The beginning of green chile roasting season offering a welcome boon to dwindling freezer stashes and filling the air with the smell of fall

Local riders Todd Wells and Tad Elliott winning spots on the National Mountain Bike Team and representing Durango and the U.S. in the World Championships this September
The opening of two medical marijuana dispensaries in Durango, helping to lend legitimacy to the drug’s use in treating pain and illness
The continued stalemate on health-care reform and the possibility that a government insurance option may be dropped from the bill
The probability that a 137-square-mile wildfire in California was started by drug traffickers
The first big Hurricane of the season, Bill, growing to a powerful category 4 and taking aim at the East Coast