An ad by a Colorado Springs-based Sears store in the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph in December 1955 with a misprinted telephone number to call Santa Claus sparked numerous Christmas Eve telephone calls by children on December 24, 1955, to the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center in Colorado Springs, asking about Santa Claus, and led to the current NORAD Tracks Santa program.

It was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2014 for national reporting for reporting by David Philipps "... expanding the examination of how wounded combat veterans are mistreated, focusing on loss of benefits for life after discharge by the Army for minor offenses, stories augmented with digital tools and stirring congressional action".

The sale of The Gazette to Clarity Media, a subsidiary of the Anschutz Corporation, closed on November 30, 2012.

Joe Hight of The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), another Anschutz-owned newspaper, was named editor.

[5] The Gazette's op-ed section and editorials leans politically conservative and tend to favor Republican politicians and policies.