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Canadian municipalities looking to become ‘spongier’ to build climate resilience

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

MONTREAL — From green roofs in Toronto to Vancouver’s rain city strategy, Canadian cities are looking to become “sponges” in order to help mitigate some of the effects of extreme rainfall events. In Montreal, Mayor Valérie Plante announced last week that the city plans to develop some 30 additional “sponge parks” designed to catch and absorb rainwater and keep it from flowing into overburdened sewers during extreme rain events.Those, combined with an additional 400 “sponge sidewalks,” featuring added vegetation squares, will help the city retain the equivalent of three Olympic swimming pools in water at “half the cost of underground works,” the city said in a news release.Melanie Glorieux, a sustainable landscape planner with the firm Rousseau Lefebvre said that while the concept of building a “sponge city” isn’t new, it’s an idea that more and more municipalities are embracing as they cope with extreme we...

Patchy frost clears for a warmer Sunday in St. Louis

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- Patchy frost is around this morning, but Sunday will be a warmer day. More clouds are around, with highs near 70. Another cold front slides through this evening, bringing with it another shot of cooler air and maybe a spot of snow northeast of St. Louis. Clearing skies towards morning, wake-up temps in the mid-40s. Sunny and highs in the low to mid-60s on Monday. Another shot at some patchy frost Tuesday morning, out-of-door temperatures in the upper 30s to low 40s.Our next rainmaking system will arrive in the middle of the week. We are watching for a couple of days of rain, from Wednesday through Friday.

Possible three-day closure of Walgreens pharmacies, staff concerns

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

ST. LOUIS — Some Walgreens pharmacies across the country may close for three days this week as pharmacists and their support staff consider walking off the job from Monday through Wednesday. Employees cite challenging working conditions that make it difficult to safely fill prescriptions.They contend that the requirement to administer shots for the flu and COVID makes staffing issues worse. On the other hand, Walgreens states that it has increased training for new pharmacists but has temporarily paused training for non-critical workers during the immunization season.

Denver Sheriff Department staffing shortage worsens, overtime soars: “It’s never been this bad”

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

For nearly three decades, Denver sheriff’s Deputy Mike Jackson has worked at the Denver County Jail on the far northeast side of town.But on a recent overtime shift, he was sent to the city’s Downtown Detention Center — an unfamiliar facility with unfamiliar procedures — and was teamed up with three other deputies who also weren’t regulars at the downtown jail. One deputy usually worked in court, another came from training and the third was a firearms instructor, said Jackson, who is president of the Denver Sheriff Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #27.And while Jackson knew how to supervise inmates, he didn’t know the ins and outs of procedures at the downtown jail — and neither did anyone else on his team that day.“None of us know what is going on,” he said. “We’ve all been put on one floor and everybody is like, ‘Hey, do you know about this? Do you know about this?’ And nobody knows anything. In my 29 years tha...

Denver’s National Western Center, short an equestrian center, faces uncertain path. Will a hotel save it?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

Officials leading Denver’s National Western Center campus overhaul have a 17-acre void on their project map — with a glaring funding gap that threatens one of the marquee components of the city-led undertaking, now years delayed and significantly beyond its budget.While a new 357,000-square-foot livestock center is rising around the longtime home of the Stock Show in northern Denver, a second major event facility — a cavernous equestrian center that would sit across a plaza from it — exists only on paper. The city can’t afford both massive buildings, which were supposed to be finished by the end of this year under a 2015 master plan that won city voters’ support for tourism tax extensions.It’s a major setback for a project that’s already marshaled more than $1 billion in city, state and private money. The plan’s aim was to keep the Stock Show in Denver while transforming its dusty outpost into a year-round exhibition, agricultura...

Mixed-use Denargo Market, Denver’s largest infill project, to add “vibrancy” to RiNo

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

Denver’s largest infill project, Denargo Market, plans to develop land that has stood empty for years north of downtown, create a stronger connection between the South Platte River and the Brighton Boulevard corridor, and provide the River North Art District neighborhood with its tallest buildings.But rather than throwing up apartments as quickly as possible to generate rents, developers Golub & Co. and Formativ are leading with public improvements, including four acres of open space and other community amenities near the river that are expected to open in the summer of 2025.“Developing 17 acres of prime riverfront space here in Denver is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and the culmination of years of development work in this area for our team,” said Sean Campbell, CEO of Formativ. “This is the largest infill taking shape in Denver right now, and it will be a game changer for inclusivity in our city.”Denargo Market represents a $1.5 billion investment, with about a ...

