Indy - Dec. 20, 2023 Vol 31. No. 50 by Colorado Springs Indy & Business Journal

Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | ALWAYS FREE

A PUBLICATION OF CITIZEN-POWERED MEDIA

CONTENTS

Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | Vol. 31, No. 50 stock.adobe.com

Our mission is to deliver the truth, build community and engage citizens.

PUBLISHER

Fran Zankowski

COVER DESIGN BY Zk Bradley

EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE EDITOR Bryan Grossman COPY EDITOR Mary Jo Meade SENIOR REPORTER Pam Zubeck CONTRIBUTORS Rob Brezsny, Bill Forman, Jim Hightower, Clay Jones, Helen Lewis, Mike Littwin, Matthew Schniper

SALES

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Monty Hatch, Sean Cassady, David Jeffrey

ART AND PRODUCTION GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Zk Bradley, Rowdy Tompkins

OPERATIONS ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Lanny Adams DIGITAL/SOCIAL MEDIA SPECIALIST Sean Cassady EVENTS, MARKETING & DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR Tracie Woods

Citizen-Powered Media Board PRESIDENT Ahriana Platten VICE PRESIDENT Dave Gardner SECRETARY Ralph Routon EX OFFICIO John Weiss

Email us: Submit a letter........................ letters@csindy.com News tips.......................................news@csindy.com Editor.............................................. bryan@csindy.com Advertising................................... sales@csindy.com Public Notices.......................... robyn@csindy.com Distribution.................. distribution@csindy.com Events........................................... events@csindy.com Publisher.......................................... fran@csindy.com The Indy is published weekly by CitizenPowered Media, Fran Zankowski, publisher, 235 S. Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903. Application to mail at Periodicals Postage Prices is pending at Colorado Springs, CO. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 235 S. Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903. Want to receive the print version at home every week? Never miss an issue — subscribe or become a member for early delivery to your inbox. To become a member, visit csindy.com/join.

INDY | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | NEWS

FEATURED 3 6

THE WIRE: News in brief

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 8 8 9 10 12

OPINIONS

TAKING A BREAK: A note from the publisher KRAMPUS, CATS AND KFC: Holiday traditions from around the world

NEWS

PLAYING AROUND MAX CHAMPION BIG GIGS SIDE DISH CALENDAR

8 14

FAIR & UNBALANCED

LOWDOWN

CANDY 17

PUZZLE PAGE

ASTROLOGY

NEWS OF THE WEIRD

21 Check out content from this week’s Colorado Springs Business Journal and be sure to visit csbj.com for more...

Happy Holidays!

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AD DIRECTOR Teri Homick

TAKING A BREAK …hopefully a short one

HREE DECADES AGO, THIS SPIRITED and news-driven publication embarked on a dynamic mission to advocate for the voiceless, challenge the established norms and deliver exceptional, award-winning journalism to a city in dire need of diverse perspectives. Regrettably, today, we find ourselves in a situation that necessitates a break. As many of you are aware, the past year has been marked by significant turmoil within our organization. Faced with overwhelming debt and an unsuccessful rebranding attempt, we have had to make difficult choices, including staff reductions, event cutbacks and printing a smaller publication. Our dedicated, hardworking and patient staff has weathered these challenges with unwavering dedication, tenacity and positivity. They deserve every accolade and recognition bestowed upon them. Over the years, their exceptional journalism has garnered numerous national, regional and state awards, and the impact of their work on our community is immeasurable. Despite the incredible support from our community, donors, advertisers and partners, we continue to grapple with the unfortunate reality that our expenses surpass our revenue. As we look ahead to the coming year, January traditionally poses a revenue challenge, and we recognize that in order to settle our outstanding obligations, we cannot sustain our current publishing operations. We’ve made the unwelcome decision to cease publishing for the immediate future. If we’re going to succeed, we will need everyone’s support and encouragement. It’s too important for the health of our community to let this voice be silenced. With great hope, optimism and resilience, our plan is to eliminate our debt, reorganize and return in February with a financially stable, successful and revitalized publication. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, our mission must endure. The hope remains, and the dream lives on. Fran Zankowski, publisher Colorado Springs Independent Colorado Springs Business Journal

NEWS | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | INDY

“...In spite of everything,

HE IS BORN. WISE MEN STILL SEEK HIM.

we Americans are still uniquely blessed, not only with rich bounty of our land but by a bounty of the spirit - a kind of year-round Christmas spirit that still makes our country a beacon of hope in a troubled world and that makes this Christmas and every Christmas even more special for all of us who number among our gifts the birthright of being an American.” – Ronald Reagan

INDY | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | NEWS

Compiled by Pam Zubeck

Courtesy CSPD

THE WIRE

The Colorado Springs Police Department Metro Division has served search and seizure warrants to numerous illegal gambling establishments over the last several months, CSPD said in a news release. Learning of at least 34 illegal gambling locations around the city, the department conducted an educational campaign to inform owners of the illegality of electronic gambling machines. In April and May, officers obtained search warrants for four establishments and seized up to 130 machines. Last month, they again obtained warrants and seized another 120 illegal machines. “These establishments can have a significant negative impact on the community, not just those patronizing them. CSPD wants to combat the additional crime that statistically follows illegal gambling, including violent crimes and narcotics crimes,” the release said. “By increasing the enforcement of gaming laws and shutting down illegal businesses, CSPD is also trying to impact the additional crime patterns occurring in the same areas.” To report illegal gambling at local establishments, call 719-444-7000.

COUNTY OKS FALCON DEVELOPMENT

FLYING W SUES CITY

An initial plan from Challenger Communities LLC calling for 138 homes in Falcon Highlands Metro District has been revised to 378 homes; the Board of El Paso County Commissioners on Dec. 14 overturned the Planning Commission’s 5-2 vote to reject the amended plan. The increased density would mean the construction of dozens of homes on lots as small as 3,500 square feet in an area where most homes sit on a quarter acre (roughly 11,000 square feet) or more. The FHMD has been under fire recently from residents, who say drainage systems have failed, causing underground water to seep out around their foundations. Many are using sump pumps to channel the water onto the streets. One pump has run continuously since May 2021. The Indy wrote about that problem in our Dec. 13 issue’s cover story, “Soaked.” At the Dec. 14 hearing regarding 126 acres south and southwest of existing FHMD homes, county planner Ryan Howser told commissioners that a sketch plan approved in mid-2022 allows a density change that permits construction of three to six dwelling units per acre. Challenger’s proposal complies overall with that level of density, Howser said, though some areas would have higher densities than others. However, the developer has secured only enough water for 50 homes and is working to acquire water rights to support the additional dwellings, he said. Still, water sufficiency doesn’t have to be proven until the final plat stage of development approvals, so there’s still time, he said. A Challenger representative said the preliminary plan meets all the county’s criteria and that an underdrain system would be installed in a portion of the new development. He also said that the proposal is compatible, because it phases in higher densities, with the highest-density lots to be built adjacent to major roadways, which are farthest away from larger existing lots. After hearing staff members say plat notes associated with the new development would spell out maintenance of infrastructure responsibilities, commissioners voted 4-1 to approve the preliminary plan. Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez Jr. voted against it, noting groundwater concerns.

The Flying W LLC filed a lawsuit Dec. 11 seeking a judicial review of City Council’s Nov. 14 decision to allow a Colorado Springs Utilities water tank to remain at 65 feet tall, though Utilities originally told the city it would be only 45 feet tall. The lawsuit accuses City Council of abuse of discretion and exceeding its jurisdiction by considering the Springs Utilities appeal of a Planning Commission decision that denied a major modification of the previous development plan, which limited the height to 45 feet. The Planning Commission ruled against Utilities on Oct. 11. Flying W Ranch sits below the Wilson Tank in the Mountain Shadows neighborhood and its owner, Leigh Ann Wolfe, has said the looming tank disrupts the Western atmosphere of the ranch. On Nov. 9, her attorney, Murray Weiner, wrote to Council, asking its members to recuse themselves from making an appeal decision. The letter noted Council also serves as the board of directors for Springs Utilities. But the City Attorney’s Office issued a legal opinion saying Council was clear to act on the water tank issue. The lawsuit notes, “Pursuant to the approval provided by the City’s Planning Department, the maximum height of the New Water Tank was required to be no more than 45 feet.” Neighbors noticed the tank was taller than permitted, and on July 17, 2022, Springs Utilities filed an application for a major modification to allow a taller tank, the lawsuit states. “The Major Modification Request disclosed the height of the New Wilson Tank to be 65 feet, not the earlier approved 45-foot maximum height,” the lawsuit says. The lawsuit also alleges Council violated its own Ethics Code, which calls for the city to “strive to avoid any conduct creating the appearance of impropriety” and that the city is “committed to complete honesty, utmost integrity, fair dealing, and ethical behavior as the basis of its businesses, operations, and services to the community.” The lawsuit noted that during the Nov. 14 Council meeting, where members purported to act independently, some members “referred to CSU employees as ‘their’ employees praising their good work.” The city declined to comment.

Matter of Record Colorado’s Safe2Tell school safety reporting line saw its second highest monthly report volume in November — with 2,999 — and one call helped save a life when a young person expressed a desire to die by suicide, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office said in a release. Colorado Springs’ Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services department is marketing the third in a series of six Trails, Open Space and Parks posters at shopcos.org. Posters must be picked up at 1401 Recreation Way. Proceeds go to TOPS, a city sales tax program dedicated to the protection and preservation of trails, open spaces and parks. Since Nov. 1, more than 65,500 Coloradans have applied for the Low-income Energy Assistance Program, which helps people pay heating bills. That’s a 10 percent increase over last season. Applicants can expect to receive a one-time payment ranging from $200 to $1,000 for energy costs, which is paid directly to the utility company. To access the LEAP application, visit cdhs.colorado.gov/leap. Noting the urbanization in areas of the county, El Paso County commissioners voted on Dec. 13 to approve an intergovernmental agreement with the city for traffic signal maintenance. The county will contract with the city, saving an estimated $200,000 annually. NEWS | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | INDY

Andrii Gladii, commons.wikimedia.org

Photo illustration, stock.adobe.com

Grýla and Leppaluði — Icelandic folklore trolls, photographed in Akureyri, Iceland.

