• Coke bottles in Europe that have the tops attached to aid in recycling keep hitting drinkers in the face. “You literally have a fight with your bottle now every time you take a drink,” said one frustrated soda enthusiast.
• Colorado Public Radio reached a confidential settlement with former host Vic Vela. The agreement opens the door for CPR continuing Vela’s “Back from Broken” podcast, which is a curious development since the news outlet previously claimed Vela was fired for “repeatedly fail(ing) to address his hostile behavior” in the workplace.
• Speaking of CPR, it has now been nine months since the news organization received $8.3 million from a donor it still refuses to disclose.
• Kid Rock went full-Kid Rock in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, in which he allegedly “ranted about immigration, liberally used the N-word and, at one point, waved a gun in the air.”
• The liability waivers that Colorado ski resorts have relied on to protect them from litigation and financial judgments aren’t as iron-clad as thought, according to a new ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court.
• Colorado has seen a spike in gun-related road rage incidents over the past six years, and now has a rate that is double the national average.
• The WNBA is investigating a mass sponsorship agreement between the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and all 12 players on the Las Vegas Aces that would give each player $100,000. The WNBA is concerned that the deal circumvents its team salary cap. The real issue is how vulnerable the WNBA is to outside influences such as gamblers and sponsors because its salaries are so low. Top veteran players barely make more than $200,000 per season, and rookie stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese make closer to $76,000.
• Cable channel AMC‘s threshold for adding trigger warnings to old movies seems to be moving. It makes sense that AMC would add disclaimers disavowing racist or stereotypical portrayals of characters in movies such as “Gone with the Wind” or “The Jungle Book,” but the channel has now added them to “Goodfellas.”
• Actress Scarlett Johansson has threatened a lawsuit alleging that OpenAI illegally copied her voice after she refused to license it to the company for its AI efforts. Johansson famously portrayed the voice of the AI assistant in the 2013 movie, “Her.”
• Denver-based online worker training platform Guild unexpectedly laid off 25% of its 1,200 employees, and its explanation for why was a “buzzword salad” that felt like it was written by AI, according to SE2‘s Eric Anderson.
• The chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), Martin Gruenberg, agreed to resign once a successor is confirmed following a damning report that concluded Gruenberg was responsible for a hostile workplace at the agency.
• A recent Fox31 social media post about a drunk-driving crackdown in Denver featured a prominent photo of a police officer wearing a City of Miami safety vest. I guess the Fox31 photo archives aren’t curated all that carefully.
• Tom Brady‘s attempt to purchase a minority stake in the NFL‘s Las Vegas Raiders has hit several road bumps with other team owners who must approve the sale. They are concerned that his presence as the lead FOX Sports analyst for NFL games poses a conflict, and they aren’t happy about the steep discount Raiders owner Mark Davis appears to be trying to give Brady.
• A California mother was fined $88,000 after her children “collected clams — thinking they were picking up seashells — on the beach without a fishing license.” A judge has agreed to reduce the fine to $500.
• The stock of E.W. Scripps, owner of Denver7/KMGH, is trading at about $2.50, its lowest level since 2009. You might want to say a prayer for the employer contribution portion of its employees’ 401(k)s.

Who won the week?

• Altitude Sports’ Vic Lombardi is being inducted into the Heartland Emmy Silver Circle, which recognizes his 25 years in the television industry.
• CBS4‘s 10 p.m. newscast finished the May ratings period as No. 1 among adults 25-54 for the first time since 1995.
• The Trust for Public Land ranks Denver as the 13th-best big-city park system in the nation.
• Liam and Charlotte were the most popular baby names in Colorado in 2023. Milo, Arlo and Atlas also made the top 100.
• The median pay for CEOs of S&P 500 companies is now $15.7 million.
• Colorado Springs is the third-best place to live according to U.S. News & World Report, while Boulder ranks 10th, Fort Collins 39th and Denver 40th. Huntsville, Ala., ranks as the seventh-best place to live, so there probably is a flaw in the methodology.
• The NCAA has reached a $2.8 billion settlement that opens the doors for universities to directly pay its athletes. Part of that settlement will be used to pay former athletes who were denied payment in the past.