Author: RACHAEL WRIGHT Special to The Gazette
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Mediation canceled for trans woman alleging civil rights violation by Mesa University
Two days before a mediation was scheduled, Tammy Powers, a transgender woman who filed a Title IX complaint after allegedly being denied entry into a Colorado Mesa University Tech class, was told the mediation had been canceled. Powers found out about the cancellation in an email from her Greeley-based attorney, Richard Blundell. Powers had been admitted to…
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Best & Brightest: Using innovation, collaboration to impact the world
Brock Oliver was at a crossroads when he started at Pine Creek High School: either let the weight of personal struggle overwhelm him or lean into the support of friends and family. “It became evident that regardless of what uncontrollable obstacles came into my life,” Oliver said, “there would always be something, or someone of value nearby. I wanted to live…
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Best & Brightest: A tenacious spirit propels student to achieve
Vista Ridge High School Senior Brayden Cutshall’s life was upended after several deeply difficult events placed a huge emotional and financial strain on his mother, Ashley. Cutshall was in the 7th grade when the trauma and pain began to severely affect his grades. “At the end of my 7th-grade year, I saw my report card, and it deeply upset me,” Custhall said. “I realized I had…
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Best & Brightest: Student journalist has varied interests
Pine Creek High School valedictorian Emma Luu has always been fascinated by stories about overlooked moments and lives. In childhood, she lovingly chronicled the lives of the bugs and insects in her family’s garden, beginning a lifelong passion for journalism. “Bug writing is captivating, but two-legged subjects were an entirely new thrill,” Luu said. Luu became a…
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Best & Brightest: A passion for global policy and social issues
Cheyenne Mountain High School senior Evangeline McFarland once made a mistake. The sort of mistake that could derail her entire high school golf career. She’d miscounted her strokes, marking one less on the 18th hole. Her best-ever round, a milestone she’d been working toward for years, was wrong. “I felt like I had let down every person who worked with me…
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April freeze leaves some Western Slope farmers without a crop
On April 17, a spring freeze wreaked havoc on the orchards across Colorado’s Western Slope, resulting in nearly complete crop loss in Delta County and severely damaging fruit on smaller, less well-equipped farms in Palisade. April snows and freezes aren’t uncommon on the Western Slope, with the National Weather Service reporting that the average last…
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April freeze leaves some Western Slope farmers without a crop
On April 17, a spring freeze wreaked havoc on the orchards across Colorado’s Western Slope, resulting in nearly complete crop loss in Delta County and severely damaging fruit on smaller, less well-equipped farms in Palisade. April snows and freezes aren’t uncommon on the Western Slope, with the National Weather Service reporting that the average last…
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April freeze leaves some Western Slope farmers without a crop
On April 17, a spring freeze wreaked havoc on the orchards across Colorado’s Western Slope, resulting in nearly complete crop loss in Delta County and severely damaging fruit on smaller, less well-equipped farms in Palisade. April snows and freezes aren’t uncommon on the Western Slope, with the National Weather Service reporting that the average last…
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Transgender woman files complaint after she was denied entry to Colorado university class
A transgender woman has filed a Title IX complaint after allegedly being denied entry into a Colorado Mesa University tech class, and the Colorado Civil Rights Division has set a date for mediation in the case. In November 2025, Tammy Powers moved from San Francisco to Grand Junction and at the urging of her son…
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Five years from the fall of Afghanistan: A refugee’s plight
Danger was never far away. “The International Assistance Mission told us two days before the Taliban were coming to the city,” Fatima H. said. “The next day, after the Taliban took over Kabul, it was horrible just to leave the house for grocery shopping, especially the people who were working with USAID or the military.” For a…