It started with coffee and snacks at one Douglas County woman’s house, and has evolved into a grassroots political machine that helped flip the school board. Now a group of suburban conservative moms, who call themselves the “Liberty Girls,” say they’re organizing to battle critical race theory, oppose abortion and push for more conservative women to run for local elected office. Colorado Sun reporter Jen Brown talks to Thy Vo about what the “Liberty Girls” mean for Colorado politics. 

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It’s a dispute that Colorado officials have been trying to settle for more than a decade. And now Colorado lawmakers are once again debating a proposal to compensate family farmers and landowners who held now-defunct conservation easements that resulted in financial losses. But critics say the easements, a tax benefit intended to protect natural spaces in exchange for giving up rights to developing a property, allowed investors to cash in on properties that never would have been developed anyway. Colorado Sun reporter Michael Booth talks to Thy Vo about why lawmakers are bringing the issue up again this year. 

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After more than two years of tumultuous pandemic life, many Colorado teens are figuring out how to push past the loneliness and anxiety of pandemic restrictions and go back to school. And as Colorado Sun reporter Erica Breunlin heard, it’s not an easy adjustment, especially for kids whose mental health has suffered because of pandemic isolation. Erica talks to Colorado Sun reporter Thy Vo about a new phone app aimed at helping teens manage their mood and navigate the process of reconnecting with friends and classmates.

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A Denver eating disorder doctor who has helped patients with anorexia nervosa obtain aid-in-dying medication has sparked controversy in the psychiatric community and initiated an emotional, national debate about the ethics of prescribing lethal drugs for people with mental illness. Dr. Jennifer Guadiani recently published a paper in the Journal of Eating Disorders that describes the deaths of three patients, including one who took aid-in-dying drugs and another who died on the day she intended to take aid-in-dying medication. Sun reporter Jennifer Brown talked with colleague Kevin Simpson about the paper that is making waves in the medical community and beyond.

Denver doctor helped patients with severe anorexia obtain aid-in-dying medication, spurring national ethics debate

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Testing for COVID has been a key element in the federal government’s efforts to address the pandemic, and the Postal Service has instituted a massive program to deliver test kits to virtually all Americans who ask for some. Making it all happen takes, among other things, a whole lot of warehouse space and dedicated workers. The Sun’s John Ingold got a behind the scenes look at one of 43 fulfillment centers across the country. It took him a while to find the one in Denver, but later he sat down with Sun colleague Kevin Simpson to talk about what he saw.

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Natural disasters driven by climate change, from floods to wildfires, have in recent years put incredible stress on the  communities they’ve devastated. They’ve also taken a toll on the leaders of those communities, who suddenly found themselves deluged with concerns far from the mundane business of filling potholes. Sun reporter Shannon Najmabadi tells the story of the city manager in fire-ravaged Louisville (louis-vill, not louie-vill) who walked into a tumultuous situation his first day on the job – and the stories of other civic leaders who empathized as members of the same, unfortunate club.

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In Colorado, lawmakers and politicians have been creating targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions for several years now. Then it’s up to rule making agencies to figure out how to implement those standards. The Sun’s Michael Booth reports that in one recent instance, those rules have been put off for a year, even as worldwide concerns about climate change have become more dire. And while public officials claim the delay will enable them to implement even more stringent measures, environmentalists worry that waiting could be costly. Mike sat down with the Sun’s Kevin Simpson to tell us more about what appears to be a concerning pattern in environmental enforcement.

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The pandemic has taken its toll on us in many ways, including by discouraging group activities and keeping us relatively sequestered in our own worlds. But as the COVID threat subsides, some people have seized the moment to reinvent ways for individuals to rally around shared interests. Sun writer David Gilbert joined colleague Kevin Simpson to talk about how some college students with an affinity for the Star Wars universe found that their weekly, almost theatrical battles with lightsabers have inspired classmates not only to enjoy themselves, but to once again find a sense of community.

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