• Presumably tired of hearing complaints from co-workers and others, Denver Public Schools superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero spent nearly $100,000 soundproofing his office. That is hardly the kind of publicity the district needs as it plans for a $975 million bond request that will be put on the ballot.
• Great Britain cyclist Katie Archibald will miss this summer’s Paris Olympics after she broke her leg when she tripped over a step in her backyard.
• RTD is playing defense after unplanned maintenance forced some light rail trains to slow to speeds of 10 mph for long stretches.
• MLB‘s tribute to the Negro Leagues – a game featuring the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals – wasn’t entirely a celebratory event. New York Yankees legend Reggie Jackson shared some harsh and uncomfortable truths about how he was treated as a minor league player in Alabama in the late 1960s.
• The FAA is investigating a Southwest Airlines flight that reportedly flew only 500 feet above a neighborhood as it approached an airport in Oklahoma. How low was it going? Ring doorbell cameras captured the flight.
• Extreme heat is being blamed for the deaths of more than 1,000 people making the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
• Colorado is experiencing unprecedented wildlife attacks during this year’s calving season.
• They said robots would eventually come to kill all humans, but they didn’t say it would be through heart disease. Relatedly, McDonald’s has pulled the plug on its AI drive-through technology after a series of errors, including some that caused patrons to inadvertently order 260 Chicken McNuggets.
• Robert Winnett, a British journalist whose nickname is literally “Rat Boy” and who allegedly used hacked materials as sources for news articles in London, will not assume the position of editor at The Washington Post after a staff uproar.
• Denver7 anchor Brian Sanders‘ contract was unexpectedly not renewed, and he gave a heartfelt on-air goodbye.

Who won the week?

• Former CPR host Vic Vela announced he is returning to New Mexico to join the state’s PBS affiliate.
• The University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus has received a $2 million donation from the Céline Dion Foundation to support research into stiff person syndrome, a condition that affects Dion.
• Denver’s PrideFest is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
• If you have $8.495 million burning a hole in your pocket, you can buy John Denver’s former guest house and music studio in Aspen.

• Everyone wants to blame the pandemic for learning loss among our students, but maybe something else is going on. A year after testing found excessive levels of lead in 2,200 drinking sources across Colorado’s 10 largest school districts, two-thirds of them still have not been fixed.
• Curious what would be at the center of a Venn diagram of Carmen Miranda and Colombian death squads? We now know the answer: Chiquita bananas.
• Adding insult to injury, Barnes & Noble appears to be the top bidder for the beloved-but-bankrupt independent Denver bookstore chain Tattered Cover.
• Wells Fargo confirmed it fired a dozen remote employees who were caught using tools that simulate keyboard activity – think mouse jigglers. In its statement, the company said “Wells Fargo holds employees to the highest standards and does not tolerate unethical behavior,” which is laughable given all of its recent scandals.
• The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team is ranked fifth in the world, its lowest ranking since FIFA began releasing standings for women’s teams in 2003. There is hope, however. The women will have a chance to climb back up the rankings when they participate in the Paris Olympics in July.
• Speaking of soccer, Yan Couto, a defender on the Brazil men’s national soccer team, changed his signature pink hair after a request from officials of his national team. He plays professionally for Manchester City, and they apparently had no concerns about the color of his hair.
• If you are wondering how the world sees the state of American politics, Canada is game-planning for what a U.S. civil war would mean for our polite neighbors to the north.
• Ahhh, Independence Day. The holiday synonymous with fireworks, apple pie and … competitive eating? Organizers of the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest have banned Joey Chestnut from its signature July 4th event after he signed an endorsement deal with plant-based, meat alternative company Impossible Foods.
• Ball Arena has evicted Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs for allegedly not paying sponsorship fees. The arena is suing the restaurant that has its flagship location in the Ballpark neighborhood for $868,000.
• Gum-maker Orbitz clearly understands Millennials and Gen Z. Rather than focusing on fresh breath or taste, the company is launching a $50 million ad campaign to convince consumers that chewing gum “can silence anxious thoughts, improve focus or boost confidence.” Fun fact: chewing gum sales peaked in 2011.
• Friends of Keo Frazier are mourning her passing. She was the owner of 9+2 Agency, and held a number of marketing and communications positions with organizations such as Denver Housing Authority, Emily Griffith Technical College and McWhinney.

