text stringlengths 237 126k | date_download stringdate 2022-01-01 00:32:20 2023-01-01 00:02:37 ⌀ | source_domain stringclasses 60 values | title stringlengths 4 31.5k ⌀ | url stringlengths 24 617 ⌀ | id stringlengths 24 617 ⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3Q revenue, gross profit down for Louisville’s…
Gaia Inc. (Nasdaq: GAIA) reported dips in revenue and gross profit as part of third-quarter financial results released Monday. However, the Louisville-based media company also recorded a 10th straight quarter of positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
“The third quarter continued to be impacted by the trends that developed in the spring,” Paul Tarell, Gaia’s chief financial officer, said in a prepared statement. “Consumers shifted their attention and spending to travel and recreational activities, which affected our ability to cost-efficiently add new members. We also experienced elevated cancellations in March through July from members that joined us during the peak COVID periods in 2020 and 2021.
“While these cancellations began to dissipate in the second half of August, the combination of both headwinds impacted our member and revenue growth objectives in the quarter. We remain focused on continuing to attract and retain high lifetime value members, albeit at a lower volume, which allows us to focus on our long-term plan of growing a highly engaged community that generates significant cash flows over many years.” | 2022-11-09T22:17:47Z | www.dailycamera.com | 3Q revenue, gross profit down for Louisville's Gaia | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/09/3q-revenue-gross-profit-down-for-louisvilles-gaia/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/09/3q-revenue-gross-profit-down-for-louisvilles-gaia/ |
Billionaire plans liquidation of trio of…
Special purpose acquisition companies have one, well, special purpose, and that’s to merge with a privately held company and take it public.
“Since the closing of the company’s IPO, the company’s leadership has conducted a thorough search for the right target and evaluated a number of companies with the goal to complete an initial business combination that met its investment criteria,” the SPACs said in their disclosures.
“Further, the company’s leadership has carefully evaluated the current adverse market conditions, including a limited pool of public company-ready business combination partners, the overall decline in the SPAC market, high redemption rates of SPACs, increased regulatory uncertainty around SPACs and the deterioration of the [private investment in public equity] market. Considering these factors, and despite significant efforts to identify and complete an initial business combination, the company’s leadership does not believe that it will complete an initial business combination by March 16, 2023,” the two-year deadline for striking a merger deal. | 2022-11-09T22:17:53Z | www.dailycamera.com | Billionaire plans liquidation of trio of Boulder-based SPACs without merger deals | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/09/billionaire-plans-liquidation-of-trio-of-boulder-based-spacs-without-merger-deals/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/09/billionaire-plans-liquidation-of-trio-of-boulder-based-spacs-without-merger-deals/ |
Bailey Hertenstein leads CU Buffs cross country…
The Colorado cross country team didn’t set out to take advantage of transfers from the Big Ten to keep the program’s elite status in the Pac-12 Conference and nationally.
But it’s working out that way just fine.
The latest Big Ten castoff to find a comfortable, and successful, new home with coach Mark Wetmore’s program is Bailey Hertenstein, a former runner at Indiana who won the women’s Pac-12 championship two weeks ago while leading the CU women to the team title. The CU men’s and women’s teams will look to secure their spots at the national championships when they set off in the Mountain Regional championship on Friday in Albuquerque.
“My reason for transferring had more to do with my environment,” Hertenstein said. “I didn’t feel like I was meshing well at Indiana and I needed a better place for my mentality and mindset. When I chose Colorado, it was because I fell in love with the team, I fell in love with the girls and the coaches. I never looked back on my decision and I love it here. As they say, run happier, run faster.”
Last year the CU women’s distance runners were led by Abby Nichols, an Ohio State transfer who won the 2021 individual Pac-12 cross country title. The Buffs also featured middle distance runner Micaela DeGenero, a former Michigan runner who won the indoor one-mile national championship earlier this year for the Buffs.
Hertenstein said she was unaware of the Big Ten graduate transfer pipeline that had recently cropped up at CU, but learning about how Nichols and DeGenero were able to take the next step in their respective running careers after transferring only cemented her decision.
“I actually didn’t even know that Micaela and Abby were transfers from the Big Ten, and then I got here and found out,” Hertenstein said. “To see all the success and the growth that they had here definitely contributed to reinforcing the idea that I made a very good decision.”
Hertenstein leads a Buffs women’s team into the regional looking to build on the Pac-12 championship, while still leaving enough in the tank for the NCAA finals, which will be held Nov. 19 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Emily Covert (third) and Ella Baran (sixth) helped the Buffs post three top-six finishes at the conference championship.
The CU men, who finished second at the Pac-12 finals with five individual top-20 finishes, also will be looking to advance to the national championships. The top two teams, plus the top four individual finishers not from the top two teams, earn automatic berths in the championship. Two at-large individuals and 13 at-large teams from across the nine regional fields also will be selected for the national championships.
As always, the biggest challenge at regionals will be running a qualifying race while at the same time conserving enough energy for next week’s championships.
“My talk with the coaches has been just that. If I run my race, even if I have a bad day, that should still place me in the top 10 and not screw my team over,” Hertenstein said. “But I also want to make sure that I’m not going all-in and trying to win it, just to have NCAAs eight days later. So still finishing pretty high up, running a pretty good race is the plan.” | 2022-11-10T02:44:36Z | www.dailycamera.com | Bailey Hertenstein leads CU Buffs cross country into Mountain Regional – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/09/bailey-hertenstein-leads-cu-buffs-cross-country-into-mountain-regional/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/09/bailey-hertenstein-leads-cu-buffs-cross-country-into-mountain-regional/ |
Boulder County surveying to assess services for…
Boulder County Housing and Human Services is collaborating with the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability on a survey to assess services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism and brain injury.
Users of these services and their family members can take part in the survey, which can be found at boco.org/IDDSurvey, as well as phone interviews where they can share feedback on what’s working well and what can be improved.
“It’s the people closest to these services and supports who know what’s working and where there are opportunities to improve, and we are grateful for their help in this important assessment,” Rebecca Seiden, Program Coordinator for BCDHHS’ Intellectual and Developmental Disability Mill Levy Program, stated in a news release.
The assessment process is expected to yield insights on available resources, strengths, and opportunities for growth, and it will also help identify potential future uses for mill levy funding.
The public is invited to a virtual informational meeting from 1 to 2 p.m. Thursday. Anyone wishing to attend or request additional information may contact Rebecca Seiden at rseiden@bouldercounty.org or 720-564-2730. | 2022-11-10T02:44:42Z | www.dailycamera.com | Boulder County surveying to assess services for people with disabilities | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/09/boulder-county-surveying-to-assess-services-for-people-with-disabilities/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/09/boulder-county-surveying-to-assess-services-for-people-with-disabilities/ |
Colorado football notes: QB JT Shrout eager to…
Junior quarterback, receivers try to make up for loss of Jordyn Tyson
JT Shrout lost his most dangerous weapon last Saturday, but as the Colorado junior quarterback continues to gain experience, he’s confident that the Buffaloes’ passing game can find success even without Jordyn Tyson.
A dynamic freshman receiver, Tyson suffered a season-ending leg injury in Saturday’s 49-10 loss to now-No. 6 Oregon. Shrout, however, is eager to see the rest of the group perform. On Friday, the Buffs (1-8, 1-5 Pac-12) will visit No. 8 USC (8-1, 6-1) and they will look to several players, such as Montana Lemonious-Craig, RJ Sneed, Daniel Arias and more to step up at receiver.
“It’s a team effort, next man up kind of mentality you gotta have,” Shrout said. “I think all the guys are working their butts off for whenever their opportunity comes. I think that’s the way you’ve gotta approach it. I think there’s not necessarily going to be just one guy. I think it’s going to be a unit effort, but I’m excited to see those guys go to work this Friday.”
More importantly, they will look to Shrout to deliver them the ball.
After freshman Owen McCown was injured on Oct. 15 against California, Shrout came off the bench to lead the Buffs to a 20-13 overtime win. He then regained the starting job. Friday night will be his fourth consecutive start.
“I think I’ve grown a lot,” Shrout said. “I think there’s things that I’ve been able to learn from different experiences, all the way from game one to now. I think just preparing each week and trying to get better at something every day and just growing each time you have the opportunity to practice or to play.”
Shrout, 23, hasn’t played this much football since 2017, when he was a senior at Hart High School in California. This season, Shrout – and the rest of the Buffs – have had their struggles, but interim head coach Mike Sanford said the junior is making some positive strides as he settles in.
On the season, Shrout has completed 44.5% of his passes (73-of-164) for 976 yards, six touchdowns and six interceptions. He has set a new career high for passing yards each of the last three games.
“I think it just comes with more reps and just getting out on the field and getting timing down and stuff like that,” he said of his progress. “I think that definitely plays a part in it. And obviously, it just comes with us executing better each week and being more comfortable with one another.”
With opening day starter Brendon Lewis in the transfer portal and McCown now likely to redshirt, sophomore Drew Carter is the top backup. He has played three snaps, all designed run plays, but Sanford made it clear Shrout is the leader going forward.
“Drew’s making positive strides, but we certainly feel based off of the data that we have – spring ball, fall camp, everyday at practice – JT is the starting quarterback,” Sanford said.
Hello, friends
Once again, CU will square off against some former Buffs this week. Cornerback Mekhi Blackmon and receiver Brenden Rice both transferred from CU to USC last winter.
“I love both of those guys, man,” Lemonious-Craig said. “They’re really good friends off the field, but this week is business. I’m not really dealing with those guys for this week.”
Lemonious-Craig battled Blackmon in practice for two seasons at CU and added, “I’m looking forward to playing him. I can just leave it at that. I mean, (he’s) a good player. I’m excited to go out and compete against them and get the job done.”
Blackmon and Rice have both been in the starting lineup all season for the Trojans. Blackmon has 39 tackles, two interceptions and eight pass breakups, while Rice has caught 23 passes for 266 yards and a touchdown.
Following long days at the office Sunday and Monday, Sanford attended the CU men’s basketball game on Monday night. “It was good for me to just be able to get out for a second, see the world and then support what I believe is a tremendous culture that coach (Tad) Boyle has instilled,” Sanford said. … Sneed, a transfer from Baylor, has just 16 catches for 135 yards, but Sanford said, “I think RJ Sneed’s got to be a guy this week that we utilize a lot in the pass game.” | 2022-11-10T02:45:00Z | www.dailycamera.com | Colorado football notes: QB JT Shrout eager to see receivers step up – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/09/colorado-football-notes-qb-jt-shrout-eager-to-see-receivers-step-up/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/09/colorado-football-notes-qb-jt-shrout-eager-to-see-receivers-step-up/ |
“Independent jury trials of defendants Devan Schreiner and
involves, essentially, almost the same evidence,” the motion read. “Almost all the evidence admissible against one defendant is admissible against the other defendant because of their mutual concerted effort in planning, executing, and attempting to get away with the murder of Jason Schaefer.” | 2022-11-10T04:54:04Z | www.dailycamera.com | Judge keeps Longmont shooting defendants separate for trials | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/09/judge-keeps-longmont-shooting-defendants-separate-for-trials/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/09/judge-keeps-longmont-shooting-defendants-separate-for-trials/ |
With less than four weeks left in this Congress, now is the time for the Senate to pass the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (S. 673 and H.R. 1735). The JCPA was favorably reported out of Committee on September 22 with strong bipartisan support and now must head to the floor for a vote. The JCPA will hold tech giants accountable and provide a necessary lifeline for local papers, requiring Big Tech to compensate small and local outlets for the use of their content. | 2022-11-10T15:21:13Z | www.dailycamera.com | Editorial: Time is running out to save local news | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/10/editorial-time-is-running-out-to-save-local-news/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/10/editorial-time-is-running-out-to-save-local-news/ |
Guest opinion: Amy Rose: The case for enhanced…
By Amy Rose
The COVID-19 pandemic changed our lives. For the first time, we stayed home, heard the term “socially distance” and learned what that meant. Anthony Fauci became a household name. We donned masks, learned about Zoom, engaged in debates about vaccines and did our best to mitigate the risk of contracting COVID while maintaining some sense of normalcy. We were reminded of proper hand-washing techniques we learned as children. We stocked up on as much hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes as we could. We learned how much safer it is to gather outdoors.
Eventually, vaccines became available, and Omicron, which is generally less virulent than previous strains, became the dominant variant. The world started to reopen, travel restrictions were relaxed, as were vaccine requirements and mask mandates.
But, for those of us who are immunocompromised or care for young babies or elderly folks, the notion of spending time indoors without a mask is anxiety-provoking.
During my online DNP program at Duke University, I was required to attend an on-campus intensive. As a medical provider, I was nervous about traveling to North Carolina. This would mean spending time inside airports, planes, hotels and at the school. Knowing that the buildings and planes I would be spending time in met minimal requirements for indoor air quality would have given me peace of mind.
Dr. Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings Program at Harvard’s School of Public Health, reminded us that over one hundred years ago Florence Nightingale, the first nurse theorist, stressed the importance of fresh air and ventilation for tuberculosis patients. He also pointed out that prior to COVID, Americans were spending 90% of their time indoors. As such, indoor air quality should have been at the forefront of our minds. Unfortunately, most of us had not even heard the term “indoor air quality” until the pandemic hit.
While many of the building certifications and local minimum requirements for indoor air quality existed before COVID, a heightened awareness of how air inside buildings affects us has led to increasing demand for meeting minimal indoor air quality standards.
As a result, businesses are being forced to come up with the capital to retrofit existing equipment to meet minimum codes and pay for building certifications such as WELL and LEED.
One counterargument against improving indoor air quality comes from the building owners who must pay to meet these standards, especially if their buildings are still not fully occupied. On the other hand, not being able to provide the assurance of a healthy building could continue to hurt building occupancy rates and people’s health. In addition to mitigating the spread of COVID-19, healthy buildings also prevent the spread of other airborne illnesses and the resulting loss in worker productivity.
The application of political pressure, codification of minimum standards and requirement that all new buildings obtain certifications are a few of the action steps that will help ensure safe indoor air quality.
On October 11, 2022, President Biden hosted a Summit on Improving Indoor Air Quality where he brought together public health and ventilation experts who highlighted the importance of improved indoor air quality in mitigating the spread of COVID-19.
The Biden Administration also launched the “Clean Air in Buildings Challenge,” which is a call to action for building with a clear set of recommendations to improve indoor air quality. The administration provided schools, public buildings and state/local governments with billions of dollars. I guess you can say they’re putting their money where their mouth is.
As we return to life as we knew it before COVID, we can only hope that we will continue to employ healthy habits such as frequent hand-washing, outdoor gatherings and staying home when sick. To the extent that we may resume living 90% of our lives indoors, it is important to remember the lessons we have learned about indoor air quality and to advocate for regulations that are designed to protect us.
Amy Rose lives in Superior, Colorado and is a Family Nurse Practitioner. She is a candidate for her Doctorate of Nursing Practice degree at Duke University. | 2022-11-10T15:21:19Z | www.dailycamera.com | Guest opinion: Amy Rose: The case for enhanced indoor air quality standards | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/10/guest-opinion-amy-rose-the-case-for-enhanced-indoor-air-quality-standards/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/10/guest-opinion-amy-rose-the-case-for-enhanced-indoor-air-quality-standards/ |
Wana Brands CEO establishes $50M charitable…
Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer
Kitchen Manager John Gaida places a batch of gummies onto a tray after weighing them at Wana Brands in Boulder in August 2019. (Matthew Jonas / Staff Photographer)
Nancy Whiteman, CEO and co-founder of Boulder’s Wana Brands, has launched the Wana Brands Foundation, a $50 million charitable organization.
• A $2 million gift to Johns Hopkins University to benefit the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in support of cannabis and cannabinoid research, including the potential use of cannabinoids to treat autism.
• The foundation has committed to making a $1 million gift to the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, which focuses on how psychedelics affect behavior, mood, cognition, brain function, and biological markers of health.
• The foundation donated almost $160,000 to 16 local organizations working to end hunger in their communities.
• Almost $50,000 in donations to nonprofits focused on social justice, including the Reentry Initiative, Last Prisoner Project, Expunge Colorado, and National Expungement Works.
• A $25,000 grant to Realm of Caring, whose mission is to improve quality of life through cannabinoid research, educational services, and advocacy while creating global community connections.
• A$25,000 donation to the League of Women Voters Education Fund to support voter education and resources.
• After the King Soopers shooting in Boulder, the WBF donated funds to Animal Assisted Therapy Programs of Colorado for a memorial to the victims and survivors. | 2022-11-10T23:35:20Z | www.dailycamera.com | Wana Brands CEO establishes $50M charitable foundation | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/10/wana-brands-ceo-establishes-50m-charitable-foundation/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/10/wana-brands-ceo-establishes-50m-charitable-foundation/ |
Letters to the editor: Thank a caregiver this…
Angel Hoffman: Alzheimer’s: Let’s show caregivers our community supports them
To be clear, Alzheimer’s is a disease that takes a toll not just on those living with it, but their volunteer caregivers and our society as a whole. For example:
• The average voluntary caregiver provides over 27 hours of care per week.
• Across the U.S. in 2021, volunteer caregivers provided about 16 billion hours of unpaid care. At a value of $16.98/hour, that total ($271.6 billion) is more than 14 times McDonald’s revenue in 2020 ($19.2 billion).
• In Colorado in 2021, 159,000 volunteer caregivers provided 184 million hours of unpaid care valued at $3.7 billion.
If you know someone who is a family caregiver, please reach out and offer a hug, take them to coffee, rake leaves, lend an ear, etc. Let’s show we are a community that cares for family caregivers.
Angel Hoffman, regional director, Northern Colorado for the Alzheimer’s Association, Fort Collins
Paul G. Bursiek: Election: Difference between parties is how they use power
Yes, the name of the political game is power. The primary difference between Democrats and Republicans is how to use that power in dividing the money.
Democrats want to increase state and federal spending mainly for social welfare, such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, to fight climate change, etc.
Republicans, on the contrary, want to decrease spending and, in concert, reduce personal taxes. In short, Democrats will use power for the common good; Republicans will use it for personal gain.
Paul G. Bursiek, Boulder
Darin Barrett: Hugh McKean: We have lost a great friend, neighbor and representative
I first met Hugh when he ran for the Loveland City Council. I knew right away he had that down-to-earth philosophy with true values. Hugh was the guy that treated everybody fairly no matter who you were. He also had the ability to let others know he expected to be treated fairly and would not be taken advantage of.
During the 2013 flood, Hugh went into overdrive to do what he could to get our municipal water supply back online. Hugh championed a state law to allow hydroelectric power to be declared renewable energy. I had told him the federal government had done this for years, why was Colorado oblivious? Hugh worked to change all that with House Bill 1052 which was signed into law last April. This will not only benefit people in Loveland but all over the front range of Colorado.
The future will bring problems that we must all face regardless of politics. We all live here, breathe the same air, use the same roads, water and energy, and pay the same taxes. We see the same problems. We need people that arrive at realistic solutions. | 2022-11-11T18:45:20Z | www.dailycamera.com | Letters to the editor: Thank a caregiver this month; the difference between parties; losing a friend and representative | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/11/letters-to-the-editor-thank-a-caregiver-this-month-the-difference-between-parties-losing-a-friend-and-representative/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/11/letters-to-the-editor-thank-a-caregiver-this-month-the-difference-between-parties-losing-a-friend-and-representative/ |
Eldora's president and General Manager Brent Tregaskis celebrates opening day for the 60th season of skiing and snowboarding at Eldora Resort on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. Eldora opened a week earlier than originally planned due to favorable conditions for snow making and consistent cooler temperatures in November. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer) | 2022-11-11T18:45:33Z | www.dailycamera.com | Photos: Eldora Opens for 60th Season a Week Early – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/11/photos-eldora-opens-for-60th-season-a-week-early/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/11/photos-eldora-opens-for-60th-season-a-week-early/ |
Boulder County eyes website capacity in wake of…
Boulder County elections officials plan in future voting to test their website’s capacity for visitors, using trend data from current and previous election nights, to avoid problems such as those that occurred this week.
For a few hours Tuesday night, Boulder County residents could not access the county’s new election page to view election returns due to a crash caused by an overwhelming volume of traffic which coincided with the county clerk’s office preparing to upload more returns.
About 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Boulder County Clerk Molly Fitzpatrick tweeted about the website’s loading error, directing people to the Colorado Secretary of State’s website, where unofficial results are also available. Fitzpatrick tweeted again later letting people know the website issue began about 8:45 p.m. — during the county’s second update — when website traffic also spiked. The website was restored about 9:45 p.m., she added.
Folks – We are aware our results page is having loading issues for many people and are trying to resolve the issue. In the meantime, please go to the CO SOS site where we also upload results:https://t.co/4KSGihyoG2
The Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s Office worked with the county’s cybersecurity program Tuesday night to establish that the crash was caused the traffic surge and was not a cybersecurity issue, wroe Mircalla Wozniak, spokesperson for the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s Office, in an email.
Wozniak said this is the first year the county has created an entire section on its website devoted to explaining the election night, which includes election return results. Previously, the county has released expected ballot posting schedules to the media and candidates, but given the increasing public interest in elections and ballot processing, it added the new section to the website, Wozniak said.
Moving forward, the county intends to test the website’s capacity for visitors by the use of trend data from current and previous election nights to estimate the capacity it will need for future elections, wrote Ben Edelen, Boulder County security and compliance manager, in an email. It will also scale up the computing power of the system so that it can handle more than the anticipated traffic.
“We will repeat this process every year to stay on top of the trend of increasing community engagement with our web resources,” he wrote. | 2022-11-12T03:39:24Z | www.dailycamera.com | Boulder County eyes website capacity in wake of election return crashes | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/11/boulder-county-eyes-website-capacity-in-wake-of-election-return-crashes/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/11/boulder-county-eyes-website-capacity-in-wake-of-election-return-crashes/ |
Women’s basketball: Impressive debut sparks…
University of Colorado’s Brianna McLeod shoots in the Adams State game on Nov. 1, 2022.(Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
It was only 10 minutes, 18 seconds of playing time, but it was enough to boost the confidence of Colorado women’s basketball freshman Brianna McLeod.
Through months of preseason practice, McLeod got the work she needed to prepare for her first season of college basketball, but Monday’s 85-55 victory against New Mexico State assured her that she belonged.
“It definitely did help,” she said, “just because I feel like it was kind of hard in practice to gauge, ‘Oh, am I really gonna help? Or am I just kind of like another person on the team?’ I think (the New Mexico State game) was good for me. I think it was also good for my confidence, too, being the first freshman off the bench. I think I did pretty good.”
A 6-foot-3 forward from Brampton, Ontario, McLeod is one of four true freshmen for the Buffaloes and was the first off the bench in the season-opening win. She scored six points on 3-of-5 shooting, pulled down three rebounds and blocked two shots.
As the Buffs prepare for Saturday’s home matchup with Jackson State, McLeod is hoping her debut was a good sign of things to come, but exactly how she fits into the rotation remains to be seen.
“I’m still kind of adjusting and kind of figuring out, like, where I can impact this team, compared to what I used to do in high school,” she said. “It’s been pretty good though.”
McLeod played high level basketball in Canada, averaging 12.0 points and 8.0 rebounds as a senior last year.
“It was really elite competition,” she said. “It was really fun playing with all those girls and I made a lot of friends and I’m just seeing a lot of them go to different schools in the States. I have friends at Iowa State, Villanova, Rice; so it’s actually really fun.”
Like a lot of freshmen, McLeod has a lot to learn as a college player, but CU head coach JR Payne is excited about what McLeod could become because of her exceptional athleticism.
“I think Bri is gonna be a great player,” Payne said. “I think she’s just got a ton of untapped potential. … She’s just young in basketball. I think as she transitions to this level that’s just so fast and so physical, she’s kind of a sponge and wants to learn. Someone like (senior Quay Miller) will coach her up on the sidelines and help her develop.”
Being young and learning from others is actually a comfortable situation for McLeod, who is the youngest of 10 children in her family.
“My siblings, they’re also a lot older than me and I kind of feel that sometimes on the team,” she said. “I feel like we have so much veterans, and then there’s me. I feel like sometimes I’m just still trying to find my way and I just make little mistakes. It kind of just relates to how it was at home.”
And, just like at home, McLeod has a strong support system with the Buffs. Payne, her staff and the veteran players are helping her develop and adjust to college. Meanwhile, mom and dad are still guiding their youngest child from afar.
“I’ve always kind of just been the baby of the family,” she said. “It was kind of hard when I left because I was the last kid and my parents were really protective over me. So I talk to them almost every morning as I walk to class. They always call me.”
No doubt they heard about her impressive debut as she continues develop with the Buffs.
“That’s one of the main reasons I came to America for basketball, because I know the competition’s better here,” she said. “It’s new for me playing against taller players, especially in practice, and people who are just as good or even better than me. It’s really been a challenge, but I’ve been liking it.”
Jackson State Tigers at CU Buffs women’s basketball
TIPOFF: Saturday, 2 p.m., CU Events Center.
RECORDS: Jackson State 0-1; Colorado 1-0.
COACHES: Jackson State — Tomekia Reed, 5th season (78-38). Colorado — JR Payne, 7th season (95-84; 196-197 career)
KEY PLAYERS (2021-22 stats): Jackson State — G Miya Crump, 6-1, Sr. (9.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.1 apg); G Jariyah Covington, 5-5, Sr. (8.7 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 2.8 apg); G Keshuna Luckett, 5-8, Sr. (8.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.9 apg); F LaMirale Sims, 6-1, Sr. (4.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg); F Daja Woodard, 6-3, Sr. (7.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg). Colorado — G Frida Formann, 5-11, Jr. (7.5 ppg, 1.7 rpg); C Quay Miller, 6-3, Sr. (10.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg); G Jaylyn Sherrod, 5-7, Sr. (8.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 3.8 apg); C Aaronette Vonleh, 6-3, So. (4.1 ppg, 1.6 rpg at Arizona); G Kindyll Wetta, 5-9, So. (4.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.8 apg).
NOTES: This is first game of the preseason WNIT, a four-team event that also includes Louisiana and Texas Tech. CU and Jackson State will head to Lubbock, Texas, next week to complete the round-robin event. … CU has never played Jackson State. … The Buffs have won 26 consecutive non-conference home games, dating back to an 81-75 loss to Dartmouth on Dec. 11, 2017. … Under Payne, the Buffs are 39-2 in non-conference home games. … CU is seeking its fifth consecutive 2-0 start. … Reed has led Jackson State to the last three Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) regular season titles. She has also taken the Tigers to three SWAC tournament title games, and it might have been four had the 2020 tournament not been canceled because of COVID-19 (JSU was the No. 1 seed). … The Tigers won the SWAC tournament the last two years to get into the NCAA Tournament. … Jackson State opened its season Wednesday with a 91-59 loss at North Carolina. … The Tigers’ non-conference schedule is loaded, with eight of 10 games against Power 5 opponents, including Texas Tech, UCLA, Oregon State, Missouri, Texas and Washington State. … JSU doesn’t play at home until game No. 8, Dec. 14 against Texas. … JSU freshman Shelomi Sanders is the daughter of Tigers head football coach Deion Sanders. | 2022-11-12T03:40:07Z | www.dailycamera.com | Women’s basketball: Impressive debut sparks confidence in CU Buffs’ freshman Brianna McLeod – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/11/womens-basketball-impressive-debut-sparks-confidence-in-cu-buffs-freshman-brianna-mcleod/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/11/womens-basketball-impressive-debut-sparks-confidence-in-cu-buffs-freshman-brianna-mcleod/ |
Community Editorial Board: Colorado’s ‘clean…
Members of our Community Editorial Board, a group of community residents who are engaged with and passionate about local issues, respond to the following question: Xcel plans to retire the last of its coal power plants, Comanche 3, by 2030. The move will usher in a new reliance on clean energy for 1.5 million people across Colorado, including Boulder County. Your take?
Only the most obstinate climate change-denial fossil still thinks coal is good. But its demise is no panacea: The “clean energy” sources we will rely on after coal is buried in history have their own issues to face.
There is more to evaluating energy sources like solar and wind than just the amount of carbon they release. How efficient are they? What are their by-products, and thus their impact? How expensive are they? How safe is the underlying technology? The answer to these and other questions must be balanced in thinking about the deployment of any of them (or a mix of them) in particular communities with particular needs.
Two other sources come to mind that we do not hear a lot about, but which seem to hold substantial promise. However, they are both politically nightmarish, especially in places like the People’s Republic.
The first is nuclear energy. The technology is solid, its efficiency is high and its carbon footprint low (apart from still-needed progress in waste disposal), and it is relatively cheap after the initial investment. But it is a non-starter, both because it will take significant time and money at this point to get it online, and because public and private support for nuclear is really low, despite the actual science.
The second potential source, bioenergy, is even more promising. And sadly, more politically fraught.
Bioenergy goes far beyond the Krebs Cycle (the memorization bane of biochemistry students everywhere). As you read these words your retinal cells are rapidly changing light energy into chemical energy and, ultimately, into electrical energy that your brain interprets as “sight.” Indeed, a vast swath of our biological makeup beyond vision that is selected over centuries of evolution is dedicated to, or dependent on, capturing or deploying energy in useful ways. With our current genetic tools, we should take advantage.
Most people aren’t aware that the Human Genome Project was largely underwritten by the U.S. Department of Energy. The DOE recognized not only the promise of bioenergy but also the power of emerging genetic technologies that could turn that promise into reality. So they placed a big bet on the energy stored in biological molecules — and technology to free it — to meet our global needs.
I think we will hear more about bioenergy as other sources succeed only partially or fail outright. I also suspect we will see a wrong-headed anti-genetic engineering pushback that will make current anti-coal rhetoric look tame.
I welcome the news that Colorado has set the goal of reducing its emissions by 80% by 2030. By closing the Comanche 3 plant, we are one step closer to that goal. However, the decision is bittersweet for me, as I have a few concerns about the decision.
As an immigrant, a Latino, and the son of working-class parents, upon reading the news, my thoughts first went to the working community in Pueblo. Once the plant closes, how are the workers going to put food on the table? How is the economy going to transition away from its dependency on the plant, like the jobs and property taxes it generates? Champagne progressives will complain about the pollution the factory generates for the community, and call it environmental racism. However, coming from a low-income background, I could bet money most of those families are concerned about how they are going to put food on the table more than anything else.
The silver lining is that Xcel plans to pay taxes to Pueblo until 2040 to help the transition of the Pueblo economy. However, I’m skeptical of this plan, as details haven’t been released yet. And since when can taxes replace a full industry? Even if “green” projects come into town, those workers may require training and help to transition into the demands of their new positions. I don’t see a scenario where the taxes meet all of the demands of such a large transition and most of the workers (and their families by extension) are not left behind. Especially considering it will be their City Council managing the money. Maybe I’m a cynic, but I’ve seen working people get screwed enough during my lifetime that it’s hard for me to imagine any other scenario.
Furthermore, utility bill costs are expected to continue to climb. Customers from Xcel are expected to pay more because of Xcel’s expanding energy grid that includes upgrades to its natural gas facilities. In the ongoing fight against climate change, it is low-income people who are being left behind by not making equity the main point of policies. This, combined with wind turbines that are aging fast, and the lack of clarity on Xcel’s dependency on natural gas to supply reliable power (when renewable sources fluctuate with the weather) raise worries about the viability of this endeavor.
There are few topics as complicated and essential as energy, as encapsulated by President Biden’s comments on Friday to the 27th Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27). To paraphrase, he laid out how the past eight years have been the warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization. He highlighted the devastating natural disasters that have befallen the United States: historic droughts and wildfires in the West and devastating hurricanes and storms in the East. He acknowledged climate refugees from around the world, food insecurity and flooding as a result of historic rains. And then he explained how those events are all tied to climate change and outlined the aggressive steps his administration is taking — from rejoining the Paris Agreement, to investing in our nation’s infrastructure to expanding public transportation to stimulating the development of clean energy — to significantly reduce carbon emissions.
What does this have to do with the Comanche plant and Xcel Energy’s stated commitment to divest from carbon emissions by 80% by 2030 and to be completely carbon-free by 2050? The devil is in the details.
And I am not qualified to offer specific details or opinions on what should happen at the coal-fired power plant in Pueblo. However, I do want government and industry to do a better job of safeguarding our natural resources, including clean air and water. I want them to take responsibility for reducing emissions in a meaningful way instead of dumping that responsibility on individuals, who could never ride their bikes enough to make even a dent in the pollution that literally threatens our future. I recently learned that the concept of a “carbon footprint” was coined by British Petroleum to put the onus of reducing carbon emissions on individuals, an impossible task. Those in charge, from the president to the head of Xcel to the governor of Colorado, need to do more than just speak eloquently about doing our part to reduce emissions. They need to set specific goals, have accountability metrics in place, penalize those who fail to hold up their end of the bargain and wrangle the smartest energy workers — from researchers working on renewables to analysts to policymakers to economists — to come up with salient plans that will best safeguard our health and accelerate the transition away from carbon-based energy. | 2022-11-12T16:25:39Z | www.dailycamera.com | Community Editorial Board: Colorado's clean energy future | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/12/community-editorial-board-colorados-clean-energy-future/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/12/community-editorial-board-colorados-clean-energy-future/ |
Letters to the editor: Envisioning a better…
Ron Dickson: Energy: Envisioning a better, energy-efficient future is important
Coal, oil and gas have enabled global economic development over the past century and have greatly contributed to the quality of life we enjoy today. However, the benefits have not been without cost and we must acknowledge the downsides of the world’s primary energy resource.
Price volatility, supply insecurity, boom and bust cycles, geopolitical tensions, and contamination of air, water and land are also part of the fossil fuel story. More recently, we’re acutely aware of the long-term detrimental effects of climate change caused by fossil fuels. Severe drought, wildfires and extreme weather events are accelerating here in Colorado, around the country, and the world.
When the costs of a given approach become unacceptably high, it’s rational to seek alternatives. When it comes to energy, there are many. They aren’t all currently available at scale, but with the right vision and incentives, a combination of wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, nuclear and hydrogen-based energy sources could eventually supplant our dependence on fossil fuels. Rebalancing our energy mix implies change, but change can be a good thing. Who among us would undo the retrofitting of the world’s cities to indoor plumbing a century ago?
Jeannine Harrington: COVID: Humans are not meant to be locked down
I read Ms. Baris’ letter to the editor lamenting that we can’t be over the pandemic and go back to normal and that we must remember the heroes who died from COVID. The list of COVID victims also includes small businesses and school children and young adults just beginning careers, but leaving that aside for another day, I will add to Ms. Baris’ thoughtful memorial.
Some might have died from complications related to the unprecedented and unscientific lockdowns that blocked humans from engaging in the necessary-for-life connections through touch and the flow of energy which happens when sitting next to a loved one, holding hands, laughing and loving. Not to be confused with people who very sadly passed from COVID, these alternate victims of COVID could have died thinking their families had abandoned them or that there was really no reason to fight the aches and pains of old age to get out of bed and carry on since they couldn’t even see their friends in the room next door let alone their families outside the residential facilities.
Let’s not forget these locked-up, mostly elderly folks, as I surely won’t forget the tragic ending for the two elderly women my children and I loved. My fervent hope is that these elderly heroes I speak of will be a guide for the future, for the medical profession, for governors, for presidents, for health commissioners. In my opinion, humans are not made to be locked down, forbidden to touch and share smiles and love.
Jeannine Harrington, Boulder
Deborah Stucklen: Housing: Homes should not be so expensive
Seeing downtown apartments built in Loveland, made me think of the senior renters living close to food markets and other basic needs and what a blessing this is.
Now imagine you’re a widow near 90. You manage to have food delivered and can go with a walker down the elevator to get your mail. You can barely afford to pay the rent, but you don’t want to be shut away in a “rest home.” You worked hard all your life as long, as you possibly could.
Now your rent will be raised by $235 a month. What can you do without to pay the extra $2,800 a year? Will you become homeless?
We’re told America is the richest country in the world. Why do we never have enough for the basic needs of the poorest among us, but we can afford to spend over half our federal budget on war and tax breaks for billionaires?
Housing, whether homes for sale or rentals should just not be that expensive.
Deborah Stucklen, Loveland | 2022-11-12T16:26:04Z | www.dailycamera.com | Letters to the editor: Envisioning a better future; humans are not meant to be locked down; homes should not be so expensive | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/12/letters-to-the-editor-envisioning-a-better-future-humans-are-not-meant-to-be-locked-down-homes-should-not-be-so-expensive/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/12/letters-to-the-editor-envisioning-a-better-future-humans-are-not-meant-to-be-locked-down-homes-should-not-be-so-expensive/ |
Danielle Poitras, left, and Cassie Smith, participate in a focus group on Nov. 3. Naropa University focus groups met to give the Naropa community input on the newly proposed practice statements/mission and vision that tie into the new Mission, Culture, and Inclusive Community division.(Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
Boulder community members and Naropa University students and employees sat in clusters earlier this month as they each took turns sharing ideas and stories. They also reflected on what the university’s values mean to them and how they can be expanded and incorporated into everyday practices.
Jamelah Zidan, an inclusive community manager at Naropa, worked in a small group during the community input session and asked questions like “I embrace rigor as the path to excellence, but how do you make that a reality and what does that even mean?”
