In The NOCO

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.

Every Tuesday at Central Park in Boulder, Jen Livovich offered food and support to people experiencing homelessness through a nonprofit she founded called Feet Forward. Livovich knew a lot of the people she was helping at the time — and still does. That’s because she also struggled with homelessness for several years. Then in 2018, she received a state voucher that helped her secure a stable home. It was a rocky transition.“I really grappled with the kind of survivor’s guilt that’s only familiar to homeless people. And I remember thinking I could move 40 people onto my floor and laid the tape out and knew that wasn’t gonna end well,” Livovich said.Homelessness has reached crisis levels in Colorado and the City of Boulder is facing a lawsuit for how its been handling the problem. The ACLU of Colorado sued the city for its so-called camping ban. It prohibits people from sleeping on the street. Police then issue tickets to those who do — even when the homeless shelter has been full. “We think that's a violation of the Constitution to criminally charge people for actions that they have to engage in as a part of being human, sleeping, laying down,” said Tim Macdonald, legal director for the ACLU of Colorado.A court date for that lawsuit was recently set for next August. Livovich, for her part, was originally one of the plaintiffs but she has since withdrawn. She says the larger issue is getting unhoused people access to social services, especially when it comes to addiction, and she has proposed a way for city leaders to do that. In The NoCo’s Robyn Vincent sat down with her to learn more.

Millions of people rely on water from the Colorado River, but there’s just not enough to quench everyone’s thirst. In other words, there's a big gap between the amount of water in the river, and the amount that people are using. It is a conundrum that policymakers across seven Western states continue to grapple with. Last week, more than 1,000 people with a stake in the river’s future met in Las Vegas, giving a peek behind the curtain of ongoing negotiations, and some clues as to just how hard it will be to find solutions that make everybody happy.KUNC’s Alex Hager was there to cover that conference. He told In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole about the potential for troubled waters ahead.

Colorado has a rich railroad history, from mining trains carved through the mountains to freight trains chugging across the city. A lot of us hear them — sometimes too often — but we rarely get the opportunity to actually ride the trains. But that might change soon. Last week, a plan to develop a passenger rail line using existing freight tracks along the Front Range was accepted into a federal grant program. That could help make a multi-city train line from Fort Collins to Pueblo a reality in the next decade. To see if this long-anticipated plan is on track, host Erin O'Toole sat down with Andy Karsian of the Front Range Passenger Rail District.

It’s a Christmas tale as old as the Bible.During a cold snap in Denver last December, Pastor Eddy Hopkins responded to an urgent call from Larimer County leaders. They told him Denver was overwhelmed with migrants who’d recently arrived in the city from the U.S. southern border. They asked if he could help. The pastor sprang into action and Peak Community Church in Fort Collins became a shelter for 16 migrants over the holidays.Pastor Eddy said the experience was “absolutely wonderful.” The people he offered temporary shelter to “brought a great deal of joy to us.”Still, it was a big undertaking. “We were wanting to provide the best space that we could,” the pastor said. “And so we spent a lot of time trying to figure out food, trying to figure out personal needs and and how people could be safe and clothed and all that kind of stuff.”People from Latin American countries and other nations facing turmoil continue to arrive in Colorado. It’s an especially tough time for them to make that journey — the weather is unforgiving and the holidays are in full swing. In Larimer County, leaders argue that logistics have prevented them from doing more when it comes to sheltering the influx of migrants. But Pastor Eddy is starting to make plans for the people who do end up near his doorstep. Host Erin O’Toole visited him at his church to learn more.

People tend to trust local and state leaders more than federal lawmakers. A recent Gallup poll found that 59% of Americans have faith in state government yet only a third of respondents trust federal legislators. But, as we’ve learned time and again from our reporting at KUNC, transparency is a problem at all levels of government. For the last year, KUNC investigative reporter Scott Franz has been uncovering an example of this at the Colorado statehouse. His reporting highlighted how Democratic lawmakers have been using a secret voting system to decide which bills to consider. Those lawmakers now face a lawsuit. And the first hearing in that suit happened last week. Scott joins us to explain some of the twists and turns of it all — and what’s next.

There’s a long history of Americans taking to the streets to make their voices heard. To march, and to protest has come to define one of the more powerful ways people participate in our democracy. Recently a group of local immigration activists embarked on a long-distance march that mirrored the multi-day marches of the Civil Rights Movement. Members of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition walked for four days on a 60-mile journey that began at the Colorado State Capitol. They slept in churches along the way and talked with community members before ending the march in Greeley at the district office of Rep. Yadira Caraveo, Colorado’s first Latina member of Congress. Activists want Caraveo, and Sens. Michael Bennett and John Hickenlooper, to sign onto what is known as the registry bill. The federal legislation would update a decades-old law, creating a pathway for citizenship for millions of immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for more than seven years.We heard from one of the people who marched — Omar Gomez, a Boulder County resident from Mexico — and Raquel Lane-Arellano of the Immigrant Rights Coalition. She helped organize the march and offered support to activists along their route.

