• U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team captain and Colorado native Lindsey Horan made headlines this week for claiming, “American soccer fans, most of them aren’t smart.” She may be right, but she’s not going to win many fans by saying it.
• Less than a year ago, the high-profile news site The Messenger launched with $50 million in funding and ambitions to hire 550 journalists. This week, the site folded, putting 300 people out of work with no notice and no severance. It is the latest round of layoffs in what is starting as a brutal year for the journalism industry. If you can, subscribe to the sites you read.
• A Phish concert in Mexico created considerable collateral damage in Colorado. It involved a naked man rushing the stage, a medical tent, and an expletive-filled demand letter from a Colorado attorney that the state’s Office of Attorney Regulation deemed “threatening” and worthy of a censure.
• About 3,000 DNA samples will need to be retested – at a cost of about $7.5 million – after problems were discovered in one longtime Colorado Bureau of Investigation employee’s lab work.
• Alaska is getting crushed by snow, more than six feet in January alone and more than 100 inches so far this season – the earliest it has ever hit that mark.
• TikTok and Universal Music Group are at an impasse, meaning that videos featuring songs by stars such as Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Drake and Ariana Grande “have gone silent.”
• Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow this morning, meaning an early spring could be on the way. Unfortunately, the rodent is only correct about 39% of the time.
• Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears just can’t seem to move on.
• The annual NFL head coaching game of musical chairs has ended, and former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick wound up without a seat despite a record six Super Bowl wins. He’ll likely try again next year.
• The Colorado construction company Vertix is suing the California construction company Vertex, and you may not be surprised the suit focuses on trademark infringement.
• Elmo asked how America is doing, and, well, apparently we aren’t doing too well. And Elmo himself had a tough week when actor Larry David smacked him around live on the set of the “Today” show.

So, who won the week?

• GBSM is celebrating its 40th anniversary this week.
• 9NEWS News Director Tim Ryan announced he is leaving the station.
• Denver Broncos Manager of Football Communications Jordan Beasley has taken a position with the Los Angeles Lakers.
• Denver digital agency Room 214 has merged with Unicorn Agency and Ambit Design.
• DIA served 77.8 million passengers in 2023, a new record for DIA and a 12% increase over 2022. Despite the growth, DIA is expected to remain the third-busiest airport in the country and the fifth-busiest in the world.