The year in photos: What Colorado looked like in 2022

By Hart Van Denburg
·
220410-STEAMBOAT-POND-SKIM
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Steamboat’s annual end-of-season pond skim returned after a pandemic hiatus on Sunday, April 10, 2022. “Rod Kimball” Matthew Kaplan winces just before his backside hits the pond.

220103-MARSHALL-FIRE-LOUISVILLE
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Homes in Louisville on Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, after it was destroyed by the Marshall fire. The Marshall fire ignited Dec. 30, 2021, in Boulder County and destroyed nearly 1,000 homes in and around Superior and Louisville, and left thousands of people scrambling to evacuate, driven by winds that sometimes exceeded 100 mph.
220102-WILDFIRE-AFTERMATH-BOVEN
Eli Imadali for CPR News
Larry Boven comforts his wife, Mary, in their car as they sit across the street from the remains of their Louisville home of almost 30 years, which burnt down Dec. 31 in the Marshall fire, on Sunday, January 2, 2022.
220124-BONANNO-MENTAL-HEALTH
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Frank Bonanno, owner of the Bonanno Concepts restaurant group, in the kitchen at the company’s French 75 property in downtown Denver on Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. To help support mental health, one restaurant group hired a full-time wellness director.” Bonanno hired a full-time mental health clinician, Qiana Torres Flores, as Wellness Director. It’s her job to host seminars, group “therapy” sessions, and daily check-ins for about 400 employees. She also provides one-on-one sessions for any employee who need someone to talk to.
220122-OURACY-ICE-CLIMBING
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Lindsey Hamm waves to the crowd as she peels off the climbing wall of the Elite Mixed Climbing Competition at the 2022 Ouray Ice Festival. In Elite Mixed, competitors race the clock on a route that starts on ice, moves to rock, and ends on a specially built climbing wall. Every time they clip their rope into an anchor, they score a point. Saturday Jan. 22, 2022.
220126-TRAINS-COMMUTER-RAIL-SHONTEL-LEWIS-RTD-BOARD-MEMBER-TRANSPORTATION-TRANSIT-DENVER-KEVINJBEATY-04
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
RTD board member Shontel Lewis rides a 73 bus to the A Line on her way to Denver International Airport. Jan. 26, 2022. “If we really want to see a better city, a better world, one that really prioritizes climate change, really prioritizes the impacts on our city, then we have to change,” she told CPR’s Nathaniel Minor for his story, “Why don’t RTD’s trains go into Denver’s neighborhoods?” “This is the time for us to start making investments in our infrastructure differently than we have in the past.”
POY-2022-JAN-KING-SOOPERS-STRIKE
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
King Soopers workers went on strike in Denver on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022, including here on Sheridan Boulevard in Edgewater where pickets were set up on a cold early morning, under a brilliant winter sunrise. The job action led to workers approving a new contract that includes wage increases, better health care and more stringent safety protocols at 78 stores around the Denver metro.
220113-SOS-ENVIRONMENT-PROTEST
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Supporters of progressive environmental policies protest outside the state Capitol during the State of the State address by Gov. Jared Polis, Jan. 13, 2022. United For Colorado's Climate, a coalition of groups including 350 Colorado and GreenLatinos, organized the rally. Before the event, it released a list of demands that called on Polis to declare a climate emergency and detail plans to phase out all Colorado fossil fuel production by 2030.
POY-2022-JAN-CAPITOL-GOLD-DOME-HV
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
The Gold Dome atop the Colorado State Capitol on a cold hard winter day, Jan. 19, 2022, seen from the 16th Street Mall in Denver. Along with budget debates, state lawmakers also spent the winter and spring clashing over new laws regarding abortion access rights and punishment for fentanyl-related crimes.

220201-COVID-CU-AURORA-SCHOOL-TESTING
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Frank Casillas, in 7th grade, swabs his nose during a PCR COVID test on Tuesday Feb. 1, 2022, in the cafeteria of Aurora Science and Technology Middle School. A month-long program offered the 435 kids at this school weekly diagnostic PCR testing, through COVIDCheck Colorado and a partner company, Summit Biolabs. It gives them and their parents a much quicker turnaround time on results, usually a day or so. 
POY-FEB-LONG-MURDER-HV
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Lynna Long, left, listens on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022 at the Venue Theatre Company in Conifer as her sister Connie talks about the murder of their youngest sister, Maggie, in 2017. Seventeen-year-old was a high school senior who drove home from school just before a concert on December 1, 2017, parked her car, went inside, and never came out. Exactly what happened to Maggie, and why, remains an unsolved mystery four years later.
