Kyle Cooke

1 week ago | rmpbs.org | Cormac McCrimmon |Joshua Vorse |Alec Berg |Kyle Cooke

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Elisa Dahlberg sliced through packing tape and flung open a box the size of an Eastern Lowland Gorilla. Inside lay dozens of purses made from caiman, stingray and other protected species, each containing a tag and evidence sticker. Special agents seized the handbags from a South American smuggling operation, said Dahlberg, the lead biologist and collections manager at the National Wildlife Property Repository, located on the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.

2 weeks ago | rmpbs.org | Kyle Cooke |Alec Berg |Cormac McCrimmon |Amanda Horvath

BOULDER, Colo. — In March, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency fired hundreds of workers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The firings included many Coloradans. Now, a leaked White House memo shows the Trump administration has more plans to gut federal climate research — cuts that will have a major impact in Colorado.

2 weeks ago | rmpbs.org | Cormac McCrimmon |Alec Berg |Kyle Cooke |Amanda Horvath

GREELEY, Colo. — AJ Alvarado marched through the knee-high grass wearing eight-inch leather boots and fire-resistant pants. She sloshed fuel from a drip torch shaped like a tea kettle filled with diesel and gasoline. Tufts of grass crackled as they burned. A team of firefighters followed Alvarado, igniting additional rows of flames twenty feet apart at the Poudre Learning Center.

1 month ago | rmpbs.org | Kyle Cooke

DENVER — Jose Barco, a decorated war veteran, walked out of the Buena Vista Correctional Complex January 21, 2025, after spending 15 years — a vast majority of his adult life — behind bars. He planned to reunite with his wife, Tia, and their teenage daughter, and travel to Florida for a family reunion. He never got the chance. Federal immigration officers met Barco, who was born in Venezuela to Cuban parents and moved to the U.S. with his family when he was 4 years old, outside of the prison.

1 month ago | rmpbs.org | Chase McCleary |Peter D. Vo |Alec Berg |Kyle Cooke

BOULDER, Colo. — To beer or not to beer? That is hardly a question in the mind of Coloradans frequenting some of the state’s 400+ breweries. Colorado has the fourth-most breweries per capita in the United States and boasts barrels of home-brewed talent, many of whom took home medals at the U.S. Open Beer Championship last year.