[ Local ]

• Denver sees a surge in office-to-apartment conversions as the city turns more and more vacant office spaces into housing. Denver now ranks 15th in the nation in terms of number of office-to-apartment conversions.
• Employees at King Soopers stores in seven Colorado counties go on strike, accusing the stores of union busting activities and a proposal to take away retiree health benefit funds in exchange for increased wages. King Soopers, in term, sues the union for working with out-of-state organizations.
• Louisville City Council votes unanimously to hire Diana Langley as the new city manager. Langley is currently city manager of Yuba City, California, a city over three times the size of Louisville.
• A Tesla dealership in Loveland has been vandalized with graffiti and broken glass multiple times in the past few weeks in a series of incidents believed to be a response to Elon Musk’s actions as head of the Department of Government Efficiency

[ National ]

• Donald J. Trump is sworn in for his second term as President of the United States and immediately starts signing a series of executive orders targeting immigrant rights, transgender rights, and government spending, triggering a series of court challenges against his orders. Many of his EOs are currently blocked by courts.
• Billionaire Elon Musk is appointed head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency and cuts government spending in many major departments, many of which he has no legal authority to issue directives to, leading to questions about whether the rule of law even applies under the Trump administration.
• All 50 states hold massive protests against Trump’s policies on immigration, transgender rights, and more.
• The Philadelphia Eagles stop the Kansas City Chiefs from pulling off a historic three consecutive Super Bowl wins, as Philadelphia pulls off the shocking upset with a 40-22 win over Kansas City.

[ International ]

• The Israel/Hamas ceasefire remains precarious as Hamas delays the release of captives saying that Israel is not respecting the ceasefire.
• Trump proposes bizarre plan to clear Palestinians out of Gaza and have the United States take over their land. Rights groups have referred to his plan as “ethnic cleansing.”.
• With a new outbreak of Ebola confirmed in Uganda, the country tests out a new trial vaccine, the first for the Sudan strain of the virus.
• Thousands of protesters in Bangladesh demolish and set fire to the former home of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in response to her speech on social media calling for her supporters to resist the interim government.

Quotes

“Kroger negotiators have illegally insisted on robbing retiree health care benefits to fund wage increases for workers today. Sadly, this Company’s targeting of fixed-income retirees and other vulnerable populations only compounds its history of targeting consumers with predatory pricing.” 
– UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova on the reasons for the King Soopers strike

“Louisville is known for its rich history, charm, and strong civic engagement, and I look forward to working alongside the City Council and staff to continue Louisville’s tradition of being a great place to live.”

– Diana Langley accepting her new role as Louisville city manager

“”I’ve been on the bench for four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is. There are other times in world history where we look back and people of goodwill can say, ‘Where were the judges? Where were the lawyers?’”

– U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in striking down Trump’s executive order trying to revoke birthright citizenship

“Marsha P. Johnson would have already started throwing bricks!”

– A sign held by a protester at the February 5th protest at the State House

By the Numbers

77

The number of King Soopers locations across seven different Colorado counties that are involved in the strike

#50501

The hashtag representing the February 5th protests, indicating 50 protests in 50 state capitols on one day

53

The number of days it took for Adolph Hitler to dismantle Germany’s democracy after taking office

March 14, 2025

The day Donald Trump hits 53 days in office

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The post Month In Review | February 2025 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

In a bold display of solidarity, approximately 10,000 King Soopers workers across Colorado have launched a strike. They are citing unfair labor practices and the company’s refusal to address critical issues in their “Last, Best, and Final Offer.”

The strike, organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 7 (UFCW Local 7), affects 77 stores throughout Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, and King Soopers stores in Boulder and Louisville.

Union leaders argue that King Soopers, a subsidiary of Kroger, has consistently engaged in tactics designed to undermine worker rights and suppress union activities. According to UFCW Local 7, the company has engaged in illegal surveillance and interrogation of union members, withheld critical information necessary for contract negotiations, and even targeted retiree health benefits to fund wage increases for current employees.

“This strike is about holding one of the largest corporations in America accountable when they break the law and cause harm to workers and our customers,” noted Kim Cordova, president of Local 7, which has offices in Colorado Springs, Cheyenne, Wheat Ridge, Grand Junction, Greeley and Pueblo, Colo. “We are holding this strike for a two-week period to allow everyone to understand our concerns and give the employer time to right their wrong.”

 

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The union also alleges that King Soopers has retaliated against workers for wearing union attire and participating in union activities, actions that are protected under federal labor laws. Such behavior, according to UFCW Local 7, is part of a broader strategy to intimidate and weaken the union’s bargaining power.

In response to the strike and the union’s allegations, King Soopers filed a federal lawsuit against UFCW Local 7. The company claims that the union is engaging in unlawful tactics by trying to force King Soopers into bargaining with other labor unions that do not represent its employees. The lawsuit accuses the union of threatening illegal strikes and coordinating bargaining efforts with unions outside Colorado, such as the Teamsters and other UFCW locals.

“This litigation is nothing more than an attempt to distract from King Soopers’ efforts to silence its workforce and prevent workers from reaching an equitable contract that addresses major issues like staffing, safety, and health care,” the union said. “Kroger will go to any length to hide its corporate greed in price gouging and shareholder buybacks.”

