Who Had the Worst Week?

  • Diners in the Union Station neighborhood are hoping two feuding Indian food trucks will reach a naan-aggression pact before things get really ugly. Mile High Tikka and Tuk Took, which often park on the same block, are engaged in a lawsuit after initial discussions to partner fell apart and allegations of threats and theft of trade secrets were leveled.
  • Who knew? Satanists and the Amish are more alike than I realized – both apparently share an aversion to technology. An Elizabeth High School student who is also a member of the Satanic Temple has won an accommodation from her school to not use its digital hall pass system because it violates the third tenet of Satanism – “One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.” I’m not sure why a “digital hall pass system” violated that tenet – maybe the school was making the kids swallow it or something – but I can’t wait to see 1) how many other students quickly sign up to be Satanists and 2) what other accommodations that tenet will require.
  • If you are interested in government work, might I suggest the Colorado Department of Human Services. The pay and benefits may be average, but there is a pretty decent chance that when it is time to leave, you’ll walk away with a nice financial settlement. The agency has now paid out nearly $3 million over “alleged pay, age, gender and disability discrimination, whistleblower protection violations, and retaliatory firings, among other accusations.”
  • Reporter Brendan Keefe shared that he had an expense report rejected by CBS because he didn’t use the company’s preferred rental car provider while on assignment in Kirkuk, Iraq. Instead, he submitted a handwritten receipt in Arabic for the rental of one of the few cars he could find – a 1972 Toyota pickup truck – but CBS said he was supposed to use Hertz.
  • If you spent more than five weeks earning your master’s degree, well, you’re a sucker. The Washington Post profiled students who are gaming the online education system to earn bachelor’s degrees in just a few months and master’s degrees in weeks.
  • FIFA is outraged – OUTRAGED – that the New Jersey transit system is price-gouging World Cup soccer ticket holders by charging $150 for round-trip train service from New York City to MetLife Stadium on game days, a trip that normally costs just $12.90. For the record, it is FIFA that has perfected the art of price-gouging. Its new “dynamic pricing” ticket system introduced especially for the U.S. market has priced some World Cup tickets at more than $10,000 each.
  • How bad have the Colorado Rockies been over the past few years? Last year’s World Series champions, the L.A. Dodgers, lost their first game to the Rockies and immediately implied the Rockies must be cheating to have actually beaten them.
  • Has Nexstar, parent company of Fox31, acquired Tegna, parent company of 9News? Well … it’s complicated. Yes, the deal closed weeks ago, but a federal judge has now issued a preliminary injunction barring Nexstar from making changes to Tegna stations while the courts decide if the acquisition was legal. That gives 9News employees a stay of execution.
  • Nike‘s official Boston Marathon slogan – “Runners welcome. Walker Tolerated” – hasn’t gone over well in the running (and walking) communities. To Nike’s credit, the slogan has gone over better than its London Marathon slogan last year – “Never Again. Until Next Year.” – that was widely criticized by Jewish groups for brand-hijacking the anti-Holocaust message, “Never again.” Sometimes companies will claim that attention was the goal, that they are playing marketing chess while those criticizing them are playing checkers, but Nike’s market cap is less than one-third of what it was just four years ago, so … no.
  • Carnival Cruise Lines is warning passengers not to fish from the balconies of their suites. Carnival’s policy states that “guests caught attempting to fish on one of their ships could face a $500 fine, immediate removal from the ship at the next port and even a permanent, lifetime ban from the cruise line.”
  • Power couple Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe announced they have split, ending a decade-long relationship. Bird is a basketball Hall of Famer and Rapinoe is one of the best-known women’s soccer players in the world, and together they have six Olympic gold medals and six World Cup gold medals.
  • O’Dwyer’s reports that healthcare PR firms saw a 1.6% decline in revenue in 2025, as economic uncertainty, rising costs and a challenging political environment created challenges for healthcare organizations.
  • A skydiver intending to parachute onto the field at the Virginia Tech spring football game was blown off course and crashed into the video scoreboard. He hung helplessly for about 15 minutes until first responders rescued him.
  • Turnabout is fair play, right? A millionaire U.S. big-game hunter was trampled to death by five elephants while hunting in central Africa.

