Kunc's Colorado Edition

Author and journalist Rachel Louise Snyder has spent her career shining a light on social justice issues, violence against women and domestic abuse, and human rights across the globe. In addition to several novels, she’s published work for NPR, in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Yorker.Years ago, her experience in the Semester at Sea program helped set in motion a worldview that powerfully informs her work today. Northern Coloradans have the chance to hear from Snyder at Colorado State University, where Semester at Sea is headquartered and celebrating 60 years. Ahead of that talk, host Erin O'Toole sat down with her to discuss the power of travel and language, and her new book — an evocative memoir about survival: "Women We Buried, Women We Burned."

Journalism wasn’t always in the cards for NPR’s Lori Lizarraga, until one day she found herself in the wrong classroom at Southern Methodist University. Lizarraga says she “stepped into Narnia” when she walked into the studio where journalism students were broadcasting the school’s daily newscast. The Latina journalist has been telling stories ever since – and a lot of that work is informed by her cultural identity. To wrap up our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, host Erin O'Toole spoke with the Code Switch host about how race, cultural identity, and lived experience are inextricably woven into the fabric of her work.

The housing crunch is getting a lot of attention these days, but how it's affecting college students is less talked about. Recent data shows it’s a big problem. In a 2020 survey [pdf], more than half of college students said they were struggling to meet basic needs, like finding stable housing. It was a period of uncertainty given the ongoing pandemic, but the numbers point to a persistent problem. Recent federal data shows 8% of undergraduate students experienced homelessness in the previous 30 days. Students of color are overrepresented in the data. In Colorado's rural mountain communities, helping students stay housed is a huge challenge. In today's episode, host Erin O'Toole talks with Matt Gianneschi of Colorado Mountain College to learn how they're approaching that problem.

The newest season of KUNC's The Colorado Dream podcast is exploring how our state's housing crunch is affecting mountain communities. In Summit County, the situation is especially dire. Housing was already in short supply there due in part to the region's high construction costs and relative shortage of buildable land. Meanwhile, the recent explosion in short-term rentals, like Airbnb and Vrbo, has drastically cut the number of homes that would be available as long-term rentals for locals. A recent survey of residents suggests the county will need more than 2,500 rental and for-sale units — at all price points — to meet the high demand for housing.In today's episode, we talk with Stephanie Daniel, host and creator of The Colorado Dream: Housing Wanted, about how Summit County officials are addressing the housing crunch there.

Many of Colorado’s healthcare workers are burned out, as we heard from Kaiser Permanente staff who walked off the job last week. Staffing shortages are largely to blame — and this is an issue that’s also affecting first responders. KUNC statehouse reporter Lucas Brady Woods recently reported on the dire state of Colorado’s ambulance services. He sat down with In The NoCo's Robyn Vincent to discuss how the situation is affecting some EMTs and paramedics.

For the last several decades, a small but growing number of states have begun observing Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a holiday to honor Native Americans and celebrate their histories and cultures. In some communities, like Boulder, it's celebrated in lieu of Columbus Day. In other places, both are observed on the second Monday of October. It is not currently a federally recognized holiday, though in 2021, President Biden signed the first presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples Day. To learn more about its significance, we reached out to Susan Faircloth. The former professor led Colorado State University’s School of Education and now runs a consulting company in Fort Collins focused on American Indian education. She's an enrolled member of the Coharie Tribe of North Carolina. Our conversation began with a land acknowledgment that included a deeply personal connection to her family.

Thousands of Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers in Colorado and other states have walked off the job for three days. They say they are stretched thin amid a serious employee shortage and want better pay. Meanwhile, the Fort Collins Symphony celebrates a century of music that began with a group of volunteer musicians back in 1923. Host Erin O'Toole talks with the organization's longtime music director, Wes Kenney, in today's episode.

KUNC’s The Colorado Dream podcast captures the struggles and successes of residents determined to make a life in Colorado. They are striving for the so-called American Dream – and overcoming huge hurdles in the process. Their stories also reflect host and creator Stephanie Daniel’s longtime focus in the KUNC newsroom. Her work often unravels the barriers to thriving in America."I grew up in Denver and Colorado is my home," Daniel says. "I’ve been working at KUNC for nearly six years and during that time I’ve gravitated toward covering issues that really impact people’s quality of life — alcohol addiction and treatment, higher education and jobs, access to health care, social justice, immigration, the list goes on."The Colorado Dream podcast releases its third season this week, which unpacks how Colorado’s housing crisis is affecting our mountain communities. Ahead of the launch, Daniel sat down with host Erin O'Toole to preview some of these stories and how they reflect the grit and resilience of Coloradans.

