Compiled by Eric Lubbers, eric@coloradosun.com
CTO/Newsletter Wrangler, @brofax
Time is flying now that we only get about 10 hours of sunshine a day. It’s already the Monday before the Monday before Thanksgiving, and we all know how time basically turns into a slip-and-slide once we cross that holiday threshold.
We’ve got some fun events planned between now and the end of the year, including book club gatherings with Colorado authors (more on that below) and staff mixers all around the state, so keep an eye on this newsletter for the latest happenings in the Sun community.
But for now, we’ve got news to get to.
Let’s toast this bagel already, shall we?
What are you up to tonight? Want to talk dogs and books with a Colorado author in a cool bookstore? The latest Colorado Sun Book Club meeting is tonight, Monday Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. at BookBar in Denver. Author Rory Kress will be there talking about her book “The Doggie in the Window,” but you don’t have to have read the book to join. The event is free, but please RSVP here and I hope to see you there.
The Latest from The Sun
Coloradans keep rejecting statewide tax questions to fund transportation. Democrats are now eyeing a regional approach.
“If the same ideological opposition gathers to any new transportation revenue, we’re running out of ways to tell local communities they can’t act on their own.”
—State Rep. Matt Gray, D-Broomfield
The multibillion-dollar backlog for upkeep and expansion of Colorado’s roads isn’t going away. But with Coloradans rejecting statewide tax questions to address it in back-to-back years, some Democratic state lawmakers are saying it might be time to go to Plan B: the creation of regional or hyper-local taxing districts to pay for transportation.
- Colorado Springs is cited as a model for a regional transportation authority in the story above. But regional transportation systems have their limits, as this story from Patricia Cameron highlighted last December.
Denver’s Rose Medical Center, celebrating 70 years, created a culture that countered post-war racial discrimination
Dr. Edmond Noel shown in his private practice office at 2800 Race St. in Denver. He was the first African American doctor to receive hospital privileges when he began practicing at General Rose Memorial Hospital, now HealthOne Rose Medical Center, in the 1950s. (Courtesy of the Noel family)
How often do you see a name slapped on an old building or a local institution and really think about where it came from? In the case of Denver’s Rose Medical Center, the history of WWII hero Gen. Maurice Rose was just the beginning of a story that changed the racial dynamics of health care in Colorado and around the country. Find some time to really read this one, folks.
Colorado officials have finalized their proposal for a public health insurance option. Here’s what we still don’t know about it.
I’m going to steal the deck from this John Ingold story: “Short answer: There’s a lot for lawmakers to fight over, from hospital and insurance company participation to an application for federal approval.”
More from The Sun
- The lucrative world of the outdoor retail show was shaken up last week when Snowsports Industries America — the founder of the Snow Show that is part of the massive Outdoor Retailer winter trade show in Denver — bought the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Expo in a bid to have more connection directly with consumers. Jason Blevins explains it all here.
- The market for black-market pot in other states is fueling illegal grows on public lands in Colorado and California that are leaving “toxic garbage dumps” in sensitive ecosystems.
Want some real news in your news feed? Follow The Colorado Sun on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
A lineup of unique vintage Shelby race cars, including the Shelby Factory Team Cobra CSX 2345 FIA Roadster at front, in the Shelby American Collection in Boulder. (Andy Colwell, Special to the Colorado Sun)
From the Opinion Page
- Columnist Diane Carman on finding inspiration in a bleak media landscape: “If it weren’t for Megan Rapinoe, we’d be up ‘Schitt’s Creek’”
- Columnist (and former Guiliani presidential campaign staffer) Mario Nicolais: “How Rudy Giuliani broke my heart”
- Health tech CEO Shepard Nevel on the passing of a Denver legend: “The life and legacy of Marie Greenwood, an extraordinary woman”
- DU Prof. Deborah Avant: “Let’s try to be civil enough to keep arguing”5th District prosecutor
- Jake Lilly: “Justice means we must believe sexual assault survivors first”
CORNER-TO-CORNER
RED FLAG ON “60 MINUTES:” The flagship CBS news magazine had a 15-minute segment on the Colorado sheriffs who say they will not enforce Colorado’s red flag gun laws when they go into effect in just a few weeks (here is The Sun’s coverage of the law for context and our in-depth profile of Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock). // 60 Minutes, The Colorado Sun
DANIELS FUND QUESTIONS: Does being a good student or a good American require that you are pro-business and unquestioningly patriotic? A new set of politically loaded questions for Daniels Fund scholars has sparked a social media outcry. // Chalkbeat Colorado
“IT’S COMING FROM THE FOREST” You’ve probably heard cello music before. But have you heard it … from the top of a tree? // KDVR
MLB TARGETS COLORADO CLUBS: Minor league baseball players are one of the most exploited labor groups in the country — the average salary tops out at $15,000 a year and players are often expected to buy their own equipment. But a proposal from MLB to cut ties with 42 clubs — including the Grand Junction Rockies and the recently minted Rocky Mountain Vibes in Colorado Springs — in order to increase player pay would wipe out leagues that have existed for decades. // PennLive, The New York Times ?
