Colorado Matters

In our monthly interview, Gov. John Hickenlooper says CHIP — the health insurance program for poor kids and pregnant moms– shouldn’t be used as a bargaining chip. Hickenlooper, and other governors — from both parties — are lobbying Congress for the program’s reauthorization. He also discussed what he found when he looked into complaints in his own executive branch in the wake of the Me Too movement. Then, the impact new appointee Melissa Hart might have on the Colorado Supreme Court.

When the U.S. announced it was leaving the Paris climate agreement, the French government invited climate scientists to move to France. Several of the scientists who accepted the invitation are from Colorado. Also, we discuss whether energy development was a factor when the Trump administration decided to shrink Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.

Schools in Denver don’t usually provide pillows and warm clothes for their homeless students — basic items that make it way easier for them to learn. So, the district has found a way to send text messages to people in Colorado, asking them to go straight to Amazon and buy those things for the kids. Then, Charlie Fowler and Christine Boskoff went missing in China 11 years ago. Now, two peaks in Colorado may be named for them.

The federal deficit would disappear if Americans who are supposed to pay taxes paid in full. That’s according to a political economist at CU Boulder, who also talked with us about his research that shows how differently voters would manage taxes and spending than politicians do. Later, acclaimed Denver cornetist Ron Miles, whose new album was inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.

With the Russian team banned from the Olympics in South Korea, we talk with the head of the sports governance center at the University of Colorado about whether the Games’ governing body is finally getting serious about doping. Then, a major Colorado employer says it’s nearly cracked the gender pay gap. And, RTD tries to explain delays with its commuter rail lines.

Tax proposals in the U.S. House and Senate would touch everything from benefits for homeowners to how many people have health insurance. A look at how Coloradans could be impacted. Then, the Colorado-based Native American Rights Fund represents tribes suing to block President Trump’s order to shrink Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. And, at 98, Aspen’s Klaus Obermeyer still runs the skiwear company he started in 1947.

Denver schools are mostly segregated along economic lines. Now, DPS is conducting an experiment to make schools more economically diverse. And, Stan Parker, of Colorado Springs, received two purple hearts in Vietnam. He was there in 1968 — the bloodiest time for U.S. troops. Years later, he returned to Vietnam, where he met a man he’d come close to killing.

There’s a place — in the heart of Denver — where injection drug users pick up clean needles and drop off dirty ones. It’s blocks away from the state Capitol, where lawmakers will continue to wrestle with Colorado’s drug epidemic. At this center, people also learn how to avoid overdosing — and keep their veins healthy. And, Ian Thompson lives in Colorado, but when Prince William married Kate Middleton in England seven years ago, he was right on the altar as a verger. Thompson explains his role and discusses the next royal wedding, occurring next spring.