In The NOCO

It’s a presidential election year. And in the months leading up to November 5, 2024, we’re focusing our coverage around the issues people in our community, including younger voters, say they care about most. To better understand what's most important to college students and other young voters, we're working with student reporters at Front Range Community College. Isabel Delgado and Julian Hanes write for the student newspaper The Front Page and FRCC's podcast Up Front. They joined In The NoCo's Erin O'Toole to share what they’re hearing about the election from their fellow students.Voters are the heart of any election – and KUNC wants to know what you think candidates should be talking about this year. You can help shape our newsroom's coverage by sharing your hopes, priorities, and concerns with the election team. Visit our website to take a quick survey.

Tourists choose to take vacations in Colorado for numerous reasons – like our breathtaking mountains and the chance to hurtle down them on skis or snowboards. There's lots of hiking, fishing, whitewater rafting – even cannabis tourism. But what about wolf-watching?Since ten wolves from Oregon were released on the Western Slope last December, there's been plenty of interest in them. Ranchers, for instance, want to know how the wolves will threaten their livestock. Many other people are simply curious and want to catch a glimpse of the predators.There's a Colorado Parks and Wildlife map that tracks the collared wolves based on GPS data. A Facebook group that was started to share sightings and keep tabs on the wolves now has thousands of members. And a recent sighting on a lonely road near Kremmling spawned a surge in traffic. Could these be signs that wolves might eventually become a tourist attraction here?KUNC investigative reporter Scott Franz has been looking into that prospect. He joined host Erin O'Toole to share what he's learned.

We're closing out this week by commemorating National Poetry Month. And who better to celebrate with than Todd Simmons, founder and director of Wolverine Farm Publishing in Fort Collins? In 2002, Simmons left his job in the field of social science to focus full-time on literature and poetry. "I think creative expression, and the ability to communicate and give voice, is something that people are innately drawn to do," Simmons said. "I've always worked out moments of doubt through writing, and through giving voice to my thoughts and emotions."Simmons believes anyone can develop an appreciation for poetry, and that it's especially important in the early educational years to get books of poems into the hands of children. He sat down with In The NoCo's Erin O'Toole to share why he devoted his life to bringing a love of poetry and literature to Northern Colorado.Wolverine Farm is in the process of selecting the next Fort Collins Poet Laureate! You can vote in person through Monday, April 29.We put out a call to our listeners at the beginning of April for submissions of eight-word poems. You can read and listen to those poems in the bonus content section at our website, KUNC.org.

As human interaction with our planet has evolved over time, so has the human emotional experience of living on Earth. Perhaps it’s no surprise that, as we become more aware of the climate crisis affecting the planet, our emotions tend toward cynicism and sadness. Charlotte Lin, the sustainability coordinator for the mountain town of Avon, thinks hope should be part of the emotional equation, too - especially if it inspires action. “Knowledge alone is really not enough,” she said. “We need to address that sort of inner awareness and who you are inside with regards to this topic.”Last week, Lin helped Eagle County organize a Climate Action Week, capped off with a book club event she led. They discussed the book Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in with Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power by Joanna Macy and Christopher Johnstone. Lin joined In the NoCo's Erin O'Toole the day after the book club had met – which happened to be Earth Day – to talk about how she found herself a champion of climate hope.

Anxiety about climate change is hitting the youngest of us hard. And if you’re too young to vote, it may feel like there’s nothing you can do to change what your future looks like. But students in the Boulder Valley School District proved otherwise this past school year. A group of high school students successfully campaigned for the school board to adopt the Green New Deal for Schools resolution - a policy demanded by the Sunrise Movement. The youth-led climate activism organization held a summer camp in 2023 that helped inspire two Fairview high school students to advocate for the resolution. Twins Emma and Molly Weber said they felt empowered by coming together with peers from across the nation and learning how to take a stand.“We have our whole lives in front of us,” said Emma Weber. “But a lot of times the things that we want to do in our dreams are being destroyed by this issue that is devastating so many different aspects of our lives.”After eight months of campaigning, Boulder Valley became the first school district in the nation to adopt the climate resolution. In the NoCo’s Erin O’Toole spoke with both Molly and Emma Weber about what the experience was like.If this conversation was of interest to you, check out this interview with youth activist, Madhvi Chittoor. She advocated for a statewide ban on styrofoam takeout containers that became law in 2024. .