King Soopers maintains that its “Last, Best, and Final Offer” includes significant wage increases and benefits. The company expressed disappointment over the union’s decision to strike, arguing that the offer was designed to benefit associates while keeping groceries affordable for customers. However, workers and union leaders argue that the proposed wage increases come at the cost of critical protections, such as seniority-based scheduling and retiree health benefits.

The strike has garnered widespread support from the community, with customers and local organizations standing in solidarity with the workers. Many shoppers have chosen to boycott King Soopers stores during the strike, opting to support other local businesses or shop at union-friendly stores.

The strike also raises broader questions about labor practices within the grocery industry and the role of unions in protecting worker rights. As one of the largest grocery chains in the country, Kroger’s handling of the situation could set a precedent for labor relations across the industry.

As the strike continues, both sides remain entrenched in their positions. UFCW Local 7 has vowed to continue the strike until King Soopers addresses their demands and negotiates in good faith. Meanwhile, the company’s legal actions and public statements suggest a prolonged battle ahead.

For the workers on the picket lines, the fight is about more than just wages—it’s about dignity, respect, and the right to a fair workplace.

The outcome of this strike will not only impact King Soopers employees but could also influence labor movements across the country. As the battle unfolds, one thing is clear: the voices of the workers will not be silenced.

The post Approx. 10,000 Employees Join King Soopers Strike appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

The Colorado Department of Human Services (“CDHS”) provided the Court and the parties a competency re-evaluation report for the King Soopers defendant. CDHS has determined that the defendant does not currently have a mental disability or developmental disability that prevents him from having sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding in order to assist in his defense or prevents him from having a rational and factual understanding of the criminal proceedings. Thus, CDHS determined that Defendant is now competent to proceed in this case. The defendant has been deemed as restored to competency.

Upon receiving the report, the District Attorney’s Office immediately notified all the victims and families.  The District Attorney’s Office has filed a motion with the Court, asking that the Court make the judicial finding that he is competent and take action to schedule a preliminary hearing as soon as practicable.

DA Dougherty stated, “Our office will continue fighting for justice in this case.”  Our office will not have any additional statements until the next court date.

As in every criminal case, the charges are merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty.

The post Update on King Soopers Case appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Update: No threats to the public found. Next, figuring out who called it in.

Update: Boulder County Bomb Squad is sweeping currently.

Erie Police have called in the Boulder County Bomb Squad due to a pipe bomb threat this morning around 9:30am at the Erie, Colorado King Soopers at 1891 Slate (Highway 7 and Lowell).  The store has been evacuated and schools in the area are in lockdown. Identification of the caller has not been reported.

Follow the Erie Police on Twitter and Facebook

Tweets by ErieCOPolice

The post Reports of Pipe Bomb at Erie King Soopers appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Table Mesa King Soopers during the Grand Reopening. Photo: Elisabeth Mallen

It has been a year since the mass shooting at the Table Mesa King Soopers, where 10 people lost their lives for simply going about their day in the wrong place at the wrong time. The shooter was charged with these killings in March 2021 and was ultimately found incompetent for trial. These mass shootings are something that have become far too common in our country. In the weeks immediately following the shooting, the community banded together at vigils and funerals to mourn those lost, but the loss didn’t go away just because we mourned. 

While we see these shootings in the headlines everyday, it’s easy to become indifferent to them in the long term because they are so commonplace. As someone who was working at a different King Soopers that day, I saw firsthand how the scars run deeper than most realize. The community as a whole was affected, and the evidence was obvious in several large and small incidents I witnessed in the aftermath.

Photo: Ashley Kay Mauer

The morning after the shooting, I awoke to a text from one of my coworkers asking me if I planned to go into the store. She had just seen the news and was scared to go to work. She was even more scared because she rides her bike to work and the commute suddenly felt more treacherous than it had previously. She was born in the US and moved to Slovakia when she was nine and said multiple times how something like this, “never would have happened back home.”

When I got to work myself that day, the store was pretty slow and quiet, which was good because it left us employees with time to visit with each other, hug, and cry without stressing. Since our store was Rikki Olds’ original store before she transferred to Boulder, about half of us knew her and were in shock. Rikki was one of the people killed at King Soopers that day. She worked alongside us in the deli, bakery, and frontend in Louisville before she transferred. She was a personable bubble of sunshine who spoke with everyone.

Those of us who worked with her daily, and those who loved her, felt her loss deeply.

A regular customer, Anne, has been coming in almost every morning for longer than I have worked there. She knows everyone by name and is always eager to say hello even though she had just seen us the day before. Since she had known Rikki, she cried along with us and handed out little heart chocolates as a form of comfort.

The following week, I came back to my department and was told there was pizza in the break room courtesy of a caring customer. We’ve had pizza provided by management before as a reward for reaching safety goals and other accomplishments, but never before had a customer purchased something for the whole store.

With the Boulder Table Mesa store closed, many of its regular customers started coming to Louisville. They were pretty easily identified because they’d often preface their questions with a phrase like, “I’ve never been in this store before,” or even more directly, “I used to shop at Table Mesa.” Most were kind, but we could see some were expressing their grief through their comments, such as “The Table Mesa store always had what we wanted.” I helped a former Table Mesa shopper who had tears in her eyes and kept thanking me for being there. I wanted to hug her because she was so obviously barely holding together. 

