Clear Creek Courant May 22, 2025 by Colorado Community Media

Clear Creek deputies cleared in fatal shooting

report reveals details of the March 6 death of Christine Lewis

BY CHRIS

Content warning: A violent image is with the continuation of this article inside

A felony tra c stop in Empire on March 6 ended when three Clear Creek County deputies red multiple ri e and handgun rounds into 36-year-

old Christine Lewis, killing her.

e Colorado Bureau of Investigation conducted a lengthy study into the facts and circumstances surrounding the homicide, according to several sources, including CBI.

After a thorough review of the CBI investigatory reports,

Clear Creek County District

Attorney Heidi McCollum issued what’s known as a “Letter of Declination,” formally declining the pursuit of any criminal charges against the deputies in the fatal shooting. e incident started when, according to CBI reports, Empire Chief of Police Andrew Lorenz attempted a felony tra c stop of a pickup truck for two individuals with outstanding warrants: James Hueter and Christine Lewis. When the truck pulled over,

Lorenz was able to remove Hueter but he said Lewis barricaded herself in the vehicle and eventually drove away resulting in a brief chase that ended when Lewis crashed the truck into a creek bed in Dumont, disabling it.

By that time, Idaho Springs Police o cers and Clear Creek deputies had arrived on scene to assist in the situation, according to CBI reports. Hueter reported to o cers

Deal shu es CCM papers to 2 companies

Courant stays with nonproﬁt while 21 papers

e National Trust for Local News on May 13 announced a restructuring of its Colorado operations — known as Colorado Community Media — that centers on a partnership with Times Media Group.

e National Trust will transfer ownership of 21 local publications concentrated in metro Denver to Times Media Group (TMG), a community news publisher based in Tempe, Arizona, whose owner has personal roots in Colorado.

e National Trust will retain ownership of seven publications stretching from Brighton to Idaho Springs, and will continue to grow and operate the Trust Press, a community printing press that serves the Front Range media ecosystem. e organizations will enter into a strategic partnership around shared services and print production.

“ rough this strategic partnership with Times Media Group, we can reduce our footprint in greater Denver without reducing local journalism there, all while positioning ourselves to grow in the parts of Colorado where the need for our unique model is greatest,” Will Nelligan, chief growth o cer at the National Trust for Local News, said in a statement. “While it wasn’t an easy decision, we think it’s a positive outcome from all perspectives that sets the stage for a more resilient, equitable, and vi-

This map shows the scene of the fatal o cer-involved-shooting of Christine Lewis in Dumont on March 6.

COURTSEY CLEAR CREEK COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT

A Smokin’ win for Loaves and Fishes

Smokin’ Yard’s BBQ takes the title in this year’s Wing Crawl, which raised $8K

BY CHRIS KOEBERL CHRIS@COTLN.ORG

e Idaho Springs Wing Crawl was a sold-out event again this year, and thousands of dollars were raised for a local food bank.

Ten downtown Idaho Springs restaurants competed in this year’s challenge, where a $35 ticket gave participants an opportunity to try two wings at each location, ranking the wings as they went. is year’s popular winner was Smokin’ Yard’s BBQ, 2736 Colorado Blvd., in Idaho Springs, with what owner Scott Yard said was, “a wing right o the menu.”

“A house recipe, we brine and dry rub our wings, smoke them for a couple of hours and then we fry them,” Yard said. Yards will enjoy custody of the coveted “Wing Trophy” for at least the next year.

While the lighthearted competition between downtown businesses comes with bragging rights, the real winner is Loaves and Fishes. Located in Idaho Springs, the food bank serves Clear Creek and Gilpin counties.

Ticket sales for this year’s event raised nearly $8,500, according to its director, Rachel Josselyn.

“All of the restaurants, they did something di erent this year, and it’s turning into a competition, even though all you get is a trophy and a plaque,” Josselyn said.

One of the biggest reasons the food bank was able to achieve that number is nearly 100% of ticket sales go directly to the nonpro t.

Each of the 10 downtown participating restaurants donates sta time, prep work and the price of the wings.

State aims to have Summer EBT rolled out on time

Half a million students expect to receive food beneﬁts this summer

BY ANN SCHIMKE CHALKBEAT

e families of about 450,000 Colorado students in preschool through 12th grade received extra grocery money from the state this month to cover the cost of food during summer break.

e $120 per child preloaded onto electronic bene ts cards is part of the Summer EBT program for children from low-income families. In addition to the families that have already received the bene ts, state o cials expect to provide the grocery bene t, which is mostly funded by the federal government, to around 50,000 more students through the summer.

Last year, many families received their Summer EBT bene ts late, sometimes just as the new school year was starting. But this year is di erent, with most families getting the money on May 1.

Yard, who grew up in Georgetown and went to high school in Idaho Springs said engaging the local community is an important part of the business.

“We’re part of a community, and I don’t think community exists the same way it did when we were growing up, and it’s di erent now,” Yard said “It’s really special for me and our business and my family to be part of this community.”

Idaho Springs restaurants providing the wings for this year were last year’s winner Tommyknocker Brew Pub, Yard’s

Taphouse, Pick Axe Pizza, Beau Jo’s, e Vintage Moose, Clear Creek Cidery, MTN Prime, Gold Pan Tavern, Westbound and Down Tavern, and B.P.O.E. (Elks Lodge). e fundraiser is especially important now with the rising cost of food and limited selection becomes increasingly challenging, according to Josselyn.

“Yeah, things are getting a little bit tighter,” Josselyn said. “ is is going to be a huge help in continuing our mission of ghting hunger in Clear Creek and Gilpin counties by keeping our shelves

Weather Observations for Georgetown, Colorado

Week of 5 May 2025

Each day at about 8 a.m. a local National Weather Service volunteer observer makes temperature and precipitation observations at the Georgetown Weather Station and wind observations at Georgetown Lake. “Max” and “Min” temperatures are from an NWS digital “Maximum/Minimum Temperature System.” “Mean daily” temperature is the calculated average of the max and min. “Total Precipitation” is inches of rainfall plus melted snow. “Snowfall” is inches of snow that accumulated. T = Trace of precipitation or snowfall. NR = Not Reported. “Peak wind gust at Georgetown Lake” is the velocity and the time of the maximum wind gust that occurred during the 24 hours preceding the observation time. Historic data are based on the period of record for which statistical data have been compiled (about 56 years within the period 1893-2024). Any weather records noted are based on a comparison of the observed value with the historical data set for that speci c date.

Weather Observations for Georgetown, Colorado

Week of 5 May 2025

Rolling out the Summer EBT program is among several steps Colorado leaders have taken in recent years to reduce the number of children who go hungry. In 2022, voters approved a ballot measure to provide free school meals to the state’s public school students regardless of family income. e program has been so popular, it’s cost more than state o cials anticipated.

In an e ort to sustain the program amid serious state budget troubles, lawmakers found the money to keep the program fully funded through December. ey’ll also send two ballot measures to voters in November that, if approved, would raise enough additional money to continue the program after December.

Colorado students in public school preK-12 are eligible for Summer EBT cards if their families receive public bene ts such as SNAP, Medicaid, or Colorado Works, or if they qualify for free or reduced-price school meals. (Although free school meals are now o ered to public school students regardless of family income, most schools still ask families to ll out free or reducedprice meal eligibility forms or similar forms that gauge family income.)

State o cials anticipate that more than 500,000 Colorado children in preschool through 12th grade will receive Summer EBT bene ts this summer. Most received or will receive the money automatically. But some — including those who recently moved to Colorado or enrolled in a new school — may have to ll out an application on the Colorado Department of Human Services website.

Students who’ve misplaced their existing bene ts card should call the Summer EBT support center at 800-536-5298 to get a new card sent.

Children in families that receive Summer EBT cards can still take advantage of free summer meals at local schools or other sites.

Reprinted with permission from Chalkbeat, a nonpro t news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

Smokin Yard’s voted best in Idaho Springs Wing Crawl May 3.

PHOTO BY CHRIS KOEBERL

Home Sharing Helps Single Seniors Deal With Finance and Loneliness,

Married seniors living in long-time family homes that are bigger than they need often call me and other Realtors about downsizing, and I have written many times about the options they face, including the option that Rita and I chose, which was to sell our home and move into a 55+ rental community.

Widowed seniors face a more pressing problem. The retirement income, including Social Security, which supported them and their late spouse is now reduced as much as by half, and maybe it’s not enough to support them in their beloved home.

That’s where a Denver non-profit called Sunshine Home Share Colorado comes in. Sunshine completes background and credit checks on all participants in the program. All applicants must have three verifiable references. Home seekers must provide proof of income. Sunshine also completes a 1-2 hour social work intake with each program participant, assessing for mental health, emotional health, physical health, and substance abuse.