One more from Iceland (they got real dark in those long winters):

YULE CAT

Variously described as a giant-cat-snow-beast or a “bloodthirsty black kitty,” this fanged monster roams the countryside looking to eat anyone who isn’t wearing at least one brand-new item of clothing. A compelling reason to hit the mall.

LA QUEMA DEL DIABLO (Guatemala)

“Burning the Devil” — a big cleanup is less fun than buying clothes, more fun than rotten potatoes in your shoes. Since the devil lurks in dirty corners and crouches in piles of rubbish, Guatemalans traditionally spend time before Christmas cleaning and gathering up trash, then they pile it up and put an effigy of the devil on top and set it all on fire. Aside from banishing the devil, the idea is to burn away bad feelings and negativity from the year just past. But with about 500,000 devil-topped bonfires blazing over the course of an hour every Dec. 7 in Guatemala City alone, it’s becoming a bit of an environmental pickle.

KFC FOR CHRISTMAS (Japan)

ONESTLY, HOLIDAY TRADITIONS around the world have a lot more goblins and toothy monsters than you’d hope. Skeletons too, and rollerskating to mass… en masse, and setting things on fire — on purpose or by accident. But maybe peaceful holidays are getting old, and you’re looking to do something different this December — so we’ve rounded up some of the stranger (to us) customs you might look into. See if you’re game…

MARI LWYD (South Wales)

The Mari Lwyd itself is a horse skull decorated with ribbons and rosettes (and sometimes glass eyes, we wish this wasn’t true) then attached to a pole, carried by a person hidden under a sheet. A group surrounds the Mari Lwyd and roams the village, singing festive songs (in spite of the horse head). At the door of each house and pub, they challenge those inside to a pwnco, or “versifying” battle. If you out-sing or out-rhyme them, you win — but if they win, you have to let them in for food and booze. 6

INDY | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | FEATURE

YULE LADS (Iceland)

There are 13 of them, and they’re named after their “crimes” — Bowl Licker, Door Slammer, Sausage Stealer, bad-roommate stuff, you get the idea. Children leave shoes out for 13 nights before Christmas and each night Sausage Stealer & Co. put little presents in the shoes. In olden times, there was the threat of punishment for good measure — rotten kids would find decaying potatoes in their shoes. But we’re not done with Iceland. See also:

GRÝLA THE CHRISTMAS WITCH

She’s a “foul ogress” who lives in the mountains and has “an appetite for the flesh of mischievous children,” especially those “who cry for meat during Lent,” one of the old Icelandic sagas promises. She comes down from her mountain cave swishing her 15 tails (or 40 tails, depending who you believe), snatches up children and boils them alive in a giant pot. There aren’t any shoes to put out … not really anything at all to do about Grýla — except stop crying for meat during Lent.

This nationwide tradition took off in 1974 with a clever marketing campaign called Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii! (“Kentucky for Christmas”) that painted KFC as traditional American Christmas fare. But if you want your “Party Barrel for Christmas” you have to order weeks in advance and reserve your pickup time — or face an hours-long wait in line. Per CNN, KFC Japan pulled in 6.9 billion yen (about $63 million) from Dec. 20 to 25 in 2018, with lines out the door starting on Dec. 23. And the Colonel Sanders mascots in Japan’s KFC outlets all wear Santa costumes.

CHRISTMAS SAUNA (Finland)

The sauna is deep cleaned and decorated with birch branches, lanterns and candles are lit outside, and everyone takes a “long and respectful” steam in the sauna. Rolling in the snow between sessions is said to be good for the soul. One of the oldest Finnish sauna traditions: The Saunatonttu, or Sauna Elf, watches over the sauna and “maintains order in the Christmas sauna.” Families leave gingerbread men and beer outside the sauna for Saunatonttu. In this land of 5.5 million people, there are 2 million saunas. Steamy.

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ROLLERSKATE MASS (Caracas, Venezuela)

Las patinatas — “the skating” — is a Venezuelan holiday tradition that began in the 1950s. People skate and sing all night, then rollerskate through the streets to church, for sunrise mass. Towns and cities have frequently closed the streets until 8 a.m. Christmas Eve, because everyone’s out there skating.

ARSON GOAT (Sweden)

That’s not its real name, but every year the people of the Swedish town of Gävle build a 42-foot-tall straw goat as a Christmas symbol and hope it will last until Christmas. Almost every year, someone burns it down. This has been going on since 1966. Some of the stranger years … 2005: A group dressed as Santa and gingerbread men shot burning arrows into the goat. 2009: Hackers disabled the town square’s security cameras and set the goat on fire. 2001: An American tourist burned down the goat and was arrested; he said his Swedish friends told him it was fine to set it alight. 1976: Someone drove a car into the goat’s legs and it collapsed. That’s not a fire, but it’s funny. Much smaller Yule Goats, made of straw tied with red string, are popular as Christmas decorations all over Sweden. But Gävle’s arson goat gets the glory.

KRAMPUS (Austria and Germany)

Horned, serpent-tongued and razor-toothed, this halfgoat, half-demon monster whacks wicked children with sticks and carries them off in a sack — to beat them, to eat them or to take them to hell. He’s said to be the “evil twin” of St. Nicholas, and Krampuslauf and Krampusnacht parades are held in his honor, crowded with people

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Sweden’s arson goat isn’t long for this world.

in really terrifying Krampus masks. Per Britannica, the parade tradition started back when people “would dress up in his likeness and chase children down the street in a menacing way, threatening to beat them for not behaving.” And you thought Elf on the Shelf was bad.

CHRISTMAS BIGFOOT (Turkey)

A holly, jolly Krampus

A malevolent, thick-furred “cross between a devil and a Sasquatch,” the Karakoncolos emerges in the first 10 days of Zemheri — “the dreadful cold” — to lurk in the shadows near street corners, where it asks passers-by seemingly ordinary questions. If your answer happens to include the word “black,” you can carry on. If not, the Karakoncolos will strike you down with a deathblow.

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JOLABOKAFLOD (Iceland)

And now for something completely peaceful. On Christmas Eve, Icelandic families exchange gifts of brand new books with one another and spend the rest of the evening tucked cozy inside with beer and chocolates, reading.

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Stucco & stone end unit 3068 sq ft 4 bed, 3 bath rancher townhome with amazing mountain & city views. Master suite with 2 walk-in closets & 5-piece master bath. Open kitchen with wrap around bar. 2 gas log fireplace. Built-ins. 12x12 covered Trex deck & 12x12 patio. Walkout basement with large family & wet bar. 2-car finished garage. A/C. HOA takes care of everything outside for you. Move-in ready! MLS# 7912985 FEATURE | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | INDY

PLAYING AROUND SHOW PREVIEW

NICOTINE DOLLS - MAR 15 (ON SALE NOW) SASQUATCH PRESENTS BIGFOOT RAVE MAR 29 (ON SALE NOW) CLUTCH - MAY 1 (ON SALE NOW) Sat, Dec. 23 - 7:00pm, Ages 21+ BACKROADS TOUR

JOURNEY TO BACKWOODS AT MULBERRY MOUNTAIN ILOVEMATEO, KBRON, & MORE! Thu, Dec. 28 - 7:00pm

A RONIN’S TEST EP RELEASE SHOW

A RONIN’S TEST LAST CHANCE FOR FIRST PLACE,

JOE JACKSON’S MAX CHAMPION

ALMOST DECENT, DEATHRIDE, INTERROBANG Fri, Dec. 29 - 7:00pm

THE IRON MAIDENS DIRTY KINGS Sat, Dec. 30 - 8:00pm, Ages 21+

GIMME GIMME DISCO A DANCE PARTY INSPIRED BY ABBA Sun, Dec. 31 - 6:00pm

NEW YEAR’S EVE BASH FEATURING

FLESH DIGEST DEATH UPON THE IGNORANT,

SKIN DANCER, THE GUISE OF A DEMON Thu, Jan. 11 - 8:00pm, Ages 21+

THE EMO NIGHT TOUR Fri, Jan. 19 - 6:00pm

STRONG SURVIVE & BKG PRESENTS

JARREN BENTON WITH SPECIAL GUESTS Thu, Jan. 25 - 7:00pm

GUTTERMOUTH BRICHEROS Fri, Jan. 26 - 8:00pm, Ages 21+

GASOLINA REGGAETON PARTY Sat, Jan. 27 - 5:30pm THE MOTHER TOUR

VEIL OF MAYA ANGELMAKER, LEFT TO SUFFER,

@ Paramount Theatre, Denver

F YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF BRITISH MUSIC hall legend Max Champion, you’re not alone. The reason for that is partly generational. After all, it was more than a century ago that Britain’s music hall era went the way of the horse and buggy. And unlike America’s vaudeville circuit — which launched the careers of entertainers like Cab Calloway and Al Jolson — precious few music hall performers are even vaguely remembered today. Then, of course, there’s the fact that Max Champion never actually existed. At least not outside the feverish imagination of his “producer” Joe Jackson, whose own genre-jumping albums have ranged from the new wave pub-rock of Look Sharp! to the salsa-influenced pop of his multi-platinum Night and Day. Mr. Joe Jackson presents Max Champion in “What a Racket!” — which was released last month on the earMUSIC label — finds Jackson and a 12-piece orchestra performing 11 long-lost Champion compositions. According to the album’s backstory, these songs had lingered in obscurity until the past decade, when Champion’s sheet music began turning up in a strange array of locations — the

attic of an English seaside boarding house, a wardrobe in an East London antique shop, and farther-flung places like Valletta, Malta, and Zonnebeke, Belgium — which lends credence, says Jackson, to the theory that Champion had gone off to fight in the First World War and may still have been writing songs in the trenches. As it turns out, Champion’s lyrics have the same sly wit and artful imagination that informs much of Jackson’s work. A case in point is “The Shades of Night,” whose narrator is fond of evening strolls through his neighborhood: “The shades of night were falling fast All the streets and the squares It’s all too easy, strolling past To see what your neighbors are doing in there.” The song ends with him glimpsing his own betrothed with another man, after which he goes off and joins the navy. Jackson’s upcoming tour will feature solo performances of his own material, followed by a set of songs from What a Racket!, complete with nine-piece band and cockney accent. — Bill Forman

