• Owners of sports teams often create complicated trusts with one goal in mind: to let their kids keep control of the franchise. What they don’t often foresee is how it fractures their families. The Denver Broncos saw that play out when Pat Bowlen left the team to his seven children and they quickly became enemies as they fought for control. And now the family of the late Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss is experiencing the same fate. Buss’ estate passed ownership to his six children, but disputes over whether and how to cash out have caused the siblings to become estranged. If you own a multi-billion-dollar sports team, and the demographics of Denver PR Blog readers suggest several of you do, just direct your estate to sell the team and split the cash among the kids. At least they’ll still spend Thanksgiving together.
• What would you get if you crossed Bill Gates‘ brainpower with an utter lack of ethics? Well, you’d get Bill Gates. But you might also get his daughter, Phoebe Gates. A Bloomberg report found that the younger Gates and her business partners at their $30 million start-up Phia knowingly engaged in “cookie stuffing,” which allowed them to reap commissions for online sales they did not generate. One attorney noted that the practice could result in a “max penalty of up to 20 years in prison.”
• Penn State is known for its “White Out” tradition at football games, but I don’t think this is what they had in mind. Thirteen current and former Penn State students have been charged with cocaine trafficking after members of the Sigma Chi and Delta Upsilon fraternity houses allegedly helped package the cocaine, and in some cases required pledges to help as part of the process to become new members. The leader of the alleged operation went by the nickname “Pablo Pledgescobar,” and authorities quickly uncovered the scheme when they realized one of the dealers was accepting Venmo payments using his actual name.
• Speaking of cocaine, professional tennis player Nick Kyrgios has been suspended after allegedly testing positive for the drug at an ATP Tour event. Kyrgios issued a statement saying, in part, he “made a huge mistake and I take full responsibility for it. I’m sorry to my fans, my family, my sponsors and everyone close to me.”
• Federal and state Medicaid cuts, combined with growing uncompensated care from uninsured patients, make it difficult enough to operate a hospital in Colorado, but UCHealth is facing another unexpected challenge – ICE isn’t paying its bills. Immigrants detained by the Department of Homeland Security division have rung up more than $4 million in bills, but UCHealth hasn’t been paid in more than 10 months.
• Former University of Colorado football player Shilo Sanders is fighting an $11 million legal judgment against him stemming from an assault when he was in high school, and his father – CU Coach Deion Sanders – is getting dragged into it. A Boulder County Sheriff’s Office deputy tried to serve a subpoena to Coach Prime during a recent open practice, but was, ahem, rebuffed. Arrangements were made for his lawyer to accept the subpoena, but the trial is scheduled for the same week that CU plays its opening game against Georgia Tech.
• Democrats at the state legislature continue to keep ethics committees busy. This week, the lawmaker facing scrutiny is Rep. Sheila Lieder, who has been accused by a legislative aide of retaliation after she declined to volunteer for Lieder’s campaign efforts.
• The National Association of Black Journalists gave ESPN host Stephen A. Smith its “Thumbs Down” award for what it says is Smith’s “recurring pattern of disparaging commentary directed at prominent Black women across politics, sports, and media.”
• Streamers such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Paramount+ have thrown a lot of cash at sports leagues to carry their games, but leagues are realizing that the influx of cash comes at a cost: visibility. Being siloed behind streaming apps means that fewer people watch. Netflix won the rights to stream last week’s MLB “Field of Dreams” baseball game played in a cornfield in Iowa, and it drew 1.66 million viewers. The previous game was broadcast on Fox and had 3.10 million viewers – nearly double what Netflix attracted.
• Gmail users should expect even more solicitations for political donations now that Google has quietly loosened its spam filter to allow more requests through. The change follows years of complaints from Republicans that Gmail’s spam algorithm unfairly blocked their emails.
• Columnist Matt Calkins resigned from The Seattle Times after the paper refused to publish his piece on transgender athletes in women’s competitions.
• The New York Times lost its first defamation court case in 50 years when a jury ordered it to pay a former University of Alabama basketball player $9.25 million after it incorrectly reported he was at the scene of a deadly shooting. The Times called the reporting error an “honest mistake” and noted it quickly corrected the reporting.
• State Republicans claim that Colorado is turning into California, and that progressive cities like Denver are leading the way. But there is one difference between Denver and California – California knows how to spell Califorina California.
• How can editors avoid the “deluge” of low-quality, AI-generated pitches? The trade publication The Food Section has switched to a pitch-by-phone model that requires people to actually call the publication. I assume you have to leave a message because no reporter has answered their phone in at least a decade.

Who won the week?

• It’s not always easy to tell truth to power, so credit to City of Golden Community Engagement and Communications Director Meredith Ritchie. During the fallout of a racist incident within the city’s Fire Department, she sent a blistering email to city leaders calling their response “unacceptable” and that their actions were “damage control” rather than “leadership.”
• Rachell Buell has joined Dovetail Solutions as Director of Client Services.
• RTD appointed Candace Smith as its Chief Communications and Engagement Officer (CCEO). Godspeed, Ms. Smith.
• It’s your last chance to buy tickets to the 2026 PRSA Colorado Gold Pick Awards. The event is next Thursday, Aug. 27.
• The City of Bow Mar has taken one black eye after another over its plan to block non-residents from using its public streets, most notably from Kyle Clark at 9News. With that horse well out of the barn, the city has retained the PR firm Greenlight Strategy to help with “media relations, communications, public affairs, and proactive community outreach.” For benchmarking purposes, the contract pays Greenlight Strategy $300 per hour.
• Denver7 recently added Peter Choi as a multimedia journalist.
• Altitude Sports named Noah Reed and Katy Winge to the Denver Nuggets broadcast team. They replace Scott Hastings and Chris Marlowe, who were let go earlier this summer.
• Denver is one of three finalists to host the Democratic National Convention in 2028. Philadelphia and Boston are the other two.

• If you want to see three-time NBA MVP and current Denver Nugget Nikola Jokić play basketball in the 2027-2028 season, you may need a plane ticket to Greece. ESPN is reporting that the owner of the Panathinaikos Basketball Club in Athens has made a proposal to encourage Jokić to opt out of his final year with the Nuggets and then sign the star to a long-term contract.
• Meta billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is defending the crew of his $300 million yacht for “repeatedly” declining to assist a nearby boat in distress. Zuckerberg, who was not on the ship at the time, says the crew did not hear the radio calls requesting help.
• Emails show that an aide to President Donald Trump convened officials from the departments of energy, transportation, interior and agriculture, as well as the Office of Management and Budget, in an effort to identify ways to punish Colorado for the imprisonment of election denier Tina Peters. The Denver Post reports that, “In the days that followed (the aide’s) note, several agencies included in the email announced adverse actions against Colorado, canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and moving to close a renowned climate lab in Boulder.”
• U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is denying reports that conditions aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln have deteriorated to the point that sailors have thrown themselves overboard and taken other steps to try to kill themselves. The ship has been at sea without a port call for about 250 days, the second-longest period in modern history. Despite denying any issues, the U.S. Navy is now rushing the U.S.S. George Washington to the area to allow the Abraham Lincoln to return home.
• Do you remember, 20 years ago, when Newsweek was a reputable publication, and then the dot-com bust hit and it was acquired by sketchy click-bait farms? Forbes is slowly headed down that same swirling drain. Its pay-to-play guest columnist program is totes sus (trying to increase my millennial/gen Z readership), and now a Forbes editor has been fired after secretly taking a $6 million payment from the founder of a research firm that Forbes partners with.
• U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert‘s troubled teenaged son was arrested again, this time for sexual exploitation of a child. He is alleged to have filmed a 43-second video of himself having sex with a 17-year-old girl when he was 18.
• If you learned that 72 people fell ill and seven were hospitalized while attending the Tacos and Tequila Festival in Colorado Springs, you might first suspect tainted lettuce or jalapenos, and then perhaps too much tequila. But, in fact, it was heat-related illness that took them down.
• Speaking of the heat, climatologists say that July was the hottest month in the U.S. in the 132 years they have been tracking it.
• The Washington Post is reporting that President Donald Trump had to secretly switch planes to depart a NATO summit in Turkey by hiding in a catering container because of Iranian threats on his life. Remember that move next time he posts an AI-generated image of himself as Rambo on Truth Social.
• FIFA President Gianni Infantino seems to be weathering an effort to oust him after his failed bid to sell a piece of the World Cup to private equity, but the question now is whether the damage has wounded him enough that he won’t survive for the long term.
• As brands have increasingly discovered the power of Reddit to influence both AI and consumers, Redditors have taken notice and are preparing to fight back in the name of keeping the social platform authentic.
• USA Swimming CFO Cory Hilliard has been placed on leave after being arrested for allegedly embezzling $9,500 from the University of Colorado while he was an administrator in the athletic department. No one has stolen that much money from CU since QB Kaidon Salter‘s NIL deal.
• The Buffalo Bills spent $2.2 billion on a new stadium and it has made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Fox reports, “Some (seats) have a pane of glass blurring views … and in the lower level about 30-40 rows up at the 12-13-yard line have their view of the other side of the field blocked by a standing platform.”
• It is hard to determine who is being dumber: LSU or its former Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels. Daniels is mad that LSU didn’t retire his jersey number and has given it to a new player on the team. So Daniels had his lawyers send a pouty cease-and-desist letter saying revoking the university’s right to use his name or image in promotional materials. As for LSU, given that only three players in its 122 years of playing football have won a Heisman, maybe automatically retiring the numbers of winners wouldn’t be out of line.
• You know the Little League World Series is just around the corner when the first lawsuit about eligibility is filed.
• And, finally, a Gizmodo reporter who uses the McDonald’s app took advantage of a California law that requires companies to give consumers access to the data it has collected on them. What McDonald’s shared was “a 515-page report that included predictions on how often he’d frequent the restaurant, when and where he was most likely to visit, and what he was most likely to order.”

Who won the week?

• GroundFloor Media‘s Lauren Noser has joined the board of Early Milestones Colorado.
• Vail Daily/Summit Daily/Aspen Times politics reporter Rob Tann is joining The Denver Post as its politics reporter.
• 9News added Mackenzie Stafford as a reporter. She joins 9News from KRDO in Colorado Springs.
• Sports reporter Justin Adams has left CBS4 after an eight-year run at the station.
• Ron Zappolo, Bob Martin, Alan Berg, Peter Boyles, Bob Gourley, Stu Haskell, Steve Kelly, Reynelda Muse and Roger Ogden are the honorees for the Colorado Broadcasters Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
• Joseph Martinez claimed a skateboard that Tony Hawk autographed and hid in Denver‘s La Raza park. Hawk then posted an Instagram video letting his followers know the skateboard was up for grabs.

• Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton attempted suicide on a TikTok livestream this week, and viewers were the ones who alerted authorities. Hilton was hospitalized and survived. Meanwhile, TikTok officials acknowledged that a “moderator error” prevented the livestream from being removed promptly after users reported it for violating the platform’s rules.
• After a couple of weeks of fading headlines, Taco Bell is facing a new round of accusations relating to the Cyclospora outbreak. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Michigan health officials alerted the Mexican food chain about their concerns weeks before Taco Bell first warned its customers.
• Meanwhile, FDA officials say that more than 345 cases of salmonella across 27 states have resulted from tainted jalapeños served at Chipotle and Qdoba. Hopefully Chipotle still has Chris Arnold on speed dial.
• Former 9News and Altitude TV sportscaster Todd Romero has been arrested and charged with indecent exposure to a child.
• BMW touted a “special surprise” partnership with Sony-Marvel‘s latest movie, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” and many of its car owners were excited. Would it be free tickets? Invitations to advance screenings? As it turned out, it was neither. Instead, BMW started pushing unsolicited and spammy ads for the movie to their dashboard screens. And BMW owners had thoughts that were captured by The Hollywood Reporter: “That’s some absolute bullsh**”; “Insanely dystopian”; “$130K to get a Spider-Man commercial” and simply: “F*** everything about this.”
• It is no secret that Colorado marijuana sales have been trending downward for years following the state’s legalization of the recreational stuff in 2012. So it is not particularly surprising that Native Roots is closing its plant in Denver and plans to lay off more than 140 employees.
• Broadway actor Geno Segers‘ offer to join the cast of “Hadestown” was rescinded after videos the producers deemed anti-trans surfaced. In one of the clips, Segers stated, “I’m not against anyone living out their lives the way they want, but I am against their rights superseding the rights of other people. … I don’t see transgender people becoming oppressed or being oppressed.”
• It’s never good when you become the face of a controversial issue. Crocs is no doubt realizing that thanks to a Wall Street Journal article focusing on companies that use Malta as a haven to avoid taxes. As the WSJ reported, Crocs has just two of its more than 8,000 employees located in a small office in Malta, but it claims for tax purposes that all of its global revenue is generated in that country.
• A postal worker was arrested for allegedly stealing a winning lottery ticket worth $2,600 while it was being mailed to the Florida Lottery for redemption.
• Most scooter rides only cost a few bucks, but San Francisco Giants outfielder Harrison Bader’s recent one could cost him millions. Bader was involved in a collision that put him in the hospital, and now the Giants are refusing to continue paying his two-year, $20.5 million salary.
• Remember the Ink Coffee “gentrification” ad that outraged Denver‘s Five Points community? It merely resulted in a boycott and a few rocks thrown at one of its locations. In South Korea, a Starbucks ad that offended much of the public resulted in police raiding the company’s headquarters.
• In the U.S., we like to vandalize Flock cameras. In Scotland, it’s parking meters. Authorities in North Berwick are searching for a vandal who is defacing meters with superglue and expanding foam, but they aren’t getting much help from locals who are widely fed up with parking enforcers.
• A new class-action lawsuit filed by two Coloradans against a host of ski-resort and ski-industry companies, including Colorado-based Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Co., alleges that the companies engaged in anti-competitive behavior alleges that the companies engaged in anti-competitive behavior by “conspiring to raise and stabilize ski pass and ski product prices across the industry by exchanging confidential information.”
• If you are still using a first-generation iPhone from 2007, I have some bad news: you no longer have a cell network to connect to. T-Mobile officially ended its 2G cellular service, eliminating the last type of U.S. cellular network the original iPhone could use. RIP 2G.

Who won the week?

• PRSA Colorado announced two of its 2026 special award winners:
  • Wendy Manitta Holmes from Elbert County Government is the Swede Johnson Lifetime Achievement Award winner.
  • Danielle Moore from Noodles & Co. is the Jane Dvorak Mentor of the Year.
• Novitas‘ Michelle Balch Lyng is a 2026 PR News “People of the Year” honoree.
• Dovetail Solutions promoted Jen Hayes to Senior Director of Client & Editorial Services.
• Saint Tattoos in Fort Collins is one of 10 women-owned Etsy shops selected by singer Olivia Rodrigo “for an exclusive handmade collection tied to Daisy Chain Fields, the singer’s inaugural all-women music festival next month in California.”
• To celebrate Colorado‘s 150th birthday, the Denver Business Journal compiled a list of businesses that are older than our state. Among them are Denver Health, The Brown Palace, Mile High United Way, Duffy Crane & Heating and My Brother’s Bar.
• Colorado Christian University has added former Vice President Mike Pence as a visiting faculty member.
• “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” defied a string of disappointing superhero box-office numbers when it brought in $957 million globally in its first weekend. Domestically, its $355 million exceeded analysts’ projections of $195 million. I guess those BMW ads worked.

Buckle up. It was quite a week.

• You may have thought this summer’s World Cup was a PR dumpster fire with its “FIFA Peace Prize” and FIFA officials kowtowing to President Donald Trump‘s demand to rescind a red card for an American player, but things have really escalated in the two weeks since the tournament ended. FIFA President Gianni Infantino blindsided the world with a plan to sell billions of dollars in stakes in the World Cup to private equity, including Joshua Kushner, the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The European soccer federation UEFA is leading the resistance, and its 55 member countries that include Spain, England, Germany, France and Italy have announced they will boycott all FIFA events until the proposal is killed.
• U.S. Senate Republicans subpoenaed Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to ask questions about the origins of COVID-19 and his response to the pandemic. What they got was Fauci invoking his Fifth Amendment right to not answer questions more than 100 times. Following the hearing, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley criticized Fauci, tweeting that “no honest person pleads the Fifth.” Democrats were quick to point out that President Donald Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment rights more than 400 times in a 2022 deposition.
• Artificial intelligence systems at both Anthropic and OpenAI have gone rogue and independently hacked into computer networks of third-party companies, an ominous sign that may validate A.I. researchers who fear that the technology is advancing so rapidly that it could soon spiral out of human control.
  • Meanwhile, SE2‘s Eric Anderson is among those criticizing the A.I. company LemonLime for its “Orwellian” plan to offer immediate job interviews to anyone who agreed to get a tattoo of the company’s logo during a networking event. Seven people took the company up on its offer, and the CEO responded to the backlash by announcing, “I messed up.”
• Mercurial actor Jared Leto may have an Oscar, but his career is quickly being defined by the number of women coming forward claiming he sexually assaulted them. This week, the BBC aired a documentary that included allegations from 10 women that he abused them, including one who accused him of statutory rape. Leto has not been charged with any crimes related to the 10 women and he denies the allegations. He has also been accused of other sexual assaults over the course of his career.
• LIV Golf was created as a splashy alternative to the PGA golf tour, and it was funded with billions of dollars of Saudi Arabian money as the country tried to elevate its presence in the sports world. The Saudis didn’t get what they expected from the tour, and they have pulled the plug on their funding and LIV has just canceled its marquee final event, its team championship that would have awarded more than $40 million to the winners. LIV appears dead.
• The K-pop band BTS is planning to boycott the Grammys over what it believes is an attempt to sideline the band from higher-profile categories by creating a new category, “Best Asian Pop Music Performance.”
• CBS football analyst Tony Romo is on leave from the network after being arrested for DUI.
• A Canadian court of appeals has ruled that a man wrongfully served 18 months in prison after being convicted of child sexual abuse imagery offenses when investigators mixed up his username on an instant messaging app. The man’s username was “fus_ro_dah” and the username of the individual authorities meant to target was “fus__ro_dah.”
• In normal times, Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Victor Marx would be considered … an unconventional choice? He makes a living performing exorcisms, has claimed to have killed a person for the first time at age 7 and has had to backtrack from claims that he has rescued 45,000 at-risk women and children abroad. But in today’s Colorado Republican party that doesn’t seem to be serious about winning, he is pretty much on brand. Experts give his opponent, current Attorney General Phil Weiser a roughly 96% chance of winning, and some Republicans are concerned that former Republican Greg Lopez who is running as an Independent could cause Marx to fall short of the 10% threshold needed for the Republican party to maintain its status as a “major party.” Marx needs something to change the current dynamic, so it was a surprise to see him announce this week he would refuse to participate in a debate with Weiser if it included a moderator.
• A U.S. citizen is facing felony charges after he gave customs officers his duress passcode for his phone when they demanded to search it after he returned from a trip abroad. Entering the duress passcode immediately wiped the phone. The man’s attorneys argue the search was illegal in the first place and that he was targeted because of his history of anti-police activism.
• Not a Wall Street Journal headline that Aspen homeowners want to see: “Aspen’s Market Seemed Unstoppable Until the Snow Disappeared.” Clearly Colorado’s lack of snowfall in recent years is having an impact.
• San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan – a Cherry Creek High School graduate and son of former Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan – is expected to miss some of the team’s training camp after being significantly injured in a car accident. Shanahan broke his nose, three ribs and bones in his hand; needed more than 40 stitches; and suffered what is described as a “severe” concussion.
  • Kyle Shanahan‘s car accident wasn’t reported in the media for nearly two weeks, and some journalists including ESPN‘s Adam Schefter have been criticized for allegedly sitting on the news at the San Francisco 49ers‘ request. Schefter co-wrote a book with Kyle’s father Mike Shanahan.
• The Denver Public Schools board and superintendent Alex Marrero find themselves in the worst kind of stand-off. Neither of them wants Marrero there, but the board refuses to buy Marrero out of his contract and Marrero refuses to resign. Good luck, kids!
• Howard University has reinstated 200 students – about 20% of its incoming class – that it accepted and then unenrolled when they failed to meet school deadlines for payment. Many of the students said they had reported pending scholarships and payment plans to the school well prior to the school’s deadline. In a moment of cognitive dissonance, the school interim president both announced the students had been reinstated and then insisted that, “The university didn’t make a mistake.”
• The Tour de France was forced to reroute its final stage due to wildfires ravaging the country. The tour shortened the final stage and redesigned it to take place entirely within Paris because emergency personnel originally assigned to the tour have been redeployed to the southwest of France to help address wildfires.
• When a pair of journalists wrote articles critical of eBay, several of the company’s security personnel went nuclear, including anonymously mailing them threatening packages containing a funeral wreath, a book on surviving the loss of a spouse, live cockroaches and a bloody pig mask. When the plot finally fell apart, seven eBay employees were charged and several served prison sentences. This week, eBay settled a lawsuit with the journalists for $56 million.
• Elijah Bieniemy, the son of former University of Colorado running back and current Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, has been arrested after allegedly shooting his mother, Eric’s wife, at their home in Virginia.
• An official presentation from officials at the U.S. Department of State at the AIDS 2026 summit in Rio de Janeiro featured a map of Africa that called out six countries that are receiving U.S. funding. All six countries were misidentified.
• The University of North Carolina sold its soul for the chance to get the NFL‘s greatest coach ever, Bill Belichick, as its head coach. It has been a disaster, and it is getting worse. Belichick’s team went 4-8 last year and was overshadowed by a feud between UNC’s athletic department and Belichick’s 26-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson. This season hasn’t even begun yet, and already there are more issues. UNC just placed Belichick’s hand-picked general manager, Michael Lombardi, on leave due to alleged HR complaints. Meanwhile, the College Sports Commission, the enforcement body that looks into potential violations of NIL and revenue-sharing rules, has reportedly launched an investigation into the program.
• Cracker Barrel has been on a years-long decline as its core customers dwindled and its country-kitsch brand prevented it from attracting new, younger customers. The company brought in CEO Julie Masino to shake things up, and she did by refreshing Cracker Barrel’s brand and modernizing its locations. Many existing customers revolted, however, and the Cracker Barrel board undermined Masino and caved immediately, creating one of the biggest PR disasters of the past year. Predictably, Masino is now out at Cracker Barrel.
• A minority owner of the WNBA‘s Seattle Storm franchise has been suspended and fined by the league after confronting and cursing at two teenage girls who held signs supporting Indianapolis Fever star Sophie Cunningham at a recent game. Cunningham has been vocal in her opposition to allowing transgender women to play in women’s sports.
• Thirteen YMCA campers in New Jersey were reduced to what a parent described as “little baby zombies” after consuming mushroom-laced edibles brought and shared by a fellow camper.

