Colorado Edition: Lawmakers vs. the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, a wet start to winter, and a remake of a Japanese film

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

More than two thirds of the Colorado River begins as snow in the state of Colorado. However, warm temperatures and dry soil are steadily reducing the amount of snowmelt that makes its way into the river, which supplies 40 million people across the Southwest.

Alex Hager

On this episode of Colorado Edition, we hear lawmakers vent their frustrations over the lack of progress toward preventing gun violence. Also, a wet winter is good news for the Colorado River, but there’s plenty of winter left, officials warn. Lastly, a review of the film Living.

Featured Segments

Updates on the office to prevent gun violence: Colorado lawmakers are growing increasingly frustrated with an office they created a year and a half ago to prevent gun violence. They’re demanding answers and vowing to create a new oversight panel because they say the office has made little progress. KUNC Investigative reporter Scott Franz has been covering the ongoing story and has more on how lawmakers are trying to turn things around.

News

'Extremely disappointed:' CO lawmakers vent about lack of progress at gun violence prevention office

Scott Franz

“Somehow it's a bottleneck. And you have, what, $3 million? And none of it has been allocated to the people who are trying to keep our community safe,” State Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, told the office’s leaders.

Is snow news is good news? The Western U.S. has been slammed by wet weather so far this winter. That’s good news for the Colorado River, where snow could turn into a boost for major reservoirs that have shrunk to historic lows. But climate scientists say there’s a lot of winter left, and the 40 million people who use the river’s water should take the good news with a grain of salt. KUNC’s Alex Hager reports.

This story is part of ongoing coverage of the water in the West, produced by KUNC and supported by the Walton Family Foundation.

Environment

This winter’s rain and snow won’t be enough to pull the West out of drought

Alex Hager

Heavy rain and snow could provide a boost to the Colorado River, where the nation's largest reservoirs are shrinking due to 23 years of drought and steady demand. But climate scientists warn that it will take more than one wet winter to end the drought.

Film remake falls flat: The new movie Living, is a remake of a 70-year old masterpiece from Japan about the death of a minor bureaucrat. KUNC film critic Howie Movshovitz teaches film at CU-Denver and says that taking on the great film Ikiru is more than this new version can handle.

Film Reviews

Film Review: 'Living' pales when compared to original, 'Ikiru'

Howie Movshovitz

The new movie ‘Living’ is a remake of a 70-year-old masterpiece from Japan’s Akira Kurosawa about the death of a minor bureaucrat. KUNC Film Critic Howie Movshovitz said the new iteration doesn’t compare to the original.

Credits

Colorado Edition is hosted by Yoselin Meza Miranda and produced by the KUNC newsroom, led by news director Sean Corcoran. Web was edited by digital editor Jenn de la Fuente.

The mission of Colorado Edition is to deepen understanding of life in Northern Colorado through authentic conversation and storytelling. It's available as a podcast oniTunes,Spotify,Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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

Our theme music was composed by Colorado musicians Briana Harris and Johnny Burroughs. Other music in the show byBlue Dot Sessions.