Allowing Them to Age in Place

A senior homeowner with no mortgage or lots of equity may be able to do what we did — sell the home and live off the proceeds, plus his or her reduced retirement income, for the rest of their expected life. Another solution is to take out a reverse mortgage, even if he or she owns it free and clear, and live of that equity for the rest of their life.

But there’s another option which not only addresses finances but also that big killer of seniors — loneliness. You could consider taking in a roommate — or “boommate” — but how do you find and screen such a person so it doesn’t lead to something even worse than running out of money?

Home providers must be over 55 years old; home seekers only need to be over 18. The rent could be up to $1,000 per month, reduced by mutual agreement when the home seeker provides services such as snow shoveling, housekeeping, lawn care, taking out the trash, or providing transportation to the home provider for medical appointments, etc.

Home seekers do not provide any personal care such as showering, toileting, and assistance transferring between bed and chair. For that, the home provider would have to secure appropriate professional service providers.

The matching process typically takes eight weeks, which includes a 2-week trial period. The organization provides periodic check-ins later on to make sure that the fit still works.

Home in Golden’s Village at Mountain Ridge Listed by Jim Smith

OPEN May 24, 11am - 1pm

Homes in this late-’90s subdivision backing to the foothills come on the market rarely and sell quickly. This one at 165 Washington Street is especially sweet, with the most awesome chef’s kitchen you’ve likely ever seen. Beautiful hardwood floors grace the main floor, with newer berber carpeting upstairs and in the walk-out basement. The Table Mountain views from every level, but especially from the primary suite, will take your breath away. If you’re a soccer fan, the pix and awards in the main-floor study will leave you wishing for autographs! Sorry, the seller won’t be at the open house this Saturday from 11 to 1. A narrated video walk-through is posted at www.GRElistings.com

$1,495,000

4-Bedroom Tri-Level in Arvada Listed by Kathy Jonke

The housemate has to have an income to support their rent payments and is expected to be gone for employment purposes most days. Typical “service exchange” work can range from 5 to 20 hours per week. The more work is done, the less rent the home seeker is expected to pay, all negotiated up front.

All home shares are month-to-month, with the average home share lasting only a year, but they could last five years or longer. Having the third-party involvement of Sunshine makes it easy for either party at any point to say, “sorry, this isn’t working for me.”

One of the biggest problems faced by single or widowed seniors is loneliness. It’s a big reason that moving into a 55+ community makes sense, and I have seen that work in person from living in such a community — especially for the single residents. However, many seniors want to “age in place,” to stay in their long-time home as long as possible, and home sharing can make that possible not only financially but by providing some healthy companionship.

Sunshine Home Share operates throughout the Denver metro area. If you think this idea would work for someone in another state, check out the National Shared Housing Resource Center at nationalsharedhousing.org

This Column Now Appears Bi-Weekly “Real Estate Today” will be on this page every other week, so the next time you’ll see it will be June 5th. On those alternate weeks, you will find a half-page ad on a related topic. Next week it will be on a topic related to sustainability. One June 12th it will be about well-being.

The organization’s website provides stories of matches they have made and FAQs. Go to www.SunshineHomeShare.org. Their phone number is (720) 856-0161. Their office is in north Denver.

Our Attempt to Resurrect Our Free Box Truck Has Not Succeeded

You may recall that we launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to get our truck back on the road so that multiple non-profits, not just our clients, would have it to use for free. Well, we only raised $2,000. Rather than return that money, we are going to divide the proceeds among those nonprofits that used it the most, including BGoldN, Family Promise and the International Rescue Committee.

Here Are Some of My Previous Columns on Related Topics

Find and download each of them online at www.JimSmithColumns.com

Jan. 2, 2025 —Is a Reverse Mortgage Right for You?

Oct. 31, 2024 — Cooperative Living Presents an Attractive Alternative to Downsizing Oct. 17, 2024 —Understanding the Different Kinds of 55+ Retirement Communities (CCRCs)

Sept. 26, 2024 — Keeping Your Death from Becoming an Undue Burden on Your Heirs

Aug. 8, 2024 — Seniors Might Consider Downsizing into a Rental, Not a Smaller Home Also: Trusts as an Estate Planning Strategy

Feb. 8, 2024 — ‘Empty-Nest’ Baby Boomers Own Twice as Many Big Homes as Millennials with Children

Aug. 17, 2023 —Should You Consider a Reverse Mortgage as Part of Your Retirement Plan?

Mar. 16, 2023 — Here Are Some Ways to Make Your Home More Senior-Friendly

Dec. 29, 2022 — Have You Considered Cohousing — An Explanation and Some Examples July 28, 2022 — Aging in Place vs. Moving to a 55+ Community: Some Considerations

Townhome-Style Condo in Centennial Listed by Chris Sholts

$489,000

$575,000

This updated, 4-BR/2-bath tri-level at 6337 W. 68th Place is in a quiet, established neighborhood. Each level has been thoughtfully renovated. The vaulted main level has new luxury vinyl plank floors, and there’s new paint throughout. The galley kitchen has new cabinets, complemented by white appliances. The upper level has 3 bedrooms with new carpet and an updated full bathroom. The lower level has a spacious family room with a red brick fireplace and above-grade windows. There is a 4th bedroom, laundry, and updated 3/4 bathroom on this level. The windows and siding were replaced in 2018, and a new roof is being installed! A video tour is posted at www.GRElistings.com. Call Kathy at 303-990-7428 to request a showing.

This updated 2-story condo at 5555 E. Briarwood Ave. has a finished basement, offering the perfect blend of comfort, style, and convenience. Located in the heart of the Summerhill neighborhood, this home has thoughtful upgrades and a bright, open floorplan. The main level is ideal for entertaining with its inviting family room, complete with wood-burning fireplace. It flows into the formal dining area and opens to a private patio. The updated dine-in kitchen boasts stylish countertops and laminate wood flooring. All appliances are included. A stylish half bath with tile flooring rounds out the main floor. Upstairs, the vaulted primary suite has dual closets and a beautifully updated ensuite bath. The finished basement has a large recreation room, laundry area, and ample storage. A private patio is just steps from the neighborhood pool and hot tub. More information at www.GRElistings.com

Health o cials worry about Medicaid as budget bill advances

BY CAITLYN KIM AND JOHN DALEY CPR NEWS

Colorado’s two members on the House Energy and Commerce committee took di erent views and votes on the changes Republicans are proposing for Medicaid as the party looks for cuts to fund its budget reconciliation package.

Republican Rep. Gabe Evans voted with his party to advance the changes to the federal health insurance program for children and low-income people, while Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette voted against it. e measure passed Wednesday afternoon along straight party lines, 30-24, after a marathon 26-hour mark-up session.

According to a Congressional Budget O ce estimate, under the Republican changes, 10.3 million people will lose coverage over the rst decade it’s in effect. Millions more would lose coverage due to the A ordable Care Act changes approved by the committee.

“You can’t save $700 billion and not cut anybody o of Medicaid,” DeGette told CPR News. e CBO estimated the Medicaid changes would save $625 billion.“You’re going to have red tape and a whole bunch of people who are working fall o of Medicaid because they’ll get thrown o by the states.”

e Denver congresswoman argues that new work and documentation requirements under the proposal would make it harder for eligible people to access their bene ts.

“ ey can’t do the paperwork. And we saw that in two states,” DeGette said, pointing to Georgia and Arkansas. “ ey tried to do a work requirement. It ended

up throwing a whole bunch of people o of Medicaid who were working and it ended up costing more money.”

Evans countered the bill will prevent waste, fraud and abuse, and that Democrats weren’t seeking to preserve coverage for eligible recipients.

“We’ve heard, what is it now, almost 24 hours of arguing to keep 1.4 million illegal immigrants on the rolls and 1.2 million people who aren’t eligible for Medicaid,” Evans told CPR News, citing what he said are CBO’s numbers.

e House provisions would require states to check eligibility for Medicaid patients every six months, versus yearly. And it would strengthen work require-

SPRING CLEAN

RECYCLING EVENT

WHAT WE ARE COLLECTING:

• Electronics - small appliances. NO freon of any sort

• Glass - brown, clear, green or blue colored. NO vases, crystal, plates or windows

• Block Styrofoam - NO peanuts or food containers

• Paint Cans - with or without paint. NO stain or lacquer

• Barbed Wire - please put at the top of pile in your car - this will be unloaded rst during event

• Scrap Metal - NO pressurized containers like propane, hairspray, paint, etc.

Items that will cost: Please bring your credit card as these fees must be paid to electronic hauler, fees DO NOT go to ESA

• Flatscreen TVs - $25/each

• CRT Monitors/Large TVs (think big, bulky desktop computer and box TVs) - $50/each

When: Saturday, June 21st - 10:00AM to 2:00PM

Where: Evergreen High School parking lot

ments. People between the ages of 19 to 64 would have to work, go to school or volunteer at least 80 hours a month to receive Medicaid. ere are exemptions, including for pregnancy, people with dependent children or those with complex medical issues.

