Power outages kill mountain phone lines episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 29, 2026 · 19 MIN

Power outages kill mountain phone lines

from The Mountain-Ear Podcast · host The Mountain-Ear Staff

Today, we’re joined by a trio of CU Boulder student journalists who dug up a story in Gold Hill, where failing backup batteries cut emergency services for residents during power outages.The systems, supplied by Lumen Technologies, are supposed to keep land lines operational when the power's out. But some of those batteries are over 20 years old and failing, turning power outages into potentially life-threatening situations.Sydney Schrader, Corey Neumeier and Sophia Collins tell us what's going on in Gold Hill, and mountain towns across the county, and what the residents are doing about it.Their story was originally published by the Colorado Sun. Read it here.AlsoStructure fire in AllensparkNederland ice rink still not frozenGolden Gate Canyon OKs Community Wildfire Protection Plan. View it here.Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record Better off Dead here. Support the showThank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below.If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact:Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected] Hickman, multimedia producer, at [email protected] Lammers, podcast host, at [email protected] inquiries: [email protected] to our website for all of the latest news. Subscribe to The Mountain-Ear in print and online.Submit local events to promote them in the paper and on our website.Find us on Facebook @mtnear and Instagram @mtn.earListen and watch on YouTube today.Share this podcast by scrolling to the bottom of our website home page or by heading to our main hub on Buzzsprout.Thank you for listening!

Today, we’re joined by a trio of CU Boulder student journalists who dug up a story in Gold Hill, where failing backup batteries cut emergency services for residents during power outages. The systems, supplied by Lumen Technologies, are supposed to keep land lines operational when the power's out. But some of those batteries are over 20 years old and failing, turning power outages into potentially life-threatening situations. Sydney Schrader, Corey Neumeier and Sophia Collins tell us what's go...

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Power outages kill mountain phone lines

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This episode was published on January 29, 2026.

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Today, we’re joined by a trio of CU Boulder student journalists who dug up a story in Gold Hill, where failing backup batteries cut emergency services for residents during power outages.The systems, supplied by Lumen Technologies, are supposed to...

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