• TV reality star Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Watkins plans to matriculate at Denver’s Regis University in the fall. Despite earning about $2.75 million during the run of her TLC show, she somehow received a $21,000 scholarship.
• Twitter is now X. As technology reporter Kara Swisher noted: “Rebranding HBO to Max was the dumbest rebrand in recent history. Elon: Hold my beer and/or whatever is being partaken at 3 am.”
• Some scientists say that the Gulf Stream could collapse as early as 2025, a development that would bring catastrophic climate impacts.
• Singer and activist Sinead O’Connor, who made the Prince song “Nothing Compares 2 U” a No. 1 hit, passed away at the age of 56.
• It has been so hot in Phoenix that even the cactuses can’t take it.
• Nearly 22% of the calls made to Colorado’s suicide hotline went unanswered in April and May of this year.
• Former Denver Bronco Derek Wolfe is no longer the co-host of 104.3 The Fan’s afternoon drive-time radio show. He left less than a year after he joined the show “to focus on other interests.”
• Three years after Coloradans voted to reintroduce them, Colorado still can’t find anyone to give us wolves.
•  Tool manufacturer Stanley Black & Decker spent $90 million on a Texas tool factory whose automated system was such a bust the few tools it actually made are now considered collector’s items.
• The BBC has apologized after one of its reporters tried to get the captain of the Morocco women’s national soccer team to out gay teammates.
• New Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton didn’t hold back when asked his thoughts about last year’s head coach Nathaniel Hackett: “It might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL. That’s how bad it was.”
• Trevor Forbes, the CEO of Wyatts Towing, has resigned from the state of Colorado’s Towing Task Force that makes recommendations to the PUC. The reason appears to be a state investigation into allegations his company is running “an illegal loan program for towed vehicles.”
• A broken audio system turned a $2 million Aspen wedding into “a date which will live in infamy.” That is according to hyperbolic real estate developer Craig Spencer, whose daughter’s March 2022 wedding apparently experienced Pearl Harbor-like conditions. According to Spencer’s lawsuit, “The failure of the audio system caused a cascading number of issues that essentially ruined the wedding,” including pushing the bride and groom’s entrance back to … gasp … 9:15 pm. The kicker: sixteen months later, the bride and groom are reportedly divorcing.

So, who won the week?

• CBS4 anchor/reporter Marissa Armas announced she is leaving the station.
• The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team has scored four goals on their way to its 1-0-1 record in the FIFA Women’s World Cup so far, and all of those goals have been scored by Coloradans Lindsay Horan and Sophia Smith.
• The movies “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” raked in a collective $302 million during their opening weekends, reminding studio executives of the kind of business movies used to do before the pandemic. Even more surprising, the two very-different movies became a sort of bizzaro double feature – “Barbenheimer” – for many movie-goers.
• Nine-year-old Jaxson Finken is representing Longmont in the kids division of the U.S.A. Mullet Championships. The competition may be tough, but Finken says his confidence in his mullet is a “10 out of 10.”
• Former Fox31 political reporter Joe St. George became a father over the weekend.
• The University of Colorado announced it is leaving the PAC-12 Conference and rejoining the Big 12.
• Rumors have Tina Fey taking over “Saturday Night Live” when 78-year-old Executive Producer Lorne Michaels steps down.

“Summer’s tangiest yellow candy: French’s Mustard-flavored Skittles.”

• Denver7 anchor Bayan Wang has been suspended by the station following his arrest on domestic violence charges.
• I always thought it would be the $40 million debt load that sank the re-envisioned Casa Bonita. Instead, it may be a labor dispute with employees who are unhappy with the $30/hour salaries it is offering.
• Meow Wolf could be on the hook for $100,000 and additional legal fees for … not buying enough cheese crackers.
• The U.S. DOT is investigating why Delta passengers sweltered for hours in triple-digit temperatures while the plane waited on the tarmac in Las Vegas. The extreme heat caused some passengers to faint.
• Cincinnati Reds legend Johnny Bench has apologized for making an antisemitic comment about former Reds GM Gabe Paul during a press conference announcing Paul as a new member of the Reds Hall of Fame.
• Meta’s Threads has seen user engagement drop 70% since it launched as a high-profile alternative to Twitter.
• Country music network CMT has pulled singer Jason Aldean’s latest video from its rotation due to lyrics that critics say “are evocative of vigilantism, racism and sundown towns.” The video was shot in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, the site of a lynching in the 1920s.
• Dan Snyder is no longer the owner of the NFL‘s Washington Commanders. Fellow owners did kick him one last time on his way out – they fined him $60 million for, well, typical Dan Snyder behavior.
• Disney CEO Bob Iger is trying to calm panicked executives after he told CNBC that he would be open to selling the company’s linear TV assets such as ABC, FX, National Geographic, A&E and Lifetime.
• Kevin Mitnick, who became the face of computer hacking in the early stages of the internet and made the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list, died at age 59. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
• Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne resigned after an investigation concluded that he “inappropriately manipulated research” in academic papers he authored.
• More than one-quarter of young adults in the U.S. are estranged from one or both of their parents.
• Google has pitched an A.I. tool that it says is able to write news articles to executives at The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

