RAIN RAIN GO AWAY Although I know as a Colorado resident I am required to say "but we need the moisture" which is always true. We'll find out if this is the last hurrah of winter from Fox 31's Dave Fraser at 12:30 so get your weather questions ready!
COLORADO IS NOW THE 16TH BEST STATE TO LIVE IN Which seems pretty good, right? I'm talking about the US News and World Reports State Ranking for 2024. Looked at in a vacuum you might be like OKAY, not bad! But where have we been in previous years? From a Fox 31 story:
U.S. News and World Report has been creating these rankings since 2017. In that time, Colorado has dropped five spots. It ranked ninth in 2017 and tenth in 2018 and 2019.
Hmmm, what has happened since then? I'll let you guess. Read all the rankings here, but spoiler alert Utah came out in the top spot, which is very inconvenient for us as we fight for businesses to locate here.
AURORA LEADERS MAKE MORE SAFETY CHANGES FOR THE CITY I love seeing all these stories about the measures being taken by law enforcement and the City Council to give more teeth to rules that are designed to make the city safer. A new street racing task force is aggressively going after the maniacs using the streets and parking lots as their own personal race tracks. The Aurora City Council passed a measure to put real force behind code enforcement on dilapidated and poorly maintained businesses that create blight and entice crime. It's not all sunshine and roses just yet, but between this and the new homeless navigation center Aurora is on the right track.
THIS AS DENVER'S MAYOR WANTS TO GIVE HUGE RAISED TO APPOINTEES I love it when government says that they have to pay exorbitant salaries to keep up with the private sector, ignoring the generous benefits and retirement plans that government offers while doing so. Now Mayor Mike Johnston says his appointees need double digit percentage raises lest they lose these people to the private sector. Read more here but the raises are crazy considering that Denver has been warned they need to play for recessionary conditions in the next year.
MORE PEOPLE ARE SEEKING CITIZENSHIP CLASSES And I love this. I love when people want to become citizens and good for Denver Public Schools for offering citizenship classes to those who want to take that journey. Demand is up as people who have some legal status here seek to make sure they can't be deported. Again, I think this is great, no matter what the reason is.
THIS AS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE OFFENDED BY A CASH OFFER I mentioned that DHS was offering people here illegally $1,000 to return to their home countries before they were deported. I think that's more than fair. However Denver 7 managed to find an illegal immigrant from Honduras who called it an "insult" to the Latin community. I guess breaking into another country is not an insult to the people who came here legally? DHS says some immigrants have taken them up on the offer.
TODAY IS THE REAL ID DAY WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR And we've been waiting twenty years for this. I don't expect this to make anyone safer, mind you, it's more kabuki theater and government intrusion that will do nothing but here we are. Find out more here, but if you have a Colorado drivers license issued since 2012 you're fine. If you try to fly without one or a passport expect more hassles in security, but you should be able to fly...for now. I'm not sure why after 20 years anyone is getting any grace but here we are.
POLIS MUST VETO THIS LABOR BILL And this editorial makes the case but I think it's going to get the veto pen and it's all part of giving the appearance of doing the labor union's bidding without actually destroying our labor market in Colorado. Polis will take the hit, and the Dems in the legislature can say "we tried" to Labor Unions.
SHOULD FUNNEST BE A WORD? I love the word funnest and use it all the time knowing it is grammatically incorrect. Or is it? This story says not only is funnest a word, it's already in the dictionary! But then again, so is irregardless and we know how we feel about that. What words do you use knowing they are wrong but they shouldn't be?
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MARGINAL DECADE This is about striving for a healthy last decade of life instead of a decade of misery. Longevity expert Peter Attia talks about it here and it's worth ten minutes of your time.
THE TALE OF TWO LAYOFFS We've got two stories today of companies laying off workers in the Denver metro. One of them is Chevron which is laying off 125 employees in an effort to streamline their Denver operations. There is a news story here, but no protests or politicians showing up to stop it. Compare this to Rep. Joe Neguse sounding the alarm about possible cuts that haven't even happened yet at NOAA in Boulder. He's using the word "devastating" to describe the effect on Boulder's economy. First off, it's LAUGHABLE to act like Boulder is some kind of company town for NOAA that will crumble if anyone loses their job. But it goes to show that politicians only care about GOVERNMENT jobs and are perfectly happy to let the private sector hit the unemployment line without comment. To be clear, I am not rooting for anyone to lose their jobs, but getting government spending under control is going to create pain points. Just like it does in the private economy, as Chevron demonstrates here. I'm sure the Dems are printing out protests signs now about layoffs at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where 114 people were laid off in advance of expected budget cuts that haven't landed yet. Funny how one kind of worker is more equal than the rest of us.