220219-AMACHE-HAALAND-BENNET-NEGUSE
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Mitch Homma, left, speaks with U.S. Reps. Joe Neguse, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, and Sen. Michael Bennet in the cemetery at Camp Amache National Historic Site near Granada on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. More than 7,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly interred at the camp during World War II, including a number of Homma’s relatives. The visit coincides with the 80th anniversary of the federal order establishing Amache and other camps, and just days after the Senate cleared the way for a bill that would make the site a part of the National Park System.
2202013-DOUGLAS-COUNTY-TEACHERS-RALLY-WISE
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Supporters of Douglas County Schools Superintendent Corey Wise rally in front of the department’s headquarters in Castle Rock on Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. Wise’s supporters say he was being forced out of his job by a new conservative majority on the board accused of meeting in secret to make the move - a violation of the Colorado’s open meetings laws.
220216-COVID-WASTEWATER-ENGLEWOOD-RENEW
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Pieter Van Ry, director at the South Platte Renew wastewater treatment facility in Englewood, stands surrounded by solid-waste separators at the plant on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. The facility was one of the first municipal utilities to incorporate a coronavirus detection program in its wastewater management process.
220203-REPUBLICAN-SENATE-CANDIDATE-FORUM
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams, holding the STOP sign, served as official timekeeper as eight declared Republican candidates to replace Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet gathered for a packed forum on Thursday night, Feb. 3, 2022 in the Fort Lupton Recreation Center in Weld County. One of those candidates, Joe O’Dea, went on to win the Republican primary, but lost to Bennet in the general election.

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Boulder Fire-Rescue responds to the NCAR fire near the Table Mesa neighborhood. March 26, 2022.
220305-LEADVILLE-SKIJORING-1
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Ski joring, a timed competition in which a horse and rider pull a skier who runs slalom turns, snatches rings from poles and launches off jumps taller than most humans, returned to Leadville Saturday and Sunday March 5-6, 2022, for the 74th annual time.
220331-THORNTON-POLICE-CHIEF
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
220330-PRISON-RADIO-COLORADO-MATTERS
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Smiles and tears during an emotional moment as inmates Cynthia Gonzalez, left, and Amber Pierce talk about prison life while interviewing Colorado Matters senior host Ryan Warner and CPR News reporter Elaine Tassey, on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, for Colorado Prison Radio’s Inside Wire,
POY-2022-APRIL-WEBB-HANCOCK-STATUE
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, left, waves to supporters accompanied by Mayor Michael Hancock, as they arrive for the dedication and unveiling of a statue of Webb, in the building that already bears his name, on March 6, 2022.
POY-2022-MARCH- SANDHILL-CRANES-MONTE-VISTA-WILDLIFE-SAN-LUIS-VALLEY
Dave Burdick/CPR News
Sandhill cranes fly in the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge in the San Luis Valley on Saturday, March 12, 2022.
220322-BOULDER-KING-SOOPERS-SHOOTING-ANNIVERSARY
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News

220429-ALPACA-SHOW-NATIONAL-WESTERN
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Cadence Rarden, 15, from Livermore, Colorado, comforts her alpaca Aladar, as they compete at the Great Western Alpaca Show at the National Western Center on April 29, 2020. When a judge motioned for Rarden to move forward, she led him in a circle before stopping in a line of four other animals and their handlers. “He has a really great presence about him,” the judge said to her before poking and prodding his frame, looking for any imperfections. “He’s nice and level and we’ve got a good uniformity of fleece.” The duo won first place in the division for gray males.
POY-2022-APRIL-TINA-SMITH
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, at the time a Republican candidate for Secretary of State, at the Colorado Republican State Assembly Saturday, April 9, 2022. She lost her primary battle to former Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Pam Anderson. Peters has long been a champion of false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. She was arrested earlier this year on 10 counts of tampering with election equipment and official misconduct related to her alleged efforts to try to uncover fraud involving the voting machines in Mesa County. Peters continues to defend her actions and maintains she did nothing wrong. Reports based on the hard drives of those machines have been debunked.
220422-HOUSE-LEGISLATURE-KENNEDY
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Democratic state Rep. Chris Kennedy feeds his baby daughter Lennon while speaking to lawmakers on the House floor, Friday, April 22, 2022.
