Ben Markus @CPRMarkus Twitter profile

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

THREAD ... Earlier this year I was working on a story about the "third wave" of COVID in Colorado. Not an investigation, just a look at the craziness the state found itself in: cases rising, Polis tests positive, counties want stay-at-home, etc. Suddenly that changed ...

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

Is this from an episode of Parks and Rec?

Rex Chapman🏇🏼

@RexChapman

4 years

Come for the crazy. Stay for the butchering of “God Bless America”...

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

THREAD: Colorado’s vote by mail for all system is regularly held up as the gold standard of elections. Indeed, for the vast majority of voters, it’s convenient and secure. However ...

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

THREAD: This stat shocked me: Colorado now suffers about 4,000 wildfires a year. Everything from a small brush fire in the metro area to a huge forest fire in the mountains. So what is starting these fires? Are they escaped campfires? Or lightning? Or arson?

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

I took the data directly from the federal source, and looked at it myself. Not only was Colorado double the national average in nursing home deaths in Dec, but it was the #1 state for deaths per bed between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

5 years

The in-laws must be in town — the ziplock bags are getting washed.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

1 year

Since 2016: - Super Bowl champions - Stanley Cup champions - NBA Finals champions Denver is Titletown

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

6 years

It started as a mystery in the news community. Top reporters and editors resigning one by one from The Denver Post. Where were they going? Now we know:

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

Take a deep breath, Denver. AQI hasn’t been this good in a long time. #cowx

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

2 years

At the psilocybin watch party. And the Prop 122 folks picked a very … psychedelic spot in RiNo.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

2 years

BREAKING: Leslie Herod is running for mayor of Denver. A champion of criminal justice reform, she is widely expected to be a formidable candidate.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

5 years

Reporter 1: "Why does anyone talk to the media?" Reporter 2: "I would never talk to me." @OHnewsroom

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

2 years

Double rainbow over Denver now.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

END. Read much more here:

How Colorado Caught COVID: The Third Wave

Colorado was the deadliest state in the nation for nursing homes between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year. Here's how it happened.

www.cpr.org

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

I stumbled onto the AARP dashboard. It tracks federal data from nursing homes. I was shocked at what I saw. The red line is Colorado. Purple is US average.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

Even public health experts were shocked. Dr. Mark Johnson, the now former JeffCo Public Health director: "These numbers, I have not seen these graphs before. And that is, that is rather startling."

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

So we decided to dig into how this happened. We spent more than $1,000 on records (thousands of page), spoke with dozens of experts, reviewed call recordings and transcripts not open to the public.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

THREAD: Ever wonder why Colorado is so far behind on COVID-19 testing? A CPR News investigation found that the roots of the problem started back in March.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

1 year

Denver in top 5 cities for unhealthy air quality.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

I know this is a long thread, but I worked on this story for MONTHS. Almost done.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

6 years

On trial for rape? Not a problem for John Elway. Peaceful protest for civil rights? That’s a step too far.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

6 years

My wife got me a drone. She’s already regretting it.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

THREAD: A few months ago my editors told me to do something on elections. That’s when things got weird...

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

2 years

THREAD: The 10 year anniversary of the Aurora theater shooting is in a few months. Twelve people were killed. It's the first and only time I felt like I was reporting from a war zone. Survivors in shock, some covered in dried blood. This is the story of what happened after...

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

7 months

Much love to the folks at @denverpost who contributed the lion’s share of the drinks money for CPR to drown some sorrows @DenverPressClub .

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

For reasons that aren't totally clear Polis refused to move the counties for 15 days after that plea, despite the collapse of testing and contact tracing. Polis would not talk to us. We asked him three times over several months.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

2 years

On the scene in 1997 @jimbcbs4

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

5 years

Me: trying to quickly write a story for tomorrow. My daughter: ‘dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, daaaaaaad.’ Me: ‘what?!’ Her: ‘do you like brown?’

