In The NOCO

On a given night, there are more than 800 people experiencing homelessness in the city of Aurora.   That's according to the most recent survey from the Metro Denver Homelessness Initiative. Some of them find shelter and support at a regional center designed to house up to 600 people.   On Friday nights, one of those people is the city’s top elected official.   Since late February, Aurora mayor Mik...

If you're like most people, you've probably gotten at least one alert over the years saying that your mobile phone or favorite tablet is being put out to pasture.   It's that moment when the tech company behind the product is no longer supporting or updating the technology. That's often when you're forced to buy a newer (and more expensive) version.  A Colorado consumer group says this is unfair -...

Some Colorado ski resort managers are trying a new strategy as they recover from an unusually warm and dry winter, in hopes of making next season better.  The concept is called snow storage. Basically, resorts gather piles of leftover snow from the end of ski season and shield them from the sun and heat. The hope is that most of that snow will make it through the summer – and translate into a soli...

Nearly one in five new moms experiences anxiety or depression during pregnancy or after giving birth. These conditions can lead to difficulty bonding with a newborn, or a higher risk of suicide, if left untreated.    But a new experimental treatment is giving some researchers hope. It's a psychoactive substance derived from mushrooms called luvesilocin.  In a recent set of FDA trials , a single do...

Summer is a great time to see Colorado by car.    And this summer in particular, with high fuel prices pushing up airfares, more Coloradans may decide to keep their summer vacation plans a little more local .   Many Colorado highways provide stunning alpine views, scenic forests, wildflowers and waterfalls, and a connection to the state’s historic communities and culture.   Today on In The NoCo, w...

A poison control center is the place to call if your child accidentally swallows something dangerous, like paint or a detergent pod.    But the Rocky Mountain Poison Center based in Denver also tracks the things that poison Coloradans. It monitors prescription drug misuse, tracks new substances Coloradans might ingest and helps hospitals treat venomous snake bites.  Dr. Richard Dart first led the...

Do your eyes sting? Is your throat sore? Is it happening pretty regularly this summer?  You're not alone. It's already been a grueling wildfire season across Colorado: thousands of acres burned, hundreds of structures destroyed, three firefighters dead and a helicopter pilot lost in a fatal crash over the weekend.  But even if you're not that close to a wildfire, the secondhand effects of wildfire...

The winter sport Nordic combined requires intense effort. Athletes launch themselves off towering ski jumps – then push their endurance in cross-country ski racing the same day.  But the women's Nordic combined team in Steamboat Springs got attention in recent years for a different kind of effort. They called for a chance to compete in the Winter Olympics.   Men have competed in the sport in the O...

Colorado recently reached a major clean energy milestone: In the first three months of this year, the majority of its electricity – 53 percent – came from renewable sources, like wind, solar and geothermal.   That's according to an article from the news website Big Pivots . And it marks a significant step toward Colorado's goal of getting to 100% emission-free electricity by the year 2050.   But d...

A discovery by paleontologists working in Colorado is giving scientists a slightly revised history of primates. That’s the group of mammals that includes apes – and humans.   Scientists working at Corral Bluffs near Colorado Springs recently discovered tiny teeth and bone fragments belonging to a species called Purgatorius .   Purgatorius was an early and distant cousin of humans. It thrived 65 mi...

Drive through some communities in Colorado, and your movements may be monitored by a network of cameras that track your license plate. Police say they use these cameras to respond to crime and track down suspects.  A company called Flock Safety operates dozens of these cameras in Boulder, Denver and Fort Collins. They’ve quietly photographed millions of cars over the last year.  And right now, the...

This year marks the 250th birthday of the United States – and it’s also the 150th anniversary of Colorado becoming a state.  But it was not an easy journey to get there.  In December 1875, a group of 39 elected delegates from the Colorado Territory gathered in a brick building in Denver . Their mission was to lay out a constitutional framework for the state of Colorado – on a very tight deadline. ...

