The drive east on I-70 from Grand Junction, at 6:15 a.m. on a Friday morning, is more stock car race than commute. The highway’s packed with mud-caked pickups and dualies, all in a mad dash to the oil and gas rigs around De Beque, Parachute then Rifle. The frantic pace seems an apt metaphor for […]
Brad Peterson, director of the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation, seems the right person for the job. “When I’m working around the Wasatch Front [in Salt Lake City and vicinity], I try to mountain bike the Wasatch Crest, rock climb up Big Cottonwood Canyon, ice climb up Little Cottonwood Canyon, or do a dawn patrol […]
Is it too early to roll out the next iteration of the Colorado ‘brand’? A just-released economic report from CSU’s Regional Economics Institute provides some direction. ‘Colorado: Sick and Getting Sicker. And Older’, doesn’t have quite the same ring as ‘It’s our Nature’, but since the Great Recession, Colorado’s ‘Health-care and Social Assistance’ service sector […]
New economic realities are bringing manufacturers together across Colorado. Unlike the employee-driven efforts of an earlier generation, today’s organizers are business leaders facing new challenges to growth but who also see opportunity as the post-recession manufacturing economy takes shape. On Colorado’s western slope, industry has led the formation of the Western Colorado Manufacturing Alliance. The […]
Much to the unending dismay of the Denver Post, Colorado voters continue to view legalization a wise alternative to prohibition. In a Quinnipiac survey, 58% now support legalizing pot, up from an already big majority, 55%, who voted in 2012 to change decades of public policy. Despite the drum-beat of doubt from the Post and […]
Is the U.S. economy at the front end of a manufacturing renaissance? It’s a popular sentiment. A groundswell of support for a manufacturing and ‘maker’ surge seems real enough. Others are convinced the service economy is here to stay. Nataraj Slavov of the American Enterprise Institute, and Ben Ho of Vassar College and Columbia University […]
Builders and manufacturers share space in the economy. They’re makers. They create things. It’s interesting then that circumstances are bringing them together in a meaningful collaboration. Developers are increasingly motivated to build new mixed-use projects with light industry a key component. City planners favor the mix. Industry brings jobs and tax revenue. It pays for […]
Can Cory Gardner defeat Mark Udall and become Senator? Dick Wadhams thinks so. But as much credit the Colorado GOP is also receiving nationally for nominating a more ‘electable’ candidate, a win against Udall would still be a surprise. A Republican hasn’t won a statewide election for Colorado Governor or U.S. Senate since Bill Owens […]
Reconciling the competing narratives around higher education can be a challenge. Reports of financial trouble and sweeping change are offset by news of the broad and profound economic impact of America’s institutions of higher learning. Insolvent or impactful, universities and colleges are accountable to business, their customers, and as well-served as US industry has been […]
Companies don’t often have the luxury of forecasting business a decade from now, so it’s no surprise that of the 50 makers and manufacturers we profiled last year, none identified water as a challenge to their operations. Does that mean manufacturers shouldn’t care? No. If goods-producers are focused on today’s pressing issues, like workforce development, […]