A look at the St. Benedict’s monastery sale to Palantir CEO; Warnings from former forest supervisor for the White River National Forest; Changes to speed enforcement in CO 119.

Headlines and local news for Friday, January 6, 2026. Hosted by KGNU’s Juanita Hurtado Huerfano.

First we take a look at the sale of St. Benedict’s Monastery near Aspen. The 3700-acre property in Old Snowmass sold for $120 million, the priciest-ever sale in Pitkin County. The buyer is listed as Espen LLC, however, the Wall Street Journal reported that it was actually Alex Karp, the CEO of the prominent software and analysis company Palantir.

Due to the property’s long history of conservation and spiritual legacy, the sale is drawing a lot of community interest. For Rocky Mountain Community Radio, Aspen Public Radio’s Halle Zander spoke with reporter Kaya Williams, who broke the news of the sale for Aspen Journalism and continues to follow the story.

Then, a conversation with Scott Fitzwilliams. He took early retirement last year, shortly after the Trump administration fired thousands of workers at the Forest Service and other land management agencies. Now he’s warning that the administration’s priorities and actions will hurt rural Western communities, even if they don’t see the impacts just yet. Rocky Mountain Community Radio’s Caroline Llanes spoke with Fitzwilliams to find out more.

And to wrap up the show, a debrief with Ben Acimovic, the Traffic Operations and Technology Manager for the Colorado Department of Transportation about the changes the Colorado speed enforcement program is bringing to CO 119 work zone.

The Morning Magazine is KGNU’s weekday morning show featuring in-depth discussions on local news issues. Click here to listen to other episodes of the Morning Magazine.