As much as she hates the word, she said the best way to describe the task of the day was to make the university’s seven values “actionable.”
“Having guidelines for culture and behavior, requires everyone to believe in it,” Zidan said. “We don’t want to be the kind of place that is like top down, you will all wear a uniform. We want it to be a thriving community.”
Ever since the founding of Naropa’s new Mission, Culture, and Inclusive Community division, that’s been the mission — to create tangible practices that reflect Naropa’s values like the community input day Zidan attended.
“Just like meditation practice, we have to keep coming back to what the big vision is, what is the culture that we’re ultimately trying to create, and you have to have discipline to stay engaged in that conversation year in and year out,” said Regina Smith, vice president of the MCIC division.
To be that ever-present reminder of Naropa’s diversity, equity and inclusion values, the division was formed in 2020 and united four departments that represent various teaching including sustainability, racial justice, conflict resolution, and contemplative education.
“Those of us who I say are practitioners always understood that those things are not different — that earth justice is related to social justice, that how we relate to the planet is equally related to how we relate to people and that’s very much intertwined with how we relate to ourselves,” Smith said. “We were looking to create a more effective, but also a more efficient way of running our institution.”
The four departments that comprise the MCIC are: the Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion or (JEDI) unit; the Restorative Community Institute; the Joanna Macy Center for Resilience and Regeneration; and the Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education. Although, each department has its own specialty, their mission is the same: to create a better world.
“I imagine this division as a circle of leaders who are holding hands, and we are protecting kind of this gem, and the gem that we’re protecting, is the mission of Naropa,” Smith said.
“Because, I think there’s always going to be pressure to value profit over people, there’s always going to be pressure to do the next big thing, especially right now we’re in this crisis where I think our culture is questioning the relevance and the value of a degree.”
A melding of practices
A heightened focus on racial injustice at Naropa University, in 2020 led to birth of the MCIC division, sparked to life in about 2015.
During that time, a student-led protest called “Decolonized Commons,” occurred on campus and called out institutional racism at Naropa. This movement led the university to begin reevaluating its practices to address the “I’s of oppression:” institutional, ideologic, interpersonal, and internalized, wrote Seann Goodman, director of the MCIC, in an email.
“I would like to see a Naropa in the future that reflects the diversity of our nation and the state of Colorado,” he wrote. “We believe the actions we are creating at a personal level through grounded contemplative practice will impact sound and right relationships across human networks which will then lead to planetary healing for the sake of all beings, human and non-human.”
In 2020, similar sentiments from years before echoed across Naropa as the Black Lives Matter Movement saw a resurgence and after the death of George Floyd, who was murdered by a police officer while in custody in Minneapolis, Minn., in May 2020. Once again, students called on the university to reinvest in diversity, equity and inclusion, catalyzing the formation of the MCIC, Smith said.
In the division, each department has its own focus. The JEDI unit, which is led by Smith, is focused on social justice work; Restorative Community Institute is centered on trying to repair harm, while both the Joanna Macy Center for Resilience and Regeneration and the Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education are grounded in Naropa’s contemplative work.
“I think it’s unique for one center to be holding both the inner, the outer, the interpersonal, and the more than human relational and see them as intertwined,” Smith said. “It’s like none of us are free, unless we’re all free and that includes the earth, that includes plants and animals.”
As part of the MCIC division’s work, it took the first stab at updating Naropa’s mission statements, and unveiled its seven values or the “Naropa Community Compass” this year. A few of the values include fostering lifelong learning, meaningful lives and success for students and graduates; and building a culture of belonging and challenging systems of oppression that undermine human dignity.
Jamelah Zidan, left, listens to Regina Smith at a Collective Imagining workshop at Naropa University on Nov. 2. Naropa has formed a new Mission, Culture, and Inclusive Community, after the murder of George Floyd.(Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
In order to bring these words to life, Naropa’s community input day gave employees, students and Boulder community members, the opportunity to come together to expand on the seven values that will guide internal practices at Naropa, Smith said. The hope is to bring a finalized draft of internal facing practices back to Naropa’s board in February with the goal of announcing them next fall.
“We’re really charged with operationalizing the mission of Naropa University and really making tangible practices and offerings and ways for the community to engage in embodying the purpose and the mission and the vision and the values of the institution,” Smith said.
‘An ongoing journey’
Before joining Naropa in 2021, Zidan worked as an elementary school teacher.
With children came conflict, and with conflict came learning about conflict resolution.
Now as Naropa’s inclusive community manager for the Restorative Community Institute, Zidan has learned that conflict resolution at a higher education institution is more complicated, she said.
“There is a fear of conflict,” she said. “A lot of (what I do) is coaching around compassionate boundaries.”
In society, people are ready and willing to “cancel” someone or throw them out if they do something wrong, Zidan said. That doesn’t create a community that cares for each other — not just at Naropa but everywhere, she said.
The Restorative Community Institute works to change that culture by shifting the idea away from the preconception that conflict is bad and instead helping individuals take responsibility for their actions, discussing ways to repair harm by talking about what causes it, Zidan said.
“Increasing diversity and collective liberation guarantees there will be conflict,” Zidan said.
In order to participate in conflict resolution, people can request to meet with Zidan or one of the department’s handful of volunteers. The Restorative Community Institute has also gone into classes to talk about repairing harm. The institute receives about three to five requests a week, she said.
“The important thing about restorative work is, it’s fully voluntary,” Zidan said. “If one party does not want to be involved then we don’t force anyone.”
Similar to the work being done by the Restorative Community Institute, the JEDI unit works to introduce people to contemplative practices like meditation or mindfulness to help them learn not just about accepting others but themselves. In order to help do that, the unit created a course called the JEDI 100 course, which all Naropa employees have completed and all new hires do as part of Naropa’s onboarding process, said Smith, who leads the JEDI unit.
The Naropa Improv Dance Choir performs the “In the Moment” dance on October 11. Naropa University’s Community Practice Day Fall 2022 celebrated Art as Revolution. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
“This (course) introduces folks to contemplative practices, which help us to engage in the difficult work of JEDI — how to work with your emotions and the importance of working with your emotions in this work, but also understanding your social identity, (and) understanding the power that comes with your social identity, Smith said.
Employees can also participate in the weekly Consciousness Cafe courses held both virtually and in-person. These workshops are led by employees who have completed the initial JEDI training and who have also become what Naropa calls JEDI ambassadors.
“I think that’s also radical, right? Smith said. “Because it’s not just these experts — someone like me — that’s been doing this work for 10 years coming in and teaching. Staff is often collaborating from different departments to offer something.”
Somewhat new to the JEDI ambassador program is Evey Healy, Naropa University’s assistant director of admissions operations.
Healy was asked to be an ambassador after she began incorporating JEDI work that she learned while in school at Naropa into her everyday work as admissions director, she said. Originally from the inner city of Philadelphia, Pa., Healy, was surrounded by diversity, and thought she didn’t need to think much about DEI as much someone from a rural area.
“As part of my education, I realized that was so far from true,” Healy said. “It was an incredible learning experience.”
In her day-to-day role, Healy works with her staff on JEDI values that she learned in school and in the Consciousness Cafes she attends and has led. While working with staff or training new employees, she said it’s important to have open-ended conversations — to listen and be available to answer questions and to help guide staff with the difficult questions that prospective students may pose.
“One question (counselors) get a lot is ‘I know Boulder is a super-white community. I am a person of color, am I going to feel safe at Naropa?’ Healy said. “That is a very important question and it’s true. Boulder is predominantly white. It’s important to have a solid statement of ‘This is a safe place.'” ]
Another spoke in the wheel of what is the MCIC as Carla Burns likes to describe it, is the Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education.
The focus of this department is rooted in Naropa’s founding mission: contemplative practice and contemplative education, meaning how the university looks at itself; how it sees restorative justice and equity and inclusion work; and the way it cares for people and the world around it, said Burns, program manager for the center.
“A lot of my job entails offering contemplative training around education and pedagogy, making sure that we are focusing on these practices and how we are innovating these practices,” she said.
Naropa integrates contemplative practices by hosting events like a Community Practice Day, held once a semester to give Naropa employees, students and community members the ability to practice what they’re taught. The Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education is also in charge of hosting a lunar new year celebration and conserving and caring for unique spaces on campus like its Japanese tea house, Burns said.
“These artifacts have a deeper or religious meaning,” she said. They are being constantly infused with the way we practice. It’s really up to us to keep them alive and flourishing so that other generations can practice.”
Complementary to Burns’s work at the center, is the Joanna Macy Center for Resilience and Regeneration, which is charged with incorporating three concepts from Joanna Macy — a Buddhist scholar — into its essential work. The practices are: holding actions; life sustaining systems and practices; and shifts in consciousness, said Michael Bauer, director of the Joanna Macy Center, which now comprises Naropa’s sustainability office.
Bauer said the first practice — holding actions, aims to slow down the damage caused by the “business as usual” mentality. Life sustaining systems and practices refers to co-creating and redesigning renewable energies and food systems to help people be more self-sustaining; and the last practice — shifts in consciousness — is about moving away from ego-centric beliefs and learning from Indigenous nations.
“Those three dimensions (or practices) have to happen simultaneously,” he said. “It’s a revolution that’s on par with the agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution. It’s just as significant and just as impactful.”
To put these practices to work, one project the Joanna Macy Center is involved in is a pollinator initiative with Boulder, the University of Colorado Boulder and the Goss-Grove neighborhood. The project will create the first pollinator corridor in the city.
“When we do the planting, we almost always make it a contemplative practice,” Bauer said. “We thank the seeds. We acknowledge their value.”
Bringing the four departments together to form the division has been useful to give employees and students the opportunity to talk about the practices and work being done by each department all at once, Bauer said. This also instills the mindset that everyone can work together to change the world, Bauer added.
“It can sometimes seems like an everything but the kitchen sink approach, but that’s why we’re extremely disciplined with our approach,” he said. “As humans, especially in the west, we like things to be one thing. It makes things easier. The problem with that is you miss the synergies. It’s cutting edge — it’s actually experimental.
Luna Losal talks about issues brought up in a Naropa University workshop Nov. 2. Naropa formed a new Mission, Culture, and Inclusive Community division after George Floyd was murdered while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minn., in May 2020. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer) | 2022-11-12T16:26:10Z | www.dailycamera.com | 'Embodying' the mission: Naropa University creates Mission, Culture, and Inclusive Community division | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/12/naropa-university-putting-values-into-practice/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/12/naropa-university-putting-values-into-practice/ |
Editorial: The election is over, but our work…
The election is over. The results aren’t all in, but, at this point, we can’t change any outcomes. So, now we must wait patiently for the county clerk and recorder to finish counting every vote.
In the meantime, though, while we wait for the final results of our most contested local issues — the formation of a library district and the repeal of the CU South annexation agreement — we can begin the process of reconciliation.
These issues, among many others locally and nationally, were fiercely fought. Citizens around Boulder put their time and energy and hearts into campaigning for things they believed in. Even though many of these contests were driven by the genuine belief that a particular outcome would benefit the entire community, frustration and animosity were still stirred. Like in all elections, things got heated. But in this political climate — when 81% of Democrats believe Republicans would destroy America, and 79% of Republicans think the same of Democrats, according to an NBC poll — heated has a new meaning.
Now, though, it is time to cool off and remember that it takes a village — for new schools to be built, for wildfire prevention to protect our homes, for elected officials to succeed, for our community to thrive. As we digest the results we do know and begin plotting our course into the future, let’s do so with an eye toward this truth: This is our community and we have to continue working together to make it stronger.
It’s no surprise that voters in Boulder and Boulder County resoundingly passed a handful of climate and wildfire mitigation taxes, as well as an emergency services tax. Each of these measures is designed to keep developing Boulder into a more resilient place to live and play, while also maintaining the health of our natural environment.
The renewal of the county transportation tax was another big win for our community, as it will continue to provide valuable transportation services to those who need them while also providing funding for more bike lanes and trails.
The latest unofficial results show each of these issues passing with at least 70% of the vote. We have seen the devastating effects of climate change, and we understand that there is no better time than now to invest in a resilient future.
On a night when election deniers and fearmongers were roundly rejected, the passage of city Question 2E was another heartening sign that we are determined to protect our democracy. The measure, which moves our municipal elections to even years when voter turnout is much higher, will help to ensure that our local government represents the whole of our community.
The passage of BVSD’s bond measure will allow our public schools to fund the additions, expansions and renovations of both buildings and programs in order to compete with online schools, private schools and open enrollment in other districts. Our public schools serve the needs of the vast majority of students, and when enrollment declines and funding decreases, the remaining students may suffer. This measure will go a long way toward keeping our public schools competitive.
Statewide, the passage of propositions 123 and FF will help some of our most vulnerable find stability and help ensure that all students are situated to succeed, respectively.
While we celebrate the passage of these issues, it is important to remember that our civic duty is not over. Many of these measures are not perfect. They will require oversight, from voters and engaged citizens and the media to make sure our tax dollars are being well spent and the programs are functioning properly.
The local climate measures will help the city and county do essential work to mitigate the risks of wildfires and plan for the effects of climate change. But there will also be funding for homeowners and businesses to participate by making their home or business more energy efficient or doing necessary mitigation work on their land.
Moving our elections to even years will not magically include everyone eligible to vote in the process. Voter outreach and educational work will still be needed, as will making certain that our school board elections, which will still take place in odd years, are not forgotten. We are not afraid of BVSD’s board being taken over by book-banning radicals, as we have heard some say, but apathy and neglect can be just as devastating.
Propositions 123 and FF and the BVSD bond measure have the potential to do great things. But hundreds of millions of tax dollars will be spent setting up these programs and building new infrastructure. Making certain that our leaders and school districts and housing partners use these funds properly is vital.
When the results are finally in for the library district and CU South, similar work will be required. Currently, unofficial tallies are pointing toward the formation of the district and the annexation agreement staying in place. Either way, bridges will need to be built, and a path forward will need to be collectively plotted. No matter what side you were on, everyone is still part of this community, and everyone deserves to be included in the building of its future.
Put simply, civic citizenship doesn’t end at the ballot box. The election is over, but our work isn’t.
In his concession speech to Sen. Michael Bennet, Joe O’Dea said, “The country is suffering, people are struggling, and our leaders need to elevate themselves to the great challenges of the day.” We were heartened by O’Dea’s mature and forward-looking concession (and rue only that such civility now feels worth applauding). But we would add that while now is the time for our leaders to lead, we all must elevate ourselves to the great challenges of the day, we all must continue working on behalf of our community.
This election showed us that fear and grievance politics are not viable methods of leadership. No red wave materialized. Republicans will likely take the House, and the Senate remains up for grabs, but the real statement our country made was a hopeful one.
Of the 39 candidates in statewide races that former President Donald Trump endorsed, so far only 13 have won, according to Axios. It is not quite a repudiation of Trump and his chosen disciples, but it appears to be a step toward a more constructive form of politics.
Collectively we are no longer interested in relitigating the 2020 election. We want to look forward. We want leaders with vision. We have dreams for our community. We showed that on Tuesday. Let’s show it again tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that. | 2022-11-13T17:54:01Z | www.dailycamera.com | Editorial: The election is over, but our work is not | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/13/editorial-the-election-is-over-but-our-work-is-not/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/13/editorial-the-election-is-over-but-our-work-is-not/ |
Opinion: Jim Martin: Roy Halee is one of modern…
Occasionally, my column puts the spotlight on a local resident. Today I honor Roy Halee, a music industry giant who has lived quietly and mostly unknown in Boulder for many years.
Halee is best known for producing Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel’s recordings, both as a group and their solo projects. There are also his nine Grammy Award nominations, winning four times. He worked with many of the most famous in his field.
For decades, he has been one of the most influential people in the recording industry, working as a producer and sound engineer. His music has helped shape many aspects of American culture.
Jim Martin for the Camera
Halee had a stroke of genius, putting Simon and Garfunkel together on one microphone. The magic blend produced great results in the recording studio.
A visit to his Boulder home leaves little doubt about his devotion to his craft. He has more than $1 million worth of recording equipment as well as a $100,000 turntable in his basement.
His Grammy awards share the same basement shelf, earned alongside Simon and Garfunkel. Among those winners are “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Mrs. Robinson.” The latter was written for the acclaimed 1968 movie, “The Graduate.”
Other hits include “Sounds of Silence,” “Homeward Bound,” “I Am a Rock,” “At The Zoo,” “Cecelia,” “Scarbrough Fair,” “Old Friends,” “Dangling Conversation” and more.
Many gold albums are framed and hung on the walls of his home. There’s also a recent personal note from Edie Brickell, Simon’s wife, on a nearby table.
Simon has said there would have been no “Graceland” album without Halee. Simon credited the chemistry between them for many of his hits. They both ventured to South Africa to record the album with local musicians — at a dangerous time because the United Nations Anti-Apartheid Committee had begun an international boycott against the country.
Halee is particularly proud that Graceland surpassed 5 million copies sold when it was released, earning platinum status. Today, that figure is beyond 16 million.
Simon and Halee won the Album of the Year award for Graceland in 1987.
Today, Halee still receives royalty checks for the albums.
Boulder entered his family’s life when his daughter Laura was attending the University of Colorado and his wife Katherine visited her. She was so taken by Boulder, she bought a house here. (They also raised two sons, Walter and Roy Jr.) Halee later joined her and made Boulder his home, though he also spent much of his time in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville.
Halee grew up in New York City. He was born into a show business family. His father was the original singing voice of Mighty Mouse, and Heckle and Jeckle. He also voiced many cartoon characters and was a well-known singer.
Roy’s mother, Rebekah Cauble, was a former stage actress with several Broadway credits. She once starred with Al Jolson at the famous Whither Theater.
Halee was studying to become a classical trumpet player; he still plays it today. He eventually dropped that quest and started his career with Columbia Television, later joining Columbia Records. His TV credits included serving as a sound engineer for such shows as “The Price is Right,” “The Gary Moore Show,” “What’s My Line,” “To Tell the Truth,” “The Jackie Gleason Show,” “The 64,000 Question” and the “Playhouse 90” series.
When Columbia TV had a big layoff, Halee went to work at Columbia Records, where he became a trailblazer. He started as a sound engineer and then became one of the industry’s first producer/audio engineers.
One of his breakout moments was working with Bob Dylan on “Like a Rolling Stone.” Dylan carried Columbia Records for many years, accounting for numerous hits.
Clive Davis is one of the biggest pioneers in the record industry and the past president of Columbia Records. He hired much of the talent, enabling Halee to work with such giants as Bruce Springsteen, Lovin’ Spoonful, Bee Gees, Barbara Streisand, Blood Sweat and Tears, Glen Campbell, Neil Diamond, Dave Clark Five, Yardbirds, Laura Nyro and others.
Davis convinced Halee to help set up Columbia Records in Los Angeles because Davis wanted to get away from the New York unions.
In 2001, Halee was awarded the TEC (Technical Excellence Creativity) Award. He was inducted into the TEC Award Hall of Fame.
After Halee discovered the uniqueness of Simon and Garfunkel, he spent most of his time producing their records.
After they split, Halee became the sole producer for Simon.
Halee helped to produce Simon and Garfunkel’s famous free benefit concert on the Great Lawn in New York City’s Central Park on Sept. 19, 1981. The crowd was estimated to be over 500,000. An album and film of that concert were released one year later.
That concert had a profound effect on Halee, who was on the stage. He said, “I’ll never forget the then-New York Mayor Ed Koch introducing Paul and Artie to the throng of people and the roar of the crowd. It was a huge eruption and surreal, not to be believed.”
Music is both his past and his pastime, when Halee, 88, isn’t spoiling his brown-and-white pointer dogs.
I asked Roy what would he change about the industry, and his reply was surprisingly vehement.
“It’s sour grapes. There’s no such thing as music anymore. It’s just noise. If it’s not loud, it’s not good. We’re dinosaurs. People don’t remember us. The digital age has been our destruction.”
It has been said that Roy Halee is one of modern music’s great architects, even if no one knows it.
You never know who you’re going to run into in Boulder. | 2022-11-13T17:54:24Z | www.dailycamera.com | Opinion: Jim Martin: Roy Halee is one of modern music’s great architects | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/13/opinion-jim-martin-roy-halee-is-one-of-modern-musics-great-architects/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/13/opinion-jim-martin-roy-halee-is-one-of-modern-musics-great-architects/ |
Famed snowboarder shares mountain wisdom in…
Jeremy Jones created Boulder-based Protect Our Winters
By Gregory Scruggs
The Seattle Times (TNS)
SEATTLE — An old saw goes: There are old mountaineers and there are bold mountaineers, but there are no old, bold mountaineers. Jeremy Jones can credibly claim to break that mold. A professional snowboarder from his teens who swapped the competitive circuit for the adrenaline-fueled, high-consequence world of big-mountain snowboarding, the 47-year-old has racked up decades of experience executing powder turns on steep faces where one misstep could prove fatal. He shares his accumulated wisdom in the new book “The Art of Shralpinism: Lessons From the Mountains.”
Lessons From the Mountains” ($29.95, Mountaineers Books) is a new book written by snowboarder Jeremy Jones. (Mountaineers Books)
“Shralpinism” is a portmanteau of “shredding” and “alpinism,” two pursuits Jones has combined with aplomb. Much of that effort has taken place in front of the camera, as a featured athlete in countless films and the star of the trilogy “Deeper,” “Further” and “Higher.” Jones is also an outspoken outdoor-industry leader, who stopped using helicopters for his films, started climate nonprofit Protect Our Winters, which is headquartered in Boulder, and founded environmentally conscious manufacturer Jones Snowboards.
Jones spoke to The Seattle Times via phone from his home in Truckee, Calif.
Q: Why did you decide to write a book?
A: I’ve kept a journal most of my life. I read every day. I like the writing process. I felt like I could bring a perspective to the mountain community that’s beyond the textbooks and help people interact with the mountains in a safer, more intimate manner.
Going into the mountains is nuanced, both tactically and mentally. One bad call can erase a lifetime of good calls.
When you make a film, you can’t dive that deep into how we got on top of that mountain and figured out how to ride it. What I enjoyed about the book is that I could peel back the layers: This is how I go about it and these are lessons learned.
There are journal entries from the night before I’m going to potentially ride a line way out of my comfort zone and right on the edge — zero-mistake snowboarding. I wrestle with the all-encompassing, take-over-your-body fear from these types of decisions.
Q: Is the industry moving beyond “ski porn” films of endless powder and more willing to address risk and process?
A: There’s room for that style of film. I certainly have tried to bring that into “Deeper,” “Further” and “Higher.” Then you do have that party ski film in the sense of turn up the volume, and let’s just see some people rip. There’s room for both.
Jeremy Jones, a professional snowboarder and founder of Protect Our Winters, a Boulder-based nonprofit that is trying to mobilize the winter sports community to take action against climate change. (File Photo)
What I try to convey is that there is a time when the mountains are ready for you. My new favorite line is: If it’s not a screaming yes, it’s a no. We’re not fabricating the risks in the mountains. We see the best of the best die every year.
Q: Winter is about to be in full swing, so why do you save your most ambitious snowboarding for the spring?
A: The early season and midwinter is about stacking days and getting strong. Come spring, you’re generally dealing with a much simpler snowpack. Not to say it’s safe, but it’s less complex. What I am always gearing up for is high pressure from mid-March through May. That’s where the biggest, best lines of my life have gone down.
Q: As ski resorts become more expensive and crowded, an increasing number of people are going straight to the backcountry. Why should aspiring shralpinists spend more time inbounds at resorts?
A: If you’ve never been on snow, or very little, the resort gives you more time. It’s all about stacking vert (skiing as many vertical feet as possible). There are no shortcuts. My thing was to ride more than anyone else in the world and you’ll get to the upper 96th percentile with just a basic level of skill.
For me, the resort is much more about those obscure, hardpacked days. I don’t have an appetite for the hyped-out powder days. But I certainly like getting off-piste, riding marginal snow run after run, and finding the steep, bumpy, icy stuff. So often the case when you are backcountry skiing, you’re riding every type of conditions thrown at you and so to have the reps from the resort is awesome.
I’ll tell my kids: This is the best ice we’ve seen in three years, we’ve got to get to the mountain and take advantage of this proper East Coast ice. (Jones learned to ski in New England, famous for its icy conditions.)
Q: What advice do you have for skiing and snowboarding parents hoping to generate stoke in their kids?
A: Go slow. There’s a danger in being too forceful and turning them off the sport. That’s the biggest mistake. Kids getting pulled out of school early in first grade, and then by fifth grade, they’re (burned out).
Don’t try to make your kid into the next Olympian. It’s so rare, it’s not going to come because they had a better coach. It’s going to come from within that kid.
The whole point is fun: being out in nature, with your friends, with your family. At the end of the day, none of that has to do with how rad you are as a 10-year-old.
Cookies and candy don’t hurt as well. We always had a rule: If you take three runs, you get a cookie.
Q: How do you keep progressing in the sport at this stage in your career?
A: You’re only as good as your last year. I always went into winter (with the attitude) that nobody cares you did something awesome three years ago. Strictly in terms of being a pro skier or pro snowboarder, that is the mentality that you have to have. If I’m in front of a camera, I’m taking that spot from someone else, so I better be evolving, or get out of the way and let the next person come up.
Progression is finding yourself in the mountains at a spot you couldn’t have gotten to a moment sooner because you were lacking the knowledge to be there. I continue to get to that space in the mountains. I am shifting into this different phase in my snowboarding where I’ve figured out how to be self-sufficient in the mountains for days on end and move efficiently through the mountains to get into these deep sections of these ranges.
My goal has always been dream lines: big, clean, rippable lines in good snow. Those have never been the highest peaks and ranges, they’re the ones that are tucked behind the biggest peak. With my understanding of snow and weather, I’m only getting better and better at that type of snowboarding.
Q: How has injury factored into your career and how did you move forward?
A: I developed a back injury and by 23 I was really struggling. There was a point where I thought my snowboarding days were numbered. It forced me to dive into fitness and healing.
Now I can look back and say my back injury was the best thing that ever happened to me. It saved my knees, it’s probably the whole reason I am still snowboarding today. I laugh because my journal through my 20s go: “Poor me, I just want to snowboard.”
Never waste an injury — become an expert on it. We all get injured. It’s how you deal with your injuries that matters.
Q: How do you avoid climate pessimism?
A: My optimism comes from the fact that we have the solutions and they create tons of jobs. We’re seeing that with the Inflation Reduction Act and the $28 billion in clean-tech manufacturing since that bill was passed. Seeing the biggest climate bill passed gives me hope that this is the first of many steps toward a clean energy transition.
Q: What lessons does your book offer for the reader who doesn’t backcountry ski, or even ski or snowboard at all?
A: When I look at lift lines or trailheads on a power day — I wrote the book for those … whose life is all about the mountains. But it’s clear that lessons from the mountains are applicable to other facets of life, like “compounding returns.” I have a four-minute morning (stretch and fitness) routine. That done one day, one month means nothing. Over four years, that’s changed my life. I read 20 pages every night. A little bit every day goes a long way. I touch on that in all facets of my life. | 2022-11-13T23:53:47Z | www.dailycamera.com | Famed snowboarder shares mountain wisdom in 'The Art of Shralpinism' | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/13/famed-snowboarder-shares-mountain-wisdom-in-the-art-of-shralpinism/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/13/famed-snowboarder-shares-mountain-wisdom-in-the-art-of-shralpinism/ |
Q: I’ve been posting on a variety of social media sites for many years and have enjoyed the ability to speak my mind. A few days ago, however, I was temporarily suspended from Twitter for posting something that others apparently reported as offensive. Is that legal?
Isn’t “moderation” just censorship?
Much of it revolves around community standards, what a neighborhood or social group deems acceptable or unacceptable. In other words, what’s acceptable to one group might be completely unacceptable to another. I like to think of this as the “would you say that in
front of your Mother?” criteria, itself a modification of an old Internet adage about not sharing anything you wouldn’t be fine seeing on the front page of the New York Times.
Not really. Censorship typically applies to the ideas being shared — think about a repressive government that removes every post critical of its leader — not the way
in which the idea is shared. In North Korea, it’s a sure bet that even if you post something that’s subtly critical of the government, you’re still going to get into trouble.
Is Twitter temporarily suspending you in response to your post in the same category? I don’t think so. Just as the comments on this newspaper’s Web site are moderated to weed out the worst offenders (mostly through algorithmic means), so do I think all social
media needs just a bit of AI and adult supervision.
Dave Taylor has been involved with the online world since the early days of the Internet. He runs the popular AskDaveTaylor.com tech help site. You can also find his gadget reviews on YouTube and chat with him on Twitter as @DaveTaylor, too. | 2022-11-14T15:57:59Z | www.dailycamera.com | Dave Taylor: Is all content moderation just censorship? | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/dave-taylor-is-all-content-moderation-just-censorship/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/dave-taylor-is-all-content-moderation-just-censorship/ |
Local choir group serenades Marshall Fire…
Coal Creek Community Chorus Presents ‘A Spark’: The group, led by chorus director Stephen Ross of Face Vocal Group, created a new original piece called “A Spark” that will be dedicated to all those affected by the Marshall Fire. It will debut Monday, featuring the voices of over 100 singers from in and around the Boulder County community. In addition to “A Spark,” this concert will feature a cornucopia of songs from varying styles and genres; 7 p.m. Monday; Ascent Community Church, 550 McCaslin Blvd., Louisville; $5-$10; coalcreekmusic.com.
Under One Sky Benefit Concert: Kutandara Studio is hosting its fall fundraiser concert that will feature an evening of high-energy arrangements that blend contemporary Afro-pop with the sounds of traditional Zimbabwean music, featuring world-renowned Zimbabwean musicians who are in Kutandara’s adult and teen performance bands. The show benefits Kutandara’s Moon and Stars Foundation to aid local and international work; 7 p.m. Monday, Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette; $15-$30; kutandara.org.
CU Philharmonia Orchestra Presents ‘Recollections of Country Life’: “Recollections on Country Life,” an alternative name given to Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Sixth Symphony,” encompasses the entire spirit of this CU Philharmonia performance. The concert opens with Errollyn Wallen’s “Mighty River,” written in 2007, followed by Beethoven’s most explicitly programmatic piece, Symphony No. 6, known as his “Pastorale” symphony; 7:30 p.m. Monday, Grusin Music Hall, 1020 18th St., Boulder; Free; cupresents.org.
Musical Storytime and STEAM for Tots: Dance and sing during this storytime full of songs, musical stories and more, where all ages are welcome. Following the storytime, kids ages 2 through 6 years old can join in an interactive, hands-on STEAM-based activities with their caregiver; 10:15 a.m. Monday, Boulder Public Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder; calendar.boulderlibrary.org.
Suicide Survivors Support Group: Join a community group and learn how to thrive, not just survive, after the suicide of a loved one. This group is open for all persons affected by suicide; 5:30 p.m. Monday, Naropa Community Counseling, 3400 Table Mesa Drive, Suite 201, Boulder; Free; naropacommunitycounseling.com.
Sensing Ice — Explorations of Knowing Nature: This immersive multimedia exhibit looks at the lifecycle of the world’s ice and snow. Set in Greenland and Mt. Everest, it features photography and video by CU graduate Chris Dunn alongside original glacier music; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, exhibit up through Dec. 31; University of Colorado Boulder, Earth Sciences & Map Library, 2200 Colorado Ave., Boulder; bit.ly/3CWxbPf.
Quantity of Life — Nature/ Supernature Art Exhibit: This exhibit of artwork from seven artists celebrates the richness of the natural world through painting, sculpture, printmaking and collage. 9 a.m., Boulder Public Library Canyon Gallery, 1001 Arapahoe Ave, Boulder; free; boulderlibrary.org/exhibits. | 2022-11-14T15:58:04Z | www.dailycamera.com | Local choir group serenades Marshall Fire victims and other Boulder-area events for today – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/local-choir-group-serenades-marshall-fire-victims-and-other-boulder-area-events-for-today/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/local-choir-group-serenades-marshall-fire-victims-and-other-boulder-area-events-for-today/ |
Boulder pedestrian seriously injured in crash…
A pedestrian was hospitalized with serious injuries after being struck by a driver near 15th Street and Canyon Boulevard in Boulder on Sunday.
Boulder police sent out a tweet at 7:16 p.m. Sunday notifying the public about the crash and a closure at the intersection.
Police said the pedestrian was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
Boulder police spokeswoman Dionne Waugh said the crash was still under investigation Monday and that police did not have any further updates at this time. | 2022-11-14T21:32:22Z | www.dailycamera.com | Boulder pedestrian seriously injured in crash on Sunday – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/boulder-pedestrian-seriously-injured-in-crash-on-sunday/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/boulder-pedestrian-seriously-injured-in-crash-on-sunday/ |
Colorado football: Despite poor results, Buffs…
Losing – and losing big – week in and week out certainly isn’t easy for anyone to take.
Yet, as the Colorado football team limps to the finish line of this disastrous season, it continues to put forth a spirited effort each game.
“Oh, yeah, that’s one thing about this team that really, out of the six years I’ve been here I’ve never really experienced,” running back Alex Fontenot said after Friday’s 55-17 loss at No. 7 USC. “Like, us losing but we keep that same energy. Nobody’s getting down on themselves. Everybody’s still locked in. Everybody wants to win and we still have belief that we can win.”
CU (1-9, 1-6 Pac-12) faces a difficult task in trying to get another win heading into the final two games. The Buffs visit No. 15 Washington (8-2, 5-2) on Saturday and then host No. 10 Utah (8-2, 6-1) on Nov. 26 to finish the season.
Already, the Buffs have lost eight times by 23 points or more, and they’ve been outscored 104-27 in the last two games. So, what keeps them going?
“That’s a good question,” defensive lineman Jalen Sami said. “Overall, it’s team heart. (This) is not what we wanted, but we’re out here working every day. We’re trying to compete. For me personally these are just opportunities for me to get better to elevate my game and hopefully reach my dreams of going professional.
“We’re just trying to work on (fixing mistakes), trying to get better. And so I took a pretty much personal job to try to get us motivated. We come in everyday to practice, and just trying to get better, even though the season hasn’t gone (how we wanted).”
Sami has been one of the Buffs’ best defensive players in recent weeks, while Fontenot had a season-high 108 rushing yards – his first 100-yard game in three years – against USC.
Those two and other Buffs will do their best to get a win Saturday in Seattle. Even if it’s another difficult result, it’s a good bet the Buffs will fight and put forth a spirited effort.
“We still have two more games to play to show our talents, to show what you can do on the field,” Sami said. “I feel highly about that. Like, what you put on tape (with effort) is what your character is, what defines you as your character.”
By playing on Friday night this past week, the Buffs have an extra day of rest before facing the Huskies. Sami was grateful for that opportunity to relax on Saturday.
“I get to watch the full day in football, get to see Washington and Oregon,” he said. “That’s gonna be a good game to watch. I’ll probably watch some film (after the USC game) … and then just put it to rest and focus on Washington.”
Sami and the rest of the Buffs watched Washington pull off an upset of the favored Ducks, who came into the game ranked No. 6. The Huskies, who were ranked No. 24, rallied with 10 points in the final 3:07 to win, 37-34.
That victory vaulted Washington nine spots in the Associated Press poll on Sunday.
Per Oddsshark.com, CU is a 31-point underdog for Saturday’s game at Washington. Dating back to 1976, this is the first time CU has been an underdog of 30-plus points in three consecutive games. … This will also be the first time CU has played top-15 teams in three consecutive weeks since Weeks 7-9 of the 2012 season. | 2022-11-14T21:32:41Z | www.dailycamera.com | Colorado football: Despite poor results, Buffs not lacking effort and energy – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/colorado-football-despite-poor-results-buffs-not-lacking-effort-and-energy/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/colorado-football-despite-poor-results-buffs-not-lacking-effort-and-energy/ |
Boulder invites residents to complete survey on…
Boulder Police Department patrol car
Boulder residents later this week can complete an online survey to provide input on the police department master plan draft.
The city mailed surveys on the master plan draft to random Boulder households and is asking residents who received the survey to complete it as soon as possible, according to a news release from the city. The same survey will also be available starting Friday on the project’s BeHeardBoulder site for anyone who wants to complete it and was not contacted directly. The survey will be available in English and Spanish.
The survey is part of the master plan draft that the city has been developing for more than 18 months, which will serve as a guiding document for Boulder Police Department in the coming years, the release said.
The Boulder Police Department master plan was last updated in 2013.
Boulder has previously held three community engagement opportunities for the master plan draft, the release said. This is the fourth window of engagement, the release said.
“We’ve been listening intently, and we believe we’ve developed a draft that reflects our community’s vision for reforming policing,” said Wendy Schwartz, project manager, in the news release.
Institute researcher Dr. Patricia L. Sattler is conducting focus groups with specific populations, which are guided by input from a community advisory group, the release said. In addition, Growing Up Boulder and Mayamotion Healing will continue their work with teenagers who have been learning about the plan and providing valuable feedback along the way.
The survey will remain open and community engagement is expected to continue through Dec. 23.
After this engagement window concludes, the city and consultant teams will examine the feedback, and use the information to create a revised draft of the reimagine policing plan, the release said. Community members will have an opportunity to provide feedback on the revised draft prior to City Council consideration of a final draft in April.
