Who Had the Worst Week?

• Former Denver Bronco and Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Terrell Davis was handcuffed and removed from a United Airlines flight by FBI agents after a flight attendant alleged Davis hit him. Davis said he and witnesses to the incident were left confused because he simply tapped a flight attendant’s arm to ask for ice.
• Colorado native Ingrid Andress was the buzz of social media after she butchered the national anthem at the MLB Home Run Derby in a performance that made people nostalgic for Roseanne Barr‘s version. Afterward, Andress acknowledged being drunk and said that she had made the decision to enter rehab.
• Denver Nuggets first-round draft pick DaRon Holmes II tore his Achilles tendon during his first NBA Summer League game. He is expected to miss the 2024-25 season.
• Colorado is the fourth most expensive state for home insurance — a metric that reflects the state’s propensity for hail and wildfires.
• Russia sentenced Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison following a very short sham trial. The surprisingly quick nature of the trial led some to speculate that a prisoner swap is being negotiated between Russia and the U.S.
• A global data network outage related to Microsoft and the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike has shut down everything from airlines to banks to media companies to 911 service. Not the Denver PR Blog, however. We only use time-tested technologies such as AOL dial-up internet service and Netscape browsers.
• Facebook parent company Meta is walking away from half of its office space in downtown Denver. The tech giant originally had about 40,000 square feet in the Union Station building located at 1900 16th St.
• Investment company BlackRock has pulled a two-year-old viral online ad that coincidentally included footage of Thomas Crooks, the man who was killed while trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
• Actor Kevin Costner‘s second western-themed “Horizon” movie has been cancelled after the first installment fizzled at the box office.
• Colorado mortgage holders lead the nation when it comes to average locked-in interest rate vs. the current interest rate. Coloradans who have mortgages average a 3.8% interest rate compared to the 7.25% rate today. That difference, known in the industry as “golden handcuffs,” creates a strong disincentive to sell.
• The Hard Rock Stadium in Miami failed its off-Broadway test as one of the sites for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Hosting the final of the 2024 Copa America tournament last weekend, the stadium and its security teams were overrun by Colombia and Argentina fans, forcing the venue to close and lock its gates to try to regroup.
• Actress Shannen Doherty, star of the 1990s iconic TV show “Beverly Hills, 90201,” passed away at the age of 53 following a series of battles with cancer.
• A 19-year-old member of the Japan women’s artistic gymnastics team headed to the Paris Olympics has been booted off the team after she was caught smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. If that’s the standard, expect the U.S. Mens Basketball Team to be replaced by the BYU men’s team.
• Pity the Hamptons elite during this summer’s social season. Many are expressing frustration at the dress codes shared for parties that include things like “red carpet royal core,” “garden party retro” and “Nancy Meyers Meets Wyoming.”
• Three Colorado newspapers – the Lamar Ledger, the Burlington Record and the (Springfield) Plainsman Herald – announced they are shutting down.
• It turns out Hello Kitty is not actually a cat, according to its creators.
• Want to buy a house in Aspen? Good luck. The Colorado Sun reports that the price-per-square-foot of real estate in the first half of the year averaged $3,427. That means a million-dollar budget would get you … 291 square feet of living space.

Who won the week?

• GBSM promoted Lauren Seibert to Vice President of People and Strategy and Emma Harrison to Senior Associate.
• PRSA Colorado is hosting an “Influencer Mix & Mingle” event at 5:30 pm on Wed., July 24, at The Night Owls Bar at Colorado Mills in Lakewood.
• VISIT DENVER announced that our city set an all-time record for tourism in 2023. Denver attracted 37.4 million domestic tourists who spent $10.3 billion in the metropolitan area.
• Boulder‘s Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence shelter for domestic violence victims will soon accept pets. Research shows many survivors wait longer to leave abusive situations if they can’t take their pets with them.
• The Paris Olympics have not started yet, but Mongolia seems to have already won the unofficial gold medal for their uniforms.
• An extremely rare orange lobster is now living its best life at Denver‘s Downtown Aquarium after it was mistakenly included in a shipment to a Red Lobster restaurant in Pueblo.