In a drying West, every drop counts. A new Colorado-created tool could help farmers care for their crops — and themselves.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

SAN LUIS — When the water is flowing down from the mountains, Joe Lobato wakes up most mornings and drives from his home in San Luis to his fields spread across the valley where his family has farmed for more than 100 years.During spring and summer runoff, Lobato uses a series of ditches to direct water to the fields where he grows alfalfa, mixed grains and Timothy grass. He strategically opens and closes a series of gates and places tarps in the ditches to direct the water to flood his fields at the right time.But driving all over Costilla County and manually opening and closing gates or placing tarps to direct water is time intensive — especially since Lobato and his family all work other full-time jobs in addition to farming.“You have to work a day job to afford to farm or ranch,” he said.The Lobatos are one of the first farming families in the state to try a new, Colorado-grown technology aimed at reducing farmers’ workload and managing Colorado’s s...

Nuggets Journal: Michael Malone “not giving any minutes away” as he remodels Denver’s second unit

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

SAN DIEGO — Known figures in the world of basketball and beyond to whom various Nuggets players have been compared this week: Larry Bird, Ricky Rubio, Marco Polo.The latter wasn’t so much a basketball comp as a spiritual one, drawn across centuries. Michael Malone was discussing the adventurous qualities of Aaron Gordon after one of Denver’s training camp practices. “That guy, he’s like Marco Polo, man,” Malone said. “World traveler.”The other two comparisons were all about hoops, although one was several measures more reasonable than the other.No, the Larry Bird bond was not referring to Nikola Jokic.“Hunter Tyson, he’s like Larry Bird,” Malone said Thursday. “The way he’s shooting the 3-point shot is just tremendous, and he plays so hard.”The 37th pick in this year’s draft is not going to turn into Larry Bird. (But then again, Jokic did get picked 41st.) Either way, Tyson has made an impression in Denver thanks to h...

Beards, backpacks and replacing Bruce Brown: How Nuggets’ Christian Braun heightened his confidence after rookie year, became “best player in our gym most days this summer”

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

SAN DIEGO — If the prevailing theme of Christian Braun’s offseason was trying to do more, he came up short in one category.Sporting a mild stubble Monday morning inside Ball Arena, Braun proclaimed that he sprouted a beard during his time off and wanted to rock it at media day. Three days later, discouraged by negative reviews, he reflected on the journey.“I was back home, and the full beard grew on my face. I didn’t really expect it,” Braun told The Denver Post. “Some people like it. Some people hate it. Most people hate it. … The players aren’t fans of it. Some tell me to cut that (bleep) off.”Braun was incredulous at the obvious follow-up question: So it was actually a full beard at first, earlier this summer?“Why do you say ‘at first?'” the 22-year-old guard retorted. “It’s not a full beard now?”The beard schtick, and Braun’s general use of humor recently when asked about his summer, has been his...

For Buium brothers and DU hockey, this season is all about becoming college hockey’s undisputed juggernaut

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

After last season’s promising 30-win campaign ended with a disappointing loss in the first round of the national tournament, DU is determined to get back to the mountaintop and stake its claim as college hockey’s undisputed juggernaut.But for the Pioneers to break a tie with Michigan for all-time NCAA Division I championships by claiming their 10th this season, they’ll need the Buium brothers to play a pivotal role.Shai Buium, a junior, is a linchpin on the back end for the Pioneers, while his younger brother, fellow defender and freshman Zeev Buium, is expected to make an impact in his draft-eligible season. Shai helped propel DU to the NCAA title two years ago, and Zeev is a notable rising talent who at 17 is the second-youngest college player in the country.“Shai’s primed and ready to go to take a huge step for us,” DU captain McKade Webster said. “He’s going to be one of our best defensemen, a huge penalty-kill guy. He’s obvi...