Who Had the Worst Week?

• Denver’s Regis University has seen a 51% decline in undergraduate enrollment over the past decade, causing concerns about the long-term viability of the school.
• The Wells Fargo “cash register” building downtown is a bird-killing machine.
• Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Suncor refinery in Commerce City is accused of releasing harmful air pollutants. This week it was sulfur dioxide.
• The new MLB pitch clock has shaved about 30 minutes off the length of the average baseball game, but it has had one unintended consequence: fewer beer sales. The Colorado Rockies announced they are extending last call from the end of 7th inning to the end of the 8th to combat the decline that could cost the team millions of dollars.
  • Perhaps relatedly, Denver Police are giving the “attack” on Rockies mascot Dinger seemingly more attention than it gives to, say, catalytic converter thefts. No one was hurt in the incident that The Denver Post described as “interrupting” Dinger’s dance routine, but there is now a $2,000 reward for information about the assailant.
• HBO is synonymous with prestigious programming (“The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” “Succession,” “Veep,” “Euphoria,” etc.), so naturally the marketing geniuses at Warner Bros. Discovery have decided to rebrand the company’s HBO Max streaming service simply Max.
• NPR dealt a high-profile blow to Twitter when it announced it would suspend its activity on the platform due to Elon Musk’s decision to label NPR first as “state-affiliated media” and then “government-funded.” NPR said, “We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility,” which is not going to help Musk’s efforts to bring back wary advertisers.
  • PBS announced it will follow NPR’s lead, as did local NPR affiliates CPR and KUNC.
• Much of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is underwater after a storm dumped more than two feet of rain on the city in 24 hours.
• Likely the last time you heard about the Boeing 737 Max, it was related to the FAA’s 18-month grounding in 2019-2020 due to problem with, well, crashing. The 737 Max has reappeared in the news this week because Boeing announced it would reduce deliveries of the aircraft due to a “non-standard” manufacturing process used on parts in the planes’ fuselages. Bon voyage!
• Fox News and AM radio host Sean Hannity is accusing car manufacturers such as Ford, Volkswagen, BMW, Mazda, Volvo and Tesla of conspiring against conservative talk radio by eliminating AM frequencies from their car stereos. The car manufacturers say that interference from electromagnetic frequencies from electric car motors causes a buzzing noise and a weak signal.
• In an announcement that will surprise absolutely no one, promoters say that “fraudulent activity” was found during ticket sales to an upcoming concert at Red Rocks.
• Portland edged out Denver to take the title of the nation’s top city for marijuana. You can decide for yourself whether Portland or Denver had the worst week in that scenario.

So, who won the week?

• Amber Miller launched her own consulting firm, Mountains & Plains Strategies.
• The longtime owner of Beau Jo’s announced he is selling the pizza chain to his employees. He is establishing an Employee Stock Option Plan that will give each of the 252 employees an ownership stake.
• Fox31 anchor/reporter Joshua Short has accepted a position at WNDU in South Bend, Ind.