In The NOCO

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.

When the Colorado Rockies’ official scorer Jillian Geib talks America’s favorite pastime, even baseball neophytes catch the excitement. The game is pretty central to her life.“I have watched thousands and thousands of baseball games in my lifetime, so that in itself was training — just watching games and seeing all sorts of situations that could occur because I still feel like every time I watch a game I learn something new,” she said.Many of those thousands of games Geib has watched have included Todd Helton. The first baseman spent 17 seasons with the Rockies and was recently elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. She sat down with host Erin O’Toole to talk about Helton’s storied career — and her own. Geib is the first woman to score for the Rockies, and among only a handful of women to ever have this role in the league.

The legislative session is underway at the Colorado state Capitol and lawmakers have identified a long list of priorities that could have big impacts on life in Colorado. Strengthening renters’ rights has returned to the forefront after some successful bills and a few failed ones last year. Meanwhile, the Colorado Black Caucus is pushing for a comprehensive review of entrenched racial disparities affecting Coloradans across the state. Addressing the opioid epidemic and the massive problems stemming from it are also central to this year’s session.It is the job of Lucas Brady Woods to tell us how successful lawmakers will be in addressing these issues. KUNC’s statehouse reporter sat down with Erin O’Toole for a quick tour inside the halls of power.

We continue our look at doulas today and the crucial role they could play in addressing high rates of maternal mortality for Coloradans of color. Jannah Farooque is a doula with Mama Bird Doula Services. For the people of color she works with, she says just showing up at the hospital and being by their side makes a difference.“As an African American Muslim woman doula, I know that my presence is so impactful in a positive way because I'm, I wear the hijab, so I'm easily identifiable as Muslim,” Farooque said. “I just remember working in one of the hospitals that largely works with immigrants … as soon as I would walk into the rooms of these women, you could immediately see relief.” As a full-spectrum doula, she’s around before, during and after a baby’s birth. Her work acknowledges the many different stages when things can get complicated - and when people are most in need of an advocate.In The NoCo’s Robyn Vincent sat down with Farooque to learn more.

Colorado’s maternal death rate has been on the rise. It is a nationwide problem and the data tends to surprise people. The U.S. ranks higher than other countries in the so-called developed world for maternal death rates with people of color hit the hardest. In Colorado, this is especially true for Native Americans and Black residents. Research suggests systemic racism is often at play — a legacy of discrimination in the medical system deters some people of color from seeking care.Today, we begin our two-part look at one solution to these high rates of maternal mortality: doulas. A new partnership between Mama Bird Doula Services and the healthcare nonprofit Colorado Access is expanding this kind of care. It is pairing Black Coloradans on Medicaid with doulas of color. Joy Twesigye, with Colorado Access, joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to talk about the important role doulas are taking on.

We hear it mentioned a lot – that this region is growing quickly. And that increasing population puts pressure on a lot of different areas of life – things like housing, healthcare, schools, and transportation. But love it or hate it, growth is inevitable – so how do we make sure it happens strategically, equitably? One solution is to stop making so many distinctions between Weld and Larimer counties — and start bringing these communities together. That’s what a new report from the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado suggests. It presents data from across the region to show how issues like housing and healthcare intersect across county lines — and how coming together might just be the smartest way to alleviate these problems. "Nobody really had assembled the data in a way that allowed us to look at the health and well-being of the entire region," said Kristin Todd, NoCo Foundation president. "We want to promote solving really big, challenging issues as a region. We feel like we're better together; and so we're promoting regionalism as a way to solve some really challenging issues."The report was more than a year in the making, and Todd believes it provides a new way of understanding Northern Colorado's interdependence. "My hope is that this report can inform conversations. It can inform philanthropists, inform policymakers, and provide some common language and a launching pad so that we're all starting from the same place."She joined host Erin O'Toole to unpack what's in this first-of-its-kind report. NOTE: The NoCo Foundation is hosting a launch event for the report Tuesday, Feb. 6 in Loveland.