Who won the week?

• Cancer recovery support nonprofit Worth the Wait has selected M&C Communications to provide PR services.
• Denver‘s Sukle has been named Ad Age‘s “2026 Purpose-Led Agency of the Year.”
• CBS4 reporter Alan Gionet is retiring from the business after nearly 40 years as a television journalist.
• Colorado was named as the No. 1 state in the country for education by U.S. News & World Report.
• Forbes released its list of highest paid podcasters, and Joe Rogan topped it at $82 million. Others on the list: Jason and Travis Kelce made $35 million from their podcast “New Heights,” while actors/comedians Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes made $37 million.
• Happy birthday, Colorado. Our state turns 150 tomorrow.

• Is Taylor Farms the source of the Cyclospora parasite that has sickened more than 11,000 people in the U.S.? The FDA first said a positive test confirmed it was, then walked back that test as a “false positive” but said it remained confident that Taylor Farms was the source. Adding intrigue, Taylor Farms claimed the FDA apologized, but the FDA disputes that. Nothing like a “whodunnit” to keep this issue front and center in the headlines.
• Controversial bro influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan were arrested in Miami after British authorities filed 38 charges against them that included rape and sex trafficking. The brothers also face human trafficking charges in Romania and the state of Florida has an active criminal investigation into their behavior.
• Denver Water set a goal of users reducing their water usage by 20% following our record drought winter. How is it going? Users have cut their usage by 2%.
• The Denver Downtown Development Authority (DDDA) has dangled $7 million in incentives to encourage Alterra Mountain Co. – the owner of the Aspen/Snowmass, Jackson Hole and Arapahoe Basin ski resorts, among others – to relocate from RiNo to Upper Downtown. Kyle Zeppelin, the nepo owner of Zeppelin Station that currently houses Alterra, is furious, calling the financial incentive to help move Alterra from one part of Downtown Denver to another the start of a “civil war of neighborhoods.”
• Just because the FIFA World Cup is over doesn’t mean the crass commercialization has ended. New Jersey is feuding with FIFA over what it says are FIFA plans to sell small bits of the World Cup Final playing surface to fans. At stake are proceeds of more than $11 million, money that New Jersey officials believe should belong to taxpayers who paid for the field.
  • Speaking of soccer, an independent international advisory body has notified FIFA that some recent World Cup games may have been fixed. FIFA, not surprisingly, is dismissing all the claims, saying that its own analysis found “no suspicious betting activity or indications of match manipulation.”
• The Henley Passport Index is a measure of which countries’ passports get the holder into the most other countries without prior visa authorization. It is considered by some to be a ranking of the soft power that countries hold globally. Two decades ago, the U.S. was tied for first, and this year we have fallen to 10th. The new leader is Singapore, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Japan and South Korea, which are all tied for second.
• FIFA President Gianni Infantino has shown remarkable levels of sycophancy to President Donald Trump, including making up a FIFA Peace Prize to soothe President Trump’s hurt feelings after being passed over for a Nobel Peace Prize. Now, President Trump is lobbying for Infantino to be the next United Nations secretary-general, an endorsement that will certainly kill any remote possibility Infantino had of getting the job since the position is elected by secret ballot and the winner can be vetoed by Russia or China, among others.
• We’ll file this one in the “It’s Never Too Late to Do the Right Thing” folder – Flock CEO Garrett Langley has apologized for calling privacy advocates who oppose Flock cameras “terrorists.” Langley told Forbes this week that, “My comments were a mistake and I apologize.” Did he have a change of heart? Unlikely. More likely is that he is responding to the traction protesters have made nationwide in ending Flock contracts, including with Denver.
• Regal Colorado Cinema 9 has one of only two IMAX 70mm projectors in Colorado, but that doesn’t mean it is a good one. Moviegoers who purchased tickets to see Christopher Nolan‘s “The Odyssey” weeks ago have been frustrated that the projector continues to break down, forcing them to shift to standard IMAX screens or get refunds.
• Friends and family of longtime Colorado reporter Bill Fryar are mourning his passing at age 80. Fryar spent nearly 40 years with Prairie Mountain Media, the publisher of the Boulder Daily Camera and the Longmont Times-Call.
• Billionaire Bill Koch put his 52-acre Aspen estate on the market for $125 million in 2025, but failed to find any buyers. He pivoted to an auction last week, and the winning bid was $33.5 million – a 73% discount. Aspen … it’s for bargain hunters.
• The food critic for The Washington Post tried the new “Spam Dog” hot dog available at some baseball stadiums, and suggested it is worth a bite. But just one. “My first bite of the basic Spam Dog was a pleasant surprise,” he said. “Four bites later, I retracted everything. The gurgling inside my stomach told me there was no way I would finish this dog, not even under duress.”
• A maintenance worker in Illinois spent seven hours trapped inside a gas station sign 130 feet in the air after his lift malfunctioned. Firefighters who responded couldn’t initially rescue him because their tallest ladders can only reach 100 feet.
• A 77-year-old Florida woman is fighting with Broward County over a license plate she was given – SQZ A55 – that she feels is a little suggestive.

Who won the week?

• Quinn Kelsey has joined FleishmanHillard as a Senior Vice President.
• PeaceHealth has added Gregg Moss as its System Vice President of Marketing & Communications.
• Elexis Schroder of SchroderHaus was named a winner of the PRSA “Women of Impact” awards.
• Denver-based Vantage Data Centers appointed Ed Harnaga as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer.
• Former 9News morning anchor Jordan Chavez has resurfaced at Denver7. He will be the station’s new morning anchor, and his first day is Aug. 3 (timed to honor a six-month non-compete?). Curiously, when Chavez departed 9News, the station said he was leaving “to start a new chapter outside of TV news.” With the state of TV salaries these days, however, Denver7 isn’t Chavez’s only new job. He announced he is also starting a position as a coach at Orange Theory Fitness.
• The Denver Business Journal added Brett Forrest to cover the economic-development beat. He joins the DBJ from KOAA-TV in Colorado Springs.
• Denver Gazette and Colorado Springs Gazette editor Vince Bzdek announced he is retiring and will transition to a new “editor emeritus” position.
• Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Weiser named former CPR reporter and current Jeffco Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper as his lieutenant governor running mate.
• Actor Ryan Gosling must live a pretty charmed life because his biggest professional regret is the direction of his hand in the official “La La Land” movie poster is not aligned with co-star Emma Stone‘s. That shot, which Gosling did not realize would be used on the poster, has haunted him, and the studio has now corrected it in a new poster that is being released for the movie’s 10th anniversary.

• The ability for the public to use prediction market services like Polymarket to bet on the existence or growth of wildfires is concerning public officials who worry that it could financially incentivize arson.
• Smoke from wildfires caused Denver‘s air quality to rank as the worst in the country and among the 10 worst cities in the world this week. Cough, cough.
• If you think it is hard to be a Rockies fan, it could be worse. Angel City FC‘s postgame fireworks show celebrating Independence Day malfunctioned, shooting fireworks into the stands.
• The FIFA World Cup has been a revelation to the U.S. and the world. TV ratings are through the roof and Americans have been charmed by visitors from Scotland, Japan and Norway, among others. And visitors to the U.S. have been stunned to realize just how lovely Americans and America are. Meanwhile, the U.S. team advanced to the knock-out round and even beat Bosnia and Herzegovina. And then a single phone call changed it all. President Donald Trump‘s plea to FIFA President Gianni Infantino to rescind a U.S. player’s red-card suspension, which ultimately happened, ruined the mojo of the tournament. The U.S. lost, and the rest of the world remembered why they don’t trust us.
• Members of the Mexican National Soccer Team were forced to give back Rolex watches gifted to them by content creator Stephen Deleonardis, better known as “Stevewilldoit.” Deleonardis said he gave the watches, valued at a total of about $1 million, to team members because they had defeated Ecuador 2-0 in a World Cup game, allowing Deleonardis to win a $2 million bet he had placed on Mexico.
• If you have been training to participate in the Nordic Combined in the 2030 Olympics in the French Alps, bad news. The IOC announced it is cutting the sport and replacing it with freeride skiing and snowboarding. The Nordic Combined has been part of the Olympics for more than a century, but not enough viewers watch it and the same few countries tend to dominate its medals.
• The cold war between Denver Public Schools superintendent Alex Marrero and the DPS board is the gift to local journalists that keeps on giving. Marrero seemingly applies for every open superintendent position nationwide, and he has accused the board of overstepping its role and violating his contract. This week’s development was the disclosure that the DPS board paid Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent Alberto Carvalho more than $100,000 over the past three years to mentor Marrero, a role that came to an abrupt end when the FBI raided Carvalho’s home as part of a federal investigation.
• The Air Force Academy fired Athletic Director Nathan Pine after seven years on the job. Adding a nice bit of insult to injury, the AFA issued a public statement saying that the Department of the Air Force informed the school that Pine’s services were “no longer accepted.” Relatedly, if you think your job is difficult, try being an athletic director or coach at a military academy where athletes cannot accept NIL money and the transfer portal only works one direction – letting kids leave.
• Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder analyzed millions of ChatGPT sessions and uncovered one curious interaction – an “anonymous horndog (who) spent months using the OpenAI chatbot to generate vividly detailed pregnancy fanfiction about the high school characters in the visual novel series “Doki Doki Literature Club!” So there’s another argument against AI data centers.
• A Colorado Springs man fell out of a fourth-floor hotel window during a psilocybin therapy session “after his counselor served him psilocybin tea and then left him alone.“
• Nearly 1,000 poisonous cobras and other venomous snakes escaped when floodwaters breached a breeding farm in China.

Who won the week?

• Philosophy Communication named Tera Haselden Keatts president. Keatts has been at Philosophy for more than 16 years and was recently recognized as a ColoradoBiz ICON Award winner.
• SE2 added Jennifer Ramos as an associate. She will support SE2’s PowerMap strategies.
• Littleton Public Schools named Maggie Hesketh Chief Communications Officer.
• Brownstein Farber Hyatt Schreck promoted Lara Day to Chief Culture and Engagement Officer.
• Eight months ago, Karsh Hagan and Madden Media announced they were living together. This week, they announced they married.
• Snooze named Dallas-based Champion as its agency of record.
• CPR reporter Jenny Brundin is retiring. Jenny has covered education at CPR for the past 15 years.
• It took a week to confirm, but “high-risk missionary” and exorcist Victor Marx won the Republican nomination for Colorado governor. That is good news for him, but maybe not such good news for our state or Republicans. Expect a lot of late-night jokes at our expense.
• HBO Max was the big winner at the annual announcement of Emmy nominations. The TV show “The Pitt” earned 25 while “Hacks” picked up another 24. Winners will be announced on Sept. 14.
• For years, people (mostly business majors) have joked that a philosophy degree was a direct path to waiting tables or being a barista. But the tables are turning as A.I. companies pursue philosophy majors to help guide the development and refinement of LLMs.

• Three federal firefighters were killed while battling wildfires in western Colorado. The firefighters were part of a team assigned to the Snyder-Mesa fire, a 28,000-acre fire that was the result of the convergence of four separate fires.
• Colorado‘s primary elections were Tuesday, and it was a tough night for “establishment” politicians. Fifteen-term U.S. Rep. Diane DeGette lost her bid for re-election to a Democratic Socialist, three-term U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet lost his bid for the Democratic nomination for governor to AG Phil Weiser, and Barb Kirkmeyer, who has served as an elected official for more than 30 years, is losing her bid to be the Republican nominee for governor to Victor Marx, a ministry leader who may be the most dishonest and unqualified nominee in the history of the state.
• Meanwhile, Gov. Jared Polis’ campaign to completely shred his legacy as his term ends continues. After commuting election denier Tina Peters‘ sentence because she “showed remorse,” only to have her immediately hit the MAGA talk-show circuit to make the same claims as before, Polis has now fired two members of his clemency review board who shared publicly that the board was unanimously opposed to releasing Peters and that Polis skipped over more deserving candidates.
• It’s no fun to learn that Grandma was a Nazi, but that is what some Germans are dealing with thanks to a new online searchable database of official German records. “Given my mother’s entire character, mentality and political convictions as a liberal Catholic, it was actually inconceivable that she would have joined the (Nazi Party) in 1940 at the age of 23,” said a surprised university research professor who searched the records for his parents. “But it is documented in the card index …. She never mentioned this within the family.”
• What greater tribute to America’s 250th anniversary is there than … accidentally blowing up your own home because an unattended cigarette ignited 700 pounds of illegal fireworks in your basement. To quote Trey Parker and Matt Stone‘s movie Team America: World Police: “America … F–k Yeah!”
• “The average life expectancy of a new Russian recruit—from arrival at a training ground to death in a combat zone—lies somewhere between 10 days and three weeks. Once sent onto the battlefield, they survive an average of 20 to 35 minutes.“
• NPR’s Nina Totenberg has been breaking stories since the 1970s, but the 82-year-old’s mistake this week in incorrectly reporting that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito had retired risks overshadowing much of that storied career. NPR retracted and apologized for the story, but not before it was published by other public radio members that were then forced to remove the article and issue their own retractions. Was it an embargoed story that accidentally got published too soon? We may find out tomorrow in a holiday Friday news dump.
  • Meanwhile, ESPN has formally retracted an article it says “contained errors” alleging that NFL player Michael Pennel had a relationship with a woman who was found dead on property he owned in the Dominican Republic.
• The prosecutors of Charlie Kirk‘s alleged killer seem to be going out of their way to make a conviction harder. The judge in the case issued a contempt of court ruling against the top prosecutor for violating a court order by speaking to media about the case, a move that almost caused the judge to take the death penalty off the table.
• Peak Colorado–Nebraska animosity took place in the early 1990s when Bill McCartney and Tom Osborne were head football coaches. While things have cooled since then, a flare-up has emerged. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on Nebraska’s accusation that Colorado isn’t sending it enough water via the South Platte and Nebraska’s attempt to eminent domain land in Colorado to build a canal to alleviate the alleged shortage.
• Uruguay failed to win a single game at the FIFA World Cup (they had two ties and a loss), so its national soccer governing body canceled the team’s charter flight home and made them fly commercial. If they had lost all three games, Uruguay probably would have also assigned all the players middle seats.
• The Colorado Supreme Court struck a blow against Democratic hopes to gerrymander Colorado in response to similar efforts in red states. In a 7-0 decision, the court rejected five ballot measures that would have allowed the state’s congressional districts to be redrawn because they violated the state’s single-subject requirement.
• Volkswagen will reportedly cut as many as 100,000 jobs globally over the next few years, which represents 15% of its global workforce. Industry analysts point to U.S. tariffs and increased competition from electric cars from China as the cause.
• One more reason to avoid big cruise ships: the latest ocean cruise trend is elaborately decorating your cabin door like it is a sorority pledge binder.
• The Buffalo Bills are relocating to a new stadium this fall, but one element of the previous stadium will not make the move: a tribute to disgraced former Bills running back O.J. Simpson that has been part of the team’s “Wall of Fame.” A Bills representative said, “We have made an organizational decision that he is not a fit to display inside our new stadium and family circle.”

Who won the week?

• SchroderHaus has added McKinzey Crossland Saig, Katrina Froelich and Danielle Aires to its team.
• GroundFloor Media promoted Lauren Noser and Becky Cole to the roles of vice presidents.
• Dovetail Solutions promoted Jack Holleran to Director of Client Services.
• Melissa Draper has retired from her role as Senior Director of Internal Communications at VF Corporation.
• Beatty & Wozniak added Kristin Merikangas Dalmy as Director of Marketing & Business Development.
• 9News weekend evening anchor Jennifer Meckles is switching to anchoring weekend mornings, a move she says is more family-friendly.
• Happy Independence Day, America. It hasn’t always been easy – we’ve survived a civil war, two World Wars, slavery, an internment, a depression, dozens of recessions, four presidential assassinations and one presidential resignation, among other things – but over the past 250 years we have survived and grown to be a world superpower. No matter how many hits we take, we always get off the mat. Here’s hoping that applies to the next 250 years, too.

