In The NOCO

When someone decides they need help with a drug or alcohol addiction, or to leave an unsafe living situation, one obstacle they often face is this: While I’m getting help, who will take care of my pets?   For many people, the bond with a dog or cat is a lifeline. But most in-patient treatment programs or domestic violence shelters can’t allow animals – which can force people to have to choose betw...

Don't let last weekend's snowstorm fool you: Colorado is midway through an unusually dry and warm winter. And it's likely to continue. The National Weather Outlook publishes a drought outlook forecast that says the entire state is likely to be in a drought three months from now if these conditions persist.    One major downside of a warm, dry winter is that it can damage or even kill the trees and...

A position on the ski patrol at a Colorado resort is a dream job for many people. They get paid to spend their days on some of the best snow-covered terrain in the U.S. And they help thousands of skiers and snowboarders have a great time in the High Country.   But that work can also take a toll. Aside from the physical demands of skiing as a full-time job, there are downright traumatic moments --...

An unusual production of one of the most popular musicals in history presents the final shows of its run this weekend in Boulder. More than a year ago, the show's director set out to stage the musical Fiddler on the Roof with the rabbi from one of Boulder's Jewish congregations playing the lead role of Tevye. Rabbi Marc Soloway of Congregation Bonai Shalom had trained and worked as an actor, befor...

It was a mystery that haunted Colorado search and rescue groups for almost two decades.   In September 2005, a 35-year-old woman named Michelle Vanek went missing while hiking on Mount of the Holy Cross , a challenging fourteener in Eagle County. Vanek had been hiking with a friend, but they split up after Vanek grew tired and decided to take an easier trail down the mountain.  She was never seen...

An idea borrowed from nature is helping people to rehabilitate some mountain landscapes devastated by wildfire.  Crews installed a series of small, wooden dams in the foothills west of Fort Collins to repair wetlands following the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome wildfires.  They’re essentially manmade beaver dams, built from logs and lumber to raise the water level and slow the flow of water in...

Denver composer Nathan Hall’s 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 of p...

Camping is one of the most popular ways to enjoy Colorado’s outdoors and breathtaking scenery. And there’s been a surge in demand for camping over the past several years, according to a recent report from the Center for Western Priorities. That demand makes it harder to try to snag a campsite during the peak summer months, when thousands of people are vying for a limited number of spots. But there...

Nearly every woman will go through menopause in middle age. That can bring on symptoms including sleep disturbances, hot flashes and night sweats, mood changes, and brain fog.    Drug companies have worked to ease those symptoms. But for more than two decades, warning labels discouraged women from using some hormone therapy treatments that contained estrogen – even if many doctors thought these pr...

Could money from sales of skis, snowboards and other sporting goods be used to help protect Colorado communities from increasingly devastating wildfires?  It’s an idea proposed by several conservations groups that could go before voters later this year.   Colorado law requires that most state tax revenue in Colorado be refunded when the state runs a surplus.  But a new proposal calls for the state...

It was a major story in Colorado: A hiker was found dead on New Year's Day , after a suspected mountain lion attack in Glen Haven, in the foothills west of Loveland.    The Larimer County Coroner later confirmed that 46-year-old Kristen Marie Kovatch of Fort Collins had died as a result of the mountain lion attack.  State wildlife officials responded by euthanizing two juvenile mountain lions in t...

Experts at History Colorado have been thinking of different ways to help commemorate Colorado’s 150th birthday this 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 C...

In an era of high-speed gondolas and sprawling ski resorts, it's easy to forget how some of Colorado's smaller mountains shaped ski culture as we know it today.   Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs is one of those mountains. It's a fraction of the size of the resorts in Aspen or Vail – or the bigger resort across town. But Howelsen Hill made a huge impact when it opened back in 1915. The hill bear...

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...

In 1895, Leadville city leaders faced a dilemma. The silver mining industry had made the town quite wealthy. But then the silver market crashed , and the city's fortunes cratered right along with it. Residents were leaving in droves to seek better opportunities.  So, city leaders came up with an unusual idea to draw tourists to Leadville, entice people to live there, and give the remaining residen...

For centuries, the Arapaho have called Colorado and Wyoming home. The tribe gave names to places like the Kawuneeche Valley, the Never Summer Mountains, and Mount Blue Sky.    But the language the Arapaho have spoken for centuries is at risk of disappearing, as fewer members of the tribe have learned the language.   A team of language experts at the University of Colorado Boulder is working to cha...

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 f...

Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program has been contentious from the start. It’s seemingly created a divide between rural ranchers worried about their livestock, and urban Front Range voters who supported reintroduction.   But there’s one effort that might help bridge that divide. It’s a specialty Colorado license plate with a drawing of a wolf, and a tagline that says “Born to Be Wild.”  The idea...

With the holiday season here, we’re right in the middle of a very busy time at Denver International Airport. But the airport isn’t just busy – it's also noisy .   And that can be tougher for travelers than you might realize.  Research suggests that exposure to noise can trigger stress in a traveler’s brain and body, which doesn’t help people already tense from trying to get through those crowded s...

Owls are symbols of wisdom, and heroes of literature – from Greek mythology to Harry Potter.     But a leading conservation agency says owls are in trouble along Colorado’s Front Range. They’re losing critical habitat as cities and suburban areas expand.  The Bird Conservancy of the Rockies recently launched what it calls the Urban Owl Nest Box program .  It’s an unusual project that asks Front Ra...

It's December in Colorado. Snowflakes are flying. And ski resorts are open in the High Country.     If you're like a lot of skiers and snowboarders, you’ve been eagerly anticipating that first trip to the mountains this winter. But you might not have put much energy into staying in shape during the off-season. My guest today specializes in helping people stay in shape for the ski slopes — and avoi...

Every December, Santa Claus literally does the impossible – delivering presents all over the world with a team of flying reindeer. So when someone becomes a stand-in for Santa at your local mall, or work party, those are big boots to fill.   But as it turns out, being Santa is a teachable skill.  Susen Mesco founded Professional Santa Claus School in Denver in 1983. She says more than 5,000 Santas...

Imagine traveling from Denver to Pueblo in just 20 minutes. And instead of sitting in traffic on Interstate 25, you'd make the journey through a sealed tube moving almost at the speed of sound.       That’s the vision behind Hyperloop – an innovative transportation technology that’s being tested right here in Colorado.     The Hyperloop works like this: You fill a specialized pod with people, or s...

  Scromiting  refers to an intense form of illness – a mix of screaming and vomiting – brought on by overindulging in cannabis.    CNN recently reported that scromiting is on the rise and quoted one female patient who described the pain as “worse than childbirth.” The New York Post noted that misdiagnosis is common because many doctors don’t know about the condition.     The CDC and World Health O...

A unique retelling of the holiday classic The Nutcracker explores the history and cultural importance of Denver's Five Points neighborhood.    The Five Points Nutcracker replaces the story’s traditional characters with significant figures from Denver’s African American community. Five Points was once known as the “ Harlem of the West. ”   Duke Ellington’s jazz version of the music is the backbone...