For decades, the name William Richardson symbolized hope and opportunity in a close-knit northeast Denver community. But Richardson had lived an extraordinary life even before that. This is the never-before-told story of a Colorado family who uncovers their dad’s contributions to sports history, Black history, and American history while playing in the Negro Baseball League, a league born out of a period of racial segregation. Then he went on to touch the lives of hundreds of young people in metro Denver.

Colorado In Depth is a podcast of special reporting, documentary news and investigations from CPR News. Follow the podcast for reporting from the Four Corners to the Eastern Plains to the mountains.

Reporter and writer: Chandra Thomas Whitfield

Is your vote secure, and properly counted? Since November 2020, election integrity has been under public scrutiny. It’s questioned in the news, by family and friends, and candidates themselves. This episode takes you behind the scenes of Colorado’s elections, to meet the people and systems designed to prevent fraud and count every vote.

This is an installment of Colorado In Depth, a podcast featuring documentary news, investigations and special reporting from the CPR newsroom. Follow the show for stories from the plains to the mountains, the Western Slope to the Four Corners.

Reporter: Matt Bloom

Thanks also to Matt Moret and Kibwe Cooper.

One in five Americans has dealt with chronic pain. It can be physically, mentally and financially draining. It can lead to addiction, death and even thoughts of suicide. But some Coloradans have found new solutions to manage their pain, like brain therapy and medications other than opioids. We talk with people who experience pain, and physicians, to uncover these solutions and provide hope for pain sufferers and their loved ones who want to help.

This is an installment of Colorado In Depth, a podcast featuring documentary news, investigations and special reporting from the CPR newsroom. Follow the show for stories from the plains to the mountains, the Western Slope to the Four Corners.

Hosted by Rachel Estabrook

CPR News correspondent Caitlyn Kim travels to Estonia to see Colorado National Guard troops conducting military training exercises with allies, just weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine. She found there is a lot at stake for Estonians in the Ukrainian war; a lot at stake for U.S. security and the NATO alliance; and a lot at stake for Coloradans who don't expect to find themselves on the doorstep of a land war when they go on longstanding training missions.

This is an installment of Colorado In Depth, a podcast featuring documentary news, investigations and special reporting from the CPR newsroom. Follow the show for stories from the plains to the mountains, the Western Slope to the Four Corners.

Hosted by Rachel Estabrook

Today’s episode is a crossover from CPR News' podcast Purplish. Reporters Bente Birkeland and Andrew Kenney explain that Colorado was the first state to legalize abortion, before Roe v. Wade. They talk to people who have shaped the legal landscape for and against abortion access here. And they explain why this issue is never really settled.

To hear other episodes of Purplish, follow this link: https://www.cpr.org/podcast/purplish/

This is an installment of Colorado In Depth. It’s a podcast featuring documentary news, investigations and special reporting, all from the CPR newsroom. Subscribe for stories from the plains to the mountains, the Western Slope to the Four Corners.

Hosted by Rachel Estabrook

Today’s episode is a special preview of another CPR News podcast called Ghost Train. Hosted by reporter Nathaniel Minor, it’s about building a greener transportation system in Colorado – and whether the plans of decades ago should still be setting our course for the future. Denver-area taxpayers have made a massive investment in rail transit over the last 17 years. But these billions of dollars have done little to shift how people move around here. Why is that?

Hosted and reported by Nathaniel Minor

Thanks also to Matt Herz and Sarah Bures.

For a long time, a common refrain has been that more than half of restaurants close before even making it a year. Now think of the chances of survival if you opened one right before the pandemic — right before restaurants around the world had to shut down their in person business. As the virus has ebbed and flowed, the number of customers coming in has fluctuated wildly, but some of these businesses in Colorado have survived through mandates, inflation, supply chain issues, staffing shortages and now omicron. This is the story of Zomo Asian + American Eatery in Englewood. It’s a family story and a survival story. And in the end, it’s an ominous story about how long businesses can really survive in the face of a new, infectious wave of the pandemic.

This is an installment of Colorado In Depth. It’s a podcast featuring documentary news, investigations and special reporting, all from the CPR newsroom. Subscribe for stories from the plains to the mountains, the Western Slope to the Four Corners.

Written and reported by Sarah Mulholland, Ryan Warner

Thanks also to Kim Nguyen, Jodi Gersh, Clara Shelton, Mia Rincon, Matt Herz, Rebekah Romberg, Brad Turner, Hart Van Denburg and Sarah Bures.

Some of the biggest wildfires in Colorado have cost lives and caused millions of dollars in damage. But without knowing how they started exactly, Coloradans can’t change policies to try to prevent new ones. And no one gets held accountable. CPR reporters Ben Markus and Veronica Penney explain what they found when they analyzed eighteen years of federal wildfire data, and talked to nearly a hundred people to understand the real world consequences of not being able to pinpoint how fires start in the age of climate change.

Written and reported by Ben Markus, Veronica Penney

Thanks also to Kim Nguyen, Jodi Gersh, Clara Shelton, Mia Rincon, Matt Herz, Rebekah Romberg, Brad Turner, Kevin J. Beaty, Hart Van Denburg and Eli Imadali.

Reporters at CPR News cover Colorado: its trends, its people, its places. Beyond the headlines of the day, we explain the news to help you understand its relevance and connect you to this community. We want to make it easier for you to find and enjoy our deepest work about big issues in Colorado.