Who won the week?

Who Had the Worst Week?

  • It was a bad week for narco-hippos. Colombian officials green-lighted a plan to cull dozens of hippos that roam freely in the country. The hippos are descendants of those first brought to Colombia by notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.
  • ABC‘s “Good Morning America” broadcast live from the top of Pikes Peak this morning, but many Denver viewers weren’t able to see it. ABC and Xfinity remain in a standoff that has removed ABC channels from the cable service.
  • LIV Golf, the upstart, Saudi-backed golf league that sent shock waves through the American PGA tour by luring away many top stars, is suffering its own shock waves this week. Rumors are that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will withdraw funding from LIV Golf starting next year, a move that could cause the league to collapse entirely.
  • President Donald Trump picked an unexpected fight with Pope Leo in a move that is dividing American Catholics. I feel like President Trump is just months away from going full “Church of England” and forming his own religion.
    • Not wanting to only alienate Catholics, President Trump also posted an A.I.-generated photo that portrayed him as Jesus, causing a firestorm among evangelicals. He later took the post down, which is as close to an apology as he gets.
  • A former Alabama football player is facing charges of wire fraud and identity theft after he allegedly used wigs and fake driver’s licenses to impersonate NFL players. Luther Davis managed to secure nearly $20 million in loans with his Tyler Perry-like scheme.
  • A federal jury found that concert promoter Live Nation illegally monopolized the ticketing process for concerts in the U.S. The ruling is a win for a group of states including Colorado that alleged that Live Nation overcharged consumers and pressured music venues to use its proprietary ticketing service.
  • Washington, D.C., politicians better get ready – celebrity gossip site TMZ announced it has opened a D.C. bureau.
    • In this week’s edition of Unexpected Celebrity Feuds, we have U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and comedian Dave Chappelle, who criticized the lawmaker for using a selfie they took together to “weaponize” his transgender jokes for political gain.
    • New York Times/The Athletic reporter Dianna Russini resigned amid a probe into her relationship with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. And the reverberations are continuing. USA Today fired sports columnist Crissy Froyd after she apparently engaged in a little too much schadenfreude related to Russini’s departure.
  • Singer Sabrina Carpenter apologized for confusing a fan’s “zaghrouta” — a high-pitched call used in some Arab cultures to express joy — for a “yodel” and calling it “weird” during her performance at Coachella. She posted on social media, “My apologies. … Now I know what a zaghrouta is! I welcome all cheers and yodels from here on out.”
  • Ford is recalling 1.4 million F-150 pickup trucks due to a gearshift issue.
  • Door Dash tried to get cute by participating in a marketing stunt with President Donald Trump, but it apparently hasn’t been paying attention to politics since 2016. If it had, it would have known that your chances of getting burned when collaborating with President Trump sit at about 90%. A Door Dash delivery driver delivered fast food to the Oval Office in a photo op to promote the president’s “No Tax on Tips” initiative, but the situation took a turn when President Trump starting asking her to weigh in on transgender athletes in sports.
  • Is someone kidnapping or killing U.S. scientists who have access to top-secret aerospace, defense and UFO information? U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) thinks so.

Who won the week?

Who Had the Worst Week?

