Colorado Matters

“Take your seats … fasten your safety belts.” We learn today that climate change could make air turbulence worse. It’s just one of the stories we talked through with two Colorado climate scientists, one of whom went to conference at Arapahoe Basin recently, for news on skiing and climate change. Then, plays usually come to the stage after years of writing and rewriting. Not the one Curious Theater is putting on. They decided — mid-season — to add it to their line-up. Why the company thinks the production, called “Building The Wall” is so critical. And we answer your gardening questions, like the plusses and minuses of growing bamboo in Colorado. Plus some good alternatives to grass for your lawn.

Autonomous vehicles appear to be the wave of the future and state lawmakers have grappled this session with how to regulate them. Sen. Owen Hill, Republican from El Paso County, has helped lead the effort and has high hopes for the technology. But some worry it could mean the loss of jobs for truckers and taxi drivers. Then, most palm trees in Los Angeles are imported and kept alive with Colorado River water. That was a revelation for New Yorker writer David Owen as he traveled the length of the river to see where all the water comes from and where it goes. Also, we speak with the director of Google Food. He’s in charge of feeding 110,000 people a day in 56 countries.

Governor John Hickenlooper has had recent calls with President Trump’s budget director and his infrastructure guru. We’ll hear about those and about the governor’s letter imploring the federal government to butt out when it comes to state marijuana laws. Then, we meet a former air traffic controller at Denver’s old Stapleton airport who hasn’t been there since it closed in 1995, and we learn about plans to turn the control tower into an upscale bowling alley. Also, a Longmont banjo player says old folk songs are like heirloom seeds. He’s planting them and growing new music.

He’s been called “the most dangerous man in football” for his decision to stop playing in the NFL. He thought the risks of brain injury were too high. Chris Borland may have opened the door for other players to do the same. Then, cadets at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs expect exhausting physical training, perhaps even some hazing, but a Boulder woman writes in a new book that she was subjected to much worse. And she says her superiors turned a blind eye. Also, it’s an important time for Colorado’s owls. Many are searching for mates. Photographer Paul Bannick has captured a year in the lives of owls.

A Denver woman says the Assad government killed eleven members of her family last week. She hopes the U.S. missile attacks, ordered by President Trump, scare Asad. Then, Grand Canyon National Park has its first female leader, and the University of Colorado graduate will have to address a rash of sexual harrasment complaints from employees. Also, a Colorado teen made a documentary as a way to tell people about his autism. Then, NPR’s Kirk Siegler on the urban-rural divide. And we speak with an assistant coach on the University of Denver’s men’s hockey team, which won a national championship on Saturday.

More than 600 people died on Colorado roads last year. The state says it’s an epidemic of distracted driving — especially among teens. New technologies created by a Boulder entrepreneur and a major automaker aim to lower the number of deaths. Then, the University of Denver’s men’s hockey team plays for the national championship this weekend, led by Will Butcher, who is up for an award given to the nation’s best player. Also, West Central Colorado has seen the worst of the coal slump and residents aren’t counting on President Donald Trump to bring back the industry. And, you might think of Nashville, not Denver, as a hotspot for country music but bands like Bison Bone are here to change that. Their debut album,“History Of Falling” is out today.

The federal government subsidizes commercial flights into places like Pueblo and Cortez, but the president’s proposed budget takes aim at the program. Then, uncovering Colorado’s WWI history. And, Denver hip-hop group Flobots felt music was missing from protests these days. So they’ve written songs for demonstrators to sing. Plus, one of the world’s biggest food companies, Danone, is buying Colorado company White Wave Foods. The Justice Department is making Danone sell off its organic milk brand for fear competition would be reduced too much.

Colorado coal mines that are now being shuttered have high hopes for a new technology that turns methane — a gas that escapes from defunct mines — into electricity. It’s already happening at one mine in Western Colorado. Then, when Erik Weihenmayer went blind as a kid, his biggest fear wasn’t the darkness, it was the fear of missing out. But that clearly hasn’t happened. The Coloradan kayaked the Grand Canyon and writes about it in his new book. He also explains a device that helps him see with his tongue. And, a man in Boulder County has set up a webcam trained on his lawn 24 hours a day — and people are actually watching it.