• Did USA Today publish AI-written articles under the names of fictitious reporters? The Washington Post thinks it may have.
• Some bears recognize quality when they see it. If you were a bear wandering through Pitkin County, where would you want to be? The kitchen of the St. Regis Aspen Resort, of course.
• I’m going to be honest – I didn’t realize that “Audubon” was someone’s name. I assumed it was a Latin word for bird or something. But this week we (or at least I) learned that not only is the National Audubon Society named after John James Audubon, but that he was a “19th-century ornithologist, naturalist and painter who owned slaves, opposed abolitionism and exploited Black and Indigenous people.” As a result, three chapters of the National Audubon Society are dropping his name from their branding.
• Boeing may have solved the 737 Max fiasco, but it is still hemorrhaging money. The company has reported losses of $25.5 billion since the 737 Maxes were grounded in 2019, and about $1.1 billion (and counting) of that loss is due to its contract to build two new Air Force Ones. Boeing’s CEO described the decision to seek that contract as “a very unique moment, a very unique negotiation. A very unique set of risks that Boeing probably shouldn’t have taken.”
• Is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson a white guy? Of course not. He’s talked proudly about his Black father and Samoan mother. But his wax figure in France’s Musée Grévin had to undergo some emergency touch-ups to reflect that.
• A woman in Atlanta returned home from a vacation to find that her house had been completely destroyed when a demolition company confused the address.
• An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot attempted to disable a plane’s engines mid-flight after taking “magic mushrooms” 48 hours before the incident.
• Denver‘s relatively isolated geography is causing more and more music stars to skip our city while on concert tours. The most recent include Drake, Beyoncé, Janet Jackson, Billy Joel, Pearl Jam and Metallica.
• Michigan State apologized midway through its 49-0 loss to rival Michigan, not for the team’s dreadful performance but rather for a trivia question that appeared on its Jumbotron that included an enormous picture of Adolf Hitler.
• If you are wondering what happened to George Costanza, he may have been working at Citigroup. One of its executives was recently fired for expensing a lunch with his significant other, and then claiming he had actually ordered and eaten two of everything – coffees, sandwiches and pasta dishes. Citigroup forbids expensing meals for partners. And, of course, the employee was part of the company’s … wait for it … financial crimes division.
• More than 42% of Coloradans consider our state to be located in the “Midwest.”
• Halloween is Tuesday, and it is the most deadly day of the year for child pedestrians.
• Chief 9News meteorologist Kathy Sabine reduced her on-air schedule following recent treatment for skin cancer, but she is now returning to her previous role handling the 4 pm, 5 pm, 6 pm, 9 pm and 10 pm broadcasts. Unfortunately, it appears that fellow meteorologist Danielle Grant is the odd woman out. She is leaving the station and hasn’t announced what she plans next.
• In what is candidly a reflection of a lack of self-awareness, a survey of PR professionals found that getting reporters to respond to their pitches is the biggest challenge they face in their jobs. Reporters would likely say being overwhelmed with irrelevant pitches is their biggest challenge.

So, who won the week?

• 9News reporter/anchor Steve Staeger and his wife are expecting their first child.
• Emily Spencer has joined SE2 as a senior associate.
• Novitas Communications won two gold PRGN awards in the Digital Media and Community Engagement categories. 
• And, on a personal note, I have accepted an offer to become a partner at GFM|CenterTable (formerly GroundFloor Media). I will continue to lead our Crisis and Issues Management practice, as well as support a number of non-crisis clients.