“You have somewhere around foursome-odd million folks of able-bodied workers who are choosing not to work,” Evans added. “And that work requirement is not just work, it’s community volunteering, it’s school, and there’s a whole host of exceptions to it.”

Upwards of 128,000 Coloradans could lose health coverage through the proposed work requirements, according to

an analysis prepared by the liberal-leaning Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, both national nonpro t organizations.

e group found nearly nine in 10 adults in the age group covered by the work requirement could satisfy the exemption criteria, suggesting that either the change would have minimal impacts on enrollment or result in people losing coverage simply because they fail to prove their extenuating circumstances.

Two provisions have state implications e two biggest provisions that would hit Colorado have to do with immigrants and the so-called provider tax.

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal Medicaid. However, some states have used their own dollars to provide a health insurance plan for some undocumented people. In Colorado, that coverage applies to children and mothers during pregnancy and up to a year after delivery. e Republican plan would punish states by dropping the federal matching rate (known as FMAP) for people under the Medicaid expansion from 90 percent to 80 percent unless they change their policies.

e bill would also prohibit states from establishing any new provider taxes — or increasing existing ones — to draw down extra Medicaid dollars. Colorado’s version of the tax is known as the Hospital Provider Fee.

e provider taxes paid by hospitals help cover the state’s Medicaid costs by increasing the federal government’s matching payments, with some of that

A hospital room at Denver Health. Jan. 1, 2025.

PHOTO BY KEVIN J. BEATY / DENVERITE

extra money ultimately going back to the hospitals themselves.

It’s helped keep some hospitals a oat. It also made it possible for Colorado to expand Medicaid under the A ordable Care Act to cover 400,000 more low-income adults, sharply reducing the number of people who come to hospitals without insurance.

“Federal cuts would threaten the health care of hundreds of thousands of Coloradans, and Governor Polis continues to urge Congress to avoid devastating federal cuts to health care that would hurt our economy and our health care system,” said Shelby Wieman, a spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.

She noted Colorado does not have the resources to replace reductions made by Congress.

“Colorado already only gets .90 cents back for every dollar we send to Washington, and Medicaid cuts would make it worse. Costs would go up for everyone’s insurance because of cost shifting from uncompensated care. e more than one million Coloradans who get their health care through Medicaid are watching, which is why the Governor has urged Congress to avoid deep cuts to Medicaid,” she said in an emailed statement.

Weiman said the governor’s o ce is reviewing how the changes will impact the state’s budget and, depending on the scope of any cuts, Polis may be forced to call a special session to ensure the state’s nances stay in balance.

DeGette echoed those concerns. If the federal government reduces payments to Colorado, she said, “I’m going to guarantee you Colorado doesn’t have the money

to make up the di erence for any Medicaid recipients.”

But Evans challenged the idea that the state couldn’t nd savings to o set increased Medicaid costs.

“We’ve seen Colorado shovel tens of millions of dollars to illegal immigrants above and beyond actual Coloradans,” he said, adding, “[the department that oversees Medicaid] is the third-worst performing department in the state of Colorado … that’s per the 2024 statewide audit.”

e governor’s o ce pushed back on Evans’ characterizations as inaccurate, saying the state has been “very aggressive about preventing and pursuing fraud.”

A spokesman for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which administers the state’s Medicaid program under the name Health First Colorado, said the state doesn’t have any speci c details yet on the potential impact of the reconciliation bill in Colorado, because things are still very much in ux.

“Congress is in the early stages of their reconciliation process. We are currently reviewing the language released Monday to understand what the impacts may be to our Medicaid and CHP+ programs and the Coloradans who are covered by them,” said public information o cer Marc Williams, in an emailed statement. “We expect the language to evolve as Congress considers the proposals, and we will be updating our estimates as we learn more on our website.”

Concern from hospitals and patient advocates e state’s hospitals, which are trying to protect access and preserve Medicaid, are watching the situation carefully as well and expressed relief that Republicans aren’t pursuing deeper cuts.

“ e original Congressional Medic-

aid cut concepts oated earlier this year would have devastated the health care safety net,” said the Colorado Hospital Association in an emailed statement. “CHA is deeply grateful to the entire Colorado Congressional Delegation for their leadership and for helping ensure that several of the most damaging Medicaid proposals were excluded from the Energy and Commerce package.”

e statement noted that CHA representatives were in Washington, D.C. earlier this month to advocate against those provisions. e group said it appreciates what it sees as progress re ected in the current draft.

But it noted that as the reconciliation process goes on, the association “remains concerned about provisions that could still pose serious risks and reduce state exibility and funding, potentially leading to coverage losses, patients seeking more costly emergency instead of preventive care, and service line or hospital closures.”

Donna Lynne, CEO of the state’s agship safety net hospital, said nearly half of Denver Health’s patients are enrolled in Medicaid, and it already is inadequately funded for providing that care. She said Republicans’ changes will make that situation more di cult.

“Some of the provisions like adding work requirements (and) requiring more frequent eligibility checks will have the same impact” as direct cuts, Lynne said. “I think our concern is that the net e ect of the bill will be, there’ll be more uninsured patients, and we don’t get reimbursed for any of them.”

“I think there are multiple ways that this bill passes costs onto the state and Colorado simply can’t a ord it,” said Adam Fox, deputy director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, a group that advocates for health access. “It will cost us

tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars to administer work requirements that are proposed, that just add administrative barriers when people need care.”

Fox spoke from D.C., where he and other Colorado advocates have been making the rounds, visiting members of the state’s delegation. He said he’s telling members and their sta that “work requirements add administrative burden for every Medicaid enrollee. Even if they are given an exemption, they have to prove that exemption.”

But that argument didn’t persuade Evans, who, in a statement after the vote, said, “ is bill follows through on our promises to cut waste, fraud, and abuse while simultaneously protecting coverage for Colorado’s most vulnerable populations.”

A loss of coverage for a large number of Coloradans covered by Medicaid would impact the bottom line of hospitals, community health centers and clinics that rely on Medicaid reimbursements to keep the doors open.

“I think what we’ve really tried to underscore that aspect that these proposals will still end up stripping coverage from thousands of Coloradans. It will take millions if not billions of dollars out of our healthcare system and our healthcare providers can’t take that hit,” Fox said, who cited a national estimate that with work requirements, hospitals could see over a 20% reduction in Medicaid reimbursement. “ ere are many rural hospitals and clinics and providers that will either have to reduce services or close their doors altogether. at means everybody in those communities loses access to healthcare.”

is story is from CPR News, a nonpro t public broadcaster serving Colorado. Used by permission. For more, and to support Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org.

Oil well blowout in Weld exposed people to benzene

Chemical plume in tiny Galeton ﬂowed for almost ﬁve days before the well was secured and sealed

BY MARK JAFFE THE COLORADO SUN

e oil well blowout last month in rural Galeton, which sparked the evacuation of nearby homes, spewed dangerous levels of toxic chemicals as far as 2 miles away, according to preliminary tests by a Colorado State University team.

Benzene, a known carcinogen and respiratory irritant, was found in concentrations 10 times above federal standard for chronic exposure, and was among dozens of chemicals detected.

“People were potentially exposed to a chemical soup,” said Emily Fischer, a CSU professor of atmospheric science.

e uncontrolled blowout of the Chevron Bishop well in Galeton, a community of 256 about 7 miles northeast of Greeley, began the evening of April 6, sending a white geyser of water, crude oil and gas high into the air.

It was almost ve days before the well was secured and sealed. e failure of wellhead equipment caused the blowout and it was not related to either drilling or fracking the well, Chevron said in its preliminary assessment.

“We know the when,” said Kristen Kemp, a spokesperson for the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission, which oversees oil and gas drilling. “And we know the what: an uncontrolled release of wellbore uid due to a failed barrier. … We are still investigating the why.”

Chevron, CDPHE report lower emissions levels

e ECMC is overseeing the investigation and the remediation of the site, but deferred to state air regulators on emissions.

Both Chevron and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment have been conducting air quality tests and have not detected levels as high as those measured by the CSU team.

CSU reported its initial ndings to CDPHE, but the department said its Air Pollution Control Division had not yet received or reviewed the university’s full air monitoring data.

e di erence in readings comes from a di erence in the way researchers did their sampling.

CSU’s data show higher levels because researchers followed the pollution plume streaming from the well.

Emissions from a point source — like a smokestack — move on the wind, forming a band that becomes more diluted as it travels farther from the source and is less dense at its edges than in its center.

Using a mobile air lab in a Chevy Tahoe, CSU graduate student Lena Low and Matthew Davis, a postdoctoral researcher, tracked the plume while the geyser from the well was at full force.

