City Cast Denver

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Denver's Most Epic Wins and Fails of 2022 Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

Denver is about to put another interesting year on the books. Depending on how you look at it, we celebrated some major victories… and took some embarrassing Ls. Today on the show, host Bree Davies is joined by producer Paul Karolyi and a couple of regulars from Westword, editor in chief Patty Calhoun and staff writer Conor McCormick-Cavanagh, to discuss their picks for the most epic wins and fails for the city in 2022.

Programming note: We’re off tomorrow, but we’ll be back next week with something really cool to ring in the new year.

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866.

Leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

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The Battle for Denver’s Best Latke Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

Tonight marks the fourth night of Hanukkah, and it’s time to settle the age-old question: who makes the best latke in Denver? Two brave home chefs stepped up to challenge three local Jewish restaurant institutions — Zaidy’s, Rosenberg’s, and Safta — at the Jewish Community Center’s first annual best latke competition earlier this week. Host Bree Davies and producer Paul Karolyi were on hand to eat too many latkes and vote alongside the community to see who would take home the coveted golden latke and reign supreme as the latke champion of Denver.

The JCC is hosting candle-lightings and other free events to celebrate Hanukkah. Learn more at jccdenver.org.

Bree mentioned an opportunity to make $25/hour to help migrants arriving in Denver in need of support during the upcoming cold.

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

Additional music in the episode was performed at the event by Carly Coons, assistant director of Jewish Explorers, a program of JEWISHcolorado.

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The Best Hot Springs For Your Winter Getaway Dec 20, 2022

Show notes

As we longingly wait for snow to blanket the Mile High in time for the holidays, there’s always the mountains — the place where we can reaIly get that Colorado winter experience, AKA hot springs! And boy, does our fair region have a lot of different kinds of places to choose from. So are you looking for a hideaway in the woods or a swimming pool at a resort? Do you prefer wearing a swimming suit or your birthday suit? What hot springs behavior makes you cringe? Host Bree Davies is joined by producer Paul Karolyi and newsletter editor Peyton Garcia to dish on their fav hot springs destinations across Colorado and beyond.

A list of all the hot springs we discussed in today’s episode:

Conundrum

Mt. Princeton

Indian Hot Springs (Idaho Springs)

Valley View (Orient Land Trust)

Montezuma (Las Vegas, NM)

Ojo Caliente (NM)

Durango

Cottonwood

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

Tell us about your favorite hot springs on Twitter: @citycastdenver

Leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

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Does Denver Have a Parking Problem? Dec 19, 2022

Show notes

Or does parking have a Denver problem? It’s an age-old question that’s become particularly controversial lately, with increasing concerns over the vitality of downtown. So what could be done to fix our parking problem? And is parking even the right thing to focus on? Host Bree Davies gets to the bottom of it with Denver’s number one urban planning power couple: Frank and Jill Locantore. Frank was last on the show representing the Colfax Ave. Business Improvement District, an epicenter for our parking woes; and Jill is the executive director of Denver Streets Partnership and the architect of the #DenverDeservesSidewalks campaign, which voters approved by a wide margin back in the November election.

Jill mentioned a great tweet thread from past City Cast Denver guest and CPR transportation reporter Nate Minor.

For more on parking, Frank recommends this video from Vox: “The High Cost of Free Parking.”

In the newscast, we mentioned that the city is looking for volunteers to help with the influx of more than 900 migrants and asylum seekers who have come to Denver in the last few months.

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

Leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

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“Water, Under Pressure” from Laws of Notion Dec 17, 2022

Show notes

This weekend, we’re excited to share the first episode from the new season of Laws of Notion, the podcast produced by The Institute of Science and Policy at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

This new season is all about a big story we’ve been talking about all year: water. There’s not enough of it! Or maybe we just don’t know what to do with the water we’ve got? There are a lot of challenges facing Colorado when it comes to water, and this episode is a great place to start understanding them on a deeper level.

You can learn more about The Institute of Science and Policy at institute.dmns.org. And to access more podcast episodes, along with additional content, go to LawsOfNotion.org.