• A high-ranking official at FEMA who sparked controversy for claims that he once was teleported to a Waffle House is on leave from the agency. Said one unnamed official, “He was an image issue, with all the negative stories.” Honestly, if he was teleported to a Waffle House, it would only be the third or fourth strangest thing to happen there on any given day.
• Florida is closing its “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center a year after it opened. Gov. Ron DeSantis is claiming the detention center was a wild success, but the reality is that it cost taxpayers $1.2 million per day and the state is clearing it out now because hurricane season has started.
• FIFA revoked the World Cup credentials of a Paraguayan soccer commentator after he went on an expletive-laden rant against the governing body and match officials during Paraguay’s 1-0 win over Turkey. And he got his money’s worth. He called FIFA President Gianni Infantino and the match referee “f—ing thieves” and used the phrase “sons of b—es” more than 20 times.
• “Love Island USA” has kicked a second contestant off the reality dating show this season for using a racial slur in a video that surfaced online.
• KBCO 97.3 terminated the employment of longtime, beloved morning show host Bret Saunders. Unfortunately for Saunders, KBCO is owned by iHeartMedia, which conducts similar bloodlettings about once per year. Denise Plante from 106.7 The Bull was also let go in this round.
• The Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., has become must-see TV: “It’s a drama, a farce, a whodunit (and) a murder mystery.” And for some reason, it is President Donald Trump who is doing more to keep the story alive than anyone else. President Trump also didn’t do himself any favors by having his motorcade of heavy SUVs drive over the emptied Reflecting Pool, which experts say may have caused foundational damage.
• JPMorgan Chase fired one of its employees after she was caught on camera dumping out and stealing a New York Knicks-themed public trash can during the team’s championship parade celebration.
• Tennis legend Chris Evert announced that she is experiencing a recurrence of ovarian cancer.
• Golfer Wyndham Clark had to endure brutal heckling on his way to winning the U.S. Open golf tournament this past weekend. Sportswriter Rick Reilly blamed the horrible behavior on young men trying to influence the outcome because they had made online bets.
• A New York Times/The Athletic poll of Major League Baseball players found the Colorado Rockies have the worst reputation in the majors.

Who won the week?

• GroundFloor Media added Sam Kjome as a Director of Paid Media and Anna Petr as a Content Coordinator.
• Linhart PR has added Kierra Vanevenhoven as an intern.
• Companies should increase their PR efforts to stand out in today’s AI-driven environment, according to McKinsey & Co.’s “State of the Consumer 2026” report.
• Denver has designated former Mayor Wellington Webb’s home as an official city landmark. In honoring the site, the city said, “The house became a local hub for civil rights activism, helping expand Black representation and hosting local, state and national leaders.”
• If you are tired of political ads, good news – Colorado‘s primary election is Tuesday. And given that there likely won’t be many competitive races in the general election, the ads should slow to a trickle.
• The U.S. Men’s Soccer Team won its group and advanced to the knock-out stage of the FIFA World Cup, despite a 3-2 loss in a meaningless game against Turkey Turkiye last night.

• A 14-year-old has been charged with armed robbery after allegedly pulling a gun on two siblings, ages 11 and 12, who were running a lemonade stand in Boston.
• It is common for business to donate to two competing candidates to ensure they have some influence with whoever wins. But, interestingly, Colorado gubernatorial candidates Michael Bennet and Phil Weiser claim endorsements from some of the same people, including Aurora Public Schools board member Anne Keke, Thornton Mayor pro Tem Karen Bigelow, Eagle County Commissioner Tom Boyd, Chaffee County Commissioner PT Wood, Boulder City Council member Tara Winer and community leader Dr. Syl Morgan-Smith.
• The FIFA World Cup has started, which always offers a number of questionable decisions. Among them:
  • Australian referee Shaun Evans appeared to flash a “White Power” symbol on air while in studio used by video review referees.
  • Tunisia was reportedly set to fire its head coach after the team lost 5-1 to Sweden in their first World Cup game. Somewhere, Al Davis is smiling and giving a thumbs up.
  • FIFA forced the owners of Cosmic Charlie’s, a cannabis shop in Toronto, to destroy its World Cup trophy-shaped bong it was marketing in the lead up to the tournament.
  • Spain is consistently one of the best soccer teams in the world, so betting $1 million on it to beat tiny Cape Verde (population: 530,000) to collect $86,000 might have been tempting. Unfortunately for the one person who made that bet, Cape Verde tied Spain 0-0.
• After an almost-three year standoff, the City and County of Denver reached a settlement with the owners of The Denver Post on back rent due at the newspaper’s namesake building. DP Media Network will pay the city $13.5 million and pay to remove the Denver Post signage from the building’s exterior.
• I noted last week that Denver Broncos linebacker Jonathan Cooper was arrested for domestic violence. Well, he upped the ante this week by getting arrested for a second time after allegedly violating a restraining order. Police say he sent 20 individual text messages, called his now-ex-girlfriend twice, and then went to her apartment and was seen on video knocking on the door. One more arrest and he’ll become an honorary Kansas City Chief.
• Twelve people died in Missouri when the skydiving plane they were riding in crashed shortly after takeoff. While the passengers all had parachutes, the plane crashed so abruptly that the passengers were unable to exit the aircraft.
• As they say in my native Georgia, “Freedom ain’t free,” but it is getting much cheaper. Heidi Ganahl has slashed ticket prices to her Freedom Fest event in Castle Rock later this month.
• The ultra-classy UFC event that took place at the White House ended with one of the fighters insulting former First Lady Michelle Obama by calling her “a man.” While President Donald Trump remained silent about the insult, UFC boss Dana White, a President Trump supporter, condemned the comment, calling it “nonsense.”
  • Meanwhile, President Trump’s renovations to Washington, D.C.‘s Reflecting Pool are becoming a metaphor for his presidency. He initially said the renovation was “done right” and would “last for 100 years,” but the $14 million, no-bid-contract job has been less than successful. Almost immediately, green algae overtook the reflecting pool, and now pieces of the blue paint that were intended to give it a clean appearance have peeled off and are floating in the water.
• Professional golfer Phil Mickelson, the winner of six major championships, had his membership revoked from his longtime home club after an independent investigation into alleged misconduct involving women.
• Hockey coach John Tortorella took over a listless Vegas Golden Knights team with eight games remaining in the regular season and steered them to the Stanley Cup finals, but he won’t return to the team next season, the team announced.
• A Brazilian woman fell to her death while rope jumping – which is similar to bungee jumping – when the instructors forgot to attach the rope to her.

Who won the week?

• Bruce Alexander has been appointed Chair of the Board of Advisors at Dovetail Solutions. He formerly was the President and CEO of Vectra Bank.
• Westminster-based Swisslog Healthcare named Christina Liebman as Vice President of Global Marketing and Communications.
• El Paso County named Josh Poland executive director of the county’s Communications department.
• Asian American News profiled BON Communications publicist Lauren Howard.
• Chef Penelope Wong, the Denver native who owns Yuan Wonton, was named a best chef winner by the James Beard Awards.
• The most respected research scientists studying hurricanes in the U.S. are located at … Colorado State University, located more than 1,000 miles from the nearest coastline. Take that, University of Miami.
• Serena Williams announced she will partner with her sister Venus to compete in the Women’s Doubles event at Wimbledon.
• SpaceX went public this week, and the company’s stock made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire and more than 4,400 employees millionaires.

• A police officer in South Carolina was arrested after pointing his service weapon at a coworker in the station’s break room in a dispute over heating fish in a microwave. If I were the police officer, I’d go to trial. No jury in the country would find you guilty for that.
• Kansas City sought to host FIFA World Cup games in part to raise the city’s profile on the international stage. Well, mission accomplished. After nine people were injured in a shooting just five miles from England‘s World Cup home base in Kansas City, the headlines across the pond were considerable.
• Denver Public Schools superintendent Alex Marrero apparently has had enough of the DPS board. After coming up just short for the Chicago Public Schools CEO job, Marrero has confirmed he has now applied for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools superintendent position.
• President Donald Trump finally launched his Trump Mobile cell phone service. President Trump originally claimed the Trump Mobile phone would be made in the U.S., but tech media have now confirmed that it is just a two-year-old, Chinese-manufactured HTC U24 Pro.
• Speaking of President Trump, if you golf at his Bedminster Golf Club, you may want to stick to just bottled water. The club was recently flagged by health inspectors for 18 health code violations and earned a score of 32 out of 100, the lowest grade in the county.
• The GEO Group has sued Colorado to stop implementation of a law requiring health and safety inspections of immigrant detention facilities. GEO Group is making a technical argument – that the state is improperly intruding on what are federal responsibilities when it comes to oversight – but it is a bad look nonetheless.
• U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert‘s rise to prominence has been aided by Fox News over the years, so it was a surprise to see Boebert shout “f— you” at a Fox News reporter this week. In her defense, the reporter was asking Boebert about whether she was having a sexual relationship with fellow Rep. Thomas Massie.
• Scientists conducted a groundbreaking study to confirm what every cat owner already knew: cats will absolutely let you suffer. Dogs and toddlers rushed to help a distressed human find a missing object, while cats watched with indifference. However, the moment researchers swapped the object for food or a toy, cats suddenly became incredibly helpful — proving that your cat is not stupid, just unbothered by your problems unless there’s something in it for them. Thanks to noted felinophile Eric Anderson for passing that one along.
• Two new scientific papers place the blame for the world’s significant decline in fertility over the past two decades on smartphones. While noting that “proving phones caused the decline is a tricky endeavor,” researchers have several theories ranging from “young people began to socialize more on their phones and less in person, and consequently were less likely to have sex and become pregnant” to smartphones “made pornography more accessible, which led young people to substitute it for sex,” to “young people may have used (smartphones) to obtain better information on avoiding pregnancy, including contraception and abortion.”
• Denver Broncos linebacker Jonathan Cooper and his girlfriend were arrested on domestic violence charges.
• A Denver Fire Department employee activated the city’s emergency tornado sirens for a full three minutes in response to a 911 call that falsely reported a tornado. This is the third incident in the last six months in which Denver either mistakenly sent emergency alerts citywide or deployed alerts when they were not warranted. As one industry expert put it, “Every time you have a mistake … it chips away at that public trust.”
• Texas Tech University has become the unquestioned villain in college football after its star quarterback obtained an injunction against the NCAA to allow him to play despite being accused of betting more than $90,000 on sports, including on his own team. A backlash from athletic directors at universities across the country, fans and media has grown over the past week, and members of the SEC even said with a straight face that Texas Tech was putting winning above integrity.
• Larimer County sheriff’s deputies arrested a driver traveling 130 mph on I-25 south of Fort Collins. When they pulled him over, they found multiple “radar detectors and jammers, a device used to cover the car’s license plate, and a ‘passenger binocular system for spotting cops.'” And amphetamines. Of course there were amphetamines. Police speculate that the driver was involved in or preparing for a “Cannonball Run”-type race.
• While the University of Denver eliminated departments, froze faculty wages and handed out buyouts to slash a $30 million budget deficit, it simultaneously spent $20 million to buy the 75,000-square-foot “Cable Center” event center in Glendale. Faculty members called that a stunning display of misplaced priorities, and declared they have “no confidence” in the university’s leadership and vision.
• Kroenke Sports and Entertainment terminated the contracts of longtime Denver Nuggets broadcasters Scott Hastings, Chris Marlowe and Chris Dempsey. Pre- and post-game hosts Katy Winge and Vic Lombardi were not impacted. Fun fact: Marlowe is an Olympic gold medalist as part of the 1984 U.S. men’s volleyball team and he has served as the lead play-by-play announcer for beach volleyball at seven Olympics, including with NBC in 2024.
• What do you get when you combine the expertise of Puma, Mercedes and F1? A $300 track shoe that keeps injuring Olympic track-and-field athletes.

Who won the week?

• Caroline Robinson joined Linhart PR as a Senior Account Executive.
• Fox31 reporter/anchor Nicole Fierro has left the station to accept the Senior Communications Manager position with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
• 5280 Senior Editor Rose Cahalan was among many who were surprised by a recent Wall Street Journal article that described downtown Denver as “catastrophe … fighting to escape a death spiral” in an article about office vacancy rates. If you have spent time in downtown Denver, that description hardly tracks. Cahalan penned a response challenging the Journal’s lazy reporting.
• Meanwhile, Patty Calhoun, the editor of Westword, invited conservative critics of downtown Denver Jeff Hunt and Bill Thorpe to tour the city with her. Following the tour, Hunt acknowledged it was “a pleasant experience.”
• The Denver Broncos rewarded head coach Sean Payton with a new five-year contract. Terms were not disclosed.
• Professional tennis players protested the relatively low prize money at the French Open so vociferously that Wimbledon proactively increased its payouts by 20% to avoid the same complaints.

• “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley used the staff meeting to introduce the show’s new executive producer Nick Bilton to accuse Bilton of having “slender qualifications” for the role. Pelley went on to say that Bilton’s boss, CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, was “murdering ’60 Minutes.’ … She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.” It ended predictably – CBS News fired Pelley.
• Turkey‘s Zeynep Sönmez was injured and forced to retire from her French Open doubles match after she tripped on an advertising sign that was positioned on the back of the court.
• After C-list musical acts Milli Vanilli, Young MC and Bret Michaels withdrew from President Donald Trump‘s “Freedom 250” Concert in Washington, D.C. later this month, the president replaced them with his two favorite people: himself and country singer Lee Greenwood. Trump plans for the revised event to be a hybrid rally-concert, and he has also added a few other “musical acts,” such as Christopher Macchio performing “Wax On, Wax Off,” … oh wait, that’s Ralph Macchio … and a couple of U.S. military bands. It is astonishing even by President Trump standards that he has botched a celebration for what should be such a unifying event as the nation’s 250th anniversary.
• Country singer Morgan Wallen grew frustrated by technical difficulties at his concert in Denver and responded by flipping his piano over on-stage.
• Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted election denier and felon Tina Peters‘ prison sentence, claiming that it would be a unifying gesture. So naturally Peters’ first move after being released was to conduct a podcast interview with Steve Bannon where she claimed that she is a victim of political persecution and that Democrats will “cheat” in the midterm elections in November.
• FIFA expects to make more than $15 billion from this summer’s World Cup, so naturally it just filed a cease-and-desist against the Vancouver-based nonprofit Spinal Cord Injury BC forcing it to cancel a World Cup ticket fundraising raffle.
• Meanwhile, some FIFA staff are expressing concern that a last-minute decision to ban fans from bringing reusable water bottles into stadiums is being driven by financial rather than safety considerations.
• For decades, Bill Gates has employed a team of strategists, communicators and stylists to cultivate an image of “someone calm and approachable, like Mister Rogers.” That level of attention to detail helped place Gates “at the top of a 2019 survey of public figures that people look up to – ahead of the Dalai Lama and Pope Francis.” But a series of indiscretions – a high-profile divorce that included allegations of more than 20 extramarital affairs, a lengthy relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and emails released by the U.S. Department of Justice that included allegations that Gates contracted an STD and asked about antibiotics to surreptitiously give to his now-ex-wife – have shattered that image.
• The Colorado Rockies started off to an unusually strong start – they are 24-39 so far, pretty good by their standards – but Rockies things are starting to happen to the team. Rookie Ethan Holliday, the son of Rockies legend Matt Holliday who had been batting .262 with nine home runs in Single-A ball, suffered a stress fracture in his foot that has ended his season.
• Denver City Councilmember Sarah Parady announced she will resign Aug. 5 due to a debilitating medical issue that she described as a “medical mystery.” She described the illness as making “going up the stairs now … harder and more exhausting than it used to be to go up a fourteener.” Waiting until August will allow voters to select her replacement through the regular November election rather than requiring a costly one-off election prior to that.
• As if COVID, flu, hantavirus, norovirus and Ebola weren’t bad enough, a new “vomiting virus” is sweeping across the U.S.
• Victor Marx is leading the Republican primary field in Colorado for governor despite either being a “liar and a fraud” or living the most remarkable life since Audie Murphy. His political strategy of ducking debates and media was working. So why in the world would Marx put himself in the crosshairs of 9News‘ Kyle Clark not once but twice in the month leading up to the primary? Only Marx knows, but a disastrous interview followed by a disastrous performance in a full-field debate moderated by Clark almost certainly has evaporated Marx’s lead.
• Character actor James Handy, who had appeared in everything from “Top Gun: Maverick” to “West Wing,” was stabbed to death, allegedly by his girlfriend’s son. He was 81.
• The U.S. Postal Service says Los Angeles, Dallas and Denver lead the country in number of dogs biting postal carriers. I guess “going postal” works both ways now.
• U.K. Athletics, the national governing body of sports in the U.K., has been fined more than $470,000 for the corporate manslaughter of a Paralympian who was killed when a shot-put cage collapsed on him while practicing.
• Hall of Fame basketball coach Rick Adelman passed away at the age of 79. Adelman is the father of Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman.

Who won the week?

• Denver-based firm SE2 has joined IPREX, a global communications and marketing network. IPREX gives SE2 added geographic reach, as well as access to additional diversity of insight and experience.
• 9News profiled Kristina Thomas, Community Food Share‘s Director of Communications and Public Relations.
• Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reporter Dennis Webb retired this week. His peers called him a “dang good journalist,” and I would agree based on my work with him over the years on behalf of some clients.
• Longtime Denver Post sportswriter and Colorado Rockies beat reporter Patrick Saunders accepted a buyout to leave the Post. Patrick is the son of legendary Rocky Mountain News reporter and columnist Dusty Saunders.
• Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry signed a 10-year, $400 million endorsement deal with the Chinese sports apparel company Li-Ning. It’s not all good news for Curry, though. Human rights groups allege that Li-Ning uses forced labor to produce its goods, and U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) said he will ask the Department of Homeland Security to examine Li-Ning labor practices.

• Paraguayan tennis player Adolfo Daniel Vallejo has pinpointed the reason he lost to France‘s Moise Kouame at the French Open this week – the match was umpired by a woman. “This sort of match needs to be umpired by a man,” Vallejo said of the raucous, pro-France crowd. “It has to be refereed by a man, because it’s a very demanding crowd and you need a lot of strength to go against the crowd.”
• Paul Petyo, one of the 173 State of Colorado IT workers who were laid off this week, spoke to Marshall Zelinger at 9News about how he received an email invite to a mass layoff meeting three minutes before it started. The state says that media interview was a violation of its workplace policies (he was required to get departmental approval to speak to media), so the state, which again has already terminated him, then placed Petyo on administrative leave.
• For a little over 30 years, the Achilles heel at DIA is that you must ride a train to access the B and C concourses. That has been a huge issue that has prevented passengers from moving back and forth between the terminal and the concourses when power outages or other technical issues occur. It was such a problem that in 2021 the airport asked the public to provide suggestions for alternatives. Well, it took five years, but DIA just announced a solution: use existing underground tunnels to create walkways to the concourses. I’m no airport designer, but I’m not sure why it took five years to identify that one.
• Japan is giving us a look into what happens when a xenophobic, insular country drastically limits immigration in an era of declining birth rates: an “accelerating demographic crisis.” The country’s population has declined by 3.1 million people in the last five years alone, and that number pales in comparison to what is coming – a projected population decline from 123 million people in 2025 to just 87 million in 2070. Experts note that the current decline in population is already constraining Japan’s economy and putting pressure on the country’s health care system and causing labor shortages.
• The new fully electric Ferrari Luce will cost you at minimum $640,000, but that is a bargain compared to what it has cost Ferrari. The vehicle’s toy-like design sparked a flood of social media memes mocking it, which caused the carmaker’s market cap to fall 8%, or about $5 billion. Ferrari’s former president and chairman Luca di Montezemolo struggled to find something positive about the design, and could only come up with, “This is surely a car that at least the Chinese won’t copy.”
• Hours after being announced as performers at a concert on the National Mall to celebrate America‘s 250th anniversary, Morris Day and the Time, Young MC, Martina McBride, Poison’s Bret Michaels and The Commodores announced they would not be performing at what they were concerned was becoming a partisan event. The show will go on, though, with Vanilla Ice, Flo Rida and C+C Music Factory.
• Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is an NBA MVP, but he has also earned a reputation for flopping and trying to draw cheap fouls. Fans have even held up trophies shaped like an Oscar to mock his “acting” skills on the court. Now, Gilgeous-Alexander’s lawyers have sent a cease and desist letter to the makers of “Unethical Hoops,” a board game similar to classic kids game “Operation” in which a buzzer goes off anytime he is touched.
• The good news for 90s rapper Fat Joe is that he is finally getting some media attention again. The bad news is that it is because the Cleveland Cavaliers, tired of insufferable New York Knicks fans buying up courtside seats in the Cavs’ arena, revoked his tickets. Fat Joe was among at least 10 fans who were notified that they had purchased courtside tickets that were not eligible to be resold. Alas, it did not help. The Knicks swept the Cavaliers.
• We are in year four of a struggling real estate market, and many real-estate professionals are finally reaching their breaking points. The number of registered brokers is down more than 12%, while mortgage-industry employment has declined almost 40% from its peak in 2021.
• Blue Origin, the space exploration company that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos created to compete with Elon Musk‘s SpaceX, gave residents of Cape Canaveral, Fla., a beautiful fireworks show this week. Unfortunately, the eruption of orange, yellow and crimson colors in the night sky was actually the company’s new Glenn rocket exploding on the launch pad during testing.
• Controversial former Colorado Avalanche star and four-time Stanley Cup winner Claude Lemieux passed away. He was 60.
• A highly touted Los Angeles Dodgers prospect playing for the team’s Double-A affiliate in Tulsa was injured when he tripped over the team’s “bat dog” – a dog trained to retrieve bats from players who dropped them on the way to first base. The team announced they were “suspending the program,” which is a shame because “pawsing the program” was sitting right there.