More information about the vision and the draft plan can be found on the city’s website or on the BeHeardBoulder Reimagine Policing page. | 2022-11-15T01:34:15Z | www.dailycamera.com | Boulder invites residents to complete survey on police department master plan draft | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/boulder-invites-residents-to-complete-survey-on-police-department-master-plan-draft/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/boulder-invites-residents-to-complete-survey-on-police-department-master-plan-draft/ |
Defendant in Gunbarrel road rage shooting case…
David Waters (Boulder County Sheriff’s Office)
The Boulder County man accused of a road rage shooting near Gunbarrel in 2021 is headed for prison after entering into a plea agreement in his case.
Boulder County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Shannon Carbone said the named victim in the case “was onboard with the plea.”
According to a press release, Boulder County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call at 6:50 a.m. on Nov. 24, 2021, in the area of North 75th Street and Heatherwood Drive after a caller said he was driving and passing another vehicle when the driver shot at him with a handgun.
Deputies found a bullet hole in the passenger door of the caller’s truck and the bullet lodged in the door.
Detectives applied for a search warrant for the Waters’ vehicle and home, and found a large cache of firearms, ammunition and tactical gear in the house. | 2022-11-15T01:34:21Z | www.dailycamera.com | Defendant in Gunbarrel road rage shooting case headed for prison as part of plea agreement | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/defendant-in-gunbarrel-road-rage-shooting-case-headed-for-prison-as-part-of-plea-agreement/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/defendant-in-gunbarrel-road-rage-shooting-case-headed-for-prison-as-part-of-plea-agreement/ |
CU Buffs football notes: Transfer QBs making…
Last Friday night in Los Angeles, the Colorado football team was beaten by a USC team led by a quarterback who a year ago didn’t expect to be in the Pac-12.
The Trojans’ Caleb Williams, who had a hand in five touchdowns in USC’s 55-17 rout of the Buffaloes, was a star freshman at Oklahoma a year ago. Now he’s a Heisman Trophy candidate at USC.
A week earlier, CU was routed by Oregon, led by Bo Nix, a former Auburn quarterback who has revitalized his career in Eugene.
This week, the Buffs (1-9, 1-6 Pac-12) will take on another conference title contender in Washington (8-2, 5-2), which is led by Michael Penix, Jr. From 2018-21, Penix quarterbacked the Indiana Hoosiers.
“The thing I’m seeing that I think is so important is when you do add a portal quarterback to do so (with someone) that’s had success and gone through the ups and downs of being either a freshman or sophomore or even a junior starter,” CU head coach Mike Sanford said. “And I think that’s what you’re seeing with, particularly, Washington, Oregon and USC.”
Those three schools aren’t alone, however.
Arizona’s Jayden de Laura (Washington State); Arizona State’s Emory Jones (Florida); California’s Jack Plummer (Purdue) and Washington State’s Cameron Ward (Incarnate Word) all started at other schools a year ago.
Utah’s Cam Rising is in his fourth season with the Utes, but began his career at Texas, and CU’s JT Shrout played his first three seasons at Tennessee.
The only Pac-12 teams playing quarterbacks they recruited out of high school are UCLA (Dorian Thompson-Robinson), Oregon State (Ben Gulbranson) and Stanford (Tanner McKee).
It’s the big three of Williams, Nix and Penix that have dominated the conference this year, though. Williams and Penix, in particular, have transformed teams that were only 4-8 in 2021. Both are now ranked in the top 15 in the Associated Press poll.
CU could potentially look in the portal for quarterback help this winter, but getting that transformational player requires money.
“The NIL (name, image and likeness) space is going to have to become a part of that,” Sanford said. “I think that’s an incredibly important piece of the puzzle.”
Smith close to return
Running back Deion Smith was in uniform Friday but did not play as he recovers from a leg injury. He was injured early in the Buffs’ Nov. 5 loss to Oregon.
Sanford said Smith, who leads the Buffs with 381 rushing yards, could return this week.
“He truly was a game time decision (at USC),” Sanford said. “We wanted to see how he looked in warmups. He’s wearing a knee brace and he looked a little gingerly. I do anticipate him playing this week.”
CU had hoped Inglewood, Calif., native Montana Lemonious-Craig would have a big impact in the USC game, but the sophomore receiver caught just one pass for six yards. Sanford said Lemonious-Craig is healthy and, “I do think that he’ll have a big role in these last two (games) for sure.” … True freshman Simeon Harris has grown in the nickel role and Sanford praised his fearless play and tackling ability. “He’s gonna be a great player,” he said. … Receiver Chase Penry returned to the field against USC and caught a pass, but Sanford said the Buffs still plan to sit him the last two games so he can redshirt this season. | 2022-11-15T02:16:37Z | www.dailycamera.com | CU Buffs football notes: Transfer QBs making impact in Pac-12 – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/cu-buffs-football-notes-transfer-qbs-making-impact-in-pac-12/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/14/cu-buffs-football-notes-transfer-qbs-making-impact-in-pac-12/ |
Guest opinion: Dan Williams and Liz Marasco:…
By Dan Williams and Liz Marasco
One underappreciated lesson from last week’s election is the power that fierce and unfettered debate has had in transforming a decades-long political status quo in Boulder. The results of last week’s election, along with last year’s, are part of a once-in-a-generation political realignment in favor of fresh, progressive ideas. This realignment would not have been possible without the spirited debate we’ve been having on previously-unquestioned principles and ways of doing things in Boulder. Free speech has allowed a new consensus to emerge.
Yet, some of our city counselors are now advocating for a change to the council’s operating rules that would regulate and suppress robust debate. The proposed changes to the City Council’s “rules of decorum” would further limit what city counselors are allowed to say, and the proposed changes would expand the speech restrictions beyond the proverbial four walls of the meetings and into private settings, such as a self-published newsletter or community forums.
By their terms, these proposed regulations are drafted to appear innocuous — they would require “accuracy and truthfulness” in all forums, and would also force councilors to not “assume motives” of dissenters or make “personal attacks” in public statements anywhere. But the devil is in the details here. This proposal would put the government in the role of determining what is accurate or truthful, and what is fair commentary about another. Because of that, it is a dramatic and shocking attack on basic free speech principles that should be rejected.
To understand the problem with putting a government body in charge of truth-policing speech on public issues, consider the following four statements that arose during the just-completed election season:
1) Police violence is a threat to public safety.
2) Boulder’s youth will have easy access to drugs whether or not homeless people are near Boulder Creek.
3) The move to even-year elections was designed as a power grab to extend current councilors’ terms.
4) The proposed library district will lead to libraries being closed.
We strongly believe the first two of these statements are true, and the latter two are false. Others believe the opposite. As a community, we should all agree we are well served when all members of the City Council, in their thought-leader functions, are able to express their own views as to which of these statements are true, which are false, and why. No present or future City Council majority or other government official should be permitted to be the final arbiter of the truth of any of these statements.
Equally troubling is the expansion of these so-called rules of decorum to statements outside of council meetings. First Amendment law has long allowed for reasonable “time, place, and manner” restrictions on speech. But these proposed changes are more analogous to a total ban on speech, because they apply to statements in any forum, anywhere, anytime, not just at City Council meetings. That’s not okay.
At their core, these proposed speech restrictions are un-American. Societies that regulate speech based on the whims of government officials are societies that suppress democracy and that appeal to the worst passions and instincts of the majority. At a time when our own democracy is under a historic threat, responsible government officials have a special duty to reject these types of feel-good speech restrictions. We urge the council to reject any rule change allowing a council majority today or in the future to deem some speech true and other speech false, some speech a personal attack and other speech polite.
Expanding rules of decorum to apply to speech outside of City Council meetings is the wrong solution for the problem of speech we think is unfair, hurtful or incorrect. Government should not be the arbiter of permissible speech on matters of public concern. It is too rife for abuse. Judging the quality and accuracy of speech made in public forums is a sacred right reserved for the people. Please urge the City Council to vote down the pending proposal to expand the reach of its rules of decorum.
Dan Williams is an attorney in Boulder focusing on civil rights and commercial litigation. In 2021, he was a candidate for Boulder City Council.
Liz Marasco is a law student. She works as a law clerk in labor and employment law. | 2022-11-15T15:18:12Z | www.dailycamera.com | Guest opinion: Dan Williams and Liz Marasco: Council should reject new civility rules for free speech | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/15/guest-opinion-dan-williams-and-liz-marasco-boulder-city-council-should-reject-new-civility-rules-for-free-speech/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/15/guest-opinion-dan-williams-and-liz-marasco-boulder-city-council-should-reject-new-civility-rules-for-free-speech/ |
For Boulder High mountain bike team, winning is…
Boulder High’s mountain bike team poses for a team photo in front of the school. (Photo provided by Tabitha Brown)
Mountain biking is often thought of as an individual sport, but Boulder High School has continued to prove the worth of the team aspect over the past 13 years.
Last month, for the 10th time since the inception of the sport at the high school level, the Panthers blew away the rest of the competition to take home another state championship. Ella Brown placed 10th in the girls varsity race to vault her team toward the gold with 502 individual points.
“I actually chose Boulder High partly because I heard the mountain bike team was so amazing,” Brown said. “I love being on the bike team. It’s been one of the best parts of my high school experience. I’ve been racing bikes with a club team since I was 9 years old, but riding with the Boulder High team was the first time I actually felt like I was part of a team.
“I placed 10th in the varsity girls race at states, which was great because my goal was to get in the top 10. My main strategy was to get as close to the front as possible at the start, which didn’t really work out. However, I was able to pass a lot of people later in the race and make up a couple of places.”
The race, which took place at the Colorado Mountain College campus in Glenwood Springs, incorporated bumpy and slow terrain. But that was no challenge for a team as large as the Panthers, which house 139 registered riders, most of which attend BHS.
In a sport like mountain biking, that size certainly matters.
“We have some incredibly talented kids,” team director Tabitha Brown said. “They’re very athletic, they’re very fit, and they have mad bike skills. So the combination of those things certainly helps the team’s success. The numbers factor, yes. We have a lot of people on the team, but most importantly, we have a lot of talented girls on the team.
“The way that the point system works is if you have more than 30 riders on your team, you are considered a Division-I competitor. We obviously have more than 30. I think it’s like 34% of our riders are girls. As they compete, they’re competing in the junior varsity and the varsity categories and those categories help the team points.”
The fun doesn’t just come from competition success.
Over the years, the Boulder coaches and team leaders have made sure everyone felt like part of the team, whether they were top 10 on varsity or just riding along with the other freshmen. They build community through photo competitions, which can include “craziest pose on your bikes” or splashing around in the creek crossings.
Whether they’re bringing winning smiles or they’re winning titles — which they’ve done through 77% of their existence — the Panthers sure know how to stand out among the competition. After 13 years of hitting the trails, they’ve shown no sign of slowing down anytime soon.
“I think this team is really incredible,” Ella said. “It’s a great experience to be a part of such a large, diverse team. We have a lot of talented people and it’s amazing to be able to consistently win state titles, but I think the really special thing about being on such a large team is the support and community. Anyone can find their place on our team and feel supported. I think that’s what really makes our team so successful.” | 2022-11-15T23:51:11Z | www.dailycamera.com | For Boulder High mountain bike team, winning is just part of the culture – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/15/for-boulder-high-mountain-bike-team-winning-is-just-part-of-the-culture/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/15/for-boulder-high-mountain-bike-team-winning-is-just-part-of-the-culture/ |
The Koelbel Building, home to the Leeds School of Business, is seen on the University of Colorado campus.
Prices are up, but unemployment is down. New business filings are through the roof, but are being outpaced by dissolutions. Industries are adding workers, but the fastest-growing jobs are the ones that pay the least. | 2022-11-15T23:51:17Z | www.dailycamera.com | Indicators paint blurry picture of Colorado’s 3rdQ economy | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/15/indicators-paint-blurry-picture-of-colorados-3rdq-economy/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/15/indicators-paint-blurry-picture-of-colorados-3rdq-economy/ |
Boulder resident pleads guilty to pandemic…
Russell Bryant Lester pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud Tuesday, according to a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado. Lester, 41, took money from COVID-19 relief funds by filing false applications.
From March through August of 2020, Lester made false statements to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment in which the Boulder man claimed he was not employed in any capacity, in order to collect unemployment benefits from the state. Lester completed weekly certifications, falsely stating that he was not working or receiving compensation from an employer, the release stated.
During this period, Lester also made false statements to receive loans through the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. These programs were primary sources of federal funding for small business owners affected by the pandemic.
Lester collected $551,175 in pandemic relief funds through unemployment benefits, loans and grants. He spent some of the proceeds on non-eligible expenses, including paying debts unrelated to the business receiving the loans. Lester also extended high-interest loans to others.
This case was investigated by the FBI Denver Division. Lester’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 7. | 2022-11-16T03:16:18Z | www.dailycamera.com | Boulder resident pleads guilty to pandemic relief fraud – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/15/boulder-resident-pleads-guilty-to-pandemic-relief-fraud/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/15/boulder-resident-pleads-guilty-to-pandemic-relief-fraud/ |
Women’s basketball: Tameiya Sadler helps CU…
On Tuesday, however, she came off the bench to score 10 points and pull down a pair of rebounds in helping the Buffaloes to a 73-43 rout of Louisiana in the preseason WNIT at United Supermarkets Arena.
During the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas in March, she left the court on a stretcher after a back injury. That caused her to miss the end of the tournament and the NCAA Tournament. Although it turned out to not be a serious injury, there was a road to recovery and it stuck in Sadler’s mind as this season began.
Through the first two games this year, she had a total of two points on 1-for-11 shooting. On Tuesday, she was 3-for-5, including hitting both of her 3-point attempts. It was the first time she hit double digits since Feb. 4 against Washington State.
“I thought we got good looks (early), we just weren’t hitting them,” Payne said. “But, really great run after that. I think they all just kept their cool and did what we need to do. We were prioritizing just getting a great shot. I think we did that and defense led to offense. Once we started to see the ball go through the hoop, I think we all felt better.”
Buff of the game: Tameiya Sadler. She didn’t lead the team in any categories, but it was a much-needed performance for the junior, who scored 10 points and added two rebounds and an assist.
What’s next?: The Buffs face host Texas Tech on Wednesday at 6 p.m. MT. | 2022-11-16T03:16:43Z | www.dailycamera.com | Women’s basketball: Tameiya Sadler helps CU Buffs roll past Louisiana – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/15/womens-basketball-tameiya-sadler-helps-cu-buffs-roll-past-louisiana/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/15/womens-basketball-tameiya-sadler-helps-cu-buffs-roll-past-louisiana/ |
Guest opinion: Bjorn Lomborg: Hypocrisy abounds…
Every year, global climate summits feature a parade of hypocrisy as the world’s elite arrive on private jets to lecture humanity on cutting carbon emissions. The current U.N. climate summit in Egypt offers more breathtaking hypocrisy than usual because the world’s rich are zealously lecturing poor countries about the dangers of fossil fuels — after devouring massive amounts of new gas, coal and oil.
Thermal coal imports by the European Union from Australia, South Africa and Indonesia increased more than 11-fold. Meanwhile, a new trans-Saharan gas pipeline will allow Europe to tap directly into gas from Niger, Algeria and Nigeria; Germany is reopening shuttered coal power plants; and Italy is planning to import 40% more gas from northern Africa. And the United States is going cap-in-hand to Saudi Arabia to grovel for more oil production.
At the climate summit in Egypt, the leaders from these countries will somehow declare with straight faces that poor countries must avoid fossil fuel exploitation for fear of worsening climate change. These rich countries will encourage the world’s poorest to focus instead on green energy alternatives like off-grid solar and wind energy.
They’re already making the case. In a speech widely interpreted as being about Africa, the U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said it would be “delusional” for countries to invest more in gas and oil exploration.
A study in Tanzania found almost 90% of households given off-grid electricity just want to be hooked up to the national grid to receive fossil fuel access. The first rigorous test published on the effect of solar panels on the lives of poor people found they got a little bit more electricity — the ability to power a lamp during the day — but there was no measurable effect on their lives: they did not increase savings or spending, did not work more or start more businesses, and their children did not study more.
In contrast, grid electrification — which nearly everywhere means mostly fossil fuels — significantly positively effects household income, expenditure and education. A study in Bangladesh showed that electrified households experienced a 21% average jump in income and a 1.5% reduction in poverty yearly.
The biggest deception is that rich world leaders have somehow managed to portray themselves as green evangelists, while more than three-quarters of their enormous primary energy production comes from fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency. Less than 12% of their energy comes from renewables, mostly from wood and hydro. Just 2.4% is solar and wind.
Compare this to Africa, the most renewable continent in the world, with half of its energy produced by renewables. But these renewables are almost entirely wood, straws and dung, and they are really a testament to how little energy the continent has access to. Despite all the hype, the continent gets just 0.3% of its energy from solar and wind.
Bjorn Lomborg is president of the Copenhagen Consensus and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. His latest book is “False Alarm — How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.” He wrote this for InsideSources.com. | 2022-11-16T15:14:12Z | www.dailycamera.com | Guest opinion: Bjorn Lomborg: Hypocrisy abounds at U.N. climate summit | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/16/guest-opinion-bjorn-lomborg-hypocrisy-abounds-at-u-n-climate-summit/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/16/guest-opinion-bjorn-lomborg-hypocrisy-abounds-at-u-n-climate-summit/ |
Board has two vacancies to fill after Lacis elected mayor
The Superior Board of Trustees has two more vacancies to fill in the aftermath of last week’s election.
Mayor Pro-Tem Mark Lacis was recently elected as mayor and Trustee Tim Howard is stepping down from his position.
Howard was elected to a four-year term in November 2020 that wasn’t set to expire until November 2024. Howard recently stepped down and his last Superior Board of Trustees meeting was Monday.
During the meeting, Howard didn’t discuss why he was stepping down from the position. He remarked on what the board was able to achieve during his tenure, such as rebuilding after the Marshall Fire, a sustainability plan and gun violence protection ordinances. He also said that the board had not made progress with inclusivity or affordable housing.
“To all the newly elected and to-be-appointed trustees, do better than I did. Don’t allow important issues such as equity, attainable housing or increasing our ability to serve the public good with prudent tax increases to be shoved to the side because they are hard,” Howard said during Monday’s meeting.
Howard could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
With these two vacancies, the town is anticipating interviewing applicants and appoint trustee members during the regular board meeting on Dec. 12.
The town is currently taking letters of interest for these two vacancies. Trustee members will serve the remainder of the terms, which is November 2024.
To be eligible, applicants must be U.S. citizens, over the age of 18, eligible to vote and have resided in Superior for at least 12 consecutive months. Applications must be submitted to Town Clerk Lydia Yecke by 4 p.m. on Dec. 2 at Superior Town Hall or through email at lydiay@superiorcolorado.gov.
More information regarding the application process is available on Superior social media pages. | 2022-11-17T02:32:16Z | www.dailycamera.com | Howard steps down from Superior Board of Trustees – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/16/howard-steps-down-from-superior-board-of-trustees/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/16/howard-steps-down-from-superior-board-of-trustees/ |
Chautauqua Association receives $280,000…
The Colorado Chautauqua Association used funds from a federal grant to add gutter guards to all of its buildings in effort to keep flammable debris such as leaves from falling inside and potentially fueling a fire. Photo credit: Debbie Duran Stewart
The Colorado Chautauqua Association recently received a federal grant it will use to support ongoing mitigation work to protect the property and park from the ever-growing threat of wildfires.
“We are pretty much a random ember away from complete destruction,” said Debbie Duran Stewart, director of development and community partnerships with the Colorado Chautauqua Association. “We are doing all the efforts we can to make sure we protect Chautauqua.”
The association was notified in September that it was a recipient of a $280,721 grant as part of the Save America’s Treasures grant from the Department of Interior. A total of $24.25 million in grants have been awarded to fund 80 projects in 32 states and the District of Columbia, according to a news release from the Colorado Chautauqua Association. The project period runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, 2025, but the association plans to complete its work using the funds by the end of next year, Duran Stewart said.
This was the association’s first time receiving the Save America’s Treasures grant, Duran Stewart said.
The association already put the financial aid to use and started adding gutter guards on every building at Chautauqua, which abuts a forested area and the Flatirons, in order to prevent leaves or other flammable materials from getting caught inside the gutters and being ignited by an ember, said Jason Hill, CEO with the association.
“Other things that are happening in the future (include adding) screening around our cottages that can keep debris out, and thirdly, we are looking into more (fire) fuel mitigation,” Hill said. “We are looking at defensible spaces around Chautauqua, whether that is the larger property or the immediate space surrounding our building. This has been going on for a few years now, and this grant will further our work.”
Hill said the screening will be added to buildings that have exposed foundation, where there isn’t a barrier to prevent debris like dry leaves from falling underneath and igniting during a wildfire.
“We have been developing these plans to help us plan for protection moving forward,” he said. “It also helps us plan for building materials we might consider. It’s really tricky for Chautauqua, we’re really constantly trying to balance sustainability with wildfire mitigation to make sure we are not compromising who we are.”
Duran Stewart said the work the association accomplishes using this grant will be available for organizations representing other national landmarks or historic properties to learn about and model as they too are faced with what has become a year-long wildfire season.
“We really are trying to do as much as possible as quickly as possible because from the experience last year with the Marshall Fire, we know how vulnerable we are,” she said. | 2022-11-17T04:49:07Z | www.dailycamera.com | Chautauqua Association receives $280K federal grant to bolster ongoing wildfire mitigation | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/16/chautauqua-association-receives-280000-federal-grant-to-bolster-ongoing-wildfire-mitigation/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/16/chautauqua-association-receives-280000-federal-grant-to-bolster-ongoing-wildfire-mitigation/ |
Colorado football notes: Buffs to face another…
According to VegasInsider.com, USC quarterback Caleb Williams and Oregon quarterback Bo Nix are among the top eight contenders for the Heisman Trophy.
Colorado has had to face both of them in the last two weeks. So, this week should be easier, right? Not so fast.
Washington’s Michael Penix, Jr., doesn’t have great odds of winning the Heisman, but the Huskies’ star is leading the country in passing yards. A transfer from Indiana, Penix has thrown for 3,640 yards and 25 touchdowns, completing 67.1% of his passes.
CU (1-9, 1-6 Pac-12) visits Penix and the Huskies (8-2, 5-2) on Saturday in Seattle (7:14 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
“Just another one of these quarterbacks that, he has elite arm talent,” CU interim head coach Mike Sanford said. “I’m talking, in terms of velocity, RPMs on the ball, you can’t find a guy that throws the ball with as much conviction as he does. But he also has that trait that I keep talking about as a creator. A play breaks down, he’s a threat to run, he’s a threat to create an explosive play.”
Penix has arguably been the main reason for Washington making a dramatic improvement from last year (4-8, 3-6). It’s certainly not the same Huskies team that lost 20-17 in Boulder on Nov. 20, 2021.
“He’s a great quarterback,” said CU linebacker Robert Barnes, who had an interception and fumble recovery in last year’s game against Washington. “We’re gonna have to stay in coverage. He’s slippery and he’ll find those windows. I know that he’s overcame a lot of adversity with his knee injuries and all of that, so I think he’s starting to catch that momentum and build that confidence up.
“I think that he’s looking forward to having a good game and I think it’s our job to go out there and give him those same fits that we gave USC (early in Friday’s 55-17 loss) and continue to give him those fits throughout the game. And I’m looking forward to a good one this weekend.”
Fillip’s new role
After beginning the season as the starting left tackle, Frank Fillip certainly didn’t envision the role he’s in now with the Buffs. The fifth-year junior is enjoying it, however.
Fillip has started 22 games in his career, including the first four of this year, at tackle. But in the fifth game, he was replaced in the lineup by Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan. He’s played sparingly since, but in recent weeks, CU coaches have created an opportunity for him to play as a tight end, or extra lineman, at times.
“It’s actually really fun,” Fillip said. “I’ve really taken to the role of tight end and trying to develop as much as I can and just get in where they need me and where I can make a difference. It’s been really exciting, actually, to play a new position. I’ve always played tackle my entire life, either left or right, since I was 8 years old, so it’s kind of fun to play something new.”
Fillip, who has worn No. 76 since coming to CU in 2018, puts on a No. 94 jersey when he goes into the game as the extra lineman and checks in as an eligible receiver.
“(Defenses) are definitely moving around trying to adjust to a look they weren’t anticipating,” Fillip said.
With tight ends Caleb Fauria and Zach Courtney injured, Fillip’s role as an extra blocker has been important. But, has he been catching passes in practice?
“I can’t answer that,” he said.
Right guard Tommy Brown has been one of the Buffs’ best linemen this year. A transfer from Alabama, he could return in 2023, but said this week, “Right now, I’m just trying to focus on these next two games and then we’ll see what comes after the season.” … Like Brown, Fillip could come back for a sixth season, but he said, “I’m not sure yet.” | 2022-11-17T04:49:13Z | www.dailycamera.com | Colorado football notes: Buffs to face another elite QB this week – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/16/colorado-football-notes-buffs-to-face-another-elite-qb-this-week/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/16/colorado-football-notes-buffs-to-face-another-elite-qb-this-week/ |
County Planning Commission votes to recommend…
BOULDER, CO – SEPTEMBER 7:The Alps Boulder Canyon Inn is seen in Boulder on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. Sandstone Care, an outpatient rehab center, is looking to buy the inn and turn it into a group home. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
The Boulder County Planning Commission unanimously voted Wednesday afternoon to recommend turning the Alps Boulder Canyon Inn into a residential facility for adolescents with mild to moderate mental health symptoms.
Sandstone Care, which will operate the facility if it’s approved by Boulder County commissioners, owns mental health treatment centers for teens and young adults in four states. Michael Hunter, the company’s CEO, said at the hearing that the facility would fill a treatment gap in the county by creating an option for patients who need more than outpatient care but don’t need to be hospitalized.
“This particular level of care is … is incredibly necessary, more so than it’s probably ever been,” Hunter said at a public hearing. “While there are lots of resources in many cases for acute psychiatric care or outpatient services, there’s not much that meets the need in the middle.”
If the project is approved, it would modify a previous special use approval for the Alps Inn property to be run as a bed and breakfast. Special use review is required for projects that could affect services, neighborhoods or the environment to a greater degree than regular building permits allow.
After staff members reviewed the Alps Inn proposal, they found it met most of the criteria for special use projects but that changes would be necessary to meet some of the other conditions. For example, accessible parking would need to be added to the property, waste receptacles would need to be bear-proofed, and a plan would need to be made to eradicate noxious weeds from the grounds. The Planning Commission’s recommendation to advance the project is contingent on these conditions being met.
The inn, which lies two miles west of Boulder in Boulder Canyon, was built in 1870, but for the past 30 years, it’s been operating as a bed and breakfast with 12 bedrooms and a sprawling grounds that covers 12.5 acres. John Vanderhart and his wife, Jannine, have owned and managed the property since the 1990s, but John Vanderhart said at the hearing that “the economic realities of running an inn have changed” and it was no longer financially feasible to continue running the hotel.
If it’s converted into a group home, the inn will primarily serve adolescents ages 13-17 with illnesses such as anxiety and depression, Hunter said during the hearing. He emphasized that the facility would not be intended for patients with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, and that patients would enter the program voluntarily, so they wouldn’t be likely to abscond.
Several residents of homes close to the inn spoke at the hearing to ask questions and voice concerns about whether the project could bring new safety issues to the neighborhood.
“There are four homes with four families, including two infants, immediately above this facility,” said Glenn Stevens, one of the residents. “We are concerned about people wandering off or coming up to our properties.”
Stevens went on to ask what qualifications staff would have and what type of insurance the facility would pursue to “guarantee the safety of neighbors.”
Another resident, William Jensen, said his wife worked at a mental health facility and that “clients running away, absconding, is pretty much a daily occurrence” at that facility.
Hunter said he and Sandstone were “very open and receptive” to engaging in dialogue with the community about the project.
“I think, if I were putting myself in the shoes of somebody who had a program opening up down the street like this, I would have a lot of questions,” Hunter said at the hearing. “And I would be nervous. And so I think that fear or concern is very normal.”
The county commissioners will make the final determination on whether to approve the project, according to County Planning spokesman Rick Hackett. A date has not been set for the vote, but Hackett said it will likely be in early 2023. | 2022-11-17T04:49:19Z | www.dailycamera.com | County Planning Commission votes to recommend converting Alps Boulder Canyon Inn to mental health facility – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/16/county-planning-commission-votes-to-recommend-converting-alps-boulder-canyon-inn-to-mental-health-facility/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/16/county-planning-commission-votes-to-recommend-converting-alps-boulder-canyon-inn-to-mental-health-facility/ |
“With increased RSV infections, a rising number of flu cases and the ongoing burden of COVID-19 in our communities … there’s no doubt that we will face some challenges this winter,” CDC officials said. In addition, they warned that health care systems in mid-Atlantic states, New England and Washington state “are currently experiencing significant capacity strain right now.”
Vaccination is an easy, often no-cost step in staying healthy. Protecting yourself and your family is the responsible course of action. Now’s the time to act. | 2022-11-17T14:41:20Z | www.dailycamera.com | Editorial: Get vaccinated as illness threat grows | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/17/editorial-get-vaccinated-as-illness-threat-grows/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/17/editorial-get-vaccinated-as-illness-threat-grows/ |
Guest opinion: Fintan Steele: Church’s guidance…
By Fintan Steele
The Archdiocese of Denver’s document “Guidance for Issues Concerning the Human Person and Sexual Identity” is ultimately not just about their private schools and the Roman Catholic moral position for treating (or rather not treating) trans kids and/or same-sex parents at those schools. The document refers repeatedly to objective truths that must be upheld.
So what are the principles underlying their guidance? And are they, in fact, objectively true? There appear to be only two that matter here:
1. Sex was created for heterosexual procreation.
Within marriage, of course, and always “open” to the possibility of conception, even in situations where one or both husband and wife are barren. Ergo birth control, masturbation, etc., are contrary to the intent of sex, and thus immoral. Homosexual acts, which by definition preclude procreation, are intrinsically immoral.
2. Sexual identity is established solely by physical traits.
Your plumbing determines who you are sexually (male or female), independent of your neurobiology, experience, etc. And depending on what you are rocking “down there,” you have particular roles to play in the Church and in society.
Despite all the concerned pastoral language added to blunt its fundamental intolerance, the document rests on these two principles. But are they, in fact, objectively true? Here is where we see the split between the Roman magisterium and pretty much every medical and scientific group in the world.
Regarding the first principle. Yes, sex at its most bestial level is predominantly — but not always — about making new critters. But its main goal is to rearrange chromosomes and drive variability in the species. The Roman church focuses on the individual end product but conveniently ignores that variance across the population is as important, if not more so, than any one offspring itself. Indeed, the variability we actually see in human sexuality — and against which the Church rages — is to be expected from a truthful procreative stance. Their objective truth here is neither truthful nor objective.
It is even clearer that their insistence on the second principle (“sex parts=gender”) ultimately fails the truth test for the same reasons, based even on simple observations around the complexity of gender and gender-identity development. Again, there is an evolutionary spectrum of identities that we would expect from something so complicated and imprecise. By its nature, gender eludes simple categorization or explanation. Thus, moral denunciations of some forms of gender identity but not others are not only fatuous, they are actually more immoral than what is being denounced.
Fortunately, we do not have to subscribe to such horrible belief systems (and increasingly fewer of us do). But it is hard to stand idly by and watch the damage being done to so many people in the name of doctrinal purity. Yes, Roman Catholicism has an absolute right to hold the beliefs it does, as long it doesn’t insist on non-members having to adhere to its ultimate collapse of human worth into an antiquated and demonstrably false understanding of human biology that harms rather than supports.
Some of my former seminary and monastic colleagues regularly remind me that there is some beautiful stuff in Roman Catholic moral theology, particularly in its social teachings that are explicitly based on the principle of the fundamental dignity of the human person. Yes, and some of this more expansive language even makes it into this guidance document (again, probably to cover up the sheer horror of the other stuff). But why they continue to retreat to this schizophrenic split between asserting human dignity and denigrating human sexuality is self-defeating, and even highly immoral.
Fintan Steele is an ex-Benedictine monk and priest with a Ph.D. in biology/genetics. He spent most of his life in science communications, including scientific publishing and, most recently, for biopharma and academic centers. He and his husband live in Hygiene, CO. | 2022-11-17T14:41:26Z | www.dailycamera.com | Guest opinion: Fintan Steele: Church's guidance on trans students rests on false understanding of biology | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/17/guest-opinion-fintan-steele-churchs-guidance-on-trans-students-rests-on-false-understanding-of-biology/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/17/guest-opinion-fintan-steele-churchs-guidance-on-trans-students-rests-on-false-understanding-of-biology/ |
Women’s basketball: CU Buffs fall to Texas…
Women’s basketball: CU Buffs fall to Texas Tech in foul-filled contest
LUBBOCK, Texas – On the bright side, the Colorado women’s basketball team was given a game Wednesday from which it can learn a lot.
Unfortunately, it came on a frustrating, whistle-filled night.
The Buffaloes nearly overcame one of the highest foul counts in program history before falling to host Texas Tech, 86-85 in overtime in the preseason WNIT at United Supermarkets Arena.
Tameiya Sadler’s desperation layup attempt came up short before the final buzzer as the Buffs (3-1) lost their first game of the season. CU nearly won despite being hit with 34 fouls – tied for the second-most in program history. The only time a CU team had more was on Feb. 13, 1981, when the Buffs had 36 fouls in a loss at Utah.
“We never foul like that,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “You can go back six years and probably never find a game where we fouled that much with this veteran of a ballclub.”
In fact, in Payne’s now seven-season tenure, the previous high foul total for CU was 28. On this night, three Buffs – Jaylyn Sherrod, Frida Formann and Jada Wynn – fouled out and three other Buffs had four fouls.
Texas Tech capitalized, hitting 36-of-41 free throws (87.8%). The Red Raiders were hit with 24 fouls, and the Buffs were 23-of-32 (71.9%) from the line.
“It was very frustrating because we had no idea from possession to possession how it was going to be called,” Payne said. “That’s a really difficult thing to ask a team. We’re saying, ‘Make the adjustment.’ … What adjustment? What do you want me to do? It was just very, very frustrating.”
Quay Miller had a career-high 24 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead the Buffs, while Sherrod scored 19 of her 21 points in the second half.
CU was sizzling early, making 11-of-15 shots in the first quarter to take a 27-20 lead. But, with 1:35 to play in the first quarter, Texas Tech head coach Krista Gerlich was hit with a technical foul.
“After their coach got a technical foul, I thought the game changed in how it was called,” Payne said. “It was called super, super tight after that.”
Despite that, CU increased its lead to 16 points, at 39-23, with 4:13 to play in the second quarter. The Red Raiders closed the half on an 11-2 run, however, and then opened the second half with a 10-3 run to tie the game at 44-44.
Texas Tech never led by more than three, but there were 11 lead changes, most of those down the stretch.
“It was very difficult to play a game like that,” Payne said. “It was very hard to get into any rhythm whatsoever because everything was a foul and a free throw and then you’re stopping, you’re playing off a dead ball out of bounds.”
Payne was please with Sherrod’s second half effort. After just two points in the first half, the senior point guard had 14 in the third quarter.
“Jay is just ultimately very, very competitive and so she’s going to do everything humanly possible to help us win and she just did that,” Payne said. “She found ways to get downhill, got a couple of steals and was creating even a little bit with her defense. She was phenomenal.”
Unfortunately for the Buffs, it wasn’t enough as they had a 14-game winning streak in regular season nonconference games snapped.
“Every time we take the floor is an opportunity to learn, but this game is better for us than a 20-point win over someone that doesn’t necessarily challenge us in these ways,” Payne said. “I’m disappointed with the outcome, but certainly glad that we had an opportunity to play a tough team on their floor in a very challenging environment. I think we definitely have a lot that we can learn from this.
“We’ll be a better team next week because of a game like this.”
Snapshot: CU Buffs at Texas Tech
Turning point: The lead changed hands 11 times, but the final turning point came midway through overtime. CU scored the first three points of the extra session, but had back-to-back turnovers and Texas Tech scored four straight to take the lead, sparking a 6-2 run in the final 2:11.
Buff of the game: Quay Miller. She posted another double-double, with a career-high 24 points and 12 rebounds. She also tied her career high with five steals.
What’s next?: The Buffs host Air Force on Saturday at 2 p.m. | 2022-11-17T18:42:06Z | www.dailycamera.com | Women’s basketball: CU Buffs fall to Texas Tech in foul-filled contest – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/17/womens-basketball-cu-buffs-fall-to-texas-tech-in-foul-filled-contest/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/17/womens-basketball-cu-buffs-fall-to-texas-tech-in-foul-filled-contest/ |
Colorado football: Buffs’ Brady Russell…
Buffaloes’ senior tight end drawing attention from NFL scouts as collegiate career winds down
“My kindergarten teacher called my mom at home,” Russell said, “and she said, ‘Brady says that he can’t cut hearts out. He said he’s made for football and nothing else.’
Russell, who earned a scholarship in his second season at CU, has caught 73 passes for 758 yards in his career, but NFL scouts showing up to CU in recent weeks have been eying his blocking. He is viewed as a potential fullback at the next level.
“When I was in third grade, (Matt’s) like, ‘If you want to make it to the NFL, do really good at this and you can get there,’” Russell sad. “All right, well, I can do that. So, I’ve been doing that ever since.