So, who won the week?

• The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team begins its World Cup title defense against Vietnam tonight. The game is at 7 pm MT on Fox.
• Smokey, a feral cat who lives at Coors Field, is now up for adoption at Animal Rescue of the Rockies. Fun Fact: Smokey only has four fewer wins this season than Rockies ace pitcher Kyle Freeland.
• Jacksonville Jaguars assistant strength and conditioning coach Kevin Maxen is the first openly gay American pro sports coach.

• More than 150 insurance companies who paid claims for the Marshall Fire in Boulder County have banded together to sue Xcel Energy. The suit does not name a liability amount, but the fire caused more than $2 billion in estimated damages.
• In a move that must amuse NBA basketball players who shoot free throws in front of 19,000 shrieking fans, Wimbledon umpires have had to admonish spectators to refrain from popping champagne corks during play.
• Denver Broncos QB Russell Wilson and his singer wife Ciara are closing their chain of fashion stores nationally, including two in Denver. They will keep one store open at DIA, presumably because no one loves Wilson more than tourists from other NFL cities.
• Deteriorating telecommunications cables from companies such as AT&T and Verizon are leeching toxic lead into communities across the country. Tests conducted by The Wall Street Journal found high levels of lead in soil, waterways and even the bloodstreams of children who played near these cables.
• You may be rewatching some of your favorite shows in the coming months. Hollywood actors have now joined writers on strike, bringing the American movie and television business to a halt.
• Northwestern University is reeling after it bungled its response to a hazing investigation into its football team. The school first suspended head coach Pat Fitzgerald for two weeks, and then backtracked and fired him once it realized the intensity of the backlash to its slap on the wrist.
• Speaking of sports, former (?) University of West Virginia head basketball coach Bob Huggins now says he did not resign after last month’s DUI arrest, which was his second in 20 years. West Virginia has declined to reinstate Huggins, likely in part because it also had to suspend him for a few games after he went on a homophobic and anti-Catholic (a rare combination) rant on live radio two months ago. I’m no detective, but I’m guessing alcohol may have played a role in that interview as well.
• Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck’s Doug Friednash – a former Denver city attorney and former chief of staff to former Gov. John Hickenlooper – is one of the most politically connected lobbyists in the state, but his presence on the board of Denver Health while simultaneously representing cigarette and vaping manufacturer Altria is not sitting well with some public health officials.
• The San Diego Union-Tribune has been sold to Alden Global Capital’s MediaNews Group, almost certainly resigning it to the same fate as its new sister publication The Denver Post – bled to near death to maximize the return on investment.
• Denver’s rent increases over roughly the past decade are the second highest in the nation, behind only San Jose.
• The New York Times announced it will shut down its own sports desk and instead rely on coverage from The Athletic, the sports website that the Times purchased last year. The Times’ sports desk dates back to 1896 when it covered the first modern Olympic Games in Athens.
• Crocs has sued a former employee – the son of its ex-CEO – alleging that he stole sensitive documents that he then used in his new role with a competitor.
• Harry Styles is the latest singer to be hit by an object thrown by a fan while performing on stage.
• Food Bank of the Rockies CEO Erin Pulling says “the level of need that we are seeing right now is really higher than we’ve ever seen before.“
• The City of Denver renewed its cable television franchise agreement with Comcast, much to the dismay of Nuggets and Avalanche fans who have been blacked out for nearly four years.
• The disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar, who sexually abused Olympic female gymnasts among others, was stabbed multiple times by another inmate at a federal prison in Florida.

So, who won the week?