On the evening of April 8, Low tracked the plume taking samples at about 1 mile downwind from the well, with the highest reading 35.5 parts per billion of benzene at the plume’s edge — that yielded a cal-

culation of about 100 ppb at the center.

Low used a canister to grab a sample of the air for laboratory analysis.

ere was no question of heading into the plume. Even at the edge, “it smelled horrible and felt hot,” Low said. “It was very unpleasant.”

At 2 miles, just using the instruments in the Tahoe, the methane level was about 20 ppm.

e federal Agency of Toxic Substances and Disease Registry sets the long-term exposure level at no more than 9 ppb. Colorado’s health guideline value is the

same. Davis sampled the area midday April 8 and recorded levels of 22 ppb of benzene a mile away and 5.4 ppb 2 miles away.

Fourteen families within a half-mile of the wells voluntarily evacuated with Chevron providing help with living and housing expenses.

Most of the houses are now wrapped in plastic and being decontaminated.

“ e whole area looks like Chernobyl,” Carol Hawkins, a Weld County activist op-

Footprints in a pond close to Willow Creek by County Roads 72 and 51 on May 6, 2025,, near where Chevron’s Bishop well blew out in Galeton on April 6, 2025. Much of the work around the well involves protecting the creek and other waterways from liquids that spewed from the well for nearly ﬁve days.

We’d like to know about events or activities of interest to the community. Visit www.clearcreekcourant.com/calendar/ and post your event online for free. Email ckoeberl@coloradocommunitymedia.com

UPCOMING

Empire Adopt-a-Highway Cleanup: 8 a.m. Sat. June 14th Help us tidy up 2 miles of Hwy 40 through Empire, CO. Meet at the Empire Visitors Center 30 Park Ave, Idaho Springs.

Meet Clear Creek County Commissioners: 6 p.m. Monday May 28 at King Murphy Elementary in Evergreen,425 Circle K Ranch Rd.

ONGOING

Idaho Springs Lions Club meetings: 7:30 a.m. every rst and third ursday of the month at Marions of the Rockies, 2805 Colorado Blvd., Idaho Springs. Come join us and help to serve our community. For information – www.islions.org, email info@ isLions.org or call 720-608-1140.

Clear Creek Democrats: 5-7 p.m. “ irsty 3rd ursday” at the Vintage Moose, 12 16th Ave. in Idaho Springs. Non-alcoholic options and snacks are provided.

CASA of the Continental Divide seeks volunteers:CASACD promotes and protects the best interests of abused and neglected

children involved in court proceedings through the advocacy e orts of trained CASA volunteers. Be the di erence and advocate for the youth in our community. e o ce can be reached at 970-513-9390.

Clear Creek EMS/Evergreen Fire Rescue Launch Mugs for Rugs Campaign: Bring an old throw rug and you’ll leave with a bright green mug! You can bring them to Station 1A in Dumont, 3400 Stanley Road, or you can email captains@clearcreekems. com and CCEMS will come to you to make the trade. Clear Creek EMS also o ers fall-risk assessments by bringing someone from the re department to make sure smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working properly. To request a visit, ll out the form at clearcreekcounty. us/1388/Community-Outreach.

TRUST

brant media ecosystem in the state.”

Blue Spruce Habitat volunteers needed: Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity is looking for volunteers. A variety of opportunities and exible schedules are available on new construction sites as well as for exterior minor home repairs. No previous construction experience needed. Contact volunteer@bluesprucehabitat.org for information.

Resilience1220 counseling: Young people 12 to 20 can get free counseling through an Evergreen-based organization called

Resilience1220. Composed of licensed therapists, Resilience1220 serves individuals and groups in the foothills including Clear Creek County. ey also facilitate school and community groups to build life skills in wellness and resilience among youth. For more information or to schedule a counseling session, visit R1220. org, email Resilience1220@ gmail.com or call 720-282-1164.

Dental clinics: Cleanings, Xrays, dentures, tooth extractions and more. Most insurances are accepted including Medicaid. Sliding scale/low-cost options are also available. No appointment necessary. is is a mobile dentist that comes once a month. Call program manager Lauralee at 720-205-4449 for questions.

Clear Creek Rotary 2000 meetings: Clear Creek Rotary 2000 meets at 7:30 a.m. Wednesdays at Marion’s of the Rockies. 2805 Colorado Blvd., Idaho Springs. For more information, email loe er806@comcast.net.

Support after suicide loss: A safe place to share and learn after losing a loved one to suicide. is group meets every fourth Wednesday of the month from 5:30-7:30 p.m. via Zoom or in person at the Resilience1220 ofce. For ages 14 and up. Suggested donation for this group is $15. Register at resilience1220.org/ groups.

Sensitive collection: Resilience1220 strives to inform and support highly sensitive people to live healthy and empowered lives. It meets the third Wednesday of each month from 6-7 p.m. and is o ered via Zoom or in person at the Resilience1220 o ce. Register at resilience1220.org/ groups.

Public Health o ering sexual health and family planning: Clear Creek County Public Health is now o ering Sexual Health and Planning Services at the Health and Wellness Center in Idaho Springs. Public Health o ers counseling, emergency contraception, pregnancy testing, STI and HIV screenings, basic infertility services and birth control options and referrals. ese services are con dential. Public Health can also now bill Medicaid and most private insurance. However, if you do not have insurance, fees are based on a sliding scale — and no one will be turned away if they are unable to pay.

Clear Creek County Lookout Alert: e CodeRED alerts have been replaced by the Lookout Alert. Residents can sign up for emergency alerts county-wide by signing up at www.lookoutalert. co. e new site replaces CodeRED following the switch to Je Com911 for emergency dispatch earlier this year.

e seven newspapers retained by the National Trust are the Brighton Standard-Blade, Fort Lupton Press, Canyon Courier, Clear Creek Courant, Northglenn- ornton Sentinel, Westminster Window and Golden Transcript. ese titles will become part of the Colorado Trust for Local News, a subsidiary of the National Trust dedicated to building an equitable, resilient, and vibrant future for local news across Colorado.

Times Media Group owns and operates more than 60 publications in Arizona and California — free weekly newspapers, magazines, specialty publications and robust digital platforms that reach hundreds of thousands of readers. e news brands shifting to Times Media Group include newspapers like the Arvada Press, Littleton Independent and Parker Chronicle, as well as two shoppers.

e majority of Colorado Community Media’s employees were o ered positions with Times Media Group, while others will stay with the Colorado Trust for Local News.

“We couldn’t be more excited to serve the communities in Colorado. We know how much community news means in this state, and we understand the terri c legacy created over the years by these publications and their teams,” said Steve Strickbine, president and founder of Times Media Group. “ is partnership is a good t for Times Media Group and the National Trust for Local News. I look forward to the great journalism ahead and the new ways we’ll create for our advertisers to reach their customers and clients.”

Phone: 303-566-4100

e National Trust for Local News acquired Colorado Community Media in 2021 to ensure its nearly two dozen newspapers had a future and would not become news deserts.

Leadership told employees that e Trust was approached by Times Media Group in recent months and discovered the company shared its mission of preserving and growing local news.

Last fall, the National Trust opened the Trust Press in Denver, a community printing press designed to serve publishers across Colorado who are struggling with the rising costs of producing their journalism. e press has

now taken on its rst seven printing partners. As part of the transaction, TMG will print with the Trust Press. As another part of the transaction, TMG will provide shared services to the Colorado Trust for Local News, including page design, digital infrastructure, advertising sales, and circulation management. Other terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Web: ClearCreekCourant.com

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Leadership for Times Media Group, Director of Operations Nadine Johnson and founder and President Steve Strickbine, were in the Colorado Community Media o ces on May 13, 2025, to announce the deal.

PHOTO BY COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA STAFF

Don’t forget that you can change lanes

Spring is a time of renewed hope, with longer days, warmer weather, green grass and pretty owers blooming. But while nature ourishes, a dark cloud looms over the economy.

Five months into the new year, economic growth is slipping, and so far, 2025 does not appear to be the turnaround year of positive change. Instead, consumers, business owners and investors are struggling with in ation, declining economic growth and daily volatility in portfolios of all risk levels. Hope springs eternal, however, and there is still a chance we could get through this decline without going into recession.

Let’s take a closer look.

is month, the rst-quarter gross domestic product (GDP), the rate at which our economy is growing, was announced. ere was actually a contraction, or negative growth, of three-tenths of 1%. e news sent the markets into a heavy sell-

Economy facing many challenges

o amid concerns of a recession. e technical de nition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative GDP. Since we have one quarter under our belt, all attention is focused on this second quarter and whether there will be slight growth or another contraction. Mariner’s chief economist, William Greiner, has been predicting for most of this year that our GDP will land somewhere between 1.5% and 2%. While that is considerably lower than last year, it would still be enough to keep us out of a recession. Greiner remains optimistic, putting the chance of recession this year at only 40% — more positive than the majority of economists, who are predicting a worse economic outlook for 2025.

