thedenverpost--2020-08-02--In-person or remote learning? Colorado parents agonize over decision — especially those who feel the

In-person or remote learning? Colorado parents agonize over decision — especially those who feel they have no choice

Guilt awaits Ruth Barnett-Alvarez at the end of every path as she traverses the rocky terrain of figuring out how her family of five kids — with two working parents — will head back to school during the ongoing pandemic .
The Colorado Springs mom feels guilty for wanting to send her 8-year-old and 9-year-old to in-person learning in Harrison School District Two , which , like many , is also offering the choice of online education .
She worries her kids could contract or spread COVID-19 .
But who would watch them while Barnett-Alvarez works as a paralegal and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recuperate from driving trucks overnight ?
Barnett-Alvarez feels guilty for considering keeping her 11-year-old and 15-year-old home — and away from their school social circles — for remote learning , in the hopes of reducing their family ’ s virus risk by entrusting her older kids to learn more independently .
The 38-year-old feels guilty for loving her job and being made to feel as though she has to choose between her career and her children .
“ I ’ m so stressed out , ” Barnett-Alvarez said .
“ I love my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ picking between our safety .
It ’ s a safety concern either way .
If I don ’ t have anyone to watch them while they ’ re home , that ’ s a concern .
Them bringing the virus home — that ’ s a concern .
My 1-year-old being at a day care with other kids and you don ’ t know where their families have been — that ’ s a concern .
My 15-year-old being asked to be responsible for all his younger siblings all day — that ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all too much.
” Barnett-Alvarez is one of countless Colorado parents tasked with making agonizing decisions about how to proceed with their children ’ s education as school resumes in the coming weeks , choices that are as much about those kids ’ health — and can also deeply impact families ’ finances .
Parents are navigating a patchwork of fall reopening plans that typically include fully online options and some variation on in-person education , too .
These plans not only vary by district but seemingly by the day .
Denver Public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ announcing a hybrid online and in-person plan at the end of May to a five-days-a-week in-person plan in June to delaying in-person learning into early September in July to postponing most kids ’ return to the classroom until at least mid-October less than two weeks later .
If parents manage to keep up with the whiplash of changing plans and public health guidance , they ’ re faced with more bewilderment trying to best discern what ’ s safe for their children .
Studies about kids and COVID-19 continue to make headlines , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus is still too new to fully understand how it impacts and interacts with children — How likely is it they get sick ?
Can they spread the virus ?
— as evidenced by a slew of evolving and conflicting information .
Nevertheless , the decision about whether kids learn from home or in their classrooms could impact their education , alter family structures , influence parents ’ careers or , potentially , result in life or death consequences as COVID-19 continues to spread through the community .
Every family has its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , child care shortages for working or single parents , necessity for special-education services — making some feel like they don ’ t have a choice in the matter at all .
Some parents are finding themselves in a no-win situation where the stakes have never seemed higher .
“ Sometimes we don ’ t have an option ” In the spring when school buildings across Colorado shuttered to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 , Barnett-Alvarez installed three cameras in her home so she could watch her children from her phone while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the kids through the cameras , she said , and at least have the option to review footage if she were to come home and find one of her crew with a black eye .
“ I ’ m at work worrying , ‘ Are they OK ?
’ ” Barnett-Alvarez said .
“ Are they going to kill each other ?
But this way , I could talk to them and check in throughout the day.
” Barnett-Alvarez commended her employer for being accommodating , allowing her to work from home and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needs .
However , the paralegal said she is now voluntarily back at the office after struggling to accomplish anything with five kids vying for her attention .
Work days from home continued turning into runs to the store to buy more snacks or time spent mediating squabbles .
“ If they close schools again and they all have to do remote learning , I don ’ t know what I ’ m going to do , ” Barnett-Alvarez said .
“ How much can you really ask of your employer ?
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ control .
Now none of us do .
I ’ m not a teacher .
I didn ’ t go into that field for a reason .
I just feel guilty all of the time.
” The Westminster mom of three is divorced and co-parenting with her ex-husband .
The 33-year-old works at a call center requiring her to be on the phone from the moment she clocks in .
Her ex-husband with a more flexible work schedule picked up their 5- , 6- and 8-year-old kids to help them with their remote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had several daily live , online lessons they needed to attend .
But Warstler said that dynamic caused too much conflict among the family and won ’ t work again in the fall .
Needing to work to feed herself and her children , Warstler said she ’ ll have to send her kids back to their classrooms if that remains an option .
“ I pretty much don ’ t have a choice right now , ” she said .
“ I feel like my only option is in-person learning even if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If Westminster Public Schools reverses course and stops offering any classroom education — a move Colorado ’ s largest districts already have made at least for the first weeks of school — Warstler said she may look into homeschooling her kids so that at least their learning could revolve around her schedule .
Due to her pandemic-induced child care situation , Warstler is on the hunt for a job that may provide her some more flexibility , but she ’ s having trouble finding something offering that wiggle room and allowing her to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of parents either are essential workers or they don ’ t have a flexible job , ” Warstler said .
“ I wish the schools would try to create a more flexible plan for students .
Of course we care about the teachers .
We don ’ t want them to get sick .
But sometimes we don ’ t have an option .
It ’ s even harder when parents are single.
” Craig Knippenberg , a Denver-based mental health therapist for children and families , said parents should remind themselves that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during these trying pandemic times , being merely good enough is an accomplishment .
He recommends parents compartmentalize , setting limits on how long each day they ’ re going to worry about different concerns like researching homeschooling or listening to the news so that it doesn ’ t become all consuming .
As a parent of a Denver Public Schools freshman , Knippenberg said he understands the whirlwind families are experiencing .
“ Guilt is not going to help you , ” Knippenberg said .
“ This is survival mode .
You @ @ @ @ @ @ @ best you can and get through it .
Kids are far more resilient than you think .
They ’ ll be OK .
Concentrate on providing them shelter , physical safety , food , a little time to play and some laughter .
Just cuddling up on the sofa for some quality time makes up for a lot.
” Pete Leon , a father to two children living with autism , said families with kids who have special needs must sort through an added layer of pros and cons as they decide how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Leon said Cherry Creek School District teachers tried their best in difficult circumstances to tend to the needs of his 13-year-old and 15-year-old in the spring , but that remote learning just didn ’ t provide his kids with the individualized special education they normally need to thrive academically .
“ I don ’ t think I have any choice , ” Leon said .
“ In order for them to get the supports they need , it has to be in-person .
That ’ s the only option it seems for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re-opening plan says students with special needs enrolled in remote learning will attend appropriate synchronous lessons and be provided targeted supports , interventions and therapies throughout the day .
For in-person special-education learning , the plan says students will attend their specific classes and pull-out services as usual with social distancing .
Leon , who works retail , said he ’ s worried about the virus .
“ If I bring ( COVID-19 ) home from work and they take that to school , I ’ m very concerned about it , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t seem to have an option based on what I saw in the spring.
” “ What is the right thing to do ?
” Sarah Orsborn did feel as though she had a choice , but making the decision was unlike any experience she ’ s faced .
“ I consider myself a super decisive person , ” said Orsborn , a parent to twin girls in Denver Public Schools .
“ I always feel I can make choices very easily .
I ’ ve made big choices in small amounts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so difficult compared to that .
What is the right thing to do ?
What is the ethical way to be a member of my community ?
What is the best for my children ?
” Orsborn has a congenital heart defect , putting her at higher risk of contracting the coronavirus .
Orsborn said she felt encouraged bouncing her questions off her husband — an emergency room physician and pediatrician — and understanding that her 8-year-olds are not likely to be virus super-spreaders .
However , with the family already at risk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Orsborn decided it was best to play it safe and enroll her kids in remote learning .
With the privilege of being a stay-at-home mom , Orsborn said she thought choosing remote learning both supported the public school system she and her family love while also making space in classrooms for students whose parents didn ’ t have a choice but to send them to school .
Denver Public Schools reaffirmed Orsborn ’ s decision Wednesday , announcing the delay of in-person learning to at least mid-October for most students .
Knippenberg @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his household had been hoping for , but that at least it provided some stability in a rapidly changing world .
It ’ s OK and normal for parents to feel like they need a break from their kids , Knippenberg said .
“ That doesn ’ t make you a bad parent , ” he said .
“ A lot of trauma work is just validating that you had a normal response to an abnormal situation .
That takes a lot of weight off .
We don ’ t always have the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We ’ re going to need to have a tolerance for ambiguity for all of this .
”

