
From prison to professors, breaking the cycle of recidivism and crime
Prisoners are becoming professors at Adams State University in Alamosa. The school has long taught incarcerated students through correspondence courses. Now it’s added classes in prisons, and hired an inmate as an adjunct, one of the first in the nation.

By Nell London

A gift that always fits? A book! Here are some recommendations with Colorado connections
This gift-giving season, Colorado Matters asked Emily Sinclair, owner of Paonia Books on Grand Avenue in Paonia, for recommendations of good reads with Colorado connections.

By Nell London

Thinking of swapping your lawn for a water-saving garden? This nonprofit has a ‘plant-by-numbers’ service to help
More than 10,000 Colorado households transitioned all or part of a grass lawn this year.

By Nell London

She marched with Dr. King, and her work for civil rights marches on to this day
Glenda Robinson, a minister at Second Baptist Church of Boulder, was selected by the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Colorado Holiday Commission to receive this year’s lifetime achievement award.

By Nell London

Images from Webb telescope highlight dancing galaxies and other cosmic marvels
Dancing galaxies and a dying double star are just some of the cosmic marvels spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope — whose optical system was built in Colorado by Ball Aerospace. NASA revealed its first images this week, providing a glimpse at the never-before-seen-universe. University of Denver astronomy professor Jennifer Hoffman helps us understand the unprecedented images.

By Nell London

Black climbing team makes history on world’s highest mountain
For the first time, an all-Black team of climbers summited Mt. Everest this spring. Eddie Taylor from Lafayette is one of the climbers and Phillip Henderson of Cortez led the effort, called “Full Circle Everest.”

By Nell London

She’s on a mission to help survivors of mass shootings
Sandy Phillips sees the pain caused by mass shootings through a very personal lens. Her own daughter Jessi was murdered, along with 11 others, at an Aurora movie theater in 2012. Phillips and her husband have been on the road ever since, crisscrossing the country.

By Nell London

A total lunar eclipse will turn the moon ‘blood red’
A lunar eclipse will turn the full moon blood red, but it’s also the first in a series of interesting celestial phenomena that will happen in the next few months. Astronomer Doug Duncan of CU Boulder talks about the lunar eclipse, a parade of planets and three super moons people will enjoy watching later this summer.

By Nell London

From drought-friendly, native plants to growing healthy tomatoes, your gardening questions, answered.
It’s go-time for gardeners. Mother’s Day signaled the start of the spring season for much of Colorado. And our listeners have saved up a winter’s-worth of questions for expert Fatuma Emmad. She’s founder of Frontline Farming, a community group that focuses on farming and education.

By Nell London

Inside the laboratory in Louisville that’s making ‘mind-boggling’ internet speeds possible
Shutdowns due to COVID-19 changed work and schools overnight, with Zoom meeting and Google classrooms becoming the norms. The technology that’s helped transform how we operate was created at CableLabs, a research facility in Louisville — it’s CEO, Phil McKinney, was recently named CEO of the Year by the Colorado Technology Association.

By Nell London

Preserving Latino history and culture in Colorado
There’s a growing effort to honor Hispanic history through preservation. The national group, “Latinos in Heritage Conservation” holds its biannual conference in Denver this week. Desiree Aranda is the group’s cofounder. Annie Levinsky is with Historic Denver.

By Nell London

Doctor shares personal journey overcoming chronic fatigue
Long-COVID may have something to teach us. Those lingering symptoms of muscle pain, brain fog, and exhaustion are familiar to people who haven’t had COVID — but who suffer from chronic fatigue– people who’re often told “it’s all in their heads.” Like Dr. Michael Gallagher, of Denver. He was a triathlete — contracted a common virus — seemed to get better — but wound up bedridden. Gallagher’s new book “Run Down” is out today. We spoke in December.

By Nell London

The symphony of sounds in nature
For hundreds of millions of years, nature was silent. No birds chirping, no insects buzzing. But then, things changed. That’s the subject of the new book, “Sounds Wild and Broken,” that follows the evolution of animal sounds. Biologist David George Haskell wrote much of it while living in Boulder.

By Nell London

Healthy ways to help your preschoolers sleep
Kids are more susceptible than adults to light, and that can interfere with their sleep. How to help them cope? Lauren Hartstein is a postdoctoral fellow with the Sleep and Development Lab at CU Boulder.

By Nell London

The ‘Little Black Book’ supports Black-owned businesses in metro-Denver
The pandemic was especially hard on Black-owned businesses. They suffered three times the declines seen by other ethnic and racial groups. At the same time, a publication that supports Black businesses in Denver has been on hold since the first shutdown. But now it’s back. The 2022 edition of the Little Black Book launched last week. Carla Ladd is the publisher.

By Nell London

New satellite will improve weather forecasts, climate science
The new GOES-T satellite is scheduled to launch into orbit on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Colorado’s Lockheed Martin built the satellite, which will improve weather forecasting and climate science. Adrian Cuadra is program director for Weather and Earth Science at Lockheed Martin.

By Nell London