Reasons for concern include¹:

• Changes in economic policies under President Trump

• Trade de cits and potential tari s

• Weakening consumer demand

• Pessimistic CFO outlook

• Major nancial institutions estimate a 50% to 60% chance of recession this year

Reasons for optimism include:

• Strong job growth and low unemployment

• Public and private investments in infrastructure and technology

• e potential of arti cial intelligence to drive economic growth

Consumers still make up almost 70% of our GDP, so watching what we buy is key to understanding how the second quarter will unfold. Tari s have driven up the cost of many items, from dollar-store trinkets to automobiles. Now, consumers are more worried about egg prices and less concerned about buying discretionary items that can wait.

Investors, too, are playing the waiting

game to gauge whether the economic impact of these changes will trigger a slowdown. At the same time, the stock market is repricing itself. e best performers of last year are coming down in value as the price-to-earnings ratios of highying tech stocks fall. e market is now focused on anticipating how consumer spending will shift next, bringing more undervalued stocks into the game. ese are all good reasons to have a strong, actively rebalanced portfolio strategy in place. Such an approach would have triggered a sale on US largecap growth stocks toward the end of last year, and the investment of the proceeds into underdog value stocks. is is the ultimate opportunity to see “buy low, sell high” at work in real time.

1. Bureau of Economic Analysis

Patricia Kummer is managing director for Mariner, an SEC Registered Investment Adviser.

Compassionate Conservation:

A path to healthy Ecosystems

Recent headlines have me overwhelmed.

Toxic algae blooms in California, decreasing butter ies and honeybees, steep declines of our native bird species…all of which point to a natural world in dire trouble. e time is overdue to embrace compassionate conservation and do whatever we can to nurture our wildlife.

Killing by trophy hunting and trapping of inedible species for recreation or fur sales to China is not conservation. Conservation, at its core, is about preserving life and ensuring the survival of species and ecosystems for future generations. Killing disregards the balance of ecosystems.

ABOUT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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Hate and fear mongering are also not conservation. Anti-predator rhetoric and fear is a constant by certain industries – as though our native carnivores must be randomly killed to provide for human safety. Unless we adopt a holistic, humane, and progressive approach to carnivore management we may well be headed backwards at this critical juncture.

Our native carnivores should be treasured for the indispensable role they play in ecological balance. Human health is directly tied to wildlife health. I implore all Coloradans to co-exist with our magni cent wild neighbors and treasure them for their value alive.

Rainer Gerbatsh, Arvada

• Submit your letter by 5 p.m. on Wednesday in order to have it considered for publication in the following week’s newspaper.

• Letters must be no longer than 400 words.

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SHOOTING

he was still in contact with Lewis via cell phone and she indicated “She had a gun and wanted to die by ‘suicide by cop.’”

Refusing commands to exit the truck, law enforcement o cers started to deploy “less-than-lethal” rounds at Lewis including bean-bag shotgun rounds and “pepper ball” rounds into the truck, at least one of which created a hole in the back window of the vehicle.

At one point, Capt. Seth Marquardt reported they had utilized all less-thanlethal rounds on-hand.

He also reported he could clearly see the muzzle of a gun protruding through the hole in the back window and it was “pointed right at him,” according to CBI reports.

Shortly after, Lewis got out of the truck and began walking slowly to the west with a cell phone in one hand and a gun in the other, according to Marquardt’s reports.

Multiple o cers repeatedly retreated to cover while keeping Lewis in their sights with both less-than-lethal and lethal weapons, according to the CBI. Reports indicate Lewis was struck in the leg by a less-lethal round at one point. Capt. Eric Rubin stated “ at she fell to the ground and shortly thereafter she

made a movement which he interpreted as threatening toward the deputies who were to his right.”

Lewis was seen raising her handgun and pointed it directly at an o cer, who according to Marquardt, “was without cover,” and “she would have a clear opportunity to shoot.”

At that point, Marquardt red his duty ri e, reports state, two to four times. At the same time, two other deputies opened re.

According to CBI reports Lt. Nick DiBiase red ve to six ri e rounds at Lewis, in a statement to CBI DiBiase said, “He believed she (Lewis) was about to shoot and kill him.”

Rubin red once from his handgun, according to CBI reports.

Rubin has more than 40 years of law enforcement experience, however it was his fourth day on-the-job with the Clear Creek Sheri ’s department when he red his weapon, according to reports.

In her nal report on the shooting McCollum added to her determination ‘no crime was committed’ by deputies and no criminal charges would be pursued with a statement:

“It should also be noted that Ms. Lewis had a deadly weapon in her possession, which she pointed toward multiple ofcers for over 17 minutes. All deputies and o cers on scene used great restraint in not ring lethal rounds at her sooner than they did,” she stated.

A video image shows 36-year-old Christine Lewis pointing a handgun at Clear Creek Sheri deputies seconds before she was shot to death. COURTSEY CLEAR CREEK COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT

BY BEN MARKUS CPR NEWS

Sports betting revenue keeps rising

Coloradans love to gamble on sports. And the addition of new ways to wager, like parlays and live bets, have helped to boost industry revenues, despite the randomness of sporting events that can leave sportsbooks occasionally at a loss.

Because at the end of the day, the house rarely loses for long.

Gambling companies, including DraftKings and FanDuel, brought in $475 million in gross gaming revenue in Colorado last year (wagers minus payouts), a 21% increase over 2023, according to data from the Colorado Department of Revenue. It’s almost double the rate of revenue growth in 2023, which was 11%.

e new data shows the industry has yet to fully mature, about ve years after Colorado allowed the rst legal sports wagers.

e increased interest in sports betting means more tax revenue for Colorado.

Last year, Colorado collected $31.9 million from those bets. And Colorado will get to keep all that money thanks to the recent passage of Proposition JJ, which allows the state to keep tax revenues over the previous TABOR-mandated cap of $29 million. e money goes to a variety of things, most notably for water plan projects.

Parlay bets increased proﬁts

It’s unclear if there are more people betting in Colorado or if the people betting are just wagering more. One of the biggest changes in the industry is the growth of parlay bets, where gamblers string together a series of things like: Nuggets to win,

a higher-risk, higher-reward bet that the apps heavily promote through incentives, like bigger payo s.

Parlays are a win-win for the industry.

“ ese parlays make the sportsbooks more money, but people also like to bet them; it’s more fun for the bettor,” said Ryan Butler, who covers the industry for Covers, a gambling website.

Beyond parlays

e sportsbook has long been a relatively small part of casino pro ts, so the app developers are looking ahead to a more lucrative business: fully online casinos, things like poker and blackjack, not just sports.

Sportsbooks said that’s because more favorites won than anticipated in the recent March Madness men’s basketball tournament. DraftKings reported that more than 80 percent of favorites won, the most in more than 40 years. And bettors tend to put their money on the favorites. at’s just the nature of sports.

ere are many apps on o er in Colorado for sports bets, but DraftKings and FanDuel now control about 70 percent of the U.S. betting market, in part because they added enticing parlay options to their apps. “So DraftKings and FanDuel created that technology quicker than anyone else, that’s why they rose to the top,” said Butler.

He said younger bettors in particular prefer parlay bets. “ ey just like the lottery ticket aspect of it.”

e vast majority of sports gamblers will not develop an addiction, the national rate is estimated at up to 3 percent. But there’s concern that addiction rates are higher among young men, who are growing up with unlimited sports gambling on their phone.

Colorado has granted millions to behavioral health providers and educational campaigns. e Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission announced $2.9

“Everything is based o of that goal,” said Butler.

Only a handful of states allow online casino games, but they are hugely pro table. In the rst quarter of this year, DraftKings reported $881 million in sports betting revenue across 25 states and Washington DC, and $423 million revenue in the just ve states that allow it to operate casino games online.

Any such plan would face a lot of hurdles in Colorado. e handful of physical casinos operating in the state, which are mandated by law to be located in three historic mining towns, would likely ght any proposal to expand online gambling to phone apps.

Sports are unpredictable

While last year saw large growth in sports bets and revenue, there are periods when the house loses. In Colorado, sports gaming revenues dropped 20 percent in March, compared to March of last year.

“ at’s why people watch sports and want to bet on sports, it’s part of what makes the customer experience great,” said Jason Robins, CEO of DraftKings, on a Friday investor conference call. “So there are periods where you’re gonna have quarters two, three in a row sometimes with bad outcomes.”

Colorado bettors are the best?

Butler has data on hold percentage by state, and Colorado has the lowest hold percentage in the U.S. Hold percentage is the money that sportsbooks keep for every dollar wagered.