Joe Jackson Presents Max Champion in “What a Racket,” Friday, June 21, 8 p.m., Paramount Theatre, Denver, $49 and up, joejackson.com/tour, paramountdenver.com, watch — tinyurl.com/Joe-Racket

REFLECTIONS, ALLUVIAL Wed, Jan. 31 - 7:00pm BANDWAGON PRESENTS

CHARLIE FARLEY WITH SPECIAL GUESTS Fri, Feb. 2 - 7:00pm

CATCH 22 WITH SPECIAL GUESTS FEB 11 - KOFFIN KATS FEB 16 - EARLY EYES FEB 23 - THE GREEN W/ MIKE LOVE FEB 25 - GIDEON MAR 1 - DEXTER AND THE MOONROCKS MAR 2 - LITTLE STRANGER, DENM MAR 3 - YOUNG DUBLINERS MAR 13 - HOCKEY DAD MAR 15 - NICOTINE DOLLS MAR 26 - TEENAGE BOTTLEROCKET,

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WEDNESDAY 12/20

THURSDAY 12/21

FRIDAY 12/22

Acoustic set; 6 p.m., Buffalo Lodge, bicycleresort.com. Megan Burtt, rock/soul, with Michelle Mandico, Laura Reitzel; 7 p.m., Lulu’s, lulusdownstairs.com. Countywyde, bluegrass; 6:30 p.m., Front Range Barbeque, frbbq.com/events. Little Girl Blue, with Laiona Michelle, bio-musical based on the life of Nina Simone; 7:30 p.m., Ent Center for the Arts, tinyurl.com/Nina-Ent23. Craig Walter, singer-songwriter; 6:30 p.m., Jack Quinn’s, facebook.com/jackquinns.

Frog & Fiddle, Americana/jam; 7 p.m., Armadillo Ranch, manitouarmadilloranch.com. Little Girl Blue, with Laiona Michelle, bio-musical based on the life of Nina Simone; 7:30 p.m., Ent Center for the Arts, tinyurl.com/Nina-Ent23. Deirdre McCarthy Band, violinist-vocalist; 6:30 p.m., Jack Quinn’s, facebook. com/jackquinns. Paisley Fields, queer country, with Glitter Porn; 7:30 p.m., What’s Left Records, whatsleftrec.com. Santa’s Guitar: Ryan Chrys & the Rough Cuts Christmas Show; 7 p.m., Vultures, vulturesrocks.com.

Buzz Freely, classic rock; 7 p.m., Crystola Road House, Woodland Park, crystolaroadhouse.bar. Cowboy Christmas with Cody Cozz; 7 p.m., Boot Barn Hall, bootbarnhallco. com. Curta, electronic/hip-hop, with Church Fire, Saustro; 7:30 p.m., What’s Left Records, whatsleftrec.com. Matt Flaherty Band, multigenre; 8 p.m., Armadillo Ranch, manitouarmadilloranch.com. Hot Boots Band, covers; 8 p.m., Purple Toad Social Tap & Grill, Peyton, purpletoadsocialtap.com.

INDY | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Jon Gartner

PLAYING AROUND facebook.com/jackquinns. Chauncy Crandall, folk/Americana/ country/soul; 6:30 p.m., Front Range Barbeque, frbbq.com/events. Zech Lumpkin, acoustic; 7 p.m., Buzzed Crow Bistro, buzzedcrowbistro.com. Open Mic Night with Black Rose Acoustic Society; 6 p.m., Buffalo Lodge, bicycleresort.com.

THURSDAY 12/28 Acoustic set; 6 p.m., Buffalo Lodge, bicycleresort.com. Blackthorn, traditional Celtic; 6:30 p.m.,

Queer country artist Paisley Fields comes to What’s Left Records on Thursday, Dec. 21.

Jack Quinn’s, facebook.com/jackquinns. Dynador, “Rock music for quiet study and reflection”; 6 p.m., Buzzed Crow Bistro, buzzedcrowbistro.com. Indoor Manitou Drum Circle: Trippy Thursday Psyche-Dillo, jam/dance/ play and a drum giveaway; 6 p.m., Armadillo Ranch, manitouarmadilloranch.com. A Ronin’s Test, rock/grunge, with Last Chance for First Place, Almost Decent, Deathride, Interrobang; 7 p.m., Black Sheep, blacksheeprocks.com.

Christmas Quartet, with members of All Aboard, LOOK’EE HERE! and Manitou Drum Circle; noon, Armadillo Ranch, manitouarmadilloranch.com. Traditional Irish session; 3 p.m., Jack Quinn’s, facebook.com/jackquinns.

WEDNESDAY 12/27 Al Chesis, blues; 7 p.m., Jack Quinn’s,

Refurbish the Elf & his dog visit the North Pole for a Holiday Talent Show full of fun for all ages.

Upcoming music events

Elves!

DEC 23 Victory Records

SATURDAY 12/23

SUNDAY 12/24

Who’s Got Talent?

BIG GIGS

K Squared, country/folk/bluegrass/rap; 6 p.m., Buffalo Lodge, bicycleresort. com. Rafiel and the Roomshakers, funk/R&B/ rock/blues; 6 p.m., Mash Mechanix, mashmechanix.com/events. Sing & Swing Jazz Jam with The Moldy Figs; 7 p.m., Summa, dizzycharlies.com. Chuck Snow, guitarist/singer-songwriter; 7:30 p.m., Jack Quinn’s, facebook. com/jackquinns. Starburn, ’60s-’70s rock; 8 p.m., Buzzed Crow Bistro, buzzedcrowbistro.com. Dueling Pianos: Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree; 7 p.m., Boot Barn Hall, bootbarnhallco.com. Eternal Temples, reggae/rock/space funk/jam fusion; 7:30 p.m., Jack Quinn’s, facebook.com/jackquinns. Tony Exum Jr., sax, with Chantil Dukart; 4 p.m., Lulu’s, lulusdownstairs.com. Rhett Haney, singer-songwriter; 6 p.m., Whiskey Baron Dance Hall, tinyurl.com/ whisk-dh. Brandon Henderson, singer-songwriter; 8 p.m., Mother Muff’s, facebook.com/ mothermuffs. Holiday Hayrides & Songs with George Whitesell; 6 p.m., Buffalo Lodge, bicycleresort.com. Road to Backwoods at Mulberry Mountain Tour, search for the best up-andcoming bands/DJs/producers, with iloveMateo, KBRON, MVRTIVL LVW B2B RVGGZ, Oreoku Presents Kãgë, Releif, RVGGZ, Substance D; doors 7 p.m., Black Sheep, blacksheeprocks.com. Triple Nickel, country, with The County High Rock Band; 7:30 p.m., Brues Alehouse, Pueblo, bruesalehouse.com. Undercover, rock; 8 p.m., Buzzed Crow Bistro, buzzedcrowbistro.com. WireWood Station, Americana; 7 p.m., Abby’s Irish Pub, abbysirishpub.com.

Santa’s Elves Present

JANUARY

Tanner Usrey, Boot Barn Hall, Colorado Springs, Jan. 5 Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country and Trouble No More, Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom, Denver, Jan. 5-6 Ned LeDoux, Grizzly Rose, Denver, Jan. 6 The Panhandlers, Grizzly Rose, Den-

ver, Jan. 11 Victor Wooten & The Wooten Brothers, Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom, Denver, Jan. 11 Colter Wall, Mission Ballroom, Denver, Jan. 11-12 Jason Boland & The Stragglers, Globe Hall, Denver, Jan. 12 Jackson Dean, Grizzly Rose, Denver, Jan. 12 BoomBox, Gothic Theatre, Englewood, Jan. 12-13 Mozart and Haydn/Colorado Springs Symphony, Pikes Peak Center, Jan. 13-14 Bijou, Ogden Theatre, Denver, Jan. 14 Town Mountain, Lulu’s, Manitou Springs, Jan. 18 Winterfest 2.0, Fox Theatre, Boulder, Jan. 18 Drake with J. Cole, Ball Arena, Denver, Jan. 18-19 Big Bill Morganfield, The Basement at Oskar Blues, Jan. 21 Guttermouth, Black Sheep, Jan. 25 Robyn Hitchcock, Lulu’s, Manitou Springs, Jan. 25 Shakedown Street 37th Anniversary Concert, Boulder Theater, Boulder, Jan. 26 Continued at csindy.com

11am & 2pm SATURDAY

Bubbles,Bubbles, Bubbles! Family Fun on New Year’s Eve Soap bubbles, aerial acrobatics, animal tricks & belly laughs galore!