There were police officers in shifts hanging out in our lobby for a while after the incident in an effort to make people, employees and customers alike, feel safer. I think the public ought to know that this is something the police department went out of their way to do and not something King Soopers requested. One officer even shared words of encouragement and a hug with one of my coworkers when she stopped at the memorial inside the front door and started to cry. After the police left, King Soopers hired security guards, and they are still present to keep an eye on things now, a year later.

[BELOW: notes from the memorial tree]

I was touched when I left work one day and saw that someone had left a bouquet of flowers on the police car parked in front of the store. The next morning when I arrived, more bouquets had been added, nearly covering the windshield. I imagine it was both a thank you to them for being there and an acknowledgement of the officer they had lost.

Two weeks after the shooting, I was helping a customer, and he asked me about exits and whether we had one at the back of the store. When I told him we do, he nodded to himself and said that was good to know in case he ever needed it. I didn’t need to ask why he might need to know; the scenario he was imagining weighs heavily on all of our minds everyday we come to work.

Down our soda aisle, the plastic piece that holds the soda on the top shelf broke. When it gave way, around ten, two-liter bottles of Pepsi fell to the ground and exploded with loud pops. One of the ladies in my department screamed, and when I saw her a moment later, she was shaking.

She had thought the pop explosions were gunfire.

Through King Soopers online customer surveys, people started leaving comments about how their hearts are with us in the wake of tragedy and other supportive sentiments. This was a nice change of pace from the complaints about the location of items in the store or items that have been discontinued. 

Not all interactions were positive, however, and some people’s behavior was especially shocking and disheartening. One of our pharmacists shared a story just a few days after the shooting. A customer called and asked if we do COVID testing, which we don’t at our location. “That guy shot up the wrong store,” came the horrific reply before hanging up.

Near the time clock we had a log where employees were supposed to sign in when they arrived and answer questions about how they were feeling that day as part of the store’s COVID protocol. I was very upset to see that some jokester in poor taste had written “Eric Talley” on the log, just days after he had been murdered. It’s worse knowing that whoever wrote that is a coworker of mine. 

In the face of such tragedy, it is hard to be empathetic to these types of responses to grief, but maybe laughing about it was the only way they knew how to cope. 

I dealt with a lady who was complaining to me that she had come by the day before and had been unable to find anyone in my department to help her. I just apologized and held my tongue.

How was I supposed to explain, without crying, that the department was almost empty because most of us had been at Rikki’s funeral the previous day?

As a team, listening to customer complaints took a toll on us. One coworker finally snapped and told a woman who had been complaining that things were not to her standards that it was because we had been going to funerals and vigils all week. She immediately apologized and even apologized again when she returned the next day. Perhaps in our day-to-day lives we forget what others are going through, and while my coworker thought she could get in trouble for saying what she did, it served as a good reminder about what is truly important. 

Time has helped us forget, and in some ways it seems life has returned to normal. On Feb. 9, 2022 the Table Mesa store had their grand reopening after being closed for the better part of a year going through a massive remodel. There is no other King Soopers that is like the new Table Mesa one.

The store’s entrance was completely redone and now features lots of windows, an unusual design for a box store, but the building is more welcoming and bright thanks to the natural lighting.

In addition to the windows, the interior is more welcoming with the implementation of murals. The overall atmosphere is more relaxing.

Mural in the Table Mesa King Soopers. Photo: Elisabeth Mallen

Many of the employees who worked there prior to the shooting, including some who were there when it happened, have made a return to the Table Mesa store. Since they were displaced by the store’s closure, they have been helping out in neighboring stores. The Table Mesa employees that I worked with in the interim were greatly excited to get back to their home store and see all of the people they worked with. They expressed that they hope to feel closer to those they lost by going back. Customers have come into my store since the reopening and voiced their pleasure in being able to shop there again. Despite its dark history, the Table Mesa location joins us all together. We feel stronger when we are united. 

There is a plan in place to plant 10 trees near the store grounds; one tree for each fallen friend. These gestures not only help us remember the people who died, but it helps the community remember what it endured and that the connections we forged are not part of the past. 

Each time something this horrific happens and we allow ourselves to accept it as inevitable, we are normalizing it. If it’s normal, we don’t think twice about it and nothing changes. In addition to being strong afterward, we need to take action to prevent there being a next time. 

In 2021, there were 693 mass shootings in the U.S. according to Gun Violence Archive. How many did you hear about? They are so commonplace that they don’t even make international news most of the time. 

For years, people have advocated for stricter gun control, but those debates haven’t gotten anywhere. How many bodies have to pile up before we admit that having the right to bear arms does not mean that anyone and everyone should be able to pick up a machine gun? 

Gun control is not the only avenue for change. If there were enough support for people with mental issues, then it could no longer be used as an excuse for why people do terrible things. If we no longer accept mental illness as an excuse for poor behavior then we are forced to examine the true root of the violence. 

Persistence is key here even though it would be easier to turn a blind eye, say there is nothing we can do, and then mourn the next round. Until something changes, another round of people will be murdered and injured at the wrong end of a war tool that everyone has a right to own. 

We are Boulder Strong because we’ve had to be, but we shouldn’t have to be. We need to be strong enough to create change and prevent future communities from experiencing what we have.

