Who Had the Worst Week?

• It turns out Rockies Fever may actually be the Black Plague. After losing a record 103 games last year and then spending the offseason promising that winning is its top priority, the team lost 16-1 in its Opening Day game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
• The Denver Auditor’s Office is accusing local teen shelter Urban Peak of violating Denver wage laws when it apparently inadvertently paid workers building its new facility according to residential pay scales instead of commercial ones. Urban Peak says the difference could be as much as a couple of million dollars.
• A 72-year-old Denver Nuggets superfan named Vicki Ray has been banned indefinitely from Ball Arena for violating the NBA‘s Code of Conduct. Known for giving players and refs bags of candy, holiday cards and notes of encouragement, she reportedly crossed the line and hit a player and grabbed a ref.
• Former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel was unceremoniously dumped two days after her hiring as an analyst at NBC News. Staffers at the network revolted, citing her history of election denial, her role in former President Donald Trump‘s fake elector plot and her previous criticism of media as “fake news.”
• It has been a year since Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovitz was arrested by Russia, and his newspaper has commemorated the grim anniversary with a mostly blank front page today.
• The String Cheese Incident brought its traveling musical circus normally reserved for Red Rocks to Dillon’s new amphitheater last year, and organizers apparently weren’t down with that. They are not on this year’s schedule.
• The NCAA provided a waiver allowing women’s basketball teams playing in the Spokane, Wash., regional to stay in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a city 30 miles from where the tournament was being played, due to a lack of hotel rooms in Spokane. If you’ve heard of Coeur d’Alene, it is a good bet it is in the context of the high number of Aryan Nation members who live there. So how did it turn out? As you would expect. The University of Utah team was forced to change hotels after being targeted by a group of white men screaming racial slurs at them and following them from a restaurant back to their original hotel.
• AI technology has allowed grifter marketers to take content primarily from videos on women’s social media profiles and deepfake them into ads or propoganda, and there is little the justice system can do. One deepfaked video showed “a Christian social media influencer who posts about travel, home decor and wedding planning — in her real bedroom, wearing her real clothes but describing a nonexistent partner with sexual health problems.”
• Colorado state legislators have been trying to change the composition of RTD‘s board of directors because they apparently have realized that electing board members to represent specific geographic districts – and those constituents’ interests – is a recipe for dysfunction. They are not wrong, but how is that different from how it works at the State Capitol?
• In a development everyone saw coming, Boeing CEO David Calhoun announced he will step down in the wake of a string of safety issues at the company. If you are concerned about Mr. Calhoun, fear not. Despite his alleged incompetence, he still stands to walk away with an exit package of about $24 million.
• Members of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team just seem intent on pissing off their fans (and now teammates). A month after star player Lindsey Horan apologized for saying that U.S. soccer fans just “aren’t smart” about the game, rising star Korbin Albert has apologized for social media posts that were anti-LGBTQ+.
• It’s been a bad week for law enforcement officers. Ones in Windsor and two in Denver were arrested this week on harassment and domestic violence charges.
• Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs is the TMZ gift that keeps on giving. Not only did he generate days worth of coverage from the federal raids on his residences seeking evidence in a human trafficking ring, but a corresponding lawsuit dropped A-List names such as Jennifer Lopez and Prince Harry.

Who won the week?

• Doyle Albee and his firm Comprise have acquired VisiTech PR. The move extends Comprise’s “expertise in technology for the global media and entertainment, telecom, cable, wireless, satellite, security and information technology industries.”
• Andrew Hudson, who may have contributed to more Denverites getting jobs than anyone in history, will speak on Strategic Career Development at PRSA Colorado‘s April event. Register here.
• Denverite editor Obed Manuel is joining NPR’s Morning Edition in Washington, D.C.
• Former Denver Broncos trainer Steve “Greek” Antonopulos is now part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was awarded the Award of Excellence, which recognizes the contributions of non-players to the the game.
• Rumors are that the Colorado Rockies are close to an over-the-air agreement that would see some of its games aired free on a station such as Channel 20. If true, they should announce it quickly – they will likely be eliminated from playoff contention in another month or two.