by Blaine Howerton | NorthFortyNews.com
Green, Quiet Mornings
This time of year in Northern Colorado always carries a little extra energy.
St. Patrick’s Day is around the corner, and across the region, people will be gathering for parades, festivals, music, and the kind of community traditions that make this place feel like home. In this week’s edition, you’ll find a roundup of celebrations happening across Fort Collins, Loveland, Wellington, and beyond—another reminder that even after a long winter, our communities know how to come back to life together.
But this week also brought me somewhere very different.
I took a trip north to Cheyenne and had the chance to personally tour the new Sentinel Site Activation Task Force headquarters at F.E. Warren Air Force Base. The building will coordinate the transition from the Cold War–era Minuteman III missile system to the next generation Sentinel program—part of one of the largest nuclear modernization efforts in the country.
Standing inside that facility was surreal.
It’s easy to think of places like that as distant or abstract, but the reality is that one of the largest land-based nuclear missile fields in the United States sits just north of Northern Colorado. For decades, it has quietly shaped the nation’s security—and the landscape of the High Plains.
What made the visit even more personal for me was thinking about my grandfather. He served in the Army Corps of Engineers and helped build many of the original missile silos across Colorado during the Cold War. Walking through the new headquarters, knowing the history behind those fields and the people who built them, made the moment feel like a strange bridge between generations.
History moves forward, but it rarely forgets where it started.
Back here at home, the rhythm of Northern Colorado life keeps moving as well. One of the things I’ve enjoyed most this past week has been sharing local events in the Daily Update each morning. It’s become a simple but powerful tool: a quick way to see what’s happening across the region and plan your day without digging through pages of stories.
That’s really what the Daily Update is meant to be.
Not noise.
Not another overwhelming news feed.
Just a calm start to your morning.
Every day at 5 a.m., it arrives with the essential things you might want to know—local news, weather, and events happening around Northern Colorado. Whether you’re deciding where to take the family this weekend, which concert to check out, or just wanting to stay connected to the region, it’s there waiting for you.
A small ritual.
A quick scan with your coffee.
A way to start the day informed and grounded in your community.
This week’s edition reflects both sides of life here on the Front Range: the celebrations and traditions that bring our communities together, and the bigger stories unfolding just beyond our border that will shape the future for decades to come.
Be sure to read this week’s complete edition online at NorthFortyNews.com/this-week. Bookmark the link—the new edition appears there automatically each time it’s published.