A lot of Coloradans love the idea of recycling. But our recycling habits are in the dumps. In 2020, the rate of recycling statewide was just 15 percent — less than half the rate nationwide. That’s according to a report from the Colorado Public Interest Research Group and Eco-Cycle. Perhaps that's because the actual practice of it can be confusing. It seems like the rules are often changing – and let’s not forget that recycling is expensive, both for residents and municipalities. To help sort through the confusion, host Erin O'Toole sat down with Mark Snedecor, who's the director of recycling services for Waste Management (WM) of Colorado. He shares some of the big recycling blunders we're making, and why you don't have to worry too much about those little numbers in the 'chasing arrows' recycling symbol.

We're celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with conversations featuring Hispanic and Latino changemakers, innovators and creators. Today's episode is about music - specifically, mariachi. The style is rooted in Mexico's history, dating back to colonial times, and started to grow in the United States around the 1930s, when people began hearing it on radio stations and in films. These days, it's showing up more often in Colorado schools' music programs, alongside the usual  jazz, orchestra, or symphonic band options for students. That provides the opportunity for more culturally relevant programming to serve increasingly diverse student populations, says Ben San Martin Kellogg. Kellogg isn't from Mexico himself – he's of European and Peruvian ancestry – and he didn't grow up listening to or playing mariachi. But he fell in love with the style when he was brought in to play trumpet in a mariachi ensemble while a student at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He's now a music educator at Edgewater Elementary,

A new exhibit opening this weekend at the Museum of Boulder promises to illuminate the stories of Black Coloradans, highlighting their influence on the region's history and their impact on the future. "Proclaiming Colorado's Black History" centers on places like the once-bustling farming community of Dearfield; and notable people like businessman Barney Ford and philanthropist Julia Greeley. It's about sharing the lives and stories of people who aren't necessarily in Colorado's history books, said Adrian Miller, co-Project Director and lead curator for the exhibit. The project was several years in the making, and was shaped with a lot of community input and collaboration, Miller said. It includes a variety of installations, collections of oral histories, and an art display that delves into Afrofuturism. Miller joined host Erin O'Toole to discuss the origins of the project, how it came together, and why now is the right time to launch.Proclaiming Colorado's Black History opens Friday evening with a special kic

On June 25, 1953, a group of librarians and publishers issued a statement affirming the right of Americans to read freely. But that right has been challenged continually over the decades, including right now. Within the last several years, there’s been a surge in efforts across the country to challenge and remove books from library shelves. According to an analysis by PEN America, a free speech advocacy group, book bans have been reported in more than 30 states. Many of the challenges commonly target books about race, racism, or with LGBTQ characters or themes – but in some places, those challenges have expanded to include titles that discuss grief and loss, violence, and adolescent health and well-being. Banned Books Week was developed as a way to celebrate the freedom to read, and to draw attention to efforts at censorship. For librarians and book fans alike, it feels especially weighty this year, the 70th anniversary of the issuing of the Freedom to Read statement.For Diane Lapierre, executive director of

All eyes are on an Aurora courtroom as trials get underway in the Elijah McClain case. Mclain, a 23-year-old Black man, died four years ago during a violent encounter with Aurora police and paramedics. His death has had major reverberations in Colorado and far beyond. The first of three trials involves two police officers charged in his death — Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt. They have pleaded not guilty. Today we focus on what we know about police’s involvement in McClain’s death with KUNC reporter Rae Solomon. She covered his death and many of the developments that followed.In the episode, we mention a conversation host Erin O'Toole had with Elijah's mother, Sheneen McClain. You can listen to that here.

