Ryan Spencer is the public safety reporter at Summit Daily News, where he also covers the environment, transportation and the Dillon and Frisco town governments. He joined the team in December 2022 and quickly got to work filing public records requests, asking hard questions of those in power and connecting with local residents.
Having grown up in New England, Ryan attended Brandeis University in Massachusetts, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English. In college, he found a passion for journalism and won a national reporting award for an investigative series he worked on with a colleague at the school newspaper. After graduating, he worked for two years on Cape Cod covering the town of Mashpee, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and environmental issues. From there, he went on to cover public safety and criminal justice for The Keene Sentinel in New Hampshire, where he developed a focus on police accountability and legal issues.
Always drawn to the mountains, Ryan moved to Summit County to continue his career as a journalist in an area that excited his love for the outdoors. He is deeply dedicated to the public’s right to know about the ongoings of their communities and the important role journalism plays in our democracy. When not digging for his next story, Ryan can be found reading, gardening, backpacking, camping, kayaking, skiing, playing guitar or enjoying live music.
A historic drought is turning Colorado’s mountain landscapes into a tinderbox. After last winter’s record-low snowpack, wildland firefighters who continuously monitor indexes of weather and climate data to help predict wildfire risk and how conditions...
In Colorado and most of the U.S., emergency managers use the “Ready. Set. Go!” framework to help communicate evacuation orders. The “Set” stage coincides with pre-evacuation orders, where officials put neighborhoods on standby for possible...
Phil Weiser, who has served as Colorado’s attorney general since 2019, beat three-term U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in Tuesday’s Democratic primary election for governor. The Associated Press called the race around 7:55 p.m. on Tuesday....
Public land advocates are speaking out after the U.S. Department of Interior launched a broad review of its policies that protect remote and undeveloped places recognized under federal law as “wilderness.” The Bureau of Land...
Summer is off to a hot start in the Colorado mountains as soaring temperatures, a lack of precipitation and wind are worsening already severe drought conditions and exacerbating wildfire concerns. Across most of the mountain...
Colorado could continue to see hazy skies this week as wildfire activity in the West picks up. Smoke from three large wildfires burning in Utah and Nevada pushed across the Western Slope over the weekend,...
A grand jury has unsealed an indictment accusing seven individuals of running what the Colorado Bureau of Investigation described in a news release as a “sophisticated” drug trafficking organization. The group is accused of manufacturing...
Colorado's trout fisheries could face a difficult summer, impacting the state's billion-dollar angling industry, as widespread drought conditions drive predictions that streamflows will be well below-average.
Colorado wildfire leaders are bracing for what could be an especially busy and dangerous summer for wildfires across the West. The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control presented its wildfire preparedness plan to Gov....
As the spring grows warmer, Coloradans who get outside and look up at the night sky could catch a glimpse of celestial phenomenon, including two meteor showers and a “full blue micromoon.” Colorado astronomy guide...