Guilt awaits Ruth Barnett-Alvarez at the end of every path as she traverses the rocky terrain of figuring out how her family of five kids — with two working parents — will head back to school during the ongoing pandemic.
The Colorado Springs mom feels guilty for wanting to send her 8-year-old and 9-year-old to in-person learning in Harrison School District Two, which, like many, is also offering the choice of online education.
She worries her kids could contract or spread COVID-19. But who would watch them while Barnett-Alvarez works as a paralegal and her husband sleeps during the day to recuperate from driving trucks overnight?
Barnett-Alvarez feels guilty for considering keeping her 11-year-old and 15-year-old home — and away from their school social circles — for remote learning, in the hopes of reducing their family’s virus risk by entrusting her older kids to learn more independently.
The 38-year-old feels guilty for loving her job and being made to feel as though she has to choose between her career and her children.
“I’m so stressed out,” Barnett-Alvarez said. “I love my career, and this whole thing is picking between our safety. It’s a safety concern either way. If I don’t have anyone to watch them while they’re home, that’s a concern. Them bringing the virus home — that’s a concern. My 1-year-old being at a day care with other kids and you don’t know where their families have been — that’s a concern. My 15-year-old being asked to be responsible for all his younger siblings all day — that’s too much. It’s all too much.”
Barnett-Alvarez is one of countless Colorado parents tasked with making agonizing decisions about how to proceed with their children’s education as school resumes in the coming weeks, choices that are as much about those kids’ health — and can also deeply impact families’ finances.
Parents are navigating a patchwork of fall reopening plans that typically include fully online options and some variation on in-person education, too. These plans not only vary by district but seemingly by the day. Denver Public Schools, for example, went from announcing a hybrid online and in-person plan at the end of May to a five-days-a-week in-person plan in June to delaying in-person learning into early September in July to postponing most kids’ return to the classroom until at least mid-October less than two weeks later.
If parents manage to keep up with the whiplash of changing plans and public health guidance, they’re faced with more bewilderment trying to best discern what’s safe for their children. Studies about kids and COVID-19 continue to make headlines, but the fact of the matter is the virus is still too new to fully understand how it impacts and interacts with children — How likely is it they get sick? Can they spread the virus? — as evidenced by a slew of evolving and conflicting information.
Nevertheless, the decision about whether kids learn from home or in their classrooms could impact their education, alter family structures, influence parents’ careers or, potentially, result in life or death consequences as COVID-19 continues to spread through the community.
Every family has its own circumstances to mull — health concerns, child care shortages for working or single parents, necessity for special-education services — making some feel like they don’t have a choice in the matter at all. Some parents are finding themselves in a no-win situation where the stakes have never seemed higher.
“Sometimes we don’t have an option”
In the spring when school buildings across Colorado shuttered to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, Barnett-Alvarez installed three cameras in her home so she could watch her children from her phone while she worked. She can talk to the kids through the cameras, she said, and at least have the option to review footage if she were to come home and find one of her crew with a black eye.
“I’m at work worrying, ‘Are they OK?’ ” Barnett-Alvarez said. “Are they going to kill each other? But this way, I could talk to them and check in throughout the day.”
Barnett-Alvarez commended her employer for being accommodating, allowing her to work from home and trying to work around her child care needs. However, the paralegal said she is now voluntarily back at the office after struggling to accomplish anything with five kids vying for her attention. Work days from home continued turning into runs to the store to buy more snacks or time spent mediating squabbles.
“If they close schools again and they all have to do remote learning, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Barnett-Alvarez said. “How much can you really ask of your employer? They hired me thinking I had everything under control. Now none of us do. I’m not a teacher. I didn’t go into that field for a reason. I just feel guilty all of the time.”
Monica Warstler can relate.
The Westminster mom of three is divorced and co-parenting with her ex-husband. The 33-year-old works at a call center requiring her to be on the phone from the moment she clocks in. Her ex-husband with a more flexible work schedule picked up their 5-, 6- and 8-year-old kids to help them with their remote learning in the spring when the children had several daily live, online lessons they needed to attend. But Warstler said that dynamic caused too much conflict among the family and won’t work again in the fall.
Needing to work to feed herself and her children, Warstler said she’ll have to send her kids back to their classrooms if that remains an option.
“I pretty much don’t have a choice right now,” she said. “I feel like my only option is in-person learning even if I am concerned about the coronavirus.”
If Westminster Public Schools reverses course and stops offering any classroom education — a move Colorado’s largest districts already have made at least for the first weeks of school — Warstler said she may look into homeschooling her kids so that at least their learning could revolve around her schedule.
Due to her pandemic-induced child care situation, Warstler is on the hunt for a job that may provide her some more flexibility, but she’s having trouble finding something offering that wiggle room and allowing her to support her family.
“A lot of parents either are essential workers or they don’t have a flexible job,” Warstler said. “I wish the schools would try to create a more flexible plan for students. Of course we care about the teachers. We don’t want them to get sick. But sometimes we don’t have an option. It’s even harder when parents are single.”
“This is survival mode”
Craig Knippenberg, a Denver-based mental health therapist for children and families, said parents should remind themselves that this is still survival mode and, during these trying pandemic times, being merely good enough is an accomplishment.
He recommends parents compartmentalize, setting limits on how long each day they’re going to worry about different concerns like researching homeschooling or listening to the news so that it doesn’t become all consuming.
As a parent of a Denver Public Schools freshman, Knippenberg said he understands the whirlwind families are experiencing.
“Guilt is not going to help you,” Knippenberg said. “This is survival mode. You’re just trying to do the best you can and get through it. Kids are far more resilient than you think. They’ll be OK. Concentrate on providing them shelter, physical safety, food, a little time to play and some laughter. Just cuddling up on the sofa for some quality time makes up for a lot.”
Pete Leon, a father to two children living with autism, said families with kids who have special needs must sort through an added layer of pros and cons as they decide how to send their children back to school.
Leon said Cherry Creek School District teachers tried their best in difficult circumstances to tend to the needs of his 13-year-old and 15-year-old in the spring, but that remote learning just didn’t provide his kids with the individualized special education they normally need to thrive academically.
“I don’t think I have any choice,” Leon said. “In order for them to get the supports they need, it has to be in-person. That’s the only option it seems for special-needs kids.”
Cherry Creek’s re-opening plan says students with special needs enrolled in remote learning will attend appropriate synchronous lessons and be provided targeted supports, interventions and therapies throughout the day. For in-person special-education learning, the plan says students will attend their specific classes and pull-out services as usual with social distancing.
Leon, who works retail, said he’s worried about the virus.
“If I bring (COVID-19) home from work and they take that to school, I’m very concerned about it,” Leon said. “But I don’t seem to have an option based on what I saw in the spring.”
“What is the right thing to do?”
Sarah Orsborn did feel as though she had a choice, but making the decision was unlike any experience she’s faced.
“I consider myself a super decisive person,” said Orsborn, a parent to twin girls in Denver Public Schools. “I always feel I can make choices very easily. I’ve made big choices in small amounts of time before, and this feels so difficult compared to that. What is the right thing to do? What is the ethical way to be a member of my community? What is the best for my children?”
Orsborn has a congenital heart defect, putting her at higher risk of contracting the coronavirus. Orsborn said she felt encouraged bouncing her questions off her husband — an emergency room physician and pediatrician — and understanding that her 8-year-olds are not likely to be virus super-spreaders. However, with the family already at risk of exposure due to his medical work, Orsborn decided it was best to play it safe and enroll her kids in remote learning.
With the privilege of being a stay-at-home mom, Orsborn said she thought choosing remote learning both supported the public school system she and her family love while also making space in classrooms for students whose parents didn’t have a choice but to send them to school.
Denver Public Schools reaffirmed Orsborn’s decision Wednesday, announcing the delay of in-person learning to at least mid-October for most students.
Knippenberg admitted that delay was not the news his household had been hoping for, but that at least it provided some stability in a rapidly changing world.
It’s OK and normal for parents to feel like they need a break from their kids, Knippenberg said.
“That doesn’t make you a bad parent,” he said. “A lot of trauma work is just validating that you had a normal response to an abnormal situation. That takes a lot of weight off. We don’t always have the control we’d like to have. We’re going to need to have a tolerance for ambiguity for all of this.”


thedenverpost--2020-08-02--Is it wise for CU Buffs, CSU Rams to pursue football as COVID-19 rages? “The glory days of college a

Is it wise for CU Buffs, CSU Rams to pursue football as COVID-19 rages? “The glory days of college athletics may be over.”