The post Anniversary of the King Soopers Shooting: The community has moved on, but has it healed? | Community Corner appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Artists who wish to participate can contact the Office of Arts and Culture to express interest: rsvp@bouldercolorado.gov.

The post Boulder Strong Memorial Art Materials Project | Press Release appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

King Soopers Memorial Boulder. All images courtesy of the author

A few weeks ago, my husband, Stephen, and I took our kids (Laura, 19; her boyfriend Sam, 19; Connor, 17; and Caroline, 13) to the Grand Canyon. We were backpacking there as a family for the ninth time, spending five nights below the rim, off the grid, in the wilderness. Typically, after each of these trips, I relish sitting down at my computer for a few solid days. I don’t bother changing out of my PJs, and I let dishes and laundry pile up. I wade through photos, selecting my favorite hundred or so from the thousands we’ve taken. I weave our pictures into my writing about every day of our trip, working hard to capture meaningful moments, challenges and trials, and funny stories. I do this to share the tales of our adventures, and I do this so we won’t forget the details.

This trip was different. 

While we were gone, something unthinkably tragic happened in our little town. Ironically, when we are disconnected from everyone, we wonder what bad news we are missing. In August 1997, pre-kids, Stephen and I were below the rim of the Grand Canyon when Princess Diana died. We didn’t find out about it for days. Since then, on each trip, we worry a family member could have fallen ill or had something awful happen in our absence. We sometimes brainstorm about what the news headlines might be while we are away. What unfolded this past March was unfathomably devastating.

We dropped into the Grand Canyon on Sunday, March 21. The next day, Monday, March 22, at 3:30pm, back at our home in Boulder, a gunman ended the lives of ten people. We were oblivious, focused on managing rain leaking into a tent, filtering water, drinking freeze-dried coffee. 

On Thursday, three days after the shooting, we were at the Colorado River.

The sky was threatening to shower, and we were bummed out about the gray weather. We had pushed through a solid day of rain the day before. The air was humid, and we were cold and wishing for sun. We had flattened our waterproof map on the damp sand, dumped the food bag of goodies onto it, and we were eating lunch. I was offering up “choco tacos,” spreading a mix of peanut butter and Nutella onto flour tortilla shells and handing them out. Caroline had moved away from all of us and was making cakes, meatballs, and sand-snowmen out of mud and water.

A whitewater rafting crew approached from upriver. We typically see a single rafting group during the course of a backpacking trip. Unlike backpackers, they travel with cold beverages, music, and portable toilets and bring with them a connectedness to the outside world. I braced myself, not enthusiastic for the interruption to our retreat.

It was a small crew, six people total, and two of the women in the party were chatty and warm. One of them asked, “Where are y’all from?” After I replied with, “Boulder, Colorado,” she got quiet and froze in place. Big tears filled her eyes, and she said softly, “I’m so sorry.” 

We were confused, so she continued. “I’m so sorry about the shooting, the shooting that happened in your town.” All of us were gobsmacked. Then she explained. “We ran into a group of rafters up the river. They had their flag at half mast, so we asked about it. They are from Colorado. They told us ten people had been killed in a grocery store on Monday.” We stayed silent. There were no words. She continued, “Ohhh, you didn’t know. I’m so sorry. I’m just so very sorry. I shouldn’t have told you. It wasn’t my place. I’m just so sorry.” We stammered out some questions, wanting to know where the store was, who had been killed, begging for more information. But she had told us all she knew.

Another rafter from their bunch had scampered up the trail to eyeball the rapids they would be traveling and returned with a review of, “Well, we’re gonna get wet.” They loaded up and were back on the Colorado, leaving us with the load of this heavy news.

Laura cried, worried for friends back in Boulder, wondering if any of them had been killed. I thought about our own King Soopers grocery store, but I told myself that I thought of that store because it’s the very one I know like the back of my hand. Then I spent energy convincing myself that it couldn’t have happened in our store. That was just impossible. The kids peppered me and Stephen with questions to which we had no answers. We did our best to comfort them and each other. We agreed that the news would wait for us, and it would be there as soon as we left the Canyon.

Throughout the next two days, the idea of this tragedy hung over us, and each of us spent time thinking, wondering, and worrying. At one point, I convinced myself that the rafter had probably been mistaken, that she had probably mixed things up, that there was no way a shooting had happened back in Boulder and we hadn’t heard about it. Laura shared a similar thread of thinking with me, and we consoled each other, leaning further into this possibility.

The hike out of the Grand Canyon with heavy packs was as challenging as it ever is. The thousands of feet of steep, loose trail seem to climb indefinitely. And as with every other trip to this favorite place of ours, just when you’re convinced that you’re going to have to trudge on forever, all of a sudden the trail ends, and you’re out of the Canyon, back in the real world. We were elated, hugging and high-fiving each other. We tossed our gear into our vehicle and drove to a fancy, official sign that said “HERMIT’S REST,” which marked the trailhead where we had begun our journey six days earlier. After flagging down masked strangers to snap a few pictures of us, we were back in the car, driving towards hot showers, greasy gooey pizza and icy drinks, and cozy beds.

