If someone forwarded this to you and you’d like to sign up yourself, just click here: http://dpo.st/roundup.
Good morning, folks! Even though the snow has long melted, I wanted to take this (very tardy) opportunity to congratulate Rebecca (no last name given), who was one of a dozen people who correctly guessed that Denver would see its first measurable snow of the season on Nov. 17th. She had the foresight to know that everyone who picked a day in October was living in a winter wonderland fantasy world and will get her $50 gift card soon! Nice work!
OK! On to the news.
The Rundown
+ Today’s Weather: Speaking of snow, it will be plenty chilly the rest of the week, but the only chance for any snow comes on Friday, and it’s not a very good chance.
+ Today’s Editorial: “Directing some Colorado pot tax money to homeless programs is a good call”
Green Mountain lights up the night
Most of Colorado’s wildfires are only visible to the metro area in the form of hazy ash, but last night’s brief blaze on Green Mountain made for one of the most spectacular views the city has ever seen. After some evacuations, the fire was mostly contained and didn’t destroy anything but dry grass (check out the scorch marks).
Why Heidi Hemmat left Fox 31
“I tell them I think I’m in danger because they put this guy’s mug on TV and he wants to kill me, and they wave the journalistic flag about that, but they don’t want to burn advertisers? That’s telling to me.”
Heidi Hemmat, in an interview with The Denver Post
Over the holiday weekend, former Fox 31 anchor and investigative reporter Heidi Hemmat wrote a lengthy blog post about the circumstances that led to her leaving the station, including a lack of support after a business owner she exposed for fraud made threatening comments and being pressured to drop cases because the companies were advertisers (accusations that KDVR has said are “unequivocally false“).
By The Numbers
$35
That’s how much AT&T is charging per month for a 100-channel internet TV plan through DirecTV, which it owns. While that might sound like a great deal, it’s the first step in AT&T’s war on the open internet, which The Verge calls “a poison pill wrapped in a piece of cheese” that will end up giving consumers like us less choice, higher prices and fewer innovations like Netflix, Spotify and other things we take for granted.
Quick Hits
+ The CU Buffs are starting to see their bowl game future ahead of them. But in the meantime, two of their players are facing charges for fighting with each other after the team’s division-clinching win over Utah.
+ A plane carrying the Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense crashed in Colombia, killing 75 people. Tragically, this is not the first sports team to be involved in a fatal plane crash.
+ No matter what they think about it, Colorado doctors are having to contend with the state’s new aid-in-dying law.
+ We’ve got one of “America’s Best Lakes” right in our backyard.
+ These are the three Gary Kubiak decisions that gave the game to the Chiefs.
+ Coffee + Bagels. Two great tastes that go great together (or so Einstein Bros. hopes).
+ This ain’t Pisa and this tower definitely shouldn’t be leaning.
+ At least someone is having a good time on the Nuggets this season.
+ It takes a lot of people to make an ice skating rink filled with 5,000 dead and frozen fish, so it’s strange that not one of them said “Hey guys? This is a terrible idea.”
+ Denver’s watershed is a haven for wildlife and fishing, but under a Trump presidency, advocates are worried that it will be a prime target for drilling.
+ If you’ve read about the order for the Dakota Access Pipeline protesters to evacuate before Dec. 5, it’s likely more of a legal maneuver than a real threat.
What We’re Reading
+ “We’re great at farm to table, but we’re really bad at table to farm.” Luke Runyon looks at a Colorado scientist who is looking to revolutionize the battle against food waste by enlisting an army of maggots.
+ I’ve read this article twice. Both parties and just about every economist wants to put people to work to build character and prop up the economy. But what if “the job” as we know it is obsolete? It’s a dense, imperfect academic read, but man, it’s got me thinking.
+ Denver is testing to see if it can store water in aquifers (and drilling right in the middle of the city to do it).
+ Reddit is answering the really tough questions: How bad would it have smelled in a medieval city?
+ Domino’s Japan is trying (and mostly failing) to train reindeer to deliver pizza.
Trump Digest
+ I missed this for yesterday’s Trump Digest, but it’s probably the most important story of the presidency. The New York Times mapped the dozens of potential conflicts of interests the president-elect has around the globe, including resorts in the Philippines in which he’s a business partner with that country’s ambassador to the U.S. and Brazilian hotels currently under criminal investigation.
+ Tom Price has been tapped to lead the Dept. of Health and Human Services, a choice that shows he’s “absolutely serious” about dismantling Obamacare. This article details “Empowering Patients,” aka Price’s plan to replace Obamacare, and it includes sub-headlines like this: “Empowering Patients makes insurance better for people who are young and healthy. It makes insurance worse for people who are old and sick.”
+ It was Trump vs. the First Amendment today on Twitter: First, he retweeted a bunch of people (including a 16-year-old) who were criticizing a CNN reporter whose only sin was calling out Trump’s blatant lie about voter fraud. Then early this morning, he tweeted that burning a flag (a Constitutionally protected form of free speech) should be punished with loss of citizenship or a year in jail.
+ Some of Donald Trump’s staff really, really don’t like Mitt Romney, who Trump is reportedly considering for Secretary of State.
+ Donald Trump is also considering David Petraeus for the job of Secretary of State. This is slightly mind-boggling, because after a campaign partially built on hammering Hillary Clinton for allegations of mishandling information that turned out to either not be classified or of much consequence, Trump is considering a man who was drummed out of the CIA for sharing highly classified information with his mistress, including “identities of covert officers, code words for secret programs” and more.
+ Elaine Chao will be the Secretary of Transportation, and, amazingly, will be the second person to serve as both the Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Transportation and be married to the Senate majority leader (Elizabeth Dole was the first).
Song of the Day
Song: “Take a Chance on Me”
Artist: ABBA
Sounds like: A giant shrug of a come on (“hey, you could do worse”) set to maddeningly catchy pop music.
Head over to our Spotify playlist, or, if you don’t have a Spotify account, we made you your own special page where you non-Spotify people can listen to the playlist.
Hat Tips & Corrections
Remember, if you see something that doesn’t look right or just have a comment, thought or suggestion, email me at elubbers@denverpost.com or yell at me on Twitter.
