In The NOCO

Many Americans are saddled with medical debt — and that’s true for both insured and uninsured people. Half of respondents to a recent survey by the Commonwealth Fund said it was "very" or "somewhat" difficult to afford their health care costs. The survey’s authors say this challenges the notion that simply having health insurance makes care affordable or accessible. These findings help us understa...

It’s a fitting day to think about the future — it's the second day of the new year. It is also National Science Fiction Day – a date commemorating the birth of the late Isaac Asimov, one of the genre's most celebrated authors. Like Asimov, a lot of us are fascinated with tales of the future. One of sci-fi’s living legends, author Connie Willis , says that’s a good thing. “We, I think, get to step...

Ghost stories have been on Heather Kelley’s mind for a long time. Kelley is an actor and educator at University of Colorado Boulder where her research focuses on dark tourism, ghosts as manifestations of trauma, and haunted attractions, to name a few. Since the early days of her acting career, Kelley has heard no shortage of haunting tales about the theaters and venues where she’s performed, begin...

Journalism wasn’t always in the cards for NPR’s Lori Lizarraga , until one 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 is informed by he...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced Oscar shortlists in 10 categories – and Greta Gerwig's "Barbie " is dominating those lists. Moviegoers in Northern Colorado helped fuel the Barbie phenomenon , not only for big cinema chains, but also infusing mom-and-pop theaters, like The Lyric in Fort Collins, with massive revenue from ticket sales.. Colorado State University pr...

Much of what we understand about Elijah McClain — both his life, and his death in 2019 at the hands of Aurora police and paramedics — is thanks in large part to people like Candice Bailey. The Aurora activist led many of the protests that introduced people to the 23-year-old Black man, described by friends and family as gentle, creative and a free spirit. Her work helped people honor McClain’s lif...

For many, the holidays are all about gratitude, reflection, and family – but they can also be a major source for tension. If you’re among the 60 percent of Coloradans traveling for the holidays , you’re likely navigating congested roads or chaotic airports . If you’re hosting dinner, you’ve got a whole other set of concerns, like catering to an array of dietary needs, and getting a hundred differe...

A mysterious disease has been affecting some of our favorite — furry — friends. So, we had to learn what we could about canine respiratory illness because let’s face it — many of us love our dogs like people . (OK, some of us love them more than people.) In recent months, veterinarians in Colorado have seen a rise in this disease so we sat down with veterinarian Dr. Amanda Kavanugh . She gave us h...

Every Tuesday at Central Park in Boulder, Jen Livovich offered food and support to people experiencing homelessness through a nonprofit she founded called Feet Forward. Livovich knew a lot of the people she was helping at the time — and still does. That’s because she also struggled with homelessness for several years. Then in 2018, she received a state voucher that helped her secure a stable home....

Millions of people rely on water from the Colorado River, but there’s just not enough to quench everyone’s thirst. In other words, there's a big gap between the amount of water in the river, and the amount that people are using. It is a conundrum that policymakers across seven Western states continue to grapple with. Last week, more than 1,000 people with a stake in the river’s future met in Las V...

Colorado has a rich railroad history, from mining trains carved through the mountains to freight trains chugging across the city. A lot of us hear them — sometimes too often — but we rarely get the opportunity to actually ride the trains. But that might change soon. Last week, a plan to develop a passenger rail line using existing freight tracks along the Front Range was accepted into a federal gr...

It’s a Christmas tale as old as the Bible. During a cold snap in Denver last December, Pastor Eddy Hopkins responded to an urgent call from Larimer County leaders. They told him Denver was overwhelmed with migrants who’d recently arrived in the city from the U.S. southern border. They asked if he could help. The pastor sprang into action and Peak Community Church in Fort Collins became a shelter f...