Longmont author and journalist Stephen Robert Miller is fascinated by climate disaster stories. He says they’re often teachable moments.“There’s so much to be learned from looking in the past — environmental histories and histories of instances of when people have tried to control nature and ultimately it's failed,” Miller said.In his new book, “Over the Seawall,” Miller examines the deeper impacts of some of these failures. He investigates how governments and people are using infrastructure to slow or stop the effects or the symptoms of climate change – giant concrete barriers in Japan meant to stop tsunamis, for example, or dams and canals in Arizona meant to make a desert move-in ready for lots of people. Government policies created to manage the Colorado River and distribute water among its unquenchable stakeholders are another example. In other words, Miller says people are keen to adapt and that seems great, “but it can also be tricky if it causes us to rush into rash decisions,” he said. Simple measures that work with nature, not against it, are often more successful in the long run.Miller joined In The NoCo to discuss the book, and some of humanity’s attempts to adapt to climate change that have not gone according to plan. We're listening back to the conversation as we commemorate Earth Week.NOTE: This is an encore of our episode from Dec. 8, 2023.

While Colorado is known for having breweries on every corner, there's a new trend in town: cocktails - without the alcohol. The popularity of non-alcoholic drinks is soaring – especially among young adults – and more bars and restaurants are starting to feature creative mocktails on their menus. Currently, Colorado has only a few completely sober spaces where alcohol isn't served at all. But some mixologists are hoping to change that. KUNC reporter and host Emma VandenEinde visited some of these spaces and talked with mixologists who are focused on making exciting and delicious non-alcoholic drinks. She spoke with host Erin O'Toole about how this trend is shaking up the nightlife for the sober and sober-curious.You can learn more about the sober space that mixologist Han Cassera hopes to open this fall in Loveland at his GoFundMe page.

Colorado is one of the healthiest states in the nation when it comes to physical fitness. Perhaps that’s no surprise given how much there is to do in the outdoors. But when it comes to mental health, Colorado ranks in the bottom half of states, according to a 2023 report by Mental Health America. While there are a few reasons for this poor ranking, we’re going to zoom in on one factor that has to do with the culture of mountain resort life, and how it affects the people living and working there - alcohol and drug misuse. Eric Turner is one such resident who was surprised to find himself sucked into a culture of heavy substance use. “I thought that the focus would be more on physical health and emotional well being,” said Turner. He came to Colorado with the goal of “getting out in nature and focusing on those aspects and not so much, you know, hiking to the top of a mountain and pulling out a bottle.”Today, Turner is sober and works as a certified addiction technician and founder of Rock to Recover, a non-profit organization that hosts sober music events. Turner was featured by journalist Ryan Spencer in a Summit Daily News story that investigated the drug and alcohol epidemic plaguing the mountain communities of Colorado. This story is part of a larger series by the publication called The Longevity Project.Host Erin O’Toole sat down with Turner and Spencer to talk about the issue of substance misuse and why it's so prevalent in mountain communities.

Today we’re listening back to a conversation with aquaponic chicken farmer Sean Short of Blooming Health Farms, located in Greeley, Colorado. And just what is aquaponic chicken farming? Short says the farm uses aquaponics, “a fancy way of saying that we have some fish, and we use the fish water to grow plants.” In other words, aquaponics combines fish farming with hydroponics. Short is also using that fish water to grow chicken feed. He said that system helps him clean up wastewater from the messy process of producing the feed. All of this is connected to Short’s organic egg production to make some “really yummy eggs,” he said.Beyond agricultural sustainability — hydroponic farming conserves water and land, and reduces pesticide use — what is also notable about Farmer Sean’s operation is the people involved. He is bringing at-risk kids into the fold and helping them to learn new skills and carve paths away from the criminal justice system. And one of the ways he engages youth’s passions is to talk like them.

A career in journalism wasn’t the plan for NPR’s Lori Lizarraga – at least, not until the day she found herself in the wrong classroom at Southern Methodist University. Lizarraga says she “stepped into Narnia” when she walked into the studio where journalism students were broadcasting the school’s daily newscast. The Latina journalist has been telling stories ever since – and a lot of that work as co-host of NPR's Code Switch is informed by her cultural identity. To wrap up our spring membership drive, we're listening back to our conversation with Lizarraga about how race, culture, and lived experience are inextricably woven into the fabric of her work.NOTE: This is an encore of our podcast from Oct. 13, 2023. You can listen to an extended version of her conversation with host Erin O'Toole here.

It's spring… and a handful of Northern Colorado farmers markets are opening up for what's likely to be a busy season – at least, if the last few years are any indication. We've come to expect throngs of eager shoppers waiting in long lines to buy western slope peaches by the crate, boxes of Olathe sweet corn, Pueblo chiles, and other locally grown produce. But farming in Colorado comes with a lot of challenges – the growing season is short, the sun is scorching, and the rainy season can be very unpredictable. Coloradans seem to appreciate how difficult it is for farmers, which helps explain some of the high demand. But there are plenty of other reasons for that homegrown produce pride, according to Colorado State University professor and agricultural economist Dawn Thilmany. She recently spoke with host Erin O'Toole to explain why there's so much importance placed on buying local. In anticipation of more farmers markets opening, we're listening back to that conversation.In the episode, we brought up this story from KUNC's Rae Solomon about folks suffering from "peach anxiety." We also mentioned agritourism around local farms and ranches, including Miller Farms in Platteville. And while at this point in the season only a handful of Front Range farmers markets have opened, others will quickly follow suit over the next few weeks. Find a list of markets here, and a visitors' guide to Northern Colorado farms, pumpkin patches, and CSAs here.