TRUMP'S TRANS BAN STAYS FOR NOW Under further appeals are heard in the Ninth Circuit. You can read more here, but this doesn't mean the ban is permanent.
NOW SMOKEY ROBINSON IS HORRIBLE ALLEGEDLY Several of his longtime housekeepers have come forward to say that the singer raped them repeatedly during their employment, some over many, many years. If any of these accusations are true, both Smokey and his wife are horrible people. IF they are true. My guess is these women are all illegal immigrants who were too afraid to report it or find another job but I'm guessing that will come out eventually.
MIKAELS SHIFFRIN HAS A NEW TITLE And it has nothing to do with skiing. The super duper champ skier is now part of the ownership group for the new Women's Soccer franchise coming to Denver.
IT'S TIME TO PULL FUNDING FOR "PUBLIC" MEDIA Rob Natelson writes here about CPR trying to get listeners to sign a petition to keep their gravy train going while those of us in "commercial" radio are hustling to keep the lights on the old fashioned way...by earning it. Read it here.
TRISH CALVARESE IS BACK FOR ANOTHER RUN AT THE 4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT The 4th is not the reliably Republican district it has always been. Redistricting and in migration have changed it considerably. No, it's not purple, but it's not dark red either. Trish Calvarese ran a good campaign against Lauren Boebert, whose vote totals were lower than former Congressman Ken Buck, but she still lost by quite a bit. But now she's back. I don't think a Democrat stands a major chance here, especially if Lauren Boebert continues to show the growth and discipline she's displayed since winning the seat in the 4th.
SO WE RESCUED HOSTAGE FROM VENEZUELA And if I'm honest, I had no idea there were hostages in Venezuela but here we are. They were opposition members that had been hiding in the Caracas embassy to avoid arrest by the corrupt Maduro regime and we got them out.
I'M A LITTLE TOO EXCITED ABOUT TONY AND ZIVA As a long time fan of NCIS I still miss Tony and Ziva and was excited to find out that they are getting a short spinoff. It's coming this fall and the trailer has dropped!
COOL SECRET RESTAURANTS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT I love the idea of going somewhere that is secret and now I have three new places to go.
IT'S TIME TO CANCEL THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION And John Stossel makes the case here.
CALIFORNIA GAS MAY SKYROCKET IN COST As two refineries may close soon, jacking up some of the highest gas prices in the country even higher. How bad is it? Governor Gavin Newsom is thinking of having the STATE take over the refinery business, which I'm sure will go well. Read it here but gas up before you hit the border.
HARVARD PRESIDENT SHOCKED TO FIND OUT HE EMPLOYS LIBERALS This is one of those things that I see and go OF COURSE but when the President of Harvard was confronted with data that showed an overwhelming percentage of his work force is liberal he was SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU! Read this bit from the Daily Mail:
In response, he said: 'One thing I can tell you is it's nothing deliberate about our hiring policies or our tenure policies.
'I think there are certain fields with people with more liberal or left-wing points of view feel more welcome.
'It may be that we don't have as many conservatives as we should have. Part of it also may be that people don't feel comfortable speaking out when they disagree.'
Garber also contended that the school has 'had some real problems that we should address'.
He said that those included 'perceived lack of ideological diversity' among staff and students. (emphasis mine)
It's not real, just perceived, amiright?
WELP, GET READY FOR WAR WITH CANADA At least that's what they are saying on MSNBC. It's too stupid to fact check but here you go.
YES, BURGER KING, SIZE DOES MATTER And the burger chain may have to pay up for exaggerating the size of its Whopper sandwich in ads. Of course they do. It's a whopper about a Whopper only now people are suing over it. Of course they are.
SO HOW DOES UK FOOD COMPARE TO US FAST FOOD?
HOW RENEWABLES MAKE IT HARDER TO RESTART AN ELECTRIC GRID This is a cool explainer of why renewable energy creates even more unstable situations in the grid.