POY-2022-MAY-AMACHE-ROSE
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Denver Botanic Gardens horticulturist Mike Bone with some of the rose cuttings from Camp Amache that he’s growing at the Gardens’ greenhouse, April 26, 2022. During World War II, the U.S. government sent some 10,000 Americans of Japanese descent to the camp near the Kansas border, which is formally known as The Granada Relocation Center. Bonnie Clark, an archaeologist with the University of Denver, and her team were on-site at Amache in 2012 when they found rose bramble crawling across the remnants of a barracks doorway there. It had survived a dark time in American history and the unforgiving extremes of Colorado’s southeastern plains. Bone and his team traveled to Camp Amache to examine the rosebush and take cuttings, and are now nurturing new Amache roses to life.

POY-20O22-MAY-MIKE-NELSON-GREEN-SCREEN
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Mike Nelson and a giant green screen in the Denver7's television studio in Denver, May 24, 2022. When you tune in to see Nelson deliver the weather forecast, and all those graphics and photos are popping behind him, this is what is actually going on in the studio. Nelson regularly joins Colorado Matters host Ryan Warner at the CPR News studios in Denver to talk about weather and climate change in Colorado
POY-2022-MAY-CHOICE-ABORTION-RIGHTS-RALLY-ROE
Eli Imadali
Jess Haag, with “choice” painted on her face, cheers during a rally at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, after a leaked draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court called for overturning Roe vs. Wade. Later in June, in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the court overturned Roe v. Wade, making abortion decided at a state level, rather than being protected as a constitutional right. Then, midway through the Colorado General Assembly’s 2022 session, Democrats passed, and Gov. Jared Polis signed, the Reproductive Health Equity Act, which enshrines the right to an abortion and contraception in Colorado law. Every one of the legislature’s Republicans voted against it.
POY-2022-CAPITOL-LEGISLATURE-CLOSING-DAY
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Showing off their spurs: The boots of Republican state Reps. Perry Will, left, and Mike Lynch, in the House chamber on Wednesday, May 11, 2022, as the legislature wrapped up its final day of the 2022 session.
POY-2022-ADAMS-COUNTY-SHERIFF
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Adams County Sheriff Rick Reigenborn outside his office on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. Reigenborn has served at the helm of the $100 million agency with 600 staffers and a 1,600 capacity jail since 2019. His tenure was marked with controversy, from walking a handful of senior leaders out of the office on his first day to a decision to embark on a contract with the Fox show “COPS" to a criminal investigation into the top levels at the office about training records. Gene Claps, a former commander in the jail and one of the people Reigenborn locked out of the building in 2019, beat him during the election by more than 4,000 votes
POY-2022-HIMARS-ESTONIA-SAAREMAA
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Colorado National Guard members watch a live-fire exercise involving M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, HIMARS, vehicles on Saaremaa island in Estonia on Monday, May 22, 2022. Colorado’s National Guard has been participating in Defender-Europe 22, a large-scale U.S. Army-led multinational exercise involving Guard members from six other states.
POY-2022-SANNING-ESTONIA-SAAREMAA
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Colorado Springs native and West Virginia National Guard pilot Capt. Jill Sanning, returns to the flight deck of her AC-17 C-17 transport loaded with military vehicles and hardware on the tarmac at Kuressaare Airport on Saaremaa island in Estonia, Tuesday, May 23, 2022. About 1,200 National Guard members from six states – Colorado, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia – were taking part in a massive multinational joint exercise called Defender Europe 22, led by US Army Europe and North Africa.
POY-2022-MAY-STRASBURG-INDIANS-ARAPAHO
Jeremy Sparig/CPR
Skyler Littleshield dances in the Strasburg High School Wednesday, May 4, 2022, as members of the Northern Arapaho Wind River Reservation meet with students and faculty for its yearly celebration of Arapaho Day. The relationship between Strasburg and the Northern Arapaho was born as legislation advanced to address sports mascots that others found offensive. In efforts to retain their mascot and namesake Strasburg Indians, and to honor those that might be offended, Strasburg formed a partnership with the Northern Arapaho tribe to redesign the mascot logo and introduce learning focused on the experience of Native Americans. Arapaho Day events included an incense-ritual, POW WOW, and small-group learning activities.

POY-2022-MACKINNON-AVALANCHE-STANLEY-CUP-PARADE
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
The Colorado Avalanche are back atop hockey’s mountain. Behind a goal and an assist from Nathan MacKinnon, the Avalanche in June won the Stanley Cup for the third time in franchise history and the first in more than two decades, by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 6. MacKinnon holds the Cup above his head during a parade celebrating the team's win in downtown Denver on June 30, 2022.
