The amendment appeared on Tuesday's consent agenda — the section reserved for routine, non-controversial items that pass without discussion. Three residents who showed up specifically to object to a zoning matter were limited to two minutes each, under a rule that took effect the same evening it was adopted.

The Gazette and a coalition of four residents filed a Colorado Open Records Act request for the agenda-drafting correspondence, and a civil complaint citing inadequate public notice under the state's open meetings law. Ticon Recon's audit of the city's published meeting minutes shows the amendment was added to the agenda PDF eleven hours before the meeting started.

The city attorney's office did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

A bison herd was removed from a ranch in the Lay Valley area last week following a welfare complaint. The Gazette's Cora vertical — our standing audit of animal welfare and county data integrity — reviewed the inspection paperwork filed in connection with the seizure.

The timestamps don't line up. The initial inspection report is dated two days after the seizure occurred, not before it, as county procedure requires. The veterinarian listed on the report has not confirmed performing the inspection. The Gazette has requested the chain-of-custody log for the animals and has not yet received it.

This is not an accusation of wrongdoing. It is a question the county has had a week to answer and has not.

The Craig Daily Press, owned by a holding structure tracing back to Ogden Newspapers in West Virginia, has not run a story on the council's comment rule change four days after it passed. The Gazette asked their editorial desk for comment. We received an autoreply.

We don't say this to score a point against a competitor. We say it because the silence is the story: when the paper of record doesn't record, somebody has to.