Who won the week?

• Sidecar PR founder and CEO Sarah Cullen has been named a 2026 Denver Business Journal “Outstanding Woman in Business“.
• Karsh Hagan | Madden promoted Melissa Pert to Senior Vice President of Integrated Media.
• Lumen Technologies promoted Jessica Taylor to Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer.
• Tina Peters is scheduled to be released from prison on Monday.

• Steven Rosenbaum, the author of “The Future of Truth,” a nonfiction book about the effects of artificial intelligence on truth, acknowledged that he had included numerous made-up or misattributed quotes concocted by A.I. To his credit, that fact alone may illustrate more than the rest of the book what the future of truth will be.
• President Donald Trump was noncommittal about attending his son Don Jr.’s wedding this weekend, saying he would “try and make it,” but that “this is not good timing for me.” At least he didn’t say, “I’ll catch your next one.”
• Corey Hutchins‘ “Inside the News in Colorado” reports that The Denver Post‘s hedge-fund owners reached a new union agreement that gives staff a 3% raise this year and 3% next year. And then the Post abruptly announced a new round of buyouts that will eliminate another 10% of the newsroom. Granted, Alden Global Capital had already decimated the Post’s newsroom to the point that a 10% reduction represents only four employees.
• After an analysis revealed that 60% of the grades given at Harvard were “A”s, the university’s faculty voted to limit the number given to 20%.
• An investigation by 9News reporter Steve Staeger found that the Town of Hudson illegally issued $1.25 million in speeding tickets using an automated camera system that did not comply with state law. The town voted this week to void the tickets and issue refunds to those who had already paid them.
• Colorado‘s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis fancies himself a libertarian outsider capable of bridging the political divide, and nothing seemingly pleases him more than taking a contrarian position. That likely was his motivation in commuting the prison sentence of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who was prosecuted by a Republican D.A. and convicted of four felonies and three misdemeanors by a jury of her peers in heavily Republican Garfield County. The commutation will be Polis’ legacy, and so far it is not going well. The Colorado Democratic Party voted to formally censure him, and days after commuting her sentence Vice President J.D. Vance announced that Peters is exactly who the Trump administration had in mind when it created a $1.8 billion slush fund to compensate what they say are victims of prosecutorial overreach by the Biden administration.
• Tennessee postponed the execution of a convicted murderer after staff members were unable to find a vein to administer the lethal injection drugs.
• Denver police had to respond to the Cherry Creek Shopping Center after the Swatch store was overwhelmed by fans trying to buy its newly released line of Royal Pop pocket watches. That’s bad news for the mall, but good news for Swatch, which received millions of dollars in free publicity nationwide.
• Jeff Probst, the host of the TV show “Survivor,” accidentally shared the result of upcoming episode that has not yet aired.
• The restaurant chain Atomic Cowboy agreed to pay $800,000 after it stiffed servers on pay.
• “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert hosted his final episode last night, the victim of CBS‘s efforts to placate President Donald Trump. David Letterman, who created “The Late Show,” was a guest during the final week of shows, and offered a CBS-themed farewell to the company’s executives: “In the words of the great (CBS journalist) Ed Murrow, good night and good luck, motherf*ckers!”
• A 56-year-old woman was killed when she fell into an open manhole after she stepped out of her S.U.V. in Manhattan.
• The Aurora City Council is feuding with the Aurora Police Department. Fed up with what it views as excessive social media editorializing about crime and the posting of mug shots of people charged but not convicted of crimes, the council passed an emergency resolution requiring APD to get city approval before posting on social media, sending news releases or commenting on legislation.
• A middle-aged Australian man walking down stairs to a beach became the star of an outdoor fashion show he didn’t know was taking place. As a male model sashayed down the long stairway to kick the fashion show off, the beachgoer popped out onto the stairs ahead of him and was the first “model” to cross the stage.
• Strippers in Montreal are using this weekend’s Formula 1 race as an opportunity to strike to call attention to their demands for better working conditions.
• Friends and family are mourning the death of longtime CBS4 producer Raetta Holdman.

Who won the week?

• Alyson Benn has been named Vice President of Corporate Marketing at View Homes.
• The City of Lafayette appointed Erin Frazier as the city’s new communications director.
• PRSA Colorado is accepting entries for its 2026 Gold Pick awards. The early-bird deadline is May 27, and the regular deadline is June 5.
• A new union contract with New York City hotels will result in housekeepers earning more than $100,000 annually.
• Elon Musk is poised to take his company SpaceX public, a move that likely would make him the world’s first trillionaire.

• Some New York University students have philosophical objections to 2026 graduation keynote speaker Jonathan Haidt and demanded that he be replaced. Why don’t they want him to speak at graduation? His argument that “the American education system has poorly served a generation of young people by cocooning them from ideas they might find distressing.”
• AI has significantly increased the rate of college grade inflation, and the proliferation of “A” grades is making it harder for employers to distinguish between good and great prospective employees.
• The U.S. government addressed the actions it is taking in response to the recent hantavirus outbreak, and the press conference was led by Admiral Brian Christine, MD, the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. If you are already familiar with Dr. Christine, my sympathies. The Trump administration appointee is most known for his clinical work as a penile implant specialist who hosted a YouTube series called “Erection Connection.”
• The Trump Mobile cell phone will begin shipping next week, a year later than originally promised. The $499 cell phone, which CNN reports looks suspiciously like a Chinese cell phone that retails for about $199 at Walmart, will be gold and features the Trump logo prominently.
• Recess Beer Garden in the Lower Highlands neighborhood canceled an anti-vaxxer singles event when, as 9News’ Kyle Clark put it, “word of the mixer started spreading as fast as an easily-prevented but highly-communicable disease.” If you are a fan of disease, however, there is good news. Westword reports that The Grizzly Rose has stepped in to host the event.
• A Chicago White Sox fan was hospitalized when he fell from the bleachers into the visiting Kansas City Royals‘ bullpen.
• Chick-fil-A famously is closed on Sundays so workers can enjoy the sabbath, but an employee who is a member of the United Church of God in Texas has sued the restaurant chain for refusing to give her Saturdays off so she can enjoy her sabbath.
• A White House staffer was reportedly trampled by Chinese journalists during President Donald Trump‘s trip to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
• Friends, family and Denver sports fans are mourning the death of former Denver Broncos QB Craig Morton at age 83. He led Denver to its first Super Bowl in 1977.

Who won the week?

• The Sundance Film Festival has named Bloomerang PR as its Colorado agency of record.
• Denver Business Journal reporter Analisa Romano has left the publication to focus on a freelance career.
• CBS4 anchor/reporter Kelly Werthmann is among the participants of the 2026 “Dancing with the Denver Stars,” a fundraiser for the nonprofit Cleo Parker Robinson Dance.
• Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is renaming its Littleton location after actress and Denver-native Pam Grier. The Pam Grier Cinema is officially being dedicated today to recognize her “badass career.” 
• The Colorado Rapids named Justyne Freud as the club’s first-ever senior vice president of marketing and brand strategy.
• The Colorado Avalanche came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Minnesota Wild and advance to the Western Conference Finals. If they win that series, they are in the Stanley Cup Finals.

• The CEO of Delta Air Lines made a classic PR mistake: he told the truth. On a recent earnings call, CEO Ed Bastian shared with analysts that the airline would maintain the higher fares caused by the war with Iran even if oil prices declined in the future. In essence, the prices you see today are the airline’s new floor.
• Economists are trying to make sense of a stagnant high-end art market even as the number of individuals considered “super rich” continues to grow and deliveries of private jets and yachts reach all-time highs. Some theorize that “the art world has become too reliant on baby boomer collectors who are past their peak buying years.” Regardless, if you’ve had your eye on a Warhol, and research into the Denver PR Blog readership indicates most have seven-figure art pieces in their homes, now is the time to make it happen.
• Police in Vancouver rejected a request to give FIFA President Gianni Infantino a “level-four motorcade escort” typically reserved for dignitaries such as the Pope. It would have meant blocking off other drivers so Infantino’s vehicle could run through red lights.
• While we have all been distracted trying to protect our trees from the emerald ash borer and the mountain pine beetle, a sneaky new invasive threat has established a stronghold – the Asian jumping worm. Ground zero of our infestation is Denver‘s Hilltop neighborhood.
• ESPN, supported by its official sports betting partner DraftKings, reports that Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby has checked into a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction.
• If there is one person you don’t want to pick a fight with, it is Kalyn Heffernan. Westword describes her as a “disability activist,” but that just scratches the surface of her influence and tenacity. Why am I mentioning her? Blame RTD. Denver‘s transit agency created a campaign that wrapped buses with visuals celebrating the Americans with Disabilities Act, and one of them was a picture of Heffernan that was used without her knowledge or consent. She had thoughts, which she shared with Westword: “It’s so tokenizing, it’s exploitative, it’s performative. … (RTD was) the first transit company to be forced to be made accessible.”
• Fans of Colorado peaches are mourning a crop that will never be. An early April deep freeze — preceded and followed by an unusually dry and warm period — destroyed peach crops across Colorado’s Western Slope. There is a silver lining: orchards in Palisade were largely unaffected.
• The futures of Denver Nuggets players and coaches are up in the air after the team lost in the first round of the playoffs, another disappointing end to a season following the team’s 2023 NBA title. A team that was expected by many to become a dynasty has since fizzled.
• Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms received the dreaded endorsement of former President Joe Biden in her effort to become governor of Georgia. The endorsement follows Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer‘s recent endorsement of Maine Gov. Janet Mills for U.S. Senate, which ended in her abandoning her campaign after failing to gain traction with voters. Dinosaurs never realize they’re dinosaurs, I guess.
• The Saudis created LIV Golf as a competitor to the PGA golf tour as an effort to elevate the country’s influence on the world’s sports stage, but after four years and $5 billion, they have decided it’s not working and will no longer fund it. That has left the tour in a “free fall” and many of the players who abandoned the PGA tour to join LIV professionally homeless. On the bright side, none of the players were choked to death, dismembered and disposed of by Saudi operatives, so they have that going for them.
• We’ve seen a lot of fights about high school mascots named after Native Americans, but here’s a new one. Residents of Lenox, Mass., a wealthy community in the Berkshires, are passionately divided about their local high school mascot, the Lenox Millionaires. Part of the divide is generational. Younger residents find the name arrogant and embarrassing, and older residents argue that changing it is erasing history. They say to never argue about religion, politics or high school mascots.
• For those of us with healthcare/health care clients, the debate as to whether it is spelled as one or two words has raged for years. For decades, AP Style has dictated two words, making life harder for us one-worders. However, this week, editors at the AP Stylebook announced it shall be spelled as one word from now on. The good news: not having to type a space is 8.33% more efficient. Think of how many other things you can now get done.
• Finally, on a profoundly sad note, the family of beloved former Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post reporter Lynn Bartels has shared that Lynn is recovering from surgery to remove a large brain tumor. The pathology report has confirmed a diagnosis of a glioblastoma, an aggressive, fast-growing form of brain cancer.

Who won the week?

• GroundFloor Media added Jess McCaa as an integrated project manager and Jojo Segura as a creative services coordinator.
• Republican attorneys general in Kansas and Indiana have joined the legal fight to block Nexstar’s acquisition of Tegna on antitrust grounds.
• The North Denver bar Yacht Club was named one of the country’s 10 best, according to Food & Wine magazine.

• Diners in the Union Station neighborhood are hoping two feuding Indian food trucks will reach a naan-aggression pact before things get really ugly. Mile High Tikka and Tuk Took, which often park on the same block, are engaged in a lawsuit after initial discussions to partner fell apart and allegations of threats and theft of trade secrets were leveled.
• Who knew? Satanists and the Amish are more alike than I realized – both apparently share an aversion to technology. An Elizabeth High School student who is also a member of the Satanic Temple has won an accommodation from her school to not use its digital hall pass system because it violates the third tenet of Satanism – “One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.” I’m not sure why a “digital hall pass system” violated that tenet – maybe the school was making the kids swallow it or something – but I can’t wait to see 1) how many other students quickly sign up to be Satanists and 2) what other accommodations that tenet will require.
• If you are interested in government work, might I suggest the Colorado Department of Human Services. The pay and benefits may be average, but there is a pretty decent chance that when it is time to leave, you’ll walk away with a nice financial settlement. The agency has now paid out nearly $3 million over “alleged pay, age, gender and disability discrimination, whistleblower protection violations, and retaliatory firings, among other accusations.”
• Reporter Brendan Keefe shared that he had an expense report rejected by CBS because he didn’t use the company’s preferred rental car provider while on assignment in Kirkuk, Iraq. Instead, he submitted a handwritten receipt in Arabic for the rental of one of the few cars he could find – a 1972 Toyota pickup truck – but CBS said he was supposed to use Hertz.
• If you spent more than five weeks earning your master’s degree, well, you’re a sucker. The Washington Post profiled students who are gaming the online education system to earn bachelor’s degrees in just a few months and master’s degrees in weeks.
• FIFA is outraged – OUTRAGED – that the New Jersey transit system is price-gouging World Cup soccer ticket holders by charging $150 for round-trip train service from New York City to MetLife Stadium on game days, a trip that normally costs just $12.90. For the record, it is FIFA that has perfected the art of price-gouging. Its new “dynamic pricing” ticket system introduced especially for the U.S. market has priced some World Cup tickets at more than $10,000 each.
• How bad have the Colorado Rockies been over the past few years? Last year’s World Series champions, the L.A. Dodgers, lost their first game to the Rockies and immediately implied the Rockies must be cheating to have actually beaten them.
• Has Nexstar, parent company of Fox31, acquired Tegna, parent company of 9News? Well … it’s complicated. Yes, the deal closed weeks ago, but a federal judge has now issued a preliminary injunction barring Nexstar from making changes to Tegna stations while the courts decide if the acquisition was legal. That gives 9News employees a stay of execution.
• Nike‘s official Boston Marathon slogan – “Runners welcome. Walker Tolerated” – hasn’t gone over well in the running (and walking) communities. To Nike’s credit, the slogan has gone over better than its London Marathon slogan last year – “Never Again. Until Next Year.” – that was widely criticized by Jewish groups for brand-hijacking the anti-Holocaust message, “Never again.” Sometimes companies will claim that attention was the goal, that they are playing marketing chess while those criticizing them are playing checkers, but Nike’s market cap is less than one-third of what it was just four years ago, so … no.
• Carnival Cruise Lines is warning passengers not to fish from the balconies of their suites. Carnival’s policy states that “guests caught attempting to fish on one of their ships could face a $500 fine, immediate removal from the ship at the next port and even a permanent, lifetime ban from the cruise line.”
• Power couple Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe announced they have split, ending a decade-long relationship. Bird is a basketball Hall of Famer and Rapinoe is one of the best-known women’s soccer players in the world, and together they have six Olympic gold medals and six World Cup gold medals.
• O’Dwyer’s reports that healthcare PR firms saw a 1.6% decline in revenue in 2025, as economic uncertainty, rising costs and a challenging political environment created challenges for healthcare organizations.
• A skydiver intending to parachute onto the field at the Virginia Tech spring football game was blown off course and crashed into the video scoreboard. He hung helplessly for about 15 minutes until first responders rescued him.
• Turnabout is fair play, right? A millionaire U.S. big-game hunter was trampled to death by five elephants while hunting in central Africa.

Who won the week?

• My colleague and GroundFloor Media founder Laura Love is among the 10 honorees for the Girl Scouts‘ 2026 Denver Women of Distinction awards.
• Former 9News anchor and SE2 communications consultant Bazi Kanani has been named the new host of CPR‘s “Morning Edition.”
• Westword food editor Molly Martin is stepping down after five years, and will be replaced by frequent Westword contributor Antony Bruno. Meanwhile, the publication is seeking freelance food and wine writers.
• Lancôme sent more than 1,000 influencers and content creators free products, but addressed the packages to celebrities such as Demi Moore and Kate Hudson. The result was social media videos of influencers sharing the packages and joking about the “mix-up.” Stunt marketing at its best.

• It was a bad week for narco-hippos. Colombian officials green-lighted a plan to cull dozens of hippos that roam freely in the country. The hippos are descendants of those first brought to Colombia by notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.
• ABC‘s “Good Morning America” broadcast live from the top of Pikes Peak this morning, but many Denver viewers weren’t able to see it. ABC and Xfinity remain in a standoff that has removed ABC channels from the cable service.
• LIV Golf, the upstart, Saudi-backed golf league that sent shock waves through the American PGA tour by luring away many top stars, is suffering its own shock waves this week. Rumors are that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will withdraw funding from LIV Golf starting next year, a move that could cause the league to collapse entirely.
• President Donald Trump picked an unexpected fight with Pope Leo in a move that is dividing American Catholics. I feel like President Trump is just months away from going full “Church of England” and forming his own religion.
  • Not wanting to only alienate Catholics, President Trump also posted an A.I.-generated photo that portrayed him as Jesus, causing a firestorm among evangelicals. He later took the post down, which is as close to an apology as he gets.
• A former Alabama football player is facing charges of wire fraud and identity theft after he allegedly used wigs and fake driver’s licenses to impersonate NFL players. Luther Davis managed to secure nearly $20 million in loans with his Tyler Perry-like scheme.
• A federal jury found that concert promoter Live Nation illegally monopolized the ticketing process for concerts in the U.S. The ruling is a win for a group of states including Colorado that alleged that Live Nation overcharged consumers and pressured music venues to use its proprietary ticketing service.
• Washington, D.C., politicians better get ready – celebrity gossip site TMZ announced it has opened a D.C. bureau.
  • In this week’s edition of Unexpected Celebrity Feuds, we have U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and comedian Dave Chappelle, who criticized the lawmaker for using a selfie they took together to “weaponize” his transgender jokes for political gain.
  • New York Times/The Athletic reporter Dianna Russini resigned amid a probe into her relationship with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. And the reverberations are continuing. USA Today fired sports columnist Crissy Froyd after she apparently engaged in a little too much schadenfreude related to Russini’s departure.
• Singer Sabrina Carpenter apologized for confusing a fan’s “zaghrouta” — a high-pitched call used in some Arab cultures to express joy — for a “yodel” and calling it “weird” during her performance at Coachella. She posted on social media, “My apologies. … Now I know what a zaghrouta is! I welcome all cheers and yodels from here on out.”
• Ford is recalling 1.4 million F-150 pickup trucks due to a gearshift issue.
• Door Dash tried to get cute by participating in a marketing stunt with President Donald Trump, but it apparently hasn’t been paying attention to politics since 2016. If it had, it would have known that your chances of getting burned when collaborating with President Trump sit at about 90%. A Door Dash delivery driver delivered fast food to the Oval Office in a photo op to promote the president’s “No Tax on Tips” initiative, but the situation took a turn when President Trump starting asking her to weigh in on transgender athletes in sports.
• Is someone kidnapping or killing U.S. scientists who have access to top-secret aerospace, defense and UFO information? U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) thinks so.

