Colorado Matters

On the eve of this year's John Denver Celebration in Aspen, a look back at Colorado's musical icon.

The economic situation is bleak in Grand Junction, the largest community on Colorado's Western Slope. So bleak that the city government is asking employees if some of them are willing to quit their jobs. Then, it's not something you expect to hear from a pastor -- that there are many reasons to steer clear of Christianity. But Nadia Bolz-Weber hopes to lure believers, and non-believers, to her Church of All Sinners And Saints in Denver.

The Denver Police Department prepares officers for the most difficult scenarios by putting them in the middle of a new wraparound video simulator called "Shoot-Don't-Shoot." CPR's Andrea Dukakis tried it. Then, an Aurora high school student from Eritrea shares his refugee story. Plus, eating in complete darkness with strangers might not seem ideal, but the founder of the Blind Cafe says its the perfect social experiment.

The holiest days of the Jewish year are coming up, but a synagogue in Trinidad, near the New Mexico border, won't hold services for the first time in 127 years. It's been operating longer than any other synagogue in Colorado, but has been sold and is closing. Then, an online petition wants Colorado's Ed Dwight Jr. to become an honorary astronaut. He was the first African-American candidate for the U.S Space program, but following the death of President John F. Kennedy, Dwight was cut from the program. Plus, how budget cuts have hurt one Colorado school district, and an upcoming closure on a main road into Rocky Mountain National Park.

Gov. John Hickenlooper explains why he's decided to support three of Colorado's ballot measures: a minimum wage increase, medically assisted death and a tobacco tax hike. He also addresses a political fundraising video he made in front of the state seal, which he removed after a complaint. And, how he's planning for tectonic policy shifts that could come if Donald Trump is elected. Then, RE-1 Valley School District Superintendent Jan DeLay is on a mission to educate average citizens on the fiscal challenges rural districts like hers face.

A Colorado man was in the gallery when golfing legend Arnold Palmer mounted one of the greatest golfing comebacks in history at the 1960 U.S. Open in Cherry Hills, just outside Denver. Palmer passed away Sunday. Also, a Colorado group aims to make schools, offices and other buildings 50 percent more energy efficient by 2050.

Today, a debate. Proposition 106 would allow people who are terminally ill to get a prescription and end their own lives. Denver attorney Julie Selsberg supports the measure, saying she wishes her late father, who had ALS, had the option. Carrie Ann Lucas is a lawyer and disability rights activist who opposes it. Lucas says the law would infringe on her rights and affect her care as well as that of other people who are already marginalized.

More than one million Coloradans have rejected political parties and are registered unaffiliated, but they still want a say in picking presidential candidates. This November voters will decide whether to create an open primary and get rid of presidential caucuses in Colorado. Then, one phone call, from Garrison Keillor, changed musician Chris Thile's life. It was an offer to become the new host of the public radio mainstay A Prairie Home Companion. Thile accepted and talked with us about the direction of the show, which will tape in Denver in November. Plus, what voters need to know about a ballot proposal to renew a cultural tax for Metro Denver; how Colorado influenced writer Vladimir Nabokov; and listener feedback to a recent interview with Denver's first pedestrian planner.

Colorado's new veterans hospital is $1 billion over budget. A new investigation criticizes Veterans Administration management for overruns and delays. Then, a University of Colorado researcher wants more women included in clinical studies, because illness and disease affect them differently than men. And, former Broncos tight end Nate Jackson was bedridden a lot in his career, so he took up fantasy football. He writes about his experiences in "Fantasy Man." Plus, a giant polar bear mascot roams local art shows and venues on behalf of cultural funding.

The film “Clever” tells the story of Gerardo Lopez, a former Los Angeles gang member who now mentors Denver youths in an anti-gang group called Homies Unidos. Then, Colorado is becoming a mecca for extreme sports medicine at a time when extreme athletes are grappling with the potential implications of the brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encepalothapy, or CTE. And, writer Dick Kreck chronicles the wayward wealthy of Colorado in his book “Rich People Behaving Badly.”