Juanita Hurtado Huerfano

This is my latest story for Colorado Public Radio! Give it a check out.

In Weld County, a mobile health unit hits the road to bring health care to the people With a projected 100,000 Coloradans losing their health insurance coverage, Weld County’s mobile health unit is proving to be a promising initiative to breach barriers to public health.

With a projected 100,000 Coloradans losing their health insurance coverage, Weld County’s mobile health unit is proving to be a promising initiative to breach barriers to public health.

We thought we knew a lot about elephants. This new exhibit proved us wrong “The Secret World of Elephants” is open at the Denver Museum of Nature through Jan. 25, 2026.

For all their popularity and towering size, there are still some little-known secrets to elephants.

Some Prospect Valley Dairy Farm victims have been buried but families are still waiting for answers Five men and a 17-year-old boy died in what’s being called a containment accident in Keenesburg.

I’ve been working on some stories regarding the deaths at Prospect Valley Dairy farm on Keenesburg with the fantastic Elaine Tassy. These families are still looking for answers and we still have questions unanswered.

Give it a read. Learn these workers’ names. www.cpr.org/2025/10/10/p...

Looking for a love like mine — on Denver’s bookshelves and beyond Juanita Hurtado Huérfano, Denverite's summer 2025 intern, went on a journey to find romance books with interracial couples.

This has been one of the most challenging stories I’ve ever written —probably because it is one of the most personal ones.

This is a personal essay on the journey to find romance books featuring interracial couples

Give it a read: @denverite.bsky.social

denverite.com/2025/09/02/r...

Here’s what we know about the six people who died at a dairy in Keenesburg Among the dead are a 17-year-old high school senior at Highland High School in Ault.

Four of the six were relatives: Espinoza Cruz is the father of both Oscar Espinoza Leos and of Carlos Espinoza Prado. Jorge Sanchez Pena is also related to the three by marriage.

A Colorado man’s final days show how patients are using — and struggling with — the right to die Colorado legalized medical aid in dying a decade ago, but patients like Tim Hartley still navigate a restrictive landscape.

"I want you all to continue to fish."

A mother of three faced eviction. Denver’s safety net didn’t catch her Denver is on track to see a record number of eviction cases in 2025.

Tiara Coleman invited Denverite to document her experience with eviction.

Dozens of Denver bridges are ‘deficient,’ so we took a tour According to Denver's Department of Transportation & Infrastructure, there a six bridges in the city in need of repair or full replacement.

Close to 80 of the 642 bridges in the city require some form of modification, monitoring or replacement.

Just back from a support group for laid-off feds— mostly aid workers. They dubbed their first meeting a “sad hour,” but now focus on the job search.

“This group feeds my soul,” said one attendee. “And we have snacks to feed you!” chimed another — standing next to pretzels and chips.

Coming soon.

Here’s what in the new Denver Public Schools contract — and why some don’t like it The union still has to convince its members, and DPS the school board, to approve the new contract — and some educators are against it.

The new contract will affect everything from salaries to class sizes for almost 4,000 union members, starting Sept. 1.

City Council rejects north Denver nonprofit’s development plan amid Comal kitchen controversy The Focus Points Family Resource Center is facing allegations of wage theft.

Recently, I got to work on one of my first city council/policy stories. Take a read here:

denverite.com/2025/08/07/c...

‘Half-baked’ USDA relocation irritates members of both parties on US Senate Ag panel | Colorado Newsline Members of a Senate panel chastised a USDA official for not consulting Congress before proposing to shift jobs out of Washington.

Members of both parties on the Senate Agriculture Committee chastised a Department of Agriculture official for not consulting Congress before proposing to shift thousands of jobs out of the D.C. area. The plan includes an expansion of the USDA's workforce in Fort Collins.
By @fischler.bsky.social

Middle School Cheerleaders Made a TikTok Video Portraying a School Shooting. They Were Charged With a Crime. Social videos, memes and retweets are becoming fodder for criminal charges in an era of heightened responses to student threats. Authorities say harsh punishment is necessary, but experts say the crac...

