In The NOCO – Détails, épisodes et analyse

As President Donald Trump begins his second term, one of his promises to supporters has been to carry out what he calls the largest deportation in U.S. history. This has a number of Colorado communities on edge, especially in places where immigrants without legal status make up a large part of the population.  

It has also prompted education leaders across Colorado to prepare for how their students might be affected by immigration enforcement. The effort took on new urgency this week, after the Trump administration cleared the way for immigration arrests at schools and other sensitive locations, like churches. 

 Steve Joel was the superintendent of schools in Grand Island, Nebraska, when immigration officers raided a meat packing plant there in 2006, detaining about 250 workers without legal status.  

Those arrests in Grand Island rattled the community. And the experience taught the now-retired administrator many lessons, which he recently shared with education leaders at a conference of the Colorado Association of School Boards.  

Steve Joel joined host Erin O’Toole to discuss his advice for school leaders in the months ahead. 

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Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
Theme music by Robbie Reverb

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Old firehoses. Used forklifts. Two-thousand sheets of acrylic plastic. 

These are the kinds of things you can find at repurposedMATERIALS in Lafayette. The company acquires discarded industrial materials and products and resells them instead of sending them to a landfill.  

Damon Carson founded the business in 2011 after running two trash companies. The repurposedMATERIALS location in Lafeyette is one of six locations across the country where he stores his unusual inventory and then ships it off once he finds the right buyer.  

Damon Carson talked with In the NoCo’s Brad Turner about how he built the company. 

Check out a recent profile of the business in The Denver Post.

Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!

Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

When someone dies nowadays, their online accounts and social media profiles can become a poignant online memorial. Or sometimes, those accounts can become a hassle for grieving loved ones.   

For many people who have recently lost someone, knowing what to do with a loved one’s online accounts is a mystery.  Sometimes an account gets deleted by the organization that manages them. Sometimes the account gives the impression that the dead person is still alive. Or th account might simply sit unused.  

A new clinic set up by a University of Colorado researcher provides guidance and aid in handling digital accounts after someone passes away. It’s a free help desk called the Digital Legacy Clinic. Professor Jed Brubaker founded the clinic and oversees its operation. 
 

Brubaker joined Erin O’Toole to discuss the unusual task of managing our online accounts for after we’re gone. He said it’s a reflection of how we mourn in a more digital age. 

Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!

Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner

Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

You might be getting lots of push notifications this summer – from ozone action day alerts and air quality alerts, to heat and wildfire smoke advisories. 

 So far this summer, we've seen more than 25 days with highs over 90 degrees. And federal air quality regulators say Front Range cities have racked up multiple ozone violations this year, according to the Colorado Sun. 

But how do you know which alerts to pay attention to, and what to do when you get them? 

In today’s episode host Erin O’Toole talks with Kaiser Permanente Community Health Consultant Lisa Romero about whether you should change your plans, and how to stay healthy this time of year. 

A new Colorado law that took effect on July 1st ensures that pregnant people on Medicaid will have access to doula services. Doulas can offer support and advice before, during, and after birth that complements a doctor’s guidance.  

Joy Twesigye is a trained women’s health nurse practitioner and says this new law could make a huge difference for people on Medicaid. Lower-income patients who rely on Medicaid coverage often have the most to gain by working with a doula.  

Joy Twesigye is vice president of health systems integration at Colorado Access, a nonprofit that works for better healthcare for marginalized populations. 

Two years ago, Jordan Sarazen lived a comfortable, perhaps even mundane life, working in an office as a financial planner.  

Then one day, he decided to make a change. He set out to fulfill a dream of managing a goat herd and renting their services to landowners. Today, Jordan and his wife Toni own 300 goats, and a company called Goat Bros. 

They travel around the Front Range and let the herd graze on vegetation for cities like Longmont, Northglenn, and Superior. And the goats provide a form of wildfire prevention by clearing out weeds and dense brush growth from open space land. 

