Who Had the Worst Week?

• Scientists are warning that the ink used in most tattoos may cause cancer.
• Denver law firm Haddon, Morgan and Foreman, P.C. is suing notorious Jeffrey Epstein-enabler Ghislaine Maxwell for more than $850,000 in unpaid legal fees.
• Denver’s South High School principal Rachel Goss shared a video with students discouraging them from contacting police if they witness racist or transphobic attacks. The rationale as stated in the video was that “police have been trained to see people of color, gender non-conforming folks and Muslims as criminals, they often treat victims as perpetrators of violence.”
• Speaking of DPS, school started this week and 48 of its campuses (campi?) do not have air conditioning.
• Sixty-three bears have been euthanized in Colorado this year due to dangerous interactions with humans.
• Actor Will Smith’s “Q Score” – an industry metric of likeability among the general public – dropped from 39 to 24, a nearly 40% decline, after his on-stage slap of Oscar host Chris Rock.
• A woman drove her SUV 60 yards through the second floor of a Boston-area shopping mall. When she finally came to a stop outside a Track 23 clothing store, she reportedly asked a shocked onlooker, “Do you know how to get out of here?”
• FedEx accidentally delivered six M1 military rifles to a high school in Philadelphia that had a similar address as a gun collector.
• The US Open tennis tournament begins next week, and the biggest story so far is about gender discrimination related to tennis balls. It is the only Grand Slam tournament that uses different balls for the men’s and women’s matches.
• Facebook parent Meta will pay a $37.5 million settlement after being accused of violating users’ privacy by tracking their movements through smartphones without permission.
• Tesla is demanding a group critical of the cars’ advanced driver-assistance capabilities remove a video showing an autonomous Tesla mowing down child-size mannequins.
• Orange County (Calif.) will pay $480,000 to an inmate who suffered a miscarriage while sheriff’s deputies stopped at Starbucks en route to the hospital.
• A former SeaWorld employee alleges that it is breeding “Jurassic World”-type orca whales.

So, who won the week?

• John Dakin, the Vail public relations executive who handled media for three World Alpine Ski Championships, was inducted into the Colorado Snowsports Museum’s Hall of Fame.
• Andrew Hudson is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his influential Jobs List. I have no data to back it up, but I would guess it is the most-used jobs site in Denver.
• Kate Stabrawa, a proud alumna of Ohio State, has launched her own consulting firm, Horseshoe Communications. Football fans will understand how her firm’s name and her alma mater are connected.
• Allison Gerdes was promoted to Director of Internal Communications at UCHealth.
• Kelly Collins was promoted to Employee Communications Manager at Lockheed Martin.
• Ivan Popov has been named Digital Media Associate at the ACLU of Colorado.
• A “triple-dip La Niña” may bring higher-than-normal snowfall to Colorado’s ski resorts this winter.