Axios Boulder

April 03, 2026
🎣 Happy Aloha Friday, everybody!
- 🎵 Sounds like: "Surf" by the Ka'au Crater Boys
Today's weather: Highs in the 50s that move to 60s for the weekend.
🍰 Happy early birthday to Axios Boulder member Kristin Lawrence!
Today's newsletter is 751 words — a 3-minute read.
1 big thing: 🏔️ Eldora calls it quits early
Despite mountain snowstorms this week, Colorado ski areas are closing early after a record-warm winter left slopes unusually dry.
The latest: Eldora ski area outside Nederland set its closure for Sunday instead of April 19 as originally planned.
- "As we wrap up the season, I want to thank our loyal guests who showed up smiling day in and day out to support their local hill," Andrew Gast, Eldora's president and general manager, said in a statement.
If you go: Eldora is offering $49 day tickets through Sunday.
- There will be live music at the mountain's base today through Sunday, and the theme for closing weekend is "retro weekend."
- Neither the Psychopath Hot Dog Alley Hot Dog Challenge nor the annual Pond Skim will take place as planned.
State of play: This winter ranks among the shortest seasons in recent memory.
- Delayed openings, limited terrain and record-low snowpack dealt a gut punch to mountain tourism.
- Boulder experienced its hottest March on record, and set 11 record highs during the last two weeks of the month, according to BoulderCAST.
- BoulderCAST also noted city also recorded its longest string of 80-degree days in March, its earliest recorded 85-degree day, and the most 80-degree days in March.
Catch up quick: Ski Cooper outside Leadville, Sunlight Mountain in Glenwood Springs, Monarch in Salida and Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs all closed last month.
- Wolf Creek, Snowmass, Crested Butte, Keystone and Steamboat will also end seasonal operations on Sunday.
2. 🚍 Lawmakers propose shrinking RTD board
The Regional Transportation District (RTD) board of directors could shrink by nearly half under a new proposal from state lawmakers aiming to overhaul the troubled agency.
Why it matters: RTD has struggled for years with safety concerns, slumping ridership and unreliable service across the eight Front Range counties it serves — and lawmakers argue its 15-member board is too large to fix those problems efficiently or effectively.
State of play: Bill co-sponsors state Sens. Matt Ball (D-Denver) and Iman Jodeh (D-Aurora) said earlier this week that the measure would cut the board to nine members to improve accountability and accelerate decision-making.
- RTD's board is nearly half the size of the state Senate, which Ball said makes consensus and oversight difficult. A smaller board could result in a more "nimble" operation that acts faster and more proactively, he added.
Between the lines: The proposal would also raise salaries and shift power toward the governor, who would appoint four of the nine members.
What's next: The board will review the bill to determine its impacts on the policymaking body and its customers, RTD spokesperson Tina Jaquez said in a statement.
- If approved, the changes would apply to the 2028 board elections, and would require redrawing current district maps for RTD.
3. The Bubble: Tina Peters to be resentenced
⚖️ The Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the conviction but threw out the nine-year sentence for discredited elections clerk Tina Peters yesterday. She will be re-sentenced by a district court judge. (The Denver Post 🔑)
🌎 Antonio Busalacchi, president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, will step down June 4 due to health concerns. UCAR manages Boulder's National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), which the Trump administration has moved to dismantle. (Daily Camera 🔑)
🛒 KeHE Distributors, a Boulder-based natural foods company, announced that Wild Oats, the former local natural foods retailer, is being revived as a natural food product line. (Boulder Reporting Lab)
🌊 Boulder will have divers manually remove the invasive Eurasian watermilfoil plant from Boulder Reservoir after a planned herbicide treatment fell through. (Boulder Reporting Lab)
4. 📸 Pic du jour: Fox and friends
An orphaned red fox kit has a new family, of sorts.
State of play: Weld County police found the young fox abandoned on the side of the road last week, and it made its way to Boulder County's Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
- Greenwood posted a photo and asked for help getting the kit a stuffed friend that could play sounds to keep her company.
- Luckily, Mysti Tatro, Greenwood's community relations manager, said they "had an overwhelming response from folks who wanted to help get this cutie a friend."
Yes, but: Greenwood Wildlife is likely to need other supplies from donors for the wave of baby animals that usually arrive in the spring months.
⚾️ Mitchell loves opening weekend before all hope has died.
Thanks to Gigi Sukin for editing.
Sign up for Axios Boulder







