese symbol on the back.  Craig Police is asking the public to keep an eye out, and if a counterfeit bill is suspected, please contact dispatch at 970-824-8111.

Continue reading →

Craig Police Chief Jerry DeLong told Craig City Council Tuesday night that it is a difficult time for him. He says it’s because council has been considering consolidating the Craig Police Department and the Moffat County Sheriff’s office, and he says he hasn’t been consulted. Councilman Chris Nichols says the city could save $750,000 by getting rid of the Craig Police department. Moffat County could hire 18-21 new sheriffs deputies to police Craig and the rest of Moffat County. At least 50 people went to the meeting. The Craig Press reports that many were Craig police officers and their families. Craig Mayor John Ponikvar says council is only considering the proposal. Council approved continued study of the issue. Continue reading →

Craig City Council is meeting late this afternoon. On the agenda is the consideration of consolidation of law enforcement services between Craig Police, and the Moffat County Sheriff’s office. They’ll also discuss funding some $127,000 dollars worth of economic development initiatives. The Craig Press reports that council will also decide whether to fund $62,800 worth of wayfinding infrastructure in Craig. It would help show tourists and other visitors to the city where to go for recreational and historical attractions in Craig.

Continue reading →

Tax season is approaching. Craig Police are warning residents to watch out for tax scams. Residents are getting calls from someone who says they work for Social Security, and that the person is wanted for Social Security fraud and they need to provide personal information and make a payment, or they’ll be arrested. Don’t fall for it. Don’t ever give your personal information to someone calling you. No one will threaten you with arrest over the phone. If you think you’re being scammed, call the police.

At least four people were taken to Memorial Regional Health Saturday, after a two-vehicle accident. It happened on Moffat County Road 174 off Highway 40. A blue Dodge SUV was headed west on 174 when it entered the opposite lane and was hit but a four-door sedan headed east. No word on the condition of those taken to the hospital.

Snow in January helped push precipitation above average in the Yampa and White River basins. As of Sunday, it’s at 106 percent of average according a survey from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Colorado State Representative for Eagle and Routt Counties, Dylan Roberts, hosted a town hall in Steamboat Springs Sunday afternoon. Roberts says the biggest issue he hears about is the cost of health care.

Roberts says he’s working on a bill that would create a public option for health insurance. And he wants to figure out why the cost of health care keeps going up, and how it can be kept under control.

The 73^rd annual Kiwanis Play is March 1 and 2. Tickets are now on sale, and available at the Northwest Pawn Shop in Craig. Here’s Justin Kawcak.

The Kiwanis Play raises money for scholarships to go to graduating seniors from Moffat County High School. For more details, call 970-620-1975.

Tim Borden of Steamboat says he’ll be back again next winter. The big world-record-breaking firework that was supposed to fly a mile above Howelsen Hill and explode… didn’t. Something happened and the big boom was a bust… this year. Borden has been planning the big firework for six years. The shell of 2,500 pounds of explosives malfunctioned and wasn’t able to launch out of the mortar.

For the weather, don’t forget to call the KRAI Time, Temp, and Weather Hotline at 970-824-1918.

Yampa Ave. in downtown Craig. Photo courtesy Shannon Lukens.

Sales tax numbers are in for the City of Craig. As of December, the city collected a little more than $5.1 million dollars in sales tax last year, which was up by about 43 percent from 2016. The Craig Press reports the city also received about $1.6 million dollars from its share of the countywide sales tax in 2018. That number was also up by about 23 percent from two years before.

Continue reading →

A former employee of the Golden Leaf marijuana dispensary in Steamboat Springs has been arrested. Jeffrey Wanserski is charged with three felonies for computer crime, theft, and criminal impersonation. He allegedly inflated his hours for three years, and the owners of the business think it cost them over $62 thousand dollars.

Continue reading →