Hundreds of thousands of people go on a rafting trip with commercial outfitters each year, according to a 2018 review of river outfitter licensing in Colorado. And like any other adrenaline-pumping outdoor activity, this one comes with its own dangers, and people who are trying really hard to stop others from dying.
A vigil for victims of gun violence on the Capitol steps, Aug. 4, 2019. Mass shootings in Gilroy, Calif.; Dayton, Ohio; and El Paso, Texas killed at least 34 people and injured dozens more. Democratic state Rep. Tom Sullivan of Centennial, iddle, whose son Alex was killed in the Aurora Theater Shooting, was among those on hand.
A window inside the Newhouse Hotel on West Colfax Avenue, Aug. 4.
The thing about working for CPR News is that one moment you're dashing from one assignment to another, and then you stop for just a moment to be present and realize you're doing journalism someplace extraordinary. Which pretty much describes what Stina Sieg saw talking the backroads recently on the Western Slope.
And then there's Denver. Anyone remember the 1971 Rod Stewart album "Every Picture Tells a Story"? (Also, I am old.) What's the story with this here Dumpster boot? Colorado Matters host Ryan Warner writes, "My alleyway in Congress Park is a treasure trove. The other boot was nowhere to be found. Someone had a good night."
Also in the footwear department: The Biennial of the Americas, the festival meant to link all Americans northern, southern and central, returns to Denver this September, but you don’t have to wait to get a taste of their theme this year: empathy.
On Friday, the Empathy Museum’s traveling exhibit, “A Mile in My Shoes,” opens off the 16th Street Mall at Tail Tracks Plaza between Wynkoop and Wewatta Streets. It’s a pop-up shoe store where visitors can try on footwear from 30 local storytellers and grab some headphones to literally walk around in their shoes while you hear them telling personal tales. It will be on the Mall through Sept. 27, after which it will move to Civic Center Park for the full Biennial celebration.
Top: Emily Harvey's prosthetic leg and foot and a pair of sneakers checked out from the Empathy Museum. Above: Artist Jonathan Saiz checks out a pair of sneakers, and the story attached to them.
Western Slope reporter Stina Sieg says, "You can never know the glory of advancing to the women’s finals of Olathe Sweet Corn Festival corn-eating contest if you don’t first pick up an ear (or four)."
Stina says she loves passing by hotels that feel like Raymond Carver short stories. "I’m definitely staying here the next time I’m in Craig."
It might be a slow wildfire season, but crews are still busy preparing. Colorado’s helicopter unit is taking advantage of the lull to train to be the first state team in the country that can fight fire at night, CPR's Michael Elizabeth Sakas reported this week — that's team manager Whitney Murphy and his dog Butch at the Fremont County Airport in Penrose, Colo. where the crew is based.
The state sees it as a necessary tool as wildfires become more common with climate change. Nearly 3 million Coloradans now live in or near areas that are prone to wildland fire. That number has gone up 45 percent in the last five years.
Denver's new Mission Ballroom officially opened Wednesday Aug. 7 2019 with The Lumineers. Above, the band's lead singer Wesley Schultz and pianist Stelth Ulvang, and opening act Jade Bird, play to the sold-out crowd. You can see more photos from the concert over at Indie 102.3.
Amanda Davis shows the rollable panels her late father made to store some of his artwork. When Dave Davis bought his property in the Grand Junction suburb of Clifton in the early 70s, it wasn’t much to speak of. Amanda described it as “a little shack basically… no running water.”
She grew up in this house and it’s no longer a humble shack. For one, there’s running water now and multiple expansions have built the home both upward and outward. A garage-turned art gallery and artist workshop are out back. Her father built nearly all of it with the help of “some construction friends.”
Traffic at a near standstill on Interstate 25 in Denver August 2019, with the foothills barely visible in the distance. Denver and Northern Colorado's urban corridor failed to meet federal ozone pollution standards, and the state will have to come up with a new plan to clean up the air, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday.
Ten people lay sprawled and still in front of Denver City Council members Monday, pretending they were dead. They were very alive and very serious about getting local lawmakers to declare a climate emergency.
“The oceans are rising and so are we,” sang the group, a local chapter of Extinction Rebellion, an international organization, sang after rising from their temporary graves and exiting Council Chambers.
Who cares about the noise coming out of the I-70 widening project? Well ... all these people. Denverite photojournalist Kevin Beaty documented everyone who stepped up to the mic at a public hearing Thurday night at the Swansea Rec Center. Elyria-Swansea residents talked about sleep deprivation and environmental racism.
