City Cast Denver

We are smack in the middle of Great Outdoors Season, and it might be a good time to remind you that no, you should not touch that cute baby animal. City Cast Denver Producer Paul Karolyi sits down with Jason Clay of Colorado Parks and Wildlife to talk this year’s wildlife trends.  Plus, a new VOICE on the Street! This time, Denver VOICE vendor Raelene Johnson shares a poem she wrote about gun viol...

Lisa Calderón is one of those people in Denver politics that everybody knows. Whether she’s running to be Denver’s first female mayor or making change by working as Chief of Staff for her friend, Councilperson Candi CdeBaca, she’s built power around her name. And now she’s taking that power and reputation to Emerge Colorado — an organization that trains Democratic women on how to run for office. C...

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of moths? We know. It’s that time of year, when the miller moths complete their annual migration from the plains to the mountains, wreaking havoc on Coloradans along the way. This year, we caught it all on mic … except, not really. Enjoy this dramatic audio presentation from the City Cast Denver crew, which is a loose adaptation of Orson Welles’s War of the...

When longtime CEO of Denver International Airport Kim Day announced her retirement back in May, Mayor Michael Hancock called up an old friend and colleague to see if he wanted the job. That friend, former RTD CEO Phil Washington, jumped at the chance to move back from Los Angeles — can you blame him? But now that some pretty serious allegations about his time with LA Metro have come to light, Phil...

Two years ago, Kayvan Khalatbari was running to be mayor of Denver. He had started a chain of pizza shops, helped legalize cannabis, supported numerous arts organizations, and he had big plans for managing Denver’s growth. Now he’s the ringleader of a growing group of progressive-minded Denverites decamping for Trinidad, Colorado, a small rundown town on the New Mexico border. Mutiny Information C...

Free love, psychedelic drugs, and the Grateful Dead: These are the tenets of Denver’s thriving jam band scene. But for decades, jam musicians say they’ve been dealing with a gatekeeper who projects a positive image while walking all over them. After some much more serious allegations against Denver’s ‘Grandfather of Jam Music’ came to light in March, some of those frustrated musicians are taking a...

It’s beach-reading season, people. And one of Denver’s best novelists is back with an absolute corker of a mystery. Since he left a career in criminal justice, Manuel Ramos has published 11 novels and one short story collection — all revolving around Denver and specifically the Chicano community Manuel knows so well. His latest is Angels in the Wind: A Mile High Noir. It follows ex-con private inv...

We’re doing things a little bit differently today. It’s Friday and it’s Pride weekend, so City Cast Denver producer Xandra McMahon invited her friend and fellow journalist Danika Worthington to hang out and talk all things Denver Pride at the city’s last lesbian bar, Blush & Blu, which also happens to be one of the last lesbian bars in the whole country. Xandra and Danika talk about what Blush & B...

In the world of single-use plastics and Styrofoam, big changes are on the horizon for Coloradans … eventually. While Denverites will have to start paying for plastic and paper bags in July, the rest of Colorado won’t see the effects of a new bill until 2023 (if Polis signs it, of course). CPR News reporter Miguel Otárola has been following this potential plastics ban as it’s progressed through the...

The economic recession caused by the pandemic is driving a wedge through Denver — and all of America. While many people have lost jobs or worked in dangerous conditions, many others have seen their lots in life improve, leading to explosive growth in the real estate, car, and furniture markets. It’s not an easy thing to talk about, and it’s way harder to do anything about it. That’s where Resource...

This past year, Cherry Creek was more of a respite than ever. It’s the place to see world-class murals, walk with friends, and go for bike rides, but it’s a heckuva lot more important to Denver than just recreation. When City Cast Denver producer Paul Karolyi stumbled on a massive new creek renovation project last year, he uncovered a fascinating history of creek management (and mismanagement). To...

In the past 12 years, Denver has experienced an explosion of economic growth (as well as a slew of growing pains, such as increasing rates of inequality, homelessness, traffic, and gentrification). And it just so happens that those are the same 12 years that Kelly Brough served as a leader for the business community in her role as president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. She’s ma...

