David O. Williams is an award-winning freelance reporter based in the Vail Valley of Colorado, writing on health care, immigration, politics, the environment, energy, public lands, outdoor recreation and sports. His work has appeared in 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, the Colorado Independent, Colorado Politics formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the London Daily Mirror, the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, Atlantic Media's RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail and Westword (Denver). Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.
Public Lands Day bill sparks partisan debate in Colorado Legislature
A feel-good Public Lands Day bill meant to proclaim Colorado’s love of its vast swaths of federal land and how they’re managed has sparked a partisan debate over the role…
Colorado House District 59 race likely to be costly, nasty and close
Editor’s note: A version of this story first appeared in The Colorado Statesman: In 2014, the race for Colorado House District 59 in Southwest Colorado was one of closest, nastiest…
Colorado lawmaker looks to daylight high cost of prescription drugs with transparency bill
A bipartisan bill aimed at compelling pharmaceutical companies to disclose to the state the costs of producing certain prescription drugs will have its first hearing before the Colorado House Committee…
How Peyton Manning can repair his image after old sexual-assault allegation resurfaces
Well, so much for the storybook ending and Peyton Manning gloriously riding off into the sunset after winning a Super Bowl the way his boss John Elway did. After a…
Follow the snow flow: Powder skiing from Park City to Vail
Here’s a fun thing to do if you have the time and don’t mind driving through a massive snowstorm: Powder ski your way from Steamboat to Park City to Vail.…
Boom, bust cycles reverberate along Colorado’s Route 50
Editor’s note: A version of this story was first published by Route Fifty in April of 2015: U.S. Route 50 is a two-lane backroad in Colorado, scenic and charming but…
Mountain climber Luis Benitez faces some high hurdles to growing state’s outdoor industry
Editor’s note: This story first appeared in the Colorado Statesman: Luis Benitez has encountered all sorts of hardships as an elite mountaineer who’s scaled the highest points on all seven…
Critics in Garfield County lament lack of local control over oil and gas drilling
Residents of the second-most drilled county in Colorado warn backers of eleven “local control” ballot questions to be careful what they wish for, because oil and gas money will funnel…
Hickenlooper still hoping to avert local-control ballot initiatives with compromise drilling bill
There’s still a glimmer of hope for Gov. John Hickenlooper’s administration that a compromise can be reached between grassroots activists, environmentalists, divided lawmakers and oil and gas industry representatives and…
State cites fewer closures of the Interstate 70 corridor but longer durations
State highway officials say that despite all the negative publicity this past ski season there were actually fewer closures of the Interstate 70 corridor between Denver and Vail due to…
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