Club Q victims sue county for not protecting them 

Good morning, Colorado.

I’m pretty sure I have the smartest cat in the world. Why? She can do tricks. Sit, spin, speak, stand on her hindlegs … you name it, she can do it. Except … well … there’s one thing she’s stubbornly refused to learn: stay.

There’s only so much a cat is willing to do. Anyhoo, let’s get to the news. (Psst, there may be a treat at the bottom.)

Danika Worthington

Presentation Editor

THE NEWS

HEALTH

Colorado’s pioneering psychedelic program gets final tweaks as state plans to launch next year

In 2022, Colorado voters passed Proposition 122, which allows healing centers where people can consume psilocybin mushrooms (those are the magic kind). Dozens of public meetings and 107 pages of groundbreaking regulations later, regulators are preparing to launch next year. And as Jason Blevins notes, the program is being closely watched.

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ENERGY

Solar panels on big Denver buildings throw shade that helps crops grow — and the plants return the favor

Solar panels and plants have a bit of a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch your back” relationship going. According to CSU researchers, the crops protected by the panels yield more food, and in turn, the plants help cool the panels to make them more efficient. Mark Jaffe has more.

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WATER

Arizona, California push study of century-old policy that would force cuts on upper Colorado River states

With negotiations stalled, Arizona and California are threatening a “compact call” that could force Upper Basin states, including Colorado, to cut water usage if inter-basin water sharing obligations aren’t met. But, Lower Basin states say, if the Upper Basin agrees to their earlier proposal, then water cuts would be much less. Shannon Mullane has details on Colorado’s reaction.

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ECONOMY

Denver’s convention industry is partying like it’s 2019

Denver is going to finish the year with the number of conventions similar to what we saw in 2019. And 2025 is gearing up to be 15% higher. But as some asked our reporter Tamara Chuang, could recovery have been faster?

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Section by Danika Worthington | Presentation Editor

THE COLORADO REPORT

• Denver just legalized ADUs citywide. How many could be built? After years of individual neighborhoods allowing ADUs one at a time, the Denver City Council just authorized the construction of cottages, casitas and other accessory units on their property without the need for rezoning in every single-family neighborhood in the city.
  — Denverite
• Aurora council reverses decision, again, on repealing city employee tax. A weekslong debate over the “head tax” that charges employers $2 per employee per month flipped again, with councilors deciding to table the repeal of the tax until January 2025.
  — Sentinel Colorado
• Colorado restaurateur one of the 50 most powerful people in American fine dining, magazine says. The Robb Report’s annual list of the most powerful people in fine dining again honored Frasca’s Bobby Stuckey — nine spots ahead of his No. 40 ranking last year.
  — The Denver Post ????
• Bank account ownership in Colorado hits record high. As recently as 2021, Colorado lagged behind the national average for “unbanked households” at 6%. But the most recent figures from the FDIC now show Colorado at just 1.1% unbanked.
  — Denver Business Journal ????

???? = source has article meter or paywall

Section by Eric Lubbers | CTO & Newsletter Wrangler

SunLit

REVIEW

Ever-creepy basement shadows haunt “A Justified Murder of Crows”

There’s just something about basements. Author Sue Alcon O’Connor taps into that spooky vibe in this excerpt from “A Justified Murder of Crows,” a genre-hopping, time-traveling mystery-comedy-thriller that’s set in the same fictional Colorado town of Patton that’s also the setting for her first novel, “The Bone Shelter.”

READ AN EXCERPT

• Interview with the author. Sometimes an author’s characters come to seem like family. For O’Connor, they really are approximations of her kin, right down to some of the jokes they’d play on each other.  

Section by Kevin Simpson | Writer

Here is your promised treat:

— Danika & the whole staff of The Sun

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