In this week’s Colorado Edition – big hats for big heads (of state), how water is making houses more expensive and how the teacher shortage is playing out in rural areas.
First up, a quick look from Bente Birkeland at this week’s primary election. The winners – Walker Stapleton for the Republicans and Jared Polis for the Democrats – are two very different candidates.
Then we hear about a push in the U.S. Senate to expand who can be compensated by the government for getting sick after exposure to radioactive fallout from Cold War-era tests.
We then pitch a bumper sticker — “Honk To Save A Bear” — since officials at Yellowstone National Park say honking is actually effective at keeping bears away from people — and thus keeping both us and them safe.
In addition to being the season of bears, summer is also the season of orange barrels. Construction starts this summer on a huge $330 million project to add a third, tolled lane to I-25 north of Denver.
Stephanie Daniel went to the eastern part of Colorado to visit three rural school districts that are taking an innovative approach to solving problems caused by the state-wide teacher shortage. In the first part of the series, she shares how online courses are giving students a wide array of class options that otherwise wouldn’t be available.
Then we head to the rodeo! Sort of. To the heads of people who attend and participate in rodeos, at least. Stacy Nick tells us about Greeley Hat Works, which has been making hats for cowboys, rodeo queens, ranchers and even the likes of Vladimir Putin for over 100 years.
We round out our show with an appeal: Won’t you be our neighbor? In his weekly review, KUNC film critic Howie Movshovitz, who teaches film and television at CU Denver, says the new movie about Mr. Rogers shows that he was up to more than just a television show.
Our intro music is "Remember Me" by Colorado musician Kalatana. Our outro is "Good Grief" by Ryan Little. Other music this week:
- "Wavy Glass" by Podington Bear
- "Mandlebrots in Winter" by Forest Robots
- "Backed Vibes" by Kevin MacLeod
- "Long Way Home" by Spinning Ratio
KUNC's Colorado Edition is a weekly look at the top stories from our newsroom. It's available every Friday on our website, as well as on iTunes , Google Play , Stitcher or wherever (RSS) you get your podcasts.