Within minutes, we crossed into cell service, and our phones blew up like never before. The dinging as messages and emails flooded in across all of our devices was shocking. At once, the reality of the murdering that had taken place in our absence was all-consuming. The shooting had actually happened in the very grocery store I shop at every single week for our family; the grocery store our kids have been to with friends countless times to pick up sodas and junk food; the grocery store I visualized when the rafter mentioned a shooting in Boulder; the grocery store that is the hub of our small community. Ten innocent people died, gunned down by a paranoid, angry, white man with an assault weapon. I had shopped there three times just two days before the incident. I run into at least two people I know every time I’m there.

Three employees, whom we recognized when we saw their photos, had been killed. One police officer – father to seven children – had been shot to death. And six innocent shoppers from the neighborhood, friends of friends, had also lost their lives. Trauma was inflicted on dozens of employees and shoppers who ran for their lives or hid and waited desperately to be rescued. All of this was difficult to fathom, truly impossible. We shared an immediate, deep sense of gratitude that we had been gone and had missed this in its entirety. But we also shared some guilt around this fact, and we were sorrowful for having been relieved when we had discovered none of our friends were on the list of victims.

I didn’t want to go home. I felt an eagerness to scurry back into the wilderness, where there are no gunmen trying to murder innocent people, no cell phones, nothing but us and the elements.

The drive back to Boulder was solemn. When I was at the wheel, I felt no desire to push past the speed limit, to get my family home any faster. When I wasn’t driving, I texted with friends and family and read news articles, frantically gathering up all of the details that could be found. I had been warned by friends that the area outside of the grocery store had been turned into an intense, emotional memorial, to be ready for that when we went by. Even so, as we drove towards our house, past the scene of the massacre, I looked over at the heaps of flower bouquets, signs, candles, photos, and I couldn’t breathe momentarily. My foot slowly lifted off the gas pedal, and we were barely moving as our car rolled past. We were silent, except for the sounds of our own quiet crying.

For the next two weeks, every time I left the neighborhood or returned home, driving past the King Soopers surrounded by a fence decorated in messages of love and loss, the scene left me breathless. As a family, we discussed the shooting at most dinners and any time we were gathered together, working to process what had happened. I met with a few individual friends to catch up, where I found myself doing the same with each of them.

At one point, Laura said, “The shooters have really changed it up. It used to be that we knew to be ready for a shooter only when we were at school. We knew that’s where it happened, and we practiced for it, and we were ready for it. You kind of expect it when you’re at school. But the grocery store? I always felt safe there, like I didn’t need to worry about getting shot while I was there, grabbing snacks. It’s like we no longer get to feel safe anywhere.” 

I struggled to find the right words to respond, because everything she said made my heart hurt. There isn’t a place remaining where we can feel relief in knowing that our children are protected from harm. The reality is that this is the world our kids have grown up in – they’ve never known a world without shooters.

Caroline had asked to visit the memorial, but we both agreed we didn’t want to go down there with throngs of people milling about, that we’d feel more comfortable seeing it all by ourselves, if that could be possible. So early one weekday, on our way home from an orthodontist appointment, I looked over and saw the area was mostly deserted. I parked the car, and the two of us walked slowly from one end to the other, soaking up all of the notes, signs, flags, flowers, gestures of love.

I hadn’t expected this to be emotional, after having driven past the memorial at least 20 times by now, but grief swept over me. My legs felt weak, and I thought my knees might buckle. My chest was tight. I breathed slowly and deeply. About twenty minutes into viewing everything that had been left, I thought we must be almost at the end of the walk; But when I looked up, I saw that we had looked at less than half of it and had much more to see. There were piles and piles of flowers, rotting in the sun, disgustingly sweet and pungent smelling. The memorial went on for several blocks, every inch of it covered in heartfelt tributes and offerings.

Some signs struck a chord with me. Reading a poster from a woman who had lost a friend in the Aurora Cinema Theater shooting nine years earlier felt like a punch to the gut. She had written her name and phone number and had added, “I know how you feel. If anyone needs someone to talk to, to help.” It’s enraging to realize that nine years has passed since the gut wrenching, too-close-to-home, movie theater shooting; Since then, the most notable change in our country has been an increase in guns and shootings. Gutless politicians on both sides, a stream of money from the NRA, and a deeply divided American people hold policies in place, making it as easy as ever for mentally ill people to get their hands on automatic weapons.

There was a beautiful sun-and-flowers painting that had been left, with the words, “For those who didn’t go home on March 22, 2021.” That gutted me. The thought that someone could zip to the supermarket for milk and eggs and not make it back home, right here in our South Boulder bubble, rocked my world. 

Experiencing the memorial with Caroline, my youngest child, intensified it for me. I felt guilty, sickened, knowing that this is the America we are gifting to our children.

I’m still trying to grasp what has happened in our community, to really process it and integrate it into my being. I haven’t been inside a grocery store since before our trip to the Grand Canyon. With the pandemic still ongoing, ordering anything online has become an easy alternative to face-to-face shopping. I’m not sure when I’ll be ready to go back. How will I feel safe standing in an aisle, choosing products, without frantically looking left and right for someone who might show up and be shooting people? Where do we go from here? 

I’m volunteering to break down the memorial, to compost all of the flowers that have died, to save items for the Museum of Boulder. And I also need to find my way back to writing about our Grand Canyon trip, relishing in the connections we found between each other in the wilderness, sharing our photographs and stories. It feels wrong, knowing that while we were soaking up solitude and the beauty of the Canyon, this appalling tragedy was unfolding back in our neighborhood.

