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Educators gather at the Capitol in Denver to protest cuts to federal funding

How President Trump’s first 100 days in office are being felt in Colorado’s classrooms and universities

By Jenny Brundin

Cups filled with crayons.

Colorado’s preschool program ranks high for enrollment, low for quality guardrails, report finds

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

homeless encampment with tents

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

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

ELIZABETH-SCHOOL-BOARD-ELECTION-JB

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

ICE FBI IMMIGRATION RAID COLORADO SPRINGS

Active duty military caught in immigration raid at makeshift night club in Colorado Springs, no criminal charges filed

By Allison Sherry and Dan Boyce

burned remains of a home destroyed by the Marshall Fire

Denver and Boulder agree to Xcel Energy’s roughly $1.9 billion plan to avoid sparking wildfires

By Ishan Thakore

A wren sings in a tree

During migration season, turn off your lights to help birds fly safe

By Arlo Pérez Esquivel

Sen. Robert Rodriguez stands at the lecturn at the front of the state Senate chambers

Government and Politics

Colorado lawmakers move to outlaw sexually exploitative AI images and video

By Megan Verlee

First spring hailstorm to arrive in metro Denver Thursday afternoon

A woman in a gray down winter coat stands with her arms spread in front of a UFO Watchtower tourist attraction.

Life and Culture

UFO Watchtower in the San Luis Valley famous for a horse skeleton and vortexes celebrates 25 years of aliens

A bottle of the MMR vaccine photographed in Lubbock, Texas, where a measles outbreak has sickened dozens.

Fourth measles case confirmed in Colorado in 2025, an adult in Denver

The Aurora GEO ICE detention facility

Judge orders feds not to remove Venezuelan men from Colorado

By Allison Sherry

Trump-DOGE-AmeriCorps-Things To Know

Government and Politics

‘I thought our site supervisor was joking’ — abrupt closure of AmeriCorps sends Colorado volunteers home, leaves community partners worried

A man in a purple button-down shirt stands in a scientific lab, holding a plant in front of him.

Colorado Wonders

Cannabis’ chemical properties hold promise and mystery

By Arlo Pérez Esquivel

Boxes of seized ammunition in a van

Fremont County traffic stop yields a van full of ammo

A white SUV sits in a car showroom with a Welcome to Volkswagen sign in the background.

From tariffs to the Colorado Auto Show, what to know about buying a car in today’s economy

By Sarah Mulholland

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