“It’s kind of weird because even though it’s our worst season, it’s probably the closest group of guys, the most fun we’ve had,” Russell said. “Even in practice last year, being 4-8, there was times that we were just miserable. But the team (this year) has just stuck together so well and we’ve been able to have fun despite our circumstances the entire year and been able to bring joy every day. | 2022-11-18T04:01:28Z | www.dailycamera.com | Colorado football: Buffs’ Brady Russell enjoying present, preparing for future – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/17/colorado-football-buffs-brady-russell-enjoying-present-preparing-for-future/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/17/colorado-football-buffs-brady-russell-enjoying-present-preparing-for-future/ |
Opinion: Steve Pomerance: Neighborhoods should…
The city council recently took up the issue of allowing more “accessory dwelling units” in single-family neighborhoods. An ADU is a self-contained apartment within a single-family house or in a separate building on the same lot. Currently, Boulder has significant limits on ADUs, including requirements for off-street parking and density limits, like allowing only 20% of houses in a 300-foot radius to have ADUs. These were carefully worked out several years ago.
Now, some council members are pushing to allow all single-family homes to have ADUs, both internal and external. That would allow three units on every lot — two ADUs plus the main unit — though with the proposed 900-square-foot size limit, this could look like a duplex plus another house. And even with a constraint of, say, a maximum of five unrelated people, it would effectively turn every lot into a small condo development, since ownership could be through an LLC whose members change with whoever is living there.
Interestingly, at the council’s recent session, a city staffer stated (per the Camera’s quote), “We cannot find another city in the country that has a saturation limit for ADUs.” This conclusion was then repeated by at least one council member to justify eliminating limits.
But limits show up in other forms. Traverse City, Michigan, only allows 15 ADUs per year.
New Castle County, Delaware, limits ADUs to 0.4% of total single-family homes in the county per year.
Many cities have stringent off-street parking requirements, which de facto limit the number of multi-unit lots.
Both Omaha, Nebraska, and Dallas, Texas, have approaches that deserve serious discussion but apparently haven’t been researched by city staff. Critically, they include neighborhood involvement and approval in some form or another. Omaha’s rules, in Article XV, Accessory Apartments, of their Code section 55-763, states, “Purpose. This provision recognizes the need for alternative housing for special population groups and the economic difficulty of maintaining very large single-family houses in specific parts of the city. It is intended to meet these needs in designated areas, while maintaining the single-family nature of a neighborhood. … An application to allow accessory apartments may be initiated by petition of not less than 50 percent of the property owners within the proposed area.”
I like that Omaha specifically states that they want to maintain the single-family nature of the neighborhood. In other words, they respect the expectations of their citizens who spent their savings to buy into the area. And, critically, they don’t see adding more housing as a sacred mission to which every other value must be sacrificed.
Dallas also addresses property owners’ legitimate desires to preserve their neighborhoods. Dallas does not allow ADUs by right. Per the discussion of their regulations on their website, a neighborhood could come together to submit an application to the city to create an overlay that would allow ADUs. A neighborhood committee consisting of at least 10 property owners within the proposed overlay area would create a boundary map and plat of the requested area. Then the city staff would conduct a neighborhood meeting, with notices sent to all property owners within the area. Then the owners would generate a petition of more than 50% of the property owners.
Presumably, the petition could specify the separation requirements, ADU size maximums, lot size minimums, on-site owner requirements, occupancy limits, off-street parking requirements, affordability, etc. What I especially like about both cities’ approaches is that they start with the neighborhood; they’re not imposed top-down.
Locally, it appears that some on the council think that just winning an election suddenly means that whatever they want goes. And their argument about ADUs providing more affordable housing is just an excuse: The council failed to make the zoning changes in East Boulder needed to balance jobs and housing. They’ve not raised the jobs-housing linkage fees nor increased the inclusionary housing percentage to adequate numbers. CU South’s potential student and staff increase could far exceed the required on-site housing, both in numbers and cost. And proposed ADU rent limits are not truly affordable anyway.
Having good values does not substitute for doing real governance. The “you have it, I want it, so I’ll take it” attitude just turns a potential solution into a real problem. The council, through its agenda committee, should include knowledgeable citizens with different perspectives from the beginning, show substantive respect for those who will be impacted, and make sure staff does complete research up front so all options are on the table. Let the neighborhoods help make their own decisions.
Steve Pomerance is a former member of the Boulder City Council. stevepomerance@yahoo.com | 2022-11-18T17:38:20Z | www.dailycamera.com | Opinion: Steve Pomerance: Neighborhoods should get to make their own decisions on ADUs | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/18/opinion-steve-pomerance-neighborhoods-should-get-to-make-their-own-decisions-on-adus/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/18/opinion-steve-pomerance-neighborhoods-should-get-to-make-their-own-decisions-on-adus/ |
Letters to the editor: Cut back coverage of…
Robert E. Rothe: Election: Media should cut back coverage of ‘Florida retiree’
I find it uncommon that two years after losing an election, a Florida Retiree still finds his name mentioned far too often in the media. I would like to suggest that the media might pick up the notion — first suggested by the New York Post on page 26 on their November 16, 2022, publication — of replacing the elderly gentleman’s name by words similar or identical to New York Post’s: “A Florida retiree.” Alternatively, “a Florida man” or “a Floridian” would suffice.
Robert E. Rothe, Boulder
Paul McLoughlin: U.S.A.: Four moments that gave me hope in America
It dawned on me in the newly-minted darkness of election night that, once again, I had witnessed the beauty of the American people.
Four times in my life I have been part of what makes America work. Not talking here about politics, pundits or processes. I mean my fellow citizens with whom I fought, sat, counted and judged.
1) Vietnam. I was a young, oh so young, 2nd Lieutenant Combat Engineer in Chu Lai in 1969. The younger men whom I commanded opened my eyes to the length and breadth of this vast land. One who threw a baseball behind the hooches (“Let ’im practice, Lieutenant”) became a Golden Glove outfielder for the Phillies.
2) Jury Duty. I’ve sat in the box in Boulder. You can’t come away from the pressure of jury deliberations without admiring the sagacity of those with whom you disagree. I’ve also been a Grand Jury Foreman in New York City. I’ve witnessed American beauty in the crucible of justice, warts and all.
3) 2020 Census. I was census field manager for Boulder County. Sixteen months of political machinations, no-knock COVID canvassing, scorching heat and a wary public. Over 500 census takers in Boulder County delivered the count. They were simply magnificent — disciplined, purposeful, relentless and competent — against all odds.
4) 2022 Election. We the people determine the outcome, but somebody has to do the work. I saw the assistance provided to voters as the co-lead judge in Gunbarrel — all actions bipartisan. Later, I spent two days in the Boulder County Clerk’s Office working side by side with “Mrs. Longmont” and other Boulderites of every stripe to ensure the integrity of the voting process.
Any one of these activities reinforces faith in the American people. All four over 50 years confirmed my hope for America.
Paul McLoughlin, Boulder
Joseph La Camera: Children: Remember to have fun with your kids
Erma Bombeck once said, “All of us have moments in our lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with white carpet is one of them.”
My wife, Deanna, and I have always loved children. She was a first-grade teacher, and I was a middle school and high school counselor. We found children to be fun and funny all at the same time.
One time when our son was about three years old, he had snuck down from his bedroom, after going to bed, to the kitchen to get a cookie from a new batch Deanna had made that day. He pulled out a drawer to use to climb up to the kitchen sink in order to open the cupboard where the cookies were stored. In the process, he grabbed for a cookie and instead knocked over a ten-pound bag of baking flour which spilled all over the counter and floor. We heard a crash and a commotion. By the time we got to the kitchen, he had crawled down and ran up the stairs to his bedroom without realizing that he had left a trail of tiny footprints all the way to his bed. We ran up to see if he was OK to find him on his back, arms crossed over his chest with eyes closed and a look of a cherub. We both smiled, and then kissed him a second time. We went downstairs to clean up the mess he made. It was funny and creative at the same time. Nothing was said the next day, but he never did it again.
I’m struck by what Benjamin Spock once said, “There are only two things a child will share willingly; communicable diseases, and its Mother’s age.”
Have fun with your kids.
Joseph La Camera, Boulder | 2022-11-18T20:29:39Z | www.dailycamera.com | Letters to the editor: Cut back coverage of 'retiree'; hopeful moments for America; have fun with your kids | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/18/letters-to-the-editor-cut-back-coverage-of-retiree-hopeful-moments-for-america-have-fun-with-your-kids/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/18/letters-to-the-editor-cut-back-coverage-of-retiree-hopeful-moments-for-america-have-fun-with-your-kids/ |
Boulder’s Biodesix offers new shares to bolster…
Biodesix Inc. (Nasdaq: BDSX), a life-sciences company that specializes in developing tools to detect lung disease, has launched a new public offering of 30.5 million shares in order to meet the terms of a new $50 million line of credit from a health care investment firm.
The $50 million term-loan facility from investor Perceptive Advisors LLC “is conditioned on the company raising at least $30 million in gross proceeds through sale of its equity securities, [and] is part of a strategic fundraising effort to strengthen the company’s balance sheet, reduce near term cash use and enable the continued growth trajectory of the core lung diagnostics business,” Biodesix said.
“The proceeds from this debt offering will be used for repayment of existing debt facilities, working capital, and general corporate purposes, including expansion of the commercialization activities for the company’s five Medicare reimbursed lung diagnostic tests.” | 2022-11-19T01:55:03Z | www.dailycamera.com | Boulder's Biodesix offers new shares to bolster credit line | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/18/boulders-biodesix-offers-new-shares-to-bolster-credit-line/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/18/boulders-biodesix-offers-new-shares-to-bolster-credit-line/ |
Boulder City Council continues Ed Center…
Boulder City Council continues Ed Center annexation after pushback from residents
Culinary Center Production Cook Richard Morin looks over paperwork as berry sauce for French toast casserole, a student created recipe, is packaged on Friday. The Boulder Valley School District is seeking to annex into Boulder a 41.7-acre property at 6500 Arapahoe Road that includes the administration building, Culinary Center, Boulder Technical Education Center and Arapahoe Ridge High School, and the Sombrero Marsh Environmental Education Center. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
The Boulder City Council Thursday night unanimously agreed to continue a public hearing and discussion on whether to annex about 48 acres at 6500 Arapahoe Road in order for staff to evaluate suggested changes and see if they are greenlit by the Boulder Valley School District.
The Council will discuss the proposal, which stems from a request from the Boulder Valley School District to annex its Education Center property into Boulder and add a modular home factory for students to build homes for Habitat for Humanity, again at a Dec. 15 meeting.
The discussion and decision to continue the agenda item came after about a dozen residents expressed concerns and complained about the annexation proposal. The council did not agree to continue the annexation proposal until after the Daily Camera’s print deadline.
One change requested is to a proposed intergovernmental agreement between Boulder Valley and the city and asks to relocate the street where the factory would receive deliveries be moved to 65th Street rather than 63rd Street as it is currently written.
The Boulder Valley School District administration building is seen on Friday. BVSD is seeking to annex into Boulder a 41.7-acre property at 6500 Arapahoe Road. After a lengthy session Thursday night, the Boulder City Council decided to continue its consideration of the issue in December. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
Boulder Valley Senior Planner Glen Segrue said all amendments will need to go through the school board but added that access to 65th Street is a big issue for the school district.
“We are willing to look at it operationally,” he said. “There are things we can do. I think as you suggested — off hours (on) Saturdays — we may be able to come to some agreements on that at an operational level. I think it’s something that through the negotiation, I think we were pretty consistent that the school district was not willing to accept that.”
The Thursday night City Council meeting was council’s second reading to consider approving the two annexation agreements: the first is a 19.097-acre property to the west, and the second is 28.882-acre property to the east. The properties include the school district’s administration building, a central kitchen, the Boulder Technical Education Center and Arapahoe Ridge High School, and the Sombrero Marsh Environmental Education Center.
The agreement, if approved, would require the property’s outside lighting to comply with the city’s “dark sky” rules to eliminate light pollution as well as the city’s 55-feet building height limit and “good neighbor” agreement to limit noise impacts to neighborhoods and nearby wetlands. Boulder Valley also would be required to pay a $2.1 million city stormwater investment fee.
The 31,375-square-foot factory would serve as a teaching location for the construction students at the Technical Education Center. The first homes would be used in the redevelopment of the Ponderosa Mobile Home Park. The building, which would be located on the southeast corner of the site, is designed with a steel frame and would be 36 feet tall at its peak.
Many residents’ complaints Thursday night centered on noise levels, increased traffic — specifically on 63rd Street — and potential impacts to the Sombrero Marsh open space.
“The district campus has serious traffic issues, which the manufacturing facility and expanding district functions will only intensify,” said Boulder resident Joseph Prizio. “If an equitable traffic solution cannot be found, it is reasonable to conclude that the proposed manufacturing site is unacceptable.”
Jay Sugnet, Boulder senior planner, said the city has committed to hiring an acoustical engineer to measure potential noise impact of factory operations on the surrounding neighborhood and open space; the city will ensure the factory’s operating hours will occur no more than five days a week — 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Construction of the factory will take place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Forklifts at the factory would not have back-up alarms and trash and recycling would only occur during operating hours.
“We’ve also designed the factory layout so that delivery trucks don’t back up at all,” Sugnet said. “They can circumnavigate the building.”
In other action, the City Council unanimously approved aligning its 10-cent disposable bag fee with the state’s new law but included a few minor changes.
Under the state’s new bill, which will take effect at the start of 2023, customers will be charged 10 cents per paper bag or plastic bag used at most stores. The state’s ban on single-use plastic bags and polystyrene containers often used for takeout food will begin in 2024 but allows exemptions, including for restaurants or small stores — a business that operates solely in Colorado, has three or fewer locations in the state, and is not part of a franchise, corporation, or partnership that has physical locations outside of Colorado. Stores will still be allowed to carry paper bags after the plastic ban takes effect but must charge the 10-cent fee.
Boulder’s ordinance will deviate from the state’s bill and will require stores that do not meet the small store criteria to begin collecting the bag fee Jan. 1, 2023. The city will phase small stores into the program in 2024, said Jamie Harkins, Boulder sustainability senior manager. The city will still require food stores that already have the fee in place to continue their collections, Harkins added.
“This is a big piece to a broader issue,” Harkins said ahead of Thursday’s meeting. “This is part of an overall attempt to really reduce our overall consumption. I am really excited for this to be statewide and really consistent city to city.”
Aaron Brockett acknowledged city staff’s hard work to move away from disposable and other plastic bags.
“I look forward to (staff’s) reevaluation of it in coming years to see whether the fee perhaps should be higher,” he said. | 2022-11-19T05:14:48Z | www.dailycamera.com | Boulder City Council continues Ed Center annexation after pushback from residents | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/17/boulder-city-council-continues-arapahoe-road-annexation-after-pushback-from-residents/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/17/boulder-city-council-continues-arapahoe-road-annexation-after-pushback-from-residents/ |
Guest opinion: Elliot Moore: The civic duty of…
By Elliot Moore
On Saturday, Nov. 19, I will be conducting the Longmont Symphony Orchestra in a program that recognizes American culture and history. The program includes Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Hiawatha Overture, and American composer Michael Daugherty’s Trail of Tears Flute Concerto with guest artist Brice Smith.
The Flute Concerto is a musical journey into how the human spirit discovers ways to deal with one of our nation’s great tragedies, the forcible removal of 15,000 Cherokee men, women and children from their homes by the U.S. Army. During their 800-mile journey to Oklahoma over the freezing winter of 1838, nearly 4,000 Cherokee died of exposure, disease, and starvation during the five-month march known as the “Trail of Tears.” The work concludes with a movement titled “Sun Dance,” which evokes the most important religious dance ceremony of the Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains of the 19th century. Banned on Native American reservations for a century by the U.S. government, the dance is practiced again today. This stirring musical dance was composed to suggest how reconnecting with the past might create a path toward a better future. | 2022-11-19T19:36:13Z | www.dailycamera.com | Guest opinion: Elliot Moore: The civic duty of music | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/19/guest-opinion-elliot-moore-the-civic-duty-of-music/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/19/guest-opinion-elliot-moore-the-civic-duty-of-music/ |
Guest opinion: Suzanne Westgaard: Celebrate the…
By Suzanne Westgaard
Many people look forward to and enjoy celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas. Unfortunately, however, billions (yes, billions) of innocent, sentient, intelligent animals are brutally slaughtered so that humans can have a special holiday meal, as well as continual, daily consumption. The factory farming industry is just that — an industry, the main goal and focus of which is to make money by slaughtering (a synonym for murdering) animals. Here are some facts:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture allows the term “cage-free” when the chickens are out of the cage for just one hour a day! Their beaks are cut off so they don’t injure each other and to prevent “damage” that would preclude them from being sold for human consumption. Pork, ham, baby-back ribs and spare ribs are all from pigs and piglets. Pigs are intelligent and have significant emotional capacity. Piglets are adorable. An example of this occurred where I volunteer, Luvin’ Arms Farm Sanctuary. There was a piglet named Fiona who would crawl into my lap and enjoyed when I would pet her and talk to her — just like a puppy or kitten.
As for veal, lamb and beef, here are the true facts: Veal is a very young calf who was torn away from his or her mother. Lamb is the innocent, adorable baby of a sheep. Beef, steak and brisket are from a gentle cow. All of these animals have feelings and awareness and deserve to be treated as such. Think of your beloved pets. The victims of the food industry have many of the same emotional, sensitive and intelligent qualities that your pets have.
It is a potential misconception that pilgrims ate turkey. So why do humans have a need to do so? Roughly 37 million turkeys are murdered every year specifically just for Thanksgiving. There is a large turkey at Luvin’ Arms. His name is Walter. He is a gentle guy who enjoys interacting and likes when I gently pet him. Another example of animal sentience comes from the two large pigs, Desmond and Felix, who were best friends. When Desmond passed away due to medical problems, it was quite apparent that Felix was mourning. He was very aware that his friend was no longer with him.
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our gentle, beloved Jesus. He would want us to do so by exhibiting kindness, love and compassion to all living beings, which of course includes every single one of the animal victims of the food industry.
Suzanne Westgaard lives in Boulder. | 2022-11-19T19:36:25Z | www.dailycamera.com | Guest opinion: Suzanne Westgaard: Celebrate the holidays with kindness toward animals | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/19/guest-opinion-suzanne-westgaard-celebrate-the-holidays-with-kindness-toward-animals/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/19/guest-opinion-suzanne-westgaard-celebrate-the-holidays-with-kindness-toward-animals/ |
Nederland mayor buoyed by promise of funding to…
The Nederland Police Department should be buttressed by the hiring of new personnel in the wake of a ballot measure passed by voters earlier this month (Camera file photo)
When Nederland Mayor Billy Giblin heard that voters overwhelmingly approved a tax increase to fund the Nederland Police Department, he was surprised, to say the least.
“I was encouraged and grateful,” he said. “It’s clear what people wanted.”
Giblin is referring to ballot issue 2J, the measure increasing sales tax in Nederland from 4% to 4.35% to help pay for police officers and other public support staff for the town, which passed last Tuesday with 63% of the vote. The town has seen several resignations throughout this year from officers, including from Town Marshal Jennifer Fine-Loven, who resigned in September.
“I called for a reboot,” Giblin said of staff shortages in the department, which had as few as one officer working, at times. “It was not sustainable…we realized we had to put it out to the residents of town [for a vote].”
Giblin mulled over several ideas as to how he could improve conditions at the department before it became a ballot measure. The town has worked with Boulder County Sheriff’s Office to cover in areas where Nederland police are unable to, since the town already has contracts in place with the sheriff’s office for night and weekend staffing.
Nederland’s Board of Trustees had even considered folding the police department and its services in with the sheriff’s office, a cost-cutting solution that Lyons and Superior have already done. But after the passage of the ballot measure, there’s no need.
“About two months ago we decided against that,” Giblin said. “We thank the county and we continue to work in partnership with the county sheriff’s office. But we wanted to pursue rebuilding our own [department].”
Carrie Haverfield, the public information and community outreach specialist for the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, said the office “looks forward to the town having a solution for their law enforcement services.”
“We continue to provide public safety services overnight, per our contract with the town, and continue to offer mutual aid support,” she said. “We know [Nederland] is working actively working toward their goal.”
While this ballot measure serves strictly as a funding increase to the department, Giblin has been working with officials on hiring more officers, conducting background checks on candidates, and will be “vetting final candidates to interview in the coming weeks.”
Interviewing around 60 candidates, Giblin, the board of trustees, Louisville Police Chief Dave Hayes and others will reach a conclusion of who will serve as the new town marshal, who once onboarded, will hire their own sergeant and remaining officers.
Outside of hiring a full team, Giblin is looking toward the year ahead and fostering a “positive culture” for the police department.
“We want people who will take and stay in positions,” he said. “Paying people more, better equipment better vehicles — we want to make clear what the pros are for this job, so that people know this is a great police force to work for.”
The town is also working on hiring mental health responders in addition to officers, to help with serious interactions that require the expertise of mental health professionals, not necessarily requiring police presence.
While Nederland still had a long way to fully rebuild the force, Giblin is driven by just how soundly residents voted for the measure and were eager to support their local police.
“This is the direction that Ned residents want to see us go,” he said. | 2022-11-20T01:11:45Z | www.dailycamera.com | Nederland mayor buoyed by promise of funding to boost police force | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/19/nederland-mayor-buoyed-by-promise-of-funding-to-boost-police-force/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/19/nederland-mayor-buoyed-by-promise-of-funding-to-boost-police-force/ |
CU Buffs men cross country eighth, women 11th…
The Colorado cross country teams entered the NCAA finals dealing with national headlines surrounding allegations made by a former walk-on runner questioning some of the training methods used within coach Mark Wetmore’s program.
In part due to a key injury on the women’s side, the Buffaloes left the meet in Stillwater, Okla., on Saturday with one of the slowest finishes in recent history.
The Buffaloes women’s team finished 11th overall, despite a fifth-place individual finish by Bailey Hertenstein, while the men’s team placed eighth. It was the second consecutive eighth-place finish for the men’s team, while the women placed outside the top 10 for the first time since finishing 24th in 2012.
Hertenstein — who won the Pac-12 Conference championship — was the individual standout for CU, crossing the finish line of the 6K race in 19 minutes, 45.1 seconds. She was more than 17 seconds behind individual national champion Katelyn Touhy of North Carolina State (19:27.7), as the Wolfpack won its second consecutive team championship.
The next CU finisher was Ella Baran, who was 30th overall with a time of 20:09.2. Emily Covert, who finished 31st at last year’s NCAA championship but has battled an injury in recent weeks, finished 105th. The Buffs and Hertenstein were the top team and individual finishers among the Pac-12 women entries.
“Honestly, the women had a better day maybe than the team score indicates,” Wetmore said. “We’ve been nursing Emily all season through a lower leg problem, it was never bad enough to stop but it was never well enough to train fully and she just wasn’t fit enough today. But Bailey was wonderful. Ella Baron was wonderful. Elle Orie had her best race ever. Kaitlyn (Barthell) did fine for who she was as a runner two or three years ago. More good than bad on the women’s side. As I said we would have liked have been a little higher, we just needed Emily healthy.
“I think (Hertenstein) was 12th with 500 to go. She needs to continue to gain confidence. Continue to get fitter. She’s back with us next year. So she’s going to be a real force in a year. We’ve only had her since August really. She will sit out indoor season probably because she only has one left. Which means she now has five or six months to do excellent uninterrupted training. She can be an even better runner by May than she is now and then keep getting better all through next year.”
Austin Vancil led the CU men’s team by finishing 36th (29:33.3) while teammate Andrew Kent was close on his heels (43rd, 29:37.8). Stanford’s Charles Hicks won the men’s individual title in 28:43.6, but the Cardinal, the top-seeded team in the men’s field, finished fifth in the team standings. Northern Arizona claimed the team title, finishing in a points tie with host Oklahoma State but claiming the championship by virtue of the individual tie-breaker. Northern Arizona’s Nico Young (28:44.5) and Drew Bosley (28:55.9) finished second and third, respectively.
Stillwater, Okla.
Women’s team standings: North Carolina State 114, New Mexico 140, Alabama 166, Oklahoma State 201, North Carolina 242, Northern Arizona 257, Notre Dame 261, BYU 263, Virginia 268, Georgetown 271, Colorado 286, Utah 307, Stanford 371, Oregon 390, Ohio State 467, Providence 468, Washington 470, Florida State 471, Wisconsin 494, Michigan State 497, Arkansas 507, Michigan 534, Syracuse 544, Oregon State 544, Colorado State 548, Utah Valley 548, West Virginia 562, Toledo 654, Cal Baptist 659, Northwestern 714, Texas 983.
Women’s top 10 (6K): 1, Katelyn Tuohy, North Carolina State, 19:27.7; 2, Parker Valby, Florida, 19:30.9; 3, Kelsey Chmiel, North Carolina State, 19:37.10; 4, Elise Stearns, Northern Arizona, 19:43.9; 5, Bailey Hertenstein, Colorado, 19:45.1; 6, Hilda Olemomoi, Alabama, 19:45.6; 7, Natalie Cook, Oklahoma State, 19:46.3; 8, Olivia Markezich, Notre Dame, 19:46.4; 9, Amaris Tyynismaa, Alabama, 19:48.20; 10, Addie Engel, Ohio State, 19:50.4.
Other Colorado runners: 30, Ella Baran, 20:09.2; 78, Gabrielle Orie, 20:29.0; 105, Emily Covert, 20:39.0; 129, Kaitlyn Barthell, 20:47.6; 228, Alisa Meraz-Fishbein, 21:44.8; 234, Whitney Valenti, 21:52.0.
Men’s team standings: Northern Arizona 83, Oklahoma State 83, BYU 132, Stanford 195, Wake Forest 204, Wisconsin 212, Air Force 264, Colorado 281, Tulsa 304, North Carolina 323, North Carolina State 334, Syracuse 340, Gonzaga 400, Washington 422, Notre Dame 450, Oregon 465, Harvard 474, Texas 506, Villanova 513, Tennessee 517, Butler 553, Virginia 557, Arkansas 584, Ole Miss 598, Montana State 599, Utah State 618, Alabama 683, Colorado State 704, Princeton 712, Georgetown 752.
Men’s top 10 (10K): 1, Charles Hicks, Stanford, 28:43.6; 2, Nico Young, Northern Arizona, 28:44.5; 3, Drew Bosley, Northern Arizona, 28:55.9; 4, Dylan Jacobs, Tennessee, 28:58.0; 5, Alex Maier, Oklahoma State, 28:58.2; 6, Graham Blanks, Harvard, 28:58.4; 7, Casey Clinger, BYU, 28:58.7; 8, Isai Rodriguez, Oklahoma State, 28:59.9; 9, Parker Wolfe, North Carolina, 29:00.4; 10, Ky Robinson, 29:07.4.
Colorado runners: 36, Austin Vancil, 29:33.3; 43, Andrew Kent, 29:37.8; 68, Seth Hirsch, 29:563.4; 69, Charlie Sweeney, 29:53.8; 86, Brendan Fraser, 30:06.9; 111, James Overberg, 30:20.4; 115, Hunter Appleton, 30:21.2. | 2022-11-20T06:03:43Z | www.dailycamera.com | CU Buffs men cross country eighth, women 11th at NCAA championships – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/19/cu-buffs-men-cross-country-eighth-women-11th-at-ncaa-championships/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/19/cu-buffs-men-cross-country-eighth-women-11th-at-ncaa-championships/ |
Editorial: Updating ADU regulations can help…
Boulder is a special place. It is walkable, bikeable and hikeable. Our neighborhoods are beautiful. Our economy is making a remarkable recovery from the pandemic-related recession. And for a city of our size, our open spaces are unparalleled.
Of course, keeping Boulder special takes work. Earlier this month we voted across the board to invest in our collective future. We approved a handful of taxes to help the city and county stay resilient in the face of climate change. We upheld the annexation of CU South, which will allow critical flood mitigation efforts to proceed. And we voted to create a special district to ensure our libraries had the necessary funds to help our community thrive.
But few things in the fight to keep Boulder special are as divisive as growth. Boulder, as we all know, is facing a housing crisis. By one measure, some 60,000 workers commute here every day. For a city of 108,000, that’s a huge influx of people — a lot of traffic, a lot of emissions, a lot of people who might want to live in the community they contribute their labor to.
How do we as a city preserve all the things we love about our home while embracing the growth that our economy demands?
One small tool that could help this housing crisis is the accessory dwelling unit. Thankfully, the City Council seems to agree. Earlier this month, the council held a study session to consider updating its regulations on ADUs in order to make them more available across the city.
ADUs, sometimes called granny flats, are small apartments with “separate kitchen, sleeping and bathroom facilities, attached or detached from the principal dwelling unit on a single-family lot,” according to the city’s definition.
Put another way, they are apartments that homeowners can build in a basement, attic, garage or backyard that can add to the city’s housing stock. These units can provide homeowners with additional income, be affordable for renters, or provide a cost-effective and adjacent living space for families to care for aging relatives.
But, Boulder being Boulder, the city imposed a saturation limit on ADUs unlike anything else in the country. The limit prevents more than 20% of single-family lots in a 300-foot radius from having an ADU.
The results of the saturation limit are telling. Since ADUs were first approved in 1983, only 441 city-approved units have been constructed. In a city in need of tens of thousands of units of housing stock, 441 ADUs is paltry.
Demand, though, does seem to be growing: Of those 441 units, 96 have been constructed since 2019, and another 100 applications have been approved and are moving through the building permit process.
The city seems set to adapt to this demand. At their study session, the Council greenlit four initiatives: working to eliminate Boulder’s saturation limits, reconsidering the maximum square footage in place for ADUs, clarifying codes in the city’s ADU rules and improving the city’s ADU approval process.
Each of these initiatives is a step in the right direction. Our hope is that each of them can be deliberately instituted to help bring our ADU regulations into the 21st century and provide Boulder with a viable tool to mitigate our housing shortage.
But in order for any potentially adapted ordinances to work, we as a community must also adapt.
Adapting, though, can be tough. Lots of people like Boulder the way it is. We have limits on building height and growth for a reason. Developments not only alter the environment, but they alter the character of a neighborhood. And some among us have spent our life savings to buy a dream home in a single-family neighborhood, often paying a premium for the amenities unique to Boulder.
And, done wrong, ADUs could certainly change Boulder. In fear, some have taken the Council’s consideration of allowing multiple ADUs on a single lot to mean that the city’s population will suddenly double or triple as detached units pop up in every backyard and front lawns are paved over to meet parking requirements.
This, of course, would be tragic. But such fearmongering is disingenuous. Not only is it unlikely that the City Council will simply throw out all ADU-related regulations and allow a free-for-all, but no matter what changes the Council adopts, not all homeowners will even want an ADU. According to the city, just 15 properties are currently on a waiting list because of the saturation limit.
Others have argued that neighborhoods should be given control in the process to ensure that a majority of residents are in favor of any ADUs appearing on their block. On one hand, this makes sense: We invest a lot into where we live, and seeing it change without our consent can be painful. But, on the other hand, we invest a lot into where we live, and if providing an affordable apartment in our garage is how we want to contribute to our community, shouldn’t we be allowed to?
At its core, the real deliberation around ADUs comes back to growth. Our local economy is continuing to recover. But to recover, tens of thousands of workers must commute in from elsewhere. Put another way, tens of thousands of people who already contribute to this city might like the opportunity to live here. And who can blame them? Boulder is a special place.
What we’re afraid of — some of us — is that growing will destroy what makes Boulder special.
But the opposite holds true as well. Because without growth, Boulder will just keep growing old. A report by the Boulder County Area Agency on Aging found that in the next 30 years the county’s overall population is projected to increase by 33%, but the older adult population is projected to increase by 58%, and the 80-plus population is projected to increase by an astounding 244%.
At that rate, it is not hard to imagine our lively city becoming an Aspen-like retirement community.
So, the question is: Do we want to see Boulder grow, or do we want to see it grow old?
If you are like us and want to see Boulder grow — at a reasonable, controlled rate that sees our natural areas protected and equality and diversity thrive — then encourage the Council to update the city’s regulations to eliminate saturation limits, clarify codes in the city’s ADU rules and improve the approval process.
ADUs are not the sole solution to our housing crisis. And they should not be allowed to overrun our neighborhoods unchecked. But they have real potential to make a difference, and we, as a community, should embrace the growth they bring.
Boulder is a special place. But it can grow and change and still be special. | 2022-11-20T16:29:51Z | www.dailycamera.com | Editorial: Updating ADU regulations can help fight Boulder’s housing crisis | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/20/editorial-updating-adu-regulations-can-help-fight-boulders-housing-crisis/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/20/editorial-updating-adu-regulations-can-help-fight-boulders-housing-crisis/ |
Guest opinion: Philip P. DiStefano: A bright…
The annexation of CU Boulder South embodies the best of Boulder.
As I’ve said many times since its passage last year, the annexation agreement provides critical protection for major flooding events, secures 119 acres of protected open space, creates urgently needed attainable housing and represents a commitment to extensive public collaboration.
And I’m pleased that on Election Day, so many of you reaffirmed these community values. While we expect local election results to be certified on Nov. 30, it appears that the annexation can proceed, and we’re eager to work with the City of Boulder in the months ahead as it continues the permitting process.
We are grateful for the thousands of residents who supported annexation at the ballot box and who participated in dozens of public meetings over many years to help shape the annexation agreement.
We are also thankful for the Boulder City Council members, Boulder County officials, boards and commissions, and city and university staff who worked hard to move annexation forward so we could collaboratively address vital community needs.
Looking forward, our first priority is to continue working with the city to help facilitate the design and permitting efforts for the flood protection project on the site, located near U.S. 36 and Table Mesa Drive.
In the months ahead, we intend to embark on a collaborative and detailed planning process for the site, considering both the benefits and the concerns that have been voiced throughout this process.
As we move forward, it’s evident that some Boulder residents have reservations about the project and what it will mean for our community. I hear you. Please know that CU Boulder will continue to listen and engage with our neighbors as these plans take shape.
I am a 40-year resident of Boulder myself, and I care deeply about this community. We want to ensure that this site advances our community’s safety, is sustainable and environmentally sensitive, and also provides open space access and housing opportunities for generations to come.
I hope that all of us — even those who disagree with this project — can find a way to join together in a spirit of collaboration to address the issues and priorities of our shared community.
My hope is that our annexation agreement and our combined efforts on CU Boulder South will solidify Boulder as a forward-thinking community that is willing to take action to create a safe, more equitable and inclusive city.
We’re excited to partner with all of you to build that legacy.
Philip P. DiStefano is the 11th chancellor of CU Boulder. | 2022-11-20T16:30:03Z | www.dailycamera.com | Guest opinion: Philip P. DiStefano: A bright community future for CU Boulder South | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/20/guest-opinion-philip-p-distefano-a-bright-community-future-for-cu-boulder-south/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/20/guest-opinion-philip-p-distefano-a-bright-community-future-for-cu-boulder-south/ |
Letters to the editor: E-edition hard to read;…
Bill Falconer: Camera: New e-edition is very hard to read
Help! The new e-edition format of the Daily Camera is impossible to read. I would just like to be able to read it like a paper newspaper. Now, with ads on both sides of the screen that take up at least a third of the space, there is not enough room to legibly read the tiny print. One cannot actually see and peruse the whole page with this format. You have to click on each individual article and then manipulate the page with arrows.
I guess I’m just “old school,” but I don’t want to go back to the less environmentally responsible paper edition.
Bill Falconer, Boulder
Jean Patton: Camera: Adapting to digital news involves eye strain, slumped shoulders
I cut our 40-year print subscription to the Daily Camera to only two issues a week (Wednesday and Sunday) and 24/7 digital access, thereby reducing our monthly bill by half. I hate booting up my computer first thing in the morning; my eyes can barely tolerate screens, following 35+ years of having to use them daily in my work. I love the smell of newsprint; I love lingering over coffee and reading the paper each day, cutting out articles, ads and stories to pass on to friends and refer to later. I hate being dependent on the interwebs, electricity, and battery life for my daily dose of small-town living. I am an analog girl in a digital world most days, alienated by URLs and pixels.
For more than two decades, as a journalist and feature writer, I was assigned pieces regularly by the Denver Post, the Rocky Mountain News, and various other newspapers (San Diego, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Miami, St. Louis, Minneapolis and the Daily Camera among them). Hard copy magazines, too, back when they paid contributors actual money for both words and photos. The glory years when one could pitch an idea to an editor and then go out into the world to find and build the story. I know what hitting a deadline means, and the glow of seeing my work in print.
However, being on a small, fixed income, I cannot justify the $110 a month — $1320 a year, before tip for the carrier — to get the daily newsPAPER.
I wonder how well I’ll adapt to the inevitable eye strain and slumped shoulders as I scan the screens. I feel the loss of one of my life’s defining pleasures. I didn’t know it would hurt…
First world problem, I guess.
Jean Patton, Lafayette
Peter Raymond: Development: There is a difference between better and bigger
We didn’t elect our city council to make Loveland bigger. We simply hope they’ll make Loveland better. What does a water park with what might be a pipe dream of a $2 billion impact and 1,000 relatively low-wage jobs do? It won’t really supply more jobs to current residents, because we don’t have an unemployment problem. Would this project help our homeless problem? No it wouldn’t. This project would just force growth, supporting the people who profit from growth, turn rolling hilltops into rolling rooftops and dump more cars on our roads. Not better, just bigger.
