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The pandemic forced Colorado industries to shut down storefronts and put up with supply chain issues and inflation. Despite the financial squeeze, the state鈥檚 new business filings have skyrocketed during the last three years, nearing a 10-year peak last quarter. And the economic development is happening in urban and rural communities alike.

In April, the Republican River Water Conservation District Board put out notice of possible changes to water use fees for irrigating crops. At the board鈥檚 quarterly meeting Tuesday, however, members did not decide on whether a fee-structure change process will occur. Board members also voted on how to handle formerly inactive wells coming back on in the basin.

Many officials proudly talk up the unique decision-making powers Colorado gives the smallest levels of government. Some bills this session would shift more county and municipal powers to the state, leading to concerns about Colorado鈥檚 emphasis on 鈥渓ocal control鈥� going away.

Pregnant mothers in many rural areas struggle to access adequate care. A lack of specialized doctors and maternity wards can increase the risk of labor complications and force patients to drive long distances. A new telehealth pilot program aims to connect rural physicians in Northeast Colorado with OB-GYN hospitalists at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley.

Rural Northeast Colorado has fewer employed artists than any other region in the state, according to a 2020 report. While musicians, dancers and fashion designers may sell a lot less out there, they are still creating. KUNC asked two musicians, one very young and one much older, to meet and discuss their craft.

Part one of KUNC's Republican River series showed how dropping river flows and groundwater levels are impacting farmers and ranchers in northeastern Colorado. From a 1930s flood to extended drought today, the river has been managed by three states, sometimes cooperatively and sometimes combatively. To meet the terms of a decades-old compact, 25,000 irrigated acres of Colorado farmland must soon be shut down. Part two looks at part of the history that got the basin to this point.

The Colorado River gets a lot of attention, but it鈥檚 not the only multi-state river that starts in Colorado. And it鈥檚 definitely not the only one facing a water shortage. On the eastern side of the continental divide is the Republican River. It flows through the cropland of Yuma County and feeds into Kansas and Nebraska. In the first of a three-part series, KUNC explores the economic and environmental challenges the Republican River basin faces.

Smaller county populations are shrinking as bigger counties鈥� are growing. 2020 census data show that is as true in Colorado as it is nationally. Rural birth rates are dropping, death rates are rising and young people are moving away. Some leave behind multi-generational farming legacies and the land that comes with it. Others are coming back.