In The NOCO

Fall begins Sunday – which means leaf-peeping season is here in Colorado. Soon the mountains will fill with people looking to drink in the glorious sight of all those orange and gold aspen leaves that cover the hillsides.   And you can bet that quite a few of those tourists will look at those vibrant aspen trees and wonder why they can't just plant one in their own yard. Experts with Colorado Stat...

The college experience can seem like a carefree time, filled with social activities, weekend football games... and, of course, the occasional visit to the library or an all-night study session.    But reality paints a very different picture for many students.   Federal data shows that nearly a quarter of the nation’s college students struggle with getting enough nutritious food. That’s 3.8 million...

Kids who were babies or toddlers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic... are now preschoolers and kindergarteners in Colorado classrooms. And experts see signs that the pandemic changed their behavior compared to older children.    A recent round of data from the Colorado Department of Early Childhood seems to confirm that more kids now show signs of developmental delays. Behavior patterns like...

Being a farmer or rancher in Colorado means living with uncertainty on a daily basis. Hailstorms, drought and insects can wipe out an entire season of crops. Diseases and predators can devastate livestock without warning.   And then there are other pressures, like holding onto a farm or ranch that’s been in the family for generations so it can be passed on to future family members. Experts say the...

Greeley artist Armando Silva paints some of the most prominent artwork along Colorado’s Front Range. His vibrant, expressive murals depict sugar beet workers who helped establish Fort Collins ... or a steer to honor the Greeley Stampede. And he’s working to create a space for more artists to create more murals. He’s part of the team launching WeldWalls , a brand-new mural festival in Greeley that...

If you follow national news, you might think the biggest story in Colorado right now is centered on an Aurora apartment complex that was reportedly overtaken by an armed group of Venezuelan gang members. If you watched the presidential debate this week, you likely heard former president Donald Trump mention that gangs had “taken over” the city.  Many right-leaning media outlets across the country...

Homeowners in Colorado have been watching their insurance costs increase at rates faster than the national average. On average, they pay more to insure their homes than homeowners in other states – about $1,700 more, according to recent figures. You might hear that and assume it’s because wildfires and hailstorms cause more destruction in Colorado, and climate change seems to be making it worse.  ...

Officials in the city of Boulder say they have a problem: too many parking spaces.  Some transportation experts believe having too many empty spots is a waste of space, especially considering some of that space could be used for housing, retail, or a park. By some estimates, Boulder has twice as many parking spots as it needs .   Some city leaders say that’s a missed opportunity in a city that str...

Columbus B. Hill was a pivotal figure in Colorado’s culinary history. He was a Black man originally from Missouri – and he was possibly the most popular barbecue chef in Denver in the late 1800s. His food was so good that it was served to thousands of people at official functions at the state Capitol.   But even among hardcore barbecue fans, very few people know his name. And his legacy wasn’t alw...

Drew Petersen’s career has been marked by extremes. As a professional skier, the Silverthorne native made a living carving turns on some of the toughest terrain in the world. But in recent years, he’s spoken openly, and made two films, about a different part of his life: his struggle with mental health and severe depression, which dates back to his childhood.   In his new film, Feel It All , Drew...

Colorado's Republican Party is torn between people claiming to be chairman at the state level. And it's splitting the party leadership into two factions at a critical time. It’s a presidential election year, and a moment when the party is working to regain some of the seats they’ve lost at the state level.   The leadership of the state GOP recently voted out their chairman, Dave Williams, and inst...

Since the 1980s, a growing number of Colorado school districts have adopted a four-day schedule. Currently, about one in seven K-12 public school students in Colorado attends class four days a week rather than five – primarily those in smaller, rural school districts. These districts often have smaller budgets than schools along the Front Range and in mountain towns. And researchers say the four-d...

The Palisade peach might be one of Colorado's best-kept secrets.   Those grocery store peaches from California or Georgia are perfectly fine. But a good peach from Western Colorado is often juicier, sweeter and bigger than its out-of-state competition.   As peach season winds down for the year, the In The NoCo team wanted to find out: What makes the Palisade peach such a singular treat?   It turns...

