In The NOCO

For almost 30 years, a little-known program inside a Colorado prison quietly helped wild mustangs find new homes – and helped incarcerated men find new purpose.   The wild horse program at a Cañon City correctional facility paired horses rounded up from Western rangelands with incarcerated people who learned to care for, train, and prepare the horses for adoption.   The project helped the Bureau o...

Victorian Death Experiences is a Halloween attraction with a historic twist.   The program takes place in the historic home which houses the Center for Colorado Women’s History in Denver. Visitors see rooms decorated for mourning. They hear stories of death in the Old West. And they see fascinating artifacts, like hair jewelry made partly from the hair of a deceased loved one.   Above all, the pro...

Denver composer Nathan Hall’s new album of percussion music focuses on some unique instruments: They’re hand-carved from stone and date back several millennia.   Lithophones are polished, resonant rocks shaped like baguettes. Archaeologists say that Indigenous people used the stones somewhere between 2,000 and 6,000 years ago near what’s now Great Sand Dunes National Park.   Nathan wrote a series...

When school leaders in Colorado work to prevent shootings and other violent incidents – like the one last month at Evergreen High – they have a tool that officials in many states don’t have.   Under Colorado’s so-called “red flag” law, teachers and other educators are among those who can request that someone’s access to firearms be suspended if they appear to be a threat to themselves or others. ...

A week ago on the show, we talked about how to stay safe during fall hikes – and more specifically, what to do if you encounter a grumpy, pre-hibernation bear out on the trail.  But plenty of other animals in Colorado can dazzle us with their beauty while keeping us on guard as they fatten up for winter or look for a mate. So today, the In The NoCo team brings you a sequel of sorts: We're talking...

Taylor Swift seems to be everywhere these days. Her new album drops Friday. Her engagement to NFL star Travis Kelce is all over the news. And if that weren’t enough, she helps teach students at Colorado State University. Sort of.   Spanish for Swiftie Purposes is a course available to students at CSU. It’s been offered once, and the curriculum asks students to hone their skills at translating Engl...

Fear. Anxiety. Shame. And a horde of colorful, crocheted monsters.  They’re all part of an exhibit at the Denver Art Museum that asks visitors to confront some uncomfortable emotions.  Denver artist Sadie Young created cuddly and soft monsters with vivid colors and big eyes. And they’re all crocheted out of thousands of yards of yarn. Some are large enough for visitors to step inside.   The exhibi...

Many farmers on Colorado's Eastern Plains face uncertain futures.   They grapple with unpredictable crop prices, extreme weather that spoils harvests, and siblings with different levels of commitment to maintaining the family farm.  In the new fifth season of the award-winning KUNC podcast The Colorado Dream , the show offers a glimpse into the inner workings of a family farm.  The first new episo...

Fall is here, and the cool, crisp weather can make hiking especially appealing this time of year.  But fall is also a time to be especially cautious around Colorado's wildlife – including bears.   Black bears are extra-active as they hunt for food ahead of their winter hibernation. And encounters with them are not uncommon. State wildlife officials say Coloradans report about 4,000 bear sightings...

The Colorado Rockies are wrapping up their worst season in franchise history – and the second-worst season on record for any baseball team in the modern era.    So today, we’re talking about an idea that might hold potential to change the team’s fortunes in future seasons.  A big part of the Rockies’ misfortunes is the fact that Coors Field sits a mile above sea level. Baseballs fly further here,...

Every fall in southeast Colorado, hordes of hairy, eight-legged creatures leave their burrows and roam the landscape in search of a mate.   The tarantula migration draws hundreds of curious spider-lovers to La Junta around this time each year. The town’s annual Tarantula Fest offers tarantula tours, a parade, and other events to celebrate these oversized arachnids.  Erin O'Toole talked with Colora...

Just outside Leadville, there’s a tiny ski hill that just might help keep the ski industry vital in the decades ahead.   Students at Colorado Mountain College manage the Dutch Henry ski area as part of courses that train aspiring ski resort workers. And soon, those trainees will include future lift mechanics and operators . The students will practice their maintenance skills on a newly donated lif...