POY-2022-DRONE-DEMONSTRATION
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Hire UAV Pro drones hover over a field in Arvada during a test demonstration on Wednesday evening, June 15, 2022. Some cities in Colorado have hired drone show designers in place of fireworks this year due to wildfire concerns. Glenwood Springs, Aspen and several others are putting on laser light shows. “We probably had like 300, 400 requests for the 4th of July, especially after the [Marshall Fire] up in Louisville,” said Graham Hill, UAV’s operator,. “That is 100 percent driven by fire risk.” July 4th is typically one of the busiest days of the year for human-caused fires.
POY-2022-JUNE-KATHLEEN-BOELYN-JOHNNY-HURLEY
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Kathleen Boelyn, the mother of Johnny Hurley, who was killed a year ago during a shooting in Arvada, holds a photo of her late son while standing in her Colorado Springs garden on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. Hurley, 40, was shopping at an Army surplus store last year when he saw a man with a gun outside. It turned out that shooter had already killed an Arvada Police officer, and now was shooting out windows in police cars in a busy shopping and restaurant district during lunch hour. Hurley, armed with his own gun, went out to confront the man. In the chaos that followed, Hurley was shot and killed by Arvada officers in a case of mistaken identity.
POY-2022-JUNE-FENTANYL-TEST-RED-ROCKS
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Steve Sarin, of Aspen Ridge Recovery, dips a test strip in dissolved MDMA belonging to a concert goer in the North Parking Lot at Red Rocks on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. The test is to see whether the MDMA has been cut with fentanyl, unbeknownst to there buyer of the drug. The test came back positive for fentanyl, surprising the owner of the drug.
POY-2022-JUN-SERVICIOS-RAZA-PRIDE-FLOAT
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Jonathan Perez-Delgado uses a staple gun to fix homemade paper flowers to the Servicios de la Raza float on Thursday, June 23, 2022, that the organization entered in Denver’s Pride parade the following Sunday. The float’s theme was inspired by El Dia de los Muertos, decorated with the artwork of Reyna Rodriguez from Brighton, who makes flowers out of paper.
220603-WESTERN-CONSERVATIVE-SUMMIT-TRUMP-HAT
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
An attendee at the Western Conservative Summit, on Friday, June 3, 2022, wears a “Trump Save America” hat. The annual gathering hosted by the Centennial Institute - the public policy arm of Colorado Christian University - this year at the Gaylord Rockies resort, featured a lineup of politicians and speakers including Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert.

220721-FIREFLIES
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Conservation biologist Anna Walker holds a container of two fireflies she caught on Thursday night, July 21, 2022, in Mills Canyon on the Canadian River in New Mexico’s Kiowa National Grasslands. She stored the insects overnight in containers with slices of apple, took notes on them in the morning and then released them.
POY-2022-JULY-SUMMER-CAMP-HEAT-AQ
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
GYPSUM, Colorado - A group of campers laugh their way through a sing-a-long on July 8, 2022 at Roundup River Ranch, on the Colorado River upstream from Gypsum. It offers classic summer camp life and learning for kids with serious illnesses. It’s free, funded through philanthropic partner individuals, corporations, foundations, and friends. We were there to learn how climate change and more frequent, more wildfire-smokey skies are affecting camp life.
POY-2022-JULY-AMTRAK-ZEPHYR-TRAIN-GLENWOOD-SPRINGS
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
GLENWOOD SPRINGS - AMTRAK’s California Zephyr train makes a stop in Glenwood Springs, where a passenger boards for points west on Friday, July 8, 2022.
POY-2022-JULYHOMESTAKE-PACK-OUT-POOP
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
HOMESTAKE RIVER, Colorado - Ron Reitan, at left, opens a specially designed bag made by Restop for picking up and disposing of human waste while camping in areas without toilets. Paula Peterson of the National Forest Service’s Eagle-Holy Cross Ranger District, at right, is among three staffers assigned to visiting dispersed camping sites throughout the district to tell campers that it’s now a requirement to pack out their human waste. She visited Reitan’s group of campers in the Homestake Road area between Minturn and Camp Hale on Friday, July 22, 2022.
POY-2022-JULY-RTD-WHEELCHAIR-NEDERLAND
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
DENVER - Denver artist and author Sherrill Morris watches as Jaime Lewis, transit advisor for the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, boards an RTD bus at Union Station, headed for Boulder and eventually Nederland, on Saturday, July 27, 2022. Getting outside has been difficult for Denverites with disabilities during the pandemic. Lewis landed a small grant from the Denver Community Active Living Coalition that allowed him to launch an “Urban Discoveries” program through August that is paying for one-day excursions like Morris’ outing to Nederland.
