- A New York City man accused of attempting to smuggle Burmese pythons into the U.S. by shoving them in his pants has been sentenced to probation. A more-fitting punishment might be to make him do it a second time.
- Evergreen Lake nearly faced an early end to its skating season due to high temperatures, but officials now say they think they can make it through the end of February. So you probably won’t sink through the ice and drown.
- Planning a crime? Now’s the time. An “untold” number of criminal cases are on hold after a ransomware attack disabled the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office‘s computer network.
- Rachel Dolezal, the white woman who a decade ago falsely claimed to be Black while leading the Spokane chapter of the NAACP, was fired from her position at an Arizona school district due to her explicit OnlyFans account.
- After years of trying, Russia finally killed political opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.
- A Colorado Supreme Court case could undermine the wide-reaching legal immunity ski reports currently enjoy.
- Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser filed a lawsuit to block King Soopers’ parent company Kroger’s $24.6 billion merger with Albertsons. Critics argue the merger would lead to higher food prices and lower employee salaries.
- Rolling Stone editor Noah Shachtman is resigning due to editorial disagreements with CEO Gus Wenner.
- College students everywhere are mourning the death of Bill Post, the inventor of the Pop-Tart. Fun fact: Pop-Tarts were originally marketed as “Fruit Scones.”
- Denver Broncos fans were forced to watch the rival Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl for the second straight year, and the third time in five years.
- Meanwhile, tragedy struck yet another sports celebration when one person was killed and 22 others were shot at the Chiefs‘ Super Bowl victory parade.
- And here in Denver, Denver Broncos QB Russell Wilson has been quietly shopping his $25 million Cherry Hills mansion, a sign that he expects he won’t be back next year.
So, who won the week?
- LegalShield has named communications veteran Robert Toevs Chief Communications Officer. Toevs previously led communications for DISH, Qwest and others.
- Colorado Rockies broadcaster and back-up play-by-play announcer Jenny Cavnar has taken the primary play-by-play job with the Oakland Athletics. She will be the first female primary play-by-play broadcaster for a team in MLB history.
- Denver7 sportscaster Troy Renck is returning to The Denver Post as a sports columnist, replacing Mark Kiszla who moved to the Denver Gazette.
- In 1991, the average home price in Denver was $139,00, Federico Peña was finishing his second term as mayor, Dan Reeves was the Denver Broncos head coach, and “Dances with Wolves” won Best Picture. That was also the year now-Denver7 meteorologist Mike Nelson started his career in Denver with 9News. He announced this week that he will retire at the end of this year.
- Two investors are planning to revive the Colorado Springs Independent and the Colorado Springs Business Journal.
- The University of Iowa‘s Caitlin Clark set the NCAA women’s scoring record in basketball with 3,569. Her next goal is to break the real record set by the University of Kansas‘ Lynette Woodard, who scored a major school record 3,649 points in 1981 when women’s basketball was governed by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. That should happen in the next two to three games.
- The Super Bowl drew 123.4 million viewers, making it the nation’s most-watched television program of all time.
Denver Public Relations Blog 