- You know the phrase “Keeping up with the Joneses”? Xcel Energy is flipping that on its head, and wants people to “Go as low as the Joneses.” Some Xcel bills in Denver now compare your energy use to that of your neighbors.
- The Colorado Symphony Orchestra is facing a serious financial crisis. It’s led to huge pay cuts for musicians and a rash of board resignations. And now, to the cancellation of half the shows in fall season. Colorado Public Radio’s Ben Markus has this update.
- If a registered voter failed to vote in the last election he or she is counted as “inactive.” There are tens of thousands of inactive voters in Denver. And a battle is playing out over whether or not to mail them ballots for the upcoming election. CPR’s Ben Markus has more. Reporter Ben Markus: There
- Xcel Energy could lose more than 100,000 customers in Boulder next month. Voters there will decide whether to create a city-owned electric utility and throw Xcel out. Boulder Daily Camera reporter Laura Snider is covering the story. She joins host Ryan Warner to discuss the November ballot measure.
- President Barack Obama returned to Dener, the city where he accepted the Democratic nomination back in 2008. The President was campaigning for his jobs bill. Colorado Radio’s Ben Markus was there, and has this report.
- With Colorado Public Radio, I’m Mike Lamp. Two years ago this month Xcel flipped the switch on Boulder’s Smart Grid City. The project was sold as a way of giving customers greater control of their energy usage and limiting blackouts. Eventually it would help facilitate a green energy future. But some are now calling the
- The most popular beers in the world are lager beers, think Budweiser and Coors. Now, 500 years after German monks first brewed lager beer scientists have discovered the origin of a key ingredient. Researchers at the CU School of Medicine traced a strain of yeast, used in lager brewing, back to South America.
- 343 firefighters died on 9/11. And firefighters here in Denver were the first to honor them by hiking up 110 stories — dressed in full gear. Now, there are 55 similar climbs all over the world involving almost 15,000 firefighters. Colorado Public Radio’s Ben Markus was at the climb yesterday and filed this report.
- Story Produced by Lee Hill and Ben Markus Through our Public Insight Network, we’ve been asking how 9/11 affected you, then and now. Lee Hill is Colorado Public Radio’s Public Insight Analyst and Reporter.
- The U-S-A Pro Cycling Challenge ended in Denver Sunday. American Levi Leipheimer took the title. The race was the first time Colorado’s hosted a premier tournament since the Coors Classic was shuttered more than two decades ago. CPR’s Ben Markus was at the finish and has this report.
- The newsrooms of big city papers have either shrunk or disappeared altogether. But it’s a different story for many small, often rural, papers. They continue to break stories and provide vital information to their communities. Journalism professor and part-time Coloradan Judy Muller has written a book about this.
- Work began Friday on one of the state’s biggest and most expensive water projects. The Southern Delivery System is a pipeline that will supply water from Pueblo to the fast-growing Colorado Springs area. But it’s not been universally embraced. A small group of officials and citizens have fought the project, saying it’s too big and
- The possible return of uranium mining to southwestern Colorado is supported by some and despised by others. In economically depressed areas, many would welcome the jobs. But in exclusive ski resort towns like Telluride, there’s strong opposition.
- People are buying homes in the metro area despite a sputtering economy. But they’re not your average home buyer. According to the latest figures, mostly they’re investors, hoping to cash in on the housing crisis. Colorado Public Radio’s Ben Markus reports.
- A couple of years ago Denver high school student Tyler Quintana visited a war-torn country, and thought of a way to help people there. He was a student at the Denver Center for International Studies, a magnet school, when he got the chance to visit Sierra Leone.
- There is no cure for Parkinson’s. The disease eventually robs people of control over their own movements. Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have found a drug that halts Parkinson’s in mice. The next step is an extensive human trial. Dr. Curt Freed is part of the research team.
