Another uplifting newspaper story: The Colorado town of Silverton saves its weekly

Silverton, an isolated town in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, saved its newspaper, the Silverton Standard and the Miner, circulation roughly 1,000. The owner was going to close it, so the town's historical society took it over, and kept its tireless editor, Mark Esper.

As Esper says in this terrific video for the AARP bulletin Today by Sonya Doctorian, my former colleague at the Rocky Mountain News (full disclosure, she's also my video coach), his is the "last newsstand standing" in his town. The Durango Herald has pulled out. As, understandably, has The Denver Post. (Silverton is 300 miles from Denver. The Post's owner had always vowed to deliver his print paper all across the state, but his stance apparently changed once the Rocky died.) Here's what the head of the historical society had to say about her nonprofit taking over a newspaper.

This story is another reminder of the importance newspapers can have to their communities. I find it encouraging, just the way I found the story of former Rocky Washington correspondent ME Sprengelmeyer buying the Guadalupe County Communicator in New Mexico to be uplifting.

I hope you enjoy Sonya's video.