Headlines and video images from across Colorado and the West this week illustrate a brutal reality: Wildfires are deadly – and so is the work of fighting them .  News of three casualties in the Snyder Fire west of Grand Junction drove home that sentiment earlier this week. Three wildland firefighters who to traveled to Colorado died fighting the blaze.   So today on In The NoCo, we’re looking at t...

If you ask a wildlife official – moose are relatively new arrivals to Colorado.  In the late 1970s, wildlife managers released two dozen moose captured in other states into Routt National Forest near Walden. Before that, moose may have occasionally wandered in and out of Colorado, but didn’t have a permanent home here, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s official moose webpage .  But a rese...

Colorado leaders have a unique plan to make cheaper prescription drugs available. It’s starting to move forward after seven years in development – but the chances of success are uncertain.   Governor Jared Polis says Americans are getting “ripped off” when it comes to prescription drug prices. And he's looking to Canada to help remedy the situation. The plan calls for importing drugs from Canada,...

Wilderness areas are designed partly to let people escape the sounds of civilization – to get away from noise like traffic.   But a handful of recent decisions by Trump administration officials could bring a more jarring sound into wilderness areas in Colorado and other western states: the sound of chainsaws ripping through timber.   That's something that was prohibited for decades. But officials...

Colorado's Western Slope is famous for the fruit that’s grown there. Cherries, apples, and peaches are a staple of farmers' markets.  But Colorado is also famous for wild, unpredictable weather. And this past April, a spring freeze devastated many of the western slopes' fruit orchards. Some growers saw total losses of this year's crops.   We wanted to know how fruit growers survive, and keep their...

Scientists have a new tool in the fight to eradicate a fish that’s been causing havoc in some of Colorado’s mountain streams.    Brook trout are a nonnative species introduced in the state more than a century ago. They breed prolifically and edge out many native fish species for food and other resources.  Over the decades, "brookies" have steadily pushed out Colorado's native cutthroat trout.   No...

  Since 1960, the National Repertory Orchestra has brought talented college-aged musicians to Colorado to practice the art of playing in an ensemble.   Each season, about 80 young musicians are selected to join the NRO in Breckenridge. They spend eight weeks rehearsing and performing in Summit County. Many of them go on to pursue careers in professional orchestras across the country.     To get a...

A new stage production in Longmont and Boulder examines the displacement of Black residents.  In the 1950s, thousands of Black families in Indianapolis were pushed out when their neighborhood was destroyed to make way for the expansion of a university.    That area, known as Indiana Avenue, had been a thriving community, with Black-owned businesses, churches and newspapers.  A new play, 13 Fires ,...

This might be the end for text messages from the school lunchroom and Instagram pics from the hallways. At least if students follow the rules.   Denver Public Schools, the state’s largest school district, announced last week it's banning cell phones, smart watches and other devices during the school day. Previously, different schools in DPS had different policies on when or if to allow kids to use...

The city of Longmont last week took an unusual step toward limiting the impact of data centers on the community and its energy grid.  Data centers are built to support the growing tech and artificial intelligence sections. And they consume huge amounts of electricity and water, which makes them especially controversial in an arid state like Colorado.  The Longmont city council voted to restrict th...

Federal wildlife officials asked the public earlier this year for feedback on how Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program was going. It’s been two and a half years since Colorado wildlife managers began releasing wolves into the wild.  And one of the responses from the public contained a stunning admission.   The owner of one of the largest ranches in Colorado said — in writing — that a worker on t...

Fifty years ago, two men came to the Boulder County courthouse seeking a license to get married.  Marriage equality was not the law of the land in 1975. But Clela Rorex, the newly elected Boulder County clerk, could find nothing in Colorado state law that would prevent her from issuing a marriage license to a same-sex couple. So, she did. And she issued five more in the next few weeks before she w...

A few years back, federal regulators gave an ultimatum to negotiators from the seven states that rely on Colorado River water. It boiled down to find a path forward, or we'll figure one out for you.   It was a big ask. The agreement over how to share river water was a century old and overdue for an update. Severe drought strained the river and its reservoirs. Cities in the region, from Denver to L...