Summit Voice: Most viewed stories & weekend headlines

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Health, environment and climate in the news

Dillon Reservoir.

SUMMIT COUNTY — A health story about the link between exposure to PCBs and breast cancer was the run-away top story of the week, garnering more than 4,000 page views, followed by a handful of environment and weather stories that each picked up between 650 and 900 views. Click on the headline to read the story and use the share buttons at the end of each post to share the love.

Weekend Headlines:

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Environment | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Mountain news: Jackson Hole pilot sets paragliding record

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Headlines and links from Telluride, Aspen and Jackson Hole

Summit County, Colorado.

Aspen: Mixed results on Pro Challenge bike race

The USA Pro Challenge has been touted as a big economic boost for Colorado, with communities vying to host stages for the perceived benefits. In Aspen, it looks like retail sales may have taken a little hit during the day of the race, while restaurants reported booming business, according to the Aspen Daily News.

Some service-oriented businesses were affected by a lack of access, while hotels reported 90 percent occupance and restaurants saw an early rush, with some establishments reported lines on the sidewalk. Read the full story in the Aspen Daily News.

Paper-bag fee challenged in court

A $0.20 fee charged for paper grocery bags in Aspen stores has raised almost $4,000 during its first two months, as the town tries to encourage shoppers to bring reusable bags for their shopping needs — but the bag fee is facing a court challenge, according to the Aspen Daily News.

The plastic bag ban took effect May 1. Under the law, the grocery stores can keep 25 percent of the collected fees (up to $1,000 per month) during the first year to help with the transition, with the town using the rest for education and awareness efforts.

The lawsuit challenging the fee was filed by the Colorado Union of Taxpayers Foundation, which alleges that the fee is actually a tax that violates the Colorado Constitution. The Mountain States Legal Foundation, an ultra-conservative group that opposes environmental and public lands protection, is representing the taxpayer group. Read the full story in the Aspen Daily News. (more…)

Filed under: business, Colorado, economy, Ski Resorts | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Summit Voice: Most-viewed and week in review

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Fire coverage dominates

A snapshot of Summit Voice page views the past few days shows that visits to the sites peaked on the days that the High Park Fire was burning most intensely.

A map of the High Park Fire created by Summit Voice contributor Mark Newby.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY —Every story in the most-viewed list was related to coverage of the High Park Fire in Larimer County. While we weren’t reporting from the scene fire, we used live feeds of fire briefings, social media and other sources to try and stay on top of what has become Colorado’s most destructive fire in terms of burned homes.

Each story also included multiple links to direct information sources about the fire and those were heavily used, with thousands of outbound hits on those sources. That’s what web journalism is all about.

Additionally, some exceptionally accurate maps of the fire from Summit Voice contributor Mark Newby helped drive traffic. The maps Newby created using public information from government sources were sometimes posted before the official updates from the Forest Service and Larimer County, helping readers understand the progression of the fire.

Unfortunately, federal agencies have cut off public access to some of the important data that enabled Newb and others to create accurate maps. We’ll be following up on that this week.

Filed under: biodiversity, climate and weather, Colorado, Drought, Environment, forest fires | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Summit Voice: Most-viewed and weekend headlines

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Climate, solar flares and rogue waves …

Antarctic ice. PHOTO BY BOB BERWYN.

Stats snapshot.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Google News once again played a key role in driving page views to Summit Voice — especially climate stories, but we also got some social media love from slashdot.org, an aggregation site that helped propel a story about the Aran Islands into the second spot on the most-viewed list. Facebook also was significant page-view generator this week. Five of the top eight stories were climate related this week, leading up to the interim climate talks in Bonn, Germany. Click the headline to read, and share the stories via your own social media networks with the links at the end.

Weekend headlines

 

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Environment, global warming, Summit County news | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Summit Voice: Most viewed stories & week in review

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Google News, Facebook and Twitter drive traffic

A snapshot of daily Summit Voice page views.

Summit Voice, independent online journalism in Colorado.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY —A new study suggesting that Greenland’s ice cap may not melt as quicky as anticipated quickly raced to the top of the most-viewed story list on the weekend, once again driven by Google News. Both the top stories illustrate an interesting trend (interesting if you’re an online journalism geek, anyway) of peak page views on the weekend, which is not in line with most data showing that web-browsing, especially on news sites, goes down on Saturday and Sunday.

