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The Local 303: Colorado artists we’re featuring for May 2025

By Alisha Sweeney

Shedeur Sanders

NFL fines Falcons $250,000 and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich $100,000 following prank call to Shedeur Sanders during draft

By The Associated Press

Person mops floor

Colorado janitorial companies fined by ICE for hiring at least 143 unauthorized workers

John Elway

Jeff Sperbeck, former agent for John Elway, dies after injury at 62

By The Associated Press

A young transgender man plays guitar as he sits on a rainbow pillow, with flowers and pride flags behind him.

Government and Politics

In Western Colorado, trans people and their loved ones face fear, uncertainty in the Trump era

A row of trains sits in a station with a Union Station sign hovering over it.

Front Range Passenger Rail gets some high profile push back from Rep. Boebert

Gabe Wilson plays in his Denver living room. H's 2 years old, and has been diagnosed with Bloom Syndrome

‘We have everything on the line right now,’ Colorado families with complex medical needs worry as federal research cuts loom

Chester Reed remembers the images vividly: the fall of Saigon broadcast on television, families desperate to flee. "The people, they were scared to death. They didn't know what tomorrow was gonna bring," he recalled. "Only thing the people in South Vietnam wanted to do is live in peace, raise their families and get on with their lives." Fifty years after the end of the Vietnam War, Reed — a veteran who served two tours in Southeast Asia — has found an unexpected bond with someone whose life the war upended: Dr. Vinh Chung, a Colorado Springs dermatologist who now treats him. “When Saigon fell in April of 1975, my mother was pregnant with me,” Chung said. “I didn't choose to go there. I wasn't drafted. I was just born there." Chung's family, ethnic Chinese business owners, lost everything when Saigon fell, he said. Born in the Mekong Delta, he spent his early childhood in the jungle before his family fled Vietnam by boat. "There's a one-way trip because when you leave as a refugee, there's no going back," he added. After drifting at sea with no food or water, they were rescued by a humanitarian ship. Eventually, a small Lutheran church in Fort Smith, Arkansas, sponsored them. Decades later, another life-changing event brought Reed and Chung together — not on a battlefield, but in a Colorado clinic. "I had a cancer on the back of my neck," Reed remembered, touching the spot below his head. Reed said a friend recommended Dr. Chung. "Two days later, he operated on me and I'm here today because he's took good care of me for the last 14 or 15 years." "Mr. Reed here took a chance on me," Chung chimed in. "I came here, opened a practice. I knew nobody. And so we started from scratch." The two men bonded over more than medical procedures. Their conversations revealed parallels between their journeys and a shared belief in the power of kindness. "You can't control the paths of your lives," Chung said. "But you can always control how you treat other people." Reed agreed: "I like to treat everybody just like I treat myself. If I treat you that way, you'll treat me right too." Fifty years after Saigon fell, both men say they carry the lessons of war and survival. "It made me grow up a little quicker," Reed said. "You go through field hospitals, you see people laying there with no legs, no arms. You just learn to live with things. You can't change nothing." Chung reflected on the duality of human nature. "Humans are capable of the most cruel and savage behavior," he said. "On the other hand, I'm just amazed at the incredible courage and generosity of people I've encountered." As the world marks the anniversary of the war's end, Chung sees it as a reminder. "Today, as we talk about immigrants and refugees, we must see humanity in them," he said. "We should never, ever lose that." Reed echoed the sentiment. "Just treat everybody like you want to be treated and life will go on and everybody will get along good."

Life and Culture

Two Colorado men shaped by the fall of Saigon share their story 50 years after the Vietnam War

By Hayley Sanchez

Byron White U.S. Courthouse in downtown Denver

Federal appeals court denies Trump administration’s request to throw out a ban on Salvadoran deporations

By Allison Sherry

ELIZABETH-SCHOOL-BOARD-ELECTION-JB

Elizabeth School District loses latest round in court fight to ban books

2025 CinemaCon - Sony Pictures Presentation

Corporation for Public Broadcasting sues Trump after he tries to fire board members

By NPR

Jenkins Middle School

Jenkins Middle School repairs expected to cost Colorado Springs District 11 $31.5 million

Rev. Kevin Young, wearing a checkered dress shirt and a blue vest, stands in front of the United Methodist Church in Montrose.

District Court passes on legal spat over unhoused camp at church, citing Montrose municipal court jurisdiction

20230328-HOUSING-DENSITY-LAND-USE-DENVER-APARTMENTS

Listen: Denver apartment vacancy hits 15-year high — and rents are dropping

Colorado Capitol dome in Denver

Government and Politics

Right of Coloradans with disabilities to live at home would be protected under Colorado bill

By Stephanie Wolf

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May02

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May19

Colorado Public Radio Presents – Craig Childs in Conversation with Ryan Warner

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May24

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