• You think you’re tired of political ads? TV viewers in Portland, Oregon, got a double dose when a GOP buyer placed $25,000 worth of ads in Oregon that were meant for Portland, Maine. No doubt Oregonians were surprised to see ads touting U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who is seeking re-election in Maine.
• Pope Leo XIV had surgery to remove cancerous tissue from his lung. The good news is that his doctors are optimistic about his prognosis, and he has the full support of President Donald Trump, who said, “We just want to wish him our love and our best wishes. … His brother’s a friend of mine who’s a … fantastic guy and his wife. You know, they’re big Trump supporters. They have MAGA all over their house.”
• Six Flags has closed nine rides at its parks across the country after a man fell out of a roller coaster in Atlanta and died. The theme park operator narrowly avoided the “thoughts and prayers” cliché, saying “Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the guest’s family, friends, and loved ones.”
• Lutheran High School, a private school in Parker, Colo., has faced numerous allegations of racist behavior from its students and fans over the past few weeks, and its last two football opponents – Air Academy and Coronado – chose to forfeit their games. The Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) has now stepped in and threatened to suspend the school if it does not complete a corrective action plan created by CHSAA.
• Meanwhile, a football coach in Oregon was fired by Marist Catholic High School after a 63-0 win that was called at halftime. The Marist athletic director said the coach’s decision to call an onside kick while leading 56-0 in the second quarter didn’t align with the school’s values of sportsmanship.
• It was a tough week for a couple of Trump administration officials:
  • Katie Zacharia appears to be on track to break Anthony Scaramucci‘s 11-day record as the shortest-tenured senior White House communications official. She had what was widely considered a train wreck of a first press briefing, but that was quickly overshadowed by questions about her credentials. She has a law degree from Pepperdine, but when asked where she passed the bar, she answered, “When I moved to China.” In fact, she sat for the California bar but failed, and China doesn’t allow foreigners to take the bar. Meanwhile, media dug into her social media history and found she was all in on debunked conspiracy theories, including “Pizzagate” and that Hollywood elites are cannibalistic pedophiles. And then there were questions about a multilevel marketing company she promoted a decade ago that even she called, “sort of a pyramid scheme.”
  • The U.S. ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, was forced to resign after texts emerged of her asking a Republican donor to pay off her $100,000 balance on her American Express credit card just before her Senate confirmation hearing. Guilfoyle is a political chameleon who was both once married to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and engaged to Donald Trump Jr.
• Kroger said its emphasis on artificial intelligence will allow it to lay off 3,000 corporate employees over the next three years. Meanwhile, slowing subscriber growth pushed Netflix to lay off 1,000 employees this week.
• Actress Selma Blair has been charged with two counts of second-degree assault after she allegedly kicked a police officer and a nurse.
• Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg apparently had his first sip of Guinness while on a video podcast, and the internet was not impressed. The Wall Street Journal called the face he made after tasting it that of someone who had just “drunk from a fish bowl at a Petco.” Zuckerberg defended his sip, claiming, “That’s just my face.”
• A backlash among Republicans who believe that only jihadists share videos of killing people has pushed President Donald Trump to reverse U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s decision to live-stream the December execution of terrorist Nidal Hasan, an Army officer who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas.
• I honestly can’t bring myself to care about an online feud between singer Kelly Clarkson and a small Brooklyn novelty shop, but it has turned into a whole thing and neither side appears to be backing down.
• A Fort Collins man who collided with a deer while riding his electric scooter was left with life-threatening injuries.
• A reminder that it has now been more than three years since Colorado Public Radio accepted an $8.34 million donation from a donor it refuses to disclose. Was the donor Gov. Jared Polis? Political heavyweight Kent Thiry? Hotelier Walt Isenberg? IMA and Denver Summit FC owner Rob Cohen? CPR has covered all of those individuals and others who are capable of making that donation since it was given. In 2023, CPR said, “We’ll make that announcement (of the donor) in coordination with them when we have further details to share on the transformation of 777 Grant into the new home for CPR.” And three years later … nothing.
• Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix is 4-2 after playing the NFL‘s toughest schedule to this point. He has beaten pre-season Super Bowl favorites the L.A. Rams, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Seattle Seahawks. His only losses are to 4-0 Kansas City and 5-0 San Francisco. And he’s about to lose his job because he’s afraid to throw the football.

Who won the week?

• Those of us who have been in Denver‘s PR community for a while know our former colleague Lisa Cutter well. She inexplicably left us to serve in the Colorado statehouse, both as a representative and a senator. Sure, she gets to draft and approve legislation that affects everyone in the state, but when was the last time she had the pleasure of going through 14 revisions of a press release for an erratic client? Anyway, she’s now running for Jeffco commissioner, and the Denver Gazette profiled both Lisa and her opponent.
• History Colorado announced that it has rebranded its History Colorado Center as the Colorado History Museum. Somewhere, the team that rebranded the 16th Street Mall as 16th Street is applauding.
• There are only 18 days of political commercials left until Election Day. We’re almost there.