Good morning!
Today is a big day for The Colorado Sun — we are kicking off our winter membership drive! This annual drive is important for The Sun because the Colorado Media Project is matching the first $5,000 in new or upgrading memberships we receive during the drive. It’s the quickest way to double your impact!
Members provide most of our annual revenue, allowing us to plan, travel, write, photograph, edit and produce the stories you count on from The Sun. We quite literally cannot be The Sun without our members. And you could be one of them. Our goal is to gain 200 new and upgrading members by Dec. 17. So if you’ve considered becoming a member, now is the time!
Will you join and help us meet our goal?
If you are already a member, THANK YOU. If you’ve been curious about Colorado Sunday or The Unaffiliated (or any of our other premium newsletters), this is the best time of year to upgrade your membership! Click here and go to the “Memberships” tab to upgrade.
No matter how you choose to support The Sun, we are grateful for you. Now, let’s get to today’s stories.
ECONOMY
A new Colorado coalition aims to put teachers and businesses on the same page. But what about students?
Aspen High School junior Max Sherman constructs a tiny home during woodworking class on the school campus. In John Fisher’s woodworking class, the students learn the skills of building a home from scratch. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)
There’s a mismatch between job openings and seekers, with about 121,000 open jobs and 106,000 unemployed people in Colorado. The solution? The new Education to Employment Alliance thinks it starts with adjusting skills taught in schools to better match the needs of employers. Clare Zhang explains more.
HIGH COST OF COLORADO
It’s expensive to go to concerts in Colorado. Let’s dig into why.
(Courtesy of Red Rocks Amphitheatre)
52.8%
The increase in average ticket prices at Denver’s Bellco Theatre since 2018
Just how far can you stretch your dollar at Red Rocks? For The Sun’s latest installment of the series High Cost of Colorado, Parker Yamasaki looks at ticket price trends, how attendance at Colorado’s cultural institutions has dipped and other changes in the live music industry that experts say are making a night out more expensive.
OUTDOORS
Colorado land trusts want increased support for easement tax credits to help “double down on conservation”
Banded Peak Ranch in Colorado’s southern San Juan Mountains has been protected with a conservation easement preventing any development. (Provided by John Fielder / The Conservation Fund)
“We have this sense that go-time is now. We are feeling a real urgency in terms of being able to protect land and do it in a really smart way.”
— Amy Beatie, the new executive director of Keep It Colorado
The statewide coalition of land conservation groups, Keep It Colorado, is on a mission to conserve 3.3 million acres of private land by 2033. (For perspective: that’s twice the amount of private land in Colorado that has been protected since 1965.) Jason Blevins explains how they plan to tackle the ambitious goal.
MORE NEWS
Woman shocked with Taser while on ground is suing Pueblo police officer, chief for not reporting it. The federal lawsuit filed by Cristy Gonzales, who was suspected of stealing a vehicle, says the police department found Cpl. Bennie Villanueva used excessive force against her and another person several weeks later.
🔑 = source has article meter or paywall
Pro-Palestinian protesters shut down Denver City Council meeting. The group took over the city council chambers to protest the upcoming Global Conference for Israel that is coming to the Colorado Convention Center this week, saying the organization behind it raises money for the ongoing brutalization of Palestinians.— The Denver Post 🔑 Colorado conservatives call for law enforcement action to ban books. A petition asking Republican District Attorney Michael Allen to use law enforcement powers to remove books from school libraries was signed by two sitting Republican state representatives.
— 9News Denver weighs raising temperature threshold for opening warming centers and stopping sweeps. Right now, the temperature must dip to 20 degrees — far below levels of cold that can cause hypothermia and frostbite — for the city to open warming centers.
— Denverite The Denver metro’s jumbo mortgage market is fizzling. The area’s market for massive mortgages dropped 34% between 2021 and 2022, with signs of an even bigger slowdown in 2023.
— Denver Business Journal 🔑
In “Rough Ride,” a TV reporter witnesses a death that launches a mystery
TV reporter Darcy Moreland has taken a job at a Cheyenne station and immediately sets out to make an impression at the city’s “rodeo days” festival. But in this excerpt from “Rough Ride,” the first volume of author Paulla Hunter’s adventure series built around Moreland’s character, her performance is interrupted by a sudden and mystifying death that sets up the investigation to unravel the strange chain of events.
Interview with the author. Setting her series in Cheyenne and around an event meant to mirror Cheyenne Frontier Days was easy for Hunter — her husband had a major role in the real-life event and she got to see its workings up close. But when it came to pursuing her writing, Hunter faced the distinct disadvantage of having a day job.
Speaking of stretching your dollar … please remember that by becoming a member today, or upgrading your membership, the Colorado Media Project will match the value of your membership and double your impact in making this reporting possible.
Have a great Tuesday.
— Olivia & the whole staff of The Sun
English (United States) ·