

Purplish
Colorado Public Radio
Purplish is CPR News' weekly podcast about state politics, state government, Colorado policy, and political identity. This season the show is hosted by public affairs reporters Bente Birkeland and Andrew Kenney. Each week while the legislature is in session, they'll break down the latest developments, look ahead to what's next, and dive into the bigger picture of what it all means.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 22, 2020 • 21min
Out Of The Statehouse, Into The National Spotlight
With presidential candidates -- and the president himself -- flocking to Colorado, we take a look at the state of the race here, and its implication for Cory Gardner's hotly contested Senate seat.

Feb 15, 2020 • 20min
Family Matters
It's one of the most passionate fault-lines in state politics: how to balance the authority of parents with the need to protect children and advance society's interests. And people at the Capitol have a LOT to say about it.

Feb 8, 2020 • 23min
Big Ideas Incoming
We're a month into session, and Capitol newbie Andrew Kenney is starting to realize it's not all pithy quotes and snappy debates. Lawmakers are getting to wrestle with some of the session's most contested proposals.

Feb 1, 2020 • 14min
The Matter Of Life And Death
Should Colorado keep the death penalty? As lawmakers once again debate abolition, it's a question that divides parties, and friends, at the state capitol.

Jan 25, 2020 • 14min
The Political Is Personal
This week we're talking about some of the ways things can get personal -- very personal -- at the state capitol.

Jan 18, 2020 • 14min
Things Democrats Disagree About
Colorado’s capitol is current firmly in the hands of the Democrats, so that means smooth sailing for all their policies right? Yeah, not so much.

Jan 11, 2020 • 2min
Trailer: Purplish Reborn
A lot has happened, dear podcast listener, since Sam, Bente, and Megan chatted in our final episode last year.

May 9, 2019 • 26min
ALL OF THE BILLS!!!!
Colorado’s 2019 legislative session is over. The last four months of frantic lawmaking were a test for Democrats, who took complete control of the state Capitol last November. This episode, we look back at everything they were able to achieve — and why arguments over process at times got in the way of their biggest goals. And how Republicans, who lacked the votes to block legislation, found other ways to make their voices heard. The result was a session that showed passing bills isn’t as simple as just having a majority.

Apr 6, 2019 • 24min
The First Fractivist
Ken Crumb’s story likely sounds familiar. A Front Range resident sees oil and gas drilling in his community. He doesn’t like it and organizes his neighbors to pass a local drilling ban. The thing is, in Ken’s case, this all happened more than 30 years ago. And that community he rallied was Greeley -- not exactly a hotbed of anti-fracking sentiment today.
This episode, we look back at perhaps Colorado’s first fractivist. What Ken did ended up limiting local control of oil and gas development. Now, Democratic lawmakers have passed a bill to tilt the scales back in the other direction.

Mar 2, 2019 • 28min
Electoral College Dropouts
Colorado is on the verge of becoming the 12th state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. The plan could someday commit all of Colorado’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who gets the most votes nationwide -- no matter who wins the state.