Who won the week?

• Amy Daly has accepted the Director of Donor Engagement position at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver.
• The Society of Professional Journalists’ national organization has renamed its award for ethics in journalism after former Denver Post reporter Fred Brown. A fitting honor.
• There was a time when NBC‘s Brian Williams was among the most recognizable journalists in the country, and then a scandal where he exaggerated his experiences in a war zone sunk his career. Williams is attempting to return to public prominence with a new video podcast on Netflix.
• The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit dedicated to keeping newspapers alive, acquired the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette just a month before it was set to shut down. The Post-Gazette traces its history back to The Pittsburgh Gazette, which was founded in 1786. 
• The University of Denver won its 11th national championship in hockey – and its third in the last five years – by defeating the University of Wisconsin 2-1.
• The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2026 inductees, and the honorees will be Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Iron Maiden, Oasis, Sade, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan.
• Put the NASA Public Affairs team on the short list for 2026 PR Team of the Year. Coverage of the Artemis II mission was immense and overwhelmingly positive, two things NASA needed as it has fallen off of the front pages over the past few years.

• Organizers of the three-day Wireless Music Festival in the U.K. were forced to cancel the event after sponsors Pepsi and Diageo withdrew when Kanye West was announced as the headliner and British officials then blocked West from entering the country, “saying his presence in the U.K. would not be conducive to the public good.”
• After losing to head coach Dawn Staley and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks in the women’s NCAA basketball Final Four, legendary University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma went full pout mode and tried to pick a fight with Staley. It was an astonishing moment from Auriemma, who holds the NCAA record for women’s basketball championships. His first apology didn’t go well, but his second seems to have smoothed things over.
• ESPN is blaming its recent carriage dispute with YouTube TV for its latest round of layoffs. The broadcaster said the 15-day blackout caused an “unexpected revenue dip last fall.” ESPN was quiet about what role its recent $3 billion acquisition of the NFL Network may have had on its need to conduct layoffs. Meanwhile, Disney is preparing to cut 1,000 positions.
• The Atlantic gave a reporter $10,000 to bet so he could examine the world of online gambling. He says it turned him into a “degenerate gambler.”
• Photos of New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and New York Times/The Athletic NFL reporter Dianna Russini holding hands and hugging at a luxury resort in Arizona have made a number of headlines. In addition to the fact that both are married to other people, Russini is a journalist who covers Vrabel and his team.
• CBS announced who will replace Stephen Colbert‘s late-night show at the end of May: “Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen.” It will be interesting to compare Colbert’s ratings to the new show.
• The NHL‘s Dallas Stars have banned a fan who bought tickets for a group of spectators who celebrated a goal with a Nazi salute.
• It’s only April, but our historically dry spring has already caused cities including Denver, Aurora, Castle Rock and Thornton to implement water restrictions.
• FIFA, soccer’s governing body, has long considered the U.S. the most lucrative market in the world to host World Cups and they host events here regularly when it is time to refill the organization’s coffers. This year’s men’s World Cup has set a new standard for putting the screws to U.S. fans. First, it was a controversial dynamic pricing model that escalated the price of nearly every ticket, and now World Cup ticket buyers are accusing FIFA of “misleading” them with stadium maps that misrepresented the potential location of seats they bought. Hey, those FIFA Peace Prize trophies aren’t cheap.
• What do you get if you cross competitive cycling with MMA? Kiaan Watts, apparently. The New Zealand cyclist has been suspended for 25 days by the sport’s governing body for punching a fellow rider in the head during a race in the Netherlands.
• From “fake it until you make it” to “fake it until you are indicted.” This is the Colorado journalism story of the year.

Who won the week?

• Linhart PR founder Sharon Linhart is among five journalism and PR leaders who will be honored by the Denver Press Club at its annual Hall of Fame awards. The others are Denver Post Editor Lee Ann Colacioppo, Denver Press Club historian and author Alan Kania, longtime Denver journalist Linda Carpio Shapley and Colorado Springs Gazette Managing Editor Jim Trotter.
• Dovetail Solutions has promoted Alex Busuttil to Senior Director of Client Services and Whitney Conaghan to Director of Client Services.
• Two of the three primary owners of the Denver Broncos – Greg and Carrie Walton Penner – have acquired a 40% stake in the Colorado Rockies. Let’s hope their business and sports savvy are put to good use with the baseball team.
• Former Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone has been hired as the head coach of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, one of college basketball’s most iconic teams.
• The University of Denver Pioneers won a double-overtime game against the University of Michigan to advance to the NCAA hockey championship game. They will face the University of Wisconsin Badgers in the finals.
• March Madness has ended, and the University of Michigan men and the UCLA women emerged victorious.

• If you are friends with an editor of The Wall Street Journal, kindly explain what “Crisis PR” is. The newspaper published an article headlined, “How a Massive KitKat Heist Turned Into Crisis PR Gold” that alleged that the theft of approximately $700,000 worth of KitKats was a “crisis.” In fact, thieves hijacking your product is an odd compliment and ultimately nothing more than a stunt marketing opportunity.
• Sacré Bleu! When an Air Canada jet had a fatal collision with a fire truck a couple of weeks ago at LaGuardia Airport in New York, we all knew someone would pay the price. What we didn’t expect – or at least I didn’t – was that it would be Michael Rousseau, the CEO of Air Canada who was forced to resign for the crime of not releasing a video expressing condolences in French.
• Comedian Kevin Hart was the latest celebrity to be honored at the deceptively named Hollywood Wax Museum located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Unfortunately, his likeness was not to his liking, and he shared his thoughts on social media: “This s— has to stop…. I demand a redo damn it!!!!”
• Xfinity subscribers in Denver are without Denver7 and other E.W. Scripps-owned channels as the two companies are locked in a contract dispute.
• It looked for a moment like rogue U.S. Army helicopter pilots who freelanced a fly-by at the Tennessee home of Kid Rock were going to be held accountable. The Army issued a statement saying, it “takes any allegations of unauthorized or unsafe flight operations very seriously and is committed to enforcing standards and holding personnel accountable.” But Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had the final word, posting to social media, “No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots.”
• Tiger Woods was arrested last Friday for DUI after he flipped his SUV, and this accident marked at least the fourth time he has been responsible for an accident that was suspected to involve impairment. A 2017 DUI charge was reduced to reckless driving, and the L.A. Sheriff’s Department is under renewed scrutiny for letting Woods walk without even being tested after a 2021 rollover accident. His arrest on Friday made additional headlines when body camera footage caught Woods telling the responding officers that he “was just talking to the president” on his cell phone as they arrived. 
• President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, the second cabinet member to be removed by the president. As The Wall Street Journal editorial board shared, “Is there a worse job in Washington, D.C., than Attorney General under President Trump? … The President wants someone who will do his bidding, which is proper on policy issues. The problem is that he also wants an AG who will indict his political enemies and stretch the limits of the law to serve his political goals.”
• If you have been in Denver long enough, you know that Denver Post reporter Fred Brown was the absolute authority on all things local politics. Sadly, he passed away this week at age 85.
• CNN‘s daily-average-gas-price tracker shows the average cost of a gallon of gas in the U.S. has increased $1.10 to $4.08 – 37% – since the start of the Iran war.
• Kim Bimestefer, the head of the Colorado agency that oversees Medicaid, hastily resigned this week just ahead of a no-confidence vote in the state Senate. Her focus on ruthlessly cutting payments to providers while simultaneously dealing with multiple misspending scandals on her watch ultimately undermined confidence in her leadership.
• Our state’s (usually) cold spring weather means that the Colorado Rockies‘ home opener is always a week or two after the season starts. This year, the Rockies limp into their home opener at 2-4, tied for last place in the division. They haven’t had a winning record when playing their home opener since 2019.

Who won the week?

• Andrea Burns has been promoted to chief impact officer at Urban Land Conservancy. What prepares someone to be successful in such an important position? Previous communications roles at the City and County of Denver, Jefferson County, National Western Center and GroundFloor Media, of course. That’s like having a dozen MBAs.
• Linhart PR Managing Partner Paul Raab is celebrating his 20th anniversary with the agency. He joined in 2006 as a senior vice president and was named managing partner in 2016.
• Philosophy Communications is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
• SideCar PR’s Sarah Cullen has joined the Downtown Denver Partnership‘s 2026 Board of Governors.
• Baltimore-based Collins + Co. has opened an office in Denver, which is led by chief of creative Carli Cohen and VP of marketing Melissa Novitski.
• Westword named Corey Hutchins‘ “Inside the News in Colorado” newsletter as the “Best Journalism About Colorado Journalism.”
• The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters‘ nine-year prison sentence was calculated improperly and that she should receive a new sentencing hearing. The judges said that Peters’ lengthy sentence was based in part on an attempt to silence her voter-fraud conspiracy theories, which violated her First Amendment rights. It’s not all good news for Peters, though. Her convictions stand and the same judge who sentenced her the first time is responsible for re-sentencing her.
• April Fools’ Day was Wednesday, and Eric Anderson of SE2 share one of his favorite jokes from the University of Denver: formally announcing that the school and the City of Denver had reached an agreement to allow a Buc-ees at I-25 and University Boulevard.

• Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.” That is an expression that served quadruple amputee and professional cornhole player Dayton Webber well, right up until it didn’t. Webber, the first quadruple amputee to compete in the American Cornhole League, has been charged with murder after allegedly shooting a man during an argument. I was pretty sure I knew what the defense attorney’s argument was going to be, but then a TikTok video surfaced of Webber firing a handgun at a target. Who knew?
• It’s hardly a surprise after one of the warmest winters on record and the lowest snow pack in decades, but most of Colorado’s ski resorts have announced they will end this ski season earlier than expected.
• Pour one out for Snooki, Christina Haack and Real Housewives from coast to coast, among others – the number of unscripted and reality television series with season premieres in the U.S. has dropped by a third since 2022. The good news if you are a fan: even with the drop, there were still 794 unscripted/reality show premieres last year.
• Is there a social media reckoning on the horizon? A jury in New Mexico found that Meta – parent company of Facebook and Instagram – misled consumers about the safety of its platforms, which allowed the sexual exploitation of underage users. It ordered Meta to pay $375 million in damages. Meanwhile, a separate jury in California found Meta and YouTube financially liable for a young user’s mental health distress because they purposefully designed their features to be addictive.
• Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert took to Twitter to celebrate her travel experience: “You can’t make this stuff up!! ICE agents show up at airports, and suddenly TSA wait times in Minneapolis drop to less than five minutes!” The only problem was that ICE hadn’t been deployed in Minneapolis‘ airport and wait times there have been relatively short since the partial government shutdown began.
• A special U.S. House ethics subcommittee found Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., guilty of 25 ethics charges, ending a three-year investigation into allegations she stole millions of dollars in federal relief funds. The committee will now turn its attention to her punishment, which could range from a censure to her expulsion from the House.
• Former KOA NewsRadio “Colorado Morning News” co-host Marty Lenz discussed being laid off by iHeartMedia, and the role he believes his refusal to allow the show to be a “conservative news” program played in it. “I was laid off during iHeart’s annual/semiannual reduction in force. While the official explanation cited cost-cutting … I believe other considerations were also at play,” he shared.
• In this week’s edition of unexpected celebrity feuds, we have American singer Chappell Roan and Brazilian soccer star Jorginho. The dispute centers on whether Roan’s bodyguards were too rude to Jorginho’s young stepdaughter, who happens to be the biological daughter of actor Jude Law.
• Opening Day is this week, and that means ESPN is out with its annual baseball projections. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but they predict our Colorado Rockies will be the worst team in Major League Baseball, and give us a “0%” chance of making the playoffs and a “0.0%” chance of making the World Series.
• Disgraced comedian Bill Cosby may have already lost every bit of his reputation, but he can still be hit where it hurts. A jury this week found him liable for the 1972 sexual assault of a woman and ordered him to pay her $59 million.
• I’m not sure who would pick a fight with Alan Ritchson, the massive actor who portrays character Jack Reacher in the eponymous television series, but one of his neighbors apparently did just that. Police ruled Ritchson acted in self-defense when he pummeled the neighbor.
• NBC “Today” morning show host Savannah Guthrie announced she will return to the show on April 6, more than two months after her mother went missing. Guthrie shared that she doesn’t believe her mother is alive and the family is focused on trying to recover her body.
• A Secret Service agent escorting former First Lady Jill Biden through the Philadelphia International Airport accidentally shot himself in the leg.
• A California father was arrested and charged with two felonies after he added official-looking stop signs at an intersection adjacent to a children’s playground.

Who won the week?

• Turner PR promoted Deborah Park to Executive Vice President of Travel & Tourism.
• Westword co-founder and editor Patty Calhoun announced she will retire in July after 49 years with the alt-weekly. More than anyone, Patty has chronicled Denver‘s rise from a sleepy outdoors-and-oil-and-gas town to the modern, sophisticated city we know today. Her institutional knowledge of Denver is second to none, and her departure will be a painful loss.
• Colorado Public Radio host Nathan Fernando-Frescas has been elected president of the Denver Press Club.
• Tired of watching Congress do nothing while TSA agents continue to not be paid, Delta Airlines yanked the special red-carpet services it offers Congressmembers. Those perks include expedited screening, escorts through airports to bypass long security lines and dedicated reservation desks.
• Denver‘s new NWSL team, the Summit, will set a new league attendance record tomorrow when they play their inaugural home game in front of more than 50,000 fans at Empower Field.
• The Kennedy Center announced it will award comedian Bill Maher the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
• The Denver Nuggets introduced a Spanish-language audio broadcast of its games this week on the team’s mobile app.
• Actor Kurt Russell shared that his and wife Goldie Hawn‘s ranch in Snowmass is their favorite home, beating out their other homes in Los Angeles; Palm Desert, Calif.; and New York.

• Atlanta has almost as many strip clubs as Waffle Houses, so it was only a matter of time before the Atlanta Hawks got around to having a promotional night honoring one of them. That strip club turned out to be Magic City, which the Hawks lovingly described as an “iconic cultural institution” and an “Atlanta landmark.” Alas, when the NBA found out, it stepped in and made them cancel it. The Hawks, defiant to the end, responded, “We remain committed to celebrating the best of Atlanta.”
• Nothing says “exclusive dining experience” like a $1,500 meal served with a side of an abuse scandal. After The New York Times detailed years of alleged physical and psychological mistreatment by Noma chef René Redzepi, the restaurant’s pop-up experience in L.A. lost prestigious sponsors American Express and Blackbird. And following that, it lost Redzepi, who resigned via an Instagram post and a tearful video.
• Finally, a non-University of Michigan scandal in the Big 10. Walter Carter Jr., the president of The Ohio State University, is out of a job after admitting that he had an improper relationship with a woman and that he gave her “access to Ohio State leadership to support her personal business.”
• It’s been quite a week for the Department of Defense War:
  • The Pentagon has banned press photographers from the briefing room after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth found photographs from his recent press briefing unflattering.
  • Officials at the Pentagon threatened The Washington Post that a link on its website asking people to report Pentagon-related news tips “crossed the line into the sort of ‘solicitation’ that is not protected by the First Amendment and that could prompt punishment under the new restrictions.”
  • Secretary Hegseth blasted CNN for its Iran coverage, and announced that the “sooner” that Paramount Skydance CEO and friendly Republican David Ellison “takes over that network, the better.” Paramount Skydance has an agreement to acquire CNN’s owner, Warner Bros. Discovery.
  • CNN wasn’t the only media target in the Trump administration‘s crosshairs. White House officials expressed outrage that CBS News hired Jeremy Adler, a communications executive who formerly worked with Rep. Liz Cheney. They apparently only want people at news divisions that they can count on to be friendly to them.
  • Former NFL players expressed outrage at a propaganda video that juxtaposed their big hits on the football field with images of the U.S. bombing Iran. The Pentagon has declined to remove the video, which is accompanied by the AC/DC song “Thunderstruck.” Former NFL player Kenny Bell said, ““For (my) play to be associated with bombing human beings makes me sick. I don’t want anything to do with images like that.”
• Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio became a meme when President Donald Trump gifted him a pair of shoes that were clearly too big for him, but he apparently was afraid of offending the president and wore them anyway.
• Two Adams City High School students are facing felony charges after they phoned in a false bomb threat and active shooter situation at their school. The students were found at the school with the same type of fake blood that had been smeared in the school’s hallways. Approximately 200 first responders, including police officers with K-9s and bomb-detection equipment, spent several hours responding to the scene.
• The Colorado Republican Party continues its dysfunction. After failing in her attempt to unite the party, state chair Brita Horn announced she will step down next month. She is the sixth consecutive Republican state chair who will have served just one full term or less.
• Meanwhile, Colorado Attorney General candidate and current Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is trying to dig herself out of the hole she created when she falsely claimed she argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Players are blaming a data breach at the Women’s Tennis Association for releasing their private cell phone numbers. You might think they would be receiving calls from lonely, desperate men, but in reality they are receiving calls from organized gambling rings threatening them if they don’t throw matches.
• It’s common for new members of pro sports teams to buy their preferred number from another playing who is using it, but L.A. Kings player Artemi Panarin sank to a new low when he had to buy No. 72 from … the team mascot. He gave “Bailey the Lion” a Rolex for the number.

Who won the week?

• Former JohnstonWells CEO GG Johnston is celebrating the 16th anniversary of Downstream Partners, her consulting firm that helps businesses better align and be more successful.
• Katie Trexler McLean‘s book “What Do I Tell My Daughter” will be published this fall.
• The Denver Post profiled Denver Summit FC’s majority owner Rob Cohen. He also is chairman and CEO of Denver-based IMA Financial Group.

• No Denver hotel may have more history than the Brown Palace, but that history is also working against it. The hotel has undergone multiple renovations to try to make it as modern as competitors such as the Four Seasons and the Ritz-Carlton, but it also finds itself located in the wrong part of downtown – far away from Union Station and the Arts District. The Brown Palace is now for sale for the third time since 2014.
• U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may get away with banning vaccines, but Massachusetts residents rebelled when he threatened to take away their sugary Dunkin‘ coffee drinks. That’s a bridge too faah.
  • RFK Jr. still had a better week than Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. President Donald Trump fired her after two brutal days testifying before Congress in which she alleged that President Trump authorized a $200 million advertising campaign featuring her and deflected questions about whether she was sleeping with one of her top aides.
• Data indicate that the arrest rate for rapes in our state sits at just 10%.
• A report commissioned by Visit Denver and restaurant financing company InKind finds that Denver‘s restaurant scene is in “crisis.” The Cliffs Notes version: Denver lost thousands of restaurant jobs between 2020 and 2025, our costs and prices are on par with New York and L.A.’s, and city bureaucracy continues to be a challenge.
• What did a $110,000 investigation into one of the Denver Police Department‘s division chiefs find? We don’t know. DPD refuses to release the report.
• The Atlanta Track Club agreed to award nearly $40,000 to three participants of its USATF Half Marathon Championships  when they were led off course by an official race motorcycle. Complicating the situation is that the race was qualifying event for the world championships in Denmark, and the three individuals who should have finished on the podium for the race now have not qualified for the world championships.
• There’s a reason CEOs usually don’t appear in advertisements, and McDonald’s reminded us why when CEO Chris Kempczinski awkwardly promoted the chain’s new Big Arch burger, which he referred to lovingly as “this product.” Among the competing brands who immediately jumped online to roast him were Burger King, Buffalo Wild Wings, Wendy’s and even Ryanair.
• If you are waiting for an overnight package from someone in Vail, cross your fingers. A FedEx semi-truck traveling to Denver crashed and tumbled into Clear Creek.
• The battle between AI company Anthropic and the Trump administration continues. Anthropic is holding its moral line while the Trump administration tries to declare Anthropic a supply-chain risk and sever its government contracts. The courts will decide.
• Troubled singer Britney Spears‘ challenges continue. She was arrested this week for DUI.
• The Hollywood Reporter dug through recently released Department of Justice files to uncover how a small cadre of public relations professionals enabled Jeffrey Epstein.