Longmont-based 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 instances of when people have tried to control nature and ultimately it's failed,” Miller says.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. For example, giant concrete barriers in Japan meant to stop tsunamis — 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. He joined host Erin O'Toole to talk about his new book and some of humanity’s attempts to adapt to climate change that have ended badly.

Musician Domi Edson’s move from Seattle to Colorado wasn’t fueled by the typical cliched reasons. She came for the jazz. “I had heard really good things about both the size and the quality of the jazz scene here,” Edson told In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole. It is a scene defined by sense of place — Edson says the local jazz world has a quintessential “Colorado vibe.” “It’s just a very positive thing to be part of,” she said. Musicians challenge each other and clubs are committed to elevating local artists, she explained.Edson is a bass player who heads her own jazz trio. Her latest project hits just right for this time of year — a collection of traditional Hanukkah songs reinterpreted in her signature jazz style. So, with Hanukkah beginning tonight at sundown, she joined us to talk about the genesis of this project and more.You can hear the Domi Edson Trio perform an album release party Sunday, December 10 at The Muse in Lafayette. Find her newest album, A Jazzy Hanukkah, at domiedson.com.

Amid Israel’s intensifying military campaign in Gaza, more than 2,000 people gathered in Denver last week for the Jewish National Fund's annual Global Conference for Israel. The violence in Gaza follows an attack by Hamas militants in October that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel. Hamas took hundreds more hostage. Since then, Israel Defense Forces have killed more than 15,000 in Gaza and displaced roughly three-quarters of Gaza residents. As the conference got underway, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Colorado Convention Center to demand a ceasefire and call attention to Israel’s occupation of Palestine.“I've lost over 70 family members over the past two months in Gaza. I don't want my home to be destroyed,” said Abdullah Elagha, a Denver resident from Gaza.Some Jews attending the conference felt vulnerable amid the protesters' shouts and the heightened reports of anti-Semitism nationwide. “We're under attack as Jews and as Zionists, and I think we're so lucky to have this conference as a time to support one another,” said Cheris Kline-Berlinberg of Denver.Ian Sachs traveled from Arizona to attend the conference. He said the protesters didn’t bother him, that he felt safe, especially with the presence of Denver Police. Still, rising anti-Semitism is top of mind for him right now. “When it turns into Jews being targeted that aren't Israeli or have nothing to do with this, and I've got kids, and for me to have a military security guard at their Jewish day school … you know, my blood boils,” he said.Outside the conference, many of the protesters also happened to be Jews with many of the protests organized in part, by the local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. In the last few months, it has grown from 10 people advocating for Palestinian freedom to 120 activists, including 15 who were arrested on Sunday for blocking an intersection at Speer Boulevard and Champa Street. Across the country, more Jews are speaking out against the Israeli government and in support of a ceasefire. Protester Franny Alani from Denver says that was once taboo in many Jewish communities. “I went to a very conservative synagogue growing up, If you expressed, you know, any critique or dissonance around Zionism, you were immediately alienated, silenced,” she said.In The NoCo producer Mickey Capper spoke with protesters and people attending the conference about how the conversation is shifting in the Jewish community, including protester Allie Cannington. (Mickey was surprised to recognize them from his Jewish Day School.) “It tears me up that supporting Palestine is equated to being anti-Semitic,” Cannington said. “It is critical that we show up, as Jews, that we communicate they're unapologetic, uncritical stand with Israel is wrong.”Both inside and outside the conference, we heard people express that they want everyone —Jews and Palestinians —in Israel, Gaza, and beyond, to be safe. But it was difficult for them to agree on what safety looks like.“I am an American Jew, but Israel is still my home,” said Kline-Berlinberg. “Right now there's a lot of anti-Semitism in the world — and in Israel, we can be safe.”In Cannington’s eyes, it’s impossible to justify the loss of life in the name of Israel’s security and safety. “There is no way that our safety can be sustained if it comes at the expense of other people. We can't use our fear as a catalyst to murder other people.”We unpacked some of these perspectives with Ira Chernus, professor emeritus of religious studies at University of Colorado Boulder. He has been speaking out against the Israeli government's actions since Israel’s occupation of Palestine began in 1967. He shared with In The NoCo how the conversation about Israeli policies within American Jewish communities has changed over the decades.

