In The NoCo

More than 3 million Coloradans live in the Wildland-Urban Interface, positioning their homes at greater risk from the smoke and flames of wildfires. As more people live, work and play in these areas, preventing wildfires becomes increasingly important. Now, one Boulder resident is confronting the heat, but he’s not using the typical mitigation measures you might expect.   

“We believe by using fungi and biological solutions, we can help facilitate carbon sequestration, we can facilitate creating healthy soils, and do so in a way which is ecologically sound and sustainable,” says Zach Hedstrom of Boulder Mushroom. His company studies the benefits of mushrooms — from their medicinal qualities to their surprising potential to, yes, prevent wildfires.

Hedstrom points to saprophytic fungi, which he calls “nature’s recyclers” because of their ability to break down wood from dead or fallen trees — a fuel for wildfires.

KUNC reporter Emma VandenEinde joins host Erin O'Toole to share more about this potential solution. 

A new exhibit at the Museum of Boulder illuminates the stories of Black Coloradans, highlighting their influence on the region's history and their impact on the future. "Proclaiming Colorado's Black History" centers on places like the once-bustling farming community of Dearfield; and notable people like businessman Barney Ford and philanthropist Julia Greeley. 

It's about sharing the lives and stories of people who aren't necessarily in Colorado's history books, said Adrian Miller, co-Project Director and lead curator for the exhibit.

"It's important because we're in a time now, across the country, where Black history is actually being vanished, where there are laws being passed and other things to discourage giving a more comprehensive view of our history," said Miller.

The project was several years in the making, and was shaped with a lot of community input and collaboration, Miller said. It includes a variety of installations, collections of oral histories, and an art display that delves into Afrofuturism.

Miller joined host Erin O'Toole ahead of the exhibit's launch. We're listening back to that conversation today as we continue to think about the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

This is an encore of our podcast from Sept. 28, 2023. 

This coming Monday, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death,” King said in his 1967 speech “Beyond Vietnam.” 

King gave the speech at the height of the Vietnam War and it is a window into his fuller legacy — one that was not only defined by peaceful protest and calls for unity. He also critiqued capitalism, American imperialism and the ways our policies abroad hurt people near and far. 

We have come a long way in understanding King’s life and work, and the federal holiday bearing his name is an annual tradition celebrated across the country — a reminder to dig deeper into King’s words and actions. But it wasn't always this way.

In fact, a state law to honor King’s birthday wasn’t passed in Colorado until 1984. It took years of work at the hands of former state lawmaker Wilma Webb.

KUNC senior managing editor Stephanie Daniel spoke with Webb a couple years ago about her efforts. Today, we revisit that conversation.

Celebrate MLK Day in Denver during the Dr, Martin Luther King Marade. In Boulder, the Motus Theater hosts an event honoring King’s radical legacy. In Fort Collins, head to Colorado State University for a march to the Lincoln Center. Then on January 22, CU Boulder hosts a MLK Day convocation.

Ten years ago on New Year's Day, the first recreational cannabis dispensaries opened their doors to long lines of excited people. Those first few years were known as "The Green Rush" – but now, with sales and revenue dipping from their highest point, some are wondering what the next decade will bring for the industry.

Ricardo Baca is among those close observers. The former journalist spent three years as the Denver Post's first-ever marijuana editor, even though he had only just tried edibles for himself.

“When the editor in chief of the Post came to me and said, ‘Hey, we want you to be the weed editor,’ I said, ‘You know that I'm not the biggest stoner in the newsroom right now.’ And they're like, ‘Oh, yeah, we know. And that's part of the reason we want you,’” Baca remembered.

Baca’s focus is still on cannabis, but he’s got some skin in the game now with the aptly-named marketing agency he founded, Grasslands. He joined host Erin O’Toole to share what it was like covering Colorado’s cannabis industry during its infancy.

It has been several decades since performers at Opera Colorado had the representation of a union. That changed recently after a hard-fought battle. Artistic workers had the help of the American Guild of Musical Artists, an organization that is increasingly meeting the moment and helping artists to unionize across the country. They say when the soaring arias are over and the intricate costumes come off, opera singers and the workers who support them struggle to have a voice in the face of tough working conditions. Unions, they say, give them back the microphone. 

For more, In The NoCo’s Robyn Vincent sat down with Joshua Zabatta, a tenor based in Denver who sings with Opera Colorado, and Griff Braun, national organizing director for the American Guild of Musical Artists.

Colorado kids are missing a lot of school. This past academic year, nearly one in three was chronically absent – that is more than 250,000 students.

“If you’re missing 10% or more of school days you are considered chronically absent,” Leigh Paterson told In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole. Both excused and unexcused absences count, and while the percentage of chronically absent students improved a bit last academic year compared to the year before, generally, this is a growing problem in Colorado, Paterson said. The KUNC senior editor and reporter visited schools in two Northern Colorado districts to speak with students and learn about potential solutions. She shared some of her reporting with us today.

One of Cary Morin’s guitars is proudly displayed at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery. That black Fender electric speaks to his musical legacy here in Northern Colorado as an Americana artist — or "Native Americana," as some have dubbed his musical style. It is a style with deep Indigenous roots that Morin brought with him from Montana and replanted in Fort Collins four decades ago.

"The people that I grew up around influenced the songs that I write and the music that I play, just like any songwriter is influenced by the people that they grew up around,” Morin said. “My Crow heritage is definitely rich in unique music, and culturally unique. So that provided a different backdrop for me."

Morin’s new album coming out later this month is inspired by the paintings of Charles Marion Russell, whose work conjures vivid images of life in the Old West. In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole met up with Morin at the museum to talk about this new project.

Temple Grandin sees the world through a different lens. The Colorado State University animal science professor is neurodivergent and her differences as an autistic person have been foundational to her work, especially when it comes to advocating for the humane treatment of animals. She is also an advocate for neurodivergent thinkers, both young and old. Her new book for children is “Different Kinds of Minds.” It is an adaptation of her book “Visual Thinking.” Both explain the need for a diverse range of thinkers and how different minds can thrive. Grandin joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to discuss the book and much more. 

Many Americans are saddled with medical debt — and that’s true for both insured and uninsured people. Half of respondents to a recent survey by the Commonwealth Fund said it was "very" or "somewhat" difficult to afford their health care costs. The survey’s authors say this challenges the notion that simply having health insurance makes care affordable or accessible. These findings help us understand why advocates in Colorado pushed for a recent law that removes medical debt from credit reports. 

Julia Char Gilbert, with Colorado Center on Law and Policy, worked on this pioneering law and joins us today, along with Denver resident Kayce Atencio. His medical debt had devastating impacts on his life and turned him into a vocal advocate.

If your medical debt is still showing up on your credit report, you can learn about the dispute process via Colorado Center on Law and Policy. 

It’s a fitting day to think about the future — it's the second day of the new year. It is also National Science Fiction Day – a date commemorating the birth of the late Isaac Asimov, one of the genre's most celebrated authors. Like Asimov, a lot of us are fascinated with tales of the future. One of sci-fi’s living legends, author Connie Willis, says that’s a good thing.

“We, I think, get to step out of ourselves and imagine worlds that are different from ours. One of the biggest problems right now is people who are unable to put themselves in anyone else's point of view. And I think that's a major thing that science fiction does,” Willis said.

Willis recently published a new book, “The Road to Roswell.” She lives in Northern Colorado and joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole in the KUNC studio to discuss the book, reflect on the past, and marvel at the future.

KUNC's sister station, The Colorado Sound, will celebrate National Science Fiction Day with special sci-fi themed programming all day.