“So one can extrapolate that Colorado has the best bettors,” said Butler. “It makes sense: higher education level, really loyal fans, pretty a uent demographic.”

So when it comes to sports betting, Colorado is winning in more ways than one.

is story is from CPR News, a nonpro t public broadcaster serving Colorado. Used by permission. For more, and to support Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org.

A football betting board shows the odds of weekends-worth of games. Betting companies continue to post record revenues from sports betting in Colorado.

Miller moths are coming, and experts say: relax

The moths are a critical part of our ecosystem

BY KYLE HARRIS DENVERITE

An untold number of miller moths, who have been hatching in the Great Plains, will y into Denver in the days ahead as they utter their way to the Rocky Mountains.

Some Denverites will fear them — maybe even kill them. Others will celebrate their role in the ecosystem as nighttime pollinators and delicious snacks for birds, reptiles and even bears.

After hatching from cocoons on crops, miller moths travel more than 100 miles in their few-month lifespan. ey follow the light of the moon.

In Denver, they often nd themselves smacking into lightbulbs until they realize their destination is elsewhere. Others die here, lost in the big city. e migration through Denver is likely to start any day now and continue for several weeks. It’s unclear yet how this wave will compare to some in the past.

ere’s a lot that lepidopterists (moth experts) don’t know about miller moths.

How many y into Denver? What is their survival rate? How is climate change impacting their migration patterns? We don’t know.

Currently, there’s not enough information out there to predict how large a migration will occur in any given year, though weather patterns likely in uence it, said Francisco Garcia, the Butter y Pavilion’s director of science and conservation.

BLOWOUT

posing drilling, said after driving through the area from her home in Ault.

Monitoring at nearby elementary will continue

e emissions readings are dependent on meteorological and atmospheric conditions, CSU’s Fischer said. For example, multiple measurements were taken at the Galeton Elementary School, which is next to the well site, but was upwind and all those readings were comparable to the ambient background level of 2 ppb. e school had been closed from April 11 to April 22.

But during the early morning, when the

Invertebrates represent 97 percent of all the species on the planet, he said. And they are often misunderstood — even feared.

air cools and becomes more dense, the benzene likely became more concentrated leading to even high emission levels.

CDPHE sent its Mobile Optical Oil and Gas Sensor of Emissions air monitoring van, known as MOOSE, to the area after the incident soon after the well failure and stayed through April 11. e MOOSE recorded maximum levels of 9 ppb to 10 ppb of benzene about 2 miles downwind of the incident location on two di erent deployments.

On April 11, CDPHE also placed a stationary monitor at the school and said it will continue monitoring until the school year ends May 23. CDPHE said it has not observed any measurement above the state’s health guideline value for benzene since beginning measurements at the school.

“Chevron has multiple air monitors in

ere are many challenges in studying them.

“ ey have very short life cycles,” Garcia said. “ ey’re very small. And they also y all over the place.”

Another obstacle: e Trump administration is slashing federal funding for the

and around our locations. e night of the Bishop well incident, our on-going air monitoring was in place,” the company said in a statement.

Chevron conducted air monitoring and collected approximately 3,000 measurements that were analyzed by independent laboratories.

“Air monitoring continues in and around the area surrounding the site and the community, and all measurements that we have received from the laboratories have been below levels of concern,” the company said.

Monitoring at the school will continue for the “next few years” according to a note to parents from Kim Hielscher, the school’s principal, and Jay Tapia, the district superintendent.

Measurements of exposure to emissions can be elusive, said Andrew Klooster, who

sciences, which Garcia worries will slow down moth research critical to understanding climate change and ecosystems. Moths, unlike butter ies, are often underappreciated — in part, because nighttime is stigmatized and they’re far less

People think miller moths will bite, eat their clothes, and attack pets and chil-

“ ey are completely harmless,” Garcia said. “ ey are just passing through for a

He likens Denver to an Airbnb for miller moths. ey settle here for a few days and

“ e best we can do is not harming them, turning o our lights during the night and then allowing these migrations to go through and nish,” Garcia said. “We need these pollinators. We need them pollinating all these di erent plants in the ecosystem and also feeding reptiles, birds and all these di erent animals.”

Miller moths also fuel the agricultural economy by pollinating crops worth millions of dollars. And ultimately, they help propagate the wild owers and other native plants of the Rockies.

ey may be small, but their role in the ecosystem is huge.

Garcia describes them as “tiny, little giants … our heroes.”

is story is from Denverite, a Denver news site. Used by permission. For more, and to support Denverite, visit denverite. com.

as the Colorado eld advocate for the environmental group Earthworks uses an infrared camera to document emissions violations.

“Chevron probably had air monitors at the edge of its site but this pollution plume ew right over them,” Klooster said. “What happened in Galeton is rare. is isn’t something we routinely encounter.”

“It is a cautionary tale for even with Chevron having all these best management practices in place it happened,” he said. “Galeton is rural. What if it happens in proximity of homes and growing communities as we see on the Front Range?”

is story was printed through a news sharing agreement with e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned nonpro t based in Denver that covers the state.

A dead miller moth is found in a Denver home in 2020.

PHOTO BY KEVIN J. BEATY / DENVERITE

BY JANE REUTER JREUTER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

When Comedy Works owner Wende Curtis’ attorney rst took her to the future site of her second club in Greenwood Village’s Landmark complex, she was lost.

“My tiny world is downtown and Cherry Creek,” she said. “I had to follow him out there. I didn’t know where the hell I was.But I knew I wanted to expand in that direction. I needed to open another club; I felt like the city could handle it. And if I was going to go to a suburb, my gut instinct was that I’d go to where there was more money per household.”

Zip code scanners Curtis got for her downtown location in 2004 had already given her the data to back the decision up. It showed a lot of the downtown club’s customers were driving in from the suburbs. But she suspected there were potentially many more.

“We were very busy downtown, and I felt I was missing a part of the population

Comedy boom

Curtis and other metro-area comedy venues are riding a nationwide wave.

Stand-up comedy ticket sales have tripled over the last decade, and many credit the internet and social media — and speci cally Net ix — for transforming the industry.

According to Bloomberg, Net ix started funding new stand-up comedy in 2013, with specials from Mike Birbiglia, Iliza Shlesinger and Aziz Ansari.

“ e company saw stand-up as an underexploited genre, a low-cost way to get hours of programming and some famous names on the platform,” according to the Bloomberg article.

Net ix quickly scaled the business from a handful of specials annually to dozens, paying high dollars for big names like Jerry Seinfeld and Kevin Hart.

Competing services rst viewed Net ix’s investment in comedy as irrational, but comedians didn’t. And while other streaming services have since gotten on board, Net ix remains the king of comedy.

in the Denver metro area,” she said. “If you live in Castle Pines and you’re driving downtown ve days a week, are you going to drive down there again on Saturday?”

While the downtown Comedy Works is dark and intimate, Curtis designed the Greenwood Village site very di erently — with not only more seating capacity but more space overall. e nished 21,000-square-foot Comedy Works South that opened in October 2008 includes a restaurant and martini bar.

ese features are not available at the original site. Also unlike downtown, parking is free and easy to nd.

While those added amenities attract customers, they also re ect what Curtis felt suburban customers wanted.

“I knew when I built something in the suburbs I was going to have to make it roomier,” she said. “Downtown is tight. People move to the suburbs to have space, and I think they expect it.”

Comedy Works South is a Landmark anchor that’s stood the test of time, with numbers that consistently exceed Curtis’ expectations and reinforce her initial instincts that suburban residents would support a comedy venue.

e exposure it gave comedians brought their talents to a wider audience, and the appreciation for comedy spun into the real world. Ticket sales for live comedy shows topped $900 million in 2023.

Why is comedy so popular? It’s not just because it’s funny.

Comedians use humor to speak truth to power while giving audiences a bit of relief from the absurdities and emotions of everyday life.

“ eir craft allows them to push boundaries and provoke deeper thought through laughter, sparking joy, conversations and, sometimes, fresh perspectives,” according to an article in Medium.

It also has health bene ts. Laughter releases chemicals in our bodies and brains that instantly relieve stress and boost mood. And it helps bring people together, crossing political, cultural and societal barriers in a way few other things can.

For all those reasons, Comedy Works is just one comedy business venturing beyond the city limits.

Rotating Taps

Denver comedian Steve Vanderploeg is now a regular performer at Comedy Works. But a few years ago, that wasn’t the case. So he started his own suburban comedy business.

“Within a few years, it started winning local awards,” Vanderploeg said. “It turns out breweries are very good locations for comedy because they need entertainment just as much as other venues.”