The risk of wildfire is a reality that is beginning to define life in Northern Colorado. This last weekend, tens of thousands of people in Boulder County were left suddenly without power for days when Xcel shut it off in anticipation of high winds and potential loose lines. Today we’re listening back to an interview covering a 2023 report from the company CoreLogic, which showed that thousands of homes in Northern Colorado are susceptible to damage from wildfires. In Boulder, nearly 10,000 homes are at risk. In Fort Collins, that number rises to more than 14,000. Statistics in the report put Colorado in the number two slot nationwide for potential wildfire damage. We discussed these risks and more with Jude Bayham, who researches wildfire management at Colorado State University.We mentioned the pay raise for federal wildland firefighters that's stalled in Congress. And you can learn more about protecting your home from wildfire here.

Have you ever wondered how NPR came to be? It certainly didn’t happen overnight. The history of National Public Radio is long and convoluted, starting in the early twentieth century with university-housed stations scattered across rural areas. These stations broadcast things like cooking lessons, and how to use indoor plumbing. But with the Communications Act of 1934 came the first congressional control over what was heard over the airwaves. With this, commercial media outlets enjoyed greater lobbying power than noncommercial broadcasters. This meant public media needed to evolve to meet the demands of a growing listening audience. This complex history is chronicled in a new book, Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting, by University of Colorado media history professor Josh Shepperd.“Public media is the last bastion in reporting upon communities from the community itself,” said Shepperd when reflecting on public media’s role today. “So I think we need to protect our local public medias, especially our rural public medias.”In The NoCo host Erin O’Toole sat down with Shepperd to talk about what public radio looked like 100 years ago, and how Western states like Colorado helped create the NPR name.

Northern Colorado’s unique weather patterns can be a challenge for backyard gardeners. The climate is dry; the growing season is hot and short. And of course, we’re no strangers to wind and hail events. But new research out of Colorado State University can help gardeners choose crop varieties that thrive in those conditions. KUNC's rural and small communities reporter Rae Solomon spoke to the researchers about what they learned. Just in time for early spring garden planting – she sat down with In The NoCo's Erin O'Toole to share intel on the best tomatoes and peppers to grow in Northern Colorado. See the results of the Larimer County in-ground tomato trials here and the container varieties here. See the sweet pepper trials here.And if you have a gardening question, share it with us! Email [email protected] -- or send a text or voicemail to (970) 614-5323.

On Monday, April 8 a total solar eclipse will darken the skies over 13 states, from Texas up to Maine. While Colorado is not in the path of totality, in which the moon completely covers the sun, our region will experience a partial solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse over the U.S. is relatively rare – the last one occurred in August 2017. And cities and towns in the path have been gearing up for a massive influx of eclipse tourists for months. They might want to take a cue from an earlier time in Colorado's history. Back in 1878, a total eclipse over the Rockies helped lay the foundation for how to welcome flocks of curious visitors eager to witness a celestial event - and to get a first look at the Wild West. Steve Ruskin is a historian of astronomy based in Colorado Springs, and the author of America's First Great Eclipse."Colorado had just become a state in 1876 - so it was only two years old when they knew this eclipse was going to go over the Rocky Mountains,” said Ruskin. “Tourists came west, not only to see the eclipse, but also to see the Rockies for the very first time."In The NoCo host Erin O’Toole sat down with Ruskin to learn more about that historic event – and with producer Ariel Lavery to reflect on how modern-day Americans are willing to drive thousands of miles to experience a total eclipse.

Immigrants are the backbone of a lot of mountain communities in Colorado. That’s because many work in service industry jobs that keep these towns thriving. But for immigrants in these places, certain disparities are more pronounced, like access to transportation. In one part of Summit County, this particular issue had become dangerous in the snowy winter months.“We need to walk on the roads where cars are running all the time,” said Miriam Garcia, an immigrant and employee of an advocacy organization called Mountain Dreamers. “And then there was an issue with one of my neighbors, she was hit by a car. And the driver didn't stop.”Garcia led an effort through Mountain Dreamers to get shuttle service to people in her neighborhood who were navigating a mile of snow and ice to catch a bus. Host Erin O’Toole sat down with Garcia and founder Peter Bakken, to discuss this work and learn more about how - and why - they’re advocating for immigrants in Summit County.

It’s no secret there’s a crisis of shrinking local news across the U.S. And we know that in places where local news evaporates, democracy takes a hit. Government corruption tends to increase when powerful entities realize there's less media scrutiny on what they're doing. "This year has been particularly difficult for the local media news business," says journalist Corey Hutchins. The co-director of the Colorado College Journalism Institute writes a weekly newsletter that goes behind our state’s headlines. He recently sat down with In The NoCo's Erin O'Toole to discuss the health of Colorado media, including a few happenings that could have far-reaching impacts on our democracy.You can subscribe to Corey Hutchins' weekly newsletter here.

