Wonkbook: Congress Hangs Back From The Good Economic News

When National Federation of the Blind Colorado director Jessica Beecham settled into her Uber ride recently, the driver refused service. She objected to Beecham’s guide dog, Prada, a 70-pound German Shepherd. Beecham stayed put. The driver called the police. A Littleton officer forced Beecham and Prada out, apparently misunderstanding federal law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.  A sergeant later called Beecham and apologized. It’s a clash reflecting the pervasive obstacles people with disabilities face as they move around Denver and other U.

Chris Bierdeman fondly recalls watching East Peoria’s snaking, festive holiday-lights parades while growing up in Illinois. The Festival of Lights, as it’s called, is a four-decade tradition that unites floats, lighting displays and other holiday décor. But there’s also the drive-thru park. “It’s a show they run after Thanksgiving through New Year’s,” said Bierdeman, now the events manager for the city of Loveland.

For decades, Xcel Energy’s sprawling Comanche Station coal facility near Pueblo has generated power for customers across the utility’s service territory in Colorado — and has generated thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue for local governments, schools and special districts. As part of the state’s transition to powering the electric grid with mostly renewable energy, Xcel will close the third unit on the roughly 700-acre Comanche campus by 2031, shuttering all the company’s coal facilities in Colorado.

University of Denver leaders cut jobs and are tightening the school’s budget amid what Chancellor Jeremy Haefner is calling “a very difficult time for the university.” The private research university is facing waning enrollment that has left the institution with an $11 million budget deficit, according to school officials. As a result, DU eliminated eight administrative staff positions this fall — three in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and five more across the campus, including in the chancellor’s office, University College and the Josef Korbel School of International Studies. Additionally, 15 staff positions in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences will be replaced with higher-paid roles that will serve all 20 departments.

The ONE Group, a global restaurant company based in Denver, quietly launched its latest venture, Salt Water Social, in Cherry Creek on November 7. The upscale seafood-focused eatery sits in the former Thirsty Lion space, which has been vacant since 2019. “Despite not having done any marketing yet, we’re thrilled with the level of business we’ve seen so far,” said Emanuel “Manny” Hilario, CEO of The ONE Group, which also owns multiple locations of STK Steakhouse, Kona Grill, Benihana and RA Sushi. The concept was initially developed for London and Toronto, but the pandemic brought the project to a halt.

Few artists in Denver are pushing the boundaries of creativity in the way Diego Florez-Arroyo is currently doing. His work, which runs across several genres all at once, feels like an experiment on what is possible for one person to produce. Florez-Arroyo, born and raised in the city’s Northside neighborhood and still in his 20s, is probably best known as a musician, a multi-instrumentalist and a member of Los Mocochetes, the popular, and politically-minded, Chicano funk band that plays gigs across the region. Diego Florez-Arroyo uses concrete blocks as the structure for his floor sculptures.