© 2024
NPR for Northern Colorado
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Colorado Edition: Cats And Dogs

Jim Peaco
/
National Park Service
Wolf at Yellowstone National Park

Today on Colorado Edition: We check in on the race for Sen. Cory Gardner's seat, get the latest on the housing market in Colorado, dive into the push to get wolves reintroduced to our state, and look back at the successful reintroduction of lynxes in 1999.

News Of The Day:

  • 2019 Election - The 2019 election has been deemed official by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office. While most local elections wrapped up last month and were tallied, all results must be certified. There are a handful of recounts currently being conducted in local municipal races that are not overseen by the Secretary of State’s office. More than 1.5 million Coloradans voted in this year’s election. Secretary of State Jena Griswold says that is “considerable turnout” in an odd-year election. More Republicans voted compared to Democrats and unaffiliated voters, and more women voted than men.   

  • Newborns - The number of babies born addicted to opioids is growing in the state. These newborns are normally separated from their mothers, taken to the intensive care unit and given morphine or methadone to treat their withdrawal. A group called the Colorado Hospital Substance Exposed Newborns, or Chosen, is changing that. Dr. Sunah Hwang is a neonatologist at Children’s Hospital of Colorado and the group’s lead physician. Since the group started, she says the number of infants receiving medication has dropped 85% and hospital stays have been shortened. The collaborative includes nearly 25 hospitals. 

  • Broomfield Moratorium - The Broomfield city council has extended its moratorium on oil and gas drilling applications. The extension means the Denver suburb won’t approve any new projects until next summer at the earliest. It doesn’t affect any active oil and gas sites, only those in the pipeline, so to speak. The moratorium extension, according to city council documents, will give officials more time to put together the new regulations. Industry groups are calling Broomfield’s move disappointing.

State Of The Senate Race

Congressman Cory Gardner (R-Colo) was among the speakers at a rally in support of the NISP project at the Larimer County Fairground.
Credit Photo by Kirk Siegler / KUNC
/
KUNC
Congressman Cory Gardner (R-Colo) was among the speakers at a rally in support of the NISP project at the Larimer County Fairground.

Last week, Colorado state Sen. Angela Williams announced she was dropping out of the Democratic primary race for Sen. Cory Gardner’s seat. She is the sixth candidate to drop out of the race since former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper entered it in August. To get the latest on the state of the senate race, we spoke with Kyle Saunders, professor of political science at Colorado State University.

A Look At The Year In Colorado's Housing Market

Credit Henry Zimmerman / KUNC
/
KUNC

Lucas High, a reporter for BizWest, joined us to look back at the Colorado housing market in 2019 and to give us a forecast for the year ahead.

The Debate Surrounding Wolf Reintroduction

Credit Pixabay
/
Pixabay

On Friday, Dec. 13, signatures are due for petitioners who are hoping to re-introduce wolves to our state. If they get enough signatures, the question will be posed to Colorado voters during the 2020 election. Wolves were last known to be living in Colorado in the 1940s.

To explore the debate surrounding the issue, we were joined by Ali Budner, a reporter for the Mountain West News Bureau, based out of KRCC in Colorado Springs.

1999 Lynx Reintroduction: A Success Story

Credit skeeze / Pixabay
/
Pixabay

If Colorado voters decide to reintroduce wolves to our state, it wouldn’t be the first time that an animal has gone through the process. In 1999, lynxes were successfully reintroduced to Colorado. To learn more about that reintroduction, we spoke with Eric Odell, species conservation program manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Colorado Edition is made possible with support from our KUNC members. Thank you!

Our theme music was composed by Colorado musicians Briana Harris and Johnny Burroughs. Other music this week by Blue Dot Sessions:

  • “LaBranche” by Bayou Birds
  • "Great Great Lengths" by The Balloonist
  • "Brass Buttons" by Nursery

Colorado Edition is hosted by Erin O'Toole (@ErinOtoole1) and Henry Zimmerman (@HWZimmerman), and produced by Lily Tyson. The web was edited by digital editor Jackie Hai. Managing editor Brian Larson contributed to this episode.

KUNC's Colorado Edition is a daily news magazine taking an in-depth look at the issues and culture of Northern Colorado. It's available on our website, as well as on iTunesGoogle PlayStitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can hear the show on KUNC's air, Monday through Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

Stories written by KUNC newsroom staff.