About the Author: Kim Brandenburg is a Boulder resident, writer, and outdoor enthusiast who works in tech. According to her blog, she has, “always enjoyed writing, capturing memories through recording the details. Recently, I’ve felt the desire to share my writing. I’m going to do a bit of that and see where it takes me.” You can read her work, including this original post, on kim-brandenburg.com.

The post When a Shooting is Personal | #YSVoices appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

PRESS RELEASE: Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we are now publishing some press releases in whole.

To the Boulder County Community;

It’s been a really hard week as we mourn our fellow Coloradans that died on Monday at the King Soopers in Boulder. We need each other now – for support – for finding our way forward to the work ahead of us.

It’s been affirming to hear from so many of you this week with your messages of caring and offers of help. So please continue to support each other and take care of yourself because we need to be strong for each other and continue to do the work of democracy.

Here are some resources that many be helpful from the National Mass Violence Victimization Resource Center:

Managing Distress

Suggestions for Parents

Tips for Survivors

And we thought you would like to see the Party Platform as it relates to Gun Violence. Our Platform is a statement of our shared values. In the weeks and months ahead, we will continue to work for change at the local, state and national level. See below and BCDP Platform

We also want to say how enormously proud we are of the leadership of Democrats we helped elect like Congressman Joe Neguse, State Senator Steve Fenberg, Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty and many others who are showing strong leadership in these challenging times.

We will do our best to make sure your county party is as strong and smart and committed as you are for the work ahead.

Yours for the cause of democracy and an end to the epidemic of gun violence in America,

The Officers of the Boulder County Democratic Party

Raffi Mercuri, Chair

Emily Sandoval, Vice Chair Internal

Meghan Lukens, Vice Chair Capacity

Jason Sherry, Secretary

Carol Teal, Treasurer

Boulder County Democratic Party Platform
2020 Platform Action Plank: IX Gun Violence
Status: Approved | Last Updated 10/7/2019 | Public: Yes

Preamble

The Boulder County Democratic Party believes that guns must be regulated, and individuals should be required to take full responsibility for the safe storage and responsible use of firearms.

Statement of Principles

Gun violence is a public health crisis in the United States and must be addressed as such.

We must take steps to address the epidemic of gun violence across our country.

Calls to Action

• We call on the state and federal government to require background checks, a 10-day waiting period, and a minimum age of 21 years for all prospective gun purchasers. No one on the TSA “no-fly list” shall be able to purchase, own, or manufacture a firearm.
• We call on our elected officials to establish a national gun ownership registry.
• We call on Congress to pass laws requiring safe storage for privately owned guns and ammunition.
• We call on Congress to pass laws, including civil liability, to require anyone who manufactures firearms and/or ammunition, including 3D printed firearms, to be licensed to do so.
• We call on local, state, and federal government to ban sale and private ownership of military-style assault weapons.
• We call on local, state, and federal government to ban the sale and private ownership of bump stocks and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
• We call on local, state, and federal government to ban the sale and private ownership of large caliber ammunition and armor-piercing bullets.
• We call on elected officials to give universities, schools, places of worship, places of business, and communities the right to regulate or restrict weapons on their “premises.”
• We call on Congress to remove impediments and provide funding for data collection and research analysis of data regarding gun violence by the Center for Disease Control and other public research groups.
• We call on state and local government to invest in data collection and research analysis of gun violence to better inform public policy.
• We call on officials at every level of government to institute voluntary buy-back programs for firearms.
• We call on Congress to pass red flag laws that allow courts to issue an order to temporarily remove firearms and the means to produce them from the homes of persons in crisis and at a demonstrated risk of harming themselves or others. These laws should prohibit the sale of additional firearms to such persons until the order is lifted, provided there is adequate due process for the removal of firearms from said persons in crisis. This include people under extreme risk orders.
• We call on law enforcement at all levels to enforce extreme risk orders (Red flag laws).
• We call on local governments to provide firearms storage centers for firearm owners who wish to temporarily store their weapons outside of their homes.

The post Boulder County Democratic Party Platform 2020 Platform Action Plank: IX Gun Violence | Press Release appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Voices is YS Community Contributions section and can be published on a variety of topics, but all are provided by the local community.

Boulder shooting victims: Identifying the 10 lives lost

Funny, we pass laws making it increasingly easy for folks to get guns, and an increasing number of people get shot. Hmmm, must be just a coincidence.

In no way is my statement a reduction of the horror of the shooting at King Soopers. One man grabbed an assault weapon and tried to exorcise his demons by killing random strangers.

  1. Why when people snap is the reaction to harm as many people as possible?

  2. Why when people snap do they have access to near-military-grade weaponry with which to do so?

Mental health and gun control are not an either/or problem. They both need to be addressed.

In the early 80s, when the feds defunded the state mental hospitals in New Mexico, the number of homeless went up by an enormous percentage. Of course, violent crime went up as well. Then we had a hard winter and hundreds died.

Mental health MUST be addressed in this country, not just to prevent violence and suicide, but to help people live to their potentials.

Gun ownership has been going up steadily since the late 70s when fear over the Black Panthers and other such movements prompted a right-wing reaction which prompted a massive gun-lobby intervention.

All this rose up in the popular zeitgeist to drive up gun sales (“They’re gonna outlaw buying guns, better get yours today!”).