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AG Takes On Grocery Giants, Cage-Free Eggs, and DQ Hot Takes Dec 16, 2022

Show notes

The cost of groceries is too damn high! And it could be going even higher, based on the reporting from our guest for this week’s news round-up. Denver Post reporter Megan Ulu-lani Boyanton joins host Bree Davies and producer Paul Karolyi to talk about Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s look into the local impacts of the proposed $25 billion Albertson’s/Kroger merger, the old law driving up the price of eggs, Dairy Queen, and more. Plus, Hey Denver newsletter editor Peyton Garcia joins us to pick our Official Maybe For Your Weekend, because as usual, she’s got lots of great ideas for cool stuff happening across the city in today’s Hey Denver newsletter.

Here are Megan’s stories on Kroger/Albertson’s and AG Weiser, and the new regulations on eggs.

Here are the stories we thought went overlooked this week:

Megan - “From heart disease to IUDs: How doctors dismiss women’s pain”

Bree -”Certain Denver Parks Warn Adults Without Children to Stay Away”

Paul - “Scientists Achieve Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough With Blast of 192 Lasers”

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How to Buy a Home Podcast

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A Secretive Mozzarella Dynasty Unravels in Court Dec 15, 2022

Show notes

An astounding 85% of all pizza cheese is supplied by the Denver-based company Leprino Foods, which is controlled by one man, the reclusive billionaire James “Jim” Leprino. But that’s pretty much all we knew about Leprino until recently, when his nieces took him to court and forced the family’s billion-dollar succession drama into the public record. Producer Paul Karolyi sits down with reporter Helen Xu (also known as Helen X), who was in the courtroom for Westword, to share previously unknown details about how Leprino cornered the mozzarella market, his humble origins in his father’s Northside Italian market, and the inner workings of one of Denver’s most fascinating and secretive companies.

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

Leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:

How to Buy a Home Podcast

Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise

How Colorado Plans to Bring Back Gray Wolves Dec 14, 2022

Show notes

In a highly controversial vote two years ago, Coloradans narrowly approved a proposal to reintroduce wolves to the state. But a breakdown of the vote revealed the more complicated challenge ahead: urban voters, who may not have direct interactions with the wolves, overwhelmingly said yes, while rural voters — like ranchers, who have concerns about livestock safety — tended to skew against the measure. So how is this actually going to work? Colorado Parks and Wildlife released a draft of their plan to reintroduce wolves last week, and today CPR reporter Sam Brasch joins host Bree Davies to talk about the vote, the plan, and why scientists think it’s a good idea to bring these deadly predators back to Colorado.

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

Leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

Learn more about the sponsor of this episode:

How to Buy a Home Podcast

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What Denverites Get Wrong about Colorado Springs Dec 13, 2022

Show notes

While Colorado Springs is still dealing with the aftermath of the Club Q shooting, there’s something else that’s clung to the city in a negative way: its reputation as a conservative, fundamentalist Christian stronghold that espouses strong anti-LGBTQ beliefs. That stereotype has never defined it for the people who actually live there, though — and now that the world is looking at Colorado’s second largest city, many in the community want to challenge what those outside the Springs think they know about this special place. Today on the show, Representative-elect Stephanie Vigil — who will be representing the district where Club Q is located — joins host Bree Davies to talk about the vibrant, creative, and diverse community that they say defines the city they know.

We talked about the Ted Haggard and the New Life Church, which was rocked by scandal in the early 2000s.

Subscribe to Hey Denver, our kickass morning newsletter, by texting “Denver” to 66866]

We’re looking for your hot springs recommendations! Leave us a voicemail with your name, neighborhood, and favorite mineral pool and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

Learn more about the sponsor of this episode:

How to Buy a Home Podcast

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Why Didn’t Colorado’s Red Flag Law Stop The Club Q Shooting? Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

The alleged shooter who opened fire inside Club Q last month, killing five people, had prior run-ins with law enforcement, including reportedly threatening members of his own family with a homemade bomb. It would seem to be a textbook scenario for use of Colorado’s red flag law to prevent the purchase of weapons used in the attack. But that didn’t happen — and that’s left many wondering if ordering those weapons to be confiscated would have saved lives. Today on the show, Colorado Sun reporter Jesse Aaron Paul talks with host Bree Davies about the complexities of red flag laws, and what’s next in the ongoing legislative fight to stem gun violence.

Follow Jesse Paul’s reporting on the Club Q shooting in The Colorado Sun.

For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866

Leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬

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