We’ve fallen for the idea of a water park before. This time we can only ask the council to withdraw the idea of subsidies and the local media to name names so that we can make sure that any city council member, or even any county commissioner, who votes for incentives for this project never holds elected office ever again. That seems fair. | 2022-11-20T16:30:15Z | www.dailycamera.com | Letters to the editor: E-edition hard to read; adapting to digital news; bigger vs. better | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/20/letters-to-the-editor-e-edition-hard-to-read-adapting-to-digital-news-bigger-vs-better/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/20/letters-to-the-editor-e-edition-hard-to-read-adapting-to-digital-news-bigger-vs-better/ |
Boulder County man set for trial in fentanyl…
Terrelle Lucero (Boulder County Sheriff’s Office)
A Boulder County man accused of selling fentanyl pills to a person who later died of an overdose is set for trial next year.
According to a release from the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, the Boulder County Drug Task Force identified Lucero as having sold fentanyl to a person who suffered a fatal overdose on April 25 in the city of Boulder.
Manslaughter can be charged in Colorado when a person “recklessly causes the death of another person.”
Because of Colorado law at the time of the victim’s death, Lucero faces a presumptive sentence of four to 12 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter. Since then, a new bill passed that increases the presumptive sentence to eight to 32 years years in prison. | 2022-11-21T23:06:56Z | www.dailycamera.com | Boulder County man set for trial in fentanyl overdose case | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/21/boulder-county-man-set-for-trial-in-fentanyl-overdose-case/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/21/boulder-county-man-set-for-trial-in-fentanyl-overdose-case/ |
Defendant found not guilty in University Hill…
One of the defendants charged in last year’s riot on University Hill was found not guilty after a trial last week.
“Following this incident, there was a lengthy and thorough investigation that resulted in several arrests by law enforcement,” Boulder County District Attorney spokeswoman Shannon Carbone said in a statement. “As in every trial, we respect the time and service of the community members on this jury.”
2021 University Hill riot | 2022-11-22T02:30:17Z | www.dailycamera.com | Defendant found not guilty in University Hill riot case | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/21/defendant-found-not-guilty-in-university-hill-riot-case/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/21/defendant-found-not-guilty-in-university-hill-riot-case/ |
The tenth annual Avista Adventist Hospital Turkey Trot 5K event will be held in Louisville on Thanksgiving day.
Proceeds and donations from Thursday’s race, which has become one of the largest run-walk events in the region, will go toward Community Food Share, a food bank that serves Boulder and Broomfield Counties.
Last year’s event raised over $25,000, and the organization estimates that it can provide $5 worth of groceries for every $1 received. In total, Community Food Share distributes roughly 10 million pounds of fresh, nutritious foods each year.
The event will start at 9 a.m. at 951 Spruce St., near the intersection of Front and Spruce Streets in Old Town Louisville. Participants may bring non-perishable food items to donate on the day of the race. Registration and more information can be found at communityfoodshare.org/turkey-trot/. | 2022-11-22T02:30:28Z | www.dailycamera.com | Louisville to host Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/21/louisville-to-host-turkey-trot-5k-on-thanksgiving/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/21/louisville-to-host-turkey-trot-5k-on-thanksgiving/ |
Football notes: CU Buffs preparing to face…
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – NOVEMBER 26: Daniel Arias #6 of the Colorado Buffaloes is tackled by Hayden Furey #53, Vonte Davis #9, Devin Lloyd #0 and Mika Tafua #42 of the Utah Utes during their game November 26, 2021 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City , Utah. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
Colorado interim head coach Mike Sanford already knew the answer when he asked his players what they were doing in 1994.
“None of them were alive,” Sanford said with a laugh during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
Some of the Buffs, in fact, were still about 10 years away from being born. But, it was in 1994 that Kyle Whittingham joined the coaching staff at Utah.
Nearly three decades later, Whittingham is still with the Utes (8-3, 6-2 Pac-12), wrapping up his 18th year as head coach.
“Obviously, Utah has been a model of continuity,” Sanford said.
CU, of course, has not. Sanford will be the fourth different CU head coach Whittingham has faced in the last five years. The list includes Mike MacIntyre (2018), Mel Tucker (2019) and Karl Dorrell (2020-21).
With continuity, Utah has built a reputation for its physicality.
“They’re physical, they’re violent,” Sanford said. “They’ve cornered the market in the Pac-12 of physicality. And we’re excited for that challenge.”
The Utes are tough on both sides of the ball, but particularly on defense.
“They just are a physical, tough team,” Buffs guard Tommy Brown said. “They go out there, they know what they want to do, and they execute their jobs. It’s gonna be a great challenge for the offensive line and the whole team. But we’re excited for that challenge and can’t wait to go out there with my brothers.”
Brown, who transferred from Alabama last winter, has certainly made the most of his first season in Boulder.
Brown has been an every game starter for the first time in his career, and he’s got one of the best NIL (name, image and likeness) deals around, modeling underwear for Shinesty.
“I always just thought of myself as an international sex symbol,” Brown said with a laugh. “I just had to let everyone know about it. Thank God for Shinesty for letting me do that.
“When Shinesty called me, they said they were hoping it would hit Sports Illustrated. We wanted it on the cover of Sports Illustrated so we were hoping for it to go big. It’s been a blast. It’s something fun that it’s not a part of football. I’ve had a great time. There’s a lot of people watching college football. There’s a lot of people seeing me in my underwear. It’s about the same thing for me. The people watching isn’t any pressure I feel or anything like that.”
Sanford’s father, Mike, was on the same Utah staff as Whittingham at one point. The elder Sanford was the Utes’ offensive coordinator from 2003-04. … Utah has won the last five meetings. It is Utah’s longest winning streak in the series since taking nine in a row from 1925-33. | 2022-11-23T03:39:22Z | www.dailycamera.com | Football notes: CU Buffs preparing to face consistent, physical Utah Utes – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/22/football-notes-cu-buffs-preparing-to-face-consistent-physical-utah-utes/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/22/football-notes-cu-buffs-preparing-to-face-consistent-physical-utah-utes/ |
Guest opinion: Ann T. Fair: We must make the…
By Ann T. Fair
I woke up to yet another gun violence tragedy in Colorado on a beautiful Sunday morning. It is a violent, disgraceful and meaningless loss of life again. Driving down my street this afternoon on Mountain View Avenue and taking in the vast majestic view of the Rocky Mountains from Colorado Springs from the south to Rocky Mountain National Park on the North, I was awe-struck yet again by the always glorious, majestic and inspiring view. There is some haze over the mountains today and the snow is just starting to show on the mountains as the air cools and Winter is again upon us. I never get weary of that view. It is my reason for living here and moving to Colorado.
I moved to Colorado from New England in the early 1970s after high school. I am older now and I have been a part of the constant and ever-changing population of Colorado. Colorado has changed in extraordinary ways in the past 20 to 30 years.
It is another sad day in Colorado. The mountains will always be majestic yet there is an overwhelming sense of quiet from people passing by as we look forward to celebrating an upcoming holiday … a much-needed purpose to connect and feel joy after the isolation of COVID-19. It is Thanksgiving week … the stores are somewhat crowded and people are bustling about to prepare their favorite meal for the holidays to share with their families and friends. However, as I watch the faces and posture of the shoppers I sense and feel an overwhelming sadness on the faces of the people going by. They are not looking up and smiling. The posture of people is somewhat sad today.
On the morning after the theater shooting in Aurora, there was quiet tension in our area as the news came out about the shooting there. My adult son worked at the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder Colorado a few years before the mass shooting in Boulder where 10 people were shot dead including a police officer at the store. These stories have become personal to all of us from a local and global perspective.
I don’t know why Colorado has had so many tragic mass shootings. Is it the fast-growing population that perhaps seeks community and belonging and connection, yet people do not find it because there are few old roots and connections to the area? Is it because guns, drugs and politics seem to affect all of us at a psychological level when we seek to find family, friendship and connection?
My children were in high school at the time of the Columbine tragedy and I remember making frantic calls to anyone I knew about what was happening. At the time it was surreal … today it is far too common to hear of a mass shooting. It seems the flags are always at half-mast.
My heart is truly broken today. We are all infinitely connected and when a tragedy from gun violence takes place, I believe it affects all human beings all over the world. It can fill our hearts and souls with sadness and a negative and overwhelming sense of fear and hopelessness for the future.
I prefer to avoid large gatherings and big stores now. I look for possible exits whenever I am in stores and public places.
We must ask ourselves, how long will it take for the human race to realize that violence is useless? What can we do to make the world safe again for all of us, especially for our children and future generations?
Ann T. Fair lives in Longmont. | 2022-11-23T13:26:12Z | www.dailycamera.com | Guest opinion: Ann T. Fair: We must make the world safe for future generations | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/23/guest-opinion-ann-t-fair-we-must-make-the-world-safe-for-future-generations/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/23/guest-opinion-ann-t-fair-we-must-make-the-world-safe-for-future-generations/ |
Biodesix Inc. (Nasdaq: BDSX), a Boulder life-sciences company that specializes in developing tools to detect lung disease, has closed on an upsized public stock offering that grossed $40.3 million.
The offering, launched last week in order to meet the terms of a new $50 million line of credit from a health care investment firm, involved the sale of just over 35 million new shares at $1.15 each.
As of Tuesday evening, the financial maneuvering appears to have satisfied Wall Street as Biodesix’s stock price has ballooned more than 35% over the past five days. | 2022-11-23T22:30:31Z | www.dailycamera.com | Boulder's Biodesix closes $40M stock offering | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/23/boulders-biodesix-closes-40m-stock-offering/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/23/boulders-biodesix-closes-40m-stock-offering/ |
Wildlife: Federal government restarts effort to…
A grizzly bear is pictured at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. Federal agencies are considering plans to bring grizzly bears home to the deep forested valleys of the North Cascades. (Greg Vaughn/VW Pics — ZUMA Wire/TNS)
SPOKANE, Wash. >> A stop-and-go federal process to restore grizzly bears to Washington’s rugged North Cascades began anew last Thursday. However, unlike in previous efforts, the federal government is considering a separate designation that would provide more flexibility when managing individual bears.
The National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the start of a new Environmental Impact Statement process to “evaluate options for restoring and managing grizzly bears” last Thursday. The first of four public meetings was Tuesday.
“The introduction of grizzly bears into the North Cascades would directly, and negatively, impact the people and the communities I represent,” 4th District U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse said in a statement. “My constituents and I have consistently opposed proposals to do so under multiple administrations because introducing an apex predator to the area would threaten the families, wildlife and livestock of North Central Washington. It is disappointing that local voices are once again being ignored by federal bureaucrats, even after the last process was discontinued due to overwhelming local opposition.” | 2022-11-24T02:12:25Z | www.dailycamera.com | Wildlife: Federal government restarts effort to restore grizzly bears to Washington’s rugged North Cascades | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/23/wildlife-federal-government-restarts-effort-to-restore-grizzly-bears-to-washingtons-rugged-north-cascades/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/23/wildlife-federal-government-restarts-effort-to-restore-grizzly-bears-to-washingtons-rugged-north-cascades/ |
Colorado football notes: Buffs’ offensive…
University of Colorado Boulder’s Anthony Hankerson looks for a hole against the Cal Bears on October 15, 2022, as guard Tommy Brown, left, blocks for him. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
(Chris Daniels / Courtesy photo)
Although he had never been a regular starter in college football, Tommy Brown came to Colorado as a veteran player with a winning pedigree.
He also knew quite well what good offensive line play looks like, having spent the previous four seasons at Alabama.
As the Buffaloes (1-10, 1-7 Pac-12) prepare for their finale against No. 14 Utah (8-3, 6-2) on Saturday at Folsom Field (2:10 p.m., Pac-12 Network), Brown has been impressed with the growth of the offensive line.
CU isn’t dominant up front, but has come a long way since Brown arrived in January.
“As an offensive line, we took a lot of pride coming in and doing our job and just trying to improve no matter what was going on around,” said Brown, who has started every game at right guard. “To see what we’ve been able to do throughout the season, it’s been insane. It’s incredible to see the growth of some of the guys and I think it’s a true testament to (offensive line coach Kyle) DeVan and all the other coaches. When it comes down to it, it’s good coaching and guys buying in.”
CU went through several lineup changes early in the season, but eventually settled on a group that includes Brown and Casey Roddick at guard, Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan at left tackle and Jake Wiley at right tackle. When healthy, freshman Van Wells has started at center, while Austin Johnson has filled in.
Throwing to Fillip?
A couple weeks ago, CU created a package for tackle Frank Fillip to line up at tight end. He’s played a few snaps at tight end in the recent games, and Brown said he’s lobbying for Fillip to get a pass in a game.
“Every single meeting, every time I see (offensive coordinator Clay) Patterson, or (interim head coach Mike) Sanford, it’s, ‘Let’s get Frank the ball,’” Brown said. “Since the idea got floated that Frank could be a tight end to Frank’s playing tight end, ‘OK, let’s get Frank the ball.’
“I knew Frank was going out on that route (Saturday at Washington) before the play. So I was blocking as hard as I can and I was hoping it would have got to him but there’s another opportunity in another game, so hopefully it comes.”
Quarterback JT Shrout was banged up in last week’s 54-7 loss to Washington, but Sanford said, “He’s good to go.” … CU is 74-56-2 all-time in regular season finales, but only 2-9 since joining the Pac-12 (including 2-8 against Utah). … Roddick has the longest current starting streak for the Buffs, at 21 consecutive games. Defensive lineman Jalen Sami is next, starting the last 18 games. | 2022-11-24T05:28:12Z | www.dailycamera.com | Colorado football notes: Buffs’ offensive line coming together in second half of season – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/23/colorado-football-notes-buffs-offensive-line-coming-together-in-second-half-of-season/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/23/colorado-football-notes-buffs-offensive-line-coming-together-in-second-half-of-season/ |
Guest opinion: Marc H. Rosenberg: BVSD’s…
Guest opinion: Marc H. Rosenberg: BVSD’s industrial-scale factory is a bad idea
By Marc H. Rosenberg
Thank you to the Boulder City Council for the time and attention that council members devoted during the November 17 meeting to the proposed modular home factory at 6500 Arapahoe.
As all public speakers noted, the proposed factory is at the heart of the pending annexation of the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) property. In fact, the annexation and related Inter Governmental Agreement appears to be a not-too-subtle scheme to bypass zoning and land use rules so that the factory can be built where I don’t think it would otherwise be permitted.
Who — besides BVSD — thinks it is a good idea to wedge an industrial-scale factory in between residential neighborhoods and a supposedly protected open space and unique marshland?
Surely, there must be some other location where a large factory would be more appropriate and less intrusive.
Council members were right to question BVSD’s intent to route all factory traffic via 63rd Street. 65th Street is a shorter and more direct route and avoids adverse impacts on Sombrero Marsh and the Columbine mobile home community. By the way, 63rd south of Arapahoe is poorly maintained, barely more than one lane wide at places, and includes a fairly tight 90-degree turn. If it is not rebuilt before the proposed influx of truck traffic, then it will have to be rebuilt afterward. I did not hear any mention of a budget for this.
The idea of routing all factory-related truck traffic onto 63rd Street is so bad and so illogical that one wonders if it was included in the overall plan so that BVSD would have a throw-away bargaining chip. As was noted during the council’s discussion, the school district’s rationale is internally contradictory. Their representative said, on the one hand, that factory traffic on 63rd will be minimal and there would be no impact on Columbine residents or on the Marsh. (The latter point was disputed by Open Space and Mountain Parks representatives.) On the other hand, the BVSD representative told the council that this same traffic could not go on 65th Street — which is mostly flanked by parking lots — because that would be too noisy and disruptive to BVSD activities. So, which is it?
Absent from Thursday’s discussion was any reference to construction traffic during the year or so that it will take to build the proposed factory. In response to questions raised at the September public notice meeting — but not mentioned in any of the prepared materials or in the recent remarks to the council — it was stated by BVSD representatives that site preparation alone will require approximately 1,000 dump truckloads of fill. And then there are the many more truckloads of building materials that are required to erect the factory itself. That is vastly more activity than the couple of trucks a month that BVSD foresees in their rosy vision of the operational period after construction.
Building an industrial-scale factory adjacent to existing residential neighborhoods and open spaces is a bad idea. Routing factory traffic along 63rd Street makes a bad idea worse. I urge the council to reject both the annexation and the intergovernmental agreement.
Marc H. Rosenberg lives in Boulder. | 2022-11-24T19:07:02Z | www.dailycamera.com | Guest opinion: Marc H. Rosenberg: BVSD's industrial-scale factory is a bad idea | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/24/guest-opinion-marc-h-rosenberg-bvsds-industrial-scale-factory-is-a-bad-idea/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/24/guest-opinion-marc-h-rosenberg-bvsds-industrial-scale-factory-is-a-bad-idea/ |
Terrance Lang ready to battle with CU Buffs one…
BOULDER, CO-August 6:Defensive lineman, Terrance Lang, during University of Colorado Boulder football practice and media day on August 6, 2022.(Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
Associated Press, Oscilloscope Laboratories
Ideally, Terrance Lang’s career at Colorado would have included a lot more wins.
There is value, however, in going through difficult times, and as Lang prepares for his final game with the Buffaloes, he is grateful for the lessons learned.
“I feel good about it,” Lang, a 6-foot-7, 290-pound defensive end, said of his career. “I mean, I wouldn’t take anything back. I faced a lot of adversity through the years here at CU, but I’ve learned a lot. I’m comfortable where I’m at and I wouldn’t take anything back.”
Lang and the Buffs (1-10, 1-7 Pac-12) will host No. 14 Utah (8-3, 6-2) on Saturday at Folsom Field (2:10 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
A sixth-year senior, Lang came to CU in 2017 from Pomona, Calif. The Buffs were coming off a resurgent 10-4 season and Pac-12 South title and they won a recruiting battle with USC to get Lang.
During Lang’s time in Boulder, the Buffs are 24-41 with one bowl appearance (Alamo Bowl in 2020). He has played for three full-time head coaches, two interim head coaches, four defensive coordinators and five position coaches.
It’s all shaped him into who he is today.
“I’ve developed as a person mentally and physically here at CU,” he said. “Going through a lot of coaching changes, having to be able to face adversity, be mentally strong. At first I thought everything was physical and then I had to realize there was a huge mental side of it. That’s something I learned here at CU. Just being at CU has made me a stronger person than I was when I got here.”
Lang was 18 years old when he arrived in Boulder and will turn 24 on Jan. 23 and laughed when asked if he’s a different person today.
“I feel like it would be bad to say that I’m the same person as when I got here in 2017,” he said. “One thing I realized being here is just the importance of building relationships and embracing the people around you. I’m definitely not the same person as when I first got here.
“My mom tells me how proud she is of me every time I see her.”
It would be easy to focus on the win-loss record, or personal statistics. Lang, who redshirted in 2017, has been a regular part of the defensive line rotation for four years and has posted 123 tackles, 24 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks in his career.
For Lang, however, it is those relationships that have defined his time in Boulder. Tight end Brady Russell, receivers Maurice Bell and Jaylon Jackson, running back Alex Fontenot and safety Isaiah Lewis have all been here as long as Lang. Guard Casey Roddick and defensive lineman Jalen Sami arrived shortly after the 2017 season as grayshirts.
“(Relationships with coaches and players), that’s the thing that keeps this thing going; even strength coaches, trainers,” Lang said. “Especially when you’re going through a tough time like this, you’ve kind of gotta lean on each other and rely on the strength in each other’s eyes and be like, Okay, I come in and I see Brady or Sami or Casey still fighting and still going; people that I came in with. It’s almost like I have no choice but to fight with those guys.”
After Saturday’s game, Lang will take time to heal his body before preparing for an offseason of training as he pursues an NFL career. He has a sociology degree in hand and wants to help kids at some point in his professional career.
On Saturday, however, he’ll enjoy fighting with his teammates one last time.
“It’s a bittersweet moment for sure,” he said. “It’s kind of like I’m embracing this last week and trying to just take it all in, but at the same time, I’m kind of just trying to focus on the game so it hasn’t really hit me yet.
“I don’t want to have any regrets when I leave the field on Saturday and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m gonna leave it all on the line and hopefully play the best game in my career.” | 2022-11-25T05:11:44Z | www.dailycamera.com | Terrance Lang ready to battle with CU Buffs one last time – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/24/terrance-lang-ready-to-battle-with-cu-buffs-one-last-time/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/24/terrance-lang-ready-to-battle-with-cu-buffs-one-last-time/ |
Women’s basketball: Aiming to get tougher, CU…
“We just we just need to toughen up, to be honest,” Payne said. “Is this hard what we’re doing – playing Division I, Power 5 basketball? Yes. But, we just need to be better, honestly, top to bottom. Be more disciplined, hold your ground.
“As a group, we just have a long ways to go and culturally that’s who we are. We’re tough, we’re fearless, we don’t back down – all of those things, and we’re not there yet.”
“I think that’ll be the biggest challenge is just it’ll probably be a real contrast of styles from Friday night to Sunday afternoon,” Payne said. “Plus you add in the travel across country, flying between, and then play an early game. All of that is yet another challenge, but that’s why we created a schedule that we knew would challenge us in a variety of ways.
TIPOFF: Friday, 5 p.m. MT, Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn.
NOTES: CU hits the road after a 71-63 home win against Air Force on Saturday. … Under Payne, the Buffs are 5-41 against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25, including 0-21 on the road. … In their history, the Buffs are 11-105 against AP Top 25 teams on the road, including a current 49-game losing streak. CU’s last road win against a Top 25 opponent was in the state of Tennessee, a 62-51 win at then-No. 20 Vanderbilt on Dec. 9, 2007. … CU is 1-3 all-time against Tennessee, but the last meeting came on March 22, 1997, during the NCAA Tournament. CU won the first meeting between the programs, 78-60, on Dec. 8, 1981, in Boulder. … CU’s only other trip to Knoxville came on Dec. 20, 1993, when the Buffs lost 86-82 in overtime. … Tennessee is tied for No. 23 in the Associated Press poll this week, dropping 12 spots from a week ago. The Lady Vols were at No. 5 in the preseason poll. … The Lady Vols went 1-2 at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas last weekend, falling to UCLA and Gonzaga in their last two games. … Tennessee is 1-1 at home this season. … As a player, Harper was a point guard who helped the Lady Vols win three national titles. … Harper is one of only two coaches to guide four D-I teams to the NCAA Tournament (Western Carolina, North Carolina State, Missouri State and Tennessee). | 2022-11-25T05:11:44Z | www.dailycamera.com | Women’s basketball: Aiming to get tougher, CU Buffs set to battle Tennessee – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/24/womens-basketball-aiming-to-get-tougher-cu-buffs-set-to-battle-tennessee/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/24/womens-basketball-aiming-to-get-tougher-cu-buffs-set-to-battle-tennessee/ |
Rescue underway for stuck rock climbers in…
A rescue operation was underway for two rock climbers who became stuck in Eldorado Canyon State Park in Eldorado Springs on Friday evening.
The climbers were on the Yellow Spur route over 400 feet off the ground and about 100 feet away from the summit when they became stuck, according to Drew Hildner, a public information officer for the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group.
Rocky Mountain Rescue Group was in the process of making access and assisting the climbers off the rocks as of about 7:45 p.m. Neither of the climbers was injured. | 2022-11-26T04:42:01Z | www.dailycamera.com | Rescue underway for stuck rock climbers in Eldorado Canyon State Park | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/25/rescue-underway-for-stuck-rock-climbers-in-eldorado-canyon-state-park/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/25/rescue-underway-for-stuck-rock-climbers-in-eldorado-canyon-state-park/ |
Community Editorial Board: Proposed adolescent…
Members of our Community Editorial Board, a group of community residents who are engaged with and passionate about local issues, respond to the following question: The Boulder County Planning Commission voted to recommend turning the Alps Boulder Canyon Inn into a residential facility for adolescents with mild to moderate mental health symptoms. Your take?
According to myriad reports, teen mental health is in crisis. My personal research has shown that there’s a shortage of youth mental health providers in the area. Therapists have long waitlists, and many don’t take insurance, putting therapy beyond the realm of many families whose kids may be struggling. Sandstone Care, the company that has applied for a special use permit to transform the Alps Inn into an inpatient treatment center for teens, accepts most insurance, though not Medicaid or Medicare, according to the company’s website (sandstonecare.com/admissions). Sandstone Care already operates a rehab center and a therapy center in Broomfield, so transforming the Alps Inn would not be the company’s first foray into the Boulder area.
Is this a good use of the Alps Inn? For the families whose teens may receive life-transforming care, yes. For the therapists, administrators, cooks and other employees who will have stable employment, yes.
Still, the concerns from neighbors that runaway teens could trespass — or worse — are valid. Before approving this use of the facility, Boulder County must ensure that Sandstone Care has adequate insurance and also contingency and communication plans in place so that when the worst happens, there is a clear and immediate notification and response system in place. My cursory research suggests that Sandstone Care is a sprawling, for-profit business, which can portend both good and bad for the operation. On one hand, the company has the resources to ensure compliance, adequate staffing, and security. On the other hand, large corporations aren’t always known for taking local concerns all that seriously. I understand why neighbors of the Alps Inn are apprehensive; I would be, too.
But if not a mental health treatment center, then what will the Alps Inn be in its next iteration? Already, the owners are on record saying it’s not viable as a bed and breakfast. According to Zillow, it was first listed for sale in 2014 (asking price: $6.2 million). More listings followed: 2015 (asking price: $5.75 million), 2017 (asking price: $5.395 million), 2017 again (asking price: $4.995 million), 2019 (asking price: $4.469 million), 2022 (asking price: $4.469 million), and it is currently under contract/accepting backup offers. Sandstone Care — or whichever entity is under contract on the property — clearly sees a profitable business opportunity in creating a mental health facility at this beautiful property. Now, it’s up to the county commissioners to ensure that said business is also a good neighbor.
About 30 miles east of New York City is one of the most beautiful and scientifically iconic places in the world, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. I was lucky enough to do a couple of summer courses there in fruit fly neurobiology (yes, that is a real thing), and learn from some of the world’s premier geneticists.
But that beauty covers up a horrific past reality: the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is also the site of the infamous Eugenics Record Office (ERO), which sought to use science and policy to “purify” the human race from racial, social and mental insufficiencies in the early-mid twentieth century. The German demonstration of where those beliefs lead mercifully ended the ERO in this country. But some of its ideas persist in insidious ways, especially in defining the “other” as somehow not desirable.
Eugenics tried to remove otherness by changing it to be better i.e., “more like us,”, even to the point of sterilizing other humans (or killing them, in the German model) who did not fit the desired model. The world generally condemns these things now, though sometimes I hear things on certain cable news channels that skirt the edge of old-fashioned eugenics at its most heinous.
Another way to try to overcome otherness discomfort is through physical removal of the feared other (“out of sight, out of mind”). This is the animating intent behind social NIMBYism, and generally elicits less strong reactions. But it is almost as destructive in its own right, both to its proponents and to its targets.
It would be easy to take a cheap shot at Boulder’s NIMBYism and cite this current controversy in the canyon as just another example. It would also be wrong. There is a more fundamental challenge we must address somehow, one that goes far beyond Boulder but is more painfully felt here. It feels like we are missing some critical element of kindness and empathy, a sense of gratitude for what we have here and generosity of spirit in wanting to share it with others. More than that, even: We are lacking some basic awareness of the importance of variation in building a strong and authentic community. And that variation must include the whole range of authentic human experience, not just some predetermined set of positive attributes.
Maybe we should simply start by being honest about what we support or don’t support and — far more important — why.
The facility proposed to be built at the old Alps Boulder Inn by Sandstone Care would treat adolescents with mild to moderate mental health symptoms. And there is absolutely no question in my mind that Boulder County needs access to a facility like this. I personally know parents whose child struggled with mental health symptoms due to intense personal trauma. The kid resorted to buying Xanax on the street, which unbeknownst to him, was laced with Fentanyl. The teenager was found dead, lying in bed listening to music. I wonder now if this facility would have given him the tools to cope with his trauma and prevent his death.
At the same time, let’s not forget that this company is not opening this facility out of the kindness of their hearts, but to seek profit. I think it’s perfectly justified for the county to request certain guarantees (for the county or the neighbors) in order to grant a permit. For example, at the county hearing, a neighbor mentioned that at the mental facility where his wife works, “clients running away, absconding, is pretty much a daily occurrence”. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that in order to cut costs and increase profits, the facility may be understaffed, and the active staff may not be able to handle runaways. After all, a teenager cannot be held against their will in the facility, if they wish to leave.
I think the county needs to keep communication open between them, the neighbors and Sandstone Care. Everyone in the group has leverage: The company wants to build a facility to increase their profits, the county wants the facility and needs to provide the permits, and the neighbors have sway via their vote and organizing. I think this balance of power is good to ensure a solution that will benefit all parties. I hope the neighbors and the county are able to outline their requirements regarding public safety clearly and that the facility is able to calm those worries. Furthermore, I hope a review process is established such that if the facility is in violation of the initial agreement, the neighbors and the county are able to bring those issues to them in a quick manner so they can be addressed efficiently. I personally look forward to having a facility like this available to our kids in the City of Boulder. | 2022-11-26T20:29:45Z | www.dailycamera.com | Community Editorial Board: Proposed adolescent mental health facility | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/26/community-editorial-board-proposed-adolescent-mental-health-facility/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/26/community-editorial-board-proposed-adolescent-mental-health-facility/ |
Guest opinion: Clarence Page: Despite today’s…
Take, for example, the newsmaker who just in time for Thanksgiving offered us the memorable self-deprecating quote, “I’m not a hero. I’m just some dude.”
“Some dude,” indeed. That was Richard Fierro, 45, the retired Army major who helped save lives at Saturday’s mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ bar in Colorado Springs, where he tackled the gunman who is accused of killing five people and injuring at least 18 others.
In the club for a family outing, Fierro was credited by police with grabbing the gunman, tackling him as his AR-15-style rifle fell to the floor. Fierro shouted for another patron to grab the rifle and ordered a dancer passing by to stomp the attacker while he grabbed the gunman’s handgun and pummeled him with it. | 2022-11-26T20:29:58Z | www.dailycamera.com | Guest opinion: Clarence Page: Despite today's bad news, good people offered us reasons to give thanks | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/26/guest-opinion-clarence-page-despite-todays-bad-news-good-people-offered-us-reasons-to-give-thanks/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/26/guest-opinion-clarence-page-despite-todays-bad-news-good-people-offered-us-reasons-to-give-thanks/ |
Downtown Boulder nightlife bounces back, but…
By Katie Langford | For BizWest / Prairie Mountain Publishing
Downtown Boulder’s sometimes-sleepy nightlife scene has mostly bounced back to pre-pandemic normalcy and even gotten a boost of energy through new businesses, though community leaders say there’s room to grow.
“As it is with many things, nightlife can be very seasonal,” said Chip, Downtown Boulder Partnership’s CEO, who does not use a surname. “It’s quieter right now than it is in the summer. Pre-pandemic, there was always music happening at places like Laughing Goat and Oskar Blues. We lost a lot of that, but we’re starting to see more of it come back.”
One of the biggest challenges in creating more late-night food, drink and entertainment options downtown is a holdover from the pandemic, Chip said. Downtown office workers who used to keep the area bustling after hours still haven’t returned to in-person work at the same numbers as before 2020.
“We’re seeing a lot more flexible, hybrid workspaces, so even though an office space isn’t vacant, a place that used to have 100 employees now has 50 or 60 on a given day,” he said. “It is picking up, we’re slowly and steadily climbing to pre-pandemic levels, but we have a long way to go.”
Patrons listen as the A’Bear Duo, Dave Hebert and his brother Matt Hebert, play at the Velvet Elk Lounge, a new live music venue and bar, in Boulder on July 21, 2022. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
One of the best and most recent additions to downtown Boulder’s nightlife scene, Chip said, has been the Velvet Elk Lounge, which opened at 2037 13th St. earlier this year.
Velvet Elk is owned by Big Red F, the same restaurant group that owns and operates The Post Chicken & Beer, Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar, Centro Mexican Kitchen and West End Tavern.
The lounge is open from 5 p.m. to midnight Wednesday through Sunday, with a menu of beers, wines, cocktails and spirits, as well as appetizers and light meals.
Velvet Elk’s main draw was also the spark for its opening, said Big Red F CEO Audrey Quistorff.
“We live in Boulder, so we saw and felt that there was this need,” Quistorff said. “We knew there was no place for live music for a venue of our size, that could hold up to 200 people but was also more intimate, so we felt that need because it wasn’t there for us.”
Velvet Elk is a place for the community, Quistorff said, not a college bar but a venue for people to get a cocktail and listen to live music.
Growth has been slow but steady as more folks in the neighborhood are learning about the new offering, Quistorff said.
“It’s taken a minute for people to find us and realize they want to go listen to live music again,” she said. “It is coming back. People are ready to get out of their houses, and I think there’s a lot of energy.”
Velvet Elk typically has live music on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with a Sunday night DJ aimed at restaurant industry workers who want to let their hair down.
The best part of Velvet Elk’s first few months was seeing how delighted people are to be there, Quistorff said.
“It’s so fun to see people get up, dance and sing along,” she said.
As staples of downtown Boulder nightlife, The Corner Bar and License No. 1 in Hotel Boulderado, 2115 13th St., have largely bounced back to pre-COVID levels.
Finding and retaining qualified staff in the wake of the pandemic was “like a rollercoaster” that no one foresaw, but one that has mostly leveled off, said Director of Sales and Marketing Mia Opalka.
Bartender Alex Desjardins pours a drink for a customer at the Corner Bar in Boulder on Wednesday. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
The Corner Bar offers a full menu of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, main dishes and desserts from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, with the bar and its offerings of beer, wine, cocktails and spirits open until midnight. The Corner Bar also has a weekend brunch.
License No. 1 is a speakeasy-style bar in Hotel Boulderado’s basement, named as such because it was one of the first licenses issued to a restaurant to sell hard liquor in 1969, according to the hotel. The bar offers small plates, cocktails, beer, wine and spirits, and hosts live music on the weekends and a weekly comedy night on Thursdays.
Of Boulderado’s three bars and restaurants, License No. 1 was hit the hardest by the pandemic, Opalka said, and still has not returned to its pre-COVID hours of being open every day. The bar is open from 5 p.m. to midnight Wednesday and Thursday and from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
People dine and drink at the Corner Bar in Boulder on Wednesday. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
“We’re lucky that we’re a destination, and our bars and restaurants are certainly positioned to continue that upward trajectory,” Opalka said.
When it comes to downtown Boulder’s nightlife scene, there is “absolutely” room for growth, according to Chip.
“One of the things we’re looking at is how do we engage young professionals downtown?” he said. “I think culture is a part of that, supporting a vibrant culture people want to be here for is part of it.”
More-diverse options, including more places to dance, would also benefit downtown, Chip said. There’s also a part of the experience that’s harder to pin down, something about there always being something to do next even when you’re ready to go home for the night.
“I think more diversity of options and more surprise — that’s what’s cool about nightlife, you go out and you don’t know what you’re really getting into,” he said.
There’s still plenty of options for those looking for late-night fun, he added, even if they have to look a little harder.
“There’s lots of opportunities here, and as people are rediscovering downtown, we will see more of that,” he said.
Stay out late in downtown Boulder
The Attic Bar & Bistro, 949 Walnut St. Open 3-11 p.m., Monday-Friday, 1-11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Avanti Boulder, 1401 Pearl St. Open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday, 11 a.m.-1 a.m. Thursday-Saturday.
The Corner Bar, 2115 13th St. inside Hotel Boulderado. Open 11 a.m.-midnight daily.
Jungle, 2018 10th St. Open 4-11 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 4 p.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday.
License No. 1, 2115 13th St. in the Hotel Boulderado basement. Open 5 p.m.-midnight Wednesday and Thursday, 5 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
Mountain Sun, 1535 Pearl St.. Open 1 p.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, noon-11 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Sunday.
Pearl Street Pub & Cellar, 1108 Pearl St. Open noon-2 a.m. daily.
Press Play Bar, 1005 Pearl St. Open 4 p.m.-2 a.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon-2 a.m. Saturday, 2 p.m.-2 a.m. Sunday.
The Spotted James, 1911 11th St. #100. Open 5:30 p.m.-1 a.m. Wednesday and Sunday, 5:30 p.m.-2 a.m. Thursday-Saturday.
Sundown Saloon, 1136 Pearl St. Open 3 p.m.-2 a.m. daily.
Velvet Elk, 2037 13th St. Open 5 p.m.-midnight Wednesday-Sunday.
Yellow Deli, 908 Pearl St. Open 24 hours from noon Sunday to 3 p.m. Friday.
Katie Langford
Katie is a lifelong Coloradan and graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 2014. Currently a freelance journalist, she joined the Daily Camera in 2019 and covered the University of Colorado system, CU Boulder and higher education in Boulder County until 2021.
