What We're Following This Afternoon

Which mattresses are best for cold sleepers? With so much of our lives spent in bed, we all must get a restful night’s sleep so we’re ready to start the day energized. While our bodies naturally cool down as we wind down, some sleep much colder than others. The right mattress can help cold sleepers stay warm and cozy throughout the night. Most mattresses target your sleep position and not your temperature, which makes shopping around tricky.

In this Dec. 12, 2017 file photo, the empty lot to the south of the Civic Center Station is seen kitty-corner from the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver. (Photo by Joe Amon/The Denver Post) As pickleball’s popularity continues to grow, city officials are proposing more outdoor courts for the sport take over empty land along Colfax Avenue in downtown Denver next year. If approved, six pickleball courts, a seating area, a shade canopy and a moveable storage container would be built on a vacant gravel lot at 1523 North Lincoln St., according to a concept plan submitted to Denver by consulting firm Stantec. The empty lot, next to the Regional Transportation District’s Civic Center Station in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, is a block west of the Colorado State Capitol. Part of the half-acre lot, a drainage area near RTD’s Colfax Avenue and Broadway bus stop, is fenced off and filled with large rocks.

After Gov. Jared Polis announced on social media he was “excited by the news the President-Elect will appoint Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.” to head the US Department of Health and Human Services, he grabbed a shovel kept digging. The infamous anti-vaxxer, Polis wrote, “helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019.” He hoped Kennedy “leans into personal choice on vaccines” because mandates are “terrible.” In addition to taking on “big pharma,” Polis added he looks forward to working with Kennedy against the “corporate agriculture oligopoly” which he accused of doing “more harm than good” to human health and the environment. Trying to curry favor with the incoming administration by supporting a nominee who spreads harmful misinformation like a virus isn’t going to inoculate the state against Trump’s first 100 days.

Denver Post beat reporters Parker Gabriel and Ryan McFadden break down Bo Nix’s breakout performance against Atlanta in which he threw for 307 yards and four touchdowns. What’s led to the improvement from Denver’s rookie quarterback? And did his outing overshadow perhaps the most impressive element of the afternoon for the Broncos in their 38-6 win?

State Sen. Janet Buckner, an Aurora Democrat, announced Thursday that she plans to resign at the start of the legislative session in January. Buckner is the second senator to announce their resignation in the weeks following their reelection. She was unopposed in her Nov. 5 reelection. Buckner has served in the legislature since 2015, when she was selected to replace her husband, state Rep.

Denver lacks important security measures at its homeless shelters, does not keep track of its spending on the facilities and is unable to ensure city funds are used appropriately, according to a city audit of the program released Thursday. The report represents an indictment of one of Mayor Mike Johnston’s core initiatives — the All In Mile High program — and calls into question the effectiveness of the Department of Housing Stability, the city agency tasked with sheltering Denver’s most vulnerable population. Because Denver does such a poor job tracking its spending, City Auditor Timothy O’Brien did his own math: Between January 2022 and March 2024, the city spent an estimated $149.6 million to operate the 25 shelters used to house individuals experiencing homelessness. The audit, which represented the first look at shelters under O’Brien, found Denver’s lack of security measures at one hotel run by the Salvation Army contributed to the shootings of three individuals, two of whom were killed. Only a limited camera system was present in the converted hotel and the building had no security guards, the report noted. “We found that Housing Stability lacks a formalized, strategic approach to ensuring timely security measures are in place at the shelters it oversees,” the audit states. The city took over security at the property following the first shooting. The auditor recommended Denver develop a needs assessment that outlines the type of security measures that may be needed for different types of shelters.