Most people would agree that the immigration system in the United States is broken… but how it's broken – and how to fix it – are the real debate. As this debate persists, the stories of people caught in a messy immigration web continue to rise. The documentary film If I Could Stay tells the story of two such people, Jeanette Vizguerra and Ingrid Encalada Latorre, two undocumented mothers living in Colorado. When they faced deportation and being separated from their young children, they chose to take refuge in churches in Denver and Boulder. Ahead of the film's Colorado premiere at CSU's ACT Human Rights Film Festival in Fort Collins, In The NoCo's Erin O'Toole sat down with one of those two mothers who sought sanctuary in 2017, Ingrid Latorre, and Florencia Krochik, one of the film's co-directors.If I Could Stay screens during the festival's opening night, Wednesday, April 3 at Colorado State University's Lory Student Center theater.

Temple Grandin sees the world through a different lens. The Colorado State University professor of animal science is neurodivergent, and her differences as an autistic person have been foundational to her work – especially when it comes to advocating for the humane treatment of animals. She is also an advocate for neurodivergent thinkers of all ages. Her new book for children, “Different Kinds of Minds,” is an adaptation of her book “Visual Thinking.” Both explain the need for a diverse range of thinkers and how different minds can thrive. Grandin recently joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to discuss the book and much more. This is an encore of our podcast from Jan. 4, 2024.

Advocates say failing to invest in childcare is a missed opportunity to address inequity. And the lack of investment is hitting Northern Colorado families in multiple ways. For one, it leaves rising kindergartners unprepared to enter public schools. “The achievement gap is present well before children enter kindergarten,” said Tarryn Morrisey, a professor of child and family public policy at American University. “And so if we were to invest early, we could narrow that before it even began.”In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole sat down with Morrisey to learn more about what is driving the high cost of childcare, and why it is critical to find solutions.This is part of our ongoing coverage on the childcare crisis in Northern Colorado. Find more episodes on the challenges and solutions here and here.

The cash bail system continues to face scrutiny in the U.S. Activists say it subverts the long-held American ideal that a person is innocent until proven guilty. In other words, under the cash bail system, if you can’t afford to post bail, you could end up sitting in jail for days, weeks or months waiting for a trial regardless of your innocence. In Colorado, like other states, people of color are overrepresented in jails and prisons, making this a huge equity issue. State Rep. Elisabeth Epps recently won a seat in the statehouse in part because of her activism on this issue. She has been fighting to reform the justice system and eradicate cash bail in Colorado for several years and the documentary How We Get Free tells that story. "It is incredibly challenging when you talk about folks who have been incarcerated, or even unjustly incarcerated, to get people to sit up and pay attention,” said co-director Geeta Gandbhir. “But it's just the nature of the way that in our country, folks who are economically more vulnerable have been vilified.”Ahead of the film’s screening at the ACT Human Rights Film Festival in Fort Collins, In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole sat down with Gandbhir to learn why she made Epps’ grassroots efforts the subject of her documentary. How We Get Free screens during the festival's opening night, Wednesday, April 3, at Colorado State University's Lory Student Center theater.

The need to screen students for learning disabilities is on the rise in Northern Colorado and mental health providers are having trouble meeting the demand. Marybeth Rigali-Oiler, a child and adolescent psychologist with the Health District of Northern Larimer County, says finding answers isn’t always straightforward, either.“You also have to kind of throw a broad net to see, well, is it actually ADHD? Is it actually anxiety? Is it because this child fell behind during Covid and just hasn't had the intervention to catch up? Or is there an underlying learning disability?” Rigali-Oiler said. “And it could be a combination of all of those things. And so testing really should have a broad net that's looking at social-emotional factors, cognitive ability and achievement in order to really see where the puzzle pieces land.”When kids don’t get the screenings they need, questions about why they are struggling to achieve persist. Parents are also left to wonder when, say, kids are anxious about going to class, known as “school refusal,” Rigali-Oiler said. Is it a learning disability, mental health, or something else? In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole sat down with Rigali-Oiler to learn about the factors fueling this problem.

Water – and how to manage it – is a perennial topic in the parched American West. So today on World Water Day, we are looking at some of the most pressing water issues of the moment and how we in Northern Colorado can better appreciate and conserve this precious resource. "I just wish people would realize the foresight it took to build some of these water systems that we take for granted now,” said Jennifer Gimbel, a water scholar at Colorado State University’s Colorado Water Center. “Over 100 years old, many of them are, and just the engineering that was involved to get it here. And so – appreciate when you turn on that water, and clean water comes out, we are blessed. There are people in the United States, people on the Navajo Nation who can't say that. They have to haul their water. So we are blessed."In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole sat down with Gimbel to tap into what is happening with water in our state.