Jersey ska-punk band Catch 22 will play The Black Sheep on Feb. 2. Tape B, Ogden Theatre, Denver, Dec. 22 DeVotchKa, Bluebird Theater, Denver, Dec. 22-23 Tony Exum Jr., Lulu’s, Dec. 23 The Iron Maidens, The Black Sheep, Dec. 29 Elephant Revival, Boulder Theater, Boulder, Dec. 30 Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, Hi-Dive, Denver, Dec. 30 Neal Francis, Ogden Theatre, Denver, Dec. 31 Gasoline Lollipops, Fox Theatre, Denver, Dec. 31 Itchy-O, Summit Music Hall, Denver, Dec. 31 New Year’s Eve/Colorado Springs Symphony, Pikes Peak Center, Dec. 31

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INDY | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

BY MATTHEW SCHNIPER

NEW FOOD BLOG SEASON TWO TASTE focuses “on seasonality, some gardening and chef-level skills”

FIRST MET CHRISTINE MILLER The Blue Star and Springs Orleans/The (then Christine Adrian) at 32 Bleu Mining Exchange hotel. I am currently back in the early aughts, when I was working as a chef/instructor at The fresh out of college and returning French Kitchen. to restaurant work for a stint. She was Christine Miller: Having the honor of executive chef at the music venue and attending and graduating from the New was coming from a fine dining backYork Restaurant School and working as ground, so the menu had a mix of what a cook in Manhattan at some of the top we now call “elevated” restaurants at the time, plates along with casual I moved to Colorado crowd-pleasers like the Springs in 1998. I became most guilty-great Monte the executive chef of La Cristo sandwich around Petit Maison, and moved town in its day. on from there to the chef Long story short, we position at 32 Bleu. After bonded and have kept those events took place, loosely in touch over the I found myself as the years since. I later met pastry/dessert chef of her now-husband Jason The Mining Exchange/ Miller during his time Springs Orleans. teaching at Paragon Culinary School. Then, good What is Season Two things for our scene Taste, and how will came when the joined folks interact with it? Millers were subseThe Millers: Season quently running things Two Taste is a food blog at Springs Orleans/The with a focus on seasonalMining Exchange. Now ity, some gardening and they’ve gone in a whole chef-level skills. We have — Christine Miller new direction, with their plans to start filming recently launched food and releasing some fun blog named Season Two Taste (seasonstand informative videos to this effect, crewotaste.com). I recently did a Q&A with ating a direct email newsletter for memthem to learn more: bers, as well as an online subscriptionbased cooking school. Schniper: For those who haven’t met you at your prominent stations around What made you want to create this food town, tell us briefly about yourselves. blog now, at this time in your lives? Jason Miller: I’m a lifelong chef and Jason: After my recovery from a very cook with 30-plus years’ experience. I traumatic and almost fatal accident in cut my teeth working in the Gulf Coast 2020, and briefly returning to the kitchen, region — Florida, Louisiana and Texas several things became apparent to me: — before coming to Colorado Springs in One, that I no longer have the physical 2002. Locally, I’ve held executive-level stamina and ability to do the work of an positions at Paragon Culinary School, executive chef and really do it to the level

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The Millers talk Season Two Taste and overcoming the intimidation factor.

of excellence that I think it deserves. Two, that I am grateful, not only for simply being alive, but also for the opportunities that I have had and the things that I have learned. Finally, those realizations made it very clear to me that my most useful and gratifying path in this world lies in sharing. Sharing my stories, knowledge and skills. That is what I’m seeking to do with this website, as well as all of my future and ongoing endeavors. Christine: I have always been very passionate about food and sharing this passion with anyone who cares to listen. After having a full hip replacement, as well as caring for my husband during his recovery, I also had to bow out of the commercial kitchen world. Having the ability through modern technology to continue to share my love of food is a blessing. I don’t think that I could ever consider myself “retired” from food. I also have had a lifelong interest in photography, so I’m grateful for the opportunity that this project offers; I’m the official photographer for the site. What do you hope to achieve with Season Two Taste? Christine: We have many goals for the site. The traditional method for a home

cook to learn has always been based on simply reading and following recipes. We would like to help people break free from that, and learn to be creative and have fun making what they enjoy. The media surrounding food tends to focus on chefs and cooks seeming to have some magical and secret talent that you can only watch from the outside. We strongly believe that with a few simple skills and practice, anyone can overcome this intimidation factor. Jason: I have a great many stories from my years in the kitchen that I’ve always enjoyed telling, and have been told that I should write them down. I am doing this now, and will be sharing those in short story format, with the hope of someday releasing them as a collection. There are several other ideas in the works, but nothing we are ready to announce just yet. Stay tuned! Matthew Schniper is the former Food & Drink editor and critic at the Indy. You can find expanded food and drink news and reviews at sidedishschnip. substack.com.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | INDY

ART EXHIBITS Academy Art & Frame, 7560 N. Academy Blvd., 719-265-6694, academyframesco. com. 16th Annual High School Students Ceiling Tile Competition, judged by the public at the gallery or at tinyurl.com/ student-tiles. Joni Ware’s The Beauty of the Earth show continues through December.

Your guide to events in the Pikes Peak region

NEW YEAR’S EVE!

stock.adobe.com

CALENDAR

Anita Marie Fine Art, 109 S. Corona St., 719-493-5623, anitamariefineart.com. Storied Places, oil paintings by Chuck Mardosz and Richard Dahlquist. Through Dec. 21. Bosky Studio, 17B E. Bijou St., tinyurl. com/Bosky-SmallWorks. 14th Annual Small Works Show — “Hundreds of pieces of art created by talented local artists hung floor to ceiling for your viewing pleasure.” Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, 30 W. Dale St., 719-634-5581, fac.coloradocollege.edu. Another Way Is Possible, organized by RAWtools, “contains items that tell the story of the transformation of guns to garden tools, art, jewelry, and other lovely things. ... RAWtools is a local organization dedicated to helping people solve their problems without guns and violence.” Through Jan. 28. Museum free days: Jan. 13 and 19. Commonwheel Artists Co-op, 102 Cañon Ave., Manitou Springs, 719-685-1008, commonwheel.com. Holiday Market with works by 32 Colorado artists; through Dec. 28. Cottonwood Center for the Arts, 427 E. Colorado Ave., 719-520-1899, cottonwoodcenterforthearts.com. Sew Subversive: A Textile and Fiber Installation answers the question “What can you say with fiber that you can’t say with other mediums?” Through Dec. 22. Disruptor Gallery, 2217 E. Platte Ave., shutterandstrum.org. What Kinda Brown Are You? Works by Jasmine Dillavou, Avery Chatmon, Ashley Cornelius, Christopher Beasley and Kevin Persaud. Gallery 113, 125½ N. Tejon St., 719-6345299, gallery113cos.com. In the Spirit of the Season, artworks by the gallery’s 17 local member artists — wildlife and landscape photography, jewelry, pottery, hand-turned wood, hand-painted silk and leather creations. G44 Gallery, 121 E. Boulder St., 720-9510573, g44gallery.com. Annual Holiday Show features work by more than 100 local artists and artisans. Closing reception Jan. 5, 5-7 p.m. Hunter-Wolff Gallery, 2510 W. Colorado Ave., 719-520-9494, hunterwolffgallery. com. Jewelry and newly released bronze sculptures by Maria Battista. Kreuser Gallery, 125 E. Boulder St., 719464-5880, kreusergallery.com. Shifting Reality by Lori Goede: “paintings that capture the profound connection between individuals in classical literature.” Don Goede’s Release of the Tram-

101st Annual Pikes Peak AdAmAn Club Fireworks Display, a local tradition — turn your eyes toward the summit of Pikes Peak at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. New Year’s Eve with Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Sunday, Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m., Pikes Peak Center, 190 S. Cascade Ave.; csphilharmonic.org/event/new-years-eve-3. A Night of Magnificence, featuring performances by Cocoa Sarai, JJ Sharpe, Urban Classic and DJ SlayDay. Sunday, Dec. 31, 8 p.m.; Sunshine Studios Live, 3970 Clearview Frontage Road; sunshinestudioslive.com. Diamonds & Pearls NYE, with party favors, buffet, live music, dancing, champagne at midnight. Sunday, Dec. 31, 7 p.m.; ViewHouse Colorado Springs, 7114 Campus Drive; tinyurl.com/Diamonds-VH. FOR KIDS: Art Guffaw’s Big Bubble Circus, New Year’s Eve giggles for families, with “dancing soap bubbles, daring aerial acrobatics, assorted ‘wild’ animal tricks, and belly

laughs galore.” Three shows on Dec. 31, see themat.org for times and tickets; Millibo Art Theatre, 1626 S. Tejon St. NYE Under the Lights, ring in the New Year in OCC with music, drinks, photo ops and s’mores. Sunday, Dec. 31, 6 p.m. to midnight; Colbrunn Court; tinyurl.com/OCC-NYE23. NYE Comedy Contest: Pikes Punks Comedy Show, Sunday, Dec. 31; 8 p.m.; The Public House at the Alexander, 3104 N. Nevada Ave.; tinyurl.com/PikesPunks-23. New Year’s Eve Snow Ball, includes dinner, drinks, dancing to SofaKillers and SOAPDISH, and champagne toast. Sunday, Dec. 31, 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.; Boot Barn Hall, 13071 Bass Pro Drive; tinyurl.com/Snow-Ball-23. New Year’s Eve Celebration at UPCC, with music, food, dancing, prizes and champagne at midnight. Sunday, Dec. 31, 7 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.; Ute Pass Cultural Center, 210 E. Midland Ave., Woodland Park; tinyurl.com/NewYears-WoodyP.

mels “will be filled with a small fraction of neurotic and anxiety-riddled artwork and what I have deemed therapeutic manifestations of the Hypomanic variety.” Atmospheres and Orbits by Nancy Roach: “paintings done in oil and cold wax depicting an attitude of experimentation and play.” Artist talks: Don and Lori Goede, Dec. 20, 5:30 p.m.; closing reception Jan. 5, 5-8 p.m.

Ave., Manitou Springs, 719-685-1861, manitouartcenter.org. Studio Artist and Makerspace Member End of Year Show. Through Dec. 30, tinyurl.com/MACdec23.

Manitou Art Center, 513/515 Manitou

Platte Collections, 2331 E. Platte Place,

INDY | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Pikes Peak State College Fall Student Exhibition, through Jan. 19; Gallery at Studio West, 22 N. Sierra Madre St.; see tinyurl.com/PPSC-Fall23 for hours.

