Tag Archives: PBS12

Wildfires, Budget Gap, Denver Projects, and SNAP Soda Ban in Colorado

By Kyle Dyer on August 8, 2025

It’s been an eerily hazy week across Colorado as wildfires burn on the Western Slope and smoke lingers statewide. The picture is just as unclear for state finances, with a special legislative session set for August 21 to address a major budget gap. On this week’s Colorado Inside Out, our panel digs into the wildfire crisis, the $1B budget shortfall, Denver’s largest set of city projects headed to voters in November, and Governor Polis’ newly approved plan to block SNAP purchases of sugary drinks.

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August 1, 2025

By Kyle Dyer on August 1, 2025

Happy Colorado Day! On August 1st, 1876, Colorado became the 38th state in the United States. So, we are one year shy of “the big one”—our 150th birthday in 2026. Here’s a time-capsule-esque conversation about where Colorado stands in its 149th year… and a look forward at all that Colorado is focusing on to strengthen our communities so that they’re places more people can afford to live, raise families, build businesses, and feel connected to one another.

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April 18, 2025 Edition

By Kyle Dyer on April 18, 2025

This week’s show started by acknowledging the flurry of announcements of people running for office in November 2026. All of a sudden, it’s go-time for these campaigns. From there, our Insiders took a more analytical, yet compassionate, turn for the rest of the show, tackling everything from immigration policy to cuts in Colorado’s daycare industry and the fine line between protecting free speech and protecting our kids who are online; the various perspectives this week will definitely make you think. Here’s a glimpse at what we discussed: Continue reading →

April 11, 2025 Edition

By Kyle Dyer on April 11, 2025

News never stops, right? After our Inside panel had left for the day, the political rumors that had been swirling around for a while came to be true. On a beautiful Friday morning in Colorado, Senator Michael Bennet announced in Denver’s City Park that he is running to succeed Jared Polis as Governor of Colorado. Bennet, who is in his 3rd senate term, has spoken often about the “broken-ness” of Washington. “Business as usual is simply not enough, and that’s why I’m running for governor of Colorado,” Bennet said. He will be running against CO Attorney General Phil Weiser in the Democratic primary in 2026, which will no doubt bring many candidates from both the Democratic and Republican parties. The 44th Governor of Colorado will be sworn into office in January 2027.

Here’s what else we’re talking about on this week’s Colorado Inside Out… Continue reading →

April 4, 2025 Edition

By Kyle Dyer on April 4, 2025

Here we go again… talking about the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR). But wait, this is the first time to my knowledge that a Spider-Man reference has been brought into a TABOR discussion! THANK YOU, Jesse Paul! Here’s a look at the Spidey reference and all the other facets of this week’s Colorado Inside Out Conversation: Continue reading →

March 28, 2025 Edition

By Kyle Dyer on March 28, 2025

March Madness… yes, that’s a good way to follow the happenings of this past month. We have had the complexities of coming up with a state budget, the distressing frequency of outdoor deaths in Denver and this week’s all-of-a-sudden urgency to remove the Presidential portrait of Donald Trump from the Colorado Capitol building. This week’s talking points for Colorado Inside Out kept changing and evolving leading up to the cameras turning on… here’s a glimpse of some of what we hashed out. Continue reading →

March 21, 2025 Edition

By Kyle Dyer on March 21, 2025

There was a lot of coming togetherness this week in Colorado. There were sizeable protests outside the state capitol starting with the March 17th rally in support of immigrant rights. On Thursday, March 20th, thousands of teachers from across Colorado protested over potential cuts to education funding in the state budget. Also on Thursday, tens of thousands of sports fans descended upon Denver for the NCAA Basketball Tournament. At the Colorado Inside Out table, we have a weekly coming together of different ideas and viewpoints, Continue reading →

March 14, 2025 Edition

By Kyle Dyer on March 14, 2025

The Insider email thread started around 8 o’clock on the morning of this week’s taping of Colorado Inside Out. I logged into my computer to see if our panelists were awake, alert and suggesting new stories and topics to add into our show. I love that enthusiasm which grew even stronger by the time the cameras turned on. And yes, we got a lot squeezed into our 28-minute show… here’s a recap: Continue reading →

March 7, 2025 Edition

By Kyle Dyer on March 7, 2025

This week, we saw the ‘Sanctuary City Showdown’ with Denver Mayor Mike Johnston in the hot seat, defending the city’s immigration policies during a 6-hour Congressional hearing. And this week, we welcomed a new Insider to the show, Kristi Burton Brown, who says that hearing proved that Denver is indeed a sanctuary city. To that notion, Eric Sondermann suggested, Denver is a “welcoming city.” We had a deeper conversation beyond the semantics of the words at hand, and as Patty Calhoun said regarding this week’s Colorado Inside Out … this is a ‘fun one!’ Continue reading →

February 28, 2025 Edition

By Kyle Dyer on February 28, 2025

This week’s show falls on the 30th Anniversary of Denver International Airport opening, so I decided to start off our conversation around the impact of DIA, or DEN as it’s now referred to, plus, Westword Editor Patty Calhoun brought some show & tell, a key chain of the mustang sculpture outside the airport known as Blucifer (and the key chain doll’s eyes even light up bright red like the real thing). Despite Blucifer’s image problems, magnified by David Kopel of the Independence Institute saying “Blucifer is the portal through which demons enter the city,” Denver’s airport is the state’s largest economic engine. Here’s a look at what was discussed on Colorado Inside Out, which started with all things DIA and the conversation ‘took off’ from there. Continue reading →