Andrea Kramar

New York

Investigative Multimedia Journalist at KRMA-TV (Denver, CO)

Producer @USAToday. Formerly @CNBCMakeIt, @ABCNews. Left-handed-er with a spine full of curiosity and an arm full of funny bones.

Articles

School’s out forever at Castro Elementary

3 days ago | rmpbs.org | Carly Rose |Joshua Vorse |Cormac McCrimmon |Andrea Kramar

DENVER — Kindergarteners through fifth graders walked out of Castro Elementary School for the last time Tuesday after an early dismissal, kicking off their summer vacation under gray, cloudy skies. The somber weather matched the bittersweet ending to the school year. After more than 30 years of welcoming students in Denver’s Westwood neighborhood, Castro Elementary is closed.
Gov. Polis signs law to reduce Colorado’s rape kit backlog

4 days ago | rmpbs.org | Lucas Brady Woods |Bente Birkeland |Andrea Kramar

This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at kunc.org. DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis signed a law Tuesday launching new efforts to cut down the state’s delays in testing sexual assault evidence kits, including by increasing oversight over the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
The first year at Grand Junction's new high school comes to a close

1 week ago | rmpbs.org | Joshua Vorse |Cormac McCrimmon |Andrea Kramar |Alec Berg

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Students at Grand Junction High School have finished their first academic year in the new, $145 million building. In 2021, Mesa County voters approved a bond measure to replace the old high school, which dated back to 1956 and had serious foundation and structural issues that were impossible to repair. Over the years, the old school expanded, sprawling to seven separate buildings. The new facility consolidates the campus into a 250,000 square-foot, three-story school.
Did Boulder high schools' cell phone ban work?

1 week ago | rmpbs.org | Cormac McCrimmon |Andrea Kramar |Alec Berg |Ziyi Xu

LAFAYETTE, Colo. — Since Centaurus High School banned cell phones in January, principal Carlyn Carroll said she can hear the difference. At lunchtime on May 6, Jenga blocks crashed to the ground, pucks whistled across air hockey tables and chatter rebounded off the walls of one of the school’s activity rooms. “It used to be really quiet. Kids would be on their phones. They’d be sitting at a table, and every single one of them would have a screen up,” said Carroll.
Calving season is a round-the-clock job for mother-daughter duo

2 weeks ago | rmpbs.org | Cormac McCrimmon |Chase McCleary |Andrea Kramar |Kyle Cooke

KREMLING, Colo. — At 10 p.m., Caitlyn Taussig trudged through the darkness toward her Chevrolet Blazer. The car groaned to life as Taussig maneuvered through the pasture, shining a flood light outside the car window to search for cows in distress. Calving season is one of the most stressful times of year for Colorado ranchers like Taussig. Cows give birth with little warning and ranchers must vaccinate, tag and care for newborns. When births go awry, ranchers must act fast to save calves.
Pop-up skatepark in Cortez brings community together indoors

2 weeks ago | rmpbs.org | Ziyi Xu |Andrea Kramar |Amanda Horvath |Cormac McCrimmon

CORTEZ, Colo. — A pink warehouse with colorful murals and large windows sits at the corner of an intersection. Inside, people moved quickly — too fast to be on foot. On nice days, the garage door is open, and the sound of squeaky wheels and music can be heard from a block away. Two years ago, a group of local skaters created Beech St. Skatepark to have a place to skate during the winter. They found the warehouse, which houses a few nonprofit organizations, including the Good Samaritan Food Pantry.
These pilots are flipping planes on purpose

2 weeks ago | rmpbs.org | Chase McCleary |Andrea Kramar |Kyle Cooke

FORT MORGAN, Colo. — Between the calm of puffy, mid-morning clouds, a half-dozen drifting parachutes and fluttering spring butterflies slices the glistening red of the MSU Aerobatics Team’s GB1 GameBird, climbing and diving, twirling and torquing, rearing and roaring, until returning smoothly to the runway below. Describing the performance is enough to turn a stomach. MSU Aerobatics coach Dagmar Kress assures the trip becomes more digestible after a few flights.
Climb on the magic bike bus

3 weeks ago | rmpbs.org | Andrea Kramar |Alec Berg |Ziyi Xu |Chase McCleary

DENVER — Carpool looks a little different this year at some of Denver’s elementary schools. Instead of parents dropping off their kids by car, they’ve been doing it by bike. On a brisk, sunny spring morning in Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood, Rocky Mountain PBS joined Park Hill Elementary School’s bike buses. About 70 kids clad in bright helmets and spunky backpacks sojourned together — with parental supervision — on a 1 mile-long bike route to school, picking up kids and parents along the way.
Families promised a chance to reunite remain separated by Trump’s refugee policy

1 month ago | rmpbs.org | Andrea Kramar

AURORA, Colo. — Legesse Beyene Abraha waited 15 years to reunite with his wife and two children. In 2010, he last kissed his son, then 8, and daughter, then 3, in the wee hours of the morning while they were sleeping at home in Eritrea’s capital city of Asmara. Abraha’s life was in danger after speaking out against the Eritrean government, so he fled the country, leaving his family behind.
Sand Creek Massacre memorial to replace Civil War statue at the Colorado State Capitol

1 month ago | rmpbs.org | Lucas Brady Woods |Bente Birkeland |Andrea Kramar |Jenny Brundin

This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at kunc.org. DENVER — In front of descendants of Sand Creek Massacre survivors, Colorado lawmakers unanimously greenlighted a memorial sculpture Monday to commemorate the 1864 atrocity at the State Capitol. “Our hope is that this memorial will be a turning point when Colorado says, ‘We are not afraid to confront our past because we believe in a just and honest future,'” said Sen.