Paul Finebaum knows the analogy shows his age .
But it fits .
In fact , when it comes to college football in the age of COVID , the comparison ’ s probably never been more on the nose .
“ Maybe because I grew up watching the ‘ Godfather ’ movies , but I see the commissioners of the Power 5 conferences as the five crime families , ” the longtime ESPN/SEC Network host told The Denver Post .
“ And they all go to the back room of a little Italian restaurant and they ’ re trying to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is in charge ?
’ None of the five want to cede power to the next one .
“ You have some relationships that have developed — the Pac-12 is going to join up with the Big Ten , for example .
The Pac-12 is just lucky that it still has a seat at the table .
And then you have the other three .
They all have relationships , but in this case , there isn ’ t a lot of evidence of it.
” To wit : The ACC goes with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to help protect historic rivalry games such as Clemson-South Carolina , Florida State-Florida , Georgia Tech-Georgia and Louisville-Kentucky , an offer the SEC can ’ t refuse .
Only the SEC responds , in kind , by announcing a 10-game , conference-only slate , kissing those rivalry games goodbye .
As scheduling alternates between a game of chicken and one of musical chairs , the Big 12 continues to wait out the storm .
Meanwhile , the CSU Rams ’ football activities are on hold after as many as 17 people within the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Department of Public Health and Environment outbreak database as potential COVID-19 positives .
And Major League Baseball ’ s launch without a bubble , the pilot for where the NFL and the NCAA want to go , can ’ t stop hitting icebergs .
A week into its season , no fewer than eight of MLB ’ s 30 franchises have been affected .
In April , it was about saving August .
Now that August is here , and the virus is , too , are colleges — the Rams , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still doing the right thing by pushing the boat out on the 2020 football season ?
If the Pac-12 didn ’ t have a television network to feed , are the Buffs even entertaining this conversation ?
Neinas is the president of Neinas Sports Services in Boulder , a consulting guru , the former executive director of the College Football Association ( 1980-97 ) , ex-commissioner of the Big Eight ( 1971-80 ) and interim commissioner of the Big 12 ( 2011-12 ) , helping to keep the latter from imploding a decade @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nebraska , Missouri and Texas A & M .
He remains one of the closest things big-time college football has to a sage figure , a Gandalf of the game .
“ I ’ m not sure they ’ re going to play , ” Neinas said .
“ They ’ re making all the plans , but you know , you take a look at the Pac-12 .
California and Arizona are rampant with the virus .
Look at Los Angeles alone .
How are UCLA and USC going to play ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , if they ’ re ( spreading it ) ?
“ You take a look at the paper and you see half of these new cases are people in their 20s .
You add all that together and … you know damn well you can have the best game plans in the world but when the ball is kicked off , the game plan goes out the window .
And that might be what happens here .
They ’ ve got a lot of game plans .
But when they get ready to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that out the window.
” College presidents fear the inherent risk of that virus — to students , to staff , to communities as a whole .
Unlike the NHL and NBA bubbles and even NFL teams ’ headquarters , campuses are giant petri dishes , and further sequestering 18-to-22-year-olds from their student peers expressly for football raises legal questions that neither the NCAA nor its attorneys want to tackle right now .
“ Obviously , the most important thing is health and safety , ” senior CSU wideout Warren Jackson said earlier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feel concerned about that .
I want to be safe more than anything .
And nothing ’ s more important than my life.
” But the gang in the ivory tower have also seen the books .
And Finebaum ’ s crime families have bills to pay .
“ They need to , let ’ s face it , at least try to get some money , ” Neinas noted .
“ And young people want to play .
That ’ s the sad part .
“ I ’ ve tried to ask @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a spring football schedule .
I don ’ t know if there ’ s any reality to it at all .
I just heard the news ( this week ) that Florida had a record number of deaths .
It ’ s really difficult to see .
And , of course , you ’ re going to play without people in the stands , and how much ( financial ) freight is TV going to carry ?
And there ’ s a lot of unanswered questions.
” Including this one : Is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ throne upon which NCAA president Mark Emmert rests his backside every day , about to burst ?
“ Let me just say this : I don ’ t think we need to have 40-inch television sets in every player ’ s locker , ” Neinas said .
“ There ’ s another thing you have to think about : How many major football-playing institutions today are debt-free , in terms of facility construction .
Those ( bills ) come due.
” In its financials reported to the NCAA for the 2018-19 fiscal year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 8.46 million in debt service .
Payments on the bonds used to build Canvas Stadium , which opened in 2017 , had been scheduled to increase to $ 12.2 million per year starting in 2021 .
“ They ’ ve got a big bond obligation and they get those bond obligations on top of the coronavirus , ” Neinas said .
“ The glory days of college athletics may be over.
” Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard laid bare his dilemma earlier this summer , fearing a shortfall of roughly $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fall .
CU athletic director Rick George has said the financial impact would be roughly the same in Boulder .
“ We understand there are serious health considerations that are implicated by moving forward with sports , ” Pollard wrote in a July missive to fans .
“ However , we are confident that our department can provide a safer environment for the athletes in Ames , where they are motivated by their teammates and competition to modify their social behavior.
” Motivated by peers not to party ?
Experts still aren ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s the key to this , ” said Dr. Michelle Barron , a professor of medicine in the division of infectious disease at CU ’ s Anschutz Medical Campus .
“ I think that ’ s important , if we can maximize all we can do ( off the field ) , or we can ’ t do it .
“ That means , if ( players ) don ’ t follow the rules , you ’ re off the team for the rest of the year .
There has to be some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t follow the rules .
“ The difference between prep and college football teams and the professional level is ( the players ) have a lot of money riding on these things .
And if I had that big contract and was told , ‘ ( No partying ) ’ … I ’ d imagine these circles are fairly tight .
People who are constantly breaking rules get reputations , for better or worse.
” Or , in the case of Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams , they just want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wings are served at a gentleman ’ s club in Atlanta .
“ I had an epidemiologist on our show , ” Finebaum laughed .
“ Listen , he was trying to be aspirational .
He said , ‘ If everyone on college campuses will wear a mask and follow all the usual protocol , we ’ ve got a chance.
’ And I got a text from a friend whose son just happens to be a player at a major , big-time program .
He was listening to it and he wrote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his mind ?
He said you have to wear masks and not go to parties .
They ’ re not going to wear masks and they ’ re going to parties.
’ “ So I am not overly optimistic it will end well .
But this is one of those situations where I think everyone ’ s rolling the dice , everybody ’ s hoping against hope that maybe we ’ ll get there , maybe we won ’ t .
There ’ s not a good plan .
Every plan is being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the dollar store and just hoping that it sticks.
” Maybe the appropriate question isn ’ t whether there will be college football this fall — but should there be ?
“ I ’ ve yet to hear anyone answer ( that ) , ” Finebaum replied .
“ And I ’ m going to keep pursuing it .
The one thing I just lose my lunch over , every day , is when I hear them all collectively say that the most important thing is the health of the student-athletes .
If @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wouldn ’ t be having these conversations .
”

Paul Finebaum knows the analogy shows his age. But it fits. In fact, when it comes to college football in the age of COVID, the comparison’s probably never been more on the nose.
“Maybe because I grew up watching the ‘Godfather’ movies, but I see the commissioners of the Power 5 conferences as the five crime families,” the longtime ESPN/SEC Network host told The Denver Post. “And they all go to the back room of a little Italian restaurant and they’re trying to decide, ‘Which one of us is in charge?’ None of the five want to cede power to the next one.
“You have some relationships that have developed — the Pac-12 is going to join up with the Big Ten, for example. The Pac-12 is just lucky that it still has a seat at the table. And then you have the other three. They all have relationships, but in this case, there isn’t a lot of evidence of it.”
To wit: The ACC goes with a 10-league-games-plus-one model for 2020, ostensibly to help protect historic rivalry games such as Clemson-South Carolina, Florida State-Florida, Georgia Tech-Georgia and Louisville-Kentucky, an offer the SEC can’t refuse. Only the SEC responds, in kind, by announcing a 10-game, conference-only slate, kissing those rivalry games goodbye. As scheduling alternates between a game of chicken and one of musical chairs, the Big 12 continues to wait out the storm.
Meanwhile, the CSU Rams’ football activities are on hold after as many as 17 people within the athletic department hit the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment outbreak database as potential COVID-19 positives. And Major League Baseball’s launch without a bubble, the pilot for where the NFL and the NCAA want to go, can’t stop hitting icebergs. A week into its season, no fewer than eight of MLB’s 30 franchises have been affected.
In April, it was about saving August. Now that August is here, and the virus is, too, are colleges — the Rams, the CU Buffs, UNC, Mines — still doing the right thing by pushing the boat out on the 2020 football season? If the Pac-12 didn’t have a television network to feed, are the Buffs even entertaining this conversation?
“I doubt it,” Chuck Neinas said.
Neinas is the president of Neinas Sports Services in Boulder, a consulting guru, the former executive director of the College Football Association (1980-97), ex-commissioner of the Big Eight (1971-80) and interim commissioner of the Big 12 (2011-12), helping to keep the latter from imploding a decade ago after the defections of CU, Nebraska, Missouri and Texas A&M. He remains one of the closest things big-time college football has to a sage figure, a Gandalf of the game.
“I’m not sure they’re going to play,” Neinas said. “They’re making all the plans, but you know, you take a look at the Pac-12. California and Arizona are rampant with the virus. Look at Los Angeles alone. How are UCLA and USC going to play? And the students coming back to campus, if they’re (spreading it)?
“You take a look at the paper and you see half of these new cases are people in their 20s. You add all that together and … you know damn well you can have the best game plans in the world but when the ball is kicked off, the game plan goes out the window. And that might be what happens here. They’ve got a lot of game plans. But when they get ready to kick off, the virus may throw that out the window.”
“Glory days may be over”
College presidents fear the inherent risk of that virus — to students, to staff, to communities as a whole. Unlike the NHL and NBA bubbles and even NFL teams’ headquarters, campuses are giant petri dishes, and further sequestering 18-to-22-year-olds from their student peers expressly for football raises legal questions that neither the NCAA nor its attorneys want to tackle right now.
“Obviously, the most important thing is health and safety,” senior CSU wideout Warren Jackson said earlier this summer. “So I would feel concerned about that. I want to be safe more than anything. And nothing’s more important than my life.”
But the gang in the ivory tower have also seen the books. And Finebaum’s crime families have bills to pay.
“They need to, let’s face it, at least try to get some money,” Neinas noted. “And young people want to play. That’s the sad part.
“I’ve tried to ask some of my friends about the reality of a spring football schedule. I don’t know if there’s any reality to it at all. I just heard the news (this week) that Florida had a record number of deaths. It’s really difficult to see. And, of course, you’re going to play without people in the stands, and how much (financial) freight is TV going to carry? And there’s a lot of unanswered questions.”
Including this one: Is the college sports bubble, the multi-million throne upon which NCAA president Mark Emmert rests his backside every day, about to burst?
A pause.
“Let me just say this: I don’t think we need to have 40-inch television sets in every player’s locker,” Neinas said. “There’s another thing you have to think about: How many major football-playing institutions today are debt-free, in terms of facility construction. Those (bills) come due.”
In its financials reported to the NCAA for the 2018-19 fiscal year, CSU’s departmental expenses included $8.46 million in debt service. Payments on the bonds used to build Canvas Stadium, which opened in 2017, had been scheduled to increase to $12.2 million per year starting in 2021.
“They’ve got a big bond obligation and they get those bond obligations on top of the coronavirus,” Neinas said. “The glory days of college athletics may be over.”
“Not optimistic it will end well”
Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard laid bare his dilemma earlier this summer, fearing a shortfall of roughly $41 million if football is canceled this fall. CU athletic director Rick George has said the financial impact would be roughly the same in Boulder.
“We understand there are serious health considerations that are implicated by moving forward with sports,” Pollard wrote in a July missive to fans. “However, we are confident that our department can provide a safer environment for the athletes in Ames, where they are motivated by their teammates and competition to modify their social behavior.”
Safer environment? Probably.
Motivated by peers not to party? Experts still aren’t convinced.
“And that’s the key to this,” said Dr. Michelle Barron, a professor of medicine in the division of infectious disease at CU’s Anschutz Medical Campus. “I think that’s important, if we can maximize all we can do (off the field), or we can’t do it.
“That means, if (players) don’t follow the rules, you’re off the team for the rest of the year. There has to be some level of consequence for people who don’t follow the rules.
“The difference between prep and college football teams and the professional level is (the players) have a lot of money riding on these things. And if I had that big contract and was told, ‘(No partying)’… I’d imagine these circles are fairly tight. People who are constantly breaking rules get reputations, for better or worse.”
Or, in the case of Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams, they just want to get some wings. Even if those wings are served at a gentleman’s club in Atlanta.
“I had an epidemiologist on our show,” Finebaum laughed. “Listen, he was trying to be aspirational. He said, ‘If everyone on college campuses will wear a mask and follow all the usual protocol, we’ve got a chance.’ And I got a text from a friend whose son just happens to be a player at a major, big-time program. He was listening to it and he wrote, ‘Is this guy out of his mind? He said you have to wear masks and not go to parties. They’re not going to wear masks and they’re going to parties.’
“So I am not overly optimistic it will end well. But this is one of those situations where I think everyone’s rolling the dice, everybody’s hoping against hope that maybe we’ll get there, maybe we won’t. There’s not a good plan. Every plan is being put together with cheap duct tape from the dollar store and just hoping that it sticks.”
Maybe the appropriate question isn’t whether there will be college football this fall — but should there be?
“I’ve yet to hear anyone answer (that),” Finebaum replied. “And I’m going to keep pursuing it. The one thing I just lose my lunch over, every day, is when I hear them all collectively say that the most important thing is the health of the student-athletes. If that’s the case, we wouldn’t be having these conversations.”