UNEASINESS IN NEDERLAND: “It’s us against them, and I’m not even sure who the ‘us’ is and who the ‘them’ is.” Charlie Brennan has a deep look at a divide over a changing town in Nederland. // Daily Camera ?
TALK RADIO DRAMA: Talk-show host Craig Silverman’s show on KNUS was cut off as he discussed support for the impeachment of President Trump. Silverman claimed he was fired for not toeing the party line but as of this morning, KNUS says that despite his show being removed from the station’s website, he was not fired and his show was interrupted because he was promoting appearances on a rival radio station. // The Denver Post ?
HEMP TECH: It’s been decades since hemp was a commercially farmed crop, and because of that, technologies to improve the act of harvesting hemp are far behind other crops. But on the Western Slope, two farmers have developed what they are literally calling a “Revolutionary Hemp Harvester” (patent pending). // Grand Junction Sentinel
FOOD BACKPACKS: Students have access to nutritious food during the school week, but to help combat hunger over the weekend, Las Animas School District launched a backpack food program. // Bent County Democrat
ALL THAT GLITTERS: Get ready for some outrage: Quartz published a major investigation into a scam that used Facebook ads to target older Fox News watchers for an aggressive scheme that used conspiracy theories and other scare tactics to steal their savings by selling them overvalued gold and silver coins. // Quartz
SPEAKING OF MONEY: Here are three stories I read over the weekend you might find interesting:
- “Billionaires Keep Benefiting From a Tax Break to Help the Poor. Now, Congress Wants to Investigate.” // ProPublica
- In 2017, FedEx owed $1.5 billion in taxes. After lobbying hard for President Trump’s corporate tax cuts, in 2018 it owed $0. And that so-called “renaissance of capital investment” that CEOs promised would come from the tax cuts? Nowhere to be seen. There’s a lot more in this story. // The New York Times ?
- Here’s a quick stat for the next time you see someone equate the stock market to the financial health of Americans: 84% of all stocks are owned by the wealthiest 10% of families — and that includes everyone’s stakes in pensions, 401(k)s and other forms of retirement plans. // The New York Times ?
Today’s Thing
The Thing: The Laundromat (Netflix), The Panama Papers (Hulu)
Why You Might Like It: So as you might be able to tell, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about money and power and the way they intersect with society and government. I finally watched the Steven Soderbergh movie “The Laundromat” last night and while it isn’t exactly a great movie it’s worth watching if you think of it as a 90-minute episode of a podcast explaining step-by-step how rich people (including Soderbergh himself, as he admits in the script) use off-shore shell companies to avoid paying taxes — that also happens to star Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas and Gary Oldman.
If you’re looking for a less flashy, more substantive look at the Panama Papers, over on Hulu, Alex Winters (yes, that Alex Winters, aka the other guy from “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures”) has grown into a talented documentarian and made one of the most concise, understandable walk throughs of the major scandal I’ve encountered.
What’s your thing? If you have something that you just can’t stop raving about that you’d like to share, send us an email at things@coloradosun.com and you could be published in a future Sunriser!
As we close out The Sunriser for today, we want to remind you that you can always reach us at newsroom@coloradosun.com or tips@coloradosun.com with topics you want us to dig into or just questions and comments about our stories. We love hearing from our readers.
Some of our most impactful articles began with an idea from you, the public.
Hope to see some of you out at BookBar tonight!
See you back here on Wednesday.
— Eric