Colorado Matters

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Americans with autism experience substantial unemployment and underemployment. It’s what drives Danny Combs, the founder and CEO of the Englewood-based TACT, which helps students on the spectrum gain skills to work in fields like the automotive industry, carpentry and welding. Combs’ son Dylan is on the autism spectrum.

In cities and on farms, westerners use more Colorado River water than the river can provide. We talk with U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper, who’s pressing his colleagues downstream to devise a solution, before one’s forced onto them. Then, the uncertain future of Denver’s oldest commercial block, Larimer Square. Also, questions after the autopsy is released for a man who died in ICE custody in Aurora. Later, a state aroma?

From the founding of Colorado to modern mass shootings, there have been many changes to state gun laws over the years. CPR News public affairs reporters Bente Birkeland and Andrew Kenney explore how the past informs the present in the latest episode of Purplish. Then, Andy’s continued investigation into how the state’s red flag law affected a family in Denver.

Should people convicted of certain kinds of stalking, like when it happens online, be sent to prison?  Or does that violate free speech rights? The U.S. Supreme Court will consider this Colorado case. Then, the Postal Service’s historic ups and downs with CU-Denver historian Cameron Blevins, author of “Paper Trails: The U.S. Post and the making of the American West.”

Last week’s earthquake in Turkey brings back powerful memories for Turkish native Beyhan Maybach, of Lakewood. In 1999, Maybach was in Istanbul, when another earthquake toppled a nearby city and she joined the relief efforts. Then, an organization born out of the pandemic called “Lasagna Love.”

Two Black ranchers in rural El Paso County say they’re the victims of racist neighbors and law enforcement. The neighbors and the El Paso County sheriff’s office deny the claims. The ranchers have themselves been charged with felony stalking. Then, the music of Arum Rae, who grew up in Colorado Springs. Her new album, “Loose Ends,” was released this month.

They are places at risk of disappearing, even though they mean a lot to people. This time each year, a list comes out of Colorado’s most endangered spots. To tell us what’s considered vulnerable in 2023 are Katie Peterson, who directs the program for Colorado Preservation Inc., and Junita Martinez, of San Francisco, Colorado, in the San Luis Valley, who’s invested in one site in particular.

The Center for African and African American Studies, known as “the CAAAS (the cause),” officially launched this month at the University of Colorado Boulder. Then, Republican Representative Ken Buck talks with CPR’s Washington, D.C. reporter Caitlyn Kim about taking on big tech. Plus, “The Secret Comedy of Women.” And, the Colorado Repertory Jazz Orchestra celebrates Nat King Cole.