POY-2022-JULY-HOMELESS-OUTREACH-DOUGLAS-COUNTY-SHERIFF
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
LONE TREE, Colorado - Douglas County Sheriff deputies speak with two people who had set up camp behind a 7-Eleven in Lone Tree on Monday, July 18, 2022. Deputy Tammy Bozarth, at left with her back to the camera, is a homeless outreach specialist with the department. Homelessness is growing in Douglas County, and there’s little agreement on how to respond. The idea of a supportive approach to homelessness is not going over well with some voters in this conservative area.

POY-2022-AUGUST-MOMS-MICRODOSE-MUSHROOMS
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Flower petals strewn on the floor of Heather Jackson’s meditation room, after a ceremony with a relative. The quiet, naturally lit room in an old barn, is decorated with all manner of spiritual mementos, blankets and cushions, a Buddha statue - and a few small mushroom figurines that testify to her belief in microdosing. Stressed out, busy moms say microdosing mushrooms makes life easier and brighter, but researchers caution that they are “experimenting on themselves.”
POY-2022-AUGUST-CU-BOULDER-CENTER-AFRICAN-AMERICAN-STUDIES-RABAKA
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
BOULDER - Reiland Rabaka, founder and director of the new Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Since he arrived on campus 17 years ago, Rabaka, a tenured professor in ethnic studies, has imagined what this center could be. Now it’s a reality. The CAAAS, which Rabaka pronounces as “the cause,” opened in August, with programming to support students academically, socially and mentally, in addition to the physical space for them to learn and socialize.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Pilgrims walk through Golden on the second day of their walk from the St. Isadore Catholic Church in Watkins to the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden. Aug. 20, 2022.
POY-2022-AUGUST-WHEELCHAIR-LACROSSE
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
DENVER - Colorado Rolling Mammoth's John Vcelka tries to wrest the ball from the Houston Apollos. Aug. 26, 2022. Lacrosse is the oldest sport in North America. It was invented by Eastern Woodlands Native Americans in the United States and Canada centuries ago. The sport has two versions, field lacrosse, which is played outside, and box lacrosse, which is played indoors. But, the idea of wheelchair lacrosse was conceived in Colorado.
POY-2022-AUGUST-LOWEST-POINT-COLORADO
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
YUMA COUNTY - Matt Bauer, a vice president at the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, holds up his copy of the Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region, near where Bauer has identified the lowest point in Colorado. It’s in Yuma County, at the Kansas line on the Arikaree River. Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022.
20220810-DENVER-LOHI-RENT-SCAMS
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
DENVER - A runner watches for traffic at the apartment-lined corner of 16th and Boulder streets in Denver’s Lower Highlands neighborhood on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022. LoHi is a standout in an already-hot rental market in the city - conditions which make it and others attractive for rent scammers to prey on victims.
20220826-BREWABILITY-ENGLEWOOD
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
ENGLEWOOD - Bartenders Julian Trunfio, center, and Tony Saponaro, right, take orders from patrons at Brewability on Broadway in Englewood on Friday evening, Aug. 26, 2022. With the exception of a few key personnel, most of Brewability’s staff are differently abled. On this particular evening, members of the local chapter for the National Federation of the Blind were having a group gathering there.

POY 2022 SEPTEMBER GREELEY PHILHARMONIC VIOLIN HOMELESS
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
University of Northern Colorado Assistant Professor of Violin Sarah Off plays a violin once owned by Terri Sternberg. Her husband, Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra Composer in Residence Dylan Fixmer, has written a concerto for the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra inspired by the story of the violin, which he later discovered was owned by Sternberg, a world-class violinist who fell into homelessness. His piece premieres in October, with Sarah as the featured violinist.
20220917-DIVERSITY-WHITEWATER-PUEBLO-AC
Andy Colwell/For Colorado Public Radio
Line-Audrey Nkule, 25, of Colorado Springs, paddles atop a stand-up paddleboard across Pueblo Reservoir as she and more than a dozen fellow participants in Diversify Whitewater’s paddling skills day try kayaking and other paddle sports on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, at Lake Pueblo State Park near Pueblo, Colorado.
POY 2022 SEPTEMBER MINES FOOTBALL GOLDEN
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
GOLDEN - When a running back gets tackled by the Colorado School of Mines defense, they’re left with the lasting impression that they were just pummeled by a bunch of nerds. “You get run over and the last thing you see is the back of the helmet that says ‘computer science,’” says Tim Flynn, the school’s assistant athletic director. “It’s a nice psychological advantage.” Mines football players have stickers on their helmets that list their major. That’s how seriously this team takes academics at a university that’s widely regarded as one of the best engineering schools in the world. The Colorado School of Mines football team practiced Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022, on a rainy, blustery day in Marv Kay Stadium in Golden.