In 2021, Nicki Gonzales became Colorado’s first Latina state historian. History is a lifelong vocation for the Regis University professor, one that has helped Gonzales to pay tribute to her family’s legacy and inform her own identity.Gonzales’s work has helped to provide us with a fuller picture of Colorado’s cultural landscape, uncovering state history and acknowledging its problematic details. In 2020, she was appointed by Gov. Jared Polis to serve on the state's Geographic Naming Advisory Board, which helps replace the names of geographic features and areas bearing derogatory titles - something Gonzales says helps the state reckon with problematic elements of its racial racist past. She and board members recently took on the high-profile renaming of Mount Evans, the namesake of a disgraced Colorado territorial governor. The iconic 14er is now Mount Blue Sky. On today's episode, Gonzales reflects on her search for identity and deeper meaning, starting with her own family history.We're celebrating Hispanic H

Colorado's housing crisis is impacting residents in different ways. Recent survey responses point to housing affordability and homelessness as top concerns. And the data reflects those concerns. In Denver County alone, there were around 1,200 eviction filings in August – nearly double the number a year earlier. And for people who are displaced, either by eviction or because they simply can't afford their rent and move out, there are very few affordable housing options to turn to. In today's episode, executive producer Robyn Vincent talks with eviction attorney Zach Neumann, who helped found the Community Economic Defense Project.

Fall officially begins on Saturday, September 23. After a long, hot summer, many of us are eagerly anticipating what the change of season brings: enjoying cool evening air, getting your favorite sweaters out of storage, and visiting the nearest pumpkin patch or corn maze. And for thousands of tourists, this time of year means an annual trip into the high country to marvel at the beautiful changing autumn leaves.But when it comes to how spectacular and vibrant that display of fall colors is – it's safe to say that some years are better than others. For more on what we can expect this autumn, host Erin O'Toole talks with renowned leaf-peeping expert, Dan West. He serves as the state's forest entomologist, working out of the Colorado State Forest Service at CSU.

The impacts of wildfires are something Northern Colorado homeowners are increasingly confronting. A recent report from the company CoreLogic shows thousands of homes in Northern Colorado are susceptible to damage from wildfires. In Boulder, nearly 10,000 homes are at risk. In Fort Collins, that number rises to more than 14,000. These statistics position Colorado in the number two slot nationwide — right behind California — when it comes to the level of property damage homeowners could face here. We discussed these risks and more with Jude Bayham. He researches wildfire management at Colorado State University.We mentioned the pay raise for federal wildland firefighters that's stalled in Congress. And you can learn more about protecting your home from wildfire here.

We’re kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month with a series of conversations highlighting Hispanic changemakers, innovators and creators in Colorado. Democratic Representative Yadira Caraveo knows a lot about duality, about the different cultural identities many people try to balance and preserve as they navigate life. “It’s really been a lifetime of being ‘the first’ or ‘the only’ in a lot of rooms,” she says. Caraveo is Colorado’s first Latina member of Congress, representing the newly drawn 8th Congressional District. In today’s episode, the pediatrician and daughter of Mexican immigrants discusses how her upbringing and life experiences have informed her work as a physician — and now as a member of Congress.

Summer may be winding down, but many northern Colorado farmers' markets are still humming, with people lining up to buy crates of Palisade peaches, Olathe sweet corn, Pueblo chiles, and other locally grown produce. But growing in Colorado can be challenging – the growing season is short, the sun is scorching, and the rainy season can be very unpredictable. Coloradans seem to appreciate how difficult it is for farmers – which may help explain some of the demand for fruits and vegetables grown here. But there are plenty of other reasons for that homegrown produce pride, according to Colorado State University professor and agricultural economist Dawn Thilmany. In today's episode she talks with host Erin O'Toole about why we place so much importance on buying local.In the episode, we brought up this story from KUNC's Rae Solomon about folks suffering from "peach anxiety" this Spring. We also mentioned the idea of visiting local farms and ranches in the episode - including Miller Farms in Platteville, which celebr

In September 2013, a large storm parked itself over the mountains and foothills of Northern Colorado – where it lingered for days, dropping a lot of rain that eventually made its way down into a number of Front Range communities, washing out roads, bridges, and dams - and forcing thousands to evacuate. The KUNC newsroom is marking the anniversary of those devastating floods in a special series, Ten Years Later: The Flood that Changed the Front Range. In today's episode, we talk with Luke Runyon, who was here covering the floods in 2013, and is following up on recovery efforts that, in some communities, are still ongoing.And if you're looking for more of KUNC's past coverage of the flooding, Erin spoke with Pinewood Springs resident Kerry Grimes in 2013, just after he, his wife, and his dog had to be evacuated from their home via helicopter. We also checked in with him five years later to see how the recovery process was going for the tight-knit community near Estes Park.