Who won the week?

• Linhart PR‘s CFO Carri Clemens is celebrating her 30th anniversary with the agency.
• 9News morning anchor and reporter Lauren Scafidi is leaving the station for a new undisclosed career opportunity.
• DIA awarded a 10-year advertising contract to JCDecaux North America, a subsidiary of the world’s largest outdoor advertising company. The contract still has to be approved by the Denver City Council and, if approved, will become effective in May 2026.
• Aurora Chef Michael Diaz de Leon of the taqueria Molino Chido is one of 16 participants on the CBS television show “America’s Culinary Cup.”
• Denver is on the shortlist to host the 2028 Democratic National Convention.
• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, paid $170 million for a still-under-construction mansion on Miami’s Indian Creek island. 
• We’ve seen versions of this story before – a college accidentally notifies students they were accepted when they weren’t, and humiliated kids have to backtrack on public announcements of their college plans. This time, BYU flipped the script. After nine prospective students were mistakenly sent acceptance letters despite not being admitted, the school has decided to enroll them.

• Big agency Burson just reported that its 2025 earnings fell 6% year over year.
• Fox31 parent company Nexstar is cutting journalists in newsrooms across the country to reduce costs in advance of its expected acquisition of 9News parent company Tegna. The math is curious: more stations, and fewer people to staff them.
• AI company Anthropic has found itself at an impasse with the Pentagon over a philosophical line it won’t cross: Claude cannot be used for fully autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance. The Pentagon assures Anthropic it has never considered such applications. I’m guessing Anthropic asked Claude if the Pentagon can be trusted, and, well, you can guess the answer.
• Colorado‘s own U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert temporarily derailed the deposition of former U.S. Senator and First Lady Hillary Clinton by secretly photographing Clinton and sharing it with a conservative podcaster – a violation of the agreed-upon ground rules for the Jeffrey Epstein-related proceedings. Democrats objected to the breach of protocol; Republicans lamented that the photo became the story. Asked why she did it, Boebert offered a two-word philosophy: “Why not.”
• If the BAFTA awards were looking for attention after being routinely overshadowed by numerous other film awards, they certainly picked a curious strategy. Tourette Syndrome advocate John Davidson, the inspiration for the BAFTA-nominated movie “I Swear,” was invited to the ceremony, and his condition caused him to shout, among other things, the N-word at presenters Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo. The host of the awards show offered two statements – one thanking the crowd for its “understanding” of Davidson’s disability and a second generically apologizing if “anyone was offended.” It took another two days for BAFTA to realize that it probably should extend an apology specifically to Jordan and Lindo, and for putting presenters and audience members in that position to begin with.
• NBC‘s Savannah Guthrie and her family increased the reward for information about her kidnapped 84-year-old mother to $1 million. Nancy Guthrie, 84, has now been missing for four weeks.
• Juan Padro, the co-founder of Culinary Creative Group that runs Denver-area restaurants such as Tap & Burger, Kumoya, Señor Bear, A5 Steakhouse and Bar Dough, is stepping down amid a lawsuit accusing the group of “keeping employee tips under the guise of a ‘service charge’ and paying a manager with the money.”
• University of Virginia QB Chandler Morris has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA demanding he be allowed to return for a seventh college season. One of his arguments: He was injured early in the 2022 season, but returned to play three games at the end of that season. He says those three games weren’t normal games but rather “three appearances (that) were part of a medically prescribed mental health treatment plan” and therefore shouldn’t counted as using up a year of his eligibility.
• Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates apologized to Gates Foundation staff members for his affairs and ties to Jeffrey Epstein that have cast a cloud over the foundation and its work.
• Meanwhile, CBS News contributor Peter Attia has resigned after the extent of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was disclosed in files released by the DOJ.
• What started as a feel-good, unifying moment – the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team winning the gold medal for the first time since the 1980 Miracle on Ice – quickly turned partisan when FBI Director Kash Patel celebrated in the locker room like he won a medal and President Donald Trump took a swipe at the gold-medal-winning U.S. Women’s Hockey Team during a congratulatory post-game call.
• The Westernaires, the Golden-based youth horseback-riding organization, will no longer perform “cowboys-and-Indians tropes — including a reenactment of the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn and white children dressed in Native-inspired regalia performing sacred Indigenous dances.” That decision wasn’t made willingly, though. A threat from the National Western Stock Show to ban them forced their hands.
• Italian golfer Andrea Pavan was hospitalized after suffering serious injuries when he fell down an elevator shaft. Pavan “called for the elevator but failed to notice, when the doors opened, that there was no elevator car waiting to collect him.”
• The Colorado Rockies are Rockie-ing again. They traded for pitcher Pierson Ohl in the offseason, and a week into spring training announced he would need to undergo Tommy John surgery that will cause him to miss the entire upcoming season. Rockies Fever! Catch It!
• The Met Gala could use some public relations help after it announced that Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos will serve as honorary chairs for the 2026 event. Jeff Bezos has most recently been in the new for gutting The Washington Post with extensive layoffs, and even causing some foreign correspondents to find themselves out of work and stranded in war zones.

Who won the week?

• The Denver Press Club has reached the half-way point in its 2026 membership drive. You can join here.
• Good news for local bars and brewpubs: drinking at bars is on the rise even as alcohol consumption is on the decline.
• Former Colorado state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis avoided jail time after being convicted of four felony charges of forgery and attempting to influence a public servant. She was sentenced to two years of probation and 150 hours of community service.
• Warner Bros. Discovery may have jilted Netflix to accept a better acquisition offer from Paramount, but it did receive a $2.8 billion break-up fee in the process.

• Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – formerly Prince Andrew – appears to be getting his reckoning, albeit Al Capone-style. Caught up deeply in the Jeffrey Epstein human trafficking and rape scandal, British authorities have finally arrested Mountbatten-Windsor … for sharing confidential trade paperwork with Epstein.
• If you have a lunch scheduled with your prospect at Palantir next week, you might want to reconfirm it. The company slinked out of town this week like they were the Baltimore Colts.
• Colorado is the modern-day equivalent of the Wild West. You want drugs? We were the first state in the country to legalize recreational marijuana. Psychedelic mushrooms, you say? Legalized those, too. Gambling? Feel free to head to Black Hawk or Central City. Guns? We’re an open carry state – no permit needed unless you are one of those dandies who wants to conceal it. So what’s left? Why, prostitution, of course. Fear not – the Colorado legislature is on it.
• It is not uncommon for accidents to occur in rural areas of I-25 and I-70 during blowing snow whiteouts in the winter. But brownouts? Extraordinarily dry conditions, dirt-covered fields and high winds combined to cause a February brownout south of Pueblo that resulted in a 30-car pileup. Five people were killed and nearly 30 more were injured.
• Washington, D.C., is at risk of becoming a cesspool. Literally.
• Anderson Cooper is the latest journalist to leave “60 Minutes” following Bari Weiss‘ appointment as editor in chief of CBS News. Pretty soon, there will only be enough journalists on staff to create “30 Minutes.”
• Eight people died in an avalanche in the Lake Tahoe backcountry. Six of the eight were mothers who bonded over their love of the outdoors and two were sisters.
• Actor Eric Dane, best known for roles in “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Euphoria,” passed away at the age of 53. He had been diagnosed with ALS a year ago.
• The high price of cocoa has caused Reese’s to shift from milk chocolate to a chocolate-flavored coating that can’t legally be referred to as milk chocolate. Reese’s is now the Cheez Whiz of chocolate.
• A pickleball dispute over the legality of a winning shot escalated into an argument, then a fistfight, then a 20-person brawl and finally felony charges. Yes, the incident took place in Florida.
• A Wisconsin man who may have just earned honorary Florida citizenship faces multiple charges after he allegedly stole an ambulance that had a patient inside and then led police on a high-speed chase.
• A judge ruled in favor of Buffalo Wild Wings in a $10 million lawsuit that accused the restaurant of fraud because the boneless chicken wings it serves don’t actually come from the wings of chickens.

Who won the week?

• Colorado ski resorts are celebrating the massive snow storm that delivered as much as 44 inches over the past week.
• Mumford & Sons announced it will perform a June show at Folsom Field in Boulder.
• Mikaela Shiffrin is unquestionably the greatest ski racer in the world, but she hasn’t always shown that in the Olympics. This week, she broke an eight-year Olympic medal drought with gold in the slalom event.
• Every Olympics has its breakout stars: snowboarder Shaun White in 2006, swimmer Michael Phelps and sprinter Usain Bolt in 2008, swimmer Katie Ledecky in 2012, gymnast Simone Biles in 2016 and snowboarder Chloe Kim in 2022, for example. So who is the breakout star of the 2026 Winter Olympics? The drones.

• The Denver television news landscape continues to be a dumpster fire:
  • There was a bloodbath among the senior ranks at Denver7 (ABC) this week. GM Brian Joyce shared with employees that Senior Director of News Megan McRae, Assistant News Director Olivia Dickenson and Digital Director Landon Haaf have all left the station effective immediately.
  • And the uncertainty at Denver7 isn’t just in the newsroom. The station is owned by E.W. Scripps Company, which continues to be aggressively pursued by right-wing news holding group Sinclair.
  • Meanwhile, President Donald Trump reversed his position and has now endorsed Nexstar‘s proposed takeover of Tegna, a deal which would have the owner of Fox31/CW2 absorb 9News, potentially dismantling the highest-functioning television newsroom in the state.
• Speaking of President Donald Trump, his ongoing war against the media is working. A Pew Research Center survey finds that a majority of Americans – 57% – lack confidence that journalists act in “the best interests of the public.” That confidence level split significantly along party lines, with just 25% of Republicans expressing confidence in journalists while 61% of Democrats saying they had confidence.
• Omnicom is consolidating PR agencies Porter Novelli with FleishmanHillard and Ketchum with Golin following the completion of its merger with IPG. It is the latest big-agency restructuring and it underscores the economic pressures larger agencies are under with more-demanding clients and AI disruption.
  • PRWeek, which broke the story, noted, “…This is a new era for marketing services holding companies where tough decisions have to be made, and we have already seen the death of similarly famous brand names in the creative and media agency sectors, both after the Omnicom acquisition of IPG and at competitor holdcos such as WPP. Nothing is sacred anymore.”
• The co-owner of the storied Manchester United soccer team is apologizing for his statement that the UK has been “colonized by immigrants.” On the one hand, who would know more about colonizing than an Englander? On the other, that’s probably not a statement you want to make when more than two-thirds of your players are foreign-born.
• Tennis players can be quick to complain about a lot of things – line calls, distracting fans, matches that end too late. But Daniil Medvedev dropped an entirely new one this week: the Head Tour XT tennis balls used in a tournament in Rotterdam are “not round.“ Medvedev added, “I think maybe we should consider not playing with Head (tennis) balls,” which no doubt sent the company’s public relations team into full crisis mode.
• A few Winter Olympics updates:
  • U.S. Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn‘s comeback tour after rupturing her ACL in her final tune-up race before the Winter Olympics came to a disastrous end. A horrific crash in the Women’s Downhill resulted in what doctors described as a “complex tibia fracture” – a term often used to describe when the shin bone shatters. She has had three surgeries since the accident to repair her leg, and doctors caution that her recovery will take at least another six months.
  • The U.S.O.C. disqualified Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych after he refused to stop wearing a helmet that includes photos of Ukrainian athletes and coaches who have died defending Ukraine from Russian forces.
  • The Olympic medals from Milano Cortina keep breaking.
  • Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Laegreid used a perfunctory media interview that came with his bronze medal win as an opportunity to reveal that he had been unfaithful to his former girlfriend in an attempt to win her back. Not surprisingly, that move did not go over well with the ex-girlfriend.
• The HGTV show “Rehab Addict” has been cancelled after leaked footage showed host Nicole Curtis using the N-word on-camera.
• The Ontario Hockey League has apologized for sending an email to season-ticket holders asking them to “be mindful of personal cleanliness while sharing our space with fellow fans.” Before backtracking and apologizing, a team representative elaborated on the reason for the email, saying, “I got a lot of people complaining about the (person) next to them smelling like cat pee, bad breath, this, that and everything else.”
• James Van Der Beek, the actor who co-starred with Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson in the late 1990s/early 2000s teen drama “Dawson’s Creek” has died from complications of colorectal cancer. He was 48. And Brad Arnold, the lead singer of 3 Doors Down, died from kidney cancer. He was 47.

Who won the week?

• Novitas Communications added Clare O’Halloran as an associate.
• The Children’s Hospital Colorado internal comms team was named a finalist for Employee Communications Team of the Year in the 2026 Ragan Employee Communications Awards.
• The Four Seasons was named the best hotel in Denver. It was followed by The Ritz-Carlton, the Crawford Hotel, the Limelight Hotel and The Maven Hotel at Dairy Block.
• Denver Nuggets star Jamal Murray will play in his first NBA All-Star game this weekend. He will be joined by superstar Nikola Jokic.
• Bad Bunny‘s halftime performance drew 128.2 million viewers, making it the fourth most-watched in Super Bowl history. Meanwhile, Kid Rock‘s competing streaming halftime show drew 6.1 million viewers, a not-insignificant number that could encourage others to continue counter-programming future Super Bowl halftime shows.
• Nearing the halfway point, Norway, Italy and the United States lead the medal count at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

• Jeff Bezos took The Washington Post motto “Democracy Dies in Darkness” as an instruction rather than a caution this week when he laid off one-third of the paper – 300 employees. Bezos, who apropos of nothing is worth $249 billion, indicated the layoffs were part of a growth strategy (he may have been holding the revenue projections chart upside down). The layoffs at The Post overshadowed the Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s announcement that it was laying off 50 employees, or about 15% of its workforce.
• Many recognizable names were included in the latest round of Jeffrey Epstein documents that the U.S. Department of Justice released. Among them: President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Tesla/X/SpaceX entrepreneur Elon Musk, Virgin founder Richard Branson, former British Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, New York Giants co-owner Steven Tisch, former Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former Secretary of the Treasury and former president of Harvard University Larry Summers, current U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and former Trump advisor Steve Bannon.
  • There was also one notable local name: Boulder restaurateur Kimbal Musk, who is Elon Musk‘s younger brother. His name was mentioned in the new files more than 100 times.
• After attempting to shoe-horn his name onto the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and finding that few big names were then willing to perform there, President Donald Trump announced that the center would shut down for two years for extensive renovations. President Trump claimed it would be a renovation rather than a demolition, but anyone who followed his East Wing “renovation” project won’t believe it for a second.
• How unexpected was a New England Patriots–Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl this year? Fanatics, the manufacturer of official NFL jerseys, can’t keep up with demand because it didn’t bother to make extras for those teams in case they made the Super Bowl.
• Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, remains missing and feared kidnapped. Adding to the family’s nightmare, they received competing ransom notes demanding Bitcoin payments, one of which resulted in the arrest of an opportunist who was not involved in any kidnapping. Savannah was scheduled to host the NBC Winter Olympics opening ceremonies later today, but has taken leave to be in Arizona near her mother’s home. Mary Carillo will replace her.
• You will never guess what drives many youth coaches to quit. Okay, you will. The answer is abusive parents.
• The beer at Wonderland Brewing Co. in Broomfield is quite strong, and I know that because the owner must have been consuming a lot of it this week when in the span of a few hours, he 1) made a Vanilla Ice “Ice, Ice Baby” joke on Facebook about competitors who closed to support the ICE protests, 2) deleted that post, 3) replaced it with a heartfelt apology for his first post he described as “insensitive and ignorant,” 4) then deleted that apology post, and finally 5) posted a lengthy rant saying he wasn’t sorry and blaming “Broomfield moms” for the controversy.
• “The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals grievance has devolved into insularity. Seven in 10 respondents report unwillingness or hesitance to trust someone with different values, approaches to social issues, backgrounds or information sources.”
• What has two wheels, handlebars and a pretty decent chance of landing you in the hospital? According to the latest Denver data, it’s an electric scooter. Last year, 15 people in Denver died while riding standing e-scooters, and another 1,800 were admitted to Denver Health after accidents.
• Last week, I reported that former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick – the owner of eight Super Bowl rings as a head coach and assistant coach – inexplicably was not selected the the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. This week, we learned that New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft, who has won six Super Bowls so far, also was not selected in his first year. If I am Tom Brady, I might be getting nervous for my first year of eligibility in 2028.
• The diminutive singer ironically named Ariana Grande summed up the Vogue Japan cover photo that featured her with six fingers by saying, “Holy s–t.” It may be time for Vogue Japan to find a new AI tool.
• A Zamboni driver in Fort Collins died when he hit his head on a partially open overhead door while driving the machine. It is Colorado‘s worst sports-related accidental death since a hammer thrown by a high school track-and-field competitor cleared the protective barrier and flew into the crowd at a meet at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs last year, killing one.
• What do you do when a couple of dine-and-dashers take you for a little more than $100? Two Fraser restaurant employees chased them across town, threatened them with a gun and put one of them in a chokehold. Police who responded to the fight ended up giving the dine-and-dashers a ticket and then arrested the two restaurant employees for felony menacing and misdemeanor assault. No word on whether they’ll get their $100.
• Normally, having your boxing opponent literally knock the toupee off your head would be a sign that the fight is not going well, but boxer Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller somehow lost his hairpiece and won the fight.

Who won the week?

• GBSM‘s Andy Mountain has been named to the Downtown Denver Partnership‘s Board of Governors.
• Special Olympics Colorado promoted Johanna Erickson to Chief Communications Officer.
• Linhart PR added Olivia Venuta as an Account Executive.
• The Mountain West Conference named Stuart Buchanan the Associate Commissioner of Strategic Communications.
• Briana Fernandez has been promoted to morning traffic anchor at 9News. 
• Penny the Doberman Pinscher won Best in Show at this year’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
• Speedskater Erin Jackson and bobsledder Frank Del Duca have been named U.S. flag bearers for the Winter Olympics opening ceremonies.

Before I get into this week’s edition of “Who Had the Worst Week,” I wanted to share that a Celebration of Life for Dawn Doty is scheduled for Monday, February 23, at 4 p.m. at the Sustainability, Energy and Environment Community (SEEC) Auditorium. It is located at 4001 Discovery Drive on the University of Colorado Boulder’s East Campus. Members of the community are invited.

Now, on to the list.

• The documentary “Melania” about First Lady Melania Trump is projected to bring in about $3 million in its first week, a disappointing total for a movie that Amazon‘s MGM Studios paid more than $75 million to produce and promote. Meanwhile, approximately two-thirds of the crew has requested they not appear in the credits at the end of the movie.
• The decision to spend more than $75 million on “Melania” looks even worse given that Amazon announced this week that it will lay off more than 16,000 workers.
• Amazon wasn’t the only one announcing big layoffs. UPS said it will cut as many as 30,000 jobs this year as part of a continuing effort to reduce costs and shore up profits, in part because it is delivering fewer packages for … Amazon. UPS eliminated 62,000 positions last year.
• Staff members at the Denver Zoo killed two rare Malayan tapirs when they misdosed them with copper, a common dietary supplement for tapirs. The zoo did not say how the mistake happened or whether anyone had been disciplined for causing the deaths.
• Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick won six Super Bowls as a head coach and another two as an assistant coach – more than anyone else in NFL history. So, naturally he was a lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, right? Nope. The voters rejected him as part of this year’s class.
• Scientists are warning that an influenza virus informally called “Canine Coronavirus” could evolve to pose a similar threat as the recent COVID-19 virus.
• The Trump administration has made clear who it is making the scapegoat for the ICE killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis: Gregory Bovino, the U.S. Border Patrol commander who had been put in charge of the city’s immigration operation.
• The United States will host most of the 2026 World Cup matches this summer (Mexico and Canada will host the others), and calls are mounting globally for a boycott. Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter is the latest to join the chorus.
• The NCAA continues to pretend that college football players are not professionals, but bit by bit that veneer is disappearing. The latest example: University of Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders is now fining players as much as $2,500 for missing practices without approval. It’s only $500 if you are late.
• The latest batch of Jeffrey Epstein-related materials released by the U.S. Department of Justice includes a claim that Microsoft founder Bill Gates asked Epstein to help obtain prescription drugs to treat an STD he caught from “Russian girls.”
• Dom Testa is out at KOOL 105, apparently ending his more than 30-year reign as one of Denver‘s most recognizable radio personalities. Prior to joining KOOL 105, he spent three decades at KIMN Mix 100.
• The board of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association voted to pursue moving its headquarters from Colorado Springs to Cheyenne, Wyo., but there is still at least one obstacle: conservative Wyoming legislators who are balking at public funding for a private enterprise.
• An unexpected feud has erupted between Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton and QB Bo Nix. Nix was unhappy that Payton spoke to media about the QB’s history of ankle injuries and described the latest injury as something Nix was “predisposed” to have. Said Nix, “I don’t think (Payton) really should share how many surgeries I’ve had in the past, to be honest with you, he doesn’t even really know that.”