thedenverpost--2020-08-02--In HBO film, Ken Buck suggests he will leave Congress soon

In an upcoming HBO documentary , U.S. Rep. Ken Buck paints a bleak picture not only of Congress but also of his own political party and the conservative movement in this era of President Donald Trump , before suggesting he will retire soon .
“ The problem with the Republican Party now is that we have such a fresh history of violating the Constitution , of violating fiscal responsibility , of violating personal accountability , that we don ’ t have a high ground to stand ( on ) and say , ‘ You guys are doing the wrong thing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Windsor Republican and chairman of the Colorado Republican Party , in a documentary called “ The Swamp.
” The movie , which debuts 7 p.m. Tuesday , follows three Republican congressmen — Buck , Matt Gaetz of Florida and Thomas Massie of Kentucky — through 2019 as they reveal their frustrations with the influence of lobbyists , the power of congressional leadership and a lack of legislative progress .
In the film , which The Denver Post screened , Buck often appears exasperated and cynical .
“ As you see from our movie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Morgan Pehme , one of the film ’ s directors , in an interview .
“ Ken is beaten down by the system .
I feel sad for Ken sometimes because you go in there , you think you ’ re going to make a difference , you ’ re a member of Congress , you have the pin on , and then you realize you ’ re just another vote in the pocket of ( congressional ) leadership.
” During one scene late in the film , a camera pans over a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first congressional election victory in 2014 , which hangs in Buck ’ s office near the U.S. Capitol .
Then he offers a dark assessment of his tenure .
“ I have to tell you , I think this place has drained me of a certain amount of life .
After having been here for five years , I have no illusion that what I say , anybody cares about .
I have thought about leaving and I don ’ t know whether this is my last term or whether I ’ ll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do know that a lot of the folks at home will not understand the long-term implications of what ’ s happening here in D.C. ” Buck did ultimately decide to run for re-election in 2020 and is favored to win over Democratic challenger Ike McCorkle on Nov. 3 in the safely Republican 4th Congressional District of eastern Colorado .
McCorkle said it ’ s disingenuous for Buck to distance himself from a corrupt political establishment the congressman is a prominent part of .
“ He hasn ’ t done anything for Colorado and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said of Buck ’ s remarks .
“ Coloradans need real fighters in Congress who will represent their interests .
I ’ ll be that fighter , because as a veteran and Purple Heart recipient , I always have been .
If Ken Buck isn ’ t up to the job , he needs to step down.
” Reached for comment , Buck ’ s spokeswoman , Lindsey Curnutte , said he remains focused on serving his constituents in the 4th District and hasn ’ t discussed any retirement plans with his staff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election , there will likely be a crowded Republican primary to succeed him .
The 4th District currently includes Douglas County , home to several Republican state legislators and ambitious politicians .
That may change when congressional districts are redrawn following the 2020 Census , however .
Buck was a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus , which formed in 2015 to act as an ultra-conservative voice and quickly proved willing to criticize Republican leadership for being insufficiently conservative , especially on fiscal matters .
But the caucus ’ s influence has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have rarely criticized Trump , despite his disinterest in fiscal conservatism .
“ This president has presented budgets that are huge , ” Buck says in the film .
“ Typically , the Freedom Caucus would be leading the charge to criticize an executive branch proposal that costs that much money .
Now that ’ s just not the case and it ’ s not the case because when the Freedom Caucus members look at their political base , they realize that so much of their base are Trump lovers ( and ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrong , so they can ’ t criticize the president.
” The congressman expands on this train of thought in the film ’ s closing minutes , telling an interviewer , “ Taking on President Trump is unwise and President Trump has no problem doing a touchdown dance every time a Republican critic loses , and so he reinforces the idea that it is a bad idea to take him on.
” The documentary was partly inspired by Buck ’ s 2017 book “ Drain the Swamp , ” according to Pehme and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ themselves as liberals who were surprised to discover how many government reform ideas they share with a hardline conservative like Buck .
The Coloradan was the first member of Congress who agreed to take part in the documentary .
Pehme and DiMauro believe the film is an opportunity to bring Americans of all ideologies together in agreement that Congress has been made impotent by infighting and made corrupt by corporate lobbying and almost constant fundraising .
“ Although ideologically we disagree with ( Buck ) on so many things , the fact is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ things that we think are so critical for the future of our country , which is the corruption of the Congress and the issue with never-ending wars around the world , ” DiMauro said in an interview .
Pehme said Buck , a 61-year-old who has battled cancer and survived a heart attack , wrestled throughout 2019 with whether to run for re-election in 2020 or retire from Congress , before ultimately deciding on the former route .
“ There was an opportunity with this movie , ” Pehme said , “ for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who just walks out of the town as the sheriff , hangs up the sheriff ’ s badge and walks off into the sunset .
”