  • Organizers of the three-day Wireless Music Festival in the U.K. were forced to cancel the event after sponsors Pepsi and Diageo withdrew when Kanye West was announced as the headliner and British officials then blocked West from entering the country, “saying his presence in the U.K. would not be conducive to the public good.”
  • After losing to head coach Dawn Staley and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks in the women’s NCAA basketball Final Four, legendary University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma went full pout mode and tried to pick a fight with Staley. It was an astonishing moment from Auriemma, who holds the NCAA record for women’s basketball championships. His first apology didn’t go well, but his second seems to have smoothed things over.
  • ESPN is blaming its recent carriage dispute with YouTube TV for its latest round of layoffs. The broadcaster said the 15-day blackout caused an “unexpected revenue dip last fall.” ESPN was quiet about what role its recent $3 billion acquisition of the NFL Network may have had on its need to conduct layoffs. Meanwhile, Disney is preparing to cut 1,000 positions.
  • The Atlantic gave a reporter $10,000 to bet so he could examine the world of online gambling. He says it turned him into a “degenerate gambler.”
  • Photos of New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and New York Times/The Athletic NFL reporter Dianna Russini holding hands and hugging at a luxury resort in Arizona have made a number of headlines. In addition to the fact that both are married to other people, Russini is a journalist who covers Vrabel and his team.
  • CBS announced who will replace Stephen Colbert‘s late-night show at the end of May: “Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen.” It will be interesting to compare Colbert’s ratings to the new show.
  • The NHL‘s Dallas Stars have banned a fan who bought tickets for a group of spectators who celebrated a goal with a Nazi salute.
  • It’s only April, but our historically dry spring has already caused cities including Denver, Aurora, Castle Rock and Thornton to implement water restrictions.
  • FIFA, soccer’s governing body, has long considered the U.S. the most lucrative market in the world to host World Cups and they host events here regularly when it is time to refill the organization’s coffers. This year’s men’s World Cup has set a new standard for putting the screws to U.S. fans. First, it was a controversial dynamic pricing model that escalated the price of nearly every ticket, and now World Cup ticket buyers are accusing FIFA of “misleading” them with stadium maps that misrepresented the potential location of seats they bought. Hey, those FIFA Peace Prize trophies aren’t cheap.
  • What do you get if you cross competitive cycling with MMA? Kiaan Watts, apparently. The New Zealand cyclist has been suspended for 25 days by the sport’s governing body for punching a fellow rider in the head during a race in the Netherlands.
  • From “fake it until you make it” to “fake it until you are indicted.” This is the Colorado journalism story of the year.

Who won the week?

  • Linhart PR founder Sharon Linhart is among five journalism and PR leaders who will be honored by the Denver Press Club at its annual Hall of Fame awards. The others are Denver Post Editor Lee Ann Colacioppo, Denver Press Club historian and author Alan Kania, longtime Denver journalist Linda Carpio Shapley and Colorado Springs Gazette Managing Editor Jim Trotter.
  • Dovetail Solutions has promoted Alex Busuttil to Senior Director of Client Services and Whitney Conaghan to Director of Client Services.
  • Two of the three primary owners of the Denver BroncosGreg and Carrie Walton Penner – have acquired a 40% stake in the Colorado Rockies. Let’s hope their business and sports savvy are put to good use with the baseball team.
  • Former Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone has been hired as the head coach of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, one of college basketball’s most iconic teams.
  • The University of Denver Pioneers won a double-overtime game against the University of Michigan to advance to the NCAA hockey championship game. They will face the University of Wisconsin Badgers in the finals.
  • March Madness has ended, and the University of Michigan men and the UCLA women emerged victorious.

Who Had the Worst Week?