• CBS4 GM Tim Wieland has returned to work following emergency heart surgery.
• 9News multimedia journalist Katie Eastman is headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she has taken a job with KOTV.
• Carina Julig is leaving the Aurora Sentinel to take a position covering city hall for the Santa Fe New Mexican.
• Denver7 has hired Wanya Reese as weekend morning anchor and reporter. Reese formerly was with WMAZ in Macon, Georgia.
• Barefoot PR is hiring an associate position.
• SE2 is hiring two positions: a senior associate and a content creator.
• Colorado Rockies catcher Elias Diaz was the “unlikely hero” of the MLB All-Star Game after his two-run, go-ahead homer gave the National League the win for the first time since 2012.
• Denver Nuggets star Jamal Murray won an ESPY Award for Best Comeback Player, while Vail’s Mikaela Shiffrin won for Best Athlete in Women’s Sports. 
• Taylor Swift’s concert tour is projected to help her earn $332 million this year, which would almost certainly make her 2023’s highest-paid entertainer.
• Expect an influx of overly polite tourists – VISIT Denver has retained Canada’s Pulse Travel Marketing to help boost tourism from our neighbors to the north.

• Ahh, the post-COVID travel boom. A tourist in Rome who carved his name on an inner wall of the ancient Colosseum could face 2-5 years in jail.
• A corporate, billionaire-controlled social media platform is quickly being replaced by a corporate, billionaire-controlled social media platform. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg summed it up in one Tweet.
• United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has apologized for using a private jet to get from New Jersey to Denver amid his airline’s meltdown from cancelled and postponed flights. “Taking a private jet was the wrong decision because it was insensitive to our customers who were waiting to get home,” he said.
• The site of what was the high-end seafood restaurant Oceanaire in the downtown Performing Arts district has been sold. The buyer? The owners of the Diamond Cabaret strip club. They plan to open a Bombshells restaurant, which is a Hooters knock-off that features female servers wearing low-cut military-style uniforms.
• Meanwhile, the restaurant that could do no wrong has started doing nothing but wrong. Following last week’s no-tips fiasco, Casa Bonita’s new South Park owners have now cracked down on Etsy artists using the iconic restaurant’s image. Westword editor Patty Calhoun noted the irony since South Park “regularly depicts real people and places, right down to their logos.”
• A cameraman for the New York Yankees-Baltimore Orioles baseball game suffered an orbital fracture when an errant throw from second base to first base struck him in the face.
• The King Soopers employee who filmed the viral video of shoplifters stealing a shopping cart’s worth of laundry detergent has been fired for violating the company’s policy against employees chasing or intervening in a theft.
• July 3 was the hottest day ever recorded globally.
• Researchers have discovered the first case of CTE in a female athlete, an Australian rugby player.
• A Subway franchise in Savannah, Georgia, removed a marquee sign that read, “Our subs don’t implode.“
• A woman in Parker burned down her own home and her next-door neighbor’s when she threw used fireworks in a recycling bin. The residual heat of the fireworks eventually ignited the other materials in the bin, which led to the fire.
• The swim beaches at the Chatfield and Cherry Creek reservoirs are currently closed due to high E. coli levels.
• In case you are keeping track, $600 is the going rate for sex with a PT’s Showclub stripper. That’s according to a law enforcement investigation that may close the club permanently.
• Old LoHi restaurant Root Down is suing new LoHi restaurant Rooted, alleging trademark infringement.
• Fox31 has an open meteorologist position now that Jessica Lebel left, and not everyone is impressed with the salary range: “I’m sorry, but a (meteorologist) in Denver with a science degree should be paid more than the manager of a Panda Express.”
• A Lakewood woman who – at the moment – is unknown made national headlines with her racist rant against a Latino family that was sharing her apartment complex’s pool. The rant was recorded and shared via social media.
• This week gave us the most TMZ Sports headline of all time: No. 1 overall NBA draft pick Victor Wembanyama’s security guard allegedly slapped singer Britney Spears outside the Aria hotel and resort in Las Vegas.

So, who won the weeK?

• Denver’s iconic Republic Plaza building will not become what Kyle Clark speculated would be the world’s largest Spirit Halloween store after its owners secured funding to keep it out of bankruptcy.
• Shaquil Barrett may have left the Denver Broncos for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but his heart remains in Colorado. He and his wife just dropped nearly $5 million on a house in Parker.
• Last month’s heavy rains in Colorado have made our entire state drought-free for the first time in four years.
• Notable Denver bankruptcy attorney Brad Dempsey has taken the interim CEO position at Tattered Cover, likely giving the iconic bookstore its best shot at surviving.

From a Subway restaurant in Savannah, Georgia: