• The city of New Orleans barely has time to recover these days from the devastating winds and floods brought by the most recent hurricane before it is hit with another. This week, it was Hurricane Ida that brought death and destruction to one of America’s most interesting cities. Not content to just ravage the Gulf Coast, the remnants of Ida continued north and hit New York City, causing surprise floods that killed 43.
• Billionaires don’t become billionaires by leaving money on the table, a point proven by Colorado’s own Phil Anschutz. Despite a fortune estimated at $10.3 billion by Forbes, Anschutz is appealing the recent dismissal of a lawsuit against the state seeking an $8 million tax refund he says he is owed due to a loophole in the CARES Act, the pandemic response bill Congress passed in 2020.
• A Colorado Springs high school swimmer with diabetes is suing CHSAA, the organization that oversees high school athletics in Colorado, for disqualifying him from the state championship meet because he wore tape over his glucose monitor to keep it in place.
• Former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer made headlines this week for for a viral video that showed him getting physical with one of the players he now coaches at a high school in Nashville.
• The Denver Department of Excise and Licensing has ordered the owner of LoDo’s Beta Nightclub to explain why it should retain its liquor license following a series of high-profile shootings outside the club and a police investigation that found drug dealing, large brawls and gang-related fights inside the club.
• Tulane University had its own Rocky moment (actually, a Rocky II moment, but you get the idea) when it beat out a host of usual suspects to capture this year’s #1 ranking of Top Party Schools. The University of Colorado Boulder, one of those usual suspects that routinely nabs top 10 spots on these lists, fell to #24. Unfortunately, Tulane’s victory was overshadowed by the fact that its administrators don’t watch the weather on the local news and they failed to evacuate students from its New Orleans campus until after Hurricane Ida. Administrators said they thought the storm would be a Category 1 hurricane, not the Category 4 that it was.
• Americans have a deep love of football, and ESPN has a deep love of ratings, so it was only a mild surprise that the sports broadcaster would eventually start airing high school football games to fill programming time. Unfortunately, though, high school teams don’t belong to recognizable conferences that let you know they are legit. This week, ESPN aired a game featuring Bishop Sycamore, which later was revealed to have questions about whether it is an actual school. It definitely is a football team – it played another game two days before its ESPN appearance, something no legitimate school would ever allow to happen. The Washington Post called the entire matter “embarrassing” and authorities are still investigating.

So, who won the week?

• Fans of everything from the Mary Tyler Moore Show to the Pixar movie Up know actor Ad Asner, and there was an outpouring of love for him following his death this past week. It was his lovably gruff performances as Lou Grant on the Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off Lou Grant that endeared him to a generation or two of journalists.
• Former Colorado Rockies star Larry Walker will enter the Hall of Fame next week, no easy feat given the lack of respect Coors Field has among the baseball purists who vote.