Rather than school leaders and law enforcement asking themselves, "Where did we go so wrong that a group of middle school kids would make a video portraying a school shooting?" they just charged the girls, as young as 11, with a crime.

New, @aliyyaswaby.bsky.social @propublica.org

The surgery that reveals everything that's wrong with women’s health care From "wandering wombs" to modern biases, the troubling politics of hysterectomies

"By age 65, 1 in 5 American women will have [a hysterectomy], according to the most recent data. That’s a crazy-high number—higher than in other parts of the Western world."

Colorado joins lawsuit challenging federal ‘defund provision’ targeting Planned Parenthood | Colorado Newsline Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined a lawsuit challenging a “defunding” provision the lawsuit says targets Planned Parenthood.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a “defunding” provision congressional Republicans passed in their recent massive tax and spending law, which the lawsuit says directly targets Planned Parenthood.
By @lindseytoomer.bsky.social

For the preponderance of my life, public radio has been a source of beauty and connection. I will work to ensure that continues for future generations.

JUST IN: Gov. Polis scuttles walkway near the state Capitol.

87,000 people responded to a survey, 93% opposed.

"I'll chain myself to the Capitol plaza, if needed, to prevent construction of the walkway," says Polis, who was its initial and rare champion.

Plans have cost ~$1 million, he says.

JUST IN: A court ruling means no Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado can accept Medicaid patients for any sort of care, according to PP’s regional leader. This is a function of the One Big Beautiful Act.

We’ll parse out details on tomorrow’s Colorado Matters. Thousands of patients are affected.

These are all the breweries that have closed in Denver lately It's been a perfect storm for the craft beer scene.

And for the craft beer lovers… I compiled a list of all the breweries that have closed around Denver lately.

denverite.com/2025/07/18/d...

Plus fantastic photos from @kevinjbeaty.bsky.social! Here’s a behind the scenes:

One of my favorite stories I’ve worked on so far… meet Andy and Evita, the Denver Zoo’s condors… but also their distant cousins in Peru who are being documented by DZCA!

Acclaimed Colorado sci-fi author: Future stupider than I imagined Paonia writer Paolo Bacigalupi reflects on 10 years since the publication of his climate thriller “The Water Knife.”

Sci-fi author Paolo Bacigalupi made one miscalculation, he says, when he wrote his climate thriller “The Water Knife.”

He didn’t think the future would be this stupid.

Our interview on the bestseller’s 10th anniversary— produced by @tomhesse.bsky.social:

Goose on patrol: Feathered troublemaker takes over Colorado State Patrol Academy buff.ly/7VGVtpd

Pick up a book and a new friend: Central Library and Denver Animal Shelter extend hours Weekends are now open for business.

Denverites can now visit the Central Library on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

They survived homelessness and addiction. Now, they’re changing Denver’s courts The Forensic Peer Navigator program is part of a national trend to provide additional support in the justice system.

"My name is Mark and I’m a peer support specialist. What that means is I have lived experience. I had a drug charge, I got a DUI, and I don’t do that anymore."

These are the projects the $800M Vibrant Denver bond would build Voters have to approve it first.

What can $800 million buy your neighborhood?

There's a toxic blue-green algae bloom at Cherry Creek Reservoir Don't go in the water.

State officials recently warned visitors to stay out of the water.

In her first public appearance since SCOTUS limited federal judges’ ability to block Trump’s actions with nationwide injunctions, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson discussed the rule of law, the state of democracy and the potential implications of the Court’s recent ruling.

The “Invasion” Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the…

After the first Trump administration, ex-DHS official Ken Cuccinelli and Project 2025 architect Russell Vought built a consensus among state GOP officials that immigration legally constitutes an invasion — and helped persuade Texas to try the theory in court.

By @mtredden.bsky.social