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Three women dressed in extravagant white disco outfits sing on stage

Colorado Arts Spotlight: Local filmmakers debut pilot episodes at SeriesFest, DCPA and Pikes Peak Center announce upcoming shows, Governor’s Creative Leadership awards and more

By Lauren Antonoff Hart

Federal workers march in Denver.

Government and Politics

100 days into Trump’s presidency, and there’s still a lot we don’t know about federal layoffs in Colorado

By Sarah Mulholland

Colorado lawmakers approve voting rights bill, despite pushback from local officials

Lufthansa German Airlines A380 Lands At Denver Airport

Photos: World’s biggest passenger jet makes first scheduled Denver landing as Lufthansa begins service

By Hart Van Denburg

Stills from Busted, High Science, How I Met My Partner and Bad Indian

These Colorado filmmakers are hoping to make it big. SeriesFest in Denver is their first stop

By Lauren Antonoff Hart

Listen: Business in Little Saigon is a family matter. What happens when the next generation moves on?

By Paolo Zialcita

homeless encampment with tents

New report claims to have a more comprehensive look at scale of homelessness in Colorado

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

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

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

Byron White U.S. Courthouse in downtown Denver

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

By Allison Sherry

ELIZABETH-SCHOOL-BOARD-ELECTION-JB

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

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