719-980-2715, plattecollections.myshopify.com. Water Rites by Shannon Dunn, who explores “water in all its forms ... From the tears in our eyes to the blood in our veins ... Drought and flood. Freeze and thaw.” Surface Gallery, 2752 W. Colorado Ave., 719-359-6966, surfacegallerycos.com. Per Annum 2023, a group holiday show featuring the work of 50-plus local artists — multiple media including painting, col-

FOR FULL EVENT LISTINGS, AND TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN EVENTS, GO TO CSINDY.COM!

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ART EXHIBIT

“Between” by Nancy Roach

Atmospheres and Orbits — Nancy Roach’s “exciting, energetic and spontaneous abstract paintings” in oil and cold wax will be on display at Kreuser Gallery through First Friday, Jan. 5, with a closing reception from 5 to 8 p.m. lage, sculptural and handmade jewelry. Through Jan. 19.

KIDS & FAMILIES Santa’s Elves Present: Who’s Got Talent? A family-friendly show wherein “Refurbish the Elf returns to the North Pole just in time for the annual Talent Show judged by the Big Guy himself.” Saturday, Dec. 23, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.; see themat. org/the-most-magical-gift-2 for tickets; Millibo Art Theatre, 1626 S. Tejon St. ELF The Musical, “Buddy, a young orphan, mistakenly crawls into Santa’s bag of gifts and is transported to the North Pole. The would-be elf is raised, unaware that he is actually a human, until his enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth.” Through Dec. 31; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., tinyurl.com/FAC-ELF.

SPECIAL EVENTS Winter Solstice Hike, 1.5-hour hike through Garden of the Gods Park with the Colorado Springs Astronomical Society, Thursday, Dec. 21, 6-8 p.m.; Garden of the Gods Visitor Center, 1805 N. 30th St.; register at tinyurl.com/solstice-GOG. Solstice Celebration, “investigate old and new ways to celebrate this celes-

tial event and demonstrate traditions to bring home for a family solstice celebration.” Thursday, Dec. 21, 4:30-6:30 p.m.; $5/$4 members, prepaid registration at tinyurl.com/epco-fun; Fountain Creek Nature Center, 320 Pepper Grass Lane, Fountain. The Annual Colorado Springs Citywide Kwanzaa Celebration will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. each day from Tuesday, Dec. 26, through Monday, Dec. 31, at In-Balance Wellness Studio, 2820 E. Pikes Peak Ave.; cospringskwanzaa.org.

STAGE & THEATER Yule Be Naughty: Millibo’s Annual Holiday Cabaret, “join Babette and an allstar cast as they sing, dance, circus, and poke fun at the trials and tribulations of this most Merry Season.” Thursday, Dec. 21 through Saturday, Dec. 23, 7:30 p.m., adults only; see themat.org for times and tickets; Millibo Art Theatre, 1626 S. Tejon St. Miracle in Mistletoe Town OR Cooking the Books for Christmas Dinner — will real estate mogul Ivana Cringe replace the town department store with a burger franchise? Through Dec. 23; Iron Springs Chateau, 444 S. Ruxton Ave., Manitou Springs; ironspringschateau.com.

Art classes for all ages and skill levels

FOR FULL EVENT LISTINGS, AND TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN EVENTS, GO TO CSINDY.COM!

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | INDY

FAIR AND UNBALANCED

By Mike Littwin Courtesy The Colorado Sun

Nobody understands the grounds for a

BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

F YOU MISSED THE BIG NEWS, Speaker-for-now Mike Johnson and his MAGA House buddies voted last Wednesday, presumably in joyful anticipation of their extended holiday recess, to officially launch an inquiry into impeaching President Joe Biden. I know. You thought the House already had three — yes, count ’em, three — House committees and their staff members busily sifting through all the evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors supposedly committed by Biden. It turns out, though, that these have been unofficial inquiries. That’s because you don’t generally get to the official part in matters of impeachment unless you’ve discovered a smoking gun or at least a lighted doobie. And yet. With no smoking gun — with, in fact, no actual evidence whatsoever of high crimes and/or misdemeanors on Biden’s part — House Republicans voted to make the inquiry official anyway because, well, they could. And that’s even though some of the Trump fanboys at Fox News have been forced to admit that, uh, we got nothin’. So why the official inquiry? Let’s go with the two most obvious reasons. One, because Donald Trump wants it. Two, because Johnson and his team, who can’t seem to do much of anything else, including passing bills to aid an embattled ally fighting off the Russians, felt they had to do something to justify their phoney-baloney jobs. I wasn’t around for Andrew Johnson’s impeachment — although I did see the movie — but I’m pretty confident that there has never been a presidentialimpeachment inquiry that felt less consequential to more people. That’s probably because no one has any idea what this impeachment is even about — unless, that is, you’re an eminent student of history like Colorado’s own Lauren Boebert, who has decided that Biden “is by far the most corrupt President in American history.” She didn’t say who was runner-up.

What we’ve got here, in truth, is less an impeachment inquiry than it is a preview of the Trump Retribution Tour that the former guy has promised to undertake if the American people are, uh, slow-witted enough to elect him president again. Here’s Trump on the topic from last March: “In 2016, I declared, ‘I am your voice.’ Today I add: I am your warrior, I am your justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution!” He was your retribution even before he announced that, if elected, he’d also be your dictator for one day, just time enough, I’d guess, to invoke the Insurrection Act and round up all his enemies. But the retribution/vengeance concept is of a piece with much of what we’ve been hearing ever since Trump was dumped — yes, legally and officially — by voters in 2020. To get a closer look at what is happening, we can turn to two Colorado representatives, who each in his own way has helped to define the moment. Let’s begin with Ken Buck, who announced last month that he is retiring from office next year because of the GOP’s “Big Lie” that Biden had been illegitimately elected and because his party was “obsessively fixated on retribution and vengeance for contrived injustices of the past,” not to mention pardoning the patriots who stormed the Capitol to help keep Trump in office. Buck had already written an op-ed in The Washington Post that Republicans who are determined to impeach Biden were “relying on an imagined history” and a “fictitious version” of events linking Joe Biden to his son Hunter’s “shady business deals.” He wrote that “impeachment is a serious matter and should have a foundation of rock-solid facts.” So, how did Buck vote on the measure to launch an impeachment inquiry? Did he suddenly find some facts, rock solid or otherwise? Wasn’t he the one Republican who was expected to stand up against

With no smoking gun ... House Republicans voted to make the inquiry official anyway.

INDY | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | OPINION

the impeachment circus? I’m sure you’re ahead of me on this. Of course Buck voted yes — to start the inquiry. Even though he thinks a Biden impeachment is ridiculous. Even though he knows the whole process is meant to try to convince voters that the twiceimpeached, many-times-indicted former president isn’t the only crook in town. When asked by a CNN reporter why he then voted for the inquiry, Buck pointed to GOP Rep. Andy Biggs and joked, “He buttered me up.” Funny, huh? Yeah, funny like a Mike Johnson Bible school class. I can only guess that Buck voted for the inquiry as a way of apologizing to his GOP pals for saying he could no longer stand to be in the same town with them. So, now we move to Joe Neguse, who, like every other House Democrat, voted against the inquiry. That was easy enough to predict. Neguse, who served as a prosecutor in Trump’s second impeachment trial, would explain that the House inquiry, led by Trump sycophants, was an “utter waste of time,” with its only objective being to help Trump “exact retribution” for his multiple impeachments. Neguse comes by this opinion honestly. In a House Rules Committee hearing on authorizing the inquiry, Neguse had tried, and tried, to get Republicans to explain exactly why they wanted this inquiry. Here’s an exchange between Neguse and Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pennsylvania), which was funny enough that Stephen Colbert featured it in his monologue the other night: Neguse: “What is the specific constitutional crime that you’re investigating?” Reschenthaler: “Well, we’re having an inquiry so we can do an investigation to compel the production of witnesses and documents.” Neguse: “And what is the crime you’re investigating?” Reschenthaler: “High crimes, misdemeanors and bribery.” Neguse: “What high crime and misdemeanors are you investigating?” Reschenthaler: “Look, once I get time, I will explain what I’m looking at.” There you have it. When Reschenthaler did have time, he offered up a couple of

Colorado’s Neguse has questions.

debunked theories about Joe Biden and Ukraine and some mumbo jumbo about Hunter Biden, who was at the time busily refusing to go along with a House subpoena because Republicans wouldn’t allow him to testify in public. You have any idea why they want Hunter Biden to testify only behind closed doors? The thing is, if you ask around, you’ll find Republicans who will tell you the truth about the reason for the inquiry and for the possible impeachment that could follow. And they’ll do it without even a hint of embarrassment. Take Texas Rep. Troy Nehls, who framed his impeachment-inquiry vote this way: “All I can say is Donald J. Trump 2024, baby.” Yeah, baby. You see, they don’t really think Biden is a crook. But they know that Trump is one. And a serial liar. And a business fraudster. And an assaulter of women. And all the rest. And they have to be worried that if Trump ever goes to trial on any of his 91 felony indictments, a jury of 12 good people tried and true just might make those obvious facts official. So House Republicans have done what they can. And voting to formalize the longstanding, unproductive impeachment inquiry of Biden is about as official as they can hope to get. Mike Littwin’s column was produced for The Colorado Sun, a reader-supported news organization committed to covering the people, places and policies of Colorado. Learn more at coloradosun.com.

