Month In Review: Oct./Nov. 2016

Oregon elected Kate Brown, the first openly LGBT governor.

It appears Colorado voters did not follow our Ballot Issues options to the letter. Oh well, that’s democracy.

Next time your Netflix streaming starts to lag, head on over to your friends’ house in Superior or Lafayette. Those two cities slam-dunked approvals for municipal broadband.

The Chicago Cubs won the World Series in an extra-inning Game 7

Oh yeah, in case you missed it, Donald Trump will inherit a Republican Congress and likely tilt the balance of the Supreme Court by filling the vacant seat with a GOP-approved judge.

Wall Street and Vegas saw it before Nate Silver did, but Allan J. Lichtman, distinguished professor of history at American University predicted a Trump win in September. He continues his streak of correct predictions to 30 years, and remains the ultimate predictor of White House winners. Lichtman eschews polls for a simple true/false test of “13 Keys.” Those are worth scanning in “Predicting the Next President: The Keys to the White House,” which you can preview for free on Amazon.

REI returns with its #OptOutside campaign, encouraging its employees and customers to take to the outdoors instead of shopping on Black Friday. It’s been overly dissected as a marketing campaign, but other retailers have joined in and perhaps we should all consider the sentiment of getting outdoors with friends and family instead of storming the mall. [Ed. note: The sentiment here includes not going outside and shopping via your phone!]

California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts legalized recreational marijuana. While they have some time to implement the business side of things, let Colorado take note that the cannabis boom might start to flat-line.

Starbucks returned Christmas iconography to its cups, so you guys can all is right in the world.

Vice president-elect Mike Pence is suing to keep private emails he sent as governor. The emails were in regard to Obamacare, according to The Indianapolis Star.

QUOTES

“This was a white-lash against a changing country. It was a white-lash against a black president in part. And that’s the part where the pain comes.” CNN political commentator Van Jones.

“I believe Trump is going to focus much of his attention on the four blue states in the rustbelt of the upper Great Lakes – Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Four traditionally Democratic states – but each of them have elected a Republican governor since 2010 (only Pennsylvania has now finally elected a Democrat). In the Michigan primary in March, more Michiganders came out to vote for the Republicans (1.32 million) that the Democrats (1.19 million).” Michael Moore, in a July 2016 webpost “5 Reasons Why Trump Will Win”

NUMBERS

$9.30
Colorado’s minimum wage for untipped workers come Jan. 1

$1
President-elect Donald Trump’s salary, as he’ll forego the full $400,000

$3.8 million
Expected revenue from Boulder’s tax on sugary drinks.

117
Number of reported arrests in Standing Rock on Oct. 27.