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1 week ago | 
rmpbs.org | Peter D. Vo |Elle Naef
DENVER — Nga Vương-Sandoval isn’t a stranger to the Colorado Capitol. In June 2023, Vương-Sandoval, along with members of the Lunar New Year Allies Advisory Group, celebrated the official designation of Lunar New Year as a state holiday. On that day, Chinese battle drums were heard throughout the building as dancing lions paraded around the grand rotunda.
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Aug 30, 2024 | 
rmpbs.org | Alec Berg |Carly Rose |Peter D. Vo |Elle Naef
HAYDEN, Colo. — Morgan Yeiser wrapped her hands around her turkey, and asked him to smile for a photo opp. The turkey fought her grip and yelped, but Yeiser finally got him to turn half of his face towards the camera. “Good job, buddy,” she said, closing the coop gate on the 20-pound turkey. Yeiser was one of nearly 100 students participating in the 120-year-old tradition of showing animals in the Routt County Fair, held in Hayden every August.
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Aug 9, 2024 | 
rmpbs.org | Elle Naef |Andrea Kramar |Mark Harden |Brian Willie
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Riley and Matt Skelton are a same-sex couple that fostered, then adopted two children: their daughter Erica in 2020, who identifies as biromantic, asexual and gender-diverse, and son Eli in 2022. The adoptions happened at a time when the need for LGBTQ+-affirming homes in Colorado’s foster care system was growing. “We wanted to focus on any kids who identify as part of our humanity, it doesn't matter what spectrum they land on,” said Riley Skelton.
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Jul 11, 2024 | 
rmpbs.org | Elle Naef |Peter D. Vo |Carina Julig
LITTLETON, Colo. — Born in Syria, 17-year-old Mahmoud Hajdaen went from living in open farmlands to urban spaces near Aurora when his family arrived in Colorado as refugees. Not only was the landscape new, but so were the people, culture and language. Hajdaen’s family moved to Colorado in 2014 to escape war in Syria.
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May 22, 2024 | 
rmpbs.org | Elle Naef |Lindsey A. Ford |Andrea Kramar |Chase McCleary
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — In June of 2023, results from a community-led air monitoring project in Commerce City affirmed decades-long claims of health ailments due to pollution. Cultivando, the organization that led the efforts, hopes the new data will help create policies that enforce better environmental regulations in the area, and empower residents to more effectively advocate for their health.
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May 21, 2024 | 
rmpbs.org | Elle Naef
Video by Lizzie MulveyHomes in Commerce City that sit alongside I-70, between various manufacturing facilities. Photo: Elle Naef, Rocky Mountain PBS The air monitoring system led by Cultivando came with two main takeaways. By monitoring more toxic substances than the current EPA regulations require, Cultivando found other toxic elements being overlooked. These toxic elements included methane (not previously monitored in “ambient” areas surrounding facilities), radioactivity and hydrogen sulfide.
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May 15, 2024 | 
rmpbs.org | Elle Naef
DENVER — The annual Pride celebrations are quickly approaching and as organizers around the country finalize festivities —a zombie apocalypse looms on the horizon. In the world of “The Z Word,” the latest novel from Colorado-based author Lindsay King-Miller, protagonist Wendy and the rest of the Arizona Pride committee are busy planning Pride while she contends with a messy relationship with an ex, a new crush and the aforementioned zombies — all while trying to find emergency contraception.
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May 13, 2024 | 
rmpbs.org | Kyle Cooke |Elle Naef |Andrea Kramar |Peter D. Vo
DENVER — Keith Oxman doesn't want to spend the rest of his life under the harsh glow of East High School’s fluorescent tube lighting. “I have a real love about this school and these kids, but I don’t want to die here,” said Oxman, the oldest teacher at the school and the longest tenured band teacher in school history. Oxman, 65, is retiring after 24 years at East, where he led the school’s storied jazz band.
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Apr 14, 2024 | 
rmpbs.org | Elle Naef |Lindsey A. Ford |Andrea Kramar |Chase McCleary
Navajo Nation — In the wake of blockbuster hit “Oppenheimer,” a movie highlighting the scientific development of the nuclear bomb through the Manhattan Project, stories of the Indigenous lives impacted have remained untold. During World War II and into the 1970s, the United States mined for uranium on Native American land. Indigenous people were employed in the mines without being warned of the health and environmental impacts, resulting in high rates of lung cancer and other ailments.
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Apr 12, 2024 | 
rmpbs.org | Elle Naef |Lindsey A. Ford |Andrea Kramar |Chase McCleary
TRINIDAD, Colo. — Trinidad’s Main Street has been the centerpoint of the town’s economic victories and downfalls since the 1860s. The Fox West Theatre has overlooked Main Street since 1908. It was one of many new buildings constructed after the downtown area was rebuilt following a 1905 flood. Trinidad and city planners now hope a $25 million renovation can bridge nostalgia for the old West and a more sustainable economy for locals.