More than 200 copies of the Ouray County Plaindealer were recently stolen out of distribution boxes around town. The newspaper had just published a front-page story about an alleged sexual assault at the home of Ouray’s police chief. Journalist Corey Hutchins has some thoughts on this. The co-director of the Colorado College Journalism Institute writes a weekly newsletter that goes behind Colorado headlines. In that newsletter, “small and mighty” are the words he used to describe the Plaindealer, which was purchased by residents Mike Wiggins and Erin McIntyre in 2019.“This is not a vehicle for advertising with a little bit of, fun, fluffy news sprinkled in, like you might find in the diner in some small town somewhere. This is a newspaper, I believe that has, since they've owned it for the past few years, taking public service journalism seriously,” he told In The NoCo.And that’s in a county of roughly 5,000 people, amid a crisis of shrinking local news.It means the small paper is still managing to be a watchdog and hold local government accountable. A lot of Hutchins’ research tells us this isn’t the norm, though. He joined host Erin O’Toole to discuss the incident in Ouray County -- and what it tell us about the state of local journalism.Read a letter from the Plaindealer’s publishers on why the paper reported about this incident here. Corey Hutchins’ weekly newsletter covers all things Colorado media. Here’s how to subscribe.

Earlier this month a statewide ban on styrofoam takeout containers went into effect and 12-year-old activist Madhvi Chittoor, of Arvada, helped fight for the law.“These laws over time are all about environmental justice, health, justice and intergenerational justice,” said Chittoor, who also pushed for a statewide plastic bag ban. “It protects the rights of children and future generations. So I'm really happy that what I do is making big changes.”These new measures don’t come without challenges for the businesses that are affected, though. A representative from the Colorado Restaurant Association said the policy changes add to the stressors of inflation, supply chain issues, and the labor shortage. Still, activists like Chittoor champion these moves as important progress. At 12, she has been working on ridding us of styrofoam for a while. The United Nations child advisor and self-proclaimed “No Styrofoam Ninja” joined In The NoCo to discuss her path into activism and why adults need to listen to young people advocating for the environment.

Colorado has taken a bold step as one of the first states to employ an incarcerated professor in a prison education program. It is a move that could have big impacts on incarcerated people and society more broadly. Chalkbeat Colorado’s Jason Gonzales spent time at a state prison in Canon City to learn more. He joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to talk about what he learned and the people he met.

When Amoako Boafo was growing up in Accra, Ghana in the 1980s and 90s, art wasn’t a realistic or lucrative career path. But he didn’t put his paintbrush down."I kept making my paintings, and from time to time I would get lucky. I would have someone buy one," Boafo said.In those days, he says it was a victory to sell a painting for a hundred dollars. Today, his works go for hundreds of thousands - even millions - of dollars. It’s the kind of sharp rise to fame that could really change a person. But Boafo remains close to his roots. He could live anywhere, but he chooses to stay in Ghana. His exhibit at the Denver Art Museum, Soul of Black Folks, speaks to those roots and how they intertwine and expand upon leaving – and then returning to – your hometown. His portraits are vibrant, textured moments, with an emphasis on Black joy. Boafo and curator Larry Ossei-Mensah sat down with In The NoCo’s Robyn Vincent to discuss the exhibit – on display at DAM until Feb. 19, 2024.

Next week we celebrate the birthday of pioneering physician Dr. Justina Ford. At the turn of the 20th century, she became the first Black woman to practice medicine in Colorado. In an archival clip featured in Rocky Mountain PBS’s “Colorado Experience,” we hear Ford musing on her life’s work: "Babies. Babies are little miracles. That's why I love to deliver them and help these miracles thrive in their new world.”Ford transcended racial and gender barriers to deliver more than 7,000 babies during her 50 years in medicine. She practiced out of her home in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood, and treated patients regardless of their ability to pay. She saw that work as her true calling and higher purpose. "For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a doctor, a healer of the sick,” Ford said. “I used to like to help dress a chicken for dinner so I could see what was on the inside. I watched my mother use her hands, heart and ways of our African ancestors using roots and natural herbs to take care of her patients. And I wanted to do the same."A few years ago, In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole dialed up Terry Gentry to discuss Ford’s legacy. Gentry heads Black engagement efforts at History Colorado. Back then, she was working as a volunteer docent at the Black American West Museum and Heritage Center in Denver. It was just ahead of an unveiling of a mural in Five Points depicting Ford. Read more about Ford’s life in this piece from the local newspaper Front Porch.