The Colorado Tourism Office recently published a report outlining the economic benefits of travel in different regions around Colorado. And the numbers show that tourism is growing.   The report labeled one region the ‘Rockies Playground’ – that's an area that includes parts of Summit, Eagle, and Pitkin counties. And visitor spending in that region grew by about 50 percent between 2013 and 2023.  ...

Weld County’s Clerk and Recorder Carly Koppes has a noticeable online presence. She posts lots of informational videos around election time telling voters how to cast a ballot or get ready for election day  But here’s something that keeps Koppes -- and a lot of other election officials -- up at night. Artificial intelligence is developing so quickly that a bad actor could take one of those videos...

Wildfires, like the ones that hit Colorado’s Front Range this summer , rip through communities. They torch homes and disrupt lives.   But wildfires can also cause some surprising -- even uplifting -- things to happen. They strengthen the bonds between neighbors. They make people more resilient. And those stronger connections help people prepare for future emergencies.  In fact, there’s a whole fie...

On Colorado’s Western Slope a single sign represents a mining town that was once there. The town helped provide the uranium in the first atomic bomb. The town was called Uravan.  Journalist Alec Cowan has long been fascinated by stories of Uravan. Cowan grew up in nearby Grand Junction and remembers hearing urban legends about Uravan. Officials closed and buried the town in the 1980s due to radiat...

In Colorado, there are approximately 3,000 search and rescue incidents each year, according to the state's Search and Rescue Association . And when someone goes missing in the backcountry, every hour counts. Heat, dehydration and exposure to the elements make a person's survival less likely as time ticks by. Rescuers in our state also deal with rugged mountains, steep canyons, dense tree cover, an...

A year ago last summer, a young bicyclist named Magnus White was struck and killed by a driver on Highway 119 near Boulder. A memorial ride for Magnus earlier this month drew more than 2,000 participants, with hundreds more joining virtually.   His parents spoke to the crowd and called for measures that would make roads safer for cyclists – including better bike lanes and stiffer penalties for car...

Grasshoppers are everywhere along Colorado's Front Range right now. They blanket the sidewalks and lawns – which makes them a pest. But they also devastate crops, which makes them a real problem for farmers.  Our friends at the Colorado State University Extension run a sort of hotline for folks with questions about gardening and lawncare. They confirmed that this is an extraordinary summer: They s...

A team of scientists, including a CSU seismologist, recently spent years peering beneath the largest mass of ice on Earth.  The unique study yielded fascinating insights about the relationship between the massive glaciers that cover much of Antarctica’s surface, and the ground underneath the ice. And the findings may help scientists better predict how climate change will affect sea level in the de...

If you read the Colorado Sun, you might be familiar with the comic strip called ‘ What’d I Miss? ’ It follows conversations between Ossie – a young Black man – and Myra – an older white woman – who has awakened from a long coma.    Together they struggle to understand modern day politics and culture. Ossie and Myra talk about issues like artificial intelligence, disinformation on social media and...

Comedian and writer Stephanie Sprenger bares all in her comedy.   Through her standup, the Arvada resident broaches subjects that might make people blush -- but are very real portrayals of life as a middle-aged single mom. She jokes about topics like menopause, potty breaks and divorce.  Stephanie is part of a group of four comedians and four storytellers performing this Thursday in Lafayette at a...

As much as 40 percent of the homes in some Colorado mountain resorts sit unoccupied for much of the year. And housing is in such short supply in communities like Breckenridge or Steamboat Springs that many workers find themselves living in hotels, rather than a house or apartment. Leaders in a coalition of ski towns called the Colorado Association of Ski Towns, or CAST, are asking lawmakers for a...

The 2024 Olympics are underway in Paris. And for the first time, breaking is an official part of the Games .   Breaking (or breakdancing as it’s sometimes called) originated in the Bronx during the 1970s, growing within the larger spectrum of hip-hop culture. But it’s more than just the music, the rhythms, and the athletic, visually stunning moves. There's a deep history and culture that surrounds...