Who Had the Worst Week?

• DISH Network‘s stock has been a death spiral, and the company announced that it is laying off 500 Denver-area employees.
• Hill + Knowlton Strategies has rebranded to … its original name Hill & Knowlton. Hardly seems worth the cost of the new letterhead. In a quote that belongs in the PR Hall of Fame, the company’s CEO said the new old name “really embraces … the spirit of today and the aspiration and vision we have for the future.”
• Speaking of PR Hall of Fame quotes, WeWork announced that it “took strategic action to significantly strengthen (its) balance sheet and further streamline (its) real estate footprint.” That sounds great, until you read a paragraph later to understand that it did that by filing for bankruptcy.
• With two months still to go, Denver County Court has handled more eviction case filings than in any other year since at least 2008.
• An Australian police officer allegedly pointed his pistol at a colleague to stop him from sharing spoilers to the plot of “Top Gun: Maverick.”
• If you see a 9News reporter today, give them a hug. Tegna reported Q3 earnings that were down 11% year over year.
• If you see a Denver7 anchor, give them a hug. Parent company Scripps has developed “Scrippscast,” a new technology that creates news programming that does not require conventional anchors.
• A $6 million, 18-carat-gold toilet was stolen from Winston Churchill’s childhood home. I checked – former President Donald Trump has an alibi (he was in court).
• There is nothing worse than a judge deciding to make an example of you. That’s what happened to disbarred Denver attorney Steve Bachar, who received a prison sentence 50% longer than prosecutors requested. The Denver Post reported that “the judge said he wanted to push back against the criminal justice system’s tendency to be more lenient on wealthy, well-connected and well-educated defendants.”
• The Justice Department is investigating politicians, military officers and government contractors for utilizing the services of a high-end brothel network operating in Massachusetts and Washington D.C. Has anyone seen former Mayor Hancock?

So, who won the week?

• After nine years, Dana Smith is leaving her role as Chief Communications Officer at the Colorado Department of Education.
• The Denver Zoo has become the Nick Cannon of elephant sperm.
• The University of Colorado women’s basketball team opened their season by defeating the #1 ranked LSU Tigers.
• Tracy Chapman won song of the year at the Country Music Awards for “Fast Car,” a song that topped the country charts more than three decades after she first released it thanks to a cover by country singer Luke Combs. Chapman is the first Black songwriter to win that award.
• The New York Times surpassed 10 million subscribers. The company has a goal of 15 million by the end of 2027.
• The SAG–AFTRA actors’ union and Hollywood studios have ended their 118-day strike. How happy are the actors? Kevin Bacon celebrated by doing the “Footloose” dance.
• The National Women’s Soccer League negotiated a new four-year, $240 million TV deal that includes ESPN. That is 40 times the value of its previous deal on an annual basis.