• A federal trial that would have explored allegations of bid rigging at DIA sadly won’t take place after the parties reached a confidential settlement just as prospective jurors arrived at the courthouse. DIA Brewing, a company affiliated with Wynkoop Brewing and the Cherry Cricket, had sued Midfield Concession Enterprises alleging it had bribed DIA’s former chief revenue officer to rig bids in its favor.
• In the 1980s and 1990s, the Tattered Cover bookstore was among Denver‘s most notable local retailers. And then online booksellers started to crush brick-and-mortar stores. The Tattered Cover held on better than most, but it finally filed for bankruptcy this week. It will close three of its seven locations, and eliminate 27 of its 103 jobs.
• Britney Spears‘ new tell-all autobiography is coming out, and some of the revelations – that he pressured her to have an abortion and that he broke up with her via text – have former boyfriend Justin Timberlake and his good-guy image playing defense.
• X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, is trialing a $1 per year fee that is says will help eliminate bots from the site. If expanded, that will test the resolve of many users who are committed to not paying Elon Musk even a penny.
• Americans‘ trust in media remained near record lows in the annual Gallup poll. About 34% said they trust mass media to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly,” which is just two points higher than the lowest percentage Gallup has ever recorded, which was during the 2016 presidential campaign.
• Now that the Hollywood writers’ strike is over, some of them should look to Granby Ranch for inspiration for the next great TV drama. The latest development in the area’s years-long saga is that Marise Cipriana, the Boulder owner of the development, has been accused by her sister of being a diamond smuggler.
• “Saturday Night Live” resumed after the writer’s strike ended, and that wasn’t great news for University of Colorado head coach Deion Sanders.
• An Australian man had to fight a kangaroo that was trying to drown his dog. The man said the unusually muscle-bound kangaroo looked like he “just got out of jail or something.”
• Wyatt’s Towing, the company everyone loves to hate, is facing new allegations of corruption and fraud.
• New Mexico prosecutors are trying again to charge actor Alec Baldwin for the accidental shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of his movie “Rust.”
• Thousands of Venezuelans have donated their hair to help soak up oil slicks that are common on Lake Maracaibo. The hair is placed in large collection nets that scientists at NASA have determined actually work.

So, who won the week?

• We lost our friend Steve Sander this week. There will be a celebration of his life this Sunday from 11:30 am to 2 pm at the Greek Amphitheater at Civic Center Park.
• Reporter Hannah Metzger has joined Westword as a staff writer. She previously was at the Denver Gazette/ColoradoPolitics.com.
• Mikayla Ortega, formerly of Denver7 and the Denver Office of Emergency Management, has accepted the position of Communications and Marketing manager at the Denver Clerk & Recorder’s Office.
• For the first time in its history, the Colorado School of Mines‘ football team is ranked No. 1 in the country. The team plays in Division II.
• Chris LaPlaca, the head of global communications at ESPN, is retiring after a 43-year career with the network.
• Taylor Swift‘s cut of the opening weekend box office of her “Eras Tour” movie was $55 million.

Steve Sander was synonymous with Denver, and there were few high-profile civic marketing initiatives that he wasn’t involved in at some level. Whether it was the Denver Film Festival, Denver B-cycle or the Denver Nuggets championship parade, he was more likely than not to be involved. He was funny, quirky and engaging, and he collected friends the way most of us collect change. Steve took his own life last night. If you are experiencing mental health-related distress or are worried about a loved one, please call Colorado Crisis Services at 1-844-493-8255.

• The Washington Post is cutting 240 jobs due to a decline in advertising and digital subscriptions.
• Aspire to be a 1%-er in Colorado? You’ll need to earn $610,000 per year.
• Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton and QB Russell Wilson are neck-and-neck in the race to be the person whom fans blame for the team’s dismal record. Payton had the early lead, but Russell really showed something last night in the Broncos’ 19-8 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
• The CEO of movie theater chain AMC disclosed he was the victim of a catfishing blackmail scheme after he shared explicit photos. Can’t imagine that will go over well with the board of directors.
• A St. Louis youth football coach was allegedly shot by a parent angry that his son didn’t receive enough playing time.
• High school students’ scores on the ACT college admissions test have dropped to the lowest in more than 30 years.
• Can DIA help fund improvements to RTD’s A-Line train service to the airport? DIA doesn’t appear to be trying very hard to find a way to say yes.
• Players and teams are pushing back against the NHL‘s new ban on Pride-themed tape on their hockey sticks. Last season, some players refused to participate in team sanctioned Pride night festivities, and the NHL said the issue had become “a distraction.”
• Tobias, the leader of the Denver Zoo‘s African lion family pride, was euthanized at seven years of age, less than a quarter of that age that is expected from lions in captivity.
• Global soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo leapt at a chance to take hundreds of millions of dollars to play for a team in Saudi Arabia. But giving the wrong woman a friendly kiss the cheek while at a tournament in Iran has state officials considering a sentence of 99 lashes.
• Bigfoot is alive and living on the Western Slope, if you believe a gullible Wyoming couple.

