City Cast Denver

As the world watches the Derek Chauvin trial in Minneapolis and protests continue over this week’s police killing of Daunte Wright in another Minnesota town, Colorado lawmakers are building on the major police accountability reform they passed last year. Democratic State Rep. Leslie Herod chats with Bree today about the new bill she’s sponsoring that would further limit the police’s ability to use lethal force in Colorado. Have strong feelings about the bill? Make your voice heard! You can find your representative and how to get in contact with them here. Hey, let’s take this relationship to the next level! Subscribe to the podcast and our newsletter at citycast.fm/denver. 

Governor Polis has wanted it for ages. Lawmakers at the Colorado State Assembly are crossing party lines to back it. President Biden asked Congress for enough money to fund it. And now, after years — no, decades! — of dreaming, hoping and planning for a passenger rail line running all up and down the Front Range, it finally feels like it might happen. Colorado Public Radio transportation and growth reporter Nate Minor joins the show today to get Bree up to speed on the long-awaited train line.The Polis Express, Blucifer’s Dream, The Columbine Cruiser (that’s Nate’s pick): What would you name the new Front Range passenger rail? Tweet your best answers at @citycastdenver and we’ll retweet our faves!If you like City Cast Denver: The Podcast, you’ll love City Cast Denver: The Newsletter. Subscribe and learn more at citycast.fm/denver. 

It’s National Poetry Month! And what better way to understand Denver’s many diverse neighborhoods than through poetry — or at least that’s the idea behind History Colorado’s new podcast Living Denver. Bree speaks with the podcast’s director, Becca Mendoza Nunziato, and the poet featured in the first episode, Kenya “Mahogany” Fashaw, about Kenya’s Five Points, gentrification, and the lived experience of neighborhood change. You can subscribe to Living Denver wherever you get City Cast Denver. Just click right here and find your app. Living Denver is also just one part of a broader initiative from History Colorado, called Building Denver: Visions of the Capital City, which includes a new exhibit on Denver’s growth, urban development, and architecture that’s set to open on May 29. Have you seen the City Cast Denver newsletter? You’re going to love it. Subscribe and learn more at citycast.fm/denver. Follow us on Twitter @citycastdenver. 

So what exactly is Denver-style Mexican food? How do we differentiate our particular brand of Mexican food? (Hint: We’re talking green chile. On everything.) Food writer Gustavo Arellano and Westword editor and Den-Mex super fan Patty Calhoun break down where it came from, what we need to do to protect it, and what makes Den-Mex so special. Warning: Side effects of this episode may include a growling stomach and watering mouth. Subscribe to our morning newsletter for more Denver news, and follow us on Twitter @citycastdenver.

Earlier this year, Colorado’s cannabis industry passed a major milestone: $10 billion in revenues since legalization. But the vast majority of that money is ending up in the same old white hands. Bree speaks with Hashim Coates, executive director of Black, Brown and Red Badged, an organization founded in 2019 to speak on behalf of cannabis business owners of color. He explains why he thinks the local lawmakers working to address this issue aren’t going far enough. Subscribe to our morning newsletter for more Denver news, and follow us on Twitter @citycastdenver.

When Major League Baseball decided to move their All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver in protest of Georgia’s restrictive new elections law, Georgia governor Brian Kemp went on Fox News to complain. He claimed there isn’t much of a difference between elections law in Colorado and Georgia, “so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.” Well, Gov. Kemp, it makes sense to us. On the show today, Bree speaks with Denver’s Clerk and Recorder Paul López, who administers elections here in Denver, about the differences between elections in the two states and how he plans to enjoy the All-Star Game in July. Plus, our sports guy Jake Shapiro is back to give us a little historical context on the MLB’s decision to take such a strong political stance. Subscribe to our morning newsletter for more Denver news, and follow us on Twitter @citycastdenver.

When former 9News reporter Lori Lizarraga came to Denver, she knew it was going to be a challenge to gain the trust of sources in Black and Brown communities. What she wasn’t prepared for were the battles she would have to fight in her own newsroom to get their stories to air. After Lori’s contract was not renewed at the ratings giant, she wrote a piece in Westword last week that detailed years of discrimination and an inequitable newsroom. She joins the show today to share more of those experiences and why it’s so important for communities of color to be covered by journalists of color. Subscribe to our morning newsletter for more Denver news, and follow us on Twitter @citycastdenver.

For the first time in a year, sports fans were welcomed back to Denver’s stadiums and arenas this weekend. The Rockies played an opening series against the L.A. Dodgers and did…alright? The Nuggets and Avalanche continue to kick ass. But let’s talk what people are wearing. Like what’s up with those “Fire Bridich” and “Sent from my iPad” shirts we saw at Coors Field? Sports guy Jake Shapiro breaks it down and shares some construction and development gossip involving Rockies ownership. Plus, our producer Paul Karolyi tracked down the backstory behind those weird new Avalanche uniforms. Subscribe to our morning newsletter for more Denver news, and follow us on Twitter @citycastdenver.

We knew Denver’s air quality was bad, but we didn’t know it was this bad. Whistleblowers within the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment say the people in charge have been overriding requirements of the Clean Air Act and endangering the health of Coloradans. Bree speaks with Colorado Sun reporter Michael Booth about his reporting on the whistleblower complaint and what it means for the quality of the air we breathe. Want to monitor the air you breathe yourself? Here’s a list of recommendations for air quality apps. Subscribe to our morning newsletter for more Denver news, and follow us on Twitter @citycastdenver.

Governor Jared Polis announced that starting this Friday, all Coloradans at least 16 years old will be eligible for the vaccine. But where does that leave our disabled community members? Bree speaks with disability advocate Rosemary McDonnell-Horita about her personal struggle getting a shot, her work on Polis’s Health Equity Response Team, and the work that still needs to be done to make sure all Coloradans have access to a vaccine. Follow Rosemary on Twitter @ricearosie.The healthcare provider we found offering at-home vaccination appointments in at least some of Denver’s suburbs is called Bloom Healthcare.Subscribe to our morning newsletter here, and follow us on Twitter @citycastdenver.