Many of us have been told that our twenties are the best time in our lives. But some data suggests otherwise. At least one new report says 20-somethings in the U.S. are some of the most unhappy in the world. "I have yet to meet someone who's like, ‘Gosh, I wish I could be in my 20s again,’” said Meg Jay, a clinical psychologist who specializes in this formative decade of life. “You know, your 20s are not going to be the best years of your life. Thank God, right? I mean, what if they were -- and then it was all terrible from there?”Jay discusses her new book, The Twentysomething Treatment: A Revolutionary Remedy for an Uncertain Age, at Colorado State University on Tuesday, March 26. Ahead of her talk, In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole sat down with her to discuss the unique stressors 20-somethings face today and what she has learned about these pivotal years.

Prisons in Colorado are severely understaffed and that is hitting workers especially hard. But the effects of this shortage stretch far past the staff.“You have not only the stress on the staff from the vacancy, you have the disruption of normal functionality for the department as a whole and, then of course, this incredible negative impact on the people who are incarcerated,” said Christie Donner, executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, which wants to see more money invested in community initiatives and less spent on the prison system.Donner and her colleagues recently released a report surveying hundreds of incarcerated Coloradans about their living conditions amid the staffing shortage. She sat down with In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to discuss what incarcerated people said about their experience.

In many communities across Colorado, teens say there are few things for them to do after school. In Summit County, as local leaders work on a long-term plan for the future, young people are asking for more affordable indoor spaces. KUNC senior editor and reporter Leigh Paterson sat down with local students to discuss why these hangout spots are so important to them and their well-being. She joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to explain what young people had to say.

The launch of a passenger rail line in Northern Colorado felt a smidge closer to reality last week at Union Station. That’s when the first passenger train in decades departed from Denver to Longmont. The passengers included state lawmakers, transportation pros and Governor Jared Polis, who did the honors of calling passengers aboard.We have been dreaming about a Front Range passenger rail since plans were released several months ago. And hearing about this demonstration trip fueled those dreams even more. So today we are indulging that obsession by listening back to a conversation with Andy Karsian, general manager for the Front Range Passenger Rail District. In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole sat down with him shortly after he and his team unveiled their plans last December.

Imagine keeping your cool with 10 crying babies in a classroom. Yes, childcare is hard work and it is crucial to our fast-growing community. “We're not just babysitters, we just don't show up in a warehouse and play with kids all day. The work that we do is essential so that children are ready for school. To enter kindergarten, they're ready at third grade reading levels, and they're ready to graduate high school,” said Anne Lance with Teaching Tree Early Childhood Learning Center, a Larimer County nonprofit that serves low- and middle-income families. It is among the childcare providers navigating a nationwide childcare shortage that is hitting Colorado hard. In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole visited her at the newly opened Loveland Youth Campus to learn more about how the landscape of care has changed and how the organization is hoping to make a dent in the rising need.

Author and activist St. Clair Detrick-Jules uses words and images to capture personal stories that celebrate and center Black liberation, the immigrant experience, and women's rights. “Historically in this country, Black people haven't been able to really control the narrative of our own stories, of our own lives and experiences,” she said. “And so I think that for us being able to share our first-person experiences and actually have a platform to be heard and to have our stories valued and appreciated is really empowering.”On Thursday at CU Boulder’s art museum, Detrick-Jules discusses her book My Beautiful Black Hair: 101 Natural Hair Stories. Ahead of her talk, Detrick-Jules sat down with In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole. She began by discussing a moment that inspired the book, when her 4-year-old sister, Khloe, was in tears after her white classmates bullied her about her afro.

When KUNC senior managing editor Stephanie Daniel journeyed into the mountains to work on her podcast The Colorado Dream, she met Javier Pineda, a snowboard instructor and Mexican immigrant. She was reporting on the housing crisis in Summit County, which has had a major impact on Pineda’s life. But as is often the case with journalism, telling one story led to the discovery of another. Daniel learned that Pineda had launched a new program called Oso Outdoors where he provides free snowboarding lessons to Hispanic and Latino residents, many of whom are immigrants. “Oso Outdoors is unique in that Javier is bilingual and bi-cultural and he can teach his snowboarding classes in Spanish. When we talk about diversity, oftentimes it's just around race and ethnicity. But language is also a barrier,” Daniel said.She sat down with In The NoCo’s Robyn Vincent to discuss her reporting that looks at how Oso Outdoors is helping to change the makeup of the slopes.