More than 3 million Coloradans live in the Wildland-Urban Interface, positioning their homes at greater risk from the smoke and flames of wildfires. As more people live, work and play in these areas, preventing wildfires becomes increasingly important. Now, one Boulder resident is confronting the heat, but he’s not using the typical mitigation measures you might expect. “We believe by using fungi and biological solutions, we can help facilitate carbon sequestration, we can facilitate creating healthy soils, and do so in a way which is ecologically sound and sustainable,” says Zach Hedstrom of Boulder Mushroom. His company studies the benefits of mushrooms — from their medicinal qualities to their surprising potential to, yes, prevent wildfires.Hedstrom points to saprophytic fungi, which he calls “nature’s recyclers” because of their ability to break down wood from dead or fallen trees — a fuel for wildfires.KUNC reporter Emma VandenEinde joins host Erin O'Toole to share more about this potential solution.

A new exhibit at the Museum of Boulder illuminates the stories of Black Coloradans, highlighting their influence on the region's history and their impact on the future. "Proclaiming Colorado's Black History" centers on places like the once-bustling farming community of Dearfield; and notable people like businessman Barney Ford and philanthropist Julia Greeley. It's about sharing the lives and stories of people who aren't necessarily in Colorado's history books, said Adrian Miller, co-Project Director and lead curator for the exhibit."It's important because we're in a time now, across the country, where Black history is actually being vanished, where there are laws being passed and other things to discourage giving a more comprehensive view of our history," said Miller.The project was several years in the making, and was shaped with a lot of community input and collaboration, Miller said. It includes a variety of installations, collections of oral histories, and an art display that delves into Afrofuturism.Miller joined host Erin O'Toole ahead of the exhibit's launch. We're listening back to that conversation today as we continue to think about the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This is an encore of our podcast from Sept. 28, 2023.

This coming Monday, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death,” King said in his 1967 speech “Beyond Vietnam.” King gave the speech at the height of the Vietnam War and it is a window into his fuller legacy — one that was not only defined by peaceful protest and calls for unity. He also critiqued capitalism, American imperialism and the ways our policies abroad hurt people near and far. We have come a long way in understanding King’s life and work, and the federal holiday bearing his name is an annual tradition celebrated across the country — a reminder to dig deeper into King’s words and actions. But it wasn't always this way.In fact, a state law to honor King’s birthday wasn’t passed in Colorado until 1984. It took years of work at the hands of former state lawmaker Wilma Webb.KUNC senior managing editor Stephanie Daniel spoke with Webb a couple years ago about her efforts. Today, we revisit that conversation.Celebrate MLK Day in Denver during the Dr, Martin Luther King Marade. In Boulder, the Motus Theater hosts an event honoring King’s radical legacy. In Fort Collins, head to Colorado State University for a march to the Lincoln Center. Then on January 22, CU Boulder hosts a MLK Day convocation.

Ten years ago on New Year's Day, the first recreational cannabis dispensaries opened their doors to long lines of excited people. Those first few years were known as "The Green Rush" – but now, with sales and revenue dipping from their highest point, some are wondering what the next decade will bring for the industry.Ricardo Baca is among those close observers. The former journalist spent three years as the Denver Post's first-ever marijuana editor, even though he had only just tried edibles for himself.“When the editor in chief of the Post came to me and said, ‘Hey, we want you to be the weed editor,’ I said, ‘You know that I'm not the biggest stoner in the newsroom right now.’ And they're like, ‘Oh, yeah, we know. And that's part of the reason we want you,’” Baca remembered.Baca’s focus is still on cannabis, but he’s got some skin in the game now with the aptly-named marketing agency he founded, Grasslands. He joined host Erin O’Toole to share what it was like covering Colorado’s cannabis industry during its infancy.