20220919-TEA-SHOP-REPARATIONS
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Risë Jones at TeaLee’s in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. The tea shop was the first recipient of Denver Black Reparations Council’s grant program. Jones and her late husband Louis Freeman founded the shop. He passed away in 2020. Jones is among several Black business owners in Denver who have received grants from groups raising private funds to pay reparations for the centuries of abuse of Blacks forced into slavery.
20220907-SAUVAGE-VINEYARD-GRAPE-HARVEST
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Netting is a common sight over hundreds of acres of vineyards in Palisade, arranged by hand as the grapes grow and mature in order to keep birds from feasting on the fruit. At harvest time, when crews set about picking the grapes, workers must first remove the netting, and then replace it, as they move down the lines of vines. This crew was at the Sauvage Spectrum vineyards in Palisade, Colorado, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022.
20220901-BOULDER-ALBUMS-ON-THE-HILL
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Albums on the Hill owner Andy Schneidkraut shows the scar on his chest from heart surgery earlier this year to friends visiting the store on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. He closed his 45-year-old business on Labor Day, and in the days before, the shop filled with CDs and vinyl albums from all genres and musical tastes, was jammed with shoppers and well-wishers.
20220927-SKATEBOARD-CLASS-EAGLE-CREST-LONGMONT
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Skateboarding in P.E. classes teaches Colorado kids more than just tricks and flips. Third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students at Eagle Crest Elementary in Longmont are finding that out because the school to partners with nearby Square State Skate to bring experienced instructors into P.E. classes. The instructors teach more than the physical skills of how to skateboard. They talk a lot about awareness of your body and the space around you, respect, responsibility, determination and empathy. Here, Square Skate instructor Greg Tattershall watches as 4th Grade student Rene Garcia learns a trick during skateboard P.E. class at Eagle Crest Elementary School in Longmont on Sept. 27, 2022.
POY-2022-SEPTEMBER-ANIMAL-SHELTERS
Tony Gorman/CPR News
Front Range animal shelters were filling up in September, a trend attributed to both the COVID 19 pandemic, housing restrictions, and a nationwide lack of veterinarians. Shelters have seen an uptick in surrenders, animal cruelty cases, and strays. And potential pets aren’t getting adopted fast enough. In addition to standard dogs or cats, the Denver Animal Shelter has even been an uptick in exotic animals. Recently, the Aurora Animal Shelter had to limit services due to capacity and be more selective about which animals to shelter.
20220913-CLEAR-CREEK-COUNTY-SHERRIF-DEPUTY-SHOOTS-KILLS-CHRISTIAN-GLASS
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Simon and Sally Glass speak to reporters during a press conference in Denver on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, about the death of the couple’s 22-year-old son Christian at the hands of Clear Creek County sheriffs deputies in June. The couple, who live in Boulder, answered questions from reporters
20220920-CHRISTIAN-GLASS-VIGIL-IDAHO-SPRINGS
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Melted was trails down the hand of Luke Griffiths, center, at a vigil for Christian Glass Wednesday evening, Sept. 20, 2022, in Idaho Springs. Glass, 22, called 911 for help in June after his car got stuck on a dirt road near Silver Plume. What followed was a tense and chaotic encounter with police from different agencies, and that ended with Clear Creek Deputy Andrew Buen fatally shooting Glass.

Eli Imadali for Colorado Public Radio
EADS - Singers from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes start the event with flag and memorial songs during a ceremony commemorating the Sand Creek Massacre and announcing an expansion of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site that more than doubles the park’s size, on Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at the site near Eads, Colorado. At least 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho people, mostly women, children and the elderly, were murdered at Sand Creek by the U.S. Army on November 29, 1864.
POY-2022-OCTOBER-BIDEN-CAMP HALE
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
CAMP HALE - President Joe Biden speaks at Camp Hale after declaring the WWII training ground a national monument. Oct. 12, 2022.
POY-2022-OCTOBER-UTE-PROTEST-WHITE-MESA
Stina Sieg/CPR News
WHITE MESA, UTAH - More than 100 people participated in the Oct. 22, 2022, peace march to the Mesa Mill, which sits about 5 miles from the tiny community of White Mesa, Utah. The White Mesa mill isn’t just the only functioning uranium mill in the country. It is also a disposal site for radioactive waste from around the world.