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

5 years

@DSpencer4_ @NickiJhabvala I read this differently at first.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

So, let's go back to Oct 1. That was Lee Gonzales' birthday. And the last day she saw her husband alive. He was living in the Four Corners nursing home in Durango.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

These are the hallmarks of virus containment. Test to identify positive cases. Find close contacts to limit the spread. What Polis and his health department CDPHE didn't tell you was those systems were in collapse within weeks.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

1 year

Big CBA award for the great @KyleClark and his microgiving campaign, Word of Thanks. 👏

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

We obtained an Oct. 28 transcript of a call CDPHE had with local public health directors. Our attorney had to fight for it after CDPHE denied the recording. The state lab was "largely maxed out." The state lab handled almost all nursing home testing.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

5 years

As someone who primarily walks around Denver, I think only one of these things can be true: the report itself is BS or walkability in every city is in dire shape.

Denver ranks 2nd among 'walkable' cities

Denver trails only the Big Apple when it comes to walking for work, shopping and home, according to a report released Monday.

www.coloradopolitics.com

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

There’s much more in the story. Give it a read:

Colorado Vote By Mail's Uncounted Ballots: Diverse Areas And Younger Voters More Likely To Have...

A combination of voter errors, a variety of signature examination techniques and equipment, and language barriers have contributed to the discarded valid votes over the years.

www.cpr.org

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

A week later, on Nov. 4, at another CDPHE/county call, the state dropped a bomb. Contact tracing was now overwhelmed. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist:

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

6 years

My kid got into our first choice for DPS kindergarten, and the reaction in the home was like she got into college.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

SHORT THREAD: When Gov. Jared Polis does a press conference lately, there’s always a question about if he’ll order people to stay at home again as COVID cases skyrocket. It turns out county public health directors are asking the same question...

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

2 years

@nbminor Colorado

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

5 years

THREAD: Sometimes as a reporter I'm embarrassed by the things I probably should have known all along. This story is a good example.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

We examined four elections, the last two general (2016 and 2018) and last two primaries (both this year). What we found was more than 100,000 rejected ballots. Enough uncounted votes to fill Mile High, Pepsi Center and have 5,000 in the parking lot.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

The next day public health directors around the state sent a letter back to CDPHE and Gov. Jared Polis, begging them to do something.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

1 year

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

Read more here:

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

The other county directors agreed. Reynolds continued. She was upset with state leadership:

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

CDPHE crammed that news into the last seven minutes of the call. Later that day, county public health directors were freaked out. On a call we obtained Joni Reynolds, the Gunnison County public health director, was emotional.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

A few days later Gov. Jared Polis held a press conference where he assured Coloradans that the state had COVID under control.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

So, given all this new information, surely the state would start to lock down counties. But no. By Nov. 4, JeffCo was in the "red," in terms of COVID cases, but CDPHE, in a letter signed by Jill Hunsaker Ryan the director thought that wasn't right...

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

Polis eventually put counties into a modified red level. And that worked, cases started to decline. But outbreaks at nursing homes had doubled in those 15 days of delay.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

I’ve noticed very few people wearing masks. Maybe 1 in 5 at the most. My daughter and I try to give them the stink eye over our masks.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

This came as a shock to the Durango public health officials. No boots on the ground help was on the way. On Dec. 15 Lee Gonzales got a call that he husband was dead. 24 people died at Four Corners, so many that the county coroner had to use a freezer truck to store the bodies.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

On Nov 20, Polis moved counties into the red. By then, no other state's nursing homes suffered longer test turnaround times than Colorado:

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

THREAD: The previously untold story of Colorado’s early response to COVID-19.

