SPEAKER_01 0:00

The for the weekly works of every good morning, Boulder County. It's Wednesday, September 2nd. I'm Shay Castle, and this is The Frequency. A weekly local podcast covering the news, events, and voices shaping the Boulder Valley. We've got a lot of news to get to today on this all headlines edition of The Frequency. But first, here's a word from our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by Boulder Bookstore. Visit Boulder's community bookstore on the Pearl Street Mall. Besides having an amazing selection of books, the store hosts author events every week. On Saturday, September 19th, come see Shannon Hale, author of Dream Big, a graphic novel for kids. The event begins at 2 p.m. Visit Boulderbookstore.com to see a full list of upcoming events, purchase tickets, and support the store's Literacy Foundation in its mission to donate books to schools and students in need. That link, once again, is Boulderbookstore.com. And now, the headlines.

SPEAKER_04 1:27

We're cutting edge in all of these fields, and all of these kids mostly want to, you know, make spaceships and satellites. And instead, they are funneled into these weapons manufacture systems where they are forced to make transmitters for bombs that end up killing almost 200 young girls.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Roughly two dozen people gathered Friday at the Boulder headquarters of BAE systems to protest the war in Iran. August 28th was the six-month anniversary of an attack on an elementary school that killed 168 students and 14 teachers. After the attack, Iranian officials released photos of parts believed to be from a guided U.S. Tomahawk missile. The parts included a transmitter from Boulder-based Ball Aerospace. BAE, which acquired Ball in 2024, has not responded. A preliminary investigation concluded the U.S. was likely responsible for the missile strike, and that outdated geographic information may have led to the school being hit. However, the full report has not been released. Total deaths from the Iran War are estimated between 8 and 10,000. Friday's protest was organized by the Boulder County chapter of the Democratic Socialist of America. Here's Cliff, the DSA member you heard earlier.

SPEAKER_04 2:43

And so we are just protesting one, the six-month anniversary of the larger war in Iran, but two, the local sources of that conflict.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

BBSD last week revealed its proposal to close Birch Elementary in Broomfield. In Boulder, Douglas Elementary, Mesa Elementary, Flatiron Elementary, and Community Montessori will close. High Peak Elementary students will move to the Douglas building, while Community Montessori will relocate to the High Peak campus, generally known as Aurora 7. In the Louisville Superior area, Monarch and El Dorado will be reconfigured so that El Dorado will serve pre-K to fifth grade students, while Monarch will become a dedicated middle school. Enrollment at BVSD has declined by more than 3,500 students since 2017, and is predicted to decrease by a further 1,700 by 2030. Half the district's 56 schools have two or fewer classes per grade level, according to district officials. Even if the proposed changes are approved by the school board, nearly one-third of classroom spots are projected to remain empty. More consolidations and closures could be possible in the coming years if enrollment trends do not change. But board president Nicole Rajpal said the district preferred to take a conservative approach, particularly in Boulder, which has 16 schools but needs only 10 to accommodate its student population.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

I think this problem is not going to go away. And so I think down the road, we'll have to continue to look at what makes sense for the city of Boulder. And I think that these maneuvers really do set us up, set the district up for success to continue to be able to evolve and adapt, be resilient, meeting the needs of our students with our facilities. We could have done more. We chose not to because we listened. We chose not to because it doesn't necessarily feel like today is the best day to do that.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