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N ONE OF THEIR SATIRICAL songs, the Austin Lounge Lizards lampooned the ridiculous bigotry of some Christian factions, singing: “Jesus loves me. But he can’t stand you.” That could be the bellicose anthem of a quasi-religious Republican front group with a very sweet-sounding name: Moms for Liberty. Far from sweet, however, these moms are funded by rich Republicans to be ground troops in the party’s culture wars — essentially an anti-liberty campaign against people, books, teachers and ideas they don’t like. In the last few years, squads of these moms have turned into political hate groups, persecuting small-town school board members by baselessly accusing them of conspiring to indoctrinate children with pornography, hatred of white people, and “liberal” thinking. Having stirred up dust devils of division and fear, the momsters ran candidates in local board elections this fall, hoping to take over public schools. But they miscalculated on an essential political reality: Most Americans are not rightwingers, bigots or Christian Nationalists. The group had counted on surprising voters in what are usually low-visibility/ low-turnout races, but the extremists were the ones surprised by an aggressive voter pushback against their scheme. Indeed, various surveys show that the GOP’s mom-wing lost about 80 percent of its races across the country, even in major swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. For example, in the very conservative school district of Pennridge, Pennsylvania, where a far-right majority of the board was attempting to impose a national model of a politically driven educational system, five Republican incumbents were up for reelection. All five were swept out, turning the Pennridge school board blue for the first time in years! To help push back against right-wing politicizers of your school district, contact Campaign for Our Shared Future: CampaignSharedFuture.org. MEANWHILE... THE PROBLEM with today’s Supreme Court is that it consists of too many 5-watt bulbs sitting in 100-watt sockets. While most of the nine members are

assumed to be brilliant, “smart” is as smart does, and this court’s right-wing majority wallows in stupid, consistently pushing plutocracy, autocracy and theocracy over the democratic will of the people. Compounding this stupidity, many of the judges have flagrantly accepted “gifts” of cash, luxury vacations and other freebies from corporate and right-wing interests that have benefited from the court’s rulings. Yet, caught red-handed, the narcissistic jurists assert that We the People should just trust their integrity.

Various surveys show that the GOP’s mom-wing lost about 80 percent of its races across the country. These nine legal power brokers, who pose as America’s arbiters of justice, have even exempted themselves from having an ethics code, allowing each one to make up their own, unwritten ethical rules. Thus, corruption flourishes; so the public, Congress and the media have finally demanded that, at the very least, the eminences be subjected to basic ethics. “OK, OK,” the nine finally grumped, “We’ll sign onto a code.” BUT… their acquiescence included a killer gotcha: They would write their own rules of behavior! Sure enough, their 14-page code is a toothless watchdog with no bark, much less bite. It starts by snarling that the great unwashed simply fail to understand that the entire court is, as the chief justice had earlier proclaimed, “jurists of exceptional integrity.” So, the new “code” promises boilerplate ethical behavior, but provides no enforcement mechanism beyond claiming the judges will police each other. If these brilliant lawyers can’t (or won’t) write a straightforward code of judicial ethics, why would we trust them to render “justice” for us? We have to democratize this omnipotent Third Branch of our government. To get involved, go to FixTheCourt.com.

SEVEN REASONS TO WORK WITH A REALTOR®

The New York Times

CROSSWORD PUZZLE 2

19 21

20 22

23 27

24 28

31 34

25 29

30 33

41 47

42 48

49 53

Across 1 It can cover all the bases 5 Rocks out? 10 Picks 14 On the safe side, at sea 15 Tom ___, consigliere in “The Godfather” 16 Choice in a slumber party game 17 Apologetic comment from a dinner guest 20 Lined up 21 Comebacks 22 Foul-smelling 24 One using a bib, maybe 25 Promising reply 26 Public house 27 ___ support 29 Organization with a strong track record? 31 Grain stores 33 Take off in a hurry 34 Neologize 37 A message from the Pentagon might be in this 38 Unimaginative 39 Smartphone, at times 41 Orange soda brand 42 Word with tie or fly

45 Crystal object featured in Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi,” the most expensive painting ever sold 46 Appendectomy sites, in brief 48 One purchasing cigars, maybe 50 What helps you see the big picture? 53 Two-___ (many a sports car) 54 Best-selling Israeli author of “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” 56 A Swiss Army knife has many 57 Bicker 58 Put one’s foot down 59 Extra 60 Bee lines? 61 New Year’s Eve song word Down 1 Hummus ingredient 2 Friends-and-family support group 3 Don’t forget 4 Jury members 5 Chinese takeout staple 6 Hip-hop duo ___ Sremmurd 7 Petri dish medium 8 “See?” 9 Easily attached, in a way

From NYT Syndicate

EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

10 Things a bettor better know 11 Quark or lepton 12 “Uh-huh, you said it!” 13 Motion detector, e.g. 18 Penny candy morsel since 1907 19 “That could work!” 23 Splashy display 28 Go along for the ride, say 30 Letters that shouldn’t be written big for air rescue (a single V or X is best) 32 Play a mean guitar, slangily 34 Part for a balding man? 35 “Dejection” is a famous one 36 Goes over again 37 Party 39 Get close 40 Grounds for a fight 42 Retro phone type 43 “Wuthering Heights” actress Merle ___ 44 Insult 47 Real bore 49 Some bakers’ wares 51 Screen 52 It’s a long story 55 What many air conditioners do

Buying and selling a home can be stressful. You need an agent who is a REALTOR®, by your side. Here’s why:

GET THE INSIDE SCOOP.

SIMPLIFY YOUR SEARCH.

NAVIGATE A COMPLEX PROCESS.

NEGOTIATE LIKE A PRO.

BE UP - TO - DATE.

HAVE A TRUSTED ALLY.

Real estate pros have access to exclusive neighborhood and property information to make you a smarter buyer or seller.

A real estate pro can guide you on forms, disclosures, and the lending process to help you avoid costly mistakes and delays.

You may have bought or sold a home before, but markets and transaction processes are always changing.

An agent can educate you on current market conditions and help you find homes that match you criteria using local broker marketplaces -- known in the business as multiple listing services.

An agent has the expertise to negotiate terms, from price to repairs, on your behalf.

Your agent can talk you through the pros and cons behind big decisions and share their network of trusted inspectors, lenders, remodeleres, and more.

DO THE RIGHT THING.

Make sure your agent is a REALTOR®. REALTORS® are bound by a strict Code of Ethics based on professionalism, consumer protection, and the golden rule.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN AGENT AND A REALTOR® IS REAL.

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Find the answers on p. 19 CANDY | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | INDY

Free Will ASTROLOGY SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In my fairy tale about your year ahead, I see you searching for treasure. It’s not a wild and wandering exploration, but a diligent, disciplined quest. You are well-organized about it, carefully gathering research and asking incisive questions. You ruminate on the possibilities with both your logical and intuitive faculties. You meditate on how you might make adjustments in yourself so as to become fully available for the riches you seek. Your gradual, incremental approach gives you strength. You draw inspiration from your sheer persistence and relentless inquiry. And it all pays off by the second half of 2024. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening,” quipped Capricorn author Alexander Woollcott (1887-1943). Since he was never arrested, I conclude he didn’t get to enjoy some of the activities he relished. Was he immoral? Not exactly, though he could be caustic. Offering his opinion about a famous pianist, he said, “There is absolutely nothing wrong with Oscar Levant that a miracle couldn’t fix.” The good news for you, Capricorn, is that 2024 will be mostly free of the problems Woollcott experienced. You will be offered an abundance of perfectly legal and moral enjoyments. They may sometimes be fattening, but so what? AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Author Augusten Burroughs is a devoted urban dweller. He says, “When I get a craving for nature, I turn on TV’s Discovery Channel and watch bear-attack survivors recount their horror.” Martial arts master Morihei Ueshiba had a different perspective. “Mountains, rivers, plants, and trees should be your teachers,” he advised. “Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks.” I recommend Ueshiba’s approach to you in 2024, Aquarius — not Burroughs’. Here are my predictions: 1) You will have no dangerous encounters with nature. 2) You will learn more than ever from the wild world. 3)

BY ROB BREZSNY

To the degree that you wander in the outdoors, your spiritual life will thrive. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A study done at Union College in New York found that being fraternity members raised students’ future income by 36 percent, but lowered their grade point average by 0.25 points. Would you make a similar trade-off, Pisces? Would you pursue a path that made you more successful in one way but less successful in another? I suspect you will encounter unusual decisions like this in 2024. My job is not to advise you what to do, but to make you alert for the provocative riddles. ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries educator Booker T. Washington advised us, “Do the common thing in an uncommon way.” That’s a useful motto for you in the coming months. If you carry out ordinary activities with flair, you will generate good fortune and attract excellent help. As you attend to details with conscientious enthusiasm, you will access your finest inner resources and exert constructive influences on the world around you. Be thorough and unique, persistent and imaginative, attentive and innovative. Adore your chores in 2024! TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was among the smartest people who ever lived. As is often the case with geniuses, he believed in the supreme value of liberty for all. He was a feminist long before that word existed. Like another genius, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, he thought that “individuality realized is the supreme attainment of the human soul, the master-master’s work of art. Individuality is sacred.” I nominate Mill to be a role model for you in 2024, Taurus. This could be a time when you reach unprecedented new heights and depths of unique self-expression and liberation. PS: Here’s a quote from Mill: “Eccentricity has always abounded where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and

moral courage which it contained.” GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Emotionally and spiritually, you will ripen at a robust rate in 2024. Your intelligence will mature into wisdom in surprising and gratifying ways. Harvesting rich lessons from long-smoldering confusions and long-simmering mysteries will be your specialty. PS: Some of you Geminis joke around and say you never want to grow up. But I hope you minimize that attitude in the coming months. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Indigenous people study the intelligence of animals and incorporate it into their own lives. If you’re game to do that in 2024, I suggest you choose elephants as a source of teaching and inspiration. Have fun studying and meditating on their ways! Here are a few facts to get you started. Problem-solving is one of their strengths. They are experts at learning how to get what they need and passing that knowledge on to their offspring. They seldom suffer from sickness, but if they do, they often self-medicate with plants in their environment. Elder females are the knowledge keepers, retaining inner maps of where food, drink and other resources are located. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Writer Janet Champ speaks about the joy of locating “the big wow, the big yesyesyes.” It happens when you find something or someone you regard as “better, greater, cuter, wiser, more wonderful than anything you have ever known.” I’ll be lavish and predict you will encounter a big wow and yesyesyes like this in 2024. Will you know what to do with it? Will you be able to keep it? Those possibilities are less certain, but I have high hopes for you. For best results, cultivate a vivid vision of how the big wow and big yesyesyes will benefit others as well as you. VIRGO (Aug. 2 3 -Sept . 22): In 1916, most women in the world could not vote. Many men considered women to be inferior — lacking in courage and initiative. It was the Dark Ages!

