• Two American astronauts are stuck at the International Space Station while engineers try to sort out some technical problems with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft.
• Speaking of Boeing, I’m starting to think that it may not have a single competent executive. The latest development? The NTSB has reprimanded the company for sharing confidential investigation materials related to its midair door panel blowout with media.
• KNUS talk show host and attorney Randy Corporon appears to have fallen for a scam only slightly more sophisticated than the Nigerian prince one. Corporon wired $375,000 in money due to a client to Hong King after hackers pretending to be his client requested it.
• A jury ordered the NFL to pay $4.7 billion in damages to subscribers of its NFL Ticket broadcast package. The jury found that the league violated antitrust laws.
• The latest restaurant trend – banning customers who are in their early 20s. One New York City restaurateur said the goal was to ban “those kids that had their flannel shirts tied around their waists, wearing their Villanova hats backwards, walking around in the street with their Amstel Light in their hand.” Youths!
• Zoos in America have a surprisingly large number of critics, and many fear being attacked by animal activists. To combat that, the Denver Zoo has rebranded as the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance to emphasize its focus on wildlife conservation.
• A Supreme Court decision has jeopardized a multi-billion-dollar settlement with the Opioid-manufacturing Sackler family that would have shielded them from future civil litigation.
• Singer Willie Nelson has cancelled several performances of his Outlaw Music Festival Tour due to illness. That’s not what you want to hear for the 91-year-old legend.
• “Vision Zero” – Denver‘s effort to eliminate pedestrian traffic fatalities – is getting a new boost from Mayor Mike Johnston. Denver typically only makes it about a week into January before the first fatality that renders “Vision Zero” unattainable.
• Walgreens plans to close “a significant number” of its 8.600 U.S. locations after the company announced it was slashing its year-end earnings forecast. Analysts estimate that 25% of Walgreens stores are unprofitable.
• China has unleashed a new tactic in its campaign to silence critics. A covert campaign targeting a Chinese exile who now lives in Philadelphia has included sexually suggestive threats made against his 16-year-old daughter.
• 9News anchor Kyle Clark acknowledged having “lots of conversations with lots of people” about bigger and better jobs in journalism. That tidbit was part of a conversation with Westword’s Michael Roberts (who left the publication in a full-time capacity more than a year ago and yet is still its best reporter). Clark’s departure would be an enormous blow to 9News.

So, who won the week?

• Corey Hutchins reports that 5280 senior editor Nicholas Hunt has left for an as-yet undisclosed opportunity. You should subscribe to Corey’s “Inside the News in Colorado” newsletter if you haven’t already; it is both terrific and free.
• Three Coloradans — Lindsey Horan, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith — were named to the U.S. Women’s National Team for the 2024 Paris Olympics starting in July.
• Snobahn, the Denver indoor training facility for action sports, has nabbed Olympian Shaun White as an investor as it seeks to expand to new markets.
• South Park creators and Casa Bonita owners Trey Parker and Matt Stone were awarded stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• The L.A. Lakers drafted Bronny James, the 19-year-old son of Lakers star LeBron James. The consensus of scouts was that Bronny would not be drafted other than for the fact that his father had expressed a desire to play with him. If they take the court together next season, they will be the first father-son duo on the same team in NBA history.
• The NCAA no longer will test Division I athletes for marijuana use prior to championships.