• The L.A. Dodgers watched Bud Light’s recent flip-flopping on a transgender marketing promotion and decided to get in on the action. The team invited, disinvited and then reinvented the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of self-described “queer and trans nuns,” to celebrate Pride Night at Dodger Stadium. The LGBTQ+ and Catholic communities got whiplash trying track of whether they supported or opposed the Dodgers.
• Meanwhile, Target also seems to be raising its hand to become a pawn in our culture wars. The retailer has pulled some LGBTQ+ items from its shelves after threats were made by protesters.
• The hits just keep coming to Elon Musk’s Twitter. This time it was a technically challenged presidential announcement.
• The start of the summer travel season has airline passengers flying out of DIA concerned about the chaotic and often-lengthy security screening process. A review from a Minnesota traveler who took time to write a letter to the editor of The Denver Post: “I am still completely dumbfounded at how bad it was.”
• The Miami Zoo has apologized for offering visitors the ability to pet a captive kiwi bird. The zoo said, “The development of the kiwi encounter was, in hindsight, not well conceived.”
• A lawsuit filed by Denver Amazon drivers against the company alleges “harsh work quotas” so bad that they are forced to pee in bottles and defecate in dog poop bags.
• Colorado skiers are mourning the official close of the 2022-2023 ski season. A-Basin, the last holdout, announced it will close June 4.
• KMGH/Denver 7 could be facing potential layoffs if reports about cutbacks at Scripps station are true.
• Denver Broncos placekicker Brandon McManus, the only holdover from the team’s Super Bowl 50 win, was cut by the team this week. New head coach Sean Payton said it was a financial decision, but some are speculating McManus’ refusal to participate in voluntary off-season workouts had something to do with it.
• A woman celebrating her recent graduation from Yale in Turks and Caicos had her foot severed by a shark.
• JPMorgan Chase is chest-deep in deposition from lawyers wanting to know why it kept serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a banking client when it was aware of his behavior.
• This weekend’s Indy 500 is America’s biggest and most-prestigious auto race. But don’t expect to watch is live on TV if you live in Indianapolis. It’s blacked out.
• A Dallas school district distributed a Winnie-the-Pooh booklet that teaches elementary school kids how to survive an active shooter at school.
• Orca whales are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it any more. They have started attacking boats off the coat of Europe.
• A WNBA rookie has a novel idea after she was cut from the Connecticut Sun – a mandatory retirement age so veteran superstars don’t clog up roster spots and keep lesser-talented rookies from making teams.

So, who won the week?

• The Golden Police Department is testing a 32-hour workweek for its officers and staff that will not require them to take a corresponding cut in pay.
• Ford and Tesla are partnering on charging technology in what may be a serious step toward establishing an industry standard for electric cars.
• Barefoot PR is hiring an associate.
• United Airlines is adding 35 flights in and out of Denver.

• Alabama chef Timothy Hontzas was named as a finalist for a prestigious James Beard award, only to be disqualified days later for alleged violations of the organization’s code of ethics – screaming at customers and employees.
• A driver stopped by Baca County, Colo. police quickly switched places with his dog in the passenger seat and claimed he was not driving. Police say the man, who “showed signs of intoxication,” then fled and made it about 20 yards before they apprehended him. This is Colorado’s most notable DUI arrest since one of the co-founders of Crocs wrecked his car and then claimed that his girlfriend Taylor Swift was driving.
• Philadelphia TV reporter Shawnette Wilson was shot with pellets from an airsoft gun during a live broadcast. She handled it amazingly well.
• A brawl broke out at Disney World when one family refused to move for another so they could take a picture in front of the “Happiest Place on Earth’s” iconic sign.
• Edelman’s latest “Trust Barometer” report finds that 69% of people are concerned about systemic racism and racial injustice in the U.S., but that people “distrust all types of institutions to address racism, including non-governmental organizations, media and government.” 
• Organizers of Spain’s Carrera de la Mujer women’s running race have (half-heartedly) apologized after the winner was awarded a kitchen appliance, which sparked accusations of sexism.
• The Oakland A’s have suspended announce Glen Kuiper indefinitely after he uttered a racial slur on-air during the team’s pre-game show.
• The Denver Museum of Nature & Science has decided to close its North American Indian Cultures exhibit hall because it  “reinforces harmful stereotypes and white, dominant culture.“
• The IRS is reviewing the algorithms that guide who gets audited after acknowledging that Black taxpayers are audited a a far higher rate than others.
• It’s Miller moth season in Colorado. Ecologists say you should learn to love the annoying little guys.
• LinkedIn and Facebook parent company Meta are the latest tech companies to announce layoffs. LinkedIn will let 716 employees go, which represents about 3.5% of its workforce. Meanwhile, Meta said it will eliminate yet another 6,000 jobs.
• A Chinese comedian was fined the equivalent of $2 million for making a joke about the People’s Liberation Army.
• West Virginia University suspended men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins three games and find him $1 million after he appeared on a sports radio show and inexplicably dropped multiple homophobic and anti-Catholic slurs.
• The Denver Public Schools board approved a 10% raise for the district’s superintendent amid a wave of concerns about both finances and student safety.
• The gender gap at the top of the largest PR agencies has declined slightly. PR Week’s latest survey shows only 42.2% of the firms currently are led by women, down from 44.7% last year.