Although it is technically still winter — at least until March 19 — the flowers will soon be in bloom at Colorado State University’s Trial Garden. That is where many of the flower varieties hitting garden stores in the coming weeks undergo a rigorous, real-world testing process to see which varieties are resilient enough for Northern Colorado.The garden was started back in the 1970s on a small plot of land near the old stadium, with only around 100 plant varieties. It's now one of the largest university trial gardens in the nation – with hundreds of varieties and tens of thousands of plants."It's just rows of rainbows. There are so many different colors out there," said KUNC's Emma VandenEinde. She covered the final rounds of plant judging last summer.As spring approaches and sunny days wait in the wings, we are listening back to a conversation with VandenEinde about her time in the garden.

A national childcare shortage has its grip on Northern Colorado. It is affecting not only parents trying to hold down jobs, but also communities more broadly and local economies. The need is so great, in fact, that in February, Larimer County had to freeze enrollment in its state-subsidized childcare program because it ran out of funds.“Childcare is this cyclical, community issue, where we need a workforce for the childcare sector and we need the childcare sector for our workforce,” said Joy Sullivan, president of the United Way of Larimer County. “So it's this, mutually symbiotic relationship, so to speak, that we hear from employers all the time who cannot hire good staff because they can't find childcare.”Sullivan is working to raise awareness about the cascading effects of the local childcare shortage and what needs to be done to ease the problem. In the first of a two-part series, Erin O’Toole sat down with Sullivan to get a better grasp on the issue.

People of color in Denver breathe some of the area’s worst air. New research from the University of Colorado Boulder not only shows that the air in some neighborhoods is more polluted than others, it also links that disparity to an outlawed practice called redlining. In the 1930s and 40s, lenders and governments used color-coded maps to identify areas where people of color lived and deny those residents mortgages. The practice was outlawed in the 1960s but many of the social, health, and economic impacts persist today.Lead researcher Alex Bradley, a chemistry doctoral student, sat down with In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to discuss the connection between redlining and poor air quality in Denver neighborhoods.

Today is Super Tuesday — traditionally the biggest day for primary elections and caucuses across the nation. In Colorado, unaffiliated voters can cast a ballot for either the Republican or Democratic candidates.For more on the election and how KUNC is working to engage Coloradans in the democratic process, KUNC statehouse reporter Lucas Brady Woods joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole. In today’s episode, we also hear from Nick DeSalvo, student body president at Colorado State University. DeSalvo is studying political science at CSU and already has experience running for local office. When DeSalvo was 17, he ran for the Pueblo West Metro Board of Directors. Now he is helping to inform some of KUNC’s election engagement efforts with young voters. Spoiler — he says there is a lot of work to be done to get more young people to participate in the democratic process.

In the West, two elements play an outsized role in our quality of life — fire and water. We know wildfire is part of the natural cycle of life here, yet climate change has intensified fires, making them deadlier, more destructive and more frequent. Meanwhile, our Western snowpack determines just how much water we have available to sustain our people, plants and animals. The relationship between the two is actually complex and it is central to Professor Anne Nolin’s work at University of Nevada, Reno. She joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to unravel some of those complexities and what they mean for us in Northern Colorado.

Just off Highway 34 outside of Greeley sits a ghost town dotted with a couple of deteriorating buildings and a sign. In the early 1900s this area was home to Dearfield. The thriving agricultural community founded by O.T. Jackson was Colorado’s largest Black homesteading site. Settlers grew corn, winter wheat, melons and strawberries and the community enjoyed great prosperity until drought, the Dust Bowl, and the Great Depression forced most to leave and seek work elsewhere.“I think it's been very, very important to have Dearfield be an example of what Black people could do and have done – and the future of what Black people could do,” said George Junne, a professor of Africana Studies at University of Northern Colorado who has studied Dearfield for decades. Junne sat down with In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to discuss Dearfield’s significance. Their conversation comes on the heels of an announcement by the National Park Service that it is studying Dearfield for potential inclusion in the park system.

Wolves are a contentious topic in the West, especially in Colorado where they were recently reintroduced. They are also central to a new 20-year study looking at their removal and reintroduction in Yellowstone National Park and what that means for disruptions to the food web. Tom Hobbs and his research team at Colorado State University found that reintroducing apex predators like wolves failed to restore the ecosystem to its original state. Still, he cautions against drawing certain conclusions from the research.“I really don't want our work to be cast as sort of anti-wolf, to use it to say, ‘Well, it wasn't a good idea to reintroduce wolves.’ That's not what we're showing at all. What we're showing is that the benefits of a complete food web — that includes large carnivores like wolves — can take a long time to be realized.”Hobbs joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to discuss his research – and what it could mean here in Colorado.