Follow Katie Langford @katielangford35 | 2022-11-27T19:33:02Z | www.dailycamera.com | Downtown Boulder nightlife bounces back, but room for growth exists – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/27/downtown-boulder-nightlife-bounces-back-but-room-for-growth-exists/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/27/downtown-boulder-nightlife-bounces-back-but-room-for-growth-exists/ |
Editorial: BVSD, city modular home factory is…
The planned modular home factory on Boulder Valley School District’s property at 6500 Arapahoe Road is an innovative attempt to provide affordable housing to the community while helping to train students for vital future careers.
Plans for the factory are currently under review by the Boulder City Council, and a public hearing and discussion session from earlier this month sparked enough feedback that a second public hearing was agreed upon. This makes sense; there is a lot to digest about the plans and a lot that deserves careful consideration.
The benefits of the proposed factory, though, are clear. Chiefly among them is that the factory will help provide our community with much-needed, energy-efficient affordable housing.
The factory, which has come about from a partnership between BVSD, the City of Boulder and Flatirons Habitat for Humanity, will be tasked with constructing 73 new homes for the residents of the Ponderosa Mobile Home Park.
The city purchased the Ponderosa park in 2018 and set about the process of replacing the existing units there. The park had experienced infrastructure failure, and many of the homes there were old and in dire need of replacement.
According to the city, “The new modular homes produced through this partnership would be healthy, allow residents to build wealth, are energy efficient (i.e., net zero), and will be permanently affordable to extremely low-, low-, moderate- and middle-income households.”
The plan shows the sort of initiative that makes Boulder a place that many cities around the country seek to emulate.
Members of our community were suffering, and the city recognized its obligation to help. Buying the park and annexing the property has allowed the city to enact a plan to minimize displacement, preserve long-term affordability, replace outdated infrastructure, reduce flood risk and introduce new, energy-efficient affordable housing options.
The modular home factory is altogether another step. Not only would it provide the new homes for the park, but after the 73 units were completed the factory would continue producing affordable modular units for our community. It is a long-term investment in Boulder’s future.
In addition to providing much-needed affordable housing, the factory would help educate our students in crucial practical skills for the modern era. The partnership with BVSD, and the location on BVSD’s Arapahoe campus, would allow the factory to be a training site for construction students at the district’s Technical Education Center.
Technological advances are changing industries at a rapid pace these days, which means schools have to keep up. Students require the best possible education in order to be prepared to meet the demands of their chosen industry. This holds true for students preparing for college and those pursuing a technical certification. The modular home factory would provide students with the facility and resources to gain valuable real-world technical experience.
But this is the construction of a factory we are talking about, and the concerns of nearby residents must be taken seriously. At the recent public hearing, community members’ complaints centered on noise levels, potential impacts to the Sombrero Marsh open space and increased traffic — specifically on 63rd Street.
Of course, it would be alarming for anyone to learn that a factory was being built in their backyard. Construction is loud. Semitrucks are loud. Factories are loud. But planners have taken several steps to mitigate noise levels.
According to the city, “The partners will work to ensure that noise is minimized to (the) greatest extent possible.” The proposed steps include hiring an acoustical engineer to measure the potential noise impact, limiting factory operating hours to five days a week, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and even prohibiting the use of backup alarms on forklifts and trucks.
Environmentally speaking, the use of federal funds has helped guarantee the project will minimize harm to local habitats. Developers were required to complete an Environmental Assessment to determine whether the project had the “potential to cause significant environmental effects.” A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment was completed, and it was determined that no additional assessments were necessary and that the project could move forward.
Protecting our natural habitats is crucial. Every effort by the developers should be made to confirm that this project does not harm the nearby Sombrero Marsh open space. The truth of the matter, though, is that the proposed location for the factory is currently a parking lot. And the potential for a positive environmental impact is very real. The factory will be tasked with building dozens of net zero modular homes each year. Any negative impacts created by the construction of the factory will likely be offset over time by the positive benefits created by the “ultra-efficient” homes that will be built there.
Finally, there are the traffic concerns. Here we can see the merits of residents’ anxieties. The location of the proposed factory can be accessed by two streets, 63rd and 65th streets. 63rd Street is lined with homes, 65th Street is not. The developers likely had reasons for selecting 63rd Street as the access point for deliveries, but moving deliveries to 65th Street shouldn’t be a dealbreaker. The modular home factory would be a boon to our community, but it should not be built at the expense of our neighbors. Moving deliveries to 65th is a small compromise in favor of a greater public good.
In the end, no location for a factory is ever going to be perfect. There will always be impacts — to the community and the environment, to traffic and noise. But the benefits of the proposed modular home factory and the partnership between BVSD, the city and Habitat for Humanity seem to far outweigh the concerns. Boulder needs more affordable housing and our students need educational opportunities to meet the demands of the modern world. This is an innovative opportunity to continue advancing our community into the future. | 2022-11-27T19:33:08Z | www.dailycamera.com | Editorial: BVSD, city modular home factory is innovative effort to build affordable housing | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/27/editorial-bvsd-city-modular-home-factory-is-innovative-effort-to-build-affordable-housing/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/27/editorial-bvsd-city-modular-home-factory-is-innovative-effort-to-build-affordable-housing/ |
Opinion: Jim Martin: Midterms brought hope that…
One of the things on my gratitude list for Thanksgiving was an indication that our political battles may ease just a bit.
It’s time to put party politics aside for the good of the United States. We need our elected officials to start serving us, working to heal a divided nation and learning, once again, how to compromise to serve a higher purpose.
We must hold our leaders accountable for any divisive or angry rhetoric, no matter their party. We must point it out and demand better.
People came out on Nov. 8 to vote because they were worried about the fate of our democracy. Now they feel hopeful for better times.
Concerns about the future of our democracy rivaled the economy and abortion as a driving force for many voters — a sign that the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and the response to it remain fresh in their minds.
On a positive note, voters expressed high confidence in the election process. In addition, Americans’ innate optimism about their nation has grown since the midterms. People feel much better about the future, with the nation staying together as one rather than getting torn asunder.
Joanna Lydgate, president of State United Democracy Center, a bipartisan election protection group, said, “To me, voters clearly understood the stakes. They refused to allow election deniers to take their votes away. They said ‘no’ to those lies and the election was just a strong validation of the fact that democracy in America is alive and well.”
Millions of American voters showed they had been paying attention, rejecting fanatics and attention-seekers such as the Oath Keepers, QAnon and others.
They voted to preserve the Union, and they wanted decency and integrity from officeholders. They signaled that they had heard the dark lies but rejected them and let common sense rule the day.
Optimism has let us respond in the past when called to a great purpose. It helped us put a man on the moon and enabled us to confront terrorism, face the threat of nuclear obliteration, financial panic and much more. We’ve always believed that our best days are yet to come.
This optimism helps produce leaders when we need them most.
I was heartened by what we saw at the midterm election, when American voters returned sanity to a scary political atmosphere.
Voters expressed high confidence in the election process. An Associated Press poll of those exiting the voting booth found that 44% said that the future of democracy was one of the primary voting considerations.
People showed that they were fed up with the far-right crowd having hijacked the Republican Party for the last 10 years or so. They were disgusted with the juvenile behavior of some officeholders. They also were pleasantly surprised by the statesman-like leadership shown by Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney and Illinois Republican Sen. Adam Kinzinger, to name a few.
They were horrified by the invasion of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, intended to prevent lawmakers from certifying the Electoral College results so that Donald Trump could stay in office illegally. The invaders also allegedly planned to physically harm Senators, Congressmen and hang Vice President Mike Pence that day.
The heavily predicted Red Wave never happened. So on one hand, we may be creating a more cooperative Congress and a more unified nation despite our policy differences. Now all eyes will be on the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
On the other hand, Kentucky Republican Rep. James Comer, ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, already has said Joe Biden has been swayed by foreign dollars and that the representative intends to investigate him. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, will aid Comer in the investigation.
“It is time to put our elected officials on notice and remind them they do not represent their party or the President. Once elected they represent the American people and their loyalty should be to the country, and we the people are the country,” James O. Burns wrote in the San Angelo Standard-Times newspaper.
Still, my optimism level has risen higher than I ever expected it and many of you have said the same thing. We had quietly drifted away from the dialogue we needed — but now we’re almost back. The two-party system benefits when both sides cooperate and compromise with each other.
Our sense of optimism has been tested many times. But fortunately, we’ve had strong leaders who had the ability and willingness to lead Americans by example.
President Abraham Lincoln gave important, encouraging speeches both on and off the Civil War battlefields, ultimately keeping the nation as one entity.
President Franklin Roosevelt’s fireside chats assured Americans that the nation could get through bad times.
President Dwight Eisenhower helped the post-World War II United States to become a world leader.
President John Kennedy brought about a new period of American influence, telling us we could “pay any price and bear any burden.” He also insisted the United States could land a man on the moon before the 1960s ended. And we did.
“The blame game is not far off, though,” said Bruce Anderson, a writer for The Ledger in Lakeland, Florida. “The campaigns for the 2024 elections have already started and fingers will be pointed and accusations launched. But for this brief moment, let’s judge our political leadership not by what they say, but what they do.
“In this case, include a tip of the hat to the quality of the system that despite a poisonous reek of the political culture, still attracts enough of the right people to seek elective office.” | 2022-11-27T19:33:33Z | www.dailycamera.com | Opinion: Jim Martin: Midterms brought hope that our worst political battles may ease | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/27/opinion-jim-martin-midterms-brought-hope-that-our-worst-political-battles-may-ease/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/27/opinion-jim-martin-midterms-brought-hope-that-our-worst-political-battles-may-ease/ |
Editorial: Community, political leaders must…
Five people are dead. At least 18 more are injured. Police are still investigating but let’s not pretend for even a moment that the gunman in Saturday night’s massacre in Colorado Springs, Colo., wasn’t motivated by hatred and homophobia.
Despite being in a metropolitan area with more than three-quarters of a million people, the crowded bar he chose to open fire in early Sunday morning was one of only two LGBTQ+ bars in a 50-mile radius.
Let’s also not pretend that the vile hatred spewed by the conservative right played no role in the massacre. There is a nationwide industry that dehumanizes LGBTQ+ people for craven political reasons, and the rhetoric it uses has potentially incited murders — both mass and individual.
The Republican Party has maintained a decades-long unholy alliance with evangelicals and white nationalists to spread a campaign of lies that warned against the dangers posed by foreigners, immigrants, non-Christians and LGBTQ+ people. All the while it ignored — and even promoted — the growing threat of the radical extremism within its own ranks.
Colorado Springs’ own congressional representative, Republican Doug Lamborn, fought to defund the Public Broadcasting Network (PBS) because it aired an episode of the animated series “Arthur” that showed a same-sex wedding.
In Colorado’s neighboring 3rd Congressional District, Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert has repeatedly accused LGBTQ+ people of “grooming” children for the sex trade.
In August, the Center for Countering Digital Hate and the Human Rights Campaign ranked Boebert’s Twitter account as No. 3 on a list of high-profile accounts that most frequently spread anti-LGBTQ lies. Boebert responded by saying, “My tweets about groomers are only third? Guess that means I have to tweet about these sick, demented groomers even more.”
Both members of Congress tweeted their “prayers” for the victims and family members of Sunday morning’s massacre. Neither has accepted any potential responsibility for their role in creating the climate that enabled it or in voting against legislation that could have prevented it.
Both Boebert and Lamborn voted against universal background checks for individuals seeking to obtain firearms and proposed defunding state red flag laws, which temporarily remove weapons from people presenting a danger to themselves or others. These were two particularly devastating votes given that the gunman in this weekend’s murders might have been restricted from possessing the guns used in the massacre if there were universal background checks and adequate funding to properly enforce Colorado’s red flag laws.
A police bomb squad had previously responded to the alleged gunman’s home and evacuated neighbors after his own mother contacted authorities to report that he threatened her with a homemade bomb.
In this limited regard, the GOP is correct. The mere existence of laws alone cannot prevent gun violence when a broad cross-section of society that includes elected officials, churches, paramilitary organizations and law enforcement are more concerned with the right to possess a weapon of mass death, than with preventing the use of that tool for mass killing.
Despite their rhetoric of wanting to create safer communities for our children and families, the words, actions and alliances of GOP leaders reveal a party that both promotes violence against certain groups of people and provides a legal shield to those seeking to commit violence.
No matter how much rhetoric they direct at the dangers of “sanctuary cities,” it is GOP policies that repeatedly provide safe harbor for known violently unstable criminals to remain in possession of dangerous weapons designed for the exclusive purpose of killing as many human beings as possible on the battlefield.
By spreading fear of LGBTQ+ people and “others,” domestic terrorists and their GOP allies keep us distracted from the threat hatemongers pose to our nation and anyone who dares speak against their extremism.
Is the transgender kid trying to participate in high school sports or go the bathroom without fear of bullying and harassment a greater threat to our communities than self-appointed vigilantes?
Are drag queens reading books in a library a greater threat to our children than a domestic terrorist with a weapon of war?
Are gay and lesbian people dancing at a nightclub or a Pride festival more dangerous than the mass shooters now dominating our headlines?
The GOP and its allies would have you believe that the greatest threat to our country is from people who want little more than to live openly and honestly as LGBTQ+ people. Meanwhile the rhetorical climate of the far right (both evangelical and secular) rivals the language of some of history’s most extreme groups in its willingness to encourage violence against LGBTQ+ people.
If the GOP and its extremist allies are serious about safer communities, if they are serious about protecting innocent lives, then they will take serious action to stop the hateful rhetoric and actively promote a society in which LGBTQ+ people can participate fully without fear of bullying or violence.
This means an end to the assaults on equal rights for LGBTQ+ adults; an end to the vile accusations against transgender children; an end to the war on books, TV shows, movies and classroom curriculum that acknowledge the existence and humanity of LGBTQ+ people; and most importantly, an end to the violence. | 2022-11-28T16:47:43Z | www.dailycamera.com | Editorial: Community, political leaders must end rhetoric that inspires violence | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/28/editorial-community-political-leaders-must-end-rhetoric-that-inspires-violence/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/28/editorial-community-political-leaders-must-end-rhetoric-that-inspires-violence/ |
Face Vocal Band is playing holiday concerts throughout the Front Range this season. (Face Vocal Band — Courtesy Photo)
Face Vocal Band: Face is an internationally acclaimed, all-vocal rock band from Boulder that has captivated audiences for 15 years with its energy and love of performance; 5:30 p.m. Monday, BDT Stage, 5501 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder; bandsintown.com.
“Sensing Ice — Explorations of Knowing Nature” Exhibit: This immersive, multimedia exhibit about the lifecycle of the world’s ice and snow features photography and video by CU graduate Chris Dunn. Viewers are invited to contemplate the evolving human relationship with the ice on the planet; 9 a.m. Monday, University of Colorado Boulder, Earth Sciences & Map Library, 2200 Colorado Ave., Boulder; colorado.edu.
Toddler Time: Bring children to this fun, creative, movement-based class for guided play, creative games, motor skill-building activities and movement exploration; 9:30 a.m. Monday, Kinesis Dance, 635 S. Broadway, Unit D, Boulder; $65; kinesisdance.com.
Youth Jazz and Contemporary Dance: The jazz portion of the class will focus on building strength and flexibility, conditioning and jazz technique. The contemporary part of the class will include floor work, focuses on spatial and body awareness, use of body weight, musicality and safe body alignments; 4:30 p.m. Monday, Kinesis Dance, 635 S. Broadway, Unit D, Boulder; $75; kinesisdance.com.
Trivia With Trevonius Monk: Check out trivia night on the last Monday of every month at the Sanitas Brewing Co. taproom. Trivia will be led by Trevonius Monk of ACE Entertainment, and prizes include free beer, merch and more; 7 p.m. Monday, Sanitas Brewing Company, 3550 Frontier Ave., Unit A, Boulder; Free; facebook.com.
Ryan Adams at Boulder Theater: Ryan Adams has been praised as one of rock’s most talented songwriters. The seven-time Grammy-nominated artist has 16 studio albums, and he has produced albums for esteemed musicians including Willie Nelson, Jesse Malin and Jenny Lewis; 8 p.m. Monday, Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder; $55-$85; z2ent.com.
Damian McGinty at Muse Performance Space: Damian McGinty is a multigenre singer-songwriter from Derry, Ireland, who now calls Nashville his home. He currently splits his time as an independent solo artist and a principal performer for the group Celtic Thunder; 8 p.m. Monday, Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette; $35-$60; bandsintown.com. | 2022-11-28T16:47:49Z | www.dailycamera.com | Face Vocal Band and other Boulder events for today | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/28/face-vocal-band-and-other-boulder-events-for-today/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/28/face-vocal-band-and-other-boulder-events-for-today/ |
Big dance: Colorado volleyball to face Rice in…
The destination certainly wasn’t unattainable. Yet just a few short weeks ago, it certainly seemed improbable for the Colorado volleyball team.
On Nov. 10, the Buffs suffered a brutal five-set home loss against a 14th-ranked Oregon squad, despite holding a 19-9 lead in the fourth set; a victory in the set would have clinched the match for CU.
It was the sort of setback that could have taken the wind out of a team. Instead, the Buffs rallied to win four of their final five matches, including a pair of key road wins, to play their way back into NCAA Tournament contention.
That tournament berth became official on Sunday, as the Buffs received the 19th bid in program history with a first-round matchup against fifth-seeded Rice on Thursday at Baylor at 3:30 p.m. MT. The winner will play either fourth-seeded Baylor or Stephen F. Austin in the second round on Friday.
“This is a really special team,” CU head coach Jesse Mahoney said. “In the COVID era, you’re seeing a lot of teams like this with kids that are in their fifth and sixth seasons. I don’t feel like there was a time in this season where we felt stressed or that we have to win this one, or we have to win that one. We just kind of went out and played really good volleyball.
“One of the things we did well this year was we were good on the road. We had some good road wins and we hadn’t done that in some years past. That Oregon (loss) was a little bit of a heartbreaker because we felt like it was within our grasp. But we responded, and I think our team and our players really had faith in each other and they kind of willed themselves through the second half of the season and got better.”
It is the third NCAA Tournament bid in seven seasons under Mahoney. The Buffs reached the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in program history in 2017 and returned to the tournament the following year, losing to South Carolina in the first round.
The Buffs (20-10, 12-8 Pac-12) finished in a tie for fifth in the Pac-12 and are one of six league teams to land bids in the 64-team tournament field. That list includes Pac-12 champion Stanford, which earned one of the four No. 1 seeds, along with USC (6), Washington State (7), Washington, Oregon (3) and the Buffs. CU finished 3-8 against NCAA Tournament teams, with a 3-7 mark against the other Pac-12 entrants plus an early-season road loss at Arkansas.
The league’s six bids tied the Big Ten and trailed only the seven landed by the SEC.
Northern Colorado, which earned the automatic berth out of the Big Sky Conference, will take a school-record 14-match win streak into its first-round date against second-seeded San Diego.
“Last year I knew it was no question I was going to come back for sure. Unfinished business,” CU sixth-year middle blocker Meegan Hart said. “It means a lot. It’s exciting. All the hard work that we’ve put in…those days that are just tough, or you question this or that, or you’re getting old and all the aches and pains, it’s worth it. I’m really proud of our team.” | 2022-11-28T22:09:41Z | www.dailycamera.com | Big dance: Colorado volleyball to face Rice in first round of NCAA Tournament – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/28/big-dance-colorado-volleyball-to-face-rice-in-first-round-of-ncaa-tournament/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/28/big-dance-colorado-volleyball-to-face-rice-in-first-round-of-ncaa-tournament/ |
Football: Little victories carried CU Buffs…
Colorado Buffaloes’ Frank Filip makes a touchdown catch against the Utah Utes in Pac-12 football on Nov. 26, 2022.(Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
Frank Fillip didn’t care about getting hit with a 15-yard penalty. Tommy Brown has probably never moved so fast in his life.
In the midst of a dreadful season and in the waning moments of a miserable loss, the Colorado Buffaloes still managed to find some joy in the game, and perhaps no play defined that more than Fillip’s touchdown catch on Saturday night.
CU’s 63-21 loss to Utah at Folsom Field put an end to a 1-11 season (1-8 Pac-12), but not before an unforgettable play.
Down 63-14 with 2 minutes, 52 seconds to go, the Buffs had first-and-goal at the Utah 1. Fillip, a 6-foot-7, 295-pound offensive lineman, busted through the Utah defense and sprinted into the end zone. The Utes never saw him and Maddox Kopp floated a pass to him for a touchdown.
“I’m gonna get into some extreme sarcasm here,” interim head coach Mike Sanford said, “but I told (offensive coordinator) Clay Patterson before the game, I said, ‘Clay, if you don’t call the Frank Fillip pop pass in the game, I’m going to fire you after the game.’”
Colorado Buffaloes’ Frank Filip celebrates a touchdown catch against thePac-12 football on Nov. 26, 2022.(Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
A tackle throughout his five seasons in Boulder, Fillip lost his starting job earlier this season and had not been playing much in recent weeks. But a couple of weeks ago, the coaching staff came up with a plan to convert him to tight end. Fillip ditched his familiar No. 76 for a No. 94 jersey and he was reinvigorated by lining up as an extra blocker the past few games.
All along, the plan was to try to get him a catch.
When that catch came, Fillip spiked the ball – prompting the 15-yard penalty – while Brown excitedly ran to greet him. Within seconds, eight offensive linemen, including a couple who ran from the bench, were jumping up and down together in celebration.
“That is a moment and a memory that Frank Fillip will never forget,” Sanford said. “That’s a moment I guarantee you that Tommy Brown will never forget. And those wins, those little Vs – little victories – to me, they add up to big Ws.
“I’ve always said that football is a game. It’s all about the moments and memories.”
This was only the second 11-loss season in CU history. It included five straight blowouts to start the year, leading to head coach Karl Dorrell being fired. It then concluded with a brutal November.
For the first time in program history, the Buffs played four consecutive teams ranked in the Associated Press top 15, and this squad didn’t stand a chance. They lost to No. 8 Oregon, 49-10; No. 8 USC, 55-17; No. 15 Washington, 54-7; and then No. 14 Utah, which rolled to a 42-0 halftime lead on Saturday.
Heavy underdogs every week and with a young, beat up roster, the Buffs knew beating any of those teams was going to be difficult. But, they bonded through misery and focused on finding fun in their final month together.
“That was probably the coolest thing I saw about coach Sanford is he could bring joy into chaos and peace and contentment when you shouldn’t have any,” senior tight end Brady Russell said. “(This season) has been pretty miserable, but for whatever reason we were able to thrive the way we were and fight the way we were. I mean, most teams would have folded but I don’t think that’s the case here.”
CU found little victories with competition in practices, players taking on new roles and spending time together. On Saturday, the Buffs took their second half as a little victory, too. After the ugly first half, they matched the Utes, 21-21, in the final two quarters.
“That second half, it was a different, determined team,” guard Casey Roddick said. “The way that we finished, I can say that I’m proud of that. To the guys who this was their last game, I’m extremely proud of them.”
Brown and Fillip were two of the 22 players who went through senior day. They might remember the score of that game, but they’ll definitely remember Fillip’s touchdown.
“We had to be able to find the joy in those little victories,” Sanford said. “I’d say that was a big victory for the team in terms of just fighting through it.”
For Sanford, it was more than a small victory when backup lineman Noah Fenske and others embraced him and thanked him after the game.
“(Fenske) gave me a hug and he told me, ‘Coach, you made football fun for me for the first time in my life,’” said Sanford, who got emotional in his postgame press conference. “There were quite a few players that came up to me after the game just telling me that you made football fun again for us. That meant more to me then I think probably anything that could have ever happened. Just seeing Noah, a young man that went through a lot at Iowa and transferred here and say that … he went through a lot and that meant a lot to me.” | 2022-11-28T22:10:01Z | www.dailycamera.com | Football: Little victories carried CU Buffs through final stretch of difficult season – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/28/football-little-victories-carried-cu-buffs-through-final-stretch-of-difficult-season/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/28/football-little-victories-carried-cu-buffs-through-final-stretch-of-difficult-season/ |
Boulder police respond to man barricaded in…
Boulder police are currently responding to a man barricaded in a North Boulder residence.
The Boulder Police Department sent out a tweet at 10:12 p.m. Monday advising the public to avoid the 3300 block of Broadway near Iris Avenue due to the evolving situation.
Boulder police tweeted again at 11:13 p.m. to say there were no confirmed reports of any fatalities at the scene.
As of 10:52 p.m., police cars were blocking Broadway at Grape Avenue, and an ambulance was sitting in the road north of the intersection. Another ambulance left the scene heading south on Broadway a few minutes earlier, around 10:45 p.m.
Police cars block Broadway on Nov. 28, 2022. Photo credit: John Vahlenkamp
Broadway is also blocked about two blocks north of Grape Avenue.
“This is a very active scene and more information will be coming shortly,” the first tweet read. | 2022-11-29T06:43:04Z | www.dailycamera.com | Boulder police respond to man barricaded in residence – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/28/boulder-police-respond-to-man-barricaded-in-residence/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/28/boulder-police-respond-to-man-barricaded-in-residence/ |
Salazar named vice president for CU outreach…
University of Colorado President Todd Saliman has named Tony Salazar as vice president for outreach and engagement, according to a news release Tuesday. Salazar has served as CU’s assistant vice president for engagement since 2019.
In addition to holding several leadership positions in education and public policy, Salazar is a point person for CU’s engagement with metro-area businesses and nonprofits. These include the South Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Latino Leadership Institute, the Colorado Business Roundtable, the Latin American Education Foundation and the Pueblo Hispanic Education Foundation.
Salazar also established outreach tours that connect CU faculty with educators, elected officials and citizens throughout the state. The tours have featured the communities of Pueblo, Fort Morgan, Grand Junction, Ignacio and the San Luis Valley. | 2022-11-30T01:08:15Z | www.dailycamera.com | Salazar named vice president for CU outreach and engagement | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/29/salazar-named-vice-president-for-cu-outreach-and-engagement/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/29/salazar-named-vice-president-for-cu-outreach-and-engagement/ |
Meegan Hart from NCAA-bound Colorado volleyball…
Colorado middle blocker Meegan Hart (right) was named first team All-Pac-12. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
A pair of Colorado volleyball players have been honored for the Buffaloes’ NCAA Tournament season.
On Tuesday, the Pac-12 Conference announced its year-end awards, with graduate middle blocker Meegan Hart leading the way for the Buffs with a first team selection. Outside hitter Lexi Hadrych, in her first year at CU after transferring from UCLA, was an honorable mention selection.
A former Iowa State transfer now in her fourth season at CU, Hart enjoyed a career year this fall, posting career-highs in kills per set (2.06), blocks per set (1.23) and hitting percentage (.432). Hart twice was named the Pac-12’s Defensive Player of the Week while helping to lead the Buffaloes to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2018.
Hadrych, a fifth-year player intent on using her extra season of eligibility with the Buffs next year, proved to be the perfect complement to Maya Tabron on CU’s attack. Hadrych was a close second to Tabron for the team lead in kills per set, averaging 3.19, while posting a .235 hitting percentage.
Conference champion Stanford, which earned one of the four No.1 seeds for the NCAA Tournament, nearly made it a clean sweep of the Pac-12 individual honors, with the Cardinal collecting the Player of the Year (Kendall Kipp), Setter of the Year (Kami Miner), Libero of the Year (Elena Oglivie), and Coach of the Year (Kevin Hambly) honors. The other individual award went to Oregon’s Mimi Colyer, who was named the Freshman of the Year.
CU (20-10, 12-8) returns to the NCAA Tournament with a first-round date against fifth-seeded Rice on Thursday afternoon at Baylor University (3:30 p.m. MT, ESPN+). The winner will play the winner between Baylor and Stephen F. Austin on Friday. | 2022-11-30T04:50:18Z | www.dailycamera.com | Meegan Hart from NCAA-bound Colorado volleyball named first team All-Pac-12 – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/29/meegan-hart-from-ncaa-bound-colorado-volleyball-named-first-team-all-pac-12/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/29/meegan-hart-from-ncaa-bound-colorado-volleyball-named-first-team-all-pac-12/ |
BVSD elementary principal donates kidney to…
BVSD elementary principal donates kidney to young adult son
Jackson Stroup, left, poses with his dad, Eisenhower Elementary School Principal Brady Stroup, at their home in Golden. Brady Stroup donated his kidney to his son over Thanksgiving break. (Courtesy photo)
Brady Stroup, the principal at Boulder’s Eisenhower Elementary School, spent much of his Thanksgiving break in the hospital, donating his kidney to his 22-year-old son, Jackson.
Jackson was born with one kidney and multi-cystic kidney disease. He managed his condition through high school with daily medications, regular doctor visits and frequent blood draws — though his lower than normal kidney function meant lower energy levels.
His kidney function started to significantly decline when he was a freshman at Butler University. With his dad identified as a match, a transplant surgery was scheduled, only to be canceled when the coronavirus pandemic hit. It was finally rescheduled for last week.
“He persisted through it all,” Stroup said about his son.
Both are now recovering at home after what the surgeons described as a “textbook” transplant. Because Jackson will need to continue with frequent doctor appointments and a lifelong medication regimen, the Children’s Organ Transplant Association is raising money for his ongoing medical expenses.
“It was tough, but we’re definitely healing and feeling better now,” Stroup said. “Our son, for the first time in his life, has a kidney functioning at a normal level. We can tell the difference already in his energy levels.”
Jackson, who graduated from Golden High School in 2018, went on to graduate from Butler University in May with a major in statistics and minors in data science and computer science. With his transplant complete, his next step is a job search, his dad said.
Jackson’s name was added to the kidney transplant list when he was 16. Shortly before last week’s planned surgery, Jackson learned a kidney was available from the transplant list. But his dad decided to go forward with his donation, allowing the kidney to go to the next person.
Stroup said he stuck with his plan because, as a family member, his donated kidney was less likely to be rejected and is expected to function well for up to 25 years before another transplant is needed, instead of the expected 15 years for a non-family kidney. Plus, he said, he liked the idea of helping someone else move up on the transplant list.
He said if he hadn’t been a match for his son, but donated his kidney to someone else, his son would have moved to the top of the transplant waiting list. And if he ends up with issues with his remaining kidney, he said, he will be placed at the front of the line for a transplant.
“I was committed to donating this kidney since the day he was born,” he said. “I wanted to let let somebody else get the benefit of a transplant.”
After announcing his plan to be a donor, the community at Stroup’s elementary school flooded him with supportive messages. Staff members also donated food delivery gift cards to give his family a meal preparation break during recovery. He’s planning to return in January, after the holiday break.
“Boulder Valley has been amazing to me,” he said. “They really went above and beyond.”
He’s also become an advocate for organ donation, encouraging people to sign up to be an organ donor on their driver’s license and consider donating a kidney if given the opportunity.
“It’s been a life changing experience for both of us,” he said. “For my son, his quality of life will be so much better. It’s a profound impact.” | 2022-11-30T09:48:25Z | www.dailycamera.com | BVSD elementary principal donates kidney to young adult son | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/25/bvsd-elementary-principal-donates-kidney-to-young-adult-son/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/25/bvsd-elementary-principal-donates-kidney-to-young-adult-son/ |
Guest opinion: Clarence Page: Michael Moore got…
When filmmaker-activist Michael Moore, a Democrat, went against the conventional wisdom that was expecting a Republican “red wave” to sweep the midterm elections, I feared Moore had become unmoored.
We can expect a lot of hand-wringing and autopsies in the coming months to explain why and how so many experts got it wrong — and hardly for the first time.
“We’ve won seven of the last eight elections in the popular vote, we’ve got more registered, we have a new crop of young people every year, plus the fact that 70% of eligible voters are either women, people of color, or 18- to 25-year-olds, or a combination of the three,” Moore said, a profile that pretty well describes much of the Democratic Party’s base.
Another ominous sign for Republicans emerged among independent voters, who usually break 55-45 for Republicans. “If they break 60-40,” Luntz he said, “Republicans win. In this case, they broke 50-50. That’s a real problem for the GOP.” | 2022-11-30T14:39:50Z | www.dailycamera.com | Guest opinion: Clarence Page: Michael Moore got the last laugh this Election Day | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/guest-opinion-clarence-page-michael-moore-got-the-last-laugh-this-election-day/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/guest-opinion-clarence-page-michael-moore-got-the-last-laugh-this-election-day/ |
Guest opinion: Donald C. Menzel: American…
By Donald C. Menzel
The 2022 mid-term elections are over and the risk to American democracy has subsided. Should we turn our collective heads and be complacent? After all, American democracy has stood the test of 250 years, including a dreadful civil war. Weathered and worn perhaps but rock solid. And, didn’t the election deniers get walloped? Yes to all, but is the risk to American democracy over? No, no, no — okay, we dodged a bullet fired by the deniers, the exalted self, former President Donald Trump, and MAGA authoritarians, but the risk is still in plain sight — the 2024 presidential election.
The election deniers may have taken a beating from American voters, but they are not going away quietly. Consider the case of Arizona where Republicans nominated an entire slate of candidates for statewide office who contended that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen. Leading the pack was gubernatorial nominee former television news anchor Kari Lake whose advocacy of the election fraud myth earned her the heartwarming endorsement of Donald Trump. Mr. Trump’s embrace of Ms. Lake was so enthusiastic that he counseled Blake Masters, Arizona’s Republican Senate nominee to emulate her. But Mr. Masters did not prevail in his race with Democratic Senate nominee Mark Kelly who received 51.4% of the vote. Adiós Mr. Masters!
Nor did the high-ranking election denier and Republican nominee for secretary of state, the office that oversees Arizona elections, Mark Finchem find himself in the win column. Mr. Finchem, who has ties with the extremist group the Oath Keepers and who was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, fell short of his Democratic opponent by more than 100,000 votes. C’est la vie Mr. Finchem!
The Republican denier nominee for attorney general, Abe Hamadeh, lost a razor-thin race by just 510 votes. A mandatory recount is underway. No matter, according to Hamadeh, he has sued his opponent and state-county officials to block certification of his loss and force them to declare him the winner in the November 8 election. Is there no end to denier madness?
The fraud squad, as Washington Post columnist Henry Olsen calls them, were given the royal boot. Still, neither Lake, Finchem nor Hamadeh have conceded and are disputing the results, calling for the outgoing Attorney General to investigate. These efforts are not likely to succeed. Former President Barack Obama warned during a pre-election rally for the state’s Democratic slate that “Democracy as we know it may not survive in Arizona.” Surviving, yes, but healthy, no.
But there is “good news.” The voters stood tall in supporting American democracy in the midterm elections, but that does not guarantee the same results will happen in the 2024 national election. Let’s not forget that there are going to be a lot of election deniers in the new Congress who will be broadcasting the “Big Lie.” And, of course, there is presidential candidate Donald Trump who will continue his assault on the norms and institutions of democracy. He will surely stir up the MAGA faithful and intimidate G.O.P. politicians who have caved to him in the past. The threat posed by Trump is not likely to wither away should he be shunted aside. Eager competitors such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Ted Cruz are not democracy enthusiasts. The appeal of an authoritarian populist approach by Republican candidates is a threat to American democracy and should not be underestimated.
Thomas Jefferson once proclaimed, “the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” So, it might just as well be said that “the price of American democracy is eternal vigilance.” Is it not so? He/she who might think it not so should read the many stories appearing in social media about the backsliding of American democracy.
Donald Menzel, Ph.D., lives in Loveland. | 2022-11-30T14:39:51Z | www.dailycamera.com | Guest opinion: Donald C. Menzel: American democracy is still at risk | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/guest-opinion-donald-c-menzel-american-democracy-is-still-at-risk/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/guest-opinion-donald-c-menzel-american-democracy-is-still-at-risk/ |
Guest opinion: Thomas A. Hemphill: Petroleum…
By Thomas A. Hemphill
Petroleum — commonly referred to as “oil” — is a naturally occurring chemical substance consisting of a mixture of molecules (the majority of which are hydrocarbons) and organic compounds found in a liquid state. The term “petroleum” includes unprocessed crude oil and other products created from refined crude oil. The combustion of fossil fuels — such as gasoline and diesel to transport people and goods — was the largest source of U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions in 2020, accounting for about 33% of total carbon-dioxide emissions and 26% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Not surprisingly, petroleum, natural gas and coal have been at the forefront of environmental policy efforts to have the nation move away from this “harmful” non-renewable energy source (to generate a given amount of electricity, burning coal will produce more carbon dioxide than natural gas or oil) to renewable sources of fuel, including hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass, wind and solar (which together make up approximately 12% of U.S. primary energy consumption by source in 2021) in the coming decades. Moreover, according to the Energy Information Administration, wind and solar sources of fuel, which emit no carbon-dioxide emissions (along with hydroelectric and nuclear electric power), make up 4.68% of U.S. primary energy consumption by energy source in 2021.
Additionally, the EIA reports that petroleum made up 36% of U.S. primary energy consumption by source in 2021. The EIA further estimates that total U.S. petroleum consumption by major end-use sectors are as follows: transportation (67.2%); industrial (26.9%); residential (2.8%); commercial (2.5%); and electric power (0.5%). U.S. consumption by petroleum products in 2021, says the EIA, includes finished motor gasoline (44%), distillate fuel oil (29%), hydrocarbon gas liquids(17%), and jet fuel (7%).
What is the EIA’s forecast for future U.S. petroleum consumption? Interestingly, the agency forecasts that petroleum and related liquids consumption will increase by 14% in 2050 over consumption levels in 2021, with liquid fuels accounting for 36% to 38% of annual U.S. energy consumption through 2050.