In an upcoming HBO documentary, U.S. Rep. Ken Buck paints a bleak picture not only of Congress but also of his own political party and the conservative movement in this era of President Donald Trump, before suggesting he will retire soon.
“The problem with the Republican Party now is that we have such a fresh history of violating the Constitution, of violating fiscal responsibility, of violating personal accountability, that we don’t have a high ground to stand (on) and say, ‘You guys are doing the wrong thing,’ ” says Buck, a Windsor Republican and chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, in a documentary called “The Swamp.”
The movie, which debuts 7 p.m. Tuesday, follows three Republican congressmen — Buck, Matt Gaetz of Florida and Thomas Massie of Kentucky — through 2019 as they reveal their frustrations with the influence of lobbyists, the power of congressional leadership and a lack of legislative progress. In the film, which The Denver Post screened, Buck often appears exasperated and cynical.
“As you see from our movie, Ken is sad,” said Morgan Pehme, one of the film’s directors, in an interview. “Ken is beaten down by the system. I feel sad for Ken sometimes because you go in there, you think you’re going to make a difference, you’re a member of Congress, you have the pin on, and then you realize you’re just another vote in the pocket of (congressional) leadership.”
During one scene late in the film, a camera pans over a framed Post article from Buck’s first congressional election victory in 2014, which hangs in Buck’s office near the U.S. Capitol. Then he offers a dark assessment of his tenure.
“I have to tell you, I think this place has drained me of a certain amount of life. After having been here for five years, I have no illusion that what I say, anybody cares about. I have thought about leaving and I don’t know whether this is my last term or whether I’ll run for one more term. I do know that a lot of the folks at home will not understand the long-term implications of what’s happening here in D.C.”
Buck did ultimately decide to run for re-election in 2020 and is favored to win over Democratic challenger Ike McCorkle on Nov. 3 in the safely Republican 4th Congressional District of eastern Colorado. McCorkle said it’s disingenuous for Buck to distance himself from a corrupt political establishment the congressman is a prominent part of.
“He hasn’t done anything for Colorado and even admits so himself,” McCorkle said of Buck’s remarks. “Coloradans need real fighters in Congress who will represent their interests. I’ll be that fighter, because as a veteran and Purple Heart recipient, I always have been. If Ken Buck isn’t up to the job, he needs to step down.”
Reached for comment, Buck’s spokeswoman, Lindsey Curnutte, said he remains focused on serving his constituents in the 4th District and hasn’t discussed any retirement plans with his staff.
If Buck retires before the 2022 election, there will likely be a crowded Republican primary to succeed him. The 4th District currently includes Douglas County, home to several Republican state legislators and ambitious politicians. That may change when congressional districts are redrawn following the 2020 Census, however.
Buck was a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, which formed in 2015 to act as an ultra-conservative voice and quickly proved willing to criticize Republican leadership for being insufficiently conservative, especially on fiscal matters. But the caucus’s influence has dwindled in recent years and its members have rarely criticized Trump, despite his disinterest in fiscal conservatism.
“This president has presented budgets that are huge,” Buck says in the film. “Typically, the Freedom Caucus would be leading the charge to criticize an executive branch proposal that costs that much money. Now that’s just not the case and it’s not the case because when the Freedom Caucus members look at their political base, they realize that so much of their base are Trump lovers (and) nothing this president does can possibly be wrong, so they can’t criticize the president.”
The congressman expands on this train of thought in the film’s closing minutes, telling an interviewer, “Taking on President Trump is unwise and President Trump has no problem doing a touchdown dance every time a Republican critic loses, and so he reinforces the idea that it is a bad idea to take him on.”
The documentary was partly inspired by Buck’s 2017 book “Drain the Swamp,” according to Pehme and co-director Daniel DiMauro. The directors describe themselves as liberals who were surprised to discover how many government reform ideas they share with a hardline conservative like Buck. The Coloradan was the first member of Congress who agreed to take part in the documentary.
Pehme and DiMauro believe the film is an opportunity to bring Americans of all ideologies together in agreement that Congress has been made impotent by infighting and made corrupt by corporate lobbying and almost constant fundraising.
“Although ideologically we disagree with (Buck) on so many things, the fact is we agree with him on two fundamental things that we think are so critical for the future of our country, which is the corruption of the Congress and the issue with never-ending wars around the world,” DiMauro said in an interview.
Pehme said Buck, a 61-year-old who has battled cancer and survived a heart attack, wrestled throughout 2019 with whether to run for re-election in 2020 or retire from Congress, before ultimately deciding on the former route.
“There was an opportunity with this movie,” Pehme said, “for Ken to be a Gary Cooper-type figure who just walks out of the town as the sheriff, hangs up the sheriff’s badge and walks off into the sunset.”


thedenverpost--2020-08-02--As crews dig up lead-poisoned dirt, accelerated cleanup of Pueblo Superfund site cast as EPA model

PUEBLO — For more than a decade , the Gonzales family ate chilis , cucumbers and tomatoes grown in a garden behind their house in the low-income Bessemer neighborhood , where industrial smelters a century ago belched pollution .
Environmental Protection Agency tests last year found their soil was poisoned with lead .
“ We were like , ‘ What ?
All this time ?
Rolling in the grass ?
’ ” Michael Gonzales , 61 , said this week .
“ It doesn ’ t feel good.
” EPA crews had just dug out that garden two feet deep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and hauled it all away to a dump before back-filling with imported dirt — part of an expedited Superfund cleanup targeting 1,900 properties within a half mile of a smokestack torn down in 1923 .
Federal contractors also scoured inside the Gonzales house , installed a crushed-rock driveway and were preparing to lay sod , before moving next door .
Michael and Joann Gonzales said they ’ re pleased and feeling better about their grandchildren visiting , though possible health harm remained a mystery because they and their two sons haven ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 106 years for the government to address the toxic contamination from the smelters that turned mined rock into metals , but poisoned workers ’ neighborhoods on Pueblo ’ s south side .
The smelting to extract silver and lead between 1893 and 1908 left a legacy of arsenic , cadmium and lead in soil and household dust at levels up to five times higher than the EPA ’ s threshold for emergency action — pollution federal documents say children likely absorbed into their blood at levels more than double the amount that stunts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , including some whose families have lived here for multiple generations , say they simply endured , seldom suspecting unreasonable impacts , unaware of poisoned dirt and not demanding cleanup .
Italian , Slavic , Swedish , Hispanic and other immigrant factory workers built up the neighborhoods .
The latest census figures show harder times after factories closed with median income around $ 20,000 for current residents , predominantly Latino , and 25 % in poverty .
EPA chief Andrew Wheeler saw the Colorado Smelter Superfund site during a visit last week and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the cleanup , compelled by acute human health risks , “ maybe the single best decision ” the EPA has made since voters elected President Donald Trump .
The Trump administration has weakened dozens of the nation ’ s rules to protect the environment while re-focusing the EPA on cleanups .
Wheeler also cast this five-year project , expected to cost taxpayers $ 75 million , as a matter of justice .
“ Environmental justice is not just about race , it is about socioeconomics , ” Wheeler said .
“ Everybody @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regardless of what zip code they live in.
” Environmental justice concerns have reverberated this summer during nationwide street demonstrations sparked by the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd .
Demonstrators are looking beyond criminal justice at broader inequities and demanding fairness in who bears the burdens of human industrial degradation of air , water and soil .
Those demands will intensify , especially as climate warming from burning fossil fuels affects more people , said Denver-based activist Ean Tafoya , a co-director of the Colorado Latino Forum and organizer for the national @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have to take the offensive , ” Tafoya said .
“ Leaders of the demonstrations understand that our oppression does not stop with police.
” The poisoning in Pueblo began in 1883 when the Colorado Smelting Company set up an ore-processing factory on a mesa south of the Arkansas River , one of five smelters back then .
Operators ran 11 furnaces in extracting silver and lead .
They dumped molten waste slag into a ravine .
Colorado Smelting merged into the American Smelting and Refining Company , or ASARCO , in 1899 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ closed the smelter , selling its property to the Newton Lumber Company .
The land later sold to multiple small businesses and individuals .
ASARCO has gone bankrupt .
EPA officials said they can not identify anybody responsible for the pollution with the ability to pay for cleanup .
Lead can damage nerves , slow brain development and cause anemia .
Children are most susceptible .
Long-term exposure also can worsen high blood pressure , kidney problems and dementia .
And lead accumulated in the body can stay there for years .
State @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trouble here in the early 1990s , records show .
Starting in 2015 , the EPA measured lead contamination of soil at up to 1,470 parts per million and in houses at up to 2,060 ppm , according to federal records .
EPA officials this week told The Denver Post toxic contamination of soil has measured as high as 2,210 ppm for lead ( 5.5 times higher than an EPA “ action level ” threshold ) , 273 ppm for arsenic and 44 ppm for cadmium ( a heavy metal that causes cancer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says the contamination at these levels means children likely absorbed lead in their blood “ above 20 micrograms per deciliter , ” which is more than twice as high as blood lead levels from 2 to 8 micrograms that can hurt brain functioning .
The federal government formally declared an environmental disaster in 2014 and Pueblo rocketed to top priority among the two dozen or so other Superfund sites around Colorado .
Some cleanups have dragged out for decades .
At the Bonita Peak Mining District site encompassing the Gold King Mine in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t finalized a cleanup plan five years after an EPA crew triggered a blowout in 2015 that turned the Animas River mustard yellow , let alone complete cleanup , as agency experts struggle to map toxic water seepage through the underground equivalent of Swiss cheese in heavily-mined mountains .
“ What ’ s unique about Pueblo is that you ’ ve got an acute health risk situation .
We ’ re talking about elevated lead in soil , in neighborhood yards , where children play , ” EPA regional administrator Greg Sopkin said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re dealing with kids , potential loss of IQ , and a lot of it is irreversible , ” Sopkin said .
“ There ’ s been blood work done .
There have been high levels of lead found in blood .
I don ’ t know about health effects associated with that .
There ’ s certainly evidence there was a problem.
” The testing of soil and dust inside more than 1,700 homes , and roughly 200 commercial properties , has been voluntary , leading to soil replacement where necessary .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ necessary at nearly 900 homes and the number could increase .
Pueblo and state health agencies can conduct free blood tests when residents request them .
A previous EPA cleanup of toxic soil in Denver — the 4-square-mile Vasquez Boulevard/Interstate 70 Superfund site — required excavations at 823 homes , mostly between 2003 and 2006 , where industrial smelting a century ago had spread waste .
The arsenic contamination measured up to 1,418 ppm and lead up to 1,715 ppm — lower than the lead levels at the Pueblo site , but also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 50 million people in the United States , about 16 % of the population , live within three miles of an environmental disaster so severe that the federal government has stepped in and launched a Superfund cleanup .
Under Trump , EPA officials have focused on cleanups required at about 1,300 National Priority List environmental disasters , and in 2019 they were able to delete all or portions of 27 sites from the list — the most since 2001 .
Many cleanups lag due to government bureaucratic processes and a lack of funding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1980 established the Superfund with a tax on industry to cover costs when officials can not locate a responsible polluter able to pay for cleanup .
“ The point of the Superfund program is to someday have no more cleanup to do , ” Wheeler , the EPA administrator , said last week at a gathering with Pueblo leaders .
“ The point of the program is not to get caught up in the process but to focus on the progress of cleaning up a site.
” By 2023 , the Colorado smelter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ announced , sticking with a five-year expedited schedule instead of the initially anticipated 10 years or more .
That ’ s assuming that cleanup workers will be able to resume their work inside houses to remove contaminated dust , which have been suspended due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic .
Colorado health officials said Pueblo ’ s south side is becoming safer as EPA crews roll house to house , and urged action at other Superfund sites .
“ We would certainly like to see quicker progress wherever we can , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Public Health and the Environment ’ s cleanup leader .
Pueblo residents have welcomed the removal of toxic soil , expected to raise property values .
However , some are complaining about the quality of imported dirt .
“ It is dirt from the mountains , like cement .
They told me they were going to give me good dirt , ” said Antonia Canas , 79 , in front of the house where ’ s she ’ s lived since 1959 .
Nearby at the house where Karen Garcia , 57 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when she went to Alamosa for college , EPA testing contractors “ said I had both lead and arsenic.
” Garcia assumed this contamination hasn ’ t affected her , yet lamented that now her flowers won ’ t grow back .
“ They called it ‘ topsoil ’ but it wasn ’ t very good quality .
The grass took on it but none of the plants .
It ’ s like clay and doesn ’ t drain.
” A storm led to flooding in her re-made backyard .
“ They ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” yet she contacted a project supervisor and sent him a photo showing the flooding .
“ I ’ m not satisfied with that ugly dirt they put in my yard .
Even weeds aren ’ t growing.
” Others raised concerns about renters and owners who didn ’ t request soil tests , leaving contaminated properties interspersed among cleaned ones .
“ And I asked them , ‘ How about my vents ?
’ ” Abrina Wilder , 75 , said , referring to the cleanup crew that vacuumed inside the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years .
“ And they said , ‘ They didn ’ t tell us to do the vents.
’ ” Lead and arsenic levels in her home “ were pretty high , ” she said , adding that she attended EPA-run community meetings and asked questions .
“ They said the lead leaves your system after awhile , ” Wilder said , reclining on a chair atop polished wood floors looking out at a square green front lawn .
Yet she wondered , with weak bones , about health effects , though she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Who knows ?
” The EPA ’ s Louisiana-based contractor APTIM is relying on local workers to excavate contaminated soil using shovels and heavy yellow machinery .
Mask-wearing men in green vests this week said the hours are good , the pay decent .
Lifelong residents such as Isaac Hernandez , 42 , were motivated to help their home city .
“ We have people come up to us every day , ” Hernandez said , “ and ask if we ’ re still testing.
” EPA officials encouraged participation .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wheeler told local leaders as television reporters looked on , “ make sure you volunteer to have your yard tested.
” Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar called the decision to do that “ a no-brainer.
” Meanwhile the century-old heaps of black slag , covering 700,000 square feet , still sit in the ravine by train tracks pending completion of agency investigations and a remedy that may require removal .
Homeless people camp around the slag despite fences and warning signs .
Once EPA leaders declare the cleanup done , this site can become @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grants .
Pueblo city and county officials have made a plan for community revitalization .
Wheeler pointed to the location along the Interstate 25 corridor .
“ This site clearly has a lot of potential for a lot of industries , ” he said , such as commercial “ fulfillment centers ” for processing customer orders .

