All Things Considered

At the small southern college where I taught in the 1970s, one of the grad students had flown a chopper in Vietnam. Instead of living on campus, he rented a cottage in the woods. He slept there alone, with a Colt .45 under his pillow.

He played me tapes of fire-fights in which friends had died. Out of the jabber and roar of bad recording, he teased monologues that were poisoned with the essence of terror and despair.

The hiring of seasonal jobs helped pushed down unemployment rates in more than 90% of the nation’s largest cities last month. But the numbers are somewhat mixed in Colorado.

Governor John Hickenlooper signed a healthcare exchange bill into law on Wednesday. The measure was one of the most high profile healthcare bills to pass the state legislature during the session.

There's a song on My Morning Jacket's sixth studio album, Circuital, that will probably make aging rockers smile. It's called "Outta My System," and in it, songwriter Jim James sings with great Buddha warmth about aging out of the Friday-night indulgences of youth.

The latest economic survey of supply managers in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah still points to growth over the next three to six months. But one area will be noticeably absent.