In The NoCo

A library that’s focused on encouraging people to get outside might feel a bit odd – especially in a state like Colorado with a multitude of ways to hike or camp or spend time outdoors.  

But getting out into nature isn't always within reach for everyone. For example, a camping trip can require expensive gear like tents, backpacks and sleeping bags. 

The new Anythink Nature Library in Thornton opened in August with an unusual mission: to remove some barriers to getting outside. In addition to books, patrons can check out rentable outdoor gear – or hike on a trail at the open space just outside the library branch. 

Mark Fink is the executive director of Anythink Libraries, which is the library district for Adams County. He talked with Erin O’Toole about the idea behind a nature library, and how the response has been. 

If this conversation makes you realize you’re overdue to get out and enjoy autumn in Colorado, these recent In The NoCo interviews might help: Check out a guide to the restorative practice of forest bathing, how you can help prepare your drought-stressed lawn for next year, or why you probably shouldn’t plant an aspen tree in your yard. 

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Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
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.

The Colorado Rockies have some of the most loyal fans in all of baseball. And that might be part of their problem. 

As we look back on another historically bad season, consider this statistic: The Rockies now have the dubious distinction of being just the fifth team in major league history to lose at least 100 games in four consecutive seasons. 

And yet, plenty of fans still show up. 

That's been the story of the Rockies for years: The team struggles. The fans keep coming. And the steady ticket sales mean ownership has little incentive to build a better team. 

So what’s behind the uncommonly loyal baseball fans here in Colorado?  

To find out, In The NoCo’s Brad Turner talked last year with Kevin Simpson of the Colorado Sun. Kevin’s been a season ticket holder since the Rockies’ very first season – and he’s written about why the fans stick around, even as the Rockies have one bad season after the next. We’re revisiting that conversation today. 

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 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
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 transparency in healthcare pricing – and fewer surprises from the billing department.   

Those are the key concepts behind a new Senate bill called the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act. It would require hospitals to be more up-front about what they'll charge you for medical procedures, and to send an itemized breakdown of the costs after a patient receives care.  

Colorado Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper introduced the bill with a Republican co-sponsor, Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas. Since then, it's moved forward from Senate committee hearings with bipartisan support. 

As the bill waits to be heard on the U.S. Senate floor, we talked with Sen.  Hickenlooper about why he thinks transparent pricing is a key first step toward reforming American healthcare. 

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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
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 fictional shooting in a Colorado diner. A protagonist who finds himself in a space in between life and death. And a hero who's forced to grapple with whether or not he's led a meaningful life.  

These are key elements of a thought-provoking new novel by Colorado author Melissa Payne, called In This Life or Another. It was published earlier this month.  

The book explores the question of what it means to live a life of meaning and purpose, and whether small acts count as much as grand gestures like saving another person's life. 

Melissa has written seven novels, several of which have been recognized by the Colorado Authors League and the Colorado Book Awards.  

She spoke with Erin O’Toole about the book, which she began writing at a point in her life when she found herself grappling with some big life questions of her own. 

Melissa will also help present the inaugural Mountain Stories Literary Festival this weekend at the Center for the Arts Evergreen. 

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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
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.

It's become common in recent years: In the first weeks after summer break ends, many educators find themselves dealing with stifling temperatures in the classroom. And a string of early release days often follows. 

It happened again this year -- at the tail-end of a summer that saw record-breaking temperatures across the Front Range, according to meteorologists.  

If you find yourself wondering if kids should just deal with a warmer classroom, some new research from the American Psychological Association might change your thinking. 

Researchers there dug into findings from hundreds of studies about how classroom temperature affects student performance. 

Nicole Barnes is executive lead psychologist for education with the APA, and author of the study. She joined Erin O’Toole to talk about the research and why classroom heat affects some students more severely. 

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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
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.

Director and longtime Estes Park resident Nick Mollé spent decades making documentaries. His subjects include Rocky Mountain National Park, birds of Costa Rica and Australia’s wild animals. And a few years ago, he turned his attention to one of the most prominent environmental crises in the U.S. – the drought-stricken Colorado River.  

But midway through the project, Mollé faced a major setback: Doctors diagnosed him with cancer. It would ultimately prove fatal.  

Mollé spent his final months capturing sweeping vistas and quieter moments along the Colorado River, and enlisted family and friends to help capture footage.  

Mollé died in March, but the finished film, called Stream of Conscience: The Colorado, debuts Monday night at the Historic Park Theatre in Estes Park.   

Nick’s daughter Claire Mollé worked on the film and helped finish it. Claire joined Erin O’Toole to discuss her father’s work, and what gives this film about the Colorado River a distinct perspective. 

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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
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.

Capt. Frank Keesling runs a busy operation each summer on Dillon Reservoir in Summit County. Keesling owns the Dillon Water Taxi, which for the past decade has ferried passengers on a scenic journey across the reservoir and back – including people going to concerts at Dillon Amphitheater.  

But this summer, things changed. Drought, low snowpack, and little rainfall have pulled the reservoir’s water levels down to historically low levels – which put a stop to water taxi service between Frisco and Dillon. 

So, the captain created a new angle to keep his business afloat. He’s hosting small groups for catered cruises aboard his 30-foot boat. He calls it The Captain’s Table.  

At a moment when fishing guides, ski resorts and other Colorado businesses are still rebounding from a tough season, Erin O’Toole sat down with Keesling to hear how one business rolled with the punches. 

This Sunday is the last day of operation this year for the Captain’s Table.  

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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
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.

That heat wave that broiled Colorado and the U.S. this summer? Scientists are fairly certain it was made worse by climate change. 

But with disasters like tornadoes or wildfires, drawing a clear connection to climate change is trickier.  

Connecting those dots is part of a scientific field called extreme event attribution. And it matters because it influences how leaders, and the public, might take steps to address climate change. 

So, how confident can scientists be when they connect a weather-related event to a warming climate? 

That depends on the particular type of event, according to our guest, who recently wrote about extreme event attribution for the website The Conversation. 

Jim Hurrell is a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University who studies the climate system. He spoke with Erin O’Toole about the science of extreme event attribution, and why it’s getting stronger.  

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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
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.

In 2026, artificial intelligence can draw a picture for you. Or write you a song. Or a whole novel.  

And a lot of people have strong feelings about that. Many artists and audiences find it uncomfortable when artificial intelligence replaces human creativity. 

So, it may be surprising to meet a poet who has embraced writing AI poetry – and more recently, has begun teaching AI to write its own poems.  

Lee Frankel-Goldwater teaches environmental studies at CU Boulder. He and his co-author, Eric Fischman, recently published some of his AI poetry work in a book called Lily in a Codebox.  

He told Erin O’Toole he thinks collaborating on poetry with artificial intelligence not only unlocks creative possibilities – it might even help inject some morality and humanity into a field where tech companies are investing billions to create more powerful AI. 

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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
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.

Doctors who practice at Children's Hospital Colorado find themselves in court as part of a case focused on one of the most divisive issues in the U.S. 

Attorneys for hundreds of younger patients seeking gender-affirming care say doctors at the hospital are refusing to provide treatment like puberty blockers or hormone therapy. That’s in spite of a Colorado Supreme Court order instructing the hospital to do so – even after threats from the federal government. 

The doctors who offer gender-affirming care at Children's Hospital, however, say they fear retribution. They say federal regulators have threatened to cut off Medicare funding and investigate their billing practices. So, they’ve stopped writing prescriptions. 

John Ingold, a health reporter for the Colorado Sun, has been following the trial, which began last week and continues this week. He joined me to talk about what's happening in the courtroom and what it says about transgender care as a political issue. 

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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
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.