PUEBLO — For more than a decade, the Gonzales family ate chilis, cucumbers and tomatoes grown in a garden behind their house in the low-income Bessemer neighborhood, where industrial smelters a century ago belched pollution.
Environmental Protection Agency tests last year found their soil was poisoned with lead.
“We were like, ‘What? All this time? Rolling in the grass?’ ” Michael Gonzales, 61, said this week. “It doesn’t feel good.”
EPA crews had just dug out that garden two feet deep, removed other soil around the house, and hauled it all away to a dump before back-filling with imported dirt — part of an expedited Superfund cleanup targeting 1,900 properties within a half mile of a smokestack torn down in 1923.
Federal contractors also scoured inside the Gonzales house, installed a crushed-rock driveway and were preparing to lay sod, before moving next door. Michael and Joann Gonzales said they’re pleased and feeling better about their grandchildren visiting, though possible health harm remained a mystery because they and their two sons haven’t had blood tests.
It took 106 years for the government to address the toxic contamination from the smelters that turned mined rock into metals, but poisoned workers’ neighborhoods on Pueblo’s south side. The smelting to extract silver and lead between 1893 and 1908 left a legacy of arsenic, cadmium and lead in soil and household dust at levels up to five times higher than the EPA’s threshold for emergency action — pollution federal documents say children likely absorbed into their blood at levels more than double the amount that stunts brain development.
Today’s residents, including some whose families have lived here for multiple generations, say they simply endured, seldom suspecting unreasonable impacts, unaware of poisoned dirt and not demanding cleanup. Italian, Slavic, Swedish, Hispanic and other immigrant factory workers built up the neighborhoods. The latest census figures show harder times after factories closed with median income around $20,000 for current residents, predominantly Latino, and 25% in poverty.
EPA chief Andrew Wheeler saw the Colorado Smelter Superfund site during a visit last week and called his agency’s 2018 acceleration of the cleanup, compelled by acute human health risks, “maybe the single best decision” the EPA has made since voters elected President Donald Trump. The Trump administration has weakened dozens of the nation’s rules to protect the environment while re-focusing the EPA on cleanups.
Wheeler also cast this five-year project, expected to cost taxpayers $75 million, as a matter of justice.
“Environmental justice is not just about race, it is about socioeconomics,” Wheeler said. “Everybody deserves to have a clean environment, regardless of what zip code they live in.”
Environmental justice concerns have reverberated this summer during nationwide street demonstrations sparked by the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. Demonstrators are looking beyond criminal justice at broader inequities and demanding fairness in who bears the burdens of human industrial degradation of air, water and soil.
Those demands will intensify, especially as climate warming from burning fossil fuels affects more people, said Denver-based activist Ean Tafoya, a co-director of the Colorado Latino Forum and organizer for the national advocacy group Green Latinos.
“We have to take the offensive,” Tafoya said. “Leaders of the demonstrations understand that our oppression does not stop with police.”
“An acute health risk situation”
The poisoning in Pueblo began in 1883 when the Colorado Smelting Company set up an ore-processing factory on a mesa south of the Arkansas River, one of five smelters back then. Operators ran 11 furnaces in extracting silver and lead. They dumped molten waste slag into a ravine.
Colorado Smelting merged into the American Smelting and Refining Company, or ASARCO, in 1899. ASARCO maximized profits and in 1908 closed the smelter, selling its property to the Newton Lumber Company. The land later sold to multiple small businesses and individuals. ASARCO has gone bankrupt. EPA officials said they cannot identify anybody responsible for the pollution with the ability to pay for cleanup.
Lead can damage nerves, slow brain development and cause anemia. Children are most susceptible. Long-term exposure also can worsen high blood pressure, kidney problems and dementia. And lead accumulated in the body can stay there for years.
State health department officials first found evidence of trouble here in the early 1990s, records show. Starting in 2015, the EPA measured lead contamination of soil at up to 1,470 parts per million and in houses at up to 2,060 ppm, according to federal records.
EPA officials this week told The Denver Post toxic contamination of soil has measured as high as 2,210 ppm for lead (5.5 times higher than an EPA “action level” threshold), 273 ppm for arsenic and 44 ppm for cadmium (a heavy metal that causes cancer). An agency risk assessment document says the contamination at these levels means children likely absorbed lead in their blood “above 20 micrograms per deciliter,” which is more than twice as high as blood lead levels from 2 to 8 micrograms that can hurt brain functioning.
The federal government formally declared an environmental disaster in 2014 and Pueblo rocketed to top priority among the two dozen or so other Superfund sites around Colorado. Some cleanups have dragged out for decades.
At the Bonita Peak Mining District site encompassing the Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado, EPA officials haven’t finalized a cleanup plan five years after an EPA crew triggered a blowout in 2015 that turned the Animas River mustard yellow, let alone complete cleanup, as agency experts struggle to map toxic water seepage through the underground equivalent of Swiss cheese in heavily-mined mountains.
“What’s unique about Pueblo is that you’ve got an acute health risk situation. We’re talking about elevated lead in soil, in neighborhood yards, where children play,” EPA regional administrator Greg Sopkin said in an interview.
“You’re dealing with kids, potential loss of IQ, and a lot of it is irreversible,” Sopkin said. “There’s been blood work done. There have been high levels of lead found in blood. I don’t know about health effects associated with that. There’s certainly evidence there was a problem.”
The testing of soil and dust inside more than 1,700 homes, and roughly 200 commercial properties, has been voluntary, leading to soil replacement where necessary. EPA officials have projected excavation will be necessary at nearly 900 homes and the number could increase. Pueblo and state health agencies can conduct free blood tests when residents request them.
A previous EPA cleanup of toxic soil in Denver — the 4-square-mile Vasquez Boulevard/Interstate 70 Superfund site — required excavations at 823 homes, mostly between 2003 and 2006, where industrial smelting a century ago had spread waste. The arsenic contamination measured up to 1,418 ppm and lead up to 1,715 ppm — lower than the lead levels at the Pueblo site, but also high enough to hurt children.
Environmental disasters
Nearly 50 million people in the United States, about 16% of the population, live within three miles of an environmental disaster so severe that the federal government has stepped in and launched a Superfund cleanup.
Under Trump, EPA officials have focused on cleanups required at about 1,300 National Priority List environmental disasters, and in 2019 they were able to delete all or portions of 27 sites from the list — the most since 2001.
Many cleanups lag due to government bureaucratic processes and a lack of funding, which has dwindled since Congress in 1980 established the Superfund with a tax on industry to cover costs when officials cannot locate a responsible polluter able to pay for cleanup.
“The point of the Superfund program is to someday have no more cleanup to do,” Wheeler, the EPA administrator, said last week at a gathering with Pueblo leaders. “The point of the program is not to get caught up in the process but to focus on the progress of cleaning up a site.”
By 2023, the Colorado smelter cleanup will be done, EPA officials announced, sticking with a five-year expedited schedule instead of the initially anticipated 10 years or more. That’s assuming that cleanup workers will be able to resume their work inside houses to remove contaminated dust, which have been suspended due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
Colorado health officials said Pueblo’s south side is becoming safer as EPA crews roll house to house, and urged action at other Superfund sites.
“We would certainly like to see quicker progress wherever we can,” said Doug Jamison, the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment’s cleanup leader.
Replacing soil
Pueblo residents have welcomed the removal of toxic soil, expected to raise property values. However, some are complaining about the quality of imported dirt.
“It is dirt from the mountains, like cement. They told me they were going to give me good dirt,” said Antonia Canas, 79, in front of the house where’s she’s lived since 1959.
Nearby at the house where Karen Garcia, 57, has lived all her life except when she went to Alamosa for college, EPA testing contractors “said I had both lead and arsenic.”
Garcia assumed this contamination hasn’t affected her, yet lamented that now her flowers won’t grow back. “They called it ‘topsoil’ but it wasn’t very good quality. The grass took on it but none of the plants. It’s like clay and doesn’t drain.”
A storm led to flooding in her re-made backyard. “They’d had me sign off on everything,” yet she contacted a project supervisor and sent him a photo showing the flooding. “I’m not satisfied with that ugly dirt they put in my yard. Even weeds aren’t growing.”
Others raised concerns about renters and owners who didn’t request soil tests, leaving contaminated properties interspersed among cleaned ones.
“And I asked them, ‘How about my vents?’ ” Abrina Wilder, 75, said, referring to the cleanup crew that vacuumed inside the house she’s owned for 50 years. “And they said, ‘They didn’t tell us to do the vents.’ ”
Lead and arsenic levels in her home “were pretty high,” she said, adding that she attended EPA-run community meetings and asked questions.
“They said the lead leaves your system after awhile,” Wilder said, reclining on a chair atop polished wood floors looking out at a square green front lawn.
Yet she wondered, with weak bones, about health effects, though she was gone 40 years living in Seattle. “Who knows?”
“A no-brainer”
The EPA’s Louisiana-based contractor APTIM is relying on local workers to excavate contaminated soil using shovels and heavy yellow machinery. Mask-wearing men in green vests this week said the hours are good, the pay decent. Lifelong residents such as Isaac Hernandez, 42, were motivated to help their home city.
“We have people come up to us every day,” Hernandez said, “and ask if we’re still testing.”
EPA officials encouraged participation. “If you have children,” Wheeler told local leaders as television reporters looked on, “make sure you volunteer to have your yard tested.”
Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar called the decision to do that “a no-brainer.”
Meanwhile the century-old heaps of black slag, covering 700,000 square feet, still sit in the ravine by train tracks pending completion of agency investigations and a remedy that may require removal. Homeless people camp around the slag despite fences and warning signs.
Once EPA leaders declare the cleanup done, this site can become eligible for federal “brownfields” redevelopment grants. Pueblo city and county officials have made a plan for community revitalization.
Wheeler pointed to the location along the Interstate 25 corridor. “This site clearly has a lot of potential for a lot of industries,” he said, such as commercial “fulfillment centers” for processing customer orders.