People tend to trust local and state leaders more than federal lawmakers. A recent Gallup poll found that 59% of Americans have faith in state government yet only a third of respondents trust federal legislators. But, as we’ve learned time and again from our reporting at KUNC, transparency is a problem at all levels of government. For the last year, KUNC investigative reporter Scott Franz has been...

There’s a long history of Americans taking to the streets to make their voices heard. To march, and to protest has come to define one of the more powerful ways people participate in our democracy.  Recently a group of local immigration activists embarked on a long-distance march that mirrored the multi-day marches of the Civil Rights Movement. Members of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition wal...

Longmont-based 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 instances of when people have tried to control nature and ultimately it's failed,” Miller says. In his new book, “Over the Seawall,” Miller examines the deeper impacts of...

Musician Domi Edson ’s move from Seattle to Colorado wasn’t fueled by the typical cliched reasons. She came for the jazz. “I had heard really good things about both the size and the quality of the jazz scene here,” Edson told In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole. It is a scene defined by sense of place — Edson says the local jazz world has a quintessential “Colorado vibe.”  “It’s just a very positive thing...

Amid Israel’s intensifying military campaign in Gaza, more than 2,000 people gathered in Denver last week for the Jewish National Fund's annual Global Conference for Israel. The violence in Gaza follows an attack by Hamas militants in October that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel. Hamas took hundreds more hostage. Since then, Israel Defense Forces have killed more than 15,000 in Gaza and di...

The trauma of domestic violence is a scar that survivors carry with them for many years — and often silently. A recent report from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office tells us that more people in Colorado are enduring this kind of abuse, and not surviving it.  It shows the number of domestic violence deaths in 2022 was roughly 1.5 times higher in comparison to the last seven years. A lot of fac...

The sugar beet industry began in Colorado right around 1900. Today it's only a small part of the state's economy, but through the early part of the 20th century , beets were the most significant agricultural product grown here. They were so important to the economy that people  referred to sugar beets as 'white gold.' During this time, thousands of Hispanic and Mexican people came to Northern Colo...

Hollywood has long depicted Native Americans in the most problematic of ways. American Westerns are some of the biggest offenders. Their portrayals of Indigenous people as savagaes has only deepened the intergenerational trauma Native people face. But these portrayals and the film industry more broadly are changing, somewhat.  “Killers of the Flower Moon” tells the story of a massacre that Osage p...

During Jim Crow and even after those laws were overturned in the 1960s, green book sites were safe havens — places where Black Americans could stop when they were traveling without fear of discrimination or violence. The sites bear the namesake of what’s known as the Green Book . It contained listings for hotels, restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores and more. Terri Gentry says her grandparent...

Colorado’s wine producing roots trace back to the 1800s, when Italian miners brought wine culture to the state. The grape-growing industry would later become a casualty of Prohibition, when grape vines were torn from the earth at the government’s behest. It wasn’t until the early 1970s that wine started to make a comeback in the state.  Today, wine culture in Colorado is having a moment. A recent...

Every year on Thanksgiving, radio stations around the country play Arlo Guthrie's 1967 track "Alice's Restaurant." But how did this 18-minute satirical song about littering and the Vietnam War become a Thanksgiving classic?    The song, based on a true story, is about Guthrie and fellow musician Rick Robbins. “They were home for Thanksgiving, and they were hanging out with their friend Alice and t...

For a holiday centered on gratitude, Thanksgiving is also a recipe for tension. If you’re among the 60 percent of Coloradans traveling for the holidays , you’re likely navigating congested roads or chaotic airports. (Yeah, we're looking at you, DIA!) If you’re hosting dinner, you’ve got a whole other set of concerns, like catering to an array of dietary needs, and getting a hundred different dishe...

Colorado has made multiple strides toward representation and equality for queer residents. The Movement Advancement Project, an independent think tank, gives our state high ratings for a range of policies that protect sexual orientation and gender identity. This marks a big change from a few decades earlier, when Colorado was dubbed the 'Hate State' after voters approved a 1992 ballot initiative,...