Hump day! What a great day. Here’s the news.

For today’s top story, Jessica Mordacq covers the Boulder institution, Mike’s Camera, and its restoration of precious photos thought lost in the Marshall Fire. Thanks to massive discounts for the fire’s victims, some are having their family photos restored for free.

One of the main characters in this story, Melissa Lockman, was featured in Eli Imadali’s must-read multimedia piece we published about the Marshall Fire in collaboration with KUNC and NPR.

Also, thank you to the hundreds who responded to our survey. Your input is invaluable. And congratulations to the winners of our First Bite gift cards. May you First Bite with joy.

On a similar feedback note, we’re thinking about how best to cover the upcoming election to serve your needs. If you have questions you want answered, requests for topics, or a voter guide layout you’d find most helpful, respond to this email and let us know.

Bask in the glory of today and tomorrow. We’ll see you Friday.

— Tim, reporter

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What to know today

  • Temperate, delightful weather continues: High 60s and low 70s make up the next couple days. Some clouds and cooler temps could roll in on Friday.
  • Commissioners seeking cash for bikes and buses: Boulder County commissioners are seeking $35 million in federal grant money to build transportation projects along Diagonal Highway and State Highway 7. These projects would make it easier to take the bus and safer to ride a bike along the busy highways.
    • Later this month, transportation planners said they will submit applications to the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG), a regional planning agency governed by local elected officials, including Boulder City Councilmember Nicole Speer. The organization dishes out federal taxpayer money to local governments through a competitive application process. DRCOG will likely announce its funding decisions in early 2023.
    • The proposed projects include building a bike path down the center of the Diagonal Highway from Boulder to Longmont and piloting a RTD bus route from Boulder to Brighton along State Highway 7.
  • So is the City of Boulder: The city is also seeking federal funding to build bus lanes and bike paths along the same highways. Later this year, city staff will apply for money to continue building safer intersections and new bike lanes along 30th Street.
    • The city may also seek funding to help design a protected bike lane along Folsom from Pine Street to Colorado Ave., where there is only a painted bike lane next to two car lanes.
  • City staff member appointed to Colorado Energy Code Board: Carolyn Elam, a City of Boulder sustainability senior manager (and frequent climate source of BRL), has been appointed to the 21-member board. She was nominated as a solar panel expert.
    • “I am honored to be selected to serve on this important board,” said Elam. “Buildings — the energy we use to heat and cool them, and the electricity we use within them — are a significant source of our state’s emissions. Stronger building codes, adopted statewide, will really move the needle, not just in terms of emissions reduction, but also for ensuring that efficient, healthy and resilient buildings are accessible to all communities across the state.”
    • The energy board reviews and recommends energy codes in new buildings and remodels.
  • Another monkey virus could be poised for spillover to humans: A family of viruses, causing fatal “ebola-like” symptoms, is already sweeping through wild African primates. This virus could make the jump to humans, according to a new study out of CU published online Sept. 30 in the journal Cell.
    • Though no one has been affected yet, caution is still in order, as the virus that led to HIV originated in African monkeys.
    • “This animal virus has figured out how to gain access to human cells, multiply itself, and escape some of the important immune mechanisms we would expect to protect us from an animal virus. That’s pretty rare,” said author Sara Sawyer, a professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at CU Boulder. “We should be paying attention to it.”
    • If not this virus, another is sure to jump from animals to humans before long. Just as COVID did.
    • “COVID is just the latest in a long string of spillover events from animals to humans, some of which have erupted into global catastrophes,” Sawyer said. “Our hope is that by raising awareness of the viruses that we should be looking out for, we can get ahead of this, so that if human infections begin to occur we’re on it quickly.”
  • CU football coach fired: After two-plus seasons with the Buffs, CU’s coach Karl Dorrell has been “relieved of his duties.” In a letter, the chancellor cites “the performance on the field last season and so far this season” as not living up to expectations. From a buyout clause in his contract, Dorrell will still be paid roughly $8.7 million over the next few years unless he gains employment elsewhere. None of that money, the chancellor states in his letter, “will come from tuition money, taxpayer dollars or the campus general fund.”
    • The Buffs have yet to win a game this year. Over their five games, they’ve lost by an average of 30 points.