It has been several decades since performers at Opera Colorado had the representation of a union. That changed recently after a hard-fought battle. Artistic workers had the help of the American Guild of Musical Artists, an organization that is increasingly meeting the moment and helping artists to unionize across the country. They say when the soaring arias are over and the intricate costumes come off, opera singers and the workers who support them struggle to have a voice in the face of tough working conditions. Unions, they say, give them back the microphone. For more, In The NoCo’s Robyn Vincent sat down with Joshua Zabatta, a tenor based in Denver who sings with Opera Colorado, and Griff Braun, national organizing director for the American Guild of Musical Artists.

Colorado kids are missing a lot of school. This past academic year, nearly one in three was chronically absent – that is more than 250,000 students.“If you’re missing 10% or more of school days you are considered chronically absent,” Leigh Paterson told In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole. Both excused and unexcused absences count, and while the percentage of chronically absent students improved a bit last academic year compared to the year before, generally, this is a growing problem in Colorado, Paterson said. The KUNC senior editor and reporter visited schools in two Northern Colorado districts to speak with students and learn about potential solutions. She shared some of her reporting with us today.

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 "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 coming out later this month 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.

Temple Grandin sees the world through a different lens. The Colorado State University animal science professor 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, both young and old. Her new book for children is “Different Kinds of Minds.” It 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 joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to discuss the book and much more.

Many Americans are saddled with medical debt — and that’s true for both insured and uninsured people. Half of respondents to a recent survey by the Commonwealth Fund said it was "very" or "somewhat" difficult to afford their health care costs. The survey’s authors say this challenges the notion that simply having health insurance makes care affordable or accessible. These findings help us understand why advocates in Colorado pushed for a recent law that removes medical debt from credit reports. Julia Char Gilbert, with Colorado Center on Law and Policy, worked on this pioneering law and joins us today, along with Denver resident Kayce Atencio. His medical debt had devastating impacts on his life and turned him into a vocal advocate.If your medical debt is still showing up on your credit report, you can learn about the dispute process via Colorado Center on Law and Policy.

It’s a fitting day to think about the future — it's the second day of the new year. It is also National Science Fiction Day – a date commemorating the birth of the late Isaac Asimov, one of the genre's most celebrated authors. Like Asimov, a lot of us are fascinated with tales of the future. One of sci-fi’s living legends, author Connie Willis, says that’s a good thing.“We, I think, get to step out of ourselves and imagine worlds that are different from ours. One of the biggest problems right now is people who are unable to put themselves in anyone else's point of view. And I think that's a major thing that science fiction does,” Willis said.Willis recently published a new book, “The Road to Roswell.” She lives in Northern Colorado and joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole in the KUNC studio to discuss the book, reflect on the past, and marvel at the future.KUNC's sister station, The Colorado Sound, will celebrate National Science Fiction Day with special sci-fi themed programming all day.

Ghost stories have been on Heather Kelley’s mind for a long time. Kelley is an actor and educator at University of Colorado Boulder where her research focuses on dark tourism, ghosts as manifestations of trauma, and haunted attractions, to name a few. Since the early days of her acting career, Kelley has heard no shortage of haunting tales about the theaters and venues where she’s performed, beginning with her time as an undergraduate student at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut. “Before I even got there, I had been warned that the place was haunted, that there was a ghost there by the name of Lucy, and that all the people that had worked there for years not only believed in Lucy, but made decisions based off of like, what Lucy would or wouldn't like,” Kelley says. We sat down with her this past Halloween to unwrap that strange feeling some of us get when we spend time in old theaters and other storied places.You can help Kelley deepen her research by filling out this theater ghost survey. And you can do your own research at one of the many Colorado theaters that Kelley says are believed to be haunted: the Boulder Theater, the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, the Dickens Opera House in Longmont, and the Rialto Theater in Loveland. NOTE: This is an encore of our podcast from Oct. 31, 2023.