Whaddya know, shootings have gone up. It used to be that when gangs fought, they’d bash heads and stab each other. Now they shoot.

Cops now assume any person is potentially armed and fear for their lives in every encounter (add racism to the mix and the fear is even more deadly). Paranoid people see lethal threats everywhere and have the arms to combat them with deadly force. Depressed individuals just might have a gun handy at that lowest moment, never to live to recover. We MUST stop arming our society with such fetishistic excess!

Gaaah, I wish the solution were that easy.

None of this discussion will bring back those ten lives lost or heal the hundreds of lives traumatized yesterday. But we must do something. What we are doing is not working.

My sadness is overwhelming at this.

The post VOICES from Boulder County in the aftermath of a mass gun shooting appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

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I was in my office the other day, typing away as I’m wont to do, when my friend Britta sent me an Instagram link. It was to a picture of Senator Cory Gardner, currently in the death throes of a flailing campaign as former Colorado governor and current Senate candidate John Hickenlooper smashes Colorado’s historic fundraising records, with an absolutely hilarious caption across his face. I clicked through to @YeetCoryGardner and I found a treasure trove of amusement predicated on a very simple idea of how Colorado sees itself, how Coloradans see themselves, and I was hooked. I reached out for an interview and Yeet responde, saying, “you can email me at… So I’m not just like, aggressively working out my thumbs”. 

Yeah, Yeet, we can do that. And we did. A few quick notes before we get to the convo: She – yes, Yeet is a woman – is going by Yeet to avoid doxxing and remain safe and secure in her anonymity. To Yeet, according to the Urban Dictionary, means “to discard an item at a high velocity”. That is, Yeet wants to use the platform she built (over 15K followers in two weeks) to discard, throw away, and otherwise get rid of Cory Gardner. What could he have done to deserve this? Well…according to Yeet, he’s just not very Colorado.

For a self description, Yeet’s IG page says she’s, “Poorly serving the great state of Colorado in the United States Senate. (All posts intended as satire/Not affiliated with any political organization.)”.

Below is an edited version of our conversation. All images courtesy of @YeetCoryGardner

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFbIskdBWfy/

De La Vaca: Yeet! Thank you for talking to me. I’m sure you’ve had other people reach out to you as well. Such a weird account you have going on.

Yeet: It is bizarre.

De La Vaca: It’s bizarre. It’s a little juggernaut you have going on. You’re having fun. This is high level, social media, millennial, civic engagement, social activism. So let’s start at the beginning. Who are you and why are you?

Yeet: Why am I… At the end of the day, I’m just a girl who thinks she’s funny and I’ve always been on the periphery involved in politics in some capacity. When I was 15, I was really sad I couldn’t vote for Obama and so I went out and volunteered with his campaign and just convinced other people to vote for me. So I’ve always been interested and then I started working in marketing after college. I’ve kind of honed my craft that way. But at the end of the day, this is very deeply rooted in the fact that I’ve hated Cory Gardner. I was like, ‘he’s bad for Colorado. It’s very clear that he’s not a great fit’. 

I didn’t love him and so then I was watching Monday night football, two weeks ago now, my fantasy team was losing, everything was a bummer. I was texting one of my friends about how horrible Cory Gardner is and I was like, ‘I bet he goes to Casa Bonita for the food’ or something. And she was like, ‘you should put that on a shirt’. And I was like, ‘I should put that on the internet’. 

And I made the first few memes and I thought it would just be an account where I was sharing my jokes about Cory Gardner with 17 of my friends. And then it kind of snowballed into this thing that is not at all what I expected it to become, but it’s kind of hilarious and wonderful to have a surprise platform of people who are interested and do care and want better representation for their state.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CF93i8wldkW/

De La Vaca: So when you say that he’s not a good fit for the state, are you talking about the state today? The future state you want? Or the past state? Because this is a state that is known for being purple and voted for Bush twice.

Yeet: Correct. I think Cory Gardner branded himself as a different kind of Republican. And that’s what the basis of his appeal was when he was running the first time. We’ve seen from the way he boasts, it’s 90% of the time with Trump, if not higher, that he’s not in fact a different kind of Republican, that he’s lining his pockets with money from the NRA, kind of selling out. I mean, his public lands thing is good, but it’s also kind of a last ditch effort after giving up on so much. It’s very clear that he prioritizes his party over his constituents, otherwise he would have made a statement about white supremacy and he probably wouldn’t be voting to confirm Amy Coney Barrett.

De La Vaca: Definitely. Talk to me about your sense of humor, because you started off by saying that you think that you are a girl that finds herself funny. And you’re also making jokes on the internet and, arguably, a lot of the things you’re saying about Cory Gardner aren’t implicitly political but just more ironic, or just calling into question his naturalness and fit as a Coloradan today. So, what’s the point of your jokes and how are you having a political impact making these up?

Yeet: Well, first of all, it is satire 100%. It is not intended as defamation or slander in any kind. I do want that to be on the record. So when I get my inevitable cease and desist… 

So, all of the jokes are very Colorado-focused and designed to appeal to the Colorado pride that so many people in the state have, while pointing out that maybe Senator Gardner isn’t exactly right for the state and using, not his political stances to point that out, but rather to just be like, this is a funny thing, but as a Coloradan you do or don’t identify with, and maybe he offers his own little D.C. land, kinda doing whatever. And I think the reality is probably he doesn’t go to Casa Bonita for the food or whatever. But when you can rally people around something positive and lighthearted in an election cycle that feels a little bit like a nightmare and can keep it important and good.

