Pandemics come for us all in equal measure, right? Aren’t we all equally vulnerable? Not exactly. As the first cases of coronavirus arrive in the state, Colorado health and social services officials say they are striving to make sure lower-income residents and people of color are not disproportionately impacted by the illness and potential economic […]
Michael Booth
Michael Booth is a Colorado Sun reporter covering health, health policy and the environment.
Email: booth@coloradosun.com Twitter: @MBoothDenver
Posted inBusiness, Health, News, Technology
Paging Dr. Algorithm: How AI and other new tech are changing care in Colorado hospitals
A wobbly leg emerges from under a blanket and makes a tentative search for the polished floor below. The movement catches the eye of Lupita Rodriguez, who’s responsible for keeping this patient safe. Rodriguez leans forward to talk to her patient, who immediately stops at the sound of the authoritative voice. “Mrs. Smith? Please call […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors
Colorado plans to abandon its battle against the emerald ash borer
Mike Swanson stands under a thinning canopy of the wounded-but-still-standing, bluntly assessing the enemy. Here on Evergreen Hill, in the heights of Washington Park, acting Denver forester Swanson is surrounded by the ghosts of soldiers cut down in their relative youth. They gave their all for the mission of bringing shade to a high-desert metropolis. […]
Posted inColoradans, Health, News
In rural Colorado, emergency medical services struggle to keep money-losing ambulances rolling
When flames shot from the third-story balcony of a downtown Frisco condo this spring, a firefighter riding in an ambulance got there first, zipping a block over from patrol on Main Street, scoping a plan of attack and attaching the first hose the moment a full fire engine arrived. In tiny Holyoke, population 2,215, when […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Politics and Government
“Whose dog is this?” and other odd questions fielded by Denver’s resourceful 311 agents
Perhaps the civic engineers who dreamed up Denver’s 311 information system imagined that callers would be inspired to seize the machinery of municipal services and glorify the concept of participatory democracy. Turns out, not so much. Apparently the most burning question of all among Denver’s newly-empowered civilians is this: What day is the garbage truck […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Health, News
GMO food labels are coming. But with most products already using modified ingredients, battle lines have shifted.
While you were eating, some of the biggest controversies over genetically modified foods have largely been settled. At least nine out of 10 kernels of corn grown in Colorado are GMO, as are 98 percent of the sugar beets and much of the alfalfa, canola and other commodity foods. Modified potatoes that can better handle […]