Journalism wasn’t always in the cards for NPR’s Lori Lizarraga, until one 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 is informed by her cultural identity. Host Erin O'Toole spoke with the Code Switch host about how race, cultural identity, and lived experience are inextricably woven into the fabric of her work.NOTE: This is an encore of our podcast from Oct. 13, 2023.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced Oscar shortlists in 10 categories – and Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" is dominating those lists. Moviegoers in Northern Colorado helped fuel the Barbie phenomenon, not only for big cinema chains, but also infusing mom-and-pop theaters, like The Lyric in Fort Collins, with massive revenue from ticket sales.. Colorado State University professor Karrin Vasby Anderson has been watching this craze unfold. The feminist scholar was astounded when a film full of frills and pink turned out to be about feminism, and wrote about some of the backlash that provoked. She joins In The NoCo to unpack some of the messaging in the billion-dollar blockbuster.NOTE: This is an encore of our podcast from Oct. 19, 2023.

Much of what we understand about Elijah McClain — both his life, and his death in 2019 at the hands of Aurora police and paramedics — is thanks in large part to people like Candice Bailey. The Aurora activist led many of the protests that introduced people to the 23-year-old Black man, described by friends and family as gentle, creative and a free spirit. Her work helped people honor McClain’s life and examine the practices of Aurora police and paramedics that led to his death. As trials continue for the officers and paramedics charged for McClain’s death, Bailey joined In The NoCo to reflect on her fight for racial justice.NOTE: This is an encore of our podcast from Oct. 24, 2023.

For many, the holidays are all about gratitude, reflection, and family – but they can also be a major source for tension. If you’re among the 60 percent of Coloradans traveling for the holidays, you’re likely navigating congested roads or chaotic airports. If you’re hosting dinner, you’ve got a whole other set of concerns, like catering to an array of dietary needs, and getting a hundred different dishes to come out of the oven at the same time.But, here we are – you made it to your family's gathering, the wine is flowing like water and it’s time to relax. But not so fast… Even in the kindest of families, dinner table discussions sometimes turn into heated debate. And we’ve all got plenty of opinions, whether it’s on the war in the Middle East, reproductive rights, or this week's Colorado Supreme Court decision that former president Donald Trump cannot appear on our state's primary ballot. . We're talking about a lot of potential flashpoints… but there is a ray of light here. With some thought and intention, your holiday conversations can be peaceful — and maybe even bring people closer together...“Sometimes when you have a pretty good conversation with someone, the main thing you realize is, wait, we don't disagree nearly as much,” says Martín Carcasson, a communications professor at Colorado State University and director of CSU's Center for Public Deliberation. “There's still going to be disagreement. I'm not saying we're all going to agree … but normally the disagreement is much more manageable than we think it is when we have a good conversation. Then, Carcasson says, the goal becomes easier: “to develop a little more understanding about each other.”Ahead of the holiday season, Carcasson gave us some guidance on how to have healthier conversations at the dinner table. And for more tips on how to navigate the holiday dinner conversation, Carcasson recommends this Monica Guzman TED talk, or the discussion guides at Living Room Conversations.NOTE: This is an encore of our podcast from , Nov. 21, 2023.

A mysterious disease has been affecting some of our favorite — furry — friends. So, we had to learn what we could about canine respiratory illness because let’s face it — many of us love our dogs like people. (OK, some of us love them more than people.) In recent months, veterinarians in Colorado have seen a rise in this disease so we sat down with veterinarian Dr. Amanda Kavanugh. She gave us her insights from leading the emergency vet clinic program at Colorado State University.