Who Had the Worst Week?

• 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.