Go deeper

‘Awe, gratitude and amazement’: Mike’s Camera in Boulder has been quietly restoring photographs for Marshall Fire survivors at a discount or for free

By Jessica Mordacq

In February, when Melissa Lockman and her friend, Jenevieve Russell, visited the remnants of Lockman’s Louisville home that burned down in the Marshall Fire, they knew it would likely be the last time. Debris removal would soon be scheduled, and their expectations of finding any intact keepsakes were low. 

Since the December 2021 disaster, Lockman had already been several times to the lot where the house once stood with her husband and two children, 6 and 11. They recovered any possessions they could from the charred footprint. 

But the two friends and colleagues, both trauma therapists at Joy Collective in Boulder, sought one last time to sift through the rubble in respirators, steel-toed shoes and hazmat suits — not looking for anything specific but knowing mementos might still be in the ground.

They chanced upon decades of priceless memories, and, later, the kindness of a local business during a frantic time.

Continue reading…

TOGETHER WITH First Bite
A BRL Presenting Partner sponsor

The menus are live and First Bite diners are clamoring for reservations for the upcoming 10 days of culinary creativity in Boulder, Sept. 30 – Oct. 9. The 17th annual dining event will highlight over 30 locally owned restaurants in Boulder County, each offering menus that fit the dining style of their establishment. Diners can also celebrate the dining scene through a new industry award and preview tours. Learn more at First Bite.

BRL picks

🌲 Applications open for naturalist training: Boulder County is seeking applications for volunteer naturalist training classes. Naturalists lead hikes, present slides, and work with school groups both in the classroom and on trails. If you’re interested in sharing nature with others, apply by Oct. 31. If selected, training will be every Friday from Jan. 6 to March 10. Ongoing weekday availability is a must.

👻 ‘Meet the Spirits’ at Columbia Cemetery: From noon to 5 p.m. on Oct. 9, Boulderites can learn pieces of Boulder’s history from costumed orators. CU professors, prospectors, and gunslingers may make appearances. Tickets are necessary, unless you’re a fourth grader.

🦀 Pop up raw bar at Avanti: From Oct. 6 to Oct. 23, Rooted Craft Kitchen is bringing a raw bar to the old cheesecake factory. On the menu will be both east and west coast oysters, shrimp cocktails and Hawaiian Ahi tuna poke.

👐 Reminder — Colorado kick-off of Compassionate Care ALS: “Compassionate Care ALS’ mission is to enhance quality of life and to be of service for people diagnosed with ALS, their families and communities as they navigate the physical and emotional complexities associated with the disease.” Founder of CCALS Ron Hoffman is hosting the organization’s Colorado kick-off event at the Boulder Theater on Oct. 11, from 1 – 3 p.m. RSVP here.

Covid in Boulder County: Oct. 5, 2022

  • 69 daily new cases (7-day avg.) ⬇️ Down 36% over preceding 7-day avg.
  • 13 patients hospitalized with Covid (7-day avg.) ⬇️ Down from a high of 16 last week.
  • 38% percent of ICU is occupied. ⬇️ Down from avg. of 65% since July 2020.

What else we’re reading

  • CU students see recent Hill shooting as a symptom of a greater problem. “It didn’t surprise me at all just because I’ve kind of been waiting for it to happen,” said CU senior Jack Olsen. “As messed up as that sounds with all the repeated threats of violence in the past four or five weeks, something like this was just bound to happen.”

ICYMI

Tim Drugan is the climate and environment reporter for Boulder Reporting Lab, covering wildfires, water and other related topics. He is also the lead writer of BRL Today, our morning newsletter. Email: tim@boulderreportinglab.org.