Month: September 2025

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment
  • Tylenol is facing a crisis the likes of which it has not seen since the 1982 deaths of seven people who consumed Tylenol capsules that had been laced with cyanide. This week, President Donald Trump defied decades of scientific research to declare a clear link between acetaminophen – the active ingredient in Tylenol – and autism.
  • Xcel Energy has agreed to pay $640 million to settle claims that its transmission lines were partly responsible for the devastating Marshall Fire in Boulder County that caused an estimated $1.7 billion in damages.
  • President Donald Trump urged DOJ prosecutors to target former FBI Director James Comey, and this week he got what he wanted. Experts say the prosecution won’t be easy. Previous career DOJ prosecutors had declined to bring the charges because they considered the case too weak and even Attorney General Pam Bondi expressed concerns about pursuing charges before she capitulated to President Trump.
  • Amazon has agreed to pay $2.5 billion “to settle claims that it tricked tens of millions of people into signing up for its Prime membership program, and then made it hard for customers to cancel when they wanted out.”
  • Real life events have caused Apple to delay the premiere of its miniseries, “The Savant,” starring Jessica Chastain. The story arc focused on Chastain’s character trying to prevent extremist attacks that include a sniper and the bombing of a government building.
  • NJ PBS, New Jersey’s only dedicated public television station, will cease operations next summer. The station blamed federal and state funding cuts for the decision.
  • It’s been a schizophrenic week for DoBetterDNVR, the controversial organization that either (depending on your political persuasion) held Denver accountable for its public safety failures or that posted sensational images of people experiencing homelessness and using drugs. The group’s Twitter/X and Instagram accounts were deactivated Monday, with the anonymous leader of the organization saying they “no longer want to be involved in the public, political arena.” Then, Thursday, the accounts were restored, with a message that DoBetterDNVR would “re-engage,” but with a stronger focus on being “accurate and constructive.”
  • Do you have an elementary school student whom you’d like attend an Ivy League college? Good news! Over the next 16 years, the number of high school seniors in the U.S. will decline by 13%, a trend caused by lower birth rates. Experts say that will result in even elite universities becoming slightly less selective, but could also put hundreds of small liberal arts schools at risk of closing.
  • Cleveland Guardians pinch hitter David Fry was hospitalized after being struck in the face by a 99 mph fastball.
  • Virginia Culver, a reporter who spent 44 years at The Denver Post mostly covering religion, passed away died. She was 84.

Who won the week?

  • Vail Resorts promoted Sara Olson to VP of Resort Marketing & Global Communications.
  • Hogan Lovells promoted Cari Bayens to Senior Marketing & Business Development Manager of Energy & Environment.
  • The City of Colorado Springs named Jason Strickland as its Chief Communications Officer. Strickland, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army, formerly was the Chief Communications Officer for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Rocky Mountain Network.
  • Zero Motorcycles, the maker of electric bikes, selected Carbondale-based Backbone as its PR agency of record.
  • The Colorado Rockies eked out enough wins this season to barely avoid setting the MLB record for most losses in a season.
  • In what had to have been one of the most difficult moments of her life, Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, reminded the country what grace and compassion look like when she delivered his eulogy.
  • Jimmy Kimmel‘s return to ABC following his suspension attracted 6.26 million viewers, more than four times his usual audience. Another 21 million viewers watched his monologue on his show’s YouTube channel.
  • The five-year stock return of such market stars as Nvidia, Palantir, Microsoft and Oracle trail a decidedly less-flashy company – Build-a-Bear Workshop. The stuffed animal company’s stock is up 2,000 percent over the past five years, in part due to adult collectors.