The City of Denver finally recognized Juneteenth as a commemorative holiday earlier this year. But for many Denverites, it’s always been a big deal. The Juneteenth Music Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and every year the event gets bigger and the message gets stronger. And as we learned this week, it’s something of a family affair for organizer Norman Harris III. City Cast Denver pro...

A few months ago, the Nuggets and the Avalanche both looked like championship contenders, but both teams flamed out hard in the playoffs. So what happened? City Cast Denver producer Paul Karolyi commiserates with Sports Guy Jake Shapiro (who also happens to be a breaking news reporter for the Denver Post). Plus, City Cast Denver’s resident foodie Peyton Garcia ate at Denver’s buzziest new fine-din...

When The North Face refused to print co-branded jackets for a Houston-based fracking company, Denver oil and gas execs cried foul, sparking a months-long trolling campaign to highlight what they see as hypocrisy in the outdoor recreation industry. It’s a showdown between one of Denver’s most powerful legacy industries and the new kid in town, VF Corp, the multi-billion dollar company that moved he...

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to kickstart an economic recovery that at the same time addressed our climate crisis? Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse thinks there is one. He’s proposing to bring back a popular program from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s time — the Civilian Conservation Corps. Starting in the early 1930s, the CCC was meant to get people back to work after the Great Depres...

When Councilperson Candi CdeBaca learned that Denverites were being evicted from their homes last year despite the federal eviction moratorium, she knew something had to change. The progressive young politician partnered up with Councilperson Amanda Sawyer on a new measure to help renters, and it passed unanimously on Monday night. City Cast Denver producer Paul Karolyi sits down with Candi to tal...

After the explosion of outrage over police violence last summer, many activists turned to the hard work of incremental criminal justice reform. One of those efforts came to a head earlier this week on the second to last day of the legislative session. Colorado Freedom Fund founder Elisabeth Epps was there pushing for change that, she says, would have kept more people out of jail (and out of harm’s...

What happens to Denver if every service worker leaving the industry learns to code? Turing School of Software & Design trains programmer newbs for entry level tech jobs, and at the height of the pandemic they decided to make remote learning permanent. City Cast producer Paul Karolyi sits down with Turing’s executive director Jeff Casimir to talk through the data that led to that decision, what it...

As we slowly re-emerge from the pandemic, it seems like everyone is talking about a labor shortage. But is that really the problem? And is there a bigger story to tell about how our economy is changing? Today on the show, City Cast Denver producer Paul Karolyi sits down with Elle Taylor, co-owner and founder of Amethyst Coffee, to talk through her very different perspective on the so-called labor...

Every legislative session begins with hopes and dreams. Lawmakers propose hundreds and hundreds of bills, and over the course of a few months their dreams are mostly dashed. But with the Colorado State Assembly set to adjourn some time this week, the Democrats in control already have one big win under their belts: a long-awaited, much-needed $5.4 billion bill to address our state’s deteriorating t...

We've got another weekend bonus episode for you! It's a #listenlocal podcast recommendation from our friend Berry of Podcasts in Color, the largest database of podcasts produced by people of color in the world. Berry's pick this month is Bangin' & Slangin' with KMofo and Da Butcher, which they describe as "the podcast where anything goes." So yeah, this one's got some explicit content. Subscribe t...

In-N-Out has been getting all the buzz — and insanely long lines — since it opened its first Denver area location last year. Five Guys is an East Coast favorite. Shake Shack strutted into town from NYC with a hip new look and a lot of big talk. But really, who do these transplant burger chains think they are, coming into our city thinking they can make burgers?! City Cast Denver’s crack team of ea...

The sun’s out, the rain’s finally cleared up, and it’s never been a better time to hop on a bike. And if you need help finding good trails and bike paths, Bike Streets has a map for you. Founded by Avi Stopper, the community bike advocacy group wants to get more people out of their cars and onto their bikes, with community pledges, group rides, and informational resources. But one thing Avi’s not...

At 60, Longmont Pastor Paula Stone Williams came out to her friends, family, and coworkers as trans. She had been a leader in the conservative evangelical community, but take one guess how that went over. Paula’s got a new memoir out this week about all that and what she learned along the way. It’s called “As a Woman: What I Learned about Power, Sex, and the Patriarchy after I Transitioned.” Today...