Who Had the Worst Week?

• Retail giant Target has filed suit against Xcel Energy, CenturyLink and Teleport alleging that they are responsible for the deadly Marshall Fire that destroyed the company’s location in Superior. Xcel already faces hundreds of lawsuits from homeowners, but this appears to be the first filed against CenturyLink and Teleport.
• Alcohol deaths in Colorado have surged 60% over the past four years.
• A firearms instructor with the Denver Sheriff’s Department has been suspended for 14 days after accidentally shooting his neighbor’s house.
• Former “90210” star Ian Ziering fought off a group of mini-bikers (the motorcycles were mini, not the people riding them) who attacked him while driving in L.A. He was fine, but his $100,000 Mercedes suffered significant damage.
• There were more media layoffs in 2023 than in the post-pandemic years of 2021 and 2022. Data through November 2023 alone shows that there were 20,324 job cuts in media nationally.
• Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned, the second of three university leaders to resign following their recent bungled Congressional hearing on the schools’ responses to antisemitism. As I said when Penn‘s president resigned last month, being prepped by $1,500 per hour attorneys instead of $500 per hour PR professionals gives you answers that may work in a court of law, but not necessarily in the court of public opinion.
• Carolina Panthers billionaire owner David Tepper has been fined $300,000 by the NFL for throwing a drink at Jacksonville Jaguars fans who were heckling him during last week’s game. The $300,000 fine for Tepper, who is worth $20 billion, is the equivalent of the average American being fined $1.77.
• Chi cazzo credi di essere? Italians are in an uproar after their legendary pizza maker Gino Sorbillo added a pineapple pizza to his menu.
• Two stray dogs caused $350,000 in damage to vehicles at a Houston car dealer. Security video shows the dogs jumping on vehicles, scratching off paint and forcibly removing bumpers while chasing feral cats. 
• European supermarket chain Carrefour has dropped PepsiCo products such as Pepsi and Lay’s because of the company’s “unacceptable price increases.” The decision is part of Carrefour’s ongoing attempts to pressure some of the world’s biggest consumer goods companies to cut prices. 
• ESPN‘s Pat McAfee quickly apologized after NFL QB Aaron Rodgers used McAfee’s show to try to settle a score with ABC talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who has criticized Rodgers in the past. Rodgers suggested that Kimmel might be one of the celebrities who was caught up in the Jeffrey Epstein human trafficking lawsuits, a charge that Kimmel suggested could be grounds for a lawsuit. Interestingly, both ESPN and ABC are owned by Disney.
• Cecil, a 7-year-old goldendoodle from Pittsburgh, ate $4,000 in cash that his owners had withdrawn to pay for a new fence. “You could leave a steak on the table, and he wouldn’t touch it because he’s not food motivated,” said his owner. “But apparently he is money motivated.”
• A Florida man has filed a $100,000 lawsuit against Dunkin’ Donuts alleging that he was hurt when a toilet at one of its locations “exploded.”
• A Peloton instructor complained that a Christopher Nolan movie was a waste of time not knowing the director was in her class.

Who won the week?

• Alvina Vasquez of PowerMap has joined SE2 as a principal and shareholder. Vasquez and SE2 have collaborated for years on impactful campaigns to support healthy and successful communities.
• The Denver Business Journal announced its 2024 40 Under 40 honorees, and it included Dovetail Solutions’ Emily Tiefel and the Denver Office of the Mayor‘s Jose Salas.
• Nelson Garcia of 9News has accepted a new position at fellow TEGNA station KARE 11 (NBC) in Minneapolis.
• Former Denver7 anchor Anne Trujillo has been named to the Board of Trustees of Adams State University. 
• At 8-8, the Denver Broncos may be a pretty average football team, but three of its players were named to the Pro Bowl – cornerback Pat Surtain II, safety Justin Simmons and rookie wide receiver and return specialist Marvin Mims Jr.
• Japan Airlines flight attendants deplaned 367 passengers in mere minutes when one of its jets caught fire after it collided with another plane on a Tokyo runway.