But what is often overlooked in the environmental movement’s efforts to shift America to a “Green Economy” is the fundamental importance of petroleum not only as a fuel for transportation purposes but also its other critical uses in contributing to a vibrant, innovative U.S. economy and modern society. For instance, in the nation’s agricultural sector, petrochemicals are used in the manufacture of ammonia, a source of nitrogen in fertilizer. Moreover, agricultural pesticides are also manufactured from petrochemicals. What is the economic effect of the U.S. agricultural sector on the U.S. gross domestic product? The agriculture, food and related industries contributed $1.055 trillion to the GDP in 2020 — or a 5% share of GDP.
Plastics, oil-based paints and paint additives are also mostly manufactured from petrochemicals, while photographic film has petrochemical ethylene as an ingredient. How significant is the plastics industry to the economic viability of the U.S. manufacturing sector? The “2022 Size and Impact” report from the Plastics Industry Association shows that the plastics industry grew from the eighth-largest to the sixth-largest manufacturing industry in the United States. Moreover, many pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, including creams and perfumes, are manufactured from petroleum or petroleum byproducts. What is the economic effect of the pharmaceutical industry on GDP? In 2021, it made up a 3.2% share of GDP.
Thomas A. Hemphill is David M. French Distinguished professor of strategy, innovation and public policy in the School of Management, University of Michigan-Flint. He wrote this for InsideSources.com. | 2022-11-30T14:39:57Z | www.dailycamera.com | Guest opinion: Thomas A. Hemphill: Petroleum — what is American society without it? | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/guest-opinion-thomas-a-hemphill-petroleum-what-is-american-society-without-it/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/guest-opinion-thomas-a-hemphill-petroleum-what-is-american-society-without-it/ |
Louisville chamber introduces new executive…
Eric Lund, Louisville Chamber of Commerce executive director, started on Monday and said he looks forward to serving the Louisville business community. (Courtesy Photo)
The Louisville Chamber of Commerce has welcomed a new executive director.
Eric Lund started Monday after previous executive director Amber Thiel stepped down in August. Lund has previously worked at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, where he was in charge of tourism and property development. He also worked at the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce and was a business professor at a pair of San Diego colleges.
The chamber of commerce exists to support and represent businesses. The chamber promotes and advocates for businesses to the community and local government.
“Business people tend to be running their businesses, they don’t have time to go to city hall,” Lund said. “They are just too busy with their businesses.”
The chamber of commerce serves as a representative for local businesses, and informs local governments of policies and ordinances that businesses are concerned about. The chamber keeps both businesses and government informed, and how they can work together. Lund said the chamber exists to serve the businesses.
Lund said that he wants to help businesses, whether they’re members of the chamber or not, be able to use benefits that are provided. He wants to provide a variety of benefits, as different types of businesses look for different kinds of services. Connections and networking opportunities are also provided by the chamber.
“We want to make sure we build a chamber that is responsive to the needs of the business community,” Lund said.
Lund also shared that the chamber will be looking at programs that help businesses be more sustainable and eco-friendly. Those programs can be as simple as recycling programs, sustainable transportation, green energy and available grants that can help businesses.
Lund, a self-professed outdoor enthusiast, said he has always been close to mountainous areas in his life.
“I have an affinity for the mountains and mountain towns,” Lund said.
Lund said that he is excited to work in Louisville, and that he will dedicate himself to having an effective role as executive director. | 2022-11-30T17:55:50Z | www.dailycamera.com | Louisville chamber introduces new executive director – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/louisville-chamber-introduces-new-executive-director-2/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/louisville-chamber-introduces-new-executive-director-2/ |
Broomfield City Council moves gun legislation…
Nine ordinances related to gun legislation were approved and set for a second reading in January at Tuesday night’s Broomfield City Council meeting.
After 90 minutes of public comments, both strongly for and against the proposed ordinances, the council discussed each ordinance individually before voting to move each one on to a second reading.
The gun legislation discussion began earlier this year, in September, and has brought on a significant amount of public engagement. The council held two study sessions before Tuesday’s first reading.
Since the start of the discussion, some ordinances have been redrafted or removed from the legislation altogether. The nine ordinances voted on Tuesday night were a culmination of the staff’s previous discussion with the council and members of the community.
Ordinance 2188 was unanimously passed and, if approved at the second reading as written, will ban the sale and possession of rapid-fire trigger activators. A rapid-fire trigger activator is defined as a device that attaches to a firearm to allow the firearm to discharge two or more shots in a burst when the device is attached.
Ordinance 2189 would establish a minimum age of 21 years to purchase a firearm with the exemption of a law enforcement officer or member of the United States Armed Forces in official duties. Council suggested a possible amendment to refine the language of the exemptions to say if someone can prove that they are a member of law enforcement or in the military, but no amendment was proposed Tuesday night. The ordinance passed unanimously.
Ordinance 2190, which would regulate the possession of unserialized, or “ghost guns,” passed unanimously after being amended to clear up some language.
Ordinance 2191, which was also amended, will require that all firearm dealers in Broomfield post signs and provide an education notification where a firearm sale/transfer occurs.
The warning will say, “access to a firearm in the home significantly increases the risk of death by suicide, death during violence disputes, and the unintentional death of children, household members or others.”
“A lot of people are not aware of the statistics and dangers of having a gun in their home,” Councilmember Todd Cohen said.
The ordinance, along with an amendment to some of the language, passed unanimously.
Ordinance 2192, as originally written, requires a 10-day waiting period and proof of education and competence with firearms, which could include training certificates, evidence of participation in organized competitions, being an instructor, proof of honorable discharge from a branch of the United States Armed Forces or a Colorado Law Enforcement Agency. There were some exemptions listed under this ordinance.
Two amendments were proposed to this ordinance, including one by Councilmember Heidi Henkel, adding that “distribution of a pamphlet and reading of a statement made available on the City and County of Broomfield’s website regarding mental health and suicide, and the increased risk of suicide completion by firearm” be added to the requirements for training certificates. This amendment passed unanimously.
Councilmember Laurie Anderson proposed an amendment to say “or” instead of “and” in the ordinance, meaning that only one of the components was required, a 10-day waiting period or the education/competence component. This amendment did not pass.
The amended ordinance passed 9-1, with Anderson voting against it.
“As is, I would vote no on this on the second reading,” Mayor Pro-Tem Stan Jezierski said. “It could be improved. I get the need for the cooldown period that can help prevent some crimes or suicides, but I think the education component could work as the cooldown period.”
Ordinance 2193 would prohibit the open carry of firearms in public places located in Broomfield. This ordinance passed unanimously.
Ordinance 2194 will prohibit concealed carry in buildings and facilities owned or leased by the city and county. A small language amendment was made to this ordinance. It passed 8-2, with Cohen and James Marsh-Holschen voting against.
Ordinance 2195, which added and updated some definitions within existing and proposed ordinances, passed unanimously.
Ordinance 2200, which added updates to the code needed as a result of the proposed ordinances, passed unanimously.
The public has time to continue offering comments and opinions on these ordinances leading up to the second reading, which is set for Jan. 10. Many public comments on Tuesday night stated that these ordinances were “toothless,” and more like “feel-good” legislation that might not make a noticeable change in the community.
“In some ways that’s a valid argument,” Cohen said. “They are timid by comparison to what other countries have enacted in terms of gun ownership and gun safety. We make choices on what we want to take strong action on. None of these are disarming measures, they aren’t particularly strong in light of the amount of violence that we have in this county.”
The amendments can be found online at broomfield.org/128/City-Council. To provide comments on these ordinances before the next hearing, email council@broomfieldcitycouncil.org. | 2022-11-30T20:58:09Z | www.dailycamera.com | Broomfield City Council moves gun legislation ordinances to next round of voting – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/broomfield-city-council-moves-gun-legislation-ordinances-to-next-round-of-voting/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/broomfield-city-council-moves-gun-legislation-ordinances-to-next-round-of-voting/ |
CU Boulder unveils two new electric buses to…
A University of Colorado Boulder electric bus takes guests on a demonstration tour on Wednesday. The buses, built by New Flyer in Anniston, Alabama, have an estimated 200-mile range and are expected to go into service next week. University of Colorado Boulder currently has two electric buses with two more expected by May of 2023 and two 60-foot long versions expected by 2025. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
The University of Colorado Boulder unveiled the first two battery electric Buff Buses at a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the Sustainability, Energy and Environment Community Center on Wednesday morning. The two electric vehicles are the first of what university officials hope will be many more to come.
University of Colorado Boulder Chief Operating Officer of Strategic Resources and Support Patrick O’Rourke poses for a photo in the driver’s seat of a new electric bus on Wednesday. . (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
“We’re ecstatic,” said Heidi VanGenderen, the chief sustainability officer of CU’s Infrastructure and Stability team. “This is the first step towards combating our climate crisis. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
In 2020 and 2021, CU Boulder was awarded two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grants totaling $1.7 million, which provide a 45% reimbursement from the EPA to purchase the buses and charging equipment.
“We’ve met our short-term goal of cutting emissions set by the university,” said Sustainability and Resiliency Program Manager Ed von Bleichert. “(But) we’re not done yet, and we’re reevaluating our long-term goals.”
The new Buff Buses, manufactured by New Flyer in Anniston, Alabama, are 40-foot zero-emission buses that will be used on existing routes from CU Boulder’s east campus toward main campus. Each electric bus had a range of more than 200 miles, depending on the weather and driver, and can run on one overnight charge for a full day on a Buff Bus route. As a condition of the DERA grant, the two diesel buses that are being replaced will not only be retired from their routes, but destroyed entirely.
A University of Colorado Boulder student walks past new electric buses before an unveiling ceremony in Boulder on Wednesday. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
The process of getting these new vehicles on the road took about two and a half years, according to Tom Christian, assistant director of transportation for CU Boulder. After funding was attained, CU officials had to decide which manufacturer was the right fit and train new drivers how to maneuver the new systems.
“These new buses help support carbon neutrality, and our department is helping to support the global climate initiative,” Christian said.
CU is continuing its zero carbon emissions initiatives throughout next year, with third and fourth electric buses expected to join the existing route by May 2023. These buses will have larger batteries that can go farther on a single charge. In addition to the 40-feet buses, the universities will add two longer 60-foot buses by 2025.
“This is an exciting start to the week as we prepare for the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit,” said CU Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano in a statement. “And it’s an exciting step towards the university’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. We’re grateful for the support from the EPA, and I commend our campus sustainability and transportation teams for their leadership in guiding us toward a carbon-neutral future.” | 2022-12-01T02:00:39Z | www.dailycamera.com | CU Boulder unveils two new electric buses to combat carbon emissions – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/cu-boulder-unveils-two-new-electric-buses-to-combat-carbon-emissions/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/cu-boulder-unveils-two-new-electric-buses-to-combat-carbon-emissions/ |
Boulder police are investigating after a student was injured in an apparent hit-and-run crash on Wednesday.
Boulder police spokeswoman Dionne Waugh said that police were called to Fairview High School, 1515 Greenbriar Blvd. at 1 p.m. When officers arrived, they learned a 14-year-old male student had been struck by a vehicle on the horseshoe-shaped road in front of the school.
The student was riding an electric mini bike through a grassy area when he pulled out between two parked cars and was struck by someone driving a dark colored SUV. The driver then left the scene.
Waugh said officers are in the early stages of the investigation. | 2022-12-01T02:00:45Z | www.dailycamera.com | Fairview High student injured in Boulder hit-and-run | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/fairview-high-student-injured-in-hit-and-run/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/fairview-high-student-injured-in-hit-and-run/ |
Big early stakes in play as Colorado men’s…
Tristan da Silva and the CU Buffs open Pac-12 Conference play at home against Arizona State. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
Colorado was playing well at the time. Much more consistently than the erratic highs and lows on display through the first few weeks of this season.
And still, Arizona State marched into the CU Events Center in February to record its first win in Boulder in nine years.
That Sun Devils’ win in February kept a CU team that had been surging down the stretch from being a serious part of the bubble watch for the NCAA Tournament. Although the calendar is only now turning to December, CU’s uneven start already has left the Buffs unable to absorb more dents to their early resume as Arizona State visits once again on Thursday night for the Pac-12 Conference opener.
“They’re a really, really good team,” CU point guard KJ Simpson said. “You have a team like that with a lot of talent, they get off to a good start and they have a lot of confidence, that’s a dangerous team. It’s kind of like what they had towards the end of last season. Now they’re starting with it. It’s going to be a really tough matchup. On the defensive end, our job is to just guard the ball and make them take tough shots.
“I’m sure with their returning guys, they’re talking with their team how they came in here last and killed us. Seeing how we started off this year, they’re probably thinking down on us a little bit. We can’t be comfortable at all. We know what they’re capable of and they showed us here last year.”
CU had won six consecutive games when ASU visited for the final homestand of the 2021-22 season, and at the time the Buffs also owned a six-game home winning streak against the Sun Devils. The Buffs’ loss that afternoon was doubly damaging after defeating No. 2 Arizona two days later.
Defeating the Sun Devils still might not have pushed CU into tournament contention, but the Buffs already are in a similar situation this year, albeit about two and a half months earlier in the season. The Buffs have a pair of commendable wins to their credit already after topping Tennessee and Texas A&M away from home, but losses against Grambling State, UMass and Boise State have given CU little margin for error as it begins league play.
Arizona State is off to a 6-1 start, winning against then-20th-ranked Michigan in Brooklyn on Nov. 17 and topping, by 31 points, the same Grambling team that beat Colorado by nine. Through the season’s first three weeks, ASU leads the Pac-12 in defensive 3-point percentage (.221) and is second in overall defensive field goal percentage (.340).
“The challenge for us is to keep them in front of us, guard the ball and guard the 3-point line. They’re a team that can really shoot it from three and they can attack the paint,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “Defensively, their numbers are as good as they’ve ever been. They’re very aggressive defensively. They’re aggressive in the passing lanes. They’re aggressive on the ball. One of the things we’ve struggled with is pressure, so we’re going to have to figure that out.”
Arizona State Sun Devils at CU Buffs men’s basketball
TV/RADIO: TV — FOX Sports 1; Radio — KOA 850 AM.
RECORDS: Arizona State 6-1; Colorado 4-3.
COACHES: Arizona State — Bobby Hurley, 8th season (124-101; 166-121 overall); Colorado — Tad Boyle, 13th season (258-158, 314-224 overall).
KEY PLAYERS: Arizona State — G DJ Horne, 6-1, Jr. (13.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg); G Frankie Collins, 6-1, So. (12.9 ppg, 5.1 apg, 4.9 rpg); G Devan Cambridge, 6-4, Gr. (9.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg, .500 field goal percentage). Colorado — G KJ Simpson, 6-2, So. (17.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.7 apg); F Tristan da Silva, 6-9, Jr. (12.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, .500 field goal percentage); F J’Vonne Hadley, 6-6, Jr. (10.4 ppg, 8.0 rpg, .500 field goal percentage).
NOTES: The Buffs are unlikely to see ASU forward Marcus Bagley, who may or may not be suspended (Bagley offered a since-deleted tweet this week saying that was the case). Once a highly-touted recruit for ASU, the oft-injured Bagley has appeared in just two games this season and 17 in three seasons at ASU. Bagley has made just one appearance against the Buffs, going scoreless with seven rebounds in 20 minutes in a CU win in Boulder on March 4, 2021…ASU won games against VCU and Michigan at the Legends Classic in Brooklyn but suffered its lone loss (in overtime) in its only true road game so far on Nov. 13 at Texas Southern… CU continues the opening week of Pac-12 play at Washington on Sunday (1 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Network). | 2022-12-01T06:20:30Z | www.dailycamera.com | Big early stakes in play as Colorado men’s basketball opens Pac-12 slate against ASU – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/big-early-stakes-in-play-as-colorado-mens-basketball-opens-pac-12-slate-against-asu/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/30/big-early-stakes-in-play-as-colorado-mens-basketball-opens-pac-12-slate-against-asu/ |
Friends of Rorex gathered at the Out Boulder County offices Wednesday to share their stories and memories of her. A documentary crew for PBS was at the offices, and Rorex’s friends were there to share her story. The PBS special will be released in January 2023. On Jan. 26, Rorex will be awarded the Colorado Mountain Leader Medal, posthumously. | 2022-12-01T15:46:53Z | www.dailycamera.com | Friends share memories of Rorex for PBS documentary – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/01/friends-share-memories-of-rorex-for-pbs-documentary/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/01/friends-share-memories-of-rorex-for-pbs-documentary/ |
High of 50 today with strong winds tonight in…
Boulder should see highs in the 50s today along with some strong winds, according to the National Weather Service.
Today’s forecast calls for mostly sunny skies with a high of 50 and an overnight low of 35, with a 30% chance of showers overnight and winds 24 to 34 mph with gusts as high as 50 mph.
Mostly sunny skies with a high of 37 today in Boulder
High of 20 with up to 4 more inches of snow today in Boulder
High of 50 with a chance of snow overnight in Boulder | 2022-12-01T15:47:00Z | www.dailycamera.com | Boulder weather today: High of 50 today with strong winds tonight | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/01/high-of-50-today-with-strong-winds-tonight-in-boulder/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/01/high-of-50-today-with-strong-winds-tonight-in-boulder/ |
Letters to the editor: Wallach has no personal…
Dita and Robert Hutchinson: City Council: Wallach has no personal agenda to cloud judgment
We strongly endorse Mark Wallach for the appointment of mayor pro tem.
It has been our pleasure to get to know Mark since moving to the city of Boulder from unincorporated Boulder County almost five years ago. Mark takes his council member position very seriously and makes every effort to be actively engaged across all sectors of the community that he serves. He is exceptionally well prepared for council meetings 100% of the time and his deliberations are always thoughtful and relevant. Mark has been willing to engage with all sides on the myriad of challenging issues facing our local community, particularly with respect to the annexation of CU South. His letters to the editor of the Daily Camera over the years are legendary and a testament to his unequivocal integrity and superior intellect.
Mark comes across as nonpartisan in all of his dealings with the public and does not represent a “side,” which cannot be said of all his fellow council members. Because Mark is serving his final term on the council, he does not have a personal agenda that might cloud his judgment and decision-making. In our opinion, this is possibly the most important characteristic that qualifies Mark over others that are seeking this appointment. We are living in a time of unprecedented division and uncertainty and should be able to expect complete impartiality and objectivity from our elected leaders.
The voters seemed to have prioritized these same qualities too in the last council election because Mark received the highest number of votes. In some jurisdictions, that alone would qualify him for appointment as mayor pro tem.
Dita and Robert Hutchinson, Boulder
Junie Joseph: City Council: Mayor pro tem should embody values of diversity, inclusion
On December 1st, 2022, the Boulder City Council will be appointing its mayor pro tem. Every year a new council member ascends to the position, appointed by fellow council members. The selection process is vague, and in my opinion is based on allyship, at the time of the vote, and sometimes based on seniority.
All the job requires is a commitment to be on the Council Agenda Committee for one full year, to help staff navigate our council priorities throughout that year, and to stand in for the mayor when he/she is unavailable. Because there are no specific criteria and requirements beyond the aforementioned, I believe the mayor pro tem should be someone who embodies our values of diversity and inclusion.
We are at a unique time in our history, whereas leaders are empowered to be courageous and to create the community of our ideals. A community that is people-centered, which includes BIPOC, working-class whites, and LGBTQ+ people. Additionally, beyond merely including them, we must ensure that they are reflected in leadership and are at the forefront of the work that we do. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, council member Nicole Speer is poised to help guide the work that we do.
In reflecting, I will not claim that voting for one LGBTQ+ colleague for mayor pro tem is in any way protecting or promoting the rights of the entire LGBTQ+ community, but in the wake of everything that has been happening in our community and around the state, we have a duty to stand with our LGBTQ+ friends and ensure they have a seat at the leadership table, especially when they are qualified. Ultimately, I hope that my fellow council colleagues will take this opportunity to stand with Dr. Speer.
Junie Joseph, Boulder
Letters to the editor: We need new ozone air quality management; assault weapons bans have worked in Australia | 2022-12-01T15:47:06Z | www.dailycamera.com | Letters to the editor: Wallach has no personal agenda to cloud judgment; mayor pro tem should embody values of diversity, inclusion | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/01/letters-to-the-editor-wallach-has-no-personal-agenda-to-cloud-judgment-mayor-pro-tem-should-embody-values-of-diversity-inclusion/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/01/letters-to-the-editor-wallach-has-no-personal-agenda-to-cloud-judgment-mayor-pro-tem-should-embody-values-of-diversity-inclusion/ |
Boulder police identify vehicle possibly…
Boulder police said they have identified the driver they believe struck a student in a hit-and-run crash at Fairview High on Wednesday.
Boulder police police said the crash occurred on the horseshoe-shaped road in front of Fairview High School, 1515 Greenbriar Blvd. at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
A 14-year-old male student was riding an electric mini bike through a grassy area when he pulled out between two parked cars and was struck by someone driving a dark colored SUV. The driver then left the scene.
Boulder police on Thursday tweeted that they had identified someone they believed to be the driver and were in contact with them.
No charges have been announced at this time, and the name of the driver has not yet been released. | 2022-12-01T19:35:24Z | www.dailycamera.com | Boulder police identify vehicle possibly involved in Fairview hit-and-run | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/01/boulder-police-identify-vehicle-possibly-involved-in-fairview-hit-and-run/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/01/boulder-police-identify-vehicle-possibly-involved-in-fairview-hit-and-run/ |
McCown was unable to play the next few weeks wound up sitting out the final six games so he could preserve his redshirt. He played in four games, the maximum allowed to keep a redshirt, so he will have four seasons of eligibility remaining.
As a sixth-year senior, Bell has exhausted his eligibility, but, like Lewis, is hoping to get medical hardship waiver for a seventh season. Bell missed the entire 2021 season with an injury. Roddick was a fifth-year junior this year and he has one season of eligibility remaining. | 2022-12-02T04:33:02Z | www.dailycamera.com | CU Buffs freshman QB Owen McCown to put name in transfer portal – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/01/cu-buffs-freshman-qb-owen-mccown-to-put-name-in-transfer-portal/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/01/cu-buffs-freshman-qb-owen-mccown-to-put-name-in-transfer-portal/ |
The 21 most-requested Christmas songs at…
KOSI 101.1 makes its annual switch on Friday to nonstop holiday cheer
KOSI 101.1 will switch to all-Christmas music on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022, for the 21st year in a row. (Photo provided by KOSI 101.1)
By Jonathan Shikes | jshikes@denverpost.com |
Some people start thinking about Christmas in October. Others wait for early November or at least until the Friday after Thanksgiving. Still more would prefer to hold off until the first week of December. But for Coloradans who love Christmas music, the season really starts on the day that Denver radio station KOSI 101.1 begins jingling the bells 24 hours a day.
This year, that day is Friday, Nov. 11, at noon, when the station will, for the first time, make its annual format switch in public, at Park Meadows mall in Lone Tree.
“We start getting requests around Halloween from people asking us to change to Christmas music,” said KOSI station manager Jim Lawson. “That’s a little too early… And some people want us to wait until after Thanksgiving.” But that’s too late for the station, which has been decking Denver’s halls with 24-hours Christmas music for 21 years in a row now.
So KOSI reevaluates each fall in deciding when to go holly and jolly. In 2020, it rocked the bells early because people were still social distancing and coming off of eight months of pandemic depression. The weather or an early snowstorm can also play a part in the decision.
Denver loves its Christmas music. Here, tuba players perform together at the annual Tuba Christmas Concert in the galleria of the Denver Performing Arts Complex on Dec. 22, 2019. (Photo By Kathryn Scott/Special to The Denver Post)
Current events, like this week’s divisive election, and our increasing attachments to our phones and the negativity on social media can also mean it’s harder for people to find joy to the world — or silent nights.
That’s why KOSI’s DJs try to be uplifting. “I believe in my heart that it gives a place for people to go and get away from all the noise and relax,” Lawson said.
The DJs don’t mind the music, either, he insisted. Although the station plans to keep playing Christmas jingles until New Year’s Day this year because of listener requests. “Most of the jockeys have had enough at that point,” Lawson said with a laugh.
But the listenership is no joke. The station gets more than one million people in Denver tuning their dials to 101.1 over the holidays, up from an average of 600,000 on a normal day.
Lawson himself likes the classics, like Andy Williams and Bing Crosby, but he says KOSI tries to play some deeper tracks and modern songs as well.
As for Mariah Carey, she’s number 12 on the list, he pointed out, so there may be a lot more people out there who want to hear her ever-present song than those who don’t.
Singer Mariah Carey holds hands with Santa Claus as she performs at the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, attended by President Barack Obama and his family, at the Ellipse in Washington, Friday, Dec. 6, 2013.
Here are the top 21 most-requested songs — one for each year that KOSI has been playing Christmas music — that the station received last year.
New location, new delights as plaza lighting brightens downtown Longmont
Broomfield celebrating the season with Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony
Westminster woman collects handmade Christmas ornaments for Marshall fire families
21) Nitty Gritty Dirt – “Colorado Christmas”
20) Jose Feliciano – “Feliz Navidad”
19) Celine Dion – “O Holy Night”
18) Burl Ives – “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer”
17) Vince Guarraldi – “Linus and Lucy”
16) Trans-Siberian Orchestra – “Christmas Eve Sarajevo”
15) Gene Autry – “Up On The Housetop”
14) Michael Buble – “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow”
13) Andy Williams – “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”
12) Mariah Carey – “All I Want For Christmas Is You”
11) Leroy Anderson – “Sleigh Ride”
10) David Foster – “Carol Of The Bells”
9) Frank Sinatra & Cyndi Lauper – “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town”
8) Dean Martin – “Baby It’s Cold Outside”
7) Johnny Mathis – “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas”
6) Brenda Lee – “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”
5) Bobby Helms – “Jingle Bell Rock”
4) Bing Crosby – “White Christmas”
3) Drifters – “White Christmas”
2) Burl Ives – “Holly Jolly Christmas”
1) Ronettes – “Sleigh Ride” | 2022-12-02T07:13:11Z | www.dailycamera.com | 21 most-requested Christmas songs at Denver's KOSI 101.1 radio station | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/10/21-most-requested-christmas-songs-denver-kosi-101/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/11/10/21-most-requested-christmas-songs-denver-kosi-101/ |
Community Editorial Board: Walking and biking…
Members of our Community Editorial Board, a group of community residents who are engaged with and passionate about local issues, respond to the following question: Boulder’s Vision Zero Innovation Program has used cost-effective, quick-build projects to try to make streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. After two years of implementation, the city wants to know how ‘safe and comfortable’ the community feels walking and biking in Boulder. Your take?
The Vision Zero plan is designed to meet Boulder’s laudable goal of reducing “the number of traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries to zero.” The multi-faceted plan includes implementing countermeasures at high-crash locations, improving signal timing practices, employing innovative intersection and street designs, installing signs and pavement markings, and education. According to the city’s website, feedback for the overall plan has ended, although citizens can always submit transportation feedback to the city’s online engagement platform.
One subset of the city’s Vision Zero work is the Vision Zero Innovation Program, which used $250,000 of the city’s Vision Zero funding to try out twenty “innovative, quick-build projects” at specific locations. These projects are designed to “reduce vehicle speeds and improve safety and comfort of people walking and biking.” The projects were initiated in 2020, and the city currently is seeking comment on its preliminary recommendations to keep 11 of the projects, remove 5 and modify 4, based on data, observations and feedback the city has received. The city is recommending keeping certain projects in place where an actual decrease in speeding or other improvement resulted. Likewise, the city is recommending that other projects be modified or removed where they failed to produce the desired outcome or raised other issues.
Another work product arising out of the Vision Zero program is the city’s new Core Arterial Network (CAN) initiative. This one involves design improvements to Boulder’s high-traffic arterial streets, which is where 65% of the severe crashes occur in Boulder. CAN will focus on connecting protected bike lanes, enhancing intersections and pedestrian facilities, and implementing transit upgrades to increase safety.
The city also has other transportation initiatives aimed at increasing safety (the 20 is Plenty residential speed limit program comes to mind). Keeping track of them all isn’t easy. But innovation is necessary to increase safety, and transportation modes are evolving. Fortunately, the city is monitoring the success and failure of these programs and removing or modifying projects that may not work in practice. Boulder is sharing with other cities the results of its experimentation, and other cities are reciprocating. We are benefitting from a nationwide laboratory, and I have noticed drastic changes for the better during recent bike rides in urban centers such as Boston and Washington, DC.
So, now that we can ride our bikes, where can we park them so that they won’t get stolen?
It is important to have safe mobility options for pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles, and, at the same time, it is important to keep traffic moving so people can get where they need to go and don’t add to our air pollution by sitting in traffic.
My initial thought while reviewing the city’s statistics regarding traffic safety in Boulder is that we actually do pretty well. We don’t seem to have a lot of serious injuries or fatalities due to crashes. The crashes we do have seem to occur mainly at certain intersections.
The simple mechanisms such as the redlight photo enforcement to prevent people from running red lights and the ominous white van on the side of the road that snaps your photo if you speed, both seem to work well at curtailing those actions. However, the pedestrian crossings where the yellow lights suddenly start flashing and a driver, without warning, has to somehow stop on a dime while they look around to see if there is a pedestrian or bicycle that wants to cross the road, seem to be dangerous for all concerned.
A review of the results of Boulder’s Vision Zero Innovation Program indicates that measures utilized for traffic “calming” had limited success at best and in some instances, traffic speeds actually increased slightly. The program with chicanes which work to squeeze the traffic flow of a street down to one lane so that cars going in opposite directions have to stop and take turns going through the one-lane section, actually works to inflame drivers rather than calm them. The one on Quince and 17th also makes it nearly impossible for pedestrians to pass through because there is no sidewalk so the pedestrians need to either take a turn while the two cars going in opposite directions wait or the pedestrian has to share the narrow path with a vehicle. I am relieved to see that this chicane will be discontinued.
I wish the Boulder project had studied crashes between bikes and pedestrians. I see bikers on sidewalks all over town and I have been in too many close calls while walking down the sidewalk. Frustratingly, there is almost no enforcement to keep bikes off of sidewalks, so the danger continues. It would be great if the city worked on creating effective sidewalk barriers to keep bikes off the sidewalks that do not have designated bike lanes.
Back in 2015, the “right-sizing” of Folsom created massive congestion and an uproar among citizens. The term “right-sizing” rubbed me the wrong way. It was so arrogant. This is the “right size” of the street so if you don’t like it, you are wrong by definition, since this street is now right. Starting off with that is not the right way to move toward what everyone wants: safer streets. The city council rapidly retreated from this decision and I don’t expect to see that term used again, at least in Boulder. In fact, the city has moved forward on a much more positive path.
Reducing the size of streets and purposely creating pinch points is a bedrock strategy in Boulder’s Vision Zero. I didn’t like the sound of this: purposely giving cars less space? But after inspecting most of the projects listed on the Vision Zero website, I was impressed. Cyclists and pedestrians are not compressed with the cars, and pinch points certainly slow down vehicles.
Of course, there are alternatives to slowing traffic that don’t create vehicle conflicts and might be more aesthetic, such as speed bumps, stop signs, and automatic photo radar. The VZIP website states that “speed humps/cushions are not an option under the VZIP.” While those options are more costly, it is illogical to rule out an alternative as a matter of policy. This type of restrictive thinking is counterproductive. The goal morphs from “keeping our citizens safer” to “implementing VZIP.”
Street painting, especially at intersections, has had remarkable results according to a Bloomberg Study.
And street painting doesn’t narrow streets and doesn’t create congestion. I’d love to see this approach used first before we install all the traffic pylons. Most of the projects I viewed were in neighborhoods and in such cases, I’d love to see the neighbors in that area decide what works best for them.
Lastly, the whole idea of zero traffic deaths is unattainable. While we should have aspirational goals, we shouldn’t have unattainable ones. Humans are fallible and will always make mistakes. We should continue striving towards safer streets, but having a program name that is doomed to failure, however catchy, isn’t inspiring. | 2022-12-03T19:00:29Z | www.dailycamera.com | Community Editorial Board: Walking and biking safety in Boulder | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/03/community-editorial-board-walking-and-biking-safety-in-boulder/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/03/community-editorial-board-walking-and-biking-safety-in-boulder/ |
Set up for success: CU Boulder taps into…
Beth Amsel has started the Finish What You Started Program, bringing students who didn’t finish college back to complete their degrees. She is in front of Norlin Library on Friday. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
In less than a month, Beth Amsel’s life took a 360-degree turn.
After her marriage ended this past spring, and years after her musical career had grown stagnant, Amsel, 51, knew she didn’t have a lot of career options. She also knew exactly what she needed to do to change that.
She immediately reached out to the University of Colorado Boulder and asked about re-enrolling — 30 years after she dropped out — and was quickly connected with Ann Herrmann, who told Amsel about a new program designed specifically for people like her.
In about 14 days, she moved back to Boulder and applied for college. Before she knew it, Amsel was back on campus in Boulder, pursuing a major in history. This time, though, she knows for sure — college is exactly where she wants to be.
“It’s amazing. I am so thankful, and I love every minute of it — even when I feel overwhelmed, which is often,” Amsel said.
Amsel started college again at CU Boulder this past fall and is part of the new state funded Finish What You Started Program, which helps Colorado residents go back to college and earn a certificate or degree.
Suzanne Classen, assistant dean for students at CU Boulder, said the campus learned about the new program through the Colorado Department of Higher Education in the summer of 2021. Late last year, the campus was awarded a $3.1 million five-year grant as part of the program, which allowed the campus to hire Herrmann, an advisor and program manager for the initiative, and Michelle Pagnani, as an academic coach and coordinator.
Classen said CU Boulder started student outreach in April and has since enrolled 89 students and has awarded $230,000 worth of scholarships to the students who have opted to participate. To qualify, students must have been economically impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, be a Colorado resident, must have taken at least two semesters off college and had to have been previously enrolled at CU Boulder. She added that CU Boulder is primarily looking to enroll students who can graduate by 2026.
The campus’ goal is to have 300 students participate before the five-year grant ends, Classen said.
Herrmann added that students can receive up to $3,000 per semester as well as a one-time $1,000 grant depending on their financial needs that can be used to pay for housing, gas, past tuition and more.
“I work with (students) to figure out how to make the best use of that money so that we’re limiting their out-of-pocket expenses and the need to take out any private loans,” Herrmann said.
What’s unique about this program, Classen said, is not just the funding available to students who have decided to return to college but the amount of support they receive from employees like Herrmann and Pagnani.
“For a lot of students it’s a huge step to come back to school and just making sure they are getting the support in the day-to-day while they’re here, but they’re (also) thinking of the bigger picture as well,” Classen said. “I think seeing the end goal is also helpful — even from the beginning.”
Herrmann said her work is primarily focused on student outreach — talking to potential students about the program and returning to college, but she also works as a career advisor.
“My goal is to help students be gainfully employed upon graduation as well, so I help with the wide range of career questions,” she said.
Pagnani on the other hand, said about 80 to 90% of her role involves life or career coaching while the rest pertains to building academic skills. She added that in her work, she uses a lot of psychology and motivational interviewing techniques to help students with time and stress management as well as with self confidence and motivation.
For Amsel, the regular accountability check-ins Pagnani offers have been critical since she returned to CU Boulder, she said.
One example of coaching Pagnani was able to help with was setting up a reverse calendar, Amsel said. On her calendar, Pagnani taught her how to mark all of her deadlines for the school year and then go in and backfill the dates to add everything going on in between those deadlines.
“Michelle was able to look at what my specific needs were from an academic standpoint (and) from a psychological standpoint and see where I was missing some key pieces that would affect my overall success,” Amsel said.
Amsel is on track to graduate with her undergraduate degree in 2024 and will then jump straight into graduate school to study psychology, she said.
After leaving CU Boulder in 1994, Amsel never looked back. But now that she has returned, she said she’s grateful for the opportunity the program has given her and others who took a break to return to college and get the support needed to stay and be successful.
“I wish every student had an academic advisor and an academic coach and someone who specifically helped through the financial aid process,” Amsel said. “All of these pieces are put in place specifically for us — to help us succeed in a way that we couldn’t succeed prior.”
More information about the program offered at CU Boulder is available at bit.ly/3Uo5Ryu. | 2022-12-03T19:01:05Z | www.dailycamera.com | Set up for success: CU Boulder taps into state-funded program to help residents complete college degrees | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/03/set-up-for-success-cu-boulder-taps-into-state-funded-program-to-help-residents-complete-degrees/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/03/set-up-for-success-cu-boulder-taps-into-state-funded-program-to-help-residents-complete-degrees/ |
Finding ‘different solutions’ CU Boulder,…
The University of Colorado Boulder was bustling Friday morning with students, employees, elected officials and climate experts from all over the world who came together to discuss an issue impacting them all: climate change.
After more than a year of preparation, CU Boulder on Friday began its first day of panels as part of the Right Here Right Now Global Climate Summit, which the campus is cost-hosting with United Nations Human Rights.
As of Friday, people from more than 90 countries had registered for the event. About 1,600 people registered to attend in-person, and more 2,300 people registered to attend virtually for the three-day global summit. Additionally, more than 500 people signed on to attend the summit’s community-focused events.
