Who Had the Worst Week?

• The University of Oregon apologized to BYU after students chanted “F— the Mormons” at last week’s football game, And in one of the swiftest examples of karma, Oregon was hosting one of its top QB recruits at the game, a Mormon who left at halftime because of the chants.
• Phil Washington, the CEO of DIA and President Biden’s nominee to lead the FAA, was the subject of a search warrant related to alleged corruption at the L.A. Metropolitan Transportation Authority when he led that organization. I’d expect Washington to quietly withdraw from consideration for the FAA position in the coming weeks (Friday afternoon news dump?).
• Apple completed filming a $120 million Will Smith movie just weeks before the star slapped Oscars host Chris Rock. Now the company doesn’t know what to do with the film.
• Denver Public Schools is in a dispute with four students about who owns the rights to a podcast created by the students using school resources.
• Barney Fife apparently transferred from Mayberry to Platteville. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is investigating a Platteville Police officer who placed a woman under arrest in the back of his cruiser that he parked on top of railroad tracks. As he helped other officers search her car, a freight train hit his cruiser, seriously injuring the woman.
• The Wall Street Journal wrote about growth in Colorado Springs, but many readers couldn’t get past the third paragraph when the Portland-based reporter described the city as a “bedroom community of Denver.”
• A city audit found that the Denver Police Department left nearly $400,000 in grant money for mental health support unused. The department was forced to return the money to be redistributed elsewhere.
• I don’t know what the problem is with ants, but they are underperforming. A report this week estimates there are 20 quadrillion ants in the world – that’s 20,000 trillion, or 2.5 million ants for each human on earth. And yet they haven’t taken over anything but the occasional picnic.
• It was a tough week for Denver radio. Four popular KUVO radio hosts have been fired or pushed out as the station and its listeners engage in a debate about what the jazz station should be. And sports radio station 104.3 The Fan cut a number of hosts this week, including longtime favorite Sandy Clough.
• Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka was suspended for the upcoming season after having “an inappropriate relationship” with a female team employee.
• College graduates who majored in the English Lit, foreign languages, communications, philosophy and religious studies have the highest unemployment rate. Education, health, transportation and agriculture majors have the lowest rate of unemployment.

So, who won the week?

• Tech salaries in Denver grew the third-fastest in the country – 10.6% – in 2022.
• DIA’s Canine Airport Therapy Squad (CATS) program has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest in the world. The program includes 83 dogs and one cat.
• Denver is the second-best city in the country for beer lovers.
• Adnan Syed, the subject of the “Serial” podcast that raised questions about his murder conviction, had his conviction overturned this week. Prosecutors have 30 days to decide whether to retry him.
• Tennis star Roger Federer will play his last tennis tournament this weekend. He retires with 20 major championships, including eight at Wimbledon.