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment
  • We are eight months into the new administration, and we have entered uncharted territory, at least for modern times. President Donald Trump coerced ABC and its affiliate stations into suspending the late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!“ after he and his followers objected to a joke Kimmel told related to the assassination of MAGA activist Charlie Kirk. Nexstar, which owns 32 ABC affiliates as well as the Fox affiliate in Denver, applied pressure to ABC by saying it would not air Kimmel’ show on its stations, a fairly transparent effort to curry favor with the Trump administration as it seeks federal regulatory approval of its acquisition of Tegna (owner of 9News).
  • If you drive in Denver, you should be aware that part of Mayor Mike Johnston‘s plan to solve the city’s budget crisis is to issue more photo radar tickets.
  • The record label for recording artist D4vd is refusing to promote his new album after the body of a 15-year-old girl was found in the trunk of a Tesla registered to him that had been towed. Police are continuing to investigate the situation, and no arrests have been made.
  • Axios Denver disclosed it has only 600 paying members, and it has launched a campaign to grow that to 1,000. For context, The Colorado Sun has more than 15,000 members. You can become a member of Axios Denver here, and a member of The Colorado Sun here.
  • Country music singer Zach Bryan didn’t appreciate that fellow country musician Gavin Adcock called him not “that great of a person,” so much so that Bryan scaled a security fence at a festival where they were both performing in an attempt to confront Adcock while screaming, “If they open up this f***ing gate, I’ll f***ing kill you.” I’m thinking Adcock may have won this debate.
  • Winners of Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes are learning the hard way that nothing is forever, not even “Forever” prizes that guaranteed $5,000 per week for life. The company filed for bankruptcy, and winners are no longer receiving their prize money, forcing many who stopped working decades ago to scramble to find jobs to pay their bills.
  • A poorly designed cooling fan is causing some $100,000+ Corvettes to burst into flames while their owners are refueling them at gas stations. GM went straight to the “Cliche Messaging” section of its crisis response manual, telling The Wall Street Journal, “The safety of our customers is the highest priority for the entire GM team…”.
  • Corey Hutchins‘ “Inside the News in Colorado” newsletter uncovered perhaps the most apt comparison for the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and it has a local connection – the 1984 murder of Denver talk radio host Alan Berg by white supremacists.
  • Los Angeles Clippers owner and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says he and his team were “duped” into investing more than a $100 million into a now-bankrupt company that allegedly offered a no-show endorsement deal to Clippers star Kawhi Leonard. Critics argue that the Clippers knowingly were channeling additional salary that would otherwise be subject to an NBA tax to Leonard through the endorsement scheme.
  • Casa Bonita employees represented by the Actors’ Equity Association – namely costumed characters such as “Black Bart” and “the Sheriff” who roam the restaurant – have filed an unfair labor practice charge against the restaurant because of its plans to sit them down for the month of October to let patrons dress up to celebrate Halloween.

Who won the week?

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment
  • Evergreen High School is the latest Colorado school to experience gun violence. There have been 13 school shootings in our state since Columbine in 1999.
  • Conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at a college event in Utah. The assassination follows the politically motivated murder of Minnesota State House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) three months ago, and has sparked fears on both sides of the aisle that political violence will continue to escalate.
  • Variety, CNBC, the Associated Press and other news outlets fell victim to Howard Stern when they reported that radio personality and TV host Andy Cohen was replacing Stern at SiriusXM. Stern had been in lengthy and contentious negotiations with SiriusXM, and Cohen opened what would normally be the Stern show by announcing that he was replacing Stern with his new show, “Andy 100.”
  • Fall temperatures in Denver have risen 3.7 degrees over the past 50 years, impacting everything from demands on the electrical grid to.seasonal allergies.
  • CBS, pathologically afraid of the Trump administration, has named Kenneth R. Weinstein as ombudsman to review complaints about CBS News. Weinstein formerly was head of a right-leaning think tank and has no experience overseeing news coverage.
  • Britain removed its ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, after the release of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein‘s “birthday book” showed the depth of the relationship between the two.
  • Nepal has lifted a social-media ban after at least 19 people were killed in clashes between protesters and police.
  • Two Cornell University students killed a 120-pound black bear and brought the carcass back to their dorm where they skinned and butchered the remains. The two students had valid hunting licenses and did not break any laws, but still … worst dorm neighbors ever.
  • Texas A&M fired an English literature professor over course content related to gender identity. A student protested that the lecture was “illegal” due to an executive order issued by the Trump administration. The university also removed the head of the university’s English department and a dean from their posts due to the incident.
  • The parent company of KUNC, the NPR affiliate for Northern Colorado, cut more than one-quarter of its employees – 10 total – following Congress‘ decision to defund public media.

Who won the week?

  • Former Cory Gardner staffer and GBSM alumnus Sam Stookesberry has launched his own agency, Highline Strategic Communications.
  • The Denver Voice is co-hosting a panel discussion on the state of nonprofit journalism tomorrow. It will feature Laura Frank, executive director of the Colorado News Collaborative; Tim Regan-Porter, CEO of the Colorado Press Association; Dana Coffield, co-founder and editor of the The Colorado Sun; and Mark Horvath, the founder of Invisible People.
  • The Denver Broncos selected the Burnham Yard area of Denver – about a mile southeast of Empower Field – as the home of a new stadium for the team.
  • Oracle announced stunningly positive financial results that sent it stock up 36% in a single day. That increase propelled founder Larry Ellison‘s net worth past Elon Musk to make him the richest person in the world.