POY-2022-OCTOBER-RTD-DERAILMENT-SURVIVOR-MALLETTE
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
DENVER - Karen Mallette sits for a photograph at her home in Aurora, Oct. 25, 2022. She was riding RTD's R Line through Aurora in 2019 when the train derailed, she was thrown head-first out of the train, and lost her left after it was severed by the train. She and her husband are remodeling their home, including the stairs on which she’s sitting, in part to better accommodate her ability to move around.
20221018-COVID-AEROSOL-DIA
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Jose-Luis Jimenez is a CU Boulder professor whose expertise includes aerosols, atmospheric chemistry and disease transmission. He uses a carbon dioxide measuring device as a proxy for gauging the possible presence of COVID-29 in the air at Denver International Airport on Monday, Oct. 18, 2022.
POY-2022-OCTOBER-INSIDE-ORCHESTRA-SURPRISE-RABBIT
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
AURORA - Bassist Mike Fitzmaurice makes notes during Inside the Orchestra’s rehearsal of the ensemble’s production of “Surprise for Rabbit,” Wednesday, Oct.19, 2022 in Aurora. Founded in 1958, Inside the Orchestra began as a group that issued grants to music education programs. But in 1985, the organization shifted to creating and providing programming with a professional orchestra. That work ranges from in-school programs to performances open to the public. During the pandemic, Inside the Orchestra also strengthened its virtual and online programs. Now, this season, their Tiny Tots program is debuting its first ever original symphonic story, in the vein of Peter and the Wolf, and Circus of the Animals.
POY-2022-OCTOBER-FALL-LEAVES-AUTUMN-EAGLE-RIVER-0GYPSUM
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
GYPSUM - Casting a dry fly among fall colors along the Eagle River upstream from Gypsum on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022.

POY-2022-NOVEMBER-CLUB-Q-JEREMY
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
COLORADO SPRINGS - Kelly Loving, Derrick Rump, Ashley Paugh, Raymond Green Vance and Daniel Aston were killed Nov. 19 when, prosecutors say, Anderson Lee Aldrich entered the club around midnight and started shooting.
POY-2022-NOVEMBER-CLUB-Q-JEREMY
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
COLORADO SPRINGS - Anthony was at Club Q in November when a gunman entered and began shooting. Kelly Loving, Derrick Rump, Ashley Paugh, Raymond Green Vance and Daniel Aston were killed in the attack. Many others were wounded. An attack survivor, Anthony, was comforted by his husband Jeremy, as he spoke to reporters at Penrose Hospital, where he was recovering from shrapnel injuries, November 22, 2022. Anthony, who is not sharing his last name, has lived in Colorado for 18 years, five of them, in Colorado Springs. He and his spouse, Jeremy, have been together for 14 years.
POY-2022-NOVEMBER-CENTRAL-70-PARK-DRONE
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
DENVER -A drone photo of the new park "cap" over I-70 in Elyria Swansea. Nov. 30, 2022. “Colorado is really a leader in a lot of these areas, both with respect to climate and with respect to equity,” Stephanie Pollack, acting administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, told CPR News. “That's probably one of the reasons they're doing well when we put out competitive grant rounds.” Pollack had traveled to Denver to celebrate the official opening of a new park over Interstate 70 in Elyria-Swansea.
POY-2022-NOVEMBER-MCKEAN-MEMORIAL
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
DENVER - Colorado lawmakers and dignitaries attend a a memorial for the late House Minority Leader Hugh McKean, in the State Capitol rotunda. Nov. 10, 2022. McKean died of a heart attack in October, and his colleagues honored him not just for his playful personality, but for how he approached politics. House Speaker Alec Garnett recalled negotiating with McKean over the 2019 “red flag” gun law. McKean had come to watch Garnett’s toddler’s soccer practice and talk through their differences over the bill. The two men vehemently disagreed on the policy, which allows law enforcement to take weapons from people deemed dangerous. But the pair’s relationship strengthened nonetheless, Garnet said.
POY-2022-NOVEMBER-STARBUCKS-UNION-STRIKE
Matt Bloom/CPR News
DENVER - Workers and union supporters march outside of a Starbucks in Denver's Cherry Creek neighborhood on Nov. 17, 2022. The demonstration was part of a nationwide strike that included thousands of other Starbucks workers. Those in Colorado said they hope to speed up ongoing contract negotiations at their stores, which have already unionized. “We deserve fair wages and a contract,” said Ashyah Secrest, a barista who picketed in the snow outside her store in Denver’s Cherry Creek neighborhood. “Hopefully this will push (the company) to give us new dates.”