  • If you are friends with an editor of The Wall Street Journal, kindly explain what “Crisis PR” is. The newspaper published an article headlined, “How a Massive KitKat Heist Turned Into Crisis PR Gold” that alleged that the theft of approximately $700,000 worth of KitKats was a “crisis.” In fact, thieves hijacking your product is an odd compliment and ultimately nothing more than a stunt marketing opportunity.
  • Sacré Bleu! When an Air Canada jet had a fatal collision with a fire truck a couple of weeks ago at LaGuardia Airport in New York, we all knew someone would pay the price. What we didn’t expect – or at least I didn’t – was that it would be Michael Rousseau, the CEO of Air Canada who was forced to resign for the crime of not releasing a video expressing condolences in French.
  • Comedian Kevin Hart was the latest celebrity to be honored at the deceptively named Hollywood Wax Museum located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Unfortunately, his likeness was not to his liking, and he shared his thoughts on social media: “This s— has to stop…. I demand a redo damn it!!!!”
  • Xfinity subscribers in Denver are without Denver7 and other E.W. Scripps-owned channels as the two companies are locked in a contract dispute.
  • It looked for a moment like rogue U.S. Army helicopter pilots who freelanced a fly-by at the Tennessee home of Kid Rock were going to be held accountable. The Army issued a statement saying, it “takes any allegations of unauthorized or unsafe flight operations very seriously and is committed to enforcing standards and holding personnel accountable.” But Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had the final word, posting to social media, “No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots.”
  • Tiger Woods was arrested last Friday for DUI after he flipped his SUV, and this accident marked at least the fourth time he has been responsible for an accident that was suspected to involve impairment. A 2017 DUI charge was reduced to reckless driving, and the L.A. Sheriff’s Department is under renewed scrutiny for letting Woods walk without even being tested after a 2021 rollover accident. His arrest on Friday made additional headlines when body camera footage caught Woods telling the responding officers that he “was just talking to the president” on his cell phone as they arrived. 
  • President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, the second cabinet member to be removed by the president. As The Wall Street Journal editorial board shared, “Is there a worse job in Washington, D.C., than Attorney General under President Trump? … The President wants someone who will do his bidding, which is proper on policy issues. The problem is that he also wants an AG who will indict his political enemies and stretch the limits of the law to serve his political goals.”
  • If you have been in Denver long enough, you know that Denver Post reporter Fred Brown was the absolute authority on all things local politics. Sadly, he passed away this week at age 85.
  • CNN‘s daily-average-gas-price tracker shows the average cost of a gallon of gas in the U.S. has increased $1.10 to $4.08 – 37% – since the start of the Iran war.
  • Kim Bimestefer, the head of the Colorado agency that oversees Medicaid, hastily resigned this week just ahead of a no-confidence vote in the state Senate. Her focus on ruthlessly cutting payments to providers while simultaneously dealing with multiple misspending scandals on her watch ultimately undermined confidence in her leadership.
  • Our state’s (usually) cold spring weather means that the Colorado Rockies‘ home opener is always a week or two after the season starts. This year, the Rockies limp into their home opener at 2-4, tied for last place in the division. They haven’t had a winning record when playing their home opener since 2019.

Who won the week?

  • Andrea Burns has been promoted to chief impact officer at Urban Land Conservancy. What prepares someone to be successful in such an important position? Previous communications roles at the City and County of Denver, Jefferson County, National Western Center and GroundFloor Media, of course. That’s like having a dozen MBAs.
  • Linhart PR Managing Partner Paul Raab is celebrating his 20th anniversary with the agency. He joined in 2006 as a senior vice president and was named managing partner in 2016.
  • Philosophy Communications is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
  • SideCar PR’s Sarah Cullen has joined the Downtown Denver Partnership‘s 2026 Board of Governors.
  • Baltimore-based Collins + Co. has opened an office in Denver, which is led by chief of creative Carli Cohen and VP of marketing Melissa Novitski.
  • Westword named Corey Hutchins“Inside the News in Colorado” newsletter as the “Best Journalism About Colorado Journalism.”
  • The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters‘ nine-year prison sentence was calculated improperly and that she should receive a new sentencing hearing. The judges said that Peters’ lengthy sentence was based in part on an attempt to silence her voter-fraud conspiracy theories, which violated her First Amendment rights. It’s not all good news for Peters, though. Her convictions stand and the same judge who sentenced her the first time is responsible for re-sentencing her.
  • April Fools’ Day was Wednesday, and Eric Anderson of SE2 share one of his favorite jokes from the University of Denver: formally announcing that the school and the City of Denver had reached an agreement to allow a Buc-ees at I-25 and University Boulevard.