In The NOCO

Access to a great education – and finding a way to pay for it – was a common thread running through some of the most notable bills Colorado lawmakers introduced at the state capitol in recent months.  The 2024 legislative session wrapped up last week with lots of new laws on the books, including one that offers two years of free community college to some state residents. Another bill, designed to...

Springtime in Northern Colorado means the return of a quintessential summer pastime. The Fort Collins Trolley resumed service last weekend. This season marks 40 years since the restored trolley began once again to take passengers on a leisurely journey along Mountain Avenue into Old Town.   The electric streetcars were once a common sight in the streets of Fort Collins, at least until the early 19...

A shortage of affordable housing – and a shortage of teachers – recently forced leaders in Eagle County to try an ambitious new project. They’ve taken the unusual step of becoming a builder and landlord for some of the school staff on their payroll. Miller Flats is a 37 unit housing complex built exclusively for school staff in Edwards. Last year reporter Rae Solomon listened in while second grade...

Last summer was brutal for the Colorado River - low water levels underscored the rising threats from a changing climate. Now, we're waiting on next moves from state and federal governments ahead of a quickly approaching 2026 deadline .  Several states have proposed new ways to divvy up water from the river, which serves about 40 million people in the southwest United States and Mexico. Tribes that...

Colorado Mountain College isn't your typical higher education institution. Ski and snowboard repair, avalanche technician, ski area operator, and fly fishing guide are among the many career pathways that CMC offers. The school serves roughly 12,000 students across 11 campuses in mountain communities like Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs and Leadville. It also acts as a bridge to larger universities...

The Force is strong with Colorado. For starters, there's Gov. Jared Polis, who regularly invokes Star Wars and other sci-fi stories in press conferences and state of the state addresses. Then there's the fact that the first-ever Star Wars Celebration - the largest gathering for fans of the franchise - was held in Denver in 1999. And a recent survey shows that Colorado is the fourth-most passionate...

Back in January we learned about a man whose life took a huge turn. David Carillo had been serving a life sentence for his involvement in a murder that happened in 1993. While incarcerated, he began taking classes, and earned a degree. He continued studying, until he became one of the first professors in the country to teach from behind prison walls.  And now, after Gov. Jared Polis granted him cl...

It’s a presidential election year. And in the months leading up to November 5, 2024, we’re focusing our coverage around the issues people in our community, including younger voters, say they care about most.  To better understand what's most important to college students and other young voters, we're working with student reporters at Front Range Community College. Isabel Delgado and Julian Hanes w...

Tourists choose to take vacations in Colorado for numerous reasons – like our breathtaking mountains and the chance to hurtle down them on skis or snowboards. There's lots of hiking, fishing, whitewater rafting – even cannabis tourism. But what about wolf-watching? Since ten wolves from Oregon were released on the Western Slope last December, there's been plenty of interest in them. Ranchers, for...

We're closing out this week by commemorating National Poetry Month. And who better to celebrate with than Todd Simmons, founder and director of Wolverine Farm Publishing in Fort Collins? In 2002, Simmons left his job in the field of social science to focus full-time on literature and poetry.  "I think creative expression, and the ability to communicate and give voice, is something that people are...

As human interaction with our planet has evolved over time, so has the human emotional experience of living on Earth. Perhaps it’s no surprise that, as we become more aware of the climate crisis affecting the planet, our emotions tend toward cynicism and sadness.  Charlotte Lin , the sustainability coordinator for the mountain town of Avon , thinks hope should be part of the emotional equation, to...

Anxiety about climate change is hitting the youngest of us hard. And if you’re too young to vote, it may feel like there’s nothing you can do to change what your future looks like. But students in the Boulder Valley School District proved otherwise this past school year. A group of high school students successfully campaigned for the school board to adopt the Green New Deal for Schools resolution...

Longmont author and journalist Stephen Robert Miller is fascinated by climate disaster stories. He says they’re often teachable moments. “There’s so much to be learned from looking in the past — environmental histories and histories of instances of when people have tried to control nature and ultimately it's failed,” Miller said. In his new book, “Over the Seawall,” Miller examines the deeper impa...

