Colorado Matters

Hosted by Ryan Warner and Chandra Thomas Whitfield, CPR News' daily interview show focuses on the state's people, issues and ideas.
Airs Monday-Friday: 9 a.m.-10 a.m. & 7 p.m.-8 p.m.; Sundays: 10 a.m.-11 a.m.
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Latest Episodes

Wanted: Investors For Rural Start-Ups; A New Archive For Local Art; The Strange Friendship of Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill

If you think of places in Colorado where starts-ups are born, Boulder might come to mind for natural foods, Fort Collins for its beer and Denver as a tech magnet. A prominent venture capitalist wants to spread the love to Colorado’s rural areas. Small town starts-ups are our focus today in “The Disrupters,” coverage of entrepreneurship in the state. Then, the last time Grand Junction voters approved a property tax increase for schools, current high school seniors were in kindergarten. Civic leaders hope voters are ready for another. And, Denver’s changing so fast its history can be lost to newcomers, so artists are digging deep into the past to create and save new works. Then, the story of a strange friendship in the Old West. American Indians and white settlers often battled to the death, but Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill forged a bond. We speak with the author of the new book “Blood Brothers.”

Continued Uncertainty Over Health Care; What Amazon’s Denver Impact Might Look Like; Dance Library At University Of Denver

What does all the uncertainty in Washington mean if you’re signing up for health insurance — when open enrollment starts next week? Will the exchange be around long-term? We’ll ask the head of the state’s exchange. Then, to get an idea of what it would be like if metro Denver lands the second Amazon headquarters, we’ll look at Seattle, which landed the first. And, an unusual library in Colorado, not dedicated to books, but to dance. With personalities like the legendary square dance caller Cal Golden. Also, when two young adults meet at a summer computer camp, it’s not by accident — their parents are plotting an arranged marriage.

A Denver Man Watches Somali Horror On Social Media, Dancer’s New Show Honors Her Father, A Truck Driver’s Zen

Violence drove a Denver man to flee his native Somalia. Today he heads the Somali American Culture Center and watches the violence from afar, gathering aid for victims of this month’s grisly bombings in Mogadishu. Then, celebrated Denver choreographer Cleo Parker Robinson has broken a lot of barriers as a black dancer. Her late father was also a trailblazer, and he’s the inspiration for her latest show. Plus, a Boulder man collects some of his best stories behind the wheel of a big rig, including a white-knuckle drive down Loveland Pass. And, award-winning children’s author Avi, who lives in Steamboat Springs, sits down with a young reader.

Colorado Lends Firefighters And Engines To California; Asking Tourists To ‘Leave No Trace’; Legal Battle In The Film Industry

Colorado’s lending dozens of firefighters and engines to California; mental health workers to Puerto Rico; and medical examiners to Las Vegas. States often help each other out, but is the West prepared for a future with more natural disasters? Then, hikers aren’t supposed to leave garbage — or anything else — behind on trails, but Coloradans and visitors here still do. What the state’s doing to teach not just locals, but also tourists, to ‘leave no trace.’ And, the movies are big business, especially when it comes to where certain films get shown. It’s led to a legal battle based in Denver. Plus, on the first pages of a new novel, a high school student is murdered, and her body is discovered in a playground in the fictional town of Broomsville, Colorado.

The Struggle To Hire American; Assessing Landslides In Puerto Rico; Watchdog Group Shuts Down; Low-Cost Lift Tickets

The push to ‘Hire American’ has been a drumbeat of the Trump administration and the president signed an executive order encouraging it. But for one Denver company, it’s been a challenge to find workers. Then, in Puerto Rico, landslides cut off mountain communities after Hurricane Maria. Now, those communities are getting help from a team of scientists in Colorado that is mapping the slides to assist aid workers on the ground. And, as a government watchdog group in Colorado shuts down, we look at some ways individuals can spot and report government corruption. Also, Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs is viewed as the Holy Land of American ski jumping, but it’s losing money and the city thinks one dollar lift tickets could be the answer. Plus, bronze animal heads by China’s most famous — and controversial — artist go on display at Denver’s Civic Center park.

Puerto Rican Hurricane Refugee In Colorado; The Stars Aren’t Just Twinkling, They’re ‘Quaking’

Eight months ago, Rebecca Gutierrez and her husband bought a home in Puerto Rico, a dream that finally came true. Now, she’s living a nightmare. After two massive storms and nearly two weeks without power and clean water, Gutierrez left the island. She’s staying in Colorado with her niece. Then, the Colorado-built Kepler Space Telescope is giving an unexpected boost to the study of quakes in stars, or “asteroseismology.” Yes, that’s a thing. And later in the show, new chimes are ringing at the City and County building in Denver.

Why A Denver Curator Returned Nearly All Of His Museum’s American Indian Artifacts, Like A Scalp From The Sand Creek Massacre

A scalp from the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, where dozens of American Indians were murdered by Union soldiers, sat in the depths of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for decades. The Cheyenne and Arapaho asked for it back, and the museum returned it, but it took years. For the current curator of the museum, the episode raised the question: Who owns the past? His new book explores the fight to reclaim American Indian culture. Later in the show, why Boulder and Denver have the biggest “achievement gaps” among Colorado’s largest school districts.

Colorado Preps For An Electric-Vehicle Future; Aviation Hall of Fame Inductee; Ghoulish Halloween Ideas

General Motors says its working toward a future with only electric vehicles. But companies have to overcome people’s fear that electric cars will leave them stranded miles away from charging stations . Now Colorado’s government is trying to ease drivers’ “range anxiety.” Then, only white pilots could fly commercial airplanes until a Supreme Court ruling in 1963. The case came out of Colorado, when Marlon DeWitt Green applied to Continental Airlines. Green will be inducted this weekend into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame. Plus, rents are up in Denver, and evictions have followed. The city has launched new programs to keep people in their homes. And, Halloween’s around the corner. We have some ghoulish ideas to trick out your house or costume this year.

Staff

Tom Hesse.
Colorado Matters Western Slope Producer

Tom Hesse