How Colorado Caught COVID-19

Colorado can learn from the coronavirus pandemic, so it is better prepared for the next.

projects.cpr.org

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

Elections officials say voters can fix a signature that doesn’t match. And they can even do it on their phone. They have until 8 days after the election to do it. But the vast majority of people do not cure their ballot. And so thousands of votes go uncounted.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

And it was too late for the many nursing homes. Also on Nov 20, an email came into the public health office in Durango. The Four Corners nursing home had its first case. Two hours later, the second. Within weeks nearly the entire facility was infected.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

The single most common reason was a signature on a ballot envelope that didn’t match what was on file.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

But that was only half true. Curative had approval for SYMPTOMATIC testing not ASYMPTOMATIC testing.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

Denver now #1 in the world.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

One more side note to this story: about halfway through the third wave, with the CDPHE's state lab overwhelmed, suffering it's own COVID outbreak, Colorado suddenly switched to an unproven, experimental testing provider called Curative. Within days nursing homes were alarmed.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

Back to the "strike force" for a moment. Force implies more than one person. But according to a Oct. 21 org chart, Myers was the only full time employee.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

Young voters are most likely to have a ballot rejected for signature mismatch. More than 10x more likely than older voters. Why? They have fewer signatures on file. And the top signature may be from DMV digital pad, which is difficult to match to their pen and paper signature.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

7 months

What prompted a state bill to limit access to public records in Colorado? Parents in one school district believe it started with a crime.

Did questions about assaults on Poudre School buses spark a state push to close government records?

The timing of a proposed bill limiting access to public records lines up neatly with concerns expressed by Poudre school board members after the outcry over the assaults of students.

www.cpr.org

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

The local public health department called CDPHE looking for help from the much-hyped "strike force" for nursing homes. Polis had praised it as a national model. Turns out it wasn't a strike force at all ... according to the guy who leads it at CDPHE, Peter Myers.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

@byBethRankin my child is a part of that...

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

Jill Hunsaker Ryan, CDPHE's exec dir, did agree to an interview. It's the closest we'll get to Polis's thinking:

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

2 years

Almost 12 years at CPR, and I finally made the list.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

Weld and Adams have significant differences in technology, budgets, and ... demographics. Studies have found Hispanics have much higher rates of rejected ballots. And Adams has double the Foreign-born population of Weld.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

On Jan 21, weeks after FDA's warning, months after local warnings, CDPHE suddenly dropped Curative. The same day, Tuneberg left CDPHE.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

But Adams doesn’t print cure letters, informing voters that their ballot was rejected, in Spanish ... like Denver and some other counties do.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

Bones Hyland: 7 points in 10 minutes off the bench. Rest of Nuggets guards (Morris, Facu, Howard, Rivers, Dozier)? Only 9 points combined.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

Denver area mayors, 26 of them, sign a letter to Polis, urging him to do more to respond to COVID-19. “...nine months into this crisis, there is widespread agreement that we must improve communication and coordination.”

Denver Metro Mayors Ask Polis For Better Communication And More Enforcement Of Coronavirus Rules

The debate over who should be the bearer of bad news for businesses and residents has gone on throughout November as local public health directors implored Polis to get tough on the virus.

www.cpr.org

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

We found that about 20 Colorado police departments, with a recent shooting, do not utilize body cams. Including Westminster PD, which had an unusually high rate of shootings. Most large departments, like Denver, do use body cams. Some smaller PDs cite cost as a barrier.

Allison Sherry

@allisonsherry

4 years

The transparency piece is addressed in this bill, requiring cops to wear body cams and requiring that body cam videos get released within 14 days of an incident. This also requires that state officials track these incidents in a transparent way.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

I called him up. We talked about how he was hiking and heard a gunshot, then saw smoke. Colton took detailed notes of his time out there. Did an investigator ever call him? A year after the largest fire in state history, no one bothered to ask him what he saw he says.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

THREAD (short): Colorado is currently #2 in the nation for COVID cases per 100k people in last seven days.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

The state says their review of nursing home death data shows that the Curative test didn't cause excess deaths. But here's an email from a doctor Columbine Health Systems, which manages long term care facilities.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

The problem was false positives. The state insisted that the test was the gold standard PCR and had emergency approval from FDA. Sarah Tuneberg, CDPHE's former testing lead in an email responding to concerns from nursing homes:

