In 1895, Leadville city leaders faced a dilemma. The silver mining industry had made the town quite wealthy. But then the silver market crashed, and the city's fortunes cratered right along with it. Residents were leaving in droves to seek better opportunities. 

So, city leaders came up with an unusual idea to draw tourists to Leadville, entice people to live there, and give the remaining residents a sense of pride: 

They decided to build a giant palace of ice.  

What followed is a remarkable story of innovative engineering that drew visitors from thousands of miles away – at least for a few winter months, until the inevitable spring melt. 

Windsor-based author Afton Rorvik paints a vivid picture of all of this in her new book, The 1896 Leadville Ice Palace. Her research drew from the collections of the Heritage Museum and the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum in Leadville.  

She joined Erin O’Toole to talk about why she finds this history fascinating – and why the story of the Ice Palace still resonates today.

* * * * *
 
Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Many students in Colorado schools don’t have much of a chance to act onstage, play an instrument or hone their craft at painting. 

Arts programs in most public schools have been cut severely due to tight budgets and to make room for classes that help schools get higher scores on standardized tests. 

So a team of KUNC reporters recently wondered: What does this look like in Colorado schools? And where are kids learning about the arts? In this special episode of In The NoCo, we’re sharing stories from Loveland, Brighton and Steamboat Springs. 

Check out photos and more reporting on these stories. 

This episode was reported by Rachel Cohen, Emma VandenEinde and Leigh Paterson. The series was edited by Leigh Paterson. Jennifer Coombes edited the online version of the series. Brad Turner adapted the stories for this episode of In The NoCo.

* * * * *
 
Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

More than three decades ago Colorado was known as the Hate State. 

In 1992 Colorado voters passed Amendment 2, which banned anti-discrimination laws meant to protect gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. But the Amendment never went into effect because there was immediate backlash. It was challenged again and again for being unconstitutional, bringing it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
Season 4 of KUNC’s Colorado Dream podcast retraces Colorado’s tumultuous history and evolving relationship with its queer and transgender population.  

Stephanie Daniel is the executive producer and host for The Colorado Dream. She spoke about the latest season with Erin O’Toole last fall. To celebrate Pride month, we’re listening back to that conversation today.

* * * * *

Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Hattie McDaniel was the first African American to win an Oscar. The actor won for her role as Mammy in the film “Gone with the Wind.”  

And McDaniel spent much of her childhood in Colorado: A plaque marks her family’s former home in Fort Collins. Growing up, she attended public schools in Denver.  

McDaniel was in her 40s when she won the best supporting actress Oscar. And she used her platform to become a champion for civil rights. Today, in honor of Juneteenth, we’re exploring Hattie McDaniel’s story. 

Reshonda Tate is author of the book “The Queen of Sugar Hill”, which explores McDaniel’s life and career. ReShonda spoke with Erin O’Toole and mentioned that there was a time when she had a hard time admiring McDaniel as an actor.

Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!

Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

A vaccine against weight gain may be a reality soon, thanks to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder. The study focuses on a strain of bacteria that prevents obesity by reducing inflammation.  

Chris Lowry is a professor of integrative physiology and CU and led the research. His study found that he could prevent mice from becoming overweight, even when raised on the equivalent of an all-McDonald’s diet.  

When his team injected mice with that particular strain of bacteria, the junk- food mice gained no more weight than mice with healthy diets. 

Chris Lowry joined Erin O’Toole in January to talk about his research and why he thinks it’s a promising solution for obesity and how the results caught him off guard. We’re listening back to that conversation today. 

Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!

Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Summer heat in Colorado has many people dreaming about escaping to the cool air of the mountains. But for Black Americans in the 1920s and 30s, segregation and discrimination severely restricted where they could travel and take a vacation.  

Which is why, in 1922, Lincoln Hills emerged as a mountain resort created by and for African Americans. It sits near Rollinsville, northwest of Denver, and was the largest resort of its kind west of the Mississippi River. It drew visitors from all over the country until the 1960s. 

And it offered a rare opportunity for Black Americans to feel safe and welcome in the outdoors, during a time when access to such spaces was often limited because of racial discrimination. 

History Colorado in Denver has unveiled a new exhibit called Lincoln Hills: Mountain Sanctuary. It features photographs, displays of recreational clothing, and recently collected oral histories.  

Erin O’Toole spoke with Acoma Gaither, History Colorado’s assistant curator of Black history, to learn more about what made Lincoln Hills so important.

* * * * *
 
Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

If you've ever walked near a landfill, or driven by one on a warm summer day with your windows down, you know there's a certain smell it puts out.  

But Colorado's landfills also produce massive amounts of methane, emitting as much dirty air as driving a million cars for a year. Landfills are the third-largest source of methane emissions in Colorado, after agriculture and fossil fuel extraction. 

And that concerns health officials more than any smell – because methane is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, and has some negative health effects, too.  

Denver-based environmental journalist Jennifer Oldham recently wrote about this issue for  Capital & Main. She says state health officials may ask Colorado’s landfill operators to measure and track their methane emissions, which is something they haven’t had to do before. Jennifer joined Erin O’Toole to talk about the problem and potential solutions.

* * * * *

Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Colorado has 13 sites that are part of the National Park System. And visitors may notice some striking new signs posted in the parks when they visit this summer.  

The U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, is requiring the posting of signs that ask visitors to identify and report “any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans.”  

The order caught the attention of many national park supporters, who fear it could lead to censoring less flattering parts of American history – especially at sites in Colorado that commemorate the Sand Creek Massacre or the Amache internment camp that imprisoned Japanese Americans in World War II. 

Tracy Coppola is Colorado senior program manager with the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit that advocates for the national parks but is not part of the park service. She spoke with Erin O’Toole about the impact this policy could have on visitors, as well as rangers and educators at the parks. 

* * * * *

Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Imagine being able to control exactly when the plants in your vegetable garden will ripen. 

New research out of Colorado State University could make that concept a reality. Researchers there have been working to create what they call “genetic toggle switches” embedded in the DNA of plants.  

The researchers plug synthetic DNA into a plant’s genetic material and use it as a switch that tells the plant to ripen, or flower, or grow. 

Professors June Medford and  Ashok Prasad led this research into plant biology and recently published their findings in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology.  

They joined host Erin O’Toole to talk about how these “toggle switches” work, and how the technology might eventually change the produce section at your grocery store.

Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!

Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

More than 82 million people passed through Denver International Airport last year – and almost none of them noticed the very complicated cleanup project happening right under their noses. 

Airport officials spent $3 million dollars cleaning up toxic chemicals left over from the firefighting foam the airport used on its runways in the past. The foam is full of PFAS – otherwise known as “forever” chemicals – which have been linked to harmful effects in humans.  

DIA recently completed the cleanup project as part of a program created by the state of Colorado to remove forever chemicals from DIA and other sites that use firefighting foam. 

Now that they’ve cleaned up the chemicals and the contaminated firefighting equipment at the airport, there’s a new challenge – figuring out where to dispose of 100,000 gallons of harmful waste from DIA.    

Michael Booth is an environmental writer for the Colorado Sun. He wrote about this cleanup project, and why the chemicals were used in firefighting foam in the first place.   

Listen to a recent In The NoCo interview with a Colorado scientist who’s exploring a promising new way to break down forever chemicals.

Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!

Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.