Who won the week?

• SideCar PR and its founder/CEO Sarah Cullen are celebrating the agency’s 15th anniversary.
• Former University of Colorado Buffalo Shedeur Sanders, now the starting quarterback with the Cleveland Browns, was named to the NFL Pro Bowl. He replaces New England Patriots QB Drake Maye, who is playing in the Super Bowl.
• The Great American Beer Festival, the biggest beer festival in the U.S., will relocate from the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver to the outdoor Levitt Pavilion in south Denver. Remember when we used to worry about snow in October?

• Go big or go home, they say. Aurora City Councilman Rob Andrews embraced that philosophy when he tested at more than three times the legal limit for alcohol – a 0.252 – while being arrested for DUI this past weekend. Inexplicably, his sober son was in the car with him when he was arrested, and police turned Andrews’ car over to him while taking his dad to jail. Which begs the question, why was the drunk guy driving?
• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to join President Donald Trump’s “peace board,” but could not attend the signing ceremony because he’s wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes.
• A tech glitch caused a shelter-in-place warning intended for a two-block radius in Denver to be sent city-wide.
• British troll broadcaster Piers Morgan tripped and fell so hard at a London restaurant that he suffered a broken femur and had to have his hip replaced.
• Denver native Lindsey Halligan was removed from her role as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after a judge ruled her appointment invalid and called her efforts to remain in the office “a charade.”
• Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot flooded Twitter/X with millions of sexualized images in a period of just nine days, according to a new analysis. Of the more than 4.4 million images, more than 40% were sexualized images of women, many without their consent.
• Two Denver executives – Thomas Sandgaard and Anna Lucsok – with now-bankrupt Zynex, Inc. have been indicted for conspiracy to commit health care fraud, securities fraud and mail fraud. The most illuminating paragraph in the DOJ press release: “When financial reporters raised questions about Zynex’s business practices, … Sandgaard hired an individual to attempt to disrupt the reporters’ personal lives. These efforts included signing reporters up for therapy sessions and (sending) used female underwear to a reporter’s spouse at the reporter’s home with a thank you card addressed to the spouse, detailing the reporter’s alleged ‘illicit behavior’ – all apparently with the intent to convince the spouse that her husband was being unfaithful.”
• Denver Broncos second-year QB Bo Nix helped carry the team to the AFC Championship this past weekend by beating the Buffalo Bills, but the jubilation was short-lived. Approximately 45 minutes after the game ended, head coach Sean Payton announced that Nix had fractured his ankle at the end of the game and would miss the rest of the playoffs.
• Speaking of the Buffalo Bills, if you thought their overtime loss to the Broncos in the playoffs would be their lowest point this year, team owner Terry Pegula managed to top that by firing adequately performing head coach Sean McDermott, promoting underperforming GM Brandon Beane, and holding a train-wreck of a press conference where he – unprovoked – attacked one of his own wide receivers. Anyone thinking about taking the head coach role is probably reconsidering.
• “60 Minutes” correspondents Scott Pelley and Sharyn Alfonsi are reportedly close to being fired for pushing back against CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss‘ attempts to influence their coverage.
• Patagonia had negotiated a truce with drag queen Pattie Gonia that allowed the performer to use her stage name, but Pattie’s recent attempt to trademark and sell merchandise under the “Pattie Gonia” brand was a bridge too far. Patagonia has sued Pattie Gonia, claiming “irreparable harm.” (A hat tip to Eric Anderson for that one.)

Who won the week?

• Linhart PR is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
• Sarah Meirose was promoted to Director of Public Affairs at Copic.
• The Denver Public Library Friends Foundation has added Barefoot PR co-founder Sarah Hogan to its board.
• Ryan Coogler‘s movie “Sinners” earned a record 16 Oscar nominations, including best director and best screenplay, nominations for Coogler and Best Picture. Actor Michael B. Jordan was recognized with his first Oscar nomination for best actor.
• Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife Usha announced they are expecting their fourth child in July.

• Vail Resorts reports that skier visits are down 20% this year, which the company blamed on the dry, warm fall and winter in the western United States.
• Verizon‘s cell and data services went down for a day this week, leaving millions of customers without service.
• A group of Kaiser Permanente affiliates that includes the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado and Colorado Permanente Medical Group P.C. have agreed to pay $556 million to settle allegations they committed Medicare fraud and pressured doctors to list incorrect diagnoses on medical records to receive higher reimbursements.
• It was a tough week for celebrities:
  • Former “West Wing” and “Thirtysomething” actor Timothy Busfield is facing allegations of child sex abuse in New Mexico and California.
  • Former “24” actor Kiefer Sutherland was arrested for allegedly assaulting a ride-share driver.
  • Former “Home Alone” actor Daniel Stern has been charged with soliciting a prostitute.
• Twenty current and former college basketball players have been charged with rigging the outcome of NCAA basketball games. The players represented universities including Tulane, DePaul and Fordham. That news is brought to you by ESPN and its official sports book provider DraftKings.
• Scott Adams, the creator of the comic strip “Dilbert,” passed away from metastatic prostate cancer at the age of 68. At its height, “Dilbert” appeared in more than 2,000 newspapers globally and was made into a short-lived TV series. But “Dilbert” effectively ended in 2023 when Adams shared his view that African-Americans were “a hate group” and that “the best advice I would give to White people is to get the hell away from Black people.”
• The San Francisco 49ers continue to have far more than their fair share of injuries, and some amateur sleuths have identified what they say is the culprit: an electrical sub station located adjacent to the team’s stadium and practice facilities. Experts have dismissed the theory, but a social media post alleging that “low-frequency electromagnetic fields can degrade collagen, weaken tendons, and cause soft-tissue damage” has gone viral among players.
• The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) suspended two Norwegian ski jumping coaches and the team’s suit technician for 18 months for altering suits during the world championships last year.
• Sebastian Ofner, an Austrian playing in an Australian Open qualifier match, celebrated “winning” the fifth set tie breaker 7-1, only to learn that you must reach 10 points to win in Grand Slams. Naturally, Ofner then lost 12 of the next 16 points to lose the match.

Who won the week?

• In a full-circle moment as it celebrates its 25th anniversary, my firm GFM|CenterTable has rebranded and will once again be known as GroundFloor Media (GFM).
• The Rocky Mountain chapter of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) has appointed Margaret Fogarty and Leigh Picchetti to its board. Fogarty and Picchetti, the co-founders of Corkboard Communications, will serve as Second Vice President and Treasurer, respectively.
• Laura Schwinkendorf of Barefoot PR and Mark Truax of Pac/West Strategies are winners in the Denver Business Journal‘s 2026 40 Under 40 awards.
• Mandy Melbi has been appointed Vice President of Marketing at Nextworld.
• Matt Wagner has added Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver to his day job as a Vice President at Ogilvy.
• 9News announced that Drew Carney will replace Jordan Chavez as its weekday morning-show anchor. Carney has spent the past 19 years in Portland.
• The Denver Summit NWSL soccer team signed local women’s soccer star Lindsey Horan Heaps. Heaps is a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team and played soccer at Golden High School.

Before I get into this week’s edition of “Who Had the Worst Week,” I wanted to shared that a Celebration of Life for Stacey Sepp is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 26, at 10 a.m. at the Southeast Christian Church in Parker. Members of the community are invited.

Now, onto the list.

• Flu hospitalizations in Colorado have surged to their highest levels in 20 years, and medical experts expect it to only get worse in the coming weeks.
• President Donald Trump‘s revenge tour against Colorado appeared to be in full force over the holidays. First, he vetoed a bill that would have funded a pipeline to bring clean water to 50,000 residents in heavily Republican southeast Colorado, infuriating conservative U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert and Jeff Hurd. Then, he offered holiday wishes to Gov. Jared Polis and Mesa County D.A. Dan Rubinstein (“I wish them only the worst. May they rot in Hell. FREE TINA PETTERS!”). And, finally, his EPA ordered that Tri-State‘s coal-burning plant in Craig remain open rather than shut down as planned this week.
• In a bit of stunt-casting, Cards Against Humanity has hired Jeffrey Epstein – no relation to the disgraced financier – as a spokesman to appear in the card game’s new commercial. The company explained, “We were looking to cast a big name—someone who could really grab people’s attention—and we found the perfect guy. He wasn’t even that expensive.”
• Aspen Daily News Publisher David Cook announced he is selling the newspaper to Florida-based Hoffmann Media Group. HMG has been on a buying spree over the past few years, and The New York Times profiled its billionaire CEO David Hoffmann last year.
• The long-awaited Denverite article on turmoil at the Denver Metro Chamber finally appeared, and it put CEO JJ Ament squarely in the crosshairs. Rumors of the article had circulated for more than nine months.
• Back in October, Sam Tabachnik at The Denver Post published an incredibly unflattering article about Chuck Horning, the combustible owner of the Telluride ski resort. It included details such as he was booed out of an upscale restaurant, he engaged in fist fights with his son and the resort’s CEO, and he sexually harassed and/or assaulted multiple women. Now, Horning is in the news again, this time for shutting down the entire resort during the prime holiday season because members of the ski patrol went on strike.
• A woman was found dead on a hiking trail in Larimer County in what authorities believe to be the first fatal mountain lion attack in more than 25 years.
• The University of Colorado now owns the longest bowl win drought among Power 4 conference members. It last won a bowl game in 2004.
• President Donald Trump is quick to claim his late-night TV show host adversaries have low ratings, so he can’t be happy that last week’s Kennedy Center Honors special that he hosted saw record-low ratings.
• Tesla is no longer the best selling electric vehicle manufacturer in the world. That title now belongs to China‘s BYD, in part because Tesla sales declined 9% last year.
• Champagne sparklers held too close to the ceiling likely sparked a fire at bar at a Swiss ski resort on New Year’s Eve. The fire killed at least 40 and injured another 120.

Who won the week?

• One of Denver‘s most accomplished PR professionals, Steve Silvers, announced he has retired effective the end of 2025. Silvers most recently was a partner at Silvers Jacobson, and he and his business partner Paul Jacobson have now closed the firm.
• Planview promoted Leslie Marcotte to Vice President of Corporate Marketing.
• Dovetail Solutions added Monica Kurtz as Vice President of Client Success.
• Fletcher Group Senior Account Executive Alexa Stegeman has been selected as a Rising Star in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications 2026 awards.
• Jay Clark published his book, “Build Your Ballpark: Powerful Lessons and Inspiration to Help Make Your Mark and Boost Your Impact.“
• The Denver Post added Nate Peterson as its new sports editor. Peterson, who formerly led the Vail Daily’s newsroom, replaces Matt Schubert, who left to become Deputy Managing Editor at The Athletic.
• Pete Coors has been named Grand Marshal of the 2026 Stock Show Kick-Off Parade.
• Colorado Avalanche players Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Devon Toews have been named to the Canadian Olympic hockey team, and Brock Nelson was named to Team USA. The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy, start February 6.

Recessions and economic booms may come and go, but we were reminded again in 2025 that crisis communications is – and always will be – a growth industry. Below is a stroll down memory lane as we remember some of the disasters that defined 2025.

JANUARY 2025

• The L.A.-area wildfires in Palisades and Eaton caused an estimated $164 billion in damage.
• An understaffed air control tower at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. contributed to an American Airlines flight colliding with a military helicopter, killing 67 people.
• A spectator was killed at a high school track and field meet on the University of Colorado’s Colorado Springs campus when a competitor lost control of a hammer in the hammer throw event and hurled it into the stands.
• Two Oregon men who set out in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest to find conclusive proof that Sasquatch exists died of exposure. 
• A Southwest Airlines pilot was removed from a plane and arrested for being inebriated as he was seated in the cockpit performing preflight checks.
• A former CBI DNA scientist who worked on thousands of cases, was charged with 102 felonies alleging that she manipulated evidence. Prosecutors identified more than 1,000 convictions that could have relied on her evidence, and an unknown number of cases may not have been prosecuted due to her faulty findings.

FEBRUARY 2025

• The Girl Scouts of Colorado warned that a King Soopers employee strike put millions of dollars of cookie sales at risk.
• Waffle House started charging a $0.50 surcharge per egg due to a shortage caused by an aggressive strain of the avian flu.
• The Trump administration banned AP reporters from the White House for reusing to use the term “Gulf of America.”
• President Donald Trump ordered the iconic Resolute Desk removed from the Oval Office for a deep cleaning after Elon Musk‘s son wiped a booger on it during a reporter Q&A event.
• Hyde Park Jewelers in the Cherry Creek Shopping Center was the victim of a slow-motion robbery that saw thieves steal $12.3 million in jewelry and watches over eight hours.
• Skype, the pre-pandemic king of video chat services, shut down amid competition from Zoom, Teams, FaceTime, Webex and Google Meet.

MARCH 2025

• More than 25 people were injured in South Korea when fighter jets participating in a live-fire drill accidentally dropped bombs on a civilian area.
• Boulder‘s Comprise PR filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• The town of Amagansett in the Hamptons spent tens of thousands of dollars – $24,800 alone to an arbitrator – in an attempt to determine who stole a $25 gift card from a local elementary school. 
• University of Colorado regent Wanda James and her fellow regents argued about allegations she inappropriately used her public position to benefit the marijuana dispensary she owns.
• Tesla issued a recall for 46,000 Cybertrucks – nearly every one it had produced – due to a risk that its stainless steel panels can fall off. 
• Former Rocky Mountain News reporter Norm Clarke passed away.
• A United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai was forced to return to the U.S. two hours into the flight when one of the pilots realized he had forgotten to bring his passport. 

APRIL 2025

• The Denver Nuggets fired head coach Michael Malone just two years removed from winning an NBA Championship.
• Actor Rob Lowe was not amused when a Beverly Hills sightseeing tour bus driver pointed him out to passengers as “John Stamos.” Lowe, who was on a sidewalk near Rodeo Drive, confronted the driver of the open-air bus and told him he needed to “Get better at your job.”
• President Donald Trump went to war with Harvard University after it refused to acquiesce to his demands on a variety of issues. President Trump froze $2.2 billion in grant funding and then asked the IRS to revoke its tax-exempt status as punishment for defying him.
• University of Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders, a projected first-round draft pick, slid to the fifth round in the NFL draft.
• The executive producer of “60 Minutes” resigned abruptly, declaring that pressure from executives at CBS parent company Paramount was undermining the show’s journalistic independence.
• Denver Broncos Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway was driving the golf cart from which his business partner and former agent fell and died.

MAY 2025

• The NFL fined the Atlanta Falcons $250,000 and Jeff Ulbrich, the team’s defensive coordinator, an additional $100,000 after Ulbrich’s son made a cruel prank phone call to University of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders during the NFL’s draft. Ulbrich’s son took Sanders’ confidential phone number from a team-issued iPad that his father left unlocked.
• A climber had to be rescued a second time while attempting to summit Mt. Fuji after he went back up to retrieve the cell phone he dropped during the first rescue.
• Two years after taking lighter fluid and a match to billions of dollars in brand equity by dropping the name HBO from its Max streaming service, executives at Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it would rebrand back to HBO Max.
• A Colorado Rockies fan sued the team after he was hit in the eye with a foul ball. In his suit, he alleged that the team is so bad that it encourages fans not to pay attention to what is happening on the field.

JUNE 2025

• Gov. Jared Polis unveiled his “Bridge to Nowhere” concept that did the seemingly impossible: it united the political left, center and right in opposition.
• Boulder found itself again in the wrong kind of national spotlight after a hate crime targeting the city’s Jewish community killed one person and injured seven others.
• The former Dominion Voting Systems executive who sued MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for defamation won a $2.3 million judgement, but it was Lindell who claimed victory after the jury only awarded the plaintiff just 3.5% of what was asked.
• A postal carrier who stole, filled out and submitted 19 mail ballots as part of a rogue plan to test the security of Colorado‘s signature verification process was sentenced to five years in jail. 

JULY 2025

• CBS parent company Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to President Donald Trump to settle his lawsuit against “60 Minutes.” Experts were certain Paramount would prevail in the suit, but noted that Paramount needed governmental approval for its plan to sell itself to Hollywood studio Skydance, which it eventually did.
• Sean “Diddy” Combs was convicted of transporting prostitutes. Combs was found not guilty on more serious charges, but he also faces more than 50 civil lawsuits.
• Chris Martin of Coldplay inadvertently outed a couple who apparently were having an affair.
• Jared Leonard, the Denver restaurateur known for the Michelin-recommended AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q, was indicted on fraud charges for allegedly receiving more than $1 million in pandemic relief loans under false pretenses.
• Malcolm-Jamal Warner, best known for playing the lovable and charismatic son Theo on “The Cosby Show,” drowned while on vacation in Costa Rica at the age of 54.

AUGUST 2025

• ESPN officially cut ties with media analyst and former Denver Bronco Shannon Sharpe two weeks after he settled a lawsuit accusing him of rape.
• The annual Dragon Boat Festival threatened to leave Denver due to “dead fish, increasingly warm and shallow water, blue algae blooms, and a lack of filtration from untreated runoff” pouring into Sloan’s Lake.
• WNBA players endured a new trend of sex toys being thrown from the stands onto the court. 
• Former Colorado Public Radio host and reporter Vic Vela announced he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The diagnosis is the latest challenge for Vela, who has been open about his struggles with drug addiction and living with HIV.
• Retired New York Yankees Hall of Fame reliever Mariano Rivera tore his Achilles tendon playing in the team’s annual Old-Timers’ Day game.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that Nexstar, the owner of Fox31 and CW2, was negotiating to acquire Tegna, the owner of 9News. A deal has been reached and only regulatory approvals are needed to close the transaction.

SEPTEMBER 2025

• Evergreen High School was the latest Colorado school to experience gun violence. There have been 13 school shootings in our state since Columbine in 1999.
• Conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at a college event in Utah.
• President Donald Trump coerced ABC and its affiliate stations into suspending the late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!“ after he and his followers objected to a joke Kimmel told related to Charlie Kirk‘s assassination.
• Winners of Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes learned the hard way that nothing is forever, not even “Forever” prizes that guaranteed $5,000 per week for life. The company filed for bankruptcy, and winners are no longer receiving their prize money.
• President Donald Trump defied decades of scientific research to declare a clear link between acetaminophen – the active ingredient in Tylenol – and autism. Adding insult to injury, it took President Trump three attempts to correctly pronounce “acetaminophen” during his televised press conference, even with whispered coaching from his subordinates standing behind him.
• Xcel Energy agreed to pay $640 million to settle claims that its transmission lines were partly responsible for the devastating Marshall Fire in Boulder County that caused an estimated $1.7 billion in damages.