thedenverpost--2020-08-02--Road to Retirement: The stock market makes sense, and that makes me nervous

When most investors look at the terrible economic numbers and then look at the rising stock market , they think , this makes no sense .
How can the economy be so bad , but the stock market be so good ?
In fact , the S & P 500 is roughly back to the high it reached at the end of 2019 , when all was good in the world of finance .
While there seems to be a disconnect , the reality is the stock market does make sense .
If you believe the nation will recover from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back to normal , then there is no reason for stock prices to fall .
A rational investor will look through the bad current numbers to better numbers down the road .
Currently , estimates for S & P 500 earnings show the numbers getting back to their pre-2020 highs by the end of 2021 .
So , if investors believe everything is going to be alright in 18 to 24 months , why should investors sell stocks ?
This is of course the message we have been getting from Warren Buffett for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stock in a good company just because it hits a temporary rough patch .
You hold it for the long term , and its value is based on how it performs over decades , not a few months or years .
Thus , it is perfectly rational for the stock market to maintain its value even in the midst of this recession .
This is the message we are hearing from many on Wall Street , but that ’ s what makes me nervous .
In the long history of financial markets , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rational .
They have been primarily speculative .
Their decisions drive boom and bust cycles , by dumping stocks in bad times and aggressively buying them in good times .
Investors , particularly those who influence daily stock prices , have never fully “ looked through ” the cycles and invested rationally based on reasonable expectations for long-term growth .
For instance , a rational investor would not bid up stock prices 30 % in one year just because things are going well that year .
A rational investor would look at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and maybe pay 6 % to 8 % more a year from now .
Conversely , a rational investor would not dump stocks in a recession because good companies get through recessions , and there is no reason to sell if you have a solid business that will recover .
So why all of a sudden are investors “ looking through ” the bad numbers and rationally assessing the future ?
Has human nature changed that quickly ?
Is Wall Street now only going to make rational investment decisions and promote rational pricing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Maybe Wall Street has learned this lesson and is finally taking Mr. Buffett ’ s advice .
To have confidence in this new assessment of investor behavior , we ’ d probably have to go through three or more recessions without any significant price declines .
And we ’ d need to go through three or more good cycles , without crazy price increases .
If we did that , then we could have more confidence that investors are looking through cycles and investing more rationally based on long-term growth and profit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know how investors will react to the next three market cycles , we have to make some assessment about what ’ s actually happening today .
Are investors really looking through to the recovery , so no matter how bad the numbers get , the market will hold up because eventually the economy will recover ?
Are we done with bear markets ?
I doubt it .
The odds are that this brief period of market rationality is simply a byproduct of massive Federal Reserve and Congressional support for a struggling economy .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ are evaluating that support on a daily basis .
They have never “ looked through ” booms or busts before , so I doubt that they started today .
This thin veil of rationality being promoted by analysts and other market commentators could be pierced by one bad press conference from Jerome Powell .
If traders get the sense that the support may wane or may not be enough , they are unlikely to look beyond that day ’ s closing bell .
The Fed says they will do whatever it takes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ money on the sidelines , just in case the Fed changes its mind .
Markets aren ’ t fully rational yet .
Charlie Farrell is a CEO of Northstar Investment Advisors LLC .
This article is for information and education purposes only .
Past performance is no guarantee of future returns , and all investing involves the permanent risk of loss .
Consult your individual financial adviser for guidance specific to your circumstances .

When most investors look at the terrible economic numbers and then look at the rising stock market, they think, this makes no sense. How can the economy be so bad, but the stock market be so good? In fact, the S&P 500 is roughly back to the high it reached at the end of 2019, when all was good in the world of finance.
While there seems to be a disconnect, the reality is the stock market does make sense. If you believe the nation will recover from the virus and the economy will get back to normal, then there is no reason for stock prices to fall. A rational investor will look through the bad current numbers to better numbers down the road. Currently, estimates for S&P 500 earnings show the numbers getting back to their pre-2020 highs by the end of 2021. So, if investors believe everything is going to be alright in 18 to 24 months, why should investors sell stocks?
This is of course the message we have been getting from Warren Buffett for decades. You don’t sell stock in a good company just because it hits a temporary rough patch. You hold it for the long term, and its value is based on how it performs over decades, not a few months or years. Thus, it is perfectly rational for the stock market to maintain its value even in the midst of this recession. This is the message we are hearing from many on Wall Street, but that’s what makes me nervous.
In the long history of financial markets, investors as a group have never been rational. They have been primarily speculative. Their decisions drive boom and bust cycles, by dumping stocks in bad times and aggressively buying them in good times. Investors, particularly those who influence daily stock prices, have never fully “looked through” the cycles and invested rationally based on reasonable expectations for long-term growth.
For instance, a rational investor would not bid up stock prices 30% in one year just because things are going well that year. A rational investor would look at the long-term trend of profits and dividend growth and maybe pay 6% to 8% more a year from now. Conversely, a rational investor would not dump stocks in a recession because good companies get through recessions, and there is no reason to sell if you have a solid business that will recover.
So why all of a sudden are investors “looking through” the bad numbers and rationally assessing the future? Has human nature changed that quickly? Is Wall Street now only going to make rational investment decisions and promote rational pricing? We have to consider the possibility. Maybe Wall Street has learned this lesson and is finally taking Mr. Buffett’s advice.
To have confidence in this new assessment of investor behavior, we’d probably have to go through three or more recessions without any significant price declines. And we’d need to go through three or more good cycles, without crazy price increases. If we did that, then we could have more confidence that investors are looking through cycles and investing more rationally based on long-term growth and profit trends.
Because we can’t know how investors will react to the next three market cycles, we have to make some assessment about what’s actually happening today. Are investors really looking through to the recovery, so no matter how bad the numbers get, the market will hold up because eventually the economy will recover? Are we done with bear markets? I doubt it.
The odds are that this brief period of market rationality is simply a byproduct of massive Federal Reserve and Congressional support for a struggling economy. The traders who drive short-term market values are evaluating that support on a daily basis. They have never “looked through” booms or busts before, so I doubt that they started today.
This thin veil of rationality being promoted by analysts and other market commentators could be pierced by one bad press conference from Jerome Powell. If traders get the sense that the support may wane or may not be enough, they are unlikely to look beyond that day’s closing bell. The Fed says they will do whatever it takes, but keep some dry powder and safe money on the sidelines, just in case the Fed changes its mind. Markets aren’t fully rational yet.
Charlie Farrell is a CEO of Northstar Investment Advisors LLC. This article is for information and education purposes only. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns, and all investing involves the permanent risk of loss. Consult your individual financial adviser for guidance specific to your circumstances.


thedenverpost--2020-08-02--The Denver Post is looking to add Teen Columnists to our opinion section. Learn more here.