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Bobbi Price 719-499-9451 Jade Baker 719-201-6749

That summer, two sisters named Augusta and Adeline Van Buren rebelled against the stereotypes by riding their motorcycles across America. Roads were poor, rains were frequent, and police often arrested them for wearing men’s clothes. Male-dominated media derided them, with one newspaper criticizing their escape from “their proper roles as housewives.” I nominate them to be your role models in 2024, no matter what gender you are. It will be a favorable time to transcend conventional wisdom, override decaying traditions and be a cheerful rebel. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): For hundreds of years, European nations stole land and resources from Indigenous people all over the world. Among the thefts were art, ritual objects, cultural treasures and human skeletons. Museums in the West are still full of such plunder. But in recent years, some museums have begun to return the loot. Germany sent back hundreds of artifacts to Nigerian museums. France restored many objects to the African country of Benin. Let’s apply this scenario as a useful metaphor for you in 2024, Libra. Is there a part of your past that was hijacked? Your memories appropriated or denied? Your rightful belongings poached, or your authentic feelings infringed upon? It’s time for corrections and healing. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): I suggest we choose the brilliant Scorpio physicist and chemist Marie Curie (1867-1934) as your role model in 2024. She is the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different fields. She managed to pursue a rigorous scientific career while raising two children and having a fulfilling marriage. Being of service to humanity was a central life goal. She grew up in poverty and sometimes suffered from depression, but worked hard to become the genius she aspired to be. May the spirit of Marie Curie inspire you, dear Scorpio, as you make dramatic progress in expressing your unique soul’s code.

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WHEN YOU’RE SERIOUS ABOUT REAL ESTATE 18

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News of the

WEIRD BY THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL

Concealed carry

Christopher Boyd, 32, was riding in a car on Nov. 27 in Evansville, Indiana, when it was pulled over for an obscured license plate, The Smoking Gun reported. Boyd was patted down, and officers found a “small bag with multiple pills” in his sock. Boyd told them he uses Percocet for pain from a bullet lodged in his spine. Police noticed he “tensed up” when being searched in his groin area; they asked if he had anything stuffed in his groin or buttocks, and he said he did not. But when they arrived at the station, Boyd was “walking with a limp and appeared to be clenching his buttocks.” A trip through a scanner identified a large object — a Smith & Wesson handgun of about 5 inches in length — in his rectum. (The manufacturer does claim the pistol is “perfectly suited for concealed carry.”) It was not reported whether the weapon was loaded. Boyd also had two plastic bags of marijuana “tucked” next to his scrotum. He was booked into the Vanderburgh County jail.

Chop-stuck

A 35-year-old man from Vietnam went to the hospital in Dong Hoi on Nov. 24 with severe headaches, fluid discharge and loss of vision, Metro News reported. When doctors did a CT scan, they discovered two broken chopsticks that were penetrating into his skull from his nose. Apparently, the man had been in a fight several months before and

didn’t remember much about it — but said he thought something might have been stabbed into his face. Surgeons removed the chopsticks, and the patient is recovering.

‘That poor little boy’

A woman flying from Orlando to Philadelphia on Nov. 20 on Frontier Airlines apparently couldn’t hold it another second, WKRC-TV reported. “Sorry, everybody,” she said in a video captured by traveler Julie Hartman, before pulling her pants down and squatting in the aisle. According to the woman, she had been told by a flight attendant that she couldn’t use the restroom; one woman on the video can be heard saying, “That poor little boy” about a child sitting next to the spot where the woman squatted.

Fork you

Ann Arbor, Michigan, police chased a stolen 17-ton forklift through city streets for an hour on Nov. 25, NBC News reported, in what they called “a very dangerous situation” — especially so, since the driver was a 12-year-old boy. The boy allegedly found the construction vehicle outside Forsythe Middle School with the keys inside. While no one was injured, the forklift struck 10 cars as it crawled through neighborhoods with law enforcement in pursuit; at one point, officers warned other cars that he was “lowering the hooks — don’t go in front” of it. The boy was taken into custody and moved to a juvenile detention center.

BURNT ENDS

S A MAN IN XIAMEN, CHINA, USED THE “SMART” TOILET IN his home on Nov. 10, he first smelled smoke — right before the toilet burst into flames. He didn’t have time to pull his shorts back up, but he did manage to capture pictures of the toilet with flames emerging from the bowl. Oddity Central reported that the owner believed a short circuit was to blame; other incidents of toilets bursting into flames in China have been reported over the last two years.

PUZZLE ANSWERS

Crossword

Find the familiar phrase, saying or name in this arrangement of letters.

T A R P C R A G S O P T S H A G E N D A R E A L E E H A T E T O E A T A N D R U N R I P O S T E S I N A R OW T O T I D O N O I S OM E T E C H N A S C A R I N N S I L O S B O L T C O I N A P H R A S E C O D E T I R E D C A M E R A N E H I R O D O R S D A D T O B E O R B S E A T E R Z O OM L E N S Y U V A L N O A H H A R A R I A R G U E T R O D U S E S S E A M S S Y N E P E R K

MINI SUDOKU X

Complete the grid so that every row, column, diagonal and 3x2 box contain the numbers 1 to 6.

SUDOKU X

Complete the grid so that every row, column, diagonal and 3x3 box contain the numbers 1 to 9.

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Focus

Business Updates

OPINION

Determining next-generation security

s we approach 2024, it is readily apparent that daily life is more dependent on technology than ever before. The benefits of this infusion of technology are vast. Whether we rely on nearly instant access to information on the internet or the modern conveniences provided by smart home automation, daily life has significantly improved because of it. However, despite a rosy perception of modern technology, we cannot forget that cybersecurity threats pose a real danger. Sophisticated ransomware attacks, the infiltration of supply chains and the exploitation of artificial intelligence all create opportunity for emerging threats that make the cybersecurity landscape more complex than ever. As technology innovations continue to advance in the new year, it’s important to determine how we can better prepare the next generation against threats to their personal information. Last fall, I worked for a large defense contractor, developing a space cybersecurity strategy to address some of our nation’s toughest national security challenges. Now, as COO of the National Cybersecurity Center, I am part of a larger Colorado Springs ecosystem, leading the country in fulfilling our obligation to steward the future of cybersecurity. That future includes a cybersecure workforce that will work to provide critical cybersecurity infrastructure in a constantly changing landscape. The Colorado cybersecurity ecosystem is

strong. In addition to NCC, the state is home to seven military installations, has the secondlargest space economy, and ser ves as home base for more than 360 cybersecurity organizations. These include the University of Colorado School of Medicine’s Scott Sage Center for Health AI, National Cybermore than 30 federal security Center research labs and the most sophisticated communications network in the country. Colorado is also home to many other partner organizations, including the University of Colorado system, Space Foundation, Space ISAC, and Catalyst Campus. NCC influences the domestic cybersecurity protocol by serving as a public and private education incubator for the robust collaboration that is essential to securing cyberspace. In an era when digital threats are escalating, cybersecurity is no longer just an IT issue; it’s a societal one. Cyber is now fully integrated into the very fabric of society — our critical infrastructure. Cybersecurity education and protection are crucial for the stability, safety and operational integrity of health care systems, educational institutions and human services organizations, ensuring that personal data, research and services are not at risk of disruption or exploitation. In 2023, NCC won a Small Business

Association grant, which allowed us to partner with Metropolitan State University of Denver to train 95 aspiring cybersecurity analysts, now providing intrusion detection system monitoring to 10 additional communities through support from the Alan Paller Laureate Program. With eight other organizations in our ecosystem, we developed the National Science Foundation Resilient Space Infrastructures, Systems and Economy Engine to establish Colorado Springs as a regional tech hub. As we enter 2024, we continue to see the significance of leveraging NCC’s applied technology and interdisciplinary educational partnerships to develop a sustainable Colorado workforce equipped to protect our nation’s systems, networks and programs from digital attacks. NCC will remain fully committed to the robust cyber and spacecyber ecosystem with a steadfast focus on leadership, collaboration and education. Additionally, NCC will be supporting small and medium-sized business owners as we equip our ecosystem against cybersecurity threats. It starts with talking to individual employees about their role in securing and protecting the information of their colleagues, customers and the company. There should be policies in place that define acceptable and unacceptable practices. Also important is limiting the number of users in the company who will have administrative access, minimizing the risks of downloading viruses and malicious software.

It almost goes without saying that businesses need to set up firewalls, encrypt information, and make sure their Wi-Fi network is hidden and password protected. Businesses need to be selective of the information that is being stored in company databases and set up automated backup of company data according to the level of company activity. As cybersecurity threats continue to evolve, we need to maintain a constant state of alertness and build a cybersecurity strategy centered around several pillars. These include investing in technology, providing comprehensive education and training, conducting regular security assessments, adhering to industry standards, developing incident response plans, and integrating cybersecurity into business strategy. Doing so enables businesses to identify and mitigate risks, respond swiftly to incidents and protect valuable digital assets — today and in the future. How we approach cybersecurity in the next decade will have an exponential ripple effect on the future of humanity. I hope many will be inspired to collaborate with the NCC in engaging our ecosystem to steward our cybersecure future. As our CEO, retired Lt. Gen. Harry Raduege likes to point out, “Our daily actions, services, and products support our national security in ways that we might never witness or realize personally.” Scott Sage is the COO of the National Cybersecurity Center.