So, who won the week?

• Concerts at Red Rocks account for $717 million in annual economic impact in the metro area.
• Any chump can buy a multi-million home in Cherry Hills Village. It takes a star to buy two.
• B Public Relations was named best PR firm in the metro Denver area by Colorado Sun readers.
• Someone in California won the $1.73 billion Powerball lottery.
• How are movie theaters preparing for Taylor Swift‘s concert film? Alamo Drafthouse has lifted its age restriction and is planning to let young fans “break most of our policies to celebrate as much as possible.”

• Disney is being sued by a visitor to one of its water park rides over a “severe wedgie” injury.
• Thieves stole $73,000 worth of crab meat while a commercial truck driver slept in his cab. If you see a crab cake the size of an inflatable pool, you are asked to contact the authorities.
• The Denver Public Schools board is an absolute dumpster fire. This week, it was reported that the district gave board member Auon’tai Anderson a secret $3,500 payment that was accompanied by an illegal confidentiality provision. Said attorney Steve Zansberg, who represented several media outlets, “It is unfathomable that any public school district would include a provision in a settlement agreement by which it commits to withhold that public record from disclosure… .” That is attorney-speak for “WTF.”
• The Triangle Bar, one of Denver‘s oldest gay bars, has closed due to issues with homeless encampments.
• DIA has plans to add four new concourses with 100 additional gates by 2045. The addition will allow it to accommodate twice the number of passengers it serves today. There’s no mention of increased parking.
• Going public is hard, and going public during a pandemic is really hard. Denver-based Spruce Power Holding Corp., a company that converts gas-powered commercial trucks into hybrid vehicles, has been accused by the SEC of exaggerating its earnings as part of its IPO three years ago.
• The Colorado Rockies may have had their worst season ever with 103 losses, but they managed to draw 2.6 million fans to the ballpark, which puts them in the top half of MLB attendance. And that is why the Rockies will never be consistently good. What’s the incentive?
• Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays made the MLB postseason and drew 19,704 fans to its first playoff game. That’s the fewest fans for a playoff game in more than 100 years.
• Amazon has laid off about 5% of its communications staffers across its various divisions.
• More than 75,000 Kaiser employees, including 3,000 in Colorado, are participating in a three-day strike to protest what they say are “unfair labor practices and unsafe staffing levels.”
• How much does the Town of Vail not want low-income housing? It was willing to pay $17.5 million to acquire 23 acres that Vail Resorts wanted to use to build housing for its workers.
• Twitter has taken yet another step to offer less value to users.

So, who won the week?

• CBS4‘s news team’s focus on covering the entire state has resulted in significant ratings increases.
• If you missed out on the chance to buy Echo Mountain, good news! For just $7 million, you can buy the 373-acre Slopes at St. Mary’s Glacier ski area. The area hasn’t been operational since 1986, so you might need to upgrade a T-bar lift or two. Better hurry, though. Glaciers aren’t what they used to be.
• Jailed Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight against women’s oppression in Iran and advocating for human rights. 
• In the battle for Denver sports radio listeners, Altitude Sports Radio topped 104.3 The Fan for the first time.
• Prada has inked a deal to design the spacesuits that astronauts will wear during NASA‘s 2025 trip to the moon. I can’t wait for the designers to tell the astronauts they have decided to skip the kevlar and go with silk because it’s more slimming.