In The NoCo

Colorado and its pets are suffering from a shortage of veterinarians.  

It's leading to long wait times at some clinics. And the Colorado Sun reports that many animal hospitals are so swamped they’re forced to turn away dogs and cats who need care. 

On Election Day, Colorado voters will be asked to weigh in on a possible solution. Proposition 129  would create a new class of veterinary workers called a veterinary professional associate, or VPA.  

VPAs would require less training than traditional veterinarians to become certified. If voters approve the plan, it could mean Colorado would see more professionals able to treat pets.
 
To help us understand the proposal, and the arguments for and against, ITN's Brad Turner talked with Jon Geller. He's a retired, Fort Collins-based emergency veterinarian, and a graduate of the school of veterinary medicine at Colorado State University. (He’s also the founder of the Street Dog Coalition, a nonprofit that helps provide pet care for people experiencing homelessness.) Jon has studied the issue but has not taken a stance on Prop 129.

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Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
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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.

 Wildfires in Colorado rip through communities. They torch homes and disrupt lives. 

But wildfires also cause some surprising – maybe even uplifting – things to happen. They make people more resilient. They strengthen the bonds between neighbors. And those stronger connections help people prepare for future emergencies.  

That’s according to Lori Peek – a researcher who studies how communities come together during and after natural disasters. Lori is a sociologist and the director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder.  

Today, we’re listening back to a recent conversation she had with Erin O’Toole about the surprisingly robust field of study that examines how humans interact during and after a crisis.

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.

Since early 2023 hundreds of Denver residents experiencing homelessness received a monthly income whether they had a job or were unemployed. 

Eight hundred participants received the payment as part of a program called the Denver Basic Income Project.  It was a pilot program designed to study whether rates of homelessness decrease when people are given a base-line income. Participants received either $600 a year or $12,000 a year.  

The money came from a combination of public and private sources, including $4 million dollars from the office of the Denver Mayor. But the mayor’s office recently announced it plans to end its funding of the project. A spokesperson from the mayor's office pointed to disappointing results documented in a study of the program. 

So what were the results – and did the basic income payments help the people who received them? 

Erin O’Toole spoke with  Katie Calhoun -- an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University -- about the results of the study.  She served as a research lead on the project and also advocates for guaranteed basic income. She and a team of researchers at the University of Denver worked with the Denver Basic Income Project to decide what the different levels of income would be for participants. Then her team interviewed recipients on how it affected their lives to receive a guaranteed income.

Correction: An earlier version of this episode misstated the amount of funding the office of Denver’s mayor contributed to the Denver Basic Income Project. The audio has been updated to reflect the correct amount, which is $4 million.

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.

Victorian Death Experiences is a Halloween attraction with a historic twist.  

The program takes place in the historic home which houses the Center for Colorado Women’s History in Denver. Visitors see rooms decorated for mourning. They hear stories of death in the Old West. And they see fascinating artifacts, like hair jewelry made partly from the hair of a deceased loved one.  

“We’re really not focused on having a haunted house, but rather, experiencing some reverence around our understanding of death,” said Cat Jensen, education coordinator for the center. 

Above all, the program highlights the central role that women have traditionally played when a loved one died – preparing bodies for burial, hosting wakes, and other acts that allowed people to mourn at the end of life. 

“Certainly, death, for Victorian women, was a deep and sacred act. Women, regardless of race or class, have long been the arbiters of life and death,” Jensen said.  

This is the second year for Victorian Death Experiences. It takes place on selected Thursday and Friday evenings throughout October. Find more information and tickets here.

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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
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.

Weld County’s Clerk and Recorder Carly Koppes has a noticeable online presence. She posts lots of informational videos around election time telling voters how to cast a ballot or get ready for Election Day. 

But here’s something that keeps Koppes -- and a lot of other election officials -- up at night. Artificial intelligence is developing so quickly that a bad actor could take one of Koppes’ videos and convincingly alter her voice, so that it sounds like she’s saying something misleading -- such as giving the wrong hours when polls are open. Koppes and other clerks from Colorado’s 64 counties recently gathered to talk about those scenarios as Election Day approaches.  

Koppes spoke with host Erin O’Toole in August to discuss how election officials like her are gearing up to respond to misleading emails, deepfake videos, and social media misinformation. With the election just three weeks away, and ballots showing up in voters’ mailboxes now, we’re listening back to that conversation. 

 
Not sure if your voter registration is up to date? Check it at GoVoteColorado.com:  

We discussed Mesa County clerk Tina Peter in this episode. Read more about her sentencing in The Colorado Sun.

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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
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.

Today we've got something special for In The NoCo listeners. It's the first episode of "Ending the Hate State," the new season of KUNC's podcast The Colorado Dream.

If you heard our Friday episode of In The NoCo, you already heard Colorado Dream host Stephanie Daniel talk about the new season. This first episode explores a time in the 1990s when Colorado voters refused to protect people from being discriminated against based on their sexuality. It's about civil rights, boycotts, activism and a legal battle that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Stephanie and the other KUNC reporters who make The Colorado Dream dig into recent history and capture how it changed the lives of everyday people here in Colorado.  
 
If you want to hear the upcoming episodes of The Colorado Dream, follow that show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks! 

Nearly 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 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. Erin O’Toole spoke with Daniel about the new season, which began earlier this week.

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 new tax on sales of guns and ammunition could be used to fund services that help crime victims.  

That’s the idea behind a proposal Colorado voters will consider on the November ballot. Proposition KK would add a 6.5 percent excise tax on guns, some parts and accessories, and ammunition. Buyers in Colorado already pay state and local sales taxes on the purchase of firearms and ammunition, and a federal tax of around 10 percent. 

It’s a novel approach that its backers say will generate about $39 million dollars a year to fund programs that address some of the harms of gun violence, including mental health support services. But opponents say it will just make it more difficult for law-abiding Coloradans to buy guns.  

To learn more about what this tax would do, host Erin O’Toole checked in with Lucas Brady Woods, who covers politics and state government for KUNC. 

You can read up on all 14 statewide measures on the November ballot here.

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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
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 law enforcement officers in Colorado are using artificial intelligence to create their police reports.
 
Boulder Police launched a pilot program earlier this year allowing artificial intelligence to help officers generate reports related to minor crimes. A few months later, they expanded the policy to let AI help write police reports for all types of cases. That’s according to a story from Boulder Reporting Lab.  

Boulder officers use a new technology called Draft One. Fort Collins police have also been using Draft One since April.  

So how reliable is this technology? And will the police reports it generates hold up in court? 

Host Erin O’Toole spoke with Melissa Inglis, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Oklahoma – who studies how law enforcement uses artificial intelligence programs – to answer those questions. 

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 SessionsIn The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Patients in Colorado feel the brunt of a growing healthcare crisis every day. There’s a shortage of primary care doctors and other health care workers in most Colorado counties – and that has an especially big impact on low-income and rural communities.  

That physician shortage is projected to get even worse, with roughly a third of doctors in the state aged 60 or older, and nearing retirement – according to a recent report by the American Association of Medical Colleges.  

To help boost the number of primary care doctors, a new medical school – just the third one in Colorado – is being built at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. UNC officials celebrated the groundbreaking for the new College of Osteopathic Medicine on September 28. The new school has a price tag of around $200 million, and will eventually graduate 150 new doctors each year when it opens in 2026.  

ITN host Erin O’Toole spoke with the founding dean of the new medical school, Dr. Beth Longenecker, back in May when the school was first announced. Today we’re listening back to that conversation.

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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
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.