POY-2022-NOVEMBER-POLIS-ELECTION
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
DENVER - Gov. Jared Polis prepares to address supporters on election night after winning a second term in office, Nov. 8, 2022. Republicans hoped that 2022 would be the year that Colorado’s political pendulum would start to swing back toward the center after four years of Democratic rule. The opposite happened. Democrats saw their influence in the state grow. They are set to gain even more seats in both the state Senate and the House. And at the top of the ticket, Polis rolled to re-election by a crushing 16-point margin over Republican Heidi Ganahl.
POY-2022-NOVEMBERCD3-BOEBERT
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
GRAND JUNCTION - Mesa County is part of the 3rd Congressional District, in which incumbent Republican Rep. Loren Boebert ended up winning a very tight re-election race against Democratic challenger Adam Frisch. Signs and banners of support for her in and around Grand Junction are hard to miss, including these along Interstate 70 near Horizon Drive. In the end, after a recount, the final difference between the two was 546 votes.
POY-2022-NOVEMBER-GARFIELD-PALISADE
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
PALISADE - Mt. Garfield, caught between fall and winter from the Palisade orchards, with a storm rolling in. Nov. 10, 2022.

POY-2022-DECEMBER-CLUB-Q-SURVIVOR-SANDERS
Matt Bloom/CPR News
Before he was shot inside Club Q, Ed Sanders was having the night of his life. Earlier on Nov. 19, he and a few of his friends from Colorado Springs drove to Denver to attend the Snow Ball, a large winter-themed charity gala. The group was representing the United Court of the Pikes Peak Empire, a local LGBTQ organization, at the event. Afterwards, Sanders and his group drove back to Colorado Springs, debating along the way whether to head home or not. Feeling wide awake, Sanders asked to be dropped off at Club Q, his neighborhood bar where he’d spent many nights over the years. “I didn’t want the night to end,” Sanders said. Instead, he was hospitalized after being shot in a massacre that killed five people and wounded many others. He made some phone calls before before discharged earlier in December.
POY-2022-DECEMBER-AMAZON-HOLIDAY-HIRING-EMPLOYMENT
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Amazon packages are loaded on delivery trucks. Dec.6, 2022, at the company’s Himalaya Road facility in Aurora. Businesses across Colorado are getting ready for the holidays by adding staff to get through what is the busiest month of the year for many of them. Seasonal hiring plans offer a glimpse of where companies think the economy is headed. But this year’s holiday shopping bonanza is coming at a weird moment for the economy. Stubborn inflation is chipping away at paychecks, but consumer spending is still really strong. The Federal Reserve's effort to tame inflation by raising interest rates has started to slow some sectors of the economy, especially the housing market.
POY-2022-DECEMBER-LONG-COVID
John Daley/CPR News
Inside a nondescript suburban office building in a south Denver suburb, Alex Trebino stands on a blue balance board. Across from her is physical therapist Dan Stoot, who holds tennis balls in his hands. “When you catch it with your right hand, I want you to tell me a musician,” he says, “when you catch it with your left hand, I want you to tell me a president.” This is a brain game. He starts bouncing balls her way. “Taylor Swift!” Trebino says with a quick giggle. “And George Washington.” Doctors struggled to figure out how to treat Trebino, who said she has made progress through this type of physical therapy. And she’s part of a University of Denver study, one of countless efforts globally to understand and treat long COVID.
Nathaniel Minor/CPR News
202231219-BOULDER-SUNSHINE-WILDFIRE
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
A jet passing far above smoke from the Sunshine fire west of Boulder in the foothills leaves an orange-colored contrail as it speeds eastward at around 4:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. As of 3:45 p.m., the fire was estimated to be 18 acres. Meanwhile, a Red Flag Warning is in effect for Boulder, Larimer and Jefferson counties as dry and windy conditions raise the risk of wildfires spreading rapidly.
20221216 COLORADO MATTERS HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA-CMHE-
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Host Ryan Warner at the 7th annual Colorado Matters Holiday Extravaganza, at Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Denver, Dec. 16, 2022.
POY-2022-DECEMBER-CMHE
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
The Intergenerational Women’s African Drum and Dance Ensemble at the 7th annual Colorado Matters Holiday Extravaganza, at Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Denver, Dec. 16, 2022.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
The Southwest Airlines passenger check in area at Denver International Airport on a morning with sub-zero temperatures, snow, canceled flights and stranded passengers, Dec. 22, 2022.

Latest Stories