In 2021, Nicki Gonzales became Colorado’s first Latina state historian. History is a lifelong vocation for the Regis University professor – one that has helped to inform her own identity, and honor her family’s legacy."When I was state historian, I would dedicate my presentations and my activities to my paternal grandmother, who I never met, but who was a single, mother of three boys here in Denver,” Gonzales said. “Her family, they were miners and they worked in the agricultural fields of Northern Colorado, Boulder County. And I think the most satisfying thing has been being able to honor my family's history."Gonzales’s work has helped to provide us with a fuller picture of Colorado’s cultural landscape, uncovering state history and acknowledging its sometimes problematic details. She will give remarks at an event Wednesday, Feb. 28 at History Colorado, during the launch of a new curriculum for K-12 students focused on Denver's Chicano movement. That starts at 2:00 p.m.Gonzales joined In The NoCo's Erin O'Toole to reflect on her search for identity and deeper meaning, starting with her own family history.This is an encore of our podcast from Sep. 22, 2023.

One in 27 students in Poudre School District is experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity. That’s a statistic that KUNC senior editor and reporter Leigh Paterson recently stumbled on. Her reporting on youth mental health had suggested there was a problem, but this number told her the issue was more urgent than she’d thought.“It is on the radar of all of the school districts that I interact with and it is just a very difficult problem to solve because it involves so many overlapping social and systemic issues,” Paterson said.She directed the new KUNC series “Unseen but Everywhere,” airing Mondays on KUNC this month. It brings together the lived experiences of unhoused and housing-insecure students. The reporters who spent time with those students — Rae Solomon, Emma VandenEinde and Lucas Brady-Woods — joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to discuss what they learned.

Museum curator Acoma Gaither has been a student of Black history for as long as she can remember. She’s pored over rich historical accounts of Black life in America’s North, South and East. But she says a lot of the history of Black life in our state still needs to be uncovered. “And that's what really drew me to Colorado,” Gaither said. “I think there's so much opportunity and learning about that Western lens in terms of Black history. It's rich with a lot of hidden stories and I think the spirit of Black folks who came out here to farm and homestead — it takes a certain personality. So that kind of story and spirit really drew me out here.”Gaither recently moved to Denver from Minnesota to work as History Colorado’s associate curator of Black history. She sat down with In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to discuss some of the untold stories she wants to uncover here.

Health care is a fast-growing industry in Colorado, but finding people to work these jobs is a constant struggle amid the state’s ongoing worker shortage. State leaders are hopeful that a new bipartisan bill will alleviate some of the pressure. It would fund healthcare training across the state, including a new medical school — the College of Osteopathic Medicine — at the University of Northern Colorado.That move would have a big impact, said Angie Paccione, executive director of Colorado’s Department of Higher Education. Nearly two-thirds of osteopathic doctors are primary care physicians, and there’s a big need in this area.The model for this new medical college also includes placements, addressing a reason why people may start a program but not finish, because they can't get the placement for another year, Paccione explained.She expects a domino effect on nursing “and on all different kinds of positions where we have great shortage areas.”In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole spoke with Paccione about this and other investments the state is making to help Coloradans further their education after high school.You can read the report from the Lumina Foundation on the state of higher education that's mentioned in the episode.

One of Cary Morin’s guitars is proudly displayed at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery. That black Fender electric speaks to his musical legacy here in Northern Colorado as an Americana artist — or rather, "Native Americana," as some have dubbed his musical style. It is a style with deep Indigenous roots that Morin brought with him from Montana and replanted in Fort Collins four decades ago."The people that I grew up around influenced the songs that I write and the music that I play, just like any songwriter is influenced by the people that they grew up around,” Morin said. “My Crow heritage is definitely rich in unique music and culturally unique. So that provided a different backdrop for me."Morin’s new album Innocent Allies, is inspired by the paintings of Charles Marion Russell, whose work conjures vivid images of life in the Old West. In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole met up with Morin at the museum to talk about this new project.This is an encore of our podcast from Jan. 5, 2024.

As a teen, author Oscar Hokeah was an avid reader. He devoured dark fantasy novels and envisioned writing Native American versions of those stories. His studies drew him on a more literary path — but it took a long time to get there. "So the last grade I completed was sixth grade, and then I got a GED when I was 17," Hokeah said. "And so I didn't even think of myself as being [a writer] even though I read all the time and I would write all the time. I just never thought of myself as being someone who would go to college." At the age of 29, Hokeah returned to school and began studying literary fiction. He was determined to bring his perspective as an Indigenous person to a field that has only a small percentage of novelists from tribal communities. Now Hokeah, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, is headlining the Fort Collins Book Fest with his award-winning debut novel “Calling for a Blanket Dance.” He joined In The NoCo's Erin O'Toole to discuss the book, and the powerful cultural elements he brings to the page.The literary festival continues through February 19. Find the 2024 Book Fest reading list here; and a schedule of events here.

Forced prison labor is widespread across the U.S. and a recent investigation by the Associated Press details a large, complex web linking some of the world's largest food companies to work performed by incarcerated people. The two-year investigation featured data from Colorado State University’s Prison Agriculture Lab."The signal from the prison system is that you don't deserve more than this, that you are simply a labor input to help us save costs and to help us produce profits," said Joshua Sbicca, who directs the lab. "And that has a social psychic toll on people. This is why people refer to what goes on in prison as prison slavery."Sbicca and lab co-director Carrie Chenault sat down with In The NoCo’s Robyn Vincent to discuss prison labor in Colorado and beyond.