Who won the week?

• Holland & Hart named Lisa Simon chief marketing and business development officer. Simon previously was with law firm Lewis Roca and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.
• Tesla shareholders approved a compensation package for CEO Elon Musk that will award him approximately $48 billion in stock.
• “A conservation veterinarian discovered that if you’ve got a sedated lion on your hands and need to monitor its heart rate, wrapping an Apple Watch around its tongue does the trick.”
• Chef Kelly Whitaker and his partner Erika Whitaker of Id Est Hospitality Group were named best restaurateur in the nation by James Beard.

• UN secretary-general António Guterres has called for PR agencies to stop working with fossil fuel clients, saying that agencies are “‘acting as enablers to planetary destruction.”
• A knee injury forced world No. 1 men’s tennis player Novak Djokovich to retire from the French Open. He is expected to also miss Wimbledon in July.
• Meanwhile, German tennis player Alexander Zverev agreed to a $220,000 payment to settle charges that he physically abused his former girlfriend who is the mother of his child. The agreement was announced just hours before Zverev was scheduled to play in the French Open semifinals.
• If your commute takes you through the intersection of East 56th Avenue and North Tower Road in Green Valley Ranch, good luck. It is the most dangerous intersection in Denver.
• A giraffe at a drive-through safari park in Texas plucked a toddler from the bed of her family’s pick-up truck. Fortunately, her mom was able to grab the toddler before she got more than a couple of feet in the air.
• Russia, which is banned from the Paris Olympics because of its invasion of Ukraine, is “running a secret influence campaign to discredit the games and spark fears of terror attacks.”
• The Colorado cities of Platteville and Fort Lupton, or more specifically their insurance companies, will pay $8.5 million to the woman who was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car that was parked on railroad tracks. As you might expect from the size of the payment, a train then hit the police car, seriously injuring the woman.
• The dreaded summer “Heat Dome” is pushing temperatures in the southwest to the 110s, with Death Valley expected to reach more than 120 degrees.
• So, The Washington Post is a dumpster fire right now. Editor Sally Buzbee‘s recent resignation has put a spotlight on a story that the newspaper’s publisher, Will Lewis, tried repeatedly to have Buzbee kill stories about his alleged involvement in the British tabloid hacking scandal. NPR also now alleges on the record that a representative of Lewis offered an exclusive on another story if NPR would drop its coverage of Lewis’ involvement in covering up the hacking scandal.
• A Muck Rake survey finds that PR professionals are leaving X in droves, headed to more stable platforms such as LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.
• A golf reporter covering the BMW Charity Pro-Am in South Carolina interviewed a Black man she thought was former University of Texas star QB and Heisman Trophy winner Vince Young. She was actually interviewing Citadel assistant football coach Everette Sands. Was it awkward? Yes, it was. Did Sands handle it incredibly well? Yes, he did.

Who won the week?

• If you haven’t been able to snag a reservation via Casa Bonita‘s lottery system, good news. The iconic restaurant plans to migrate to a traditional reservation system by late summer.
• Chipotle shareholders approved a 50-1 stock split that would lower the cost of a single share of the restaurant chain’s stock from $3,200 to $64.
• 9News anchor Kyle Clark made national headlines for his no-nonsense approach to moderating the recent Republican debate for CD-4 that included Congresswoman Lauren Boebert. My first thought was that I’m shocked that Republicans would allow a journalist like Clark anywhere near their debate. My second thought was that all the Democrats calling for Clark to moderate a presidential debate are underestimating the extent to which Clark challenges candidates of both political parties. It would be no free ride.