1. Body found in Dillon Reservoir identified as Minnesota man who was last seen in November

The Summit County Coroner’s Office has positively identified the body found in Dillon Reservoir near the Frisco disc golf course on Wednesday, April 30, as 51-year-old Leroy Schmidt.

The Moorhead Police Department of Moorhead, Minnesota, has confirmed that a missing person’s case is now closed following the identification of the body found in Dillon Reservoir. The Moorhead police department issued a missing persons alert on Jan. 7, 2025, noting he was last seen or heard from on Nov. 2, 2024. Moorhead police believed he was in the areas of Las Vegas, Nevada, or Omaha, Nebraska.

Coroner Amber Flenniken said the determination of his cause and manner of death is pending an autopsy, which typically takes around six to eight weeks to receive results. Flenniken arrived on scene around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and confirmed Schmidt was found fully clothed. 

Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons said people using the disc golf course, which is near the Frisco Peninsula Recreation Area and Frisco Nordic Center, notified authorities about the body on Wednesday. Summit County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Mike Schilling said Schmidt was found in the water near the shoreline.

— Andrew Maciejewski

2. Officers apprehend masked suspect who fled from Breckenridge to Frisco, release additional details

A man is in custody following a multiday manhunt in the area of Bill’s Ranch near Frisco. 

Law enforcement officers responded around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 30, to a report of a masked person acting suspiciously in the Moonstone Road area east of Breckenridge, according to a Summit County Sheriff’s Office news release. Officials say the suspect was seen diving a car without a plate while leaving a home that was believed to be unoccupied. 

A deputy initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle on Colorado Highway 9 near Coyne Valley Road, but the driver refused to stop and continued northbound, according to the release. Deputies did not pursue it.

The vehicle was then reportedly located abandoned and still running in the area of Bill’s Ranch near Frisco. Officers say the driver was suspected of fleeing into a nearby neighborhood. Officers confirmed the vehicle was stolen from an area on the Front Range. 

— Summit Daily News staff

3. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs state budget with $1.2B in cuts. Here’s what it means for transit, health care and schools

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Monday signed into law a $43.9 billion spending plan that caps months of deliberation by lawmakers over how to close a major budget shortfall. 

The sprawling package includes $1.2 billion in cuts and shifts in fund accounts in order to balance the state’s 2025-26 budget, which lawmakers said had largely been stressed by higher-than-anticipated Medicaid costs. 

To stave off deep cuts to health care and public education, the state’s Joint Budget Committee — a bipartisan six-member group of lawmakers — opted to significantly reduce transportation funding. They also slashed funds for local governments and a slew of social programs, including support for food banks. 

— Rob Tann

4. Breckenridge Tourism Office says summer bookings are currently down 16%, and consumer confidence continues to drop

Breckenridge Tourism Office president Lucy Kacy’s recent travel outlook presentations have all opened with the same graphic — a cartoon of a little girl dragging a red, deflating balloon labeled “confidence,” a reference to consumer confidence. 

Amid President Trump’s erratic imposition, or threats of imposition, of tariffs, she said a decline in consumer confidence has been one of the only stable indicators the industry can use to determine what upcoming travel seasons look like. 

Data from The Conference Board, the organization that determines the Consumer Confidence Index, that Kay verified the morning of May 1 demonstrated consumer confidence is down to pandemic-era levels. Additionally, the outlook for the next six months estimates consumer confidence will be down to 2011 levels.

— Kit Geary

5. One of Silverthorne’s busiest areas may see major shift, swapping lots near Chipotle for high-density housing, commercial space

Around 7.5 acres of land neighboring the Outlets at Silverthorne’s Green Village received initial approval for rezoning as a developer group considers making significant changes to the area years after purchasing the site.

Two lots off of Rainbow Drive, one vacant and the other housing Chipotle and The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, have been eyed by the town for the last few years because officials felt the area was under utilized. 

The land parcels being rezoned are just down the street from Summit County’s busiest areas on Interstate 70, Exit 205. The exit is a converging point for travelers going back to the Front Range coming from a variety of Western Slope ski resorts and has been known to resemble a parking lot on the busiest days of the ski season. The land parcels under consideration stand along Rainbow Drive which feeds into Blue River Parkway, a road identified by the Colorado Department of Transportation and local municipalities as needing improvements to accommodate traffic growth.

— Kit Geary