Students at Evergreen High haven’t returned to school yet after last week's shooting there. The incident ended with two students hospitalized after the 16-year-old gunman fatally shot himself.    About 900 students attend Evergreen High School. A powerful story in The Colorado Sun this week hints at the feelings those students will carry with them going forward. The story included text messages an...

Experts at History Colorado have been thinking of different ways to help commemorate Colorado’s 150th birthday next year. One idea they pursued was to track down the earliest known photograph of Colorado.   And what they uncovered is striking: It’s a daguerreotype from 1853, taken during an expedition across the West – more than 20 years before Colorado became a state in 1876.  The image depicts a...

Jeff Kagan and Paige Doughty have been wearing rainbow-colored socks while performing songs about nature and science in front of kids in Boulder for more than 20 years.   Their performances get kids rolling, crawling, and acting out animal moves while they sing fun, catchy lyrics about concepts like decomposition and photosynthesis.    The duo, which performs under the name Jeff and Paige , recent...

Somewhere in the vast reaches of the universe, there may be an Earth-like planet that could be a second home for humanity.   Although that may sound like science fiction, astronomers at the University of Colorado Boulder are part of a new project designed to help find that planet. And their efforts will soon get a major boost, as researchers from CU Boulder, in collaboration with NASA, prepare for...

In 1978, three men from Boulder set out a journey to make the first-ever crossing of Colorado on skis.    The three amateur skiers – Alex Drummond, John King, and Peter Vanderwall – carved a continuous line across the state, covering 490 miles of rugged, snowy backcountry from Durango to northeast of Fort Collins.    A new documentary, Moving Line , tells the story of their remarkable trek. Ahead...

It's a painful moment for the team at KUNC and The Colorado Sound.   In recent months we've talked about how federal cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting could hurt local member stations like KUNC.  In July, that became a reality when Congress clawed back more than a billion dollars in money from the public broadcasting system. And this week, station leaders announced 10 staff members h...

Colorado's Rocky Mountains have always drawn tourists. But for Black Americans in the 1920s and 30s, segregation and discrimination severely restricted where they could travel and take a vacation.   Which is why, in 1922, Lincoln Hills emerged as a mountain resort created by and for African Americans. It sits near Rollinsville, northwest of Denver, and was the largest resort of its kind west of th...

Visitors from around the globe head to Breckenridge for hiking in the summer, and skiing and snowboarding in the winter.   And soon, they might also visit to take in the town’s crystal-clear views of the night sky.   Breckenridge recently became the first ski resort town in Colorado to become a certified dark sky community. The designation comes from DarkSky International , which pushes to limit l...

In the depths of the ocean, miles beneath the surface, unusual new technology developed by Colorado researchers could soon help scientists make discoveries.   Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder are harnessing the unique abilities of jellyfish to act as underwater explorers in places humans can't easily go – like the Mariana Trench, 7 miles below sea level.  Nicole Xu is an assistant...

When the Colorado River makes headlines these days, it's usually in reference to drought. And what lower water levels mean for the 40 million people in the Southwest U.S. who depend on the river.    A new documentary screening in theaters around Colorado looks at those issues from a different perspective. It's a portrait of the plants and animals that rely on the river’s water as it winds its way...

More people in Colorado are turning their backyards into coops and runs for chickens. According to The Denver Post , people are finding satisfaction in raising their own broods – especially as egg prices remain high.  Paul Fleischer leads an introductory class to backyard chicken keeping at Fleischer Family Farm in Lakewood. The class addresses everything from how to build your own coops to how to...

Gardening in Colorado takes work.   You prepare the soil, choose what you want to plant, and lay out a design. Then once things start to grow, there’s all that weeding, pruning and manicuring – most of which is trickier given the Front Range’s tough soil and fickle climate.   Or – you could just grab a few random seed packets, sprinkle them over a patch of bare ground, and sit back and wait for th...

Kindergarten teacher Ellen Javernick has published over twenty illustrated children’s books. The Loveland resident’s first book, What If Everybody Did That? has sold more than a million copies.   She just published her newest book titled Awesome of the Day . It tells the story of a boy named Andrew who has one bad day after the next – until he learns to change his outlook.  Ellen teaches at Garfie...