A lot of people have messaged me and said this is the first thing that has made them laugh in days or weeks. That means a lot. I think everybody’s kind of seeing what they want to see, but in the scariest manifestation of itself. And so to bring some lightheartedness to a political climate that feels anything but, that’s kind of the intention.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFgRAy5hk9N/

De La Vaca: It is definitely lighthearted. There’s an understanding that Colorado has of itself and Coloradans have of themselves. And you’re painting a picture of him outside of that box without saying, well, ‘his policies are destructive for our communities’ or, ‘he’s clearly a white supremacis’t and whatever, right. Like you’re not saying that explicitly, but you’re saying he’s not Colorado the way we’re Colorado. And we have to think about that.

Yeet: Correct. And I think people already know kind of where he lies policy wise and stuff, but just to appeal to something besides people’s fear or concern… I think it’s definitely an approach that feels very absent with election cycles.

De La Vaca: Is your project more anti-Cory Gardener or more pro-Hickenlooper? How do you feel about Hickenlooper?

Yeet: I like Hickenlooper and I think he’ll do a good job representing the state. I think it’s going to be really important for him if he is elected to not only focus on the metro areas. One thing Cory Gardner has going for him is that he is Yuma and he is the small town Colorado nice boy. And Hickenlooper is like… He was a businessman, he’s from Denver, he’s got the city thing down.

But the goal of the account was mostly just to not support Cory Gardner, but the flip side of that coin is that the true way to not support him is to vote for John Hickenlooper. And that’s the only way he’s going to end up out of office. You can’t not support Cory Gardner and not show up because you don’t want to vote. You have to take action.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFiXby7hQam/

De La Vaca: Sure. It feels like Colorado’s currently a very safe blue state. So then I think it’s fun to not necessarily point at Hickenlooper as some kind of savior or antithesis to Cory Gardner, which I don’t personally think he is, but instead to have a little fun at Cory Gardner’s expense. So…What happens after November 3rd?

Yeet: I’m still deciding. It has been… Because of the scale of it, and the responsibility that I kind of feel like I acquired now, it’s been a lot more work than I had anticipated to speak candidly. And part of me just kind of wants to walk away from it after November 3rd, like give the people what they want and then hopefully the people will vote for what they want and get what they want and my work will be done. If that doesn’t happen, I guess I’m doing it for six more years.

De La Vaca: That’s fair. The work you’re doing is squarely in line with the political comedians that started since Jon Stewart, for real. I mean, you’re doing a different thing, but it’s in the same vein and it might even-

Yeet: That might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me

De La Vaca: Yeah? It’s the iteration, right? Like Trevor Noah does it, Lee Camp does it. There’s a lot more, right? And it’s important. Like you’re meeting people where they’re at, right? Young people are not necessarily politically engaged. Definitely not following a lot of the mainstream shows. I’m not a millennial but I don’t even have cable. I don’t watch that.

Yeet: Yeah, I don’t either.

De La Vaca: I catch a clip once in a while if somebody shares it. But they say all the young folks left Facebook and now they’re on Instagram and Tik Tok and whatnot.

Yeet: Yeah. The Tik Tok-

De La Vaca: So going to where they’re at, I think that’s that’s savvy and I think it’s crucial for the young vote. And so I applaud what you’re doing.

Yeet: Thank you.

De La Vaca: And I was going to ask…Do people automatically assume that a man that runs the account?

Yeet: Yeah. Everybody so far has thought that I’m a guy. Which, honestly, I’m not mad about it because I think just because of the world and whatever people are predisposed to think like men are funnier and now you’re like, ‘okay, well that sucks, but it’s true’. You can refer to me as Mr. Yeet if you want to. I think that’s great.

De La Vaca: I’ll be like, ‘Her name is Mr. Yeet. Not a real name, I just made it up’.

Yeet: Oh yeah. No, you can, you can just refer to me by pronouns. If you want to do she/her, that’s fine. I wouldn’t mind getting it out into the world that I’m not a dude. Just to clarify for the people who might be confused, but…

De La Vaca: Perfect I can do that. We’ll do that. I’ll just refer to you as Yeet. I’m calling you Yeet. Yeah.How many followers do you have right now?

Yeet: 15.2K

De La Vaca: Jesus Christ, man.

Yeet: Yeah, dude. It’s insane.

De La Vaca: And this is a two week old account.

Yeet: Yeah.

De La Vaca: Wow. That’s a testimony to both how funny you are and how relatable the content is, but also how much people dislike Cory Gardner.

Yeet: Yeah. I think it’s a testament especially to the second two things. And then I also think like Colorado as a state has done a really good job of branding itself. And I think giving people a joke to be in on, has been really important. I think that’s contributed to the virality of it a lot.

Well, Yeet, we love you. Thank you for the laughs and the activism and working to get our state out to vote. Hopefully you don’t have to do this another six years. Good luck and, for the record, your posts on my feed are my new Moment of Zen. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFfyn1-hSyt/

The post Meet Yeet: The Woman Behind @YeetCoryGardner appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.