2023: A year of innovation and growth

am proud to ref lect on the remarkable achievements we have made in 2023 to bolster the workforce for job seekers and businesses in the Pikes Peak region, encompassing El Paso and Teller counties. This reflection also provides an opportunity to anticipate the trends we might see in our labor force in 2024. In 2023, our focus was on bridging the gap bet ween talented job Traci Marques seekers and the businesses that need Pikes Peak them. Pikes Peak Workforce Cen- Workforce Center ter, the region’s U.S. Department of Labor American Job Center, is a neutral third party that helps businesses find the talent they need, and job seekers

find a quality, sustaining job. Businesses continue to have a difficult time finding the talent they need; we know in 2023, there was less than .68 of a person available for every job opening in our region. Thus, our Business Relations Team turned toward innovative ways to help educate and inform businesses on ways to revamp their hiring, retention and attraction practices. Utilizing local, state and national workforce resources and funding, we successfully implemented several initiatives that not only aided job seekers in finding fulfilling employment but also helped businesses identify and train skilled employees. Enhanced skill-development programs Recognizing the ever-evolving job market, we expanded our skill-development programs. These included upskill-

ing opportunities in digital literacy, cybersecurity and health care — sectors that have shown tremendous growth in our region. Partnerships with local businesses We strengthened our collaboration with local businesses to better understand their needs. This led to more targeted job fairs and networking events, directly connecting employers with a skilled workforce. Support for underrepresented groups Special attention was given to underrepresented groups, including veterans, those who are differently abled and to youths. Tailored programs were introduced to integrate these groups more effectively into the workforce. continued on p. 22 ➔

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OPINION ➔ continued from p. 21

Data-driven strategies Leveraging data analytics, we identified employment trends and in-demand skills, enabling us to advise job seekers and employers more accurately.

Looking ahead: Emerging trends

As we look toward 2024, several trends are expected to shape the labor force in the Pikes Peak region: Increased automation and AI integration Automation and AI are expected to play a larger role in various sectors. We must prepare our workforce to adapt to these changes by offering training in AI ethics, machine learning and data management. Additionally, we must ensure we maintain our own emotional intelligence — self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. While AI will be part of the workforce, so will humans — and the sooner we understand this correlation, the better we will be! Remote work and flexibility The pandemic has irrevocably altered the landscape of

work. In 2024, we anticipate a continued preference for remote work options and flexible schedules. This trend calls for a shift in how we prepare job seekers for the market and how businesses manage their teams. Additionally, we foresee businesses continuing to ask themselves if their remote/ hybrid option works for them, and whether it affects productivity. Are we missing spontaneous hallway conversations and other opportunities for creativity and collaboration? Job quality with focus on mental health and well-being People want a quality job with livable wages and benefits (FYI, benefits these days may include pet insurance!). However, they are also looking for a schedule that promotes work-life balance, an environment that provides physical, emotional and psychological safety, and wellness, growth opportunities, potential career pathways in their organization, and a sense of belonging — being connected to peers and leadership and being accepted for who they are. Additionally, the importance of mental health in the workplace has been increasingly recognized. Companies that prioritize the well-being of their employees will likely see higher productivity and retention rates.

Continued focus on K-12 education K-12 education needs to produce a “product” that businesses want to “buy,” aka, job seekers they can hire with the skills that companies need. These education conversations need to be data-informed, community-driven, and most importantly, with businesses fully involved. Strategic collaboration In reality, we are still suffering the side effects of the pandemic — yet we have significant growth opportunities in our region. The CHIPS Act, Infrastructure Funds, expansion of businesses, etc., will bring the community together to strategically build our future workforce. As we move into 2024, the Pikes Peak Workforce Center is committed to adapting to these trends and continuing our support for both job seekers and businesses in our community. Together, we can build a resilient, skilled and inclusive workforce that drives the economic growth and prosperity of the greater Colorado Springs area. Traci Marques is executive director/CEO of the Pikes Peak Workforce Center.

Improving lives in the community

t’s no secret that 2023 has been a challenging year for hospitals and other health care facilities across the nation, and Colorado Springs was no exception. Even so, as I reflect on the past 12 months in which I’ve served as Lonnie Cramer president and CEO of UCHealth UCHealth’s southern region, I am both filled with gratitude and proud of the outstanding medical care provided throughout our community. Working in health care requires a passion to serve others, and we are fortunate in the Pikes Peak region that so many of our friends and neighbors have chosen this career path. At UCHealth, we have been focused this past year on several priorities — constantly improving quality and safety, elevating our patients’ and visitors’ experience, and improving access — so everyone we serve can receive the care they need. To meet demand and serve patients closer to their homes, we opened two medical centers in 2023: Interquest Medical Center on the city’s north side and Eastview Medical Center on the Powers corridor. We also added a new 20-bed unit at Memorial Central in November and plan to open a second new 20-bed unit [in December]. We are also focused on operating efficiently and reducing the overall cost of care, especially as expenses rise in areas ranging from pharmaceuticals to labor costs to supplies. We’ve also focused on workforce recruitment and retention — one of the greatest challenges in health care. As our community is growing, demands for health care are ris22

ing. But according to the Colorado Hospital Association, the state is expected to be short 10,000 nurses and 54,000 ancillary health care workers by 2026. UCHealth has partnered with both UCCS and Pikes Peak State College to grow our nursing and behavioral health workforce. We also offer 100 percent tuition-paid programs — ranging from health care certificates to master’s programs — so employees can progress in their careers. In addition, we’ve worked hard to create innovative staffing models to ensure we retain the talent we have and be an employer of choice for those looking to enter the health care field. For instance, UCHealth asked nurses how we could better help them do their jobs. What we found is that they felt they were spending too much time addressing technology issues, such as managing inventory and equipment that monitors patients. After learning those concerns, we created a new role at our hospitals: We now have more than 100 patient technology technicians, who work all shifts and are a vital part of our team. The PTTs are skilled at addressing technology issues, and nurses are now able to spend more time at the bedside and practice at the top of their scope. We’ve also created job-sharing programs and a FlexSchedule program, which enables nurses to select work schedules that allow them greater blocks of time off. Hospitals, though, aren’t the only health care facilities facing staffing shortages and financial challenges. According to an August report by the American Health Care Association, 579 nursing homes across the nation have closed since the COVID pandemic because of labor issues, low government reimbursement rates and inflation. Across Colorado, 14 nursing homes have shut down since the start of the COVID pandemic; four

COLORADO SPRINGS BUSINESS JOURNAL | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | CSBJ.com

of the closures were in El Paso and Teller counties, according to the Colorado Health Care Association, which represents the nursing home and assisted living professions. Because of the shortage of beds in longterm care facilities, patients who could otherwise be discharged from hospitals sometimes wind up staying there for weeks or months waiting for a bed at a skilled nursing facility. This issue will only intensify with a growing aging population. With such challenges in front of us, we are always striving to find ways to become more efficient, maintain high-quality care and always remember our mission, which is to improve lives. This focus includes those in the communities we serve, and several new initiatives are doing just that. Among them: • UCHealth, in partnership with the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration and Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center, launched a community collaborative to prevent suicides among veterans in our communities. The program, called Next Chapter, has already served more than 700 veterans and their family members. • At Memorial Hospital Central, we opened Colorado’s first in-house Nurse Examiner unit. The Forensic Center of Excellence, adjacent to the emergency department, supports patients who have experienced sexual assault, intimate partner violence and assaults such as strangulation. Our expert forensic nurse examiners and sexual assault nurse examiners have so far served more than 3,000 patients in 2023. • UCHealth has provided significant benefits to the communities we serve, helping address social determinants of health, providing behavioral health resources, and offering programs that improve the overall health of people across our state. Recently, we were able to provide shelter

to unhoused veterans as part of a Transitional Housing Initiative. UCHealth also partners with three law enforcement agencies in the county for co-responder programs that respond to mental healthrelated emergency calls. • For those Coloradans seeking comprehensive health insurance coverage that includes in-network access to all of UCHealth, CU Medicine, Intermountain Health, AdventHealth and other affiliates, they can choose from the Select Health Value and Value CO Option plans. New to the insurance exchange in 2024, Select Health represents a collaborative effort between UCHealth and Intermountain Health, offering exceptional care and value. Additionally, the Anthem Pathway and Pathway CO Option plans feature UCHealth and CU Medicine providers in their network. Cigna Connect and Kaiser KP Select are also options that include southern Colorado facilities in-network. • And soon, the community will have a permanent Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit, which brings emergency stroke care to patients during a health crisis in which every minute matters. We expect this new unit to be in service in early 2024. UCHealth launched mobile stroke care in 2016, sharing a mobile unit with Aurora. This second unit will be exclusive to the Colorado Springs area. None of this — along with myriad other health care advances in our community — could be done without the commitment of our staff and providers. Be assured that we will continue to work hard in the coming year to improve lives in our community. I wish you all happiness and health in 2024. Lonnie Cramer is president and CEO of UCHealth’s Pikes Peak region hospitals.

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213 Coffee Pot Drive Crystal Park - $64,900

Tierra Berienda Drive Pueblo - $110,000

1404 Ledge Rock Terrace Pinon Bluffs Town Homes - $525,000

1295 Winterhall Point – The Enclaves at Bayfield - $549,900

5 lots in classy upscale subdivision of 37 homes. Complex has clubhouse with pool table, kitchen, meeting area, & indoor pool. Build to meet HOA guidelines which include stucco exterior, stucco privacy walls & tile roof. Can buy 1 to 5 lots (package deals). Each lot can be sold individually for $25,000 each. Nice area in walking distance to shopping & dining yet quiet & tucked away. MLS# 5194232

Stucco & stone end unit 3068 sq ft 4 bed, 3 bath rancher townhome with amazing mountain & city views. Master suite with 2 walk-in closets & 5-piece master bath. Open kitchen with wrap around bar. 2 gas log fireplace. Builtins. 12x12 covered Trex deck & 12x12 patio. Walkout basement with large family & wet bar. 2-car finished garage. A/C. HOA takes care of everything outside for you. Move-in ready! MLS# 7912985

WHEN YOU’RE SERIOUS ABOUT REAL ESTATE CLASSIFIEDS | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | INDY

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INDY | Dec. 20 - 26, 2023 | CLASSIFIEDS