- The congressman recently traveled to Eastern Europe, where he got an update on the war in Ukraine and the refugee crisis. He also visited troops overseas.
- March and April are among Colorado’s snowiest months, but in the last few days authorities have ordered evacuations in Boulder and near Estes Park as they’ve fought wildfires. What's going on? Mike Nelson, chief meteorologist at Denver7, joins us for our regular update on weather, climate and climate change.
- In the words of CPR's Vic Vela, "When we can meet each other with empathy and compassion, we can find hope." That's at the heart of his podcast "Back from Broken." It's about people who've emerged from the hardships of addiction, mental illness, or physical injury. The third season is now available.
- CPR All Things Considered Host Jo Ann Allen retires Friday. Sort of. She will continue her independent podcast “Been There Done That.” We dip into the latest episode in which she reflects on journalism and her own career with friend and former colleague Rachel Maddow, of MSNBC. Then, Jo Ann spends a few minutes with Ryan Warner reminiscing about her radio-filled childhood.
- The two month anniversary of the Marshall Fire in Boulder County is almost here and we still don’t know how it started. Today, though, a closer look at why -- the conditions that turned it into a fire storm and what the spring and summer may hold. Denver7 Chief Meteorologist Mike Nelson has been a leader in bringing climate change to local TV weather forecasts and he'll join us regularly on Colorado Matters for conversations about weather and climate.
- The Most Endangered Places list features locations with historical significance that are most in need of preservation.
- This week, some mask mandates are starting to disappear in Colorado, including in cities like Denver and Glenwood Springs and in Adams and Arapahoe counties. But questions remain about where and when people should continue to wear masks. We put those questions to Dr. May Chu, who is a clinical professor in the department of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health.
- In the early 1900s the little farming community of Dearfield on the plains east of Denver embodied the dreams of the Black people who homesteaded there. Now, U.S. representatives Joe Neguse, who’s a Democrat, and Ken Buck, a Republican, are co-sponsoring a bill to explore making the town site a national park.
- SA's $10 billion mission that could transform our knowledge of the universe achieved a critical milestone this week. The James Webb Space Telescope reached its final destination and entered into an orbit around the sun. The telescope is now about a million miles away from Earth. It launched into space a month ago. That’s when we spoke with Makenzie Lystrup about the mission. She's an astrophysicist from Colorado-based Ball Aerospace, which built the telescope's unique optical system.
- He was the first Black head football coach at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction. And after just two successful seasons, Coach Tremaine Jackson is moving on. His tenure coincided both with the pandemic and the protests over police brutality -- issues that made it into locker rooms and onto playing fields. Jackson is moving on to Valdosta State in Georgia. He spoke with Nathan Heffel from his new home there to reflect on his time on the Western Slope.
- Denver Mayor Michael Hancock is in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He's meeting with other city leaders to discuss a wide range of ideas, from the pandemic to public safety to affordable housing.
- It's beginning to look a lot like... politics. With the Colorado state legislature set to return on January 12, the Purplish team takes a look at what lies ahead.
- It was dubbed "the summer of violence." A period in 1993 when there were several high profile killings in Denver. It led lawmakers to pass harsher punishments for juveniles. But in The New Republic, education reporter LynNell Hancock writes that there was mass hysteria, rather than mass violence.
- The new mini-movie, "Triggers" kicks off a weekend of community outreach and conversation in Denver and Aurora. Halim Ali is executive director and president of the non-profit, "From the Heart Foundation." He's also one of the organizers of the "Youth Gun Violence Awareness and Suicide Prevention Wellness Weekend" which will engage adults and youth, especially young men, "to know that it's okay not to be okay, that it's okay to seek help ... that it's all right to say that they're hurting before they take a step in the wrong direction where there is no coming back from."
- A lot remains elusive about COVID-19 including what to expect from the new Omicron variant. But a few things scientists do know: the vaccine offers the best protection yet against the virus and severe illness. And, more recently, that monoclonal antibodies help prevent people with COVID from getting very sick.
- We think of backcountry rescuers as the toughest of the tough; volunteers who save, or recover, people after avalanches, falls, crashes and other calamities. But the mental toll of responding to disaster after disaster means these rescuers sometimes need help themselves. A new state law has created a rescuer support program, which will eventually be available to teams across Colorado. Summit County's busy search and rescue operation is part of the pilot program. Aaron Parmet is the medical officer there. He joined us from Keystone.