Our second most-viewed story just posted this morning and picked up more than 1,500 page views thanks to a posting on Slashdot.org. Facebook played a bigger role than usual in the weekly count, as a story about wolves in Wyoming was posted and reposted on several Facebook pages. As always, click the headlines to read and share your favorites with the social media buttons at the end of each post.

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Environment | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Colorado to explore possible bid for Winter Olympics

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

Colorado is getting serious about a bid for the Winter Olympics.

New committee to emphasize health, winter resources and the environment as a basis for hosting the games

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Health care professionals, former Olympic athletes, tourism experts and others have formed a new committee to explore the feasibility of making a bid for the Winter Olympics.

According to a press release, the Denver Exploratory Committee will identify the opportunities and challenges of a bid based on facts gathered by many others who have worked on this issue over a long period.

The committee will examine the financial issues, the feasibility and the economic impact of a potential bid and answer questions about such things as protocol, timing, venue requirements and process. Committee members will then present their findings to Gov. John Hickenlooper and Mayor Michael Hancock. (more…)

Filed under: business, Colorado, economy, recreation, Ski Resorts, skiing and riding, Summit County Colorado, Summit County news | Tagged: , , , , | 7 Comments »

Summit Voice: Weekend headlines

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

Will the wolf survive?

Global warming stories continue to be widely read

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Holiday weekend or not, we posted a full slate of stories the past few days, including this piece on a new climate study that quickly picked up 5,000 page views:

Global warming: Runaway temperature increase unlikely

Another story revealed that mercury impacts are apparent in Alaskan huskies:

Study: Mercury impacts traced in Alaskan huskies

Here are the rest of the weekend headlines:

Filed under: Archaeology, climate and weather, global warming, La Niña | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Summit Voice: Most-viewed and week in review

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

Avalanches in Utah highlight early season backcountry risks. PHOTO COURTESY UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER.

Skier-death stories top the list

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Ski-related deaths in Colorado and Utah topped the Summit Voice headlines, as coverage of the season’s first deadly avalanche triggered a surge of traffic.

I was psyched to see that a somewhat wonky water piece also garnered some attention, as the Forest Service and ski industry face off over water rights. This story still hasn’t been reported by any other new outlet, not because it’s not important, but because it’s complex — and most papers these days don’t have the resources to keep reporters on staff who can understand and explain this stuff.

Click the headlines to read the stories and use the share buttons at the end of the posts to spread them via your own social media network.

Filed under: climate and weather, global warming, Summit County Colorado, Summit County news | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Summit County: Mudslide hits housing complex at Keystone

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

Super-saturated soils and heavy runoff are factors in recent slide in an area known for unstable slopes

Mud flows on June 2 ran up against the wall of a Keystone Resort employee housing complex. More photos at the end of the story.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — A large mudslide on Keystone Mountain inundated an employee housing complex near the Mountain House base area, damaging several exterior decks and walkways and covering several hundred feet of a road with mud a couple of feet deep.

The mudslide happened June 2, the same day the Keystone Gulch wildfire started, according to Keystone spokesman Ryan Whaley. Since then, crews have cleared the road and there are no impacts to summer operations at the resort. Whaley said the employee housing units were not occupied. There may be some water damage inside of some of the units, but the extent hasn’t been determined yet. The mud piled up to just below the windows of the units on the lower level. (more…)

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Dillon Ranger District, Environment, flooding, Keystone, La Niña, seasons, Ski Resorts, Summit County Colorado, Summit County news, US Forest Service, White River National Forest | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Summit County: Most viewed stories, week in review

Posted on May 29, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

Torreys Peak.

Avalanche and wildfire coverage dominated the most-viewed story list this past week and citizen journalism was a big part of local coverage 

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — A big week at Summit Voice, with the story of the Torreys Peak avalanche death garnering thousands of views, even though the coverage was a bit delayed. We didn’t post a story until about 18 hours after the avalanche happened. We first heard about the deadly slide via the original social media network — from another parent at a kids soccer game. Wildfire coverage, with links to fire information web sites and fire photo galleries, continue to be of interest to readers, and a story about Sen. Mark Udall’s stand on the Patriot Act quickly picked up several hundred views.

Filed under: biodiversity, Breckenridge, Breckenridge town council, Colorado, Dillon Reservoir, Environment, journalism, Summit County Colorado, Summit County news | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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