OCTOBER 2025

• Legendary golfer and two-time U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson apologized to the winning European team after badly behaved and drunken American fans lobbed profanities and insults – and a few beers – at the European competitors.
• Members of the Trump administration lost their minds when the NFL announced that Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny would perform at the halftime of the Super Bowl. 
• A Gallup poll found that the advertising and PR community is viewed favorably by only 29% of the public, ahead of only the pharmaceutical industry and the federal government. 
• iHeartMedia went through another round of mass layoffs, and KOA NewsRadio morning host Marty Lenz was among those let go.
• Fox31 meteorologist Kylie Bearse shared harrowing details about a 69-year-old man who has been stalking her for more than two years, and her frustrations about not being able to get the Denver D.A.’s Office to file more serious charges.
• Colorado basketball legend Chauncey Billups was arrested as part of an FBI investigation into gambling and “sports rigging” operations linked to multiple mafia crime families.
• Tulane University banned Colorado Academy students from being considered for early admission because a single CA student reneged on an acceptance offer.
• Denver was the biggest loser on this season’s “Love is Blind” reality dating show. John Frank at Axios noted, “It’s widely acknowledged that the city has a horrible dating scene, and the show somehow made us look even worse.”

NOVEMBER 2025

• Fourteen people died after a UPS cargo plane crashed on takeoff at the Louisville, Kentucky, airport. 
• The FAA cut 10% of flights at the 40 busiest airports in an attempt to “alleviate the pressure” on over-worked air-traffic controllers during the government shutdown.
• The clear winners of election night in Colorado were progressives, tax increases and teachers union-endorsed candidates. The biggest loser? That would likely be Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky, who spent the past year parroting President Donald Trump‘s exaggerated claims of “gang-takeovers” of her city.
• Investigators determined that the password for the Louvre’s video surveillance system was “Louvre” when thieves stole jewels worth $100 million from the museum.
• Some guests were given only 10-15 minutes to vacate hotel rooms when the Marriott-backed chain Sonder unexpectedly declared bankruptcy. 
• The Wall Street Journal reported that the Colorado Rockies‘ GM position is actually the most coveted in Major League Baseball because it “is viewed as the sport’s ultimate sadistic challenge.”
• A Russian K9 police dog selected to perform the ceremonial pre-game puck drop at a KHL league hockey game successfully dropped the puck from its mouth and then promptly bit two players.
• Martin Bally, a senior executive at Campbell’s Soup, is no longer with the company after a lawsuit accused him of calling the company’s soups “highly processed food” for “poor people,” complaining that “f–king Indian” colleagues are “idiots,” and that the company’s soups use “bioengineered meat.”

DECEMBER 2025

• The University of Michigan head football coach was abruptly fired and then taken into police custody several hours later as part of an assault investigation.
• The Trump administration is abandoning the “woke” font Calibri in favor of Times New Roman. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a directive that blamed “radical” diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs for what he said was a misguided switch to Calibri during the Biden administration.
• Disgraced journalist Olivia Nuzzi’s new book “American Canto” sold only 1,165 hardcover copies in its first week on the shelves.
• Rocky the Raccoon broke into a Virginia liquor store, broke several bottles of whiskey, apparently drank some that spilled on the floor, and then passed out in the store’s bathroom. 
• A Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office SWAT sergeant resigned before he could be fired after being found to have responded to the Evergreen High School shooting incident while intoxicated.
• Pantone released its “Color of the Year” for 2026, and it was basically white. But because it’s Pantone, it had to give it a clever name, so technically “Cloud Dancer” is the color of the year.

• More than 125 people are dead and 200 are unaccounted for in Hong Kong after a group of high-rise apartment buildings caught fire. The buildings were undergoing renovations, and bamboo scaffolding that is common in China and mesh netting that protected passersby appear to have quickly spread the fire.
• Martin Bally, a senior executive at Campbell’s Soup, is no longer with the company after a lawsuit accused him of calling the company’s soups “highly processed food” for “poor people,” complaining that “f–king Indian” colleagues are “idiots,” and that the company’s soups use “bioengineered meat.”
• Colorado State Sen. Faith Winter was killed in a multi-car accident on I-25 the day before Thanksgiving. Winter made headlines over the past several years for sharing allegations of sexual harassment against a fellow legislator that resulted in his expulsion, suffering a head injury in a bicycle accident and taking a leave of absence last year to seek medical treatment for alcoholism. Police are still investigating the cause of the accident.
• Twitter/X introduced a new feature that identifies the country of origin for its accounts, and it quickly made clear that “many of the most influential personalities in the ‘Make America Great Again‘ (MAGA) movement on X are based outside of the U.S., including Russia, Nigeria and India.”
• Some of the gray wolves released in western Colorado as part of the voter-approved reintroduction plan have now made their way to the metro Denver area, according to data released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. If you hear a cackling sound, that is just western-slope ranchers, and it is hard to blame them.
• Xcel Energy has asked the Colorado PUC for permission to raise rates by $356 million – a 9% increase that would translate to a $10/month increase for the average consumer customer.
• The fight to free former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters intensified this week, with the Trump administration demanding Colorado turn her over into federal custody and a bipartisan group of Colorado county election clerks demanding she remain in a state prison. Curiously, Gov. Jared Polis‘ decision to remain quiet on the subject created a vacuum that caused both sides to ratchet up the intensity.
  • Meanwhile, Peters’ attorney is now suggesting that the Trump administration should conduct a military raid on the prison to free her, and conservative podcaster Joe Oltmann called for the executions of Gov. Polis, AG Phil Weiser and Secretary of State Jena Griswold. Enjoy those Thanksgiving dinner conversations with relatives!
• A website glitch caused the European electronics retailer MediaWorld to accidentally sell $1,000 iPads for about $17. Customers who ordered them received them a week later, and then, about two weeks after that, the company contacted them saying the advertised price had been incorrect and that they could either return the iPads or pay the difference minus a $150 discount.
• Secretary of Defense War Pete Hegseth has turned his sights on an unlikely target: the Boy Scouts. Part of Hegseth’s problem: the woke Boy Scouts changed their name to Scouting America and now allow girls to participate.
• Colorado State University suspended two players – QB Darius Curry and offensive lineman Liam Wortmann – for the team’s final game this season after they were captured on video spitting on opposing players during last week’s game against Boise State.
• President Donald Trump has used the power of his office to extract a personal favor from global media conglomerate Paramount: a “Rush Hour 4” movie. Paramount is fighting Netflix and Comcast for the right to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which would require FCC approval.
• How is 90-year-old ESPN “College Gameday” legend Lee Corso enjoying his retirement? “It sucks,” he says.

Who won the week?

• Denver Post sports editor Matt Schubert left the paper for an as-yet undisclosed new opportunity.
• Denver Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton will return to the field this weekend, just weeks after surgery to remove a cancerous testicular tumor.
• Colorado State University hired Jim Mora, Jr. as its new head football coach. Mora joins CSU from the University of Connecticut, and he previously served as head coach of UCLA and the NFL‘s Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks.
• Ole Miss head football coach Lane Kiffin – described by The Wall Street Journal as “college football’s most hated man” – has become the prize in a bidding war by three blue-blood programs: Ole Miss, the University of Florida and LSU. Sometime this weekend, he almost certainly will become the highest-paid head coach in college football history. The only question is by which university.
• Robert Irwin, son of the late “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin, won this season’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

• More changes are coming to KOA NewsRadio. A few weeks ago, the station let “Colorado Morning News” co-anchor Marty Lenz go as part of a broader round of iHeartRadio layoffs, and now it is moving conservative talk-show host Ross Kaminsky to fill the 6-9 am weekday slot. “Colorado Morning News,” which previously aired from 5-9 am, will now air only from 5-6 am.
• Fewer PR firms expect to see profits in 2025, an industry report published by Davis+Gilbert found. Only 44% of PR firms expect profit gains, and just half project revenue rising — both lows not seen since 2021.
• At least 13 people died and more are still missing after a UPS cargo plane crashed on takeoff at the Louisville, Kentucky, airport. The crash forced UPS to close its Worldport hub facility that processes millions of packages for roughly 360 incoming and outbound aircraft each day.
• The Trump administration is cutting 10% of flights at the 40 busiest airports starting today. The administration said the reductions were an attempt to “alleviate the pressure” on over-worked air-traffic controllers, but critics said the move would cause more problems than it would solve. As of this morning, surgical cuts by airlines have resulted in few disruptions.
• History Colorado is being accused of censorship by a coalition of First Amendment-rights organizations for rejecting a painting that is critical of Gov. Jared Polis and Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper. Sens. Bennet and Hickenlooper are currently candidates for governor and senate, respectively, and the museum’s chief creative officer says exhibiting the painting “could constitute a violation of the Fair Campaign Practices Act, which prohibits government institutions like History Colorado Center from making contributions to a candidate running for office.” The ACLU and others say it wouldn’t. Regardless, Gov. Polis and Sens. Bennet and Hickenlooper can’t be happy with the resulting Streisand Effect.
• The Houston Independent School District has sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxson after his office ruled the school district must turn over emails to and from the district’s public relations firm to media outlets who have requested them because they do not qualify for attorney-client confidentiality.
• The Pentagon‘s draconian press policy may have caused mainstream media outlets like Fox News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC, ABC and CBS to walk away, but it has replaced them with new media outlets such as Mike Lindell‘s LindellTV and the influential pro-Trump activist Laura Loomer.
• Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland died of an apparent suicide. He was 24.
• The clear winners of election night in Colorado were progressives, tax increases and teachers union-endorsed candidates. The biggest loser? That would likely be Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky, who spent the past year parroting President Donald Trump‘s exaggerated claims of “gang-takeovers” of her city. As Westword noted, “We named the controversial Aurora City Council rep a Person to Watch in 2025, and now you can watch her leave her seat.”
• A Thai businessman who co-owns the Miss Universe Organization has apologized for publicly berating Miss Mexico, causing her to walk out and several other contestants to join her in solidarity.
• Following a months-long search, former NFL star Antonio Brown was apprehended in Dubai by U.S. Marshals on an attempted murder charge. He will be extradited to Miami.
• Yale researchers have done the math and calculated that Elon Musk’s “politically partisan and culturally warlike personae” have cost Tesla the sale of 1 million to 1.26 million cars from October 2022 to April 2025. Meanwhile, Tesla shareholders just approved an unprecedented $1 trillion pay package for Musk, so …
• The owners of MSNBC will spend $20 million on marketing to promote its rebrand to MS NOW.
• Hail, uninsured motorists and car thefts have driven Colorado car insurance costs to be the fifth-highest in the nation.
• U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert “attended a Halloween event in a costume meant to depict a Mexican woman, wearing a sombrero and carrying a sign that read ‘Mexican Word of the Day: JUICY.’ The sign went on to mock Spanish accents with the line, ‘Tell Me If Juicy ICE coming.’ Her companion was dressed as an ICE agent.”
• Ryan Seacrest and Anderson Cooper can breathe a sigh of relief. NBC has cancelled its upcoming “Snoop Dogg’s New Year’s Eve” special.
• If you are looking for a winter home, a Palm Beach, Fla. house considered a tear-down is available for a mere $185 million.
• Investigators determined that the password for the Louvre’s video surveillance system was “Louvre” when thieves stole jewels worth $100 million from the museum last month.

Who won the week?

• Pax8 communications VP Barry Hawkins has retired. Fun fact: Barry’s daughter, Amanda Hawkins, regularly sings the National Anthem at Colorado Avalanche home games.
• Denver-based creative agency Karsh Hagan has partnered with Arizona-based Madden Media to deliver expanded integrated services in the tourism, hospitality, outdoor recreation, healthcare, higher education and retail industries.
• I’m not sure which list to put this on, but the Denver Broncos are the least confidence-inspiring 8-2 NFL team in decades.
• The Colorado Rockies are poised to make what could be their first good decision in years as the team finalizes a contract for Paul DePodesta to run baseball operations. DePodesta was a key figure in the “Moneyball“-era Oakland A’s and later ran the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• The man charged with throwing a sub sandwich at a federal agent in protest of Trump administration policies was acquitted of misdemeanor assault by a Washington, D.C., jury. The jury found that throwing the 12-inch deli sandwich from what prosecutors described as “point-blank range” was not an attempt to cause injury.

• Tulane University has banned Colorado Academy students from being considered for early admission this upcoming year because a single CA student reneged on an acceptance offer last year.
• WPP, parent company of PR firms such as Burson and Ogilvy, saw revenue fall nearly 6% in Q3, an ominous sign that sent its stock reeling 18% to set a new 27-year low.
• Denver Mayor Michael Johnston‘s penchant for “secrecy and spin” is causing him to lose trust with some voters. In just the last week, he has faced mounting criticism for unilaterally renewing the city’s contract for the Flock surveillance system, a secret deal with developers that increased the amount of DIA-adjacent land they received in exchange for the former Park Hill Golf Course, and an ugly fight with the parent company of The Denver Post over $2 million in unpaid rent. And this is happening at the same time he is asking voters to green light $950 million in bonds.
• After seemingly free-falling for years, Prince Andrew finally hit rock-bottom this week when King Charles punished him in the only way that remained – stripping him of his royal titles and booting him from his royal residence. He is now known simply as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. Andrew has been a key player in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
• Denver was the biggest loser on this season’s “Love is Blind” reality dating show. John Frank at Axios noted, “It’s widely acknowledged that the city has a horrible dating scene, and the show somehow made us look even worse.”
• The governor of Louisiana announced that LSU athletic director Scott Woodward would have no say in who the team’s next head football coach is. Why? The last two coaches Woodward hired – Brian Kelly at LSU and Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M – were owed a combined $130 million in buyouts after they were fired before their contracts expired. Not surprisingly, Woodward was fired a day after the governor’s comments.
• In some parts of the country, seeing the first robin is considered the unofficial start of spring. In Colorado, we know winter is upon us when we have our first skier-triggered avalanche of the season.
• Speaking of skiers, The Denver Post had an incredibly unflattering profile of Telluride ski resort owner Chuck Horning. Among the allegations: he was booed out of an upscale restaurant, he engaged in fist fights with his son and the resort’s CEO, and he sexually harassed and/or assaulted multiple women.
• Ten million YouTube TV subscribers have lost access to Disney-owned channels such as ABC, ESPN and FX due to a financial dispute..
• Perth, Australia, beat out Denver as host for the 2030 Gay Games, an event that would have brought 12,000 athletes and $110 million in economic activity to our city. Denverite‘s Kyle Harris reported that the U.S.‘s “recent turn toward anti-transgender federal policy” and “the Trump administration’s mass deportation of immigrants” left many global leaders concerned whether Denver would be a safe destination for the event.
• Karine Jean-Pierre, the former press secretary to President Joe Biden, is having the kind of book tour that authors have nightmares about.
• An independent investigation into Denver Public Schools board member John Youngquist found he more likely than not engaged in “belittling, dismissive and condescending behavior” toward some district staff members and exhibited bias in interactions with some district leaders of color.
• Layoffs abound: UPS is cutting 48,000 jobs, Amazon is laying off 14,000, GM 3,300 employees, Paramount 2,000 employees and Capital One is cutting another 400.
• Don’t screw with a Long Island wine importer. That’s a lesson the Times of London learned the hard way. The paper wanted to get former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio‘s take on Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate seeking to be the city’s newest mayor, so a reporter apparently Googled de Blasio’s name and sent an email to the first email address it returned. Unfortunately, that address actually belonged to wine importer Bill DeBlasio who offered his expansive thoughts on the candidate. The paper printed the responses, and politician Bill de Blasio immediately disputed the quotes. The paper then claimed the wine importer “falsely claimed” to be the former mayor, but DeBlasio released the emails showing that, “I never once said I was the mayor. He never addressed me as the mayor. So I just gave him my opinion.”
• Somehow, former Colorado State University head football coach Jim McElwain received some of the stiffest penalties in the University of Michigan‘s “sign stealing” scandal. McElwain was the head coach at Central Michigan University when one of his assistant coaches allowed a UM spy on the team’s sideline in a game against Michigan State to decipher the Spartans’ signals. The now-retired McElwain apparently was not aware of the plot, and yet he received a two-year “show-cause” penalty that is essentially a two-year ban. Sherrone Moore, the UM offensive coordinator at the time who has since been promoted to UM head coach, received a three-game suspension.

Who won the week?

• Jane Dvorak received the PRSA Educators Academy‘s David Ferguson Award, in recognition of her work with educators and students to bridge professional and academic experiences. 
• Barefoot PR is celebrating its 15th anniversary.
• M&C Communications has been selected as agency of record for the national nonprofit Hope for Stomach Cancer.
• KOA NewsRadio radio announcer Dave Logan will call his 600th Denver Broncos game on Sunday.
• Stunt marketing is alive and well, as evidenced by KFC‘s ample media coverage of a Colonel Sanders look-a-like sitting behind home plate at Game 2 of the World Series. KFC was promoting one of its chicken sandwiches.
• Fun fact: Colorado has at least four Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine trees that are more than 2,100 years old.
• A.I. chip maker Nvidia is now worth more than $5 trillion. It was only seven years ago that Apple was the first company to achieve and sustain a $1 trillion market cap.

• Colorado basketball legend Chauncey Billups – he is an NBA champion, NBA Finals MVP and Hall of Famer who played at the University of Colorado and for the Denver Nuggets – was arrested as part of an FBI investigation into gambling and “sports rigging” operations linked to multiple mafia crime families.
  • A gambling scandal is the least surprising result of the professional sports leagues’ embrace of partnerships with sports books. Jason Gay at The Wall Street Journal call it “the most inevitable scandal in sports.“
• A woman in South Korea killed one person and injured eight others when she set her apartment building on fire trying to kill a cockroach. She used a homemade “blowtorch” that combined a pain relief spray can and a lighter.
• The security team members responsible for protecting the priceless artifacts at the Louvre in Paris are #OpentoWork.
• Casa Bonita has a surprise critic: actress Brooke Shields. She is the president of the Actors’ Equity Association, the union that represents the costumed characters that roam the restaurant, and her complaint is about a lack of a contract between the restaurant and the union.
• Tesla’s net income dropped 37% in Q3 despite increasing vehicle sales, undermining an otherwise record-setting quarter ahead of an upcoming vote on a new pay package for CEO Elon Musk that could be worth as much as $1 trillion.
• The Denver Post has stopped paying rent it legally owes to the City and County of Denver for space in, ironically, The Denver Post building that the city acquired in 2024. The Post hasn’t occupied its space in the building in more than seven years, and it appears that the Post parent company is trying to force the city into a buy-out of its lease.
• A jury awarded nearly $20 million to six bystanders who were injured when a Denver Police officer fired into a crowd while trying to shoot an armed man in LoDo.
• Target is eliminating about 1,800 corporate positions, Meta is laying off 660 people, and Rivian is laying off another 600.
• Denver Broncos linebacker Dre Greenlaw spent the first six weeks of the season trying to get healthy enough to play, finally played in Week 7, and then summarily got suspended for Week 8 for threatening an official. The suspension will cost Greenlaw about $273,000 in salary.
• Old people + racquet sports = eye injuries.
• With unrest in the Middle East, war in Ukraine, and rising tensions with Russia and China, the Pentagon has ordered a Navy aircraft carrier to the … Caribbean?
• Current Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton and former Denver Broncos QB Russell Wilson are in the dumbest feud possible.
• Baseball may be known as the “American Pastime,” but a small town outside Toronto claims the game was invented in Canada.

Who won the week?

• B Public Relations ranked No. 15 on The Wall Street Journal‘s list of “Most Loved Workplaces.“
• Sarah (Davis) Bonar was promoted to PR & External Communications Lead at Children’s Hospital Colorado.
• Dana Stone has joined AdventHealth as a contract communications consultant.
• ShroderHaus added Robin Zimmerman as a Senior Account Director.