Who Had the Worst Week?

Jeremy Story

Jan 19

The Ouray County Plaindealer published a story this week about an alleged rape that took place at the home of the police chief, and mysteriously nearly all the copies of the paper were stolen from its newspaper racks throughout town. You don't get to do that, and it was heartening to see media from across the state step up and report on the theft and the possible motivation behind it. The result was media coverage 50 times bigger than it would have been had the theft not occurred.
Apparently there has been an epidemic of people crashing into funny road signs that we haven't heard about. The U.S. Federal Highway Administration issued new guidelines that ban clever or funny signs because they can be "distracting." Among those that will be going away: Massachussets' "Use Yah Blinkah" and Ohio's "Visiting in-laws? Slow down, get there late."
Former Denver Nugget Carmelo Anthony, who left Denver by forcing a trade to the New York Knicks, has accused the Nuggets of being "petty" by allowing Nikola Jokic to wear the No. 15 jersey number that belonged to Anthony when he was here. Ever humble, Anthony did concede that perhaps Jokic requested the number to "pay homage" to him.
Regulators denied JetBlue's attempt to acquire Spirit Airlines, a move that many on Wall Street expect to result in Spirit Airlines' bankruptcy. It shouldn't affect air travel in Denver, however. Spirit announced last fall that it was pulling out of DIA completely.
Sinclair CEO David Smith acquired the Baltimore Sun this week, and his introductory meeting with staff wasn't exactly warm and fuzzy. He started by sharing, "Full disclosure, I haven't read the newspaper in 40 years. Literally have not read the newspaper. … I read the paper maybe four times since I started working on trying to buy this place." He then suggested to the Pulitzer Prize-winning staff that they should follow the journalistic lead of the local Fox TV affiliate that Sinclair owns.
Bobi, the 31-year-old dog who has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the "oldest dog ever," has been provisionally stripped of his title pending an investigation.
Drake has once again rescheduled his concert dates in Denver at the last minute. Last time it happened, his team apparently miscalculated how long it would take to drive the equipment trucks to our city. No word this time on what the issue is.
Elon Musk pulled a "You have a nice company here ... it'd be a shame if anything happened to it" move with the board of Tesla. Musk threatened to work outside the company on Tesla-relevant technology unless it increases his ownership stake from 13% to 25%, an increase valued at $80 billion.
If your pastor is promoting cryptocurrency, you might want to think twice about your church.
The Australian Open tennis tournament is underway, and Coco Gauff is not a fan of the way the United States Tennis Association is promoting the American participants. A social media graphic portrayed them like they were members of the TV show "Rugrats."
Fitness guru Richard Simmons and actor Pauly Shore are feuding, which seems like a story straight out of 1990 but is actually taking place in 2024. Simmons is not happy about an unauthorized biopic that will feature Shore as Simmons.

So, who won the week?

Fox31 reporter Evan Kruegel is heading to 9News.
Former Fox31 reporter Michael Konopasek has been named external communications manager at DIA. He most recently was the corporate communications manager at Frontier Airlines.
Longtime Denver Post sports columnist Mark Kiszla has joined the Denver Gazette.
Former KNUS task show host Steffan Tubbs has been named public affairs officer for the Drug Enforcement Administration's Rocky Mountain Field Division.
Miss Colorado, U.S. Air Force 2nd Lieutenant Madison Marsh, was crowned Miss America. She is the first active duty service member to win the title.
Elton John won an Emmy for his televised farewell performance at Dodger Stadium, giving him the final piece of the rare and coveted "EGOT" – Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. Fun fact – the term "EGOT" was coined in 1984 by "Miami Vice" actor Philip Michael Thomas, who said his goal was to win all four. Sad fact – Thomas has never even been nominated for any of them.
Today is "Sam's Day of Stoke," a fundraiser benefitting the Sam Aden Kindness Fund. Sam was a wonderful and loved kid, and those of us who are part of the Love/Aden family's community are thinking about him, Laura and their entire family today.