He’s since expanded to breweries throughout the metro area, including Arvada, Brighton, Lakewood and Littleton. Most of the shows are free, as many brewery owners wanted to keep their regulars happy. But it also makes comedy fans happy. Many can’t a ord or don’t want to pay for tickets, food and drinks — a two-item food or beverage minimum is required at Comedy Works. And scattering shows at breweries in neighborhoods throughout the area makes seeing a show logistically easier.

“One thing that makes us di erent is we actually bring comedy to these deeper pockets of the ‘burbs,” Vanderploeg said. “A lot of times people don’t want to go downtown. Bringing the comedy to them has helped grow the love for comedy around Denver.”

“I thought Comedy Works was never going to pass me — which means you get paid to work on the weekends,” he said. “I thought I’d never get that opportunity, so I needed to build opportunities for myself.”

Vanderploeg suspected breweries could be good venues for stand-up comedy. Not everyone agreed.

“I had a couple comedians telling me breweries were terrible locations for comedy shows,” he said.

But like Curtis, Vanderploeg followed his instincts, launching Rotating Tap Comedy in spring 2019. He started at south metro Denver’s Chain Reaction Brewing — the owners were his childhood hockey buddies.

A Rotating Taps venue is also a good place for new comedians to test their stand-up chops. Vanderploeg typically books a mix of newer and more experienced comedians together. “ ese are mostly locals I work with — it’s a big network,” he said. “We like to give opportunities to those coming up because that’s why I started it — to give myself opportunities. But in order to keep it sustainable, we also have to bring in seasoned pros that

e newest metro-area entertainment venue is part comedy club, part variety show theater and part arcade. Husband-and-wife team Brandon Riks and Stacey Bell opened Gnarly’s in late December, taking over the former Miners Alley Playhouse site in down-

COMEDY

Riks and Bell believe their business lls a gap in the popular tourist town.

“ ere’s a lot of stu to do in Golden, but we feel it’s geared toward an older crowd,” Riks said. “ ey’ve got the playhouse, where you can catch an awesome musical or play, and the Bu alo Rose, plus lots of good places to eat and drink. But there’s not really a good hangout place for families or college kids, for comedy or some other type of adult-themed variety show.”

e couple has some history to back their theory up. While they’re new to comedy, Riks and Bell are experienced in business, running Lakewood’s Gnarly Toybox vintage toy store since 2018.

Riks and Bell carried that theme to Gnarly’s in Golden, including a vintage toy museum with everything from He-Man to Ninja Turtles to Garbage Pail Kids. Harkening back to simpler times, all Gnarly’s arcade games are set to free play.

“As long as you have a ticket to the show or a wrist band for the arcade, games are set on free play,” Riks said.

Because the theater only holds about 100 people, Riks and Bell shifted their plans from doing comedy full time.

“We know quite a few comics, and we’d always talked about how Golden would do really well with a comedy club because there’s nothing anywhere near,” Riks said. “But with 100 seats, our original thoughts of pulling famous comedians into the theater seemed a little bit unreachable. We’d have to charge too much for the tickets to pay them.

“So the plan is to become someplace cool enough and well known enough that when other comics are in town, they want to do a set at Gnarly’s,” he said. “And also to maximize the abilities of the space. We landed on making it a variety show theater on top of a comedy club.”

While most of Gnarly’s comedians will focus on adult content, the variety shows are designed to be family

friendly, featuring ventriloquists, magicians and jugglers. Riks plans to o er six-to-eight half-hour variety shows daily. Gnarly’s has a liquor license but for its day shows, it’ll accent an old-school soda bar and exotic snack bodega.

In Riks’ vision, it will o er something for everyone. “Dad can sit down and have a beer, let the kids run in the arcade and catch a quick juggling show,” he said.

Riks and Bell aim to o er three-to-four comedy shows a week and keep the price friendly, too. He expects it will generally be $20 a ticket.

What If Theatre

found it a little calculated. I was trying really hard to nd the points within my act to gauge what would get maximum laughter from the audience. With improv, you are feeling out the audience and your teammates for what works best with the people who are in this space, at this time. And it will never be repeated.”

Carletti sees a di erence in demographics in suburban audiences. People in their 20s and 30s tend to frequent downtown venues.

Well-rehearsed stand-up comedy is one way to get laughs. But in Lakewood, Joy Carletti and Colin Iago McCarthy are placing their bets on improv. e two opened What If eatre in October 2023, producing six inhouse shows a year and bringing in improv troupes from throughout the Front Range.

“I feel like our audiences skew both older and younger. I see people who live here coming to see the shows, and I’m very grateful for that,” she said. “I think the arts should be accessible to people – you should have art where you are. Asking people to come to the city is not for everyone. So let’s meet people where they are.”

e business taps into not only their love of improv, but for each other. e two met while doing improv in San Francisco, returning to McCarthy’s home town of Lakewood to eventually open the theater.

ey follow a form of improv called the Harold, a longform improvised format that emphasizes patterns, themes and group discoveries instead of a traditional plot or story. So while their shows are designed to be funny, they’re carefully constructed to include much more than just humor.

e house ensemble, for instance, goes by the name Streaky Bacon — inspired by a Charles Dickens quote.

“It basically says good plays should have comedy and drama in as equal layers as in good, streaky bacon,” Carletti said. “We believe yes, we’re creating comedy, but there should be some drama and vulnerability because that makes the comedy brighter.”

e shows typically revolve around familiar themes, including “Law and Order,” or a version of “Vacation.”

Another show featured a teenager who saves the world.

“A suburban audience that might not have seen an improv show doesn’t know what they’re going to get,” Carletti said. “We feel thematic or genre shows tend to hook a suburban audience more.”

Hooking suburbanites on improv is exactly what the couple hopes to do. She believes it o ers a very di erent experience than stand-up.

“I wanted a place where folks who were more of a theater audience could see improv and feel like it was accessible to them,” Carletti said. “Improv is collaborative. It is about listening and teamwork. It allows people to tell their own stories and it’s very human.”

While Carletti appreciates stand-up comedy, she sees improv as a di erent comedic art form — one that requires coordination with fellow actors and the audience.

“I’ve done stand-up. at’s one person alone on a stage. My own experience is it was a little isolating, and I

Evergreen also has an improv group. e Evergreen Players Improv Comedy troupe, known as EPiC, performs twice each year at the Center Stage eater. It also offers classes and ensemble groups for all experience levels and ages.

Comedy in Denver metro

agree the

Whether it’s stand-up or improv, all four business owners agree that Denver and its suburbs are among the top places to see comedy — or to be a comedian.

Curtis believes decades of bringing top-notch comedians to the city has made metro-area residents a sophisticated comedy audience.

“Comedy Works is the Red Rocks of comedy in the country,” she said. “I have leverage even with the bigger acts because it’s Comedy Works. e reputation gives me clout.We’ve developed people that like stand-up comedy. e Denver crowds are smart. You give them smart comedy and they respond. It’s turned into a great place for comedy and comedians.”

Vanderploeg agreed, saying the many stages that offer chances for new and more seasoned comedians to practice their material has improved the quality of local comedy for everyone.

“Denver is one of the best comedy scenes in the country,” Vanderploeg said. “Denver has shows most nights of the week, so there are opportunities for comedians to get up and develop, practice. Just by sheer stage time, we blow pretty much every other city out of the water. It’s kind of in the culture here. ere’s something about Denver that loves standup.”

Beyond developing the comedy business, Carletti sees laughter as not an option, but a necessity for individuals and our modern world.

“It’s so important to have small theaters and small comedy venues, not just in Denver but everywhere,” Carletti said. “ ere’s something about being in a room with a lot of people laughing and experiencing it live, whether it’s improv, stand-up or whatever. Live theater is phenomenal. And the need to laugh right now is so

Comedian Steve Gillespie entertains the crowd at Stranahan’s Distillery as part of Rotating Taps Comedy. SPAWOLOGY PRODUCTIONS

Comedian George Lopez on stage at Comedy Works South in Greenwood Village.COURTESY OF COMEDY WORKS

FROM PAGE 12

Gnarly’s co-owner Brandon Riks stands in front of the bar at the comedy/variety show venue he and his wife Stacey Bell launched recently in downtown Golden.COURTESY OF GNARLY’S

Drive underway to remember the Flight 629 bombing

First ever plane bombing over U.S. soil killed 44, changed lives of rescuers

BY MONTE WHALEY MWHALEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A group of Coloradans are helping to erect a memorial to mark the bombing of United Air Lines Flight 629 on November 1955 over southwest Weld County.

A dynamite bomb placed in the checked luggage of the airliner – also known as the Denver Mainliner – exploded and became a reball seen from as far as 20 miles away, only 10 minutes after the ight left Denver’s Stapleton Airport.

All 44 passengers and crew of Flight 629 were victims of the rst plane bombing on U.S. soil and at the time, one of the worst mass murders in American history.