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

CDPHE state epidemiologist, Rachel Herlihy, decided to go off label and use Curative for asymptomatic use. Based, at least initially on 14 patients of data from the company. Here's Herlihy on the Oct 28 conference call where CDPHE also said the state lab was overwhelmed:

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

5 years

@KyleClark

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

The state talks often about the glowing reviews for its strike force. AARP and Polis called it a national model in a Nov 2 press conference. In May, Nathaniel Rateliff handed the strike force a good government award.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

Still, CDPHE stuck with the company.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

Colorado has the third highest COVID case rate in the US, according to NYT.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

Nursing homes continued to complain about false positives. CDPHE knew this, because the emails made their way to Tuneberg, Herlihy and Emily Travanty at the state lab. Their conversations though are heavily redacted.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

5 years

On this episode of perpetually dangerous Denver intersections: 19th & California, where the pedestrian signal rarely changes, forcing people to run across the street. And if you look closely the pedestrian signal is flipping you off. @DenPublicWorks

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

He's in Colorado hunting, sees smoke, calls it in. He took photos and video. He leaves his cell phone. I call him. Not only has an investigator never called him. He wasn't even warned to get off the mountain. He escaped that night with flames all around him, he says.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

1 year

NBA star Chauncey Billups endorses Mike Johnston for mayor. “Way before this campaign, he was there for the people of Park Hill when it wasn’t common for politicians to reach out to us. His dedication to my neighborhood and to every family in every neighborhood is inspiring.”

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

5 years

Did no roads get plowed in Denver?

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

We also found big disparities. First between counties: Adams county in the 2016 election had a ballot rejection rate that was almost 3x that of Weld County. The counties border each other.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

1 year

A lot of former candidates (and more) for mayor at Civic Center park to endorse Mike Johnston for mayor. -Ean Thomas Tafoya -James Coleman -Julie Gonzales - Terrance roberts - Al Gardner - Jim Walsh

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

5 years

Recorded my parts of this week’s Purplish from my bedroom. Special thanks to my daughter for respecting the ON AIR sign — most of the time.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

6 years

This is my story word-for-word, but with someone else’s byline.

Denver Post Business

@denverbusiness

6 years

After years of big growth, Colorado craft beer industry is slowing

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

CDPHE paid Curative about $90 million. The company rarely met the contract turnaround times of less than 48 hours. Here's an email from Four Corners nursing home in Durango.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

6 years

"Hickenlooper/Schwarzenegger 2020" would be the longest bumper sticker in presidential history.

John Hickenlooper

@Hickenlooper

6 years

It’s Judgement Day for redistricting & @Schwarzenegger & I think it’s time for us to do a Total Recall on gerrymandering…😂. But seriously, vote yes on Y&Z in Nov! @FairMapsColo #terminategerrymandering #YESonYandZ #copolitics

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

7 years

No matter which way this vote goes, there’s no denying @BenteBirkeland ’s reporting helped alter the course of an entire session and some #coleg member careers.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

5 months

How am I supposed to go to bed after that?

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 years

My wife took the remote and put on Schitt's Creek. And I didn’t put up any resistance.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

On Jan 4 the FDA issued a warning, using Curative off label risked false NEGATIVES.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

4 months

In 1974 a pair of Boulder bombings killed 6 Chicano activists. Recently, CU & the city supported sculptures & scholarships in their honor, martyrs for the cause of equity on campus. Sometimes hinting they may have been killed by authorities. The full story has never been told:

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

8 months

I use public records frequently, and Colorado is the toughest state I've ever worked in to obtain documents and data. Massive fees, recalcitrant govts, privilege claims. So I'm a *little* surprised when I hear there's a CORA bill ... and it's adding MORE roadblocks.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

5 years

My 4-year-old asked what magic mushrooms and guns are this evening. I struggled with both.

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Ben Markus

@CPRMarkus

3 years

But CDPHE exec dir Jill Hunsaker Ryan told me she didn't know about it.

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