Using goats to clear out dry vegetation isn’t a new idea in Colorado, but its popularity has picked up in recent years, including after the 2021 Marshall Fire burned through neighborhoods in Boulder County. 

The Sarazens live in a fifth-wheel camper that they park near where the herd is grazing. Jordan spoke with ITN host Erin O’Toole from a grazing spot near Superior. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]

Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!

Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner

Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

$70 million is the amount a utility company will pay to a community in Northwestern Colorado when it shuts down a coal plant that drives a large part of the local economy. 

Tri-State Energy plans to close its coal-fired power station, and all three coal mines, in Craig by 2028. The closure comes as Colorado moves to do away with coal-fired power and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.  

The $70 million payment to Craig and Moffat County sets a precedent. It’s the first time a utility company that closes a coal plant will pay money to address the hole that’s left behind in the local economy.   

Host Erin O’Toole talked with Eli Pace, editor of the Steamboat Pilot & Today and the Craig Press, about how the settlement come together. He’s been covering the settlement and talked about how it creates a blueprint for Colorado communities facing similar shutdowns. 

On November 1, 1955, a man planted a bomb aboard a United Airlines plane shortly before it departed from Denver. The plane exploded in midflight over beet fields in Weld County, killing all 44 people aboard. It was a mass murder that grabbed headlines across the country. And viewers saw footage of the trial on TV – which was unusual then.  

If you've never heard of this crime, though, you're hardly alone. There's no marker at the site of the crash, near what is now Firestone.  

A local nonprofit group hopes to change that. The Flight 629 Memorial Committee wants to create a memorial to honor the lives lost in the tragedy, as well as the nearby residents who turned up to try to search for survivors. They hope to complete it before the 70th anniversary, which will happen in 2025.  

Andrew J. Field is a retired Staff Attorney for the Colorado Supreme Court, where he specialized in criminal law. He’s the author of Mainliner Denver: The Bombing of Flight 629. He spoke with host Erin O’Toole about the bombing and its legacy for modern air travel. 

The Flight 629 Memorial Committee plans to hold a number of fundraising events leading up to the 70th anniversary, including a concert at the Rialto Theater in Loveland on August 3.  Read more in the Greeley Tribune here.  

Donations can be made to the committee’s GoFundMe page.

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]

Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!

Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner

Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Boulder, like many cities in Colorado, has an ongoing shortage of housing for the middle class – which means many people who work in Boulder can’t afford to live there.   

One local group is proposing an unconventional solution: They want to decommission Boulder’s municipal airport and turn that city-owned land into a neighborhood with around 2,000 homes.  At least half of those homes would be designated affordable.   

That group, the Airport Neighborhood Campaign, organized the two initiatives that, if approved, would put this plan into action. They’ve collected enough signatures to place them on the November ballot, although the idea faces opposition from organizations like the Boulder Chamber.  

Laura Kaplan, one of the group’s organizers, sat down with host Erin O’Toole to discuss what they want to accomplish by repurposing the municipal airport. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]

Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!

Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner

Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Summer in Northern Colorado means the return of an old-school mode of transportation -- in the form of a ride on the Fort Collins Trolley. Electric streetcars were once a common sight in the streets of Fort Collins, at least until the early 1950s, when car ownership rose and fewer people relied on public transportation. In the late 1970s, a group of dedicated volunteers began to restore the aged trolley cars and to reinstall the track. 

This season marks 40 years since the restored trolley began once again to take passengers on a leisurely journey along Mountain Avenue into Old Town. Host Erin O’Toole hopped on board earlier this year, where she learned some of the trolley's quirky history – including the time the old depot became a victim of the CU-CSU football rivalry… and how a group of people opposed to bringing the trolley back nearly derailed the restoration. 

You can learn more about the trolley's history and find schedule and fare information here. 

Thanks to depot agent Kathy Mabry and conductor Kevin Mabry for sharing their stories. They co-authored and illustrated a children's book about the trolley (available at the depot). And a huge thank you to motorman Bethany O'Brien for sharing both her historical knowledge and her expert driving skills. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]

Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!

Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner

Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.