“ is is such a part of Colorado history, and American history, but most people have no idea this even happened,” said Greg Raymer, whose father was a United Airlines mechanic who passed on the story of Flight 629 to his son.

Raymer is leading a small committee of residents who are trying to raise money for the memorial, at 11413 Weld County Road 13 near Longmont. e committee – called Flight 629 Memorial And Unsung Heroes Across America – wants to create “meditative and esthetically beautiful place” on the former beet elds where the bodies and pieces of the aircraft fell after the bombing, according to the group’s website.

e memorial will honor not only those on the ight but also the 500 or so Weld County residents who rushed to the elds the night of the bombing and worked in freezing darkness throughout the night in search and rescue operations, said Becky Tesone, vice president of the committee.

“ ese are people from all walks of life, from farmers to volunteer remen, police o cers, veterans from the local American Legion to just about anybody else to come out and help,” said Tesone.

Making a memorial

Supporters want to raise funds to have ribbon cutting ceremony and commission a home for a monument to recognize the 70th anniversary of the bombing on Nov. 1. So far, a GoFundMe site has raised $3,882 for the memorial with a goal of $1 million.

Flight629. Org, a non-pro t, is hosting a fundraising concert May 10 at the Mead High School Auditorium. Colorado’s top Elvis Tribute artists, George Gray and e Elvis Experience Band, will perform.

e 90-minute concert will also highlight the Mead Special Needs percussion band.

Changing forensics

e airplane bombing led to changes in investigating airline disasters, including how the FBI altered its forensics techniques, say those who examined the bombing years later.

ose included Marian Hobgood Poeppelmeyer, who wrote a book about the bombing entitled “Finding My Father,” who was a passenger on Flight 629. Denver lawyer Andrew J. Fields – “Mainliner Denver – e Bombing of Flight 629,” also wrote one of the de nitive works on the bombing.

In another rst, photographers and lm cameras were allowed into a courtroom for the trial of John Graham, who was convicted and later put to death for his role in the bombing. Graham wanted to kill his mother, Daisy King, and put 25 sticks of dynamite with a homemade timer in her suitcase. Graham reportedly wanted his mother dead so he could collect on an insurance policy he took out on her just before the ight.

Ghosts in the ﬁeld

Conrad Hopp was among those who

were nishing up his supper when a loud boom from the airline’s explosion shook the windows of his farmhouse in southwest Weld County. Hopp and other volunteer citizen responders hurried to the beet elds that covered the area to help with rescue e orts. What they found stunned and shocked them.

“I’ve never been able to talk about it,” Hopp, then 85, told the Longmont Leader in 2022.

On the night of the crash, Hopp and his older brother Kenneth sprinted out from the warm security of their home with their ashlights and headed to give aid. e younger Hopp wandered onto a hellscape. e airplane had split in two with the tail and nose landing nearly a mile and a half from each other, Hopp said. Most bodies were found near the nose and tail.

Hopp, already a member of the Colorado National Guard, was ordered to use a tractor to mark where the bodies were located so someone could be stationed there to ward o looters. He returned the next day to recover the wildly contorted

remains of the passengers.

Still, he’s mostly kept to himself about what he found and did the day after the bombing.

“Picking them up and putting them in a body bag was something you can’t forget … ever,” Hopp told the Leader. “You just pick up a ve-foot hunk of jelly. It’s hard to describe how that feels.”

His brother Kenneth, who helped the FBI during the recovery e orts, also kept to himself about what he experienced after the crash.

“We just never really talked about it,” Hopp said. “We just never could get there.” His whole family heard the echoes of the Denver Mainliner crash for years even though they tried to keep the memories bottled up, Hopp told the Leader. “My dad never really went out into the dark after the crash. Something out there scared him.

“And my brother said he thought there were ghosts out there,” Hopp said, nodding at the few remaining elds near his house in Firestone. “I think he was only half-kidding.”

The wreckage of United Flight 629 was carefully laid out in a Denver warehouse after its bombing. COURTESY

Moves to convert o ces to homes come to Downtown

BY ANDREA DUKAKIS

NEWS

Developers in U.S. cities have become bullish about the possibilities of what they call “adaptive reuse,” converting old o ce buildings into residential units. It’s an idea they are betting will solve the many problems a icting the nation’s cities: namely, post-pandemic vacancies in o ce buildings, empty city centers and a lack of a ordable housing.

Downtown Denver is no exception, where a third of o ce space is vacant and many buildings are seen as good prospects for conversion. Recently, e Luzzato Company bought two towers on 17th Street in downtown Denver for $3.2 million, a tiny fraction of the $112 million the two buildings sold for in 2008. e developers plan to have 700 residential units with retail space on the lower oors.

e architectural rm Gensler has worked to identify o ce buildings in downtown Denver that have the most potential for these conversions and has also created a tool for assessing which buildings are good prospects. Ryan Warner spoke with Gensler’s Josie Hyde. Here are takeaways from their conversation.

What are the economic conditions in Denver that make these conversions more than just a pipe dream?

“ ey’ve always been a challenge but they’re very doable. We’ve done plenty of them across the country, and really what it takes is nding the right buildings. And so even though the economics are somewhat challenging, one of these buildings just sold for a very good price, and so that one’s going to be much easier to convert.

But if you start with the right buildings, the cost will be lower to start with.”

And the realities of downtown o ce space mean that there are deals to be had?

“ ere are. I think one of the factors… is we’ve got about 13 million square feet of o ce space downtown, and when we think of that square footage, [much of the vacant space] is these 1970s, 1980s buildings that actually trend in the right direction to be converted. So for us here in the city and county of Denver, [with] these ‘70s and 80s buildings, we have about 80 percent of the buildings that are suitable. Some of the things to look for are a great oor plate; so, how far the windows are from the elevators is important because if they’re too far away, then you won’t be able to get light into the apartments. And also thinking of the oor to oor heights are always great for o ce buildings, so when we convert them to residential, they already have taller ceilings.”

The fundamental question of course is whether it makes more economic sense to just destroy a building and build something new or convert it?

“It is costly, but I would say in some cases it’s much better than replacing the entire building because we’ve got embodied carbon in the concrete that we want to preserve when possible from a sustainability perspective. And, you can save 50 percent of the construction time.”

Is it possible that only parts of these buildings will be converted to housing units?

“When you have larger buildings, if you’re looking at buildings that might have more than three to 400 units

planned, it might be bene cial to convert only half the building or a portion of the building. We’ve talked to so many local building owners, developers…and they’re all just waiting for the right time. But there is a sense of urgency of being able to convert, and I think there’s an understanding that it’s possible.

What is the most successful conversion project you could point to?

“We’ve done quite a few buildings. I think of the Franklin Tower [in Philadelphia], which was done right at the beginning of the pandemic. [ e developers] were looking at just converting the top half of the building, and as it was getting constructed, it was so popular and got leased so quickly that they lled out the rest of the building before they completed construction, and that one was a lot of glass on the building. ey added balconies to the building by moving some of

the walls in a little bit on

These two o ce

So it’s been an incredible project that was done years ago.”

I suppose there’s also an assumption that we’re never fully coming back to work like we did pre-pandemic. You’re sort of locking in a long-term reality here for a downtown, right?

“You’re right. I think what’s most important to focus on is that we’re really looking at more of a lifestyle in terms of our downtowns in lieu of just an o ce building centric area. So I think if we think of it more as mixed use and really make it a live, work, play [environment] for both residents and o ce workers, I think you can have that balance much easier than what we’ve done in the past.” is story is from CPR News, a nonpro t public broadcaster serving Colorado. Used by permission. For more, and to support Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org.

the exterior.

towers on 17th Street in Denver have been bought by developers who plan to convert the space to 700 residential units with retail space on the lower ﬂoors.

PHOTO BY

HART VAN DENBURG CPR NEWS

CROWSSUPDRO ELZZ

1. ACRONYMS: What phrase does the acronym URL stand for?

2. MOVIES: What is the name of the ghost that haunts the girls’ bathroom at Hogwarts (“Harry Potter” series)?

3. HISTORY: Which decisive battle ended the Revolutionary War?

4. LITERATURE: What is the pseudonym of the author Eric Arthur Blair?

5. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: Which of the national parks is the most visited in the United States?

6. TELEVISION: Which medical series is based at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital?

7. GEOGRAPHY: What is the capital of Denmark?

8. U.S. STATES: In which state is Glacier National Park located?

9. U.S. PRESIDENTS: Who was the rst vice president to die in o ce?

TrIVIa

10. SCIENCE: What are elements like neon, helium and radon called?

Answers

1. Uniform resource locator.

2. Moaning Myrtle.

3. e Battle of Yorktown.

4. George Orwell.

5. Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

6. “House, M.D.”

7. Copenhagen.

8. Montana.

9. George Clinton.

10. Noble gases.

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