In Colorado, the water that comes from our taps and keeps our fields growing can be in limited supply. That means heated debates over water – who gets to use it and how money should be spent to keep it flowing – are constant. That is evident right now, after a Colorado water agency announced plans to buy nearly $100 million of water from the Colorado River, even without plans to change how that water is used. “The purchase represents the culmination of a decades-long effort to keep Shoshone’s water on the west side of Colorado’s mountains, settling the region’s long-held anxieties over competition with the water needs of the Front Range, where fast-growing cities and suburbs around Denver need more water to keep pace with development,” explained KUNC reporter Alex Hager. He joined In The NoCo host Erin O'Toole to tell us more.

During Jim Crow, and even after those laws were overturned in the late 1960s, green book sites were safe places where Black Americans could stop when they were traveling. The sites bear the namesake of what’s known as the Green Book. It contained listings for hotels, restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores and more. Terri Gentry says her grandparents never left home without that book. “We were traveling around the country, we were out exploring. We wanted to go see family members,” she said. “We felt like as citizens and with the National Park Service, we wanted to start engaging in different places and spaces around the country, but we had to navigate it very differently.”Gentry is with History Colorado. She and her team are working to register green book sites throughout the state. For Black History Month, we're listening back to a conversation with Gentry about this chapter of Colorado’s recent past. She spoke with In The NoCo’s Robyn Vincent.

Estes Park resident Jason Van Tatenhove used to live a very different life than the one he has now. The former spokesperson for the Oath Keepers had an inside view of the far-right militia group and its subversive strategies. His skepticism of government and a need for adventure initially drew him to the Oath Keepers – but when he became an insider, he knew he had to leave. Since then, he has expanded our understanding of these groups with his book The Perils of Extremism. His testimony before Congress during the January 6th committee hearings contained a warning…“All we have to look at is the iconic images of that day with the gallows set up for Mike Pence — for the Vice President of the United States,” he said. “I do fear for this next election cycle because if a president that's willing to try to instill and encourage — to whip up a civil war amongst his followers, using lies and deceit and snake oil, regardless of the human impact, what else is he gonna do if he gets elected again?”In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole sat down with Van Tatenhove to discuss his former – and current – life, and why Colorado has at times been fertile ground for extremist groups.

Sean Short at Blooming Health Farms runs what he calls a working aquaponic chicken farm. First things first, what does that even mean?“It's a great question,” Short laughed. “I've put a few of those words together.”The farm uses aquaponics, “a fancy way of saying that we have some fish, and we use the fish water to grow plants.” In other words, aquaponics combines fish farming with hydroponics. Short is also using that fish water to grow chicken feed. He said that system helps him clean up wastewater from the messy process of producing the feed. All of this is connected to Short’s organic egg production, too — “really yummy eggs,” he said.Beyond sustainability — hydroponic farming conserves water and land, and reduces pesticide use — what is also notable about Farmer Sean’s operation is the people involved. He is bringing at-risk kids into the fold and helping them to learn new skills and carve paths away from the criminal justice system. In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole sat down with Short to talk about this work and our increasing appetite for sustainable agriculture.

One of NPR’s founding mothers, Linda Wertheimer, is leaving the mothership, as we public radio nerds like to call NPR. Wertheimer is a senior national correspondent and her five-decade career marks a lot of firsts – she was the first director for All Things Considered when it debuted in 1971. Five years later, she became the first woman to anchor an election night as presidential candidate Democrat Jimmy Carter beat Republican incumbent Gerald Ford.Her political prowess and reporting chops then took her deeper into the halls of power as the first person to broadcast live from inside the chambers of the U.S. Senate “and the men at first, you know, they might call her little lady,” said author Lisa Napoli. “And she would say, ‘hey, big Senator.’ And she'd playfully push back at them and, you know, she showed she knew her stuff. And that's really, in the end, what mattered and what got them the acceptance." Napoli is the author of Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of NPR's Founding Mothers. In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole spoke with her in 2021, as NPR was celebrating its 50th anniversary. We’re listening back to that conversation today on the heels of Wertheimer’s announcement.

Funeral homes in Colorado have been operating like they exist in a Wild West time capsule. The lack of regulations has been center stage after authorities recently discovered almost 200 bodies that had been improperly stored at a funeral home in southern Colorado. That shocking discovery wasn't the only example of funeral home improprieties. Now lawmakers are looking at ways to regulate the industry – and hopefully bring some closure to distraught families. KUNC investigative reporter Scott Franz has been examining the issue for months. He sat down with In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to explain what he has learned.Scott mentioned a database in this episode where you can research whether a funeral home has been investigated or disciplined by the state. Here’s his reporting on that.