Colorado’s pricey Thanksgiving meal

Good morning and happy “you might just barely have time to defrost your turkey” day! I haven’t been in charge of the bird at just about any of my Thanksgiving meals as an adult, but I have gently settled into the role (pun intended) of “Dinner Roll Guy.”

I can credit my increasingly specialized duty to one simple recipe: Claire Saffitz’s “Pull-Apart Sour Cream and Chive Rolls.” They are basically everything you love about a classic Parker House roll, but plussed up with enough bold flavor to stand out among any feast, no matter how opulent. They also form the base of the best leftover turkey sliders in the world, so you may want to make a couple dozen more.

While the ingredients of these tender, feathery rolls are on the cheap side, the rest of the meal is looking to be a little more expensive, as we’ll explore as part of today’s dive into the weekend’s worth of news. So get that bird in the fridge, make sure you’ve got plenty of flour and let’s tuck in already, shall we?

Eric Lubbers

CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE NEWS

ECONOMY

Colorado’s Thanksgiving dinner cost is the 4th-highest in the country, even as prices nationwide drop

Nationwide, a dip in the price of turkey led to the traditional Thanksgiving meal being a little bit cheaper on average. But as Tamara Chuang reports, every one of the dozen items in the American Farm Bureau Federation’s survey cost more than the national average in Colorado, jumping up a combined 23.6%.

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• What’s Working: Colorado’s job growth ahead of US but unemployment rate rises to 4.1%. October marked the first time since January 2022 that Colorado’s unemployment rate was higher than the national average. Tamara Chuang digs into the numbers.

IMMIGRATION

Immigrants in Denver jobs program hope to start new year working in restaurants, construction and child care

Of the 850 people enrolled in the city of Denver’s six-month asylum-seeker program, more than 300 are currently learning the skills that can help them land a job in areas that the city desperately needs workers. Jennifer Brown reports on the first round of migrants who are hoping to get an asylum application complete so they can get to work.

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WILDLIFE

Amid opposition to newly approved mountain lion plan, CPW commission urges respect for employees

[https://coloradosun.com/2024/11/25/cpw-commission-approves-lion-plan-urges-respect-for-employees/][https://i0.wp.com/newspack-coloradosun.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Trinidad-Lake-Schendel-047.webp?w=768&quality=80&ssl=1][Mountain lions on Colorado’s Eastern Slope will be managed under an updated plan after the Parks and Wildlife Commission unanimously approved it Nov. 15 in Lamar. (Colorado Parks and Wildlife photo)]

Recent studies have shown that recent conditions in Colorado — with the largest elk population in the country and “sufficient stalking and hiding cover” — have created the strongest population of mountain lions since 1965. With that apex predator thriving came a new management program — and opposition from all sides. Tracy Ross has more from the November Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting.

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POLITICS

Cañon City voted to build a new swimming pool. But not to fund it.

Voters delivered Cañon City a mixed decision: They approved a combination of sales taxes and debt to build a new year-round pool facility, but narrowly rejected a mill increase to pay for the pool’s operation. Will the city take the dive without a guaranteed deep end to land in? Sue McMillin has more.

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MORE NEWS

• Colorado PERA budget calls for 20% jump in spending to modernize its benefit system, even as state pivots toward austerity.  The computer system PERA uses to track and pay out benefits is 40 years old — the oldest still in use by any public pension in the U.S. — and is enough of a hindrance that the board is willing to spend to upgrade, Brian Eason reports.
• Fact Brief ☀️ Will cage-free eggs be required in Colorado starting in 2025? Por Jaijongkit has the details of the law — passed as House Bill 1343 in 2020 — that kicks in Jan. 1.
• Colorado funeral home owners plead guilty to state charges in case involving 190 decaying bodies. The owners pleaded guilty to 190 counts of abuse of a corpse as part of deal with prosecutors in which Jon Halford agreed to serve 20 years in prison and his wife, Carie, could face 15-20 years.
• Older Coloradans, Americans living alone often rely on neighbors or others willing to help. U.S. society assumes families take care of their own, but roughly 15 million Americans 50 and older don’t have any close family.

COLORADO SUNDAY

How much water do Colorado communities actually need? In one, surprisingly little.

Douglas County, amid its rapid expansion, is doing things a bit differently. Some of its towns plan to double in size in the next 30 years, but new homes use shockingly little water. Experts say that’s good news — every drop counts. But will it encourage more growth? Jerd Smith explores the impacts on our state’s housing and water crisis in this week’s Colorado Sunday.

READ MORE

Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

THE COLORADO REPORT

• It’s a better time to be a renter in Denver as rates fall. With an 11% vacancy rate for apartments in metro Denver, apartment landlords are offering up big concessions in order to fill the empty units.
  — Denverite
• Save the snow days: A young activist seeks to preserve tradition. A 2020 study found that 40% of all school districts have replaced snow days with remote learning. A Colorado Springs student is petitioning her school district to bring back the good ole days.

— Colorado Public Radio

• Once Xcel’s last coal plant in Colorado closes, is nuclear energy an option to replace its jobs, electricity? An advisory committee recommended Xcel replace the coal plant with nuclear reactors, but a recent poll shows residents prefer wind and solar farms.
  — The Denver Post 🔑
  

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

Section by Olivia Prentzel | Reporter

THE OPINION PAGE

COLUMNS

• Where the resistance could get real: Mayor Mike Johnston says Denverites would actively resist mass deportations. It’s hard to know the best way to resist the Trump restoration. But withdrawing because the news is so depressing cannot be an option.
  — Mike Littwin
• Will it be a Bluesky Thanksgiving? The upstart social media network that has grown exponentially post-election has set the stage for people opting out of holiday plans.
  — Mario Nicolais

CARTOONS

• Your ski pass, yourself. Now that we’re done with all that Red vs. Blue nonsense we can concentrate on what really matters: Skiing. Find your mountain homies here.
  — Peter Moore

The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy and submit columns, suggest writers or provide feedback at opinion@coloradosun.com.

Thanks for starting this short week off with us! If you’ve got a favorite Thanksgiving recipe you’d like to share with our little Sunriser community, send it on over to newsletters@coloradosun.com!

Good luck out there and we’ll see you tomorrow!

— Eric and the whole staff of The Sun

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