The Denver Post is looking to publish opinions from young Coloradans who are passionate about issues in their communities .
@ @ @ @ @ will run both online at denverpost.com and in The Denver Post ’ s printed opinion @ @ @ @ @ the upcoming election , we are creating a special section that features young people ’ @ @ @ @ @ on the November ballot .
If you can ’ t vote yourself , what do @ @ @ @ @ about as they cast their ballots ?
We are interested in hearing your opinions on @ @ @ @ @ Presidential race and how the results will affect you Submissions can be made here and @ @ @ @ @ 400 words .
We will accept submissions through Sept. 11 , 2020 .
Full names @ @ @ @ @ Contact information provided below will not be made public or shared with advertisers .
Have @ @ @ @ @ about a topic not included above ?
Reach out to our Opinion Editor Megan Schrader @ @ @ @ @

UPDATE: The submission period is now closed. If you’d like to be notified when we start accepting submissions again, fill out this form.
The Denver Post is looking to publish opinions from young Coloradans who are passionate about issues in their communities. If chosen, the pieces will run both online at denverpost.com and in The Denver Post’s printed opinion section.
In preparation for the upcoming election, we are creating a special section that features young people’s opinions on major issue on the November ballot. If you can’t vote yourself, what do you want voters to think about as they cast their ballots?
We are interested in hearing your opinions on the following topics:
Coronavirus procedures in schools
Policing in schools
Climate change in Colorado
Presidential race and how the results will affect you
Colorado’s senate race and what’s at stake
Submissions can be made here and should be no longer than 400 words. We will accept submissions through Sept. 11, 2020. Full names are required for publication. Contact information provided below will not be made public or shared with advertisers.
Have questions or want to write about a topic not included above? Reach out to our Opinion Editor Megan Schrader at mschrader@denverpost.com.


thedenverpost--2020-08-02--Post Premium: Our best stories for the week of July 27-Aug. 2

With the start of school just weeks away and COVID-19 still spreading in Colorado , parents across the state are grappling with the question of how to continue their children ’ s education .
Send them back into the classroom where they may be at greater risk of contracting or helping spread the virus ?
Or keep them home and opt for remote learning ?
Faced with constantly shifting school reopening plans and public health guidance , It ’ s a decision about safety and education .
But for many , it ’ s also financial .
Can parents even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kids through online schooling ?
As Elizabeth Hernandez , one of The Denver Post ’ s education reporters , found , it ’ s an agonizing dilemma for many parents as they try to decide what ’ s best — and maybe most realistic — for their children and families .
In-person or remote learning ?
Colorado parents agonize over decision — especially those who feel they have no choice Five in-depth looks at Colorado in the age of coronavirus Polis says it ’ s “ reasonably safe ” to reopen schools as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outbreaks Gov .
Jared Polis on Thursday said it ’ s “ reasonably safe ” to reopen Colorado ’ s schools in the coming weeks , as the state health agency released specific steps local educators should take to address any COVID-19 outbreaks within their facilities .
Read more here… Stapleton residents vote “ Central Park ” as new name ; “ It really is a meaningful first step ” After weeks of voting and decades of activism , a neighborhood named after a former Denver mayor and Ku Klux Klan member finally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will become the new neighborhood name , an ode to the green space that runs through town , Amanda Allshouse , the president of the board of Stapleton United Neighbors , announced Saturday .
Read more here… COVID-19 cases hit new weekly high in Colorado , but virus ’ trajectory unclear Cases of COVID-19 in Colorado hit a new high last week , but it ’ s not yet clear if that partly reflects the fallout of an early July blip .
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 3,799 cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ending Sunday , marking the sixth week of increasing cases .
The total likely will rise , though , because the state on Monday said newly reported cases “ may be artificially low ” due to a computer issue .
Read more here… Gov .
Jared Polis : “ I ’ m calling on Coloradans not to be stupid ” Coloradans who attend large events , don ’ t wear masks and don ’ t follow social-distancing guidelines are not only putting themselves but others at risk , Gov .
Jared Polis said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ large event in Weld County over the weekend .
Read more here… Meteorologist Marty Coniglio , a staple of Denver TV weather for three decades , left 9News Friday , a day after he compared , on social media , federal troops in U.S. cities to Nazis .
Read more here… A few more important stories from the past week + Construction starts on Denver ’ s second tiny-home village , aided by company tied to bid-rigging scandal + Legal motions for and against new rules , the prospect of future initiatives : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over ?
+ Science points to in-person learning as safe amid COVID-19 pandemic — but is it safe enough for Colorado ’ s school districts ?
+ Man suspected of firing shots on I-225 during Aurora protest is arrested + CU community feared Mark Kennedy was unqualified to be president .
How has he done leading during a pandemic ?
+ Do Colorado hospitals get extra money for coronavirus cases and deaths ?
Yes and no .
+ Castle Rock restaurant that defied public health order in May closes permanently two months later @ @ @ @ @ @ @ teacher over “ appalling ” comments about students with special needs See more great photos like this on The Denver Post ’ s Instagram account .

With the start of school just weeks away and COVID-19 still spreading in Colorado, parents across the state are grappling with the question of how to continue their children’s education.
Send them back into the classroom where they may be at greater risk of contracting or helping spread the virus? Or keep them home and opt for remote learning?
Faced with constantly shifting school reopening plans and public health guidance, It’s a decision about safety and education. But for many, it’s also financial. Can parents even afford to stay home to help their kids through online schooling?
As Elizabeth Hernandez, one of The Denver Post’s education reporters, found, it’s an agonizing dilemma for many parents as they try to decide what’s best — and maybe most realistic — for their children and families.
Read more in today’s Post.
— Matt Sebastian, The Denver Post
Five in-depth looks at Colorado in the age of coronavirus
Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday said it’s “reasonably safe” to reopen Colorado’s schools in the coming weeks, as the state health agency released specific steps local educators should take to address any COVID-19 outbreaks within their facilities. Read more here…
RELATED: Colorado teachers worried about COVID-19 protest school reopening plans
After weeks of voting and decades of activism, a neighborhood named after a former Denver mayor and Ku Klux Klan member finally will be rebranded.
Central Park soon will become the new neighborhood name, an ode to the green space that runs through town, Amanda Allshouse, the president of the board of Stapleton United Neighbors, announced Saturday. Read more here…
Cases of COVID-19 in Colorado hit a new high last week, but it’s not yet clear if that partly reflects the fallout of an early July blip.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 3,799 cases of the new coronavirus in the week ending Sunday, marking the sixth week of increasing cases. The total likely will rise, though, because the state on Monday said newly reported cases “may be artificially low” due to a computer issue. Read more here…
Coloradans who attend large events, don’t wear masks and don’t follow social-distancing guidelines are not only putting themselves but others at risk, Gov. Jared Polis said Tuesday in response to concerns about a large event in Weld County over the weekend. Read more here…
Meteorologist Marty Coniglio, a staple of Denver TV weather for three decades, left 9News Friday, a day after he compared, on social media, federal troops in U.S. cities to Nazis. Read more here…
A few more important stories from the past week
+ Construction starts on Denver’s second tiny-home village, aided by company tied to bid-rigging scandal
+ Legal motions for and against new rules, the prospect of future initiatives: Are the oil and gas wars really over?
+ Science points to in-person learning as safe amid COVID-19 pandemic — but is it safe enough for Colorado’s school districts?
+ Man suspected of firing shots on I-225 during Aurora protest is arrested
+ “Frightening.” “Terrifying.” Coloradans brace for fiscal fallout as federal $600 weekly unemployment aid ends
+ CU community feared Mark Kennedy was unqualified to be president. How has he done leading during a pandemic?
+ Do Colorado hospitals get extra money for coronavirus cases and deaths? Yes and no.
+ Castle Rock restaurant that defied public health order in May closes permanently two months later
+ Westminster Public Schools moves to fire teacher over “appalling” comments about students with special needs
Photo of the week
See more great photos like this on The Denver Post’s Instagram account.
+ PHOTOS: The Colorado Rockies 26th home opener at Coors Field