So, who won the week?

• Barefoot PR was named a finalist for the Denver Business Journal’s small business awards.
• Linhart PR promoted Marina Salais-Robbins to senior account executive and hired Claudia Witczak as a senior account executive.
• The Denver Nuggets lead the L.A. Lakers 2-0 in their playoff series. If the Nuggets win, they will make their first trip in franchise history to the NBA finals.
• The University of Denver women’s lacrosse team made it to the Final Four.
• Author Salman Rushdie made his first public appearance since he was stabbed on-stage in an attack at a literary event nine months ago. Rushdie famously was the subject of a fatwa calling for death by the Iranian government for authoring “The Satanic Verses.”

• The coronation of King Charles III takes place tomorrow, but not all Englanders are feeling the spirit. What the New York Post described as “cocky pranksters” mowed a giant penis into the grass of the famous grounds of the Royal Crescent in Bath, where one of the coronation parties is scheduled to take place.
• If you have any spare wolves, the State of Colorado would like to talk to you. Plans to re-introduce the predators by the end of 2023 have hit a snag because neighboring states aren’t very interested in supplying them. They fear the wolves will reproduce in Colorado and then head back to their states.
• Two weeks ago, I included PERA Executive Director Ron Baker on this list because he had been placed on administrative leave and no one would explain why. Now he has been fired, and still no one is saying why.
• Actor Jamie Foxx has been hospitalized for three weeks for unknown reasons, and reports are that he is not getting better.
• Stop me if you have heard this before: The EPA says Denver‘s air quality has gotten worse.
• Digital media company Vice could be just weeks away from filing for bankruptcy.
• The University of Alabama is having a tough spring. The school has fired baseball coach Brad Bohannon less than a week after suspicious gambling wagers were placed on the team’s games. The firing also comes just months after men’s basketball team member Darius Miles was arrested for capital murder. Star teammate Brandon Miller, who is expected to be a first-round NBA draft pick next month, was allowed to continue playing for the Crimson Tide despite allegedly supplying the gun used in the shooting.
• Mobile phone tracking data shows that Denver‘s downtown has only returned to about 62% of the pre-pandemic traffic.
• Jackson Mahomes, the social-media gadfly brother of Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, was arrested for aggravated sexual battery and held on a $100,000 bond.
• Actress/talk-show host Drew Barrymore withdrew as host of MTV Movie & TV Awards just days before the event, citing the WGA writers’ strike.
• Two student journalists from USC covering the NFL draft were arrested for stealing jerseys intended for first-round draft picks.

So, who won the week?

• Linhart PR added Claudia Witczak as a senior account executive. She formerly was with G&S Business Communications in Chicago.
• Former 9News news director Megan Jurgemeyer has been named the news director at KMGH/Channel 7. Could her first order of business be to hire away key talent from 9News?
• Reporter Bob Mook is returning to the Denver Business Journal after a 12-year break in which he worked in various communications positions for the Colorado Health Foundation and the University of Colorado College of Nursing, among others.
• Amber Carlson is the Boulder Daily Camera’s new city reporter. She formerly was the night/breaking news reporter at the Longmont Times-Call.
• The editors of Food & Wine have named DIA as one of the “Top 10 U.S. Airports for Food.”