The trauma of domestic violence is a scar that survivors carry with them for many years — and often silently. A recent report from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office tells us that more people in Colorado are enduring this kind of abuse, and not surviving it. It shows the number of domestic violence deaths in 2022 was roughly 1.5 times higher in comparison to the last seven years. A lot of factors seem to be intensifying this crisis. For one, in Colorado, as in many other states, a lack of affordable housing makes it especially difficult to escape an abuser. Firearms also play a major role. More than 80 percent of domestic violence deaths were the result of gun injuries. This tracks with recent research from Stanford University showing people who have a gun in the home face a much higher likelihood of dying from homicides, a risk of so-called second-hand gun ownership. “When we think about the second-hand risks of gun ownership, we're really talking about a population that is predominantly female,” said David Studdert, the lead researcher at Stanford. Studdert’s research was focused in California, though the threats of second-hand gun ownership can be observed in many other places, like Colorado. Given the holiday season is in full swing, we want to keep this issue front and center — because for people in domestic violence situations, this time of year can mean more time at home and more exposure to abusers.Dani Souza, outreach coordinator for A Woman's Place, Weld County's only domestic violence shelter, sat down with In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to discuss what she’s seeing.RESOURCES: If you or someone you know is seeking help with a domestic violence situation, you can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 800-799-SAFE (7233); and A Woman's Place has guidance for creating a safety plan here.

The sugar beet industry began in Colorado right around 1900. Today it's only a small part of the state's economy, but through the early part of the 20th century, beets were the most significant agricultural product grown here. They were so important to the economy that people referred to sugar beets as 'white gold.' During this time, thousands of Hispanic and Mexican people came to Northern Colorado to work in the beet fields. Many of them eventually settled in Fort Collins - predominantly in what would come to be called the Tres Colonias – three neighborhoods that surrounded the Great Western Sugar Company.Betty Aragon-Mitotes is something of an expert on the legacy of the families who settled in this area. She has been a longtime community leader, advocating for Hispanic and Latino communities. She co-founded a cultural center spotlighting the Tres Colonias neighborhoods, and is the founder and president of the nonprofit Mujeres de Colores, which educates and provides support to working-class and low-income families. This October, she was awarded the 2023 Polly Baca Raíces Fuertes Community Leader Award from Rep. Joe Neguse in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. She sat down with host Erin O'Toole to share more about this piece of Northern Colorado history.Betty mentioned the Posada Christmas program, which is seeking donations of new, unwrapped toys, coats, hats, gloves and mittens. The event will take place Dec. 16, 2023.

Hollywood has long depicted Native Americans in the most problematic of ways. American Westerns are some of the biggest offenders. Their portrayals of Indigenous people as savagaes has only deepened the intergenerational trauma Native people face. But these portrayals and the film industry more broadly are changing, somewhat. “Killers of the Flower Moon” tells the story of a massacre that Osage people in Oklahoma faced in the 1920s. Its lead female character - Lily Gladstone who plays Molly Burkhart - is Blackfeet and Nez Perce. Her casting in the role is a huge deviation from what we normally see in popular films. A recent analysis by USC Annenberg found that Native women are nearly nonexistent in Hollywood movies. Still, representation is but one piece of this, and some Osage people who saw the film had mixed reactions. KUNC reporter Emma VandenEinde spoke with Osage citizens in Colorado to learn more. She joined the show to discuss some of her recent reporting.

During Jim Crow and even after those laws were overturned in the 1960s, green book sites were safe havens — places where Black Americans could stop when they were traveling without fear of discrimination or violence. 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 and add to the list of 160 places so far. She sat down with In The NoCo’s Robyn Vincent to discuss Colorado’s recent past — and the ways that this history has touched her personally.

Colorado’s wine producing roots trace back to the 1800s, when Italian miners brought wine culture to the state. The grape-growing industry would later become a casualty of Prohibition, when grape vines were torn from the earth at the government’s behest. It wasn’t until the early 1970s that wine started to make a comeback in the state. Today, wine culture in Colorado is having a moment. A recent Colorado State University study suggests Colorado’s wine country could keep expanding into new parts of the state. KUNC’s Rae Solomon recently sorted through the grapes and vines of it all. She tells us more, just in time for your holiday menu planning.

Every year on Thanksgiving, radio stations around the country play Arlo Guthrie's 1967 track "Alice's Restaurant." But how did this 18-minute satirical song about littering and the Vietnam War become a Thanksgiving classic? The song, based on a true story, is about Guthrie and fellow musician Rick Robbins.“They were home for Thanksgiving, and they were hanging out with their friend Alice and they had a big Thanksgiving dinner at this church where Alice lived,” says Margot Chobanian, program director for The Colorado Sound. A series of absurd events ensues, and the resulting song is both a chronicle of those events and a scathing rebuke of bureaucracy and “the Man.”A few years ago, Margot unraveled the mystery of “Alice’s Restaurant” for host Erin O’Toole. In the spirit of the most (and least!) Thanksgiving song we know, ITN revisits that conversation today.