While Colorado is known for having breweries on every corner, there's a new trend in town: cocktails - without the alcohol. The popularity of non-alcoholic drinks is soaring – especially among young adults – and more bars and restaurants are starting to feature creative mocktails on their menus.  Currently, Colorado has only a few completely sober spaces where alcohol isn't served at all. But some...

Colorado is one of the healthiest states in the nation when it comes to physical fitness. Perhaps that’s no surprise given how much there is to do in the outdoors. But when it comes to mental health, Colorado ranks in the bottom half of states, according to a 2023 report by Mental Health America. While there are a few reasons for this poor ranking, we’re going to zoom in on one factor that has to...

Today we’re listening back to a conversation with aquaponic chicken farmer Sean Short of Blooming Health Farms , located in Greeley, Colorado. And just what is aquaponic chicken farming?  Short says the farm uses aquaponics, “a fancy way of saying that we have some fish, and we use the fish water to grow plants.” In other words, aquaponics combines fish farming with hydroponics. Short is also usin...

A career in journalism wasn’t the plan for NPR’s Lori Lizarraga – at least, not until the day she found herself in the wrong classroom at Southern Methodist University. Lizarraga says she “stepped into Narnia” when she walked into the studio where journalism students were broadcasting the school’s daily newscast.  The Latina journalist has been telling stories ever since – and a lot of that work a...

It's spring… and a handful of Northern Colorado farmers markets are opening up for what's likely to be a busy season – at least, if the last few years are any indication.  We've come to expect throngs of eager shoppers waiting in long lines to buy western slope peaches by the crate, boxes of Olathe sweet corn, Pueblo chiles, and other locally grown produce. But farming in Colorado comes with a lot...

The risk of wildfire is a reality that is beginning to define life in Northern Colorado. This last weekend, tens of thousands of people in Boulder County were left suddenly without power for days when Xcel shut it off in anticipation of high winds and potential loose lines.    Today we’re listening back to an interview covering a 2023 report from the company CoreLogic, which showed that thousands...

Have you ever wondered how NPR came to be? It certainly didn’t happen overnight. The history of National Public Radio is long and convoluted, starting in the early twentieth century with university-housed stations scattered across rural areas. These stations broadcast things like cooking lessons, and how to use indoor plumbing. But with the Communications Act of 1934 came the first congressional c...

Northern Colorado’s unique weather patterns can be a challenge for backyard gardeners. The climate is dry; the growing season is hot and short. And of course, we’re no strangers to wind and hail events. But new research out of Colorado State University can help gardeners choose crop varieties that thrive in those conditions.  KUNC's rural and small communities reporter Rae Solomon spoke to the res...

On Monday, April 8 a total solar eclipse will darken the skies over 13 states, from Texas up to Maine. While Colorado is not in the path of totality, in which the moon completely covers the sun, our region will experience a partial solar eclipse .  A total solar eclipse over the U.S. is relatively rare – the last one occurred in August 2017. And cities and towns in the path have been gearing up fo...

Immigrants are the backbone of a lot of mountain communities in Colorado. That’s because many work in service industry jobs that keep these towns thriving. But for immigrants in these places, certain disparities are more pronounced, like access to transportation. In one part of Summit County, this particular issue had become dangerous in the snowy winter months. “We need to walk on the roads where...

It’s no secret there’s a crisis of shrinking local news across the U.S. And we know that in places where local news evaporates, democracy takes a hit. Government corruption tends to increase when powerful entities realize there's less media scrutiny on what they're doing.   "This year has been particularly difficult for the local media news business," says journalist Corey Hutchins . The co-direct...

Most people would agree that the immigration system in the United States is broken… but how it's broken – and how to fix it – are the real debate. As this debate persists, the stories of people caught in a messy immigration web continue to rise.  The documentary film If I Could Stay tells the story of two such people, Jeanette Vizguerra and Ingrid Encalada Latorre , two undocumented mothers living...