Daniel Magraw, an international lawyer who serves as a consultant for the United Nations for matters including environment, human rights and investment, spoke about the key theme of the summit Friday morning: Understanding climate change as a matter of human rights.
Magraw, who organized a climate conference at CU Boulder in 1989, said years ago, the relationship between the environment and human rights wasn’t obvious.
“After many, many years of effort, we now know that it’s a reciprocal relationship — that most, if not all of human rights actually depends on a healthy environment,” Magraw said.
During the same session, Astrid Puentes Riaño an environmental lawyer, spoke about COP27, the 27th United Nations Conference of the Parties that was held in November in Egypt, featuring representatives of more than 190 nations, including the signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992.
Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a Canadian Inuit activist, served as the the keynote speaker at the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit, which opened Friday at the University of Colorado Boulder (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
“I think that one key point that we have to remind ourselves (of) — that to me and to a lot of others is painful to recognize — is that everything we are doing in terms of climate action is not working,” she said.
Puentes Riaño went on to say that this is why society must remember the theme of human rights in its work, because not everyone is equally impacted by climate change.
“When we talk about human rights, we’re talking about obligations and responsibilities,” she said. “Ten percent of the population worldwide (is) responsible for 50% of emissions, and if you go further, it’s 1% of the population that’s responsible for a majority of the emissions.”
Puentes Riaño said climate experts from around the world were involved in the conversations during the 2015 Paris Agreement. This was important because it allowed people with diverse ideas and backgrounds to come together to discuss climate change solutions. But since then, there has been more and more push back from officials connected with the fossil fuels sector, she said. Last year’s COP hosted about 500 attendees linked to fossil fuels. This year, about 600 attendees had ties to the fossil fuel industry.
“We need to include that diversity not only because it’s human rights, (and) it’s moral but because we need different solutions, and we’re not having different solutions today because the same group of people and sectors that caused the problem are the ones there deciding,” Puentes Riaño said. “We know the definition of insanity is thinking we’re going to get different results by doing the same (thing).”
Julie Poppen, spokesperson for CU Boulder, said it was up to individual faculty members to decide whether students could attend panels for course credit.
Fossil fuel investments
Outside of the CU Boulder University Memorial Center, where the morning session was held, more than 100 students, employees and alumni gathered on Friday afternoon to protest the university system’s continual investments in fossil fuels.
CU Boulder graduate student Rachel Saidman handed out bright orange hats with the word “divest” on the front before the protest got started Friday afternoon.
Saidman said a big reason the protest was held was to spread the word to high school students and prospective students in effort to get them involved in the conversation about the importance of moving away from fossil fuels.
“By coming to this school, we’re making an investment in that name (CU Boulder), and we hope that (the university system is) trying to make that same investment in our futures as well,” she said.
But Matt Dempsey, spokesperson for the Independent Petroleum Association of America and a CU Boulder alum, who also attended the protest, disagreed.
“Especially as consumers face rising energy prices, we should be working on collaborative solutions that reduce emissions while keeping energy affordable,” he said. “Divestment is a political campaign that does neither.”
Ken McConnellogue, spokesperson for the CU system, said of university’s $4.9 billion in investments, which includes external foundation investments and the university’s internal treasury pool, about $270.5 million or 5.4% of funds come from the the fossil fuel sector.
He added that in recent years, CU has moved to “socially responsible” investing, including signing on to the Principles of Responsible Investing initiative under the the United Nations. The university’s investments in companies who are integrating sustainability into their business practices account for $526.2 million or 10.5% of the system’s total investments.
McConnellogue was unable to say how much of the university system’s retirement funds are linked to fossil fuel investments before publication Friday. The percent of university’s endowment funds that come from the fossil sector was not readily accessible Friday evening.
Investments in regents’ hands
CU Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano said he supports the students, employees and alumni in their activism but said the decision to divest from fossil fuels is ultimately a decision the University of Colorado Board of Regents must make.
“What I want to do is make sure that I listen to students and faculty and staff and respect their activism, but I want to work on solutions that I can make decisions about,” DiStefano said.
He added that the campus is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. He said he is working with the campus’ sustainability council to drive down its fossil fuel energy use, invest in renewable energies and increase the campus’ use of technologies such as carbon capturing programs or nuclear energy.
Another plan to achieve its sustainability goals involves incorporating the theme of sustainability into a common curriculum, which will be used in all CU Boulder classes, by the fall of 2023, DiStefano said.
“A group of faculty have been working for the last couple of years on this common curriculum, which I believe will be adopted in the spring and started in the fall, so that all students — no matter what their schools or colleges are — arts and sciences or music or engineering — they will be part of this common curriculum that will really help in the future as they become leaders in their own community.” | 2022-12-03T21:50:40Z | www.dailycamera.com | Finding 'different solutions' CU Boulder, United Nations Human Rights kick off climate summit | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/02/finding-different-solutions-cu-boulder-united-nations-human-rights-kick-off-climate-summit/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/02/finding-different-solutions-cu-boulder-united-nations-human-rights-kick-off-climate-summit/ |
Former CU Buffs cross country standouts coming…
Former runners of longtime Colorado cross country coach Mark Wetmore are coming to his defense in light of an ongoing investigation into alleged body-shaming practices. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
A Colorado cross country program that built a renowned national reputation behind an ethos of character, dedication and success was blitzed by troubling allegations on the eve of the NCAA championships two weeks ago.
In the time since, many of the former Buffaloes greats mentored by coach Mark Wetmore have come to his defense. As is Wetmore himself.
Wetmore spoke to BuffZone regarding the allegations of mistreatment and mental abuse put forward by former Colorado runner Kate Intile, as detailed most prominently in a Runner’s World article published two weeks ago. An independent investigation remains ongoing, and Wetmore admitted to uncertainty surrounding his CU career of three decades.
Intile’s allegations specifically named Wetmore, 19-year associate head coach (and CU cross country alum) Heather Burroughs, and Laura Anderson, CU’s associate athletic director of performance nutrition.
Intile’s allegations first surfaced publicly in a May article in the Washington Post, which focused on a broader examination of mental health needs across NCAA athletics. In that piece, Intile described monthly body composition tests at CU conducted before large windows that looked upon an active weight room. The Runner’s World article — published on Nov. 18, one day ahead of the NCAA championships — expounded on Intile’s claims and focused on Wetmore’s program, with Intile alleging CU’s “approach was unprofessional, demeaning, and harsh,” and that it “led to so many eating disorders.”
According to Wetmore, as well as Tabor Scholl, a former CU All-American and one-time teammate of Intile who is leading a drive to defend Wetmore, Burroughs and Anderson, those body composition tests never were mandatory.
“Of the allegations that I’ve seen, from one of the letters that went around and what was in the Washington Post, my opinion is that they are 100% untrue,” Wetmore said. “Not a matter of a difference of opinion. Not a matter of misremembering. The ones that I’ve seen, in my opinion, are 100% untrue.
“We try to run a program that’s respectful of everybody. Of people who are stars and people who are not stars. I was not a star. But that one woman, for reasons of her own, has expressed displeasure with her time here.”
The dynamic of body composition tests with elite women’s distance runners, particularly at the collegiate level, has become a growing concern as many schools, including CU, have expanded their mental health resources for all student-athletes. It was in October of 2021 when Oregon cross country coach Robert Johnson was accused by six former athletes of cultivating a culture of body shaming. Johnson’s contract was not renewed following the 2021-22 school year.
Intile spent two years in CU’s program, 2017 and 2018, at a time when the women’s cross country program was dominant. The 2018 women’s squad won the team national championship behind an individual title from Dani Jones. Scholl finished 15th and the Buffs were so loaded they had a future Olympian in the steeplechase, Val Constein, as their sixth finisher.
Intile transferred to Oregon State and, according to Scholl, “no one heard from her for two years.” Yet on the very day the Oregon news broke in the fall of 2021, Scholl said she received a message from Intile inquiring about her experience at CU.
“This is not making a (body shaming) conversation open to talk about,” Scholl said. “There have been articles that have done that. And people have come forward and have had positive conversations. It’s been great. This wasn’t creating a positive conversation of change. It was just creating a conversation of a vendetta of some sort.”
Scholl has devoted time the past few weeks to gathering testimonials from current and former CU runners in defense of Wetmore, Burroughs and Anderson. She turned over 15 in all, 13 from women’s runners, to CU athletic director Rick George as well as the leader of the investigative team.
Wetmore has spent 28 years at CU, the past 26 as the head cross country and track and field coach. His Buff squads have won eight cross country NCAA team titles (five men, three women) and 21 individual national titles (cross country and track). Former CU runners often have turned to Wetmore and Burroughs to continue coaching them as professionals, none more prominently than former Buffs All-Americans Jenny Simpson and Emma Coburn, who in 2016 became the first American women to win Olympic medals in their respective events (both won bronze; Simpson in the 1,500 and Coburn in the steeplechase).
Honors and accolades, of course, do not make a coach or a program immune to missteps. Yet Simpson, still a volunteer coach with the Buffs, believes all anyone needs to know regarding the character of Wetmore and Burroughs is how most former Buffs runners thrive in their pro careers, whether they are Olympians or weekend warriors.
“I’m not naive. I know on the same team, different athletes have different experiences and some people leave hurt,” Simpson said. “But, describing the conditions on the team as ‘toxic’ is just grossly inaccurate. Even more so, the picture (Intile) is painting of coaches Mark and Heather, and the team nutritionist, Laura. It’s really unfortunate.
“So many runners leave Mark and Heather’s program at CU and go on to chase even bigger and more challenging running dreams. And then achieve them. The Olympians are often the first to come to mind but there are dozens more who graduated with enough strength and love for the sport to take on the marathon, trail running, ultra running, join local running clubs, and have continued to enjoy running as they become professionals in something else. That’s evidence of a broad positive impact that Mark and Heather have had on the students who come through their cross country program.”
For now, all Wetmore, Burroughs and Anderson — who was staunchly defended by Wetmore and Simpson in their respective interviews with BuffZone — can do is wait until the independent investigation is complete. Envisioning the CU running programs without Wetmore sounds implausible, yet asked if he is concerned at all about his job status, Wetmore replied: “I don’t know. I’ll have to see what they’ve heard from other people. Maybe they’ll unearth something about me that I don’t even know.”
Wetmore added, “It was uplifting, I have to admit,” to hear how his former runners are coming to his defense. He readily admits there are demands within his program, but they are demands in tune with operating an elite athletics program. And they are demands that, in his experience, the vast majority of athletes within the CU program are eager to embrace.
“We’re told that we’re here to compete for and win championships,” Wetmore said. “That’s the phrase. ‘Compete for and win championships.’ Which I’m in favor of. I like it. That’s what I’m trying to do in my trade. Trying to be elite. Successful. But maybe that’s not what the University of Colorado really wants. Maybe they need to rethink that and have a different goal. It isn’t oppressive. People have fun. People have pleasant memories. Hundreds of people have gone through the program and had a wonderful time. A few hundred people were at a reunion last fall. It isn’t oppressive. But maybe the small few who find it so will end up dictating a new role for athletics at CU.” | 2022-12-03T21:50:47Z | www.dailycamera.com | Former CU Buffs cross country standouts coming to defense of coach Mark Wetmore – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/02/former-cu-buffs-cross-country-standouts-coming-to-defense-of-coach-mark-wetmore/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/02/former-cu-buffs-cross-country-standouts-coming-to-defense-of-coach-mark-wetmore/ |
This organization needs volunteers to make their Holiday Toy Drive a success. Children spending
their holiday in the hospital are in need of toys. For some, this will be their last Christmas. The event will be held on Saturday, Dec. 17 from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. at Redline Athletics, 700 Ninth Ave., Longmont. This will allow everyone involved to support a child in need that may not get a good Christmas otherwise. There will be free games, vendors, crafts, temporary tattoo artists and a visit from Santa. The entry will be a toy donation for a child. Toys will be given to the children in the Children’s Hospital of Colorado and UC Health. Help will be needed with decorating the event and collecting donations. There will also be areas, such as games, that would need supervision. Contact unitedinchange.org@gmail.com, or call or text Jarod Johnson at 720-910-3798. | 2022-12-04T00:33:43Z | www.dailycamera.com | Volunteer opportunities for Boulder, Broomfield counties for Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022 | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/03/volunteer-opportunities-for-boulder-broomfield-counties-71/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/03/volunteer-opportunities-for-boulder-broomfield-counties-71/ |
Editorial: For those in crisis, law enforcement…
People hold picture of Christian Glass during candle vigil at Citizen’s Park in Idaho Springs. A Clear Creek County deputy shot and killed Glass on June 11. It is the responsibility of the whole community — elected leaders, law enforcement officers, trained mental health professionals, neighbors, friends, family — to care for the most vulnerable among us, together. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
The tragedies just keep coming. They happen so often that as a nation we seem to be in a perpetual state of mourning. Mass shootings. Random acts of violence. And police killings. The common thread, of course, is our societal attachment to guns — they are everywhere and things tend to get far more dangerous when they are around.
But despite poll after poll suggesting most Americans favor some form of gun control, firearms don’t seem to be going anywhere for the time being. One thing, though, that we can try to improve is how our communities — and our law enforcement agencies — handle mental health issues and individuals in crisis.
In June, Clear Creek County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call from a young man asking for help after crashing his car in Silver Plume. The young man, Christian Glass, 22, was having what has since been labeled an episode of paranoia. Over the course of an hour, seven officers from five different agencies tried to get Glass to get out of his car, but he refused, saying several times that he was afraid.
Eventually, officers broke a rear window of his car. Glass then picked up a knife and officers responded by shooting him with a stun gun and with less-lethal bean bags. His car surrounded by officers firing their weapons at him, Glass swiped his knife at an officer outside the broken window. Clear Creek County sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Buen shot and killed Glass.
The video footage is unbearable to watch. Especially in light of the Denver Post’s report from experts in mental health and police tactics who noted that “law enforcement officers made mistakes and missed opportunities to create a better outcome at nearly every stage of their deadly encounter.”
The report continues, “The first Clear Creek County sheriff’s deputies on scene acted with needless aggression, the group failed to pursue alternative communication options when they couldn’t get Glass to step out of his car, and they created a violent encounter when they broke one of the car’s windows while failing to maintain a safe distance, (the experts) said.”
Last week, Buen and Kyle Gould, who oversaw law enforcement’s interactions with Glass, were indicted by a grand jury. Buen was indicted on charges of second-degree murder, official misconduct and reckless endangerment. Gould was indicted on charges of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.
Failed responses to mental health crises are a failure of policing, and they happen across the country. The Washington Post has documented at least 178 incidents over the past three years when law enforcement killed the very person they were called to assist. More generally, nearly a fourth of all people killed by police officers since 2015 have had a known mental illness, also according to the Washington Post.
It is a bleak issue to examine. But at least we as a society are taking note and acknowledging the problem. Now, slowly, solutions are beginning to take shape.
Some attempts are rather meager. In Colorado, for instance, the Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training Board requires all law enforcement to complete at least four hours of training on interacting with people experiencing a mental health crisis. Four hours, in the face of this issue, feels paltry.
Other attempts, like several of those ongoing in Boulder, are more robust.
Both the City of Boulder and Boulder County have co-response programs designed to send clinicians to assist on calls involving a behavioral health crisis. Law enforcement officers, for all their training, are not mental health experts. These co-response programs put experts — licensed behavioral health clinicians — out into the community to help where they are most needed.
So far in 2022, the city’s Crisis Intervention Response Team (CIRT), which is composed of Program Manager Lucy Larbalestier and three additional clinicians, has responded to 1,420 calls. (A fourth clinician started just this week.) From January to September, the county’s team responded to 404 calls.
For Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold, the co-response program is a best practice and one that is supported by research.
“If we can get police officers to slow down and work with clinicians, the tactics change dramatically,” Herold said. “We’re aiming to let the people with the most knowledge and expertise handle the call for service while maintaining safety for the individual experiencing the behavioral health crisis, the clinicians on scene and the police officers.”
“Use of force is reduced when (clinicians) are on the scene with us,” Herold said.
In the county, co-responders “provide primary (riding with officers and deputies) and secondary (responding to the scene after they have already arrived) services,” Boulder County Co-Responder Team Program Manager Jennine Hall explained in an email. And in addition to responding to calls, the county’s clinicians do follow-up meetings with every community member they meet on a call. The follow-up does not involve law enforcement.
But for all their great work — and co-response teams do appear to work, according to a study by the Colorado Office of Behavioral Health — the co-response program is only able to do so much. According to Herold, Boulder police receive roughly 80,000 calls per year. The co-response team responded to 1,420 calls. Certainly not every one of the 80,000 calls involves a behavioral health issue, but undoubtedly some behavioral health calls don’t get a co-response team.
“We’re not a 24/7 team,” CIRT’s Larbalestier said, “and, due to the volume of calls, I don’t know that we’ll get there.” Larbalestier clarified that this is a cost-benefit analysis of the difficulty of staffing a behavioral health team overnight, when there are fewer calls, given the workforce shortages in the field.
This means we must continue working to ensure our law enforcement officers learn to de-escalate better and, as Herold put it, value an individual’s life, first and foremost.
Both the city and county have taken a step in this direction by adopting the police training program ICAT — Integrating Communications, Assessments and Tactics. According to the city, the ICAT “cycle of critical decision-making is viewed through the lens of the sanctity of human life, and considers police ethics, values and proportionality.”
While ICAT doesn’t specifically prepare officers to handle mental health-related calls, it is designed to lower the use of force. And, city numbers do show a decrease in several important categories, including total use of force incidents, which decreased by 17% between 2020 and 2021.
“It is desperately needed today for police officers to understand that they have time and distance and additional resources,” Herold explained. ICAT tries to instill this idea in all officers.
All of these efforts are imperative, and more funding and resources should be directed toward them to ensure that our law enforcement and co-response programs can do everything in their power to put the sanctity of life above all else.
But officials for both the sheriff’s office and the city’s police department pointed to the greater community need.
“We need more resources that we can steer these community members to,” Commander Nick Goldberger from the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said. “We have some resources we can sign people up for, but the wait times can be ridiculous. It could be months or longer to get services for someone who needs them now.”
“When we arrive on scene, our goal is not to take somebody to jail,” Goldberger said. “Our commitment is to try to understand what services will help them, especially when they are going through a mental health crisis.” That’s exponentially harder when services are unavailable.
“You can have the best crisis response in the world,” said Larbalestier, the city’s CIRT program manager, “but if you don’t have a fully functioning mental health system, then you are going to see more people in crisis — as we are seeing now — and less ability to resolve that issue once it is in crisis.”
We absolutely need more humane policing. We need more co-responders. We need to do everything in our power to stop those tasked with keeping us safe from continuing to kill the most vulnerable among us. But we also need resources and funding at every level to make sure people get help and treatment when they need it, to ensure medication isn’t prohibitively expensive, and to help families and loved ones who are caring for those who are struggling.
It is a failing of our society that those most often tasked with assisting individuals in crisis are law enforcement officers — not trained professionals. And it is a failing that we let those in need suffer until someone is in danger and law enforcement is necessary.
Boulder’s law enforcement agencies are not perfect. But they are working in the right direction. Noting this truth is not a pass. It is not an excuse to get complacent. We must continue to hold police officers and sheriff’s deputies accountable. We must continue to ask them to do better. But as we do so, we must also advocate for changes elsewhere in our system and within ourselves.
It is the responsibility of the whole community — elected leaders, law enforcement officers, trained mental health professionals, neighbors, friends, family — to care for the most vulnerable among us, together. | 2022-12-04T15:29:26Z | www.dailycamera.com | Editorial: For those in crisis, law enforcement can do better, but so must the whole system | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/04/editorial-for-those-in-crisis-law-enforcement-can-do-better-but-so-must-the-whole-system/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/04/editorial-for-those-in-crisis-law-enforcement-can-do-better-but-so-must-the-whole-system/ |
Letters to the editor: Dear newly elected…
Editor’s note: The following letters to the editor are from student writers in the BoCo Wild Writers program. They are addressed to Boulder’s newly elected officials.
Lovecloud Lemley: Dear newly elected officials: Boulder needs an ice skating rink
I think we should definitely have an ice skating rink in Boulder. It’s a good meeting place for friends and family, a great place to show your skill, and it makes people happy. It’s also a good place to celebrate a winter holiday. Why do I think we should have an ice skating rink in Boulder? I remember going to the ice skating rink in downtown Boulder. I had so much fun. But now to go ice skating I have to drive somewhere else. A lot of the time when you go to Longmont or some other town it’s busy, and sometimes it’s full. People from Boulder are wanting to skate, but, like I said, sometimes it’s full.
Lovecloud Lemley, age 10, Boulder
Aurelia Nicault: Dear newly elected officials: Housing prices have gotten too high
My name is Aurelia Nicault, and I have lived in Boulder, Colorado, my whole life. I love walking around Pearl Street a lot, but on Pearl Street there are many people who are unhoused, people who are doing everything they can to support themselves and their families. Many people think that there are so many people who are unhoused because they think it’s easier to beg than to work, and that all of these people who are unhoused have started doing drugs which led them to become unhoused. But I think that some of these people who are unhoused are good people who don’t have homes because of how the prices of houses have gotten so high. The prices have led them to not be able to buy a house so they have to live on the streets, causing the police to have to come and chase them away. I once saw a perfectly nice dude who was unhoused being told he couldn’t stay under a bridge. Another thing is with the gas prices rising many people can’t afford to get to work to make money, causing them to fall into poverty, leading them to not be able to pay the rent for their house.
I hope that this helped you see how we should not be making housing prices higher and higher, and help the people who want to live their lives.
Aurelia Nicault, age 12, Boulder
Veda Cromer: Dear newly elected officials: I stand with women whose rights are being taken away
Hello, my name is Veda Cromer and I live in Lyons, Colorado, and I’ve chosen to write you about women’s rights to abortion.
Here is my argument: People always say that America is a free country. So why does the Supreme Court feel the need to take away the right to our own bodies? Don’t you think that should be our decision? I say our decision because I stand with these women when their rights are being taken away.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade has affected so many people in my life, so many becoming frightened for their own well-being.
You force these women to have children when they don’t have enough money to support the child, or the mother is at risk of dying, or in the case of sexual assault. I know this is a very serious topic that a lot of people don’t agree with, but I ask that you support us during this time.
Veda Cromer, age 12, Lyons
Satya Villacorta: Dear newly elected officials: Ice skating rinks create unforgettable memories
Boulder is a beautiful town and during the cold winter the local coffee shops are a great place to warm up. With the holiday season coming near, what better way is there to celebrate than an outdoor ice skating rink! It makes the perfect place to create unforgettable memories with friends and family during the holidays. I remember the ice skating rinks that used to be outside the Dushanbe Teahouse, 13th Street, and on the 29th Street Mall. When those were taken out of Boulder we had to drive farther to Louisville in order to ice skate. The Louisville outdoor ice skating rink is small, and constantly packed with Boulder families desperate to ice skate. I’m counting on you to make the holiday season in Boulder a season we can’t forget. Please bring back an ice skating rink so that we can enjoy the winter season in our own beautiful Boulder.
Satya Villacorta, age 13, Niwot
Nico Rizzello: Dear newly elected officials: Unhoused people need a designated area to have a sense of home
It would be nice if people who are unhoused had a designated area that is not like a homeless shelter so they have amenities like bathrooms and showers. It would also be easier to help all of them. It would give them a sense of home to go to every night so they don’t have to move around all the time. Maybe it’ll help them start pulling themselves together. It might help them have friends so they are not alone anymore. I think if this happens it would really help their lives.
Nico Rizzello, age 14, Boulder
Lucie Perarnaud: Dear newly elected officials: Implement regenerative farming in Boulder County
My name is Lucie Sybille Perarnaud and I live here in the foothills of Boulder, Colorado. We have started a garden on a plot of neighboring land to grow our own food and revitalize the ground. We support Community Supported Agriculture and buy our meat from regenerative family farms. It lifts my heart to know that we are not alone in our support of earth-conscious food. However, despite the growing number of people advocating for regenerative agriculture, monoculture continues to supply most of the food for the people and animals in Colorado. It has been proven that small, diverse farms create more jobs and produce more food and less carbon than monoculture farms. On organic regenerative farms there is no risk of watershed contamination by dangerous pesticides, and they are also a more ethical choice for raising animals. All in all, regenerative farming is a better choice for animals, people, and the planet. I hope you consider this information and think about implementing regenerative farming in Boulder County for the sake of food security and a healthier planet.
Lucie Perarnaud, age 14, Boulder
Rio Smith: Dear newly elected officials: Tax margin between high and low income should be greater
I think that the margin between income tax of highly paid people and lower income should be greater. So, for example, someone who earns more than $50-60 an hour should have about a 25% income tax, while someone who earns less than $20 an hour should have a 10-15% income tax. This is just an example; if possible it could be even more of a margin.
Imagine you got, say, $15 an hour with an income tax of 20%. You work at a small, seedy gas station and are struggling to get by. Then you find out the owner of the gas station chain is getting $120 an hour and all he/she does is make big dumb speeches and pretend to make decisions. If they have an income tax of 21% — that’s almost trying to make you feel better.
Rio Smith, age 15, Boulder
Erin Robertson: Dear newly elected officials: Help my children know the same skies I knew a decade ago
I’ve lived in Boulder County for 27 years. I’ve watched Denver’s brown cloud dissipate and wildfire haze replace it. Boulder once was considered a place to seek a cure for asthma and tuberculosis because of our fresh mountain air, and athletes came here to train at elevation to help their bodies perform at their best. Now we’ve entered an era of Purple Air monitors, ground ozone warnings and Extreme Fire Risk days. Particulates obscure our mountains and carbon continues to spew into the sky to warm our world and increase fire risk.
When I traveled to Alaska five years ago I was surprised to hear the daily smoke forecast from the large wildfires there. Now I have my own smoke map bookmarked. Last year when we took my mom to the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado there was little to see — smoke obscured the peaks and Denver had the second-worst air quality in the world.
What can you do? Everything possible to demand more stringent air quality standards and decreased carbon emissions. I’m counting on you to give us back those bluebird days. I recently traveled to Almaty, Kazakhstan, which is geographically similar to Boulder. Whenever I brought up the alarmingly poor air quality there, the locals said, “This is nothing — you should see it in the winter when people are burning coal.” The loss of their clear mountain views doesn’t even register anymore. I worry we’re on the way to this forgetting now. We need your strong action to help the beautiful Colorado flag representing blue sky, white peaks and golden sun stay relevant. Please help my children know the same skies I knew a decade ago.
Erin Robertson, Louisville | 2022-12-04T15:29:50Z | www.dailycamera.com | Letters to the editor: Dear newly elected officials | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/04/letters-to-the-editor-dear-newly-elected-officials/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/04/letters-to-the-editor-dear-newly-elected-officials/ |
Colorado football notes: Deion Sanders to coach…
BOULDER,CO:December 4:Deion Sanders’ son, Shedeur, plays quarterback at Jackson State and could be coming to Colorado. Deion Sanders was introduced as the new football coach at the University of Colorado Boulder at a press conference in Boulder on December 4, 2022.(Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
Officially hired and introduced as the head coach of the Colorado football team, Deion Sanders has a lot of work in front of him this month with the Buffaloes.
Pulling double-duty over the next couple of weeks could be difficult for some, but not for coach Prime. He played in the NFL and Major League Baseball at the same time. In fact, on Oct. 11, 1992, he played with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons in Miami before flying to Pittsburgh to play with baseball’s Atlanta Braves in the playoffs. He’s the only athlete to play in two professional leagues in the same day.
“We’ve got to stop that right now,” he said. “This place ain’t cheap. I do know that.”
“Colorado, you showed up and you showed out,” he said. “This is unbelievable. | 2022-12-05T05:00:39Z | www.dailycamera.com | Colorado football notes: Deion Sanders to coach Jackson State in Celebration Bowl – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/04/colorado-football-notes-deion-sanders-to-coach-jackson-state-in-celebration-bowl/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/04/colorado-football-notes-deion-sanders-to-coach-jackson-state-in-celebration-bowl/ |
Michael Sandrock: ‘A new generation of runners…
Mike Sandrock /On Running
From the jungles of Thailand to the roads of major marathons and onto the European track circuit, Boulder runners turned in myriad highlights during 2022. The quality, depth and number of runners continues to grow, and as the racing season winds down with Saturday’s Colder Boulder and the Dec. 18 Santa Claus 5K, here’s a look back at a couple top performances that reflect the quality of the Boulder racing scene.
Former CU runner Allie McLaughlin won the uphill race at the inaugural World Championships of Mountain and Trail Running Nov. 3 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. (Marco Gulberti / Courtesy photo)
Allie McLaughlin and Adam Peterman, two of the many University of Colorado grads excelling in the post-collegiate running world, won titles last month at the inaugural World Championship of Mountain and Trail Running, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. McLaughlin struck gold in the uphill race, while Peterman took the 80K. The three-day World Championship comprised five different races, with McLaughlin and Peterman the best among a bevy of Boulder runners, helping the U.S. to seven medals.
“It’s a really cool feeling,” Peterman, who won the prestigious Western States Endurance Run in June, said in a phone call from Montana. “It’s crazy; I never thought (running trails) would take me so far this quickly. I am super grateful. It’s a lot of fun and I just love it.”
Joining Peterman in Thailand was former Buff Andy Wacker, who won the USATF Mountain Running Championships on a very steep course in New York’s Adirondack mountains. Fellow former Buff Tabor Hemming (nee Scholl) was the women’s U.S. mountain running champion. Also on the team was former Buff Joe DeMoor, who in September won the Skyrunning World Championships in Italy, climbing 3,500 feet in a bit over 2 miles.
“It was great to have the Colorado connection in Thailand,” said the self-coached Peterman, 26, who took along the knowledge of how to train when he left CU with a degree in environmental studies and geology. CU head coach (Mark) “Wetmore is one of the smartest people I’ve interacted with. He and (coach) Heather (Burroughs) are geniuses, and I apply their principles to my training.”
Boulder’s Lindsay Flanagan became the fifth-fastest female U.S. marathoner ever when she won the Gold Coast Marathon July 3 in Queensland, Australia. Flanagan’s time was 2:24:43. (ASICS Oceania / Courtesy photo)
On the track, Niwot High grad Elise Cranny, now living in Oregon, set the American indoor 5000 meter record in February, clocking 14:33.1. She won the U.S. outdoor 5000 meter title and made the finals of the 2022 World Athletics Championships, as did Klecker, a standout on the On Athletic Club, in the 10,000 meters. OAC teammate Alicia Monson had a great year, winning the USATF cross country championships and running the fifth-fastest U.S. 3000 time at the Diamond League track final in Monaco, while Australian and On Athletic team member Ollie Hoare won the 1500 meter gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, in a meet record 3:30.1. The OAC is coached by former Colorado star Dathan Ritzenhein.
The road racing season kicked off with the return of the Bolder Boulder 10K, back for its traditional Memorial Day celebration of health and fitness through the streets of Boulder. Former Buff Laura Thweatt won the women’s citizens race, and Aliphine Tuliamuk of Team USA took the pro title, while Jacob White and Leonard Korir won the men’s races. Race director Clif Bosley brought in Team Ukraine, a popular addition among fans.
Tinman Elite’s Reed Fischer ran a 2:10:54 marathon at Boston to qualify for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. (Colin Wong /Courtesy photo)
“When the Bolder Boulder is back, the world is in a good place,” said local coach Lee Troop, who along with the Boulder Road Runners, brought the U.S. masters cross country championships to Harlow Platt Park in October. The event, held under picture-perfect conditions, could have been a promo for the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. The race brought together the gamut of the running community, with local Olympians Klecker, Kara Goucher, Colleen De Reuck and Jacob Riley handing out awards to the sometimes awestruck older runners.
“There is a new generation of runners calling Boulder home,” said Troop. “During the next two years leading up to the (2024 Paris) Olympics, it is going to be exciting to see who will be wearing the red, white and blue.”
Some new local Olympians might come in the marathon, where Lindsay Flanagan had a breakthrough year, becoming the fifth-fastest U.S. female ever in winning Australia’s Gold Coast marathon in a course record 2 hours, 24 minutes, 43 seconds. She also ran 2:26 at the Paris marathon, and ended the year with 11th place at the New York City marathon, one of five Boulder County athletes in the top-11. Edna Kiplagat was fourth, and also placed fourth at Boston; fellow Kenyan and Boulder newcomer Hellen Obari was sixth, World Champs marathoner Emma Bates, eighth, and Nell Rojas 10th.
Reed Fischer of Tinman Elite was the second American male at New York, and ran a breakthrough 2:10:54 at Boston, an Olympic Trials qualifier that puts himself in the hunt for an Olympic berth. Stay tuned.
Follow Sandrock on Instagram: @Mike Sandrock. | 2022-12-05T17:52:08Z | www.dailycamera.com | Michael Sandrock: ‘A new generation of runners calling Boulder home’ – Boulder Daily Camera | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/05/michael-sandrock-a-new-generation-of-runners-calling-boulder-home/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/05/michael-sandrock-a-new-generation-of-runners-calling-boulder-home/ |
Editorial: Stakes of this week’s Senate run-off…
With the Senate already in Democratic control, one reader recently emailed to ask why there is so much national media coverage of the Georgia run-off between incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.
While we won’t pretend to speak for everyone in the national media landscape, we believe there are many reasons to pay attention to what’s happening in Georgia right now — including the future of the filibuster as a rule in the Senate and the fact that it is a referendum on the willingness of voters to embrace competent leadership over incoherent partisanship.
Despite having 50 votes and the vice presidential tiebreaker, neither party has real “control” of the Senate as we might think of it. Having a majority in the Senate does little without having a 60-vote supermajority to overcome the filibuster as it is currently recognized.
The filibuster is a procedural tool that prevents a bill from receiving a vote on the Senate floor. It is not in the Constitution and was rarely used until the aftermath of the Civil War, when Southern states desperately sought new tools to block legislation in hopes of preserving the institutions of slavery, Jim Crow and racial hierarchy. Even then, most efforts to filibuster failed after only a single day because it required a senator to hold the floor by continuously speaking.
The requirement to hold the floor in a “talking filibuster” was eliminated in 1972, allowing any group of 41 senators to prevent a vote on any bill simply by placing a “hold” on it. At present, the only way to defeat a filibuster “hold” is to have a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate, which in today’s climate is almost inconceivable.
In a worst-case scenario, the filibuster allows senators representing less than 12% of the U.S. population to hold hostage the senators representing the other 88%. This means the minority — even a very tiny one — can block the will of the majority of Americans.
Republicans in the Senate have not represented a majority of the U.S. population since 1996 (they currently represent about 43.5%). Yet throughout that 25-year period, the filibuster has enabled them to paralyze the legislative branch of government. Because the current implementation of the filibuster doesn’t require politicians to voice their beliefs on the issues, the public is kept in the dark about where their elected officials stand on certain issues. Today’s filibuster rule has effectively created dark, untraceable and unaccountable minority rule in the United States. And it paralyzes the Senate from enacting legislation.
The Senate can change its own rules with a simple majority vote — a tool Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell has weaponized in the past to eliminate Democratic filibusters of Republican Supreme Court and federal judicial nominees. But despite several months of negotiations in the current legislative session, Democrats have not been able to gather unified support for overturning (or altering) the filibuster.
A victory for Warnock would make constructive changes — or elimination — of the filibuster rule incrementally easier. Alternatively, even if the filibuster is unchanged, Democrats would need the support of only nine Republicans instead of 10.
Perhaps more important than procedure, however, is that this runoff feels like a referendum on competency in our government.
Save a few exceptions, voters mostly rejected extremism in the ranks of government and voted for candidates who demonstrated level-headed decision-making, deep knowledge of the issues and rationality.
Herschel Walker has none of those attributes — he says so himself.
In the leadup to the only debate between Georgia’s two candidates for Senate, Walker lowered expectations for his debate performance by voluntarily saying he’s “not that smart.”
“I’m a country boy,” he said. “I’m not that smart. He’s a preacher. (Warnock) is smart and wears these nice suits. So, he is going to show up and embarrass me at the debate Oct. 14, and I’m just waiting to show up and I will do my best.”
While that may sound like a simple and humble “country boy,” it hides a much darker reality. Walker is not just incompetent to hold public office, he’s a violent extremist who has been credibly accused by of everything from sexual assault and domestic violence to emotional abuse of his children. His accusers include his own son and multiple former friends and romantic partners.
In this regard, the run-off between Warnock and Walker is about much more than just a single seat in the Senate.
It’s about who we are — our morals and values as a country and who we hold up as a role model to our children. It’s about who we want legislating on our behalf — creating laws that affect all of us, not just Georgians. And it’s about whether we finish delivering the message that the American people will not tolerate the type of hatred, violence, ignorance and incompetence that Donald Trump’s Republican Party is trying to sell.
So while the Warnock-Walker run-off in Georgia may not matter much to us as Nevadans, it is essential to who we are as Americans. | 2022-12-06T18:07:07Z | www.dailycamera.com | Editorial: Stakes of this week's Senate run-off go beyond Georgia's borders | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/06/editorial-stakes-of-this-weeks-senate-run-off-go-beyond-georgias-borders/ | https://www.dailycamera.com/2022/12/06/editorial-stakes-of-this-weeks-senate-run-off-go-beyond-georgias-borders/ |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.