If passed, all changes would be implemented prior to the 2027-2028 academic year. The school board will discuss and vote on the proposals at its September 8th and September 22nd meetings. Find a link to participate in our show notes. Tune in Friday to hear our interview with BDSD spokesperson Randy Barber about the pending closure, issues of bullying within the district, student performance, and other education-related topics. More than a decade after the site was identified as the best place for flood mitigation in Boulder, the city will finally start working on its planned earthen dam and detention area at CU South. The $76.5 million South Boulder Creek flood mitigation project is expected to break ground in early October. The approval process included numerous council votes over several years for site selection, design plans, and annexation of the land into Boulder city limits. The project also drew numerous lawsuits from residents opposed to the university's expansion. The city will use a portion of the land for flood mitigation and open space, while CU may eventually build out a southern campus on the remaining acreage. Access to the CU South site, popular with hikers, bikers, and dog walkers, will close October 5th, according to a city press release. Construction is expected to take three to five years. The city of Boulder released a proposed $552 million budget for 2027. That's higher than 2026, but still below 2025 spending levels as the city's main source of revenue, sales tax, continues to flatten. 13 employees will be laid off, while another 11 vacant positions will be eliminated, and 8.5 more left empty through at least 2028. Among the city's largest expenditures, the budget calls for a $5.5 million increase on transportation and infrastructure spending compared to 2026, a decrease in housing and human services spending of $1.6 million, and a police budget that is $4 million bigger than 2026. Spending on open space, parks, and recreation will stay relatively consistent. Much of those departments' work is funded through dedicated sales tax. Follow the link in our show notes to learn more. The budget will be discussed at a September 10th study session, with public hearings planned October 1st and October 15th. At a recent forum, nearly every candidate for Boulder Mayor and City Council was asked if they would commit to hiring 15 more police officers and fully implementing the 2020 Reimagining Policing Plan. Despite the fact that crime is declining in Boulder, all but one candidate said they would, in fact, hire more cops. The question was asked during a recent candidate forum hosted by the Boulder Chamber. It is the first even-year election for Boulder City Council, and the field is crowded with 19 people vying for six seats. We'll have more information on local elections for all of Boulder County in the coming weeks. The newly adopted Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan calls for 35 to 40% more housing in and around Boulder. The plan, overhauled every 10 years and updated every five, was recently approved by the Boulder County Commissioners and Boulder City Council. Under a previous version of the Comprehensive Plan, Boulder allowed 350 to 400 new units of housing every year. The city will need to build more than 1,000 new homes each year of the next decade to keep rents and home prices from continuing to significantly increase, according to a 2024 study from the Denver Regional Council of Governments. Read more from Boulder Reporting Lab at the link in our show notes. XL Energy may finally hit its emissions goals in the city of Boulder, according to a new report from the Daily Camera. XL and Boulder are five years into a 20-year agreement, reached after the city stopped pursuing a government-owned utility. Part of the deal includes regular check-ins on emission targets. Excel missed its targets in 2022 and 2024, but emissions for this year are on track to be below the 2027 goal of 11.5 million tons of CO2 emitted. By 2030, Excel projects it will emit 3.8 million tons, well below the target. Read more from the Daily Camera at the link in our show notes.

SPEAKER_05 9:04

You know, if you've spent time in Europe or Asia or even Africa and you look at the excellent rail infrastructure, it's all constructed and built by public entities in most cases. Similarly, almost all transportation in the United States is publicly financed.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Front range voters will this fall weigh a new sales tax to fund expansion of a train that won't even start running until 2029. Coco, or the Colorado Connector, plans to run three daily trips between Fort Collins, Denver, and Pueblo when service begins. That service is already funded, thanks to an existing tax residents have been paying since the early 2000s. This November, they'll be asked to pay more to up the train service from three daily trips to 10. The voice you just heard was Sal Pace, general manager of the Front Range Passenger Rail District, the government entity overseeing COCO's planning and implementation. Hear more from Sal before you fill out your ballot by visiting boulderfrequency.com and listening to his May 1st interview. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram will pay $615 million to Colorado for youth mental health after a landmark legal settlement. Colorado was one of 52 states in U.S. territories to sue Meta, claiming the company's social media products were designed in ways that harm children. The $17 billion settlement, that's billion with a B, is one of the largest ever against an American company. In addition to the payout, Meta has agreed to restrict use of its platform for minors, including limiting the amount of time a user can spend on the site, hiding likes and reactions, and allowing parents to choose a chronological-based feed rather than one fed by algorithms. In an open letter, Meta urged TikTok and YouTube to implement similar reforms.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

Social media can be great. However, it is not a substitute for human interaction. And what I mean by that is face-to-face or even phone call interaction. Social media takes that empathy away. It also means the child is alone in their room or wherever they are and gets hit with all of this, with no one else witnessing it. I have been a licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist since 1988.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Colorado's share of the settlement will be used to fund crisis intervention services, after school programs, outdoor activities, and youth mental health programming. Read more from Axios Boulder at the link in our show notes. Hear more from Carol on Youth Mental Health in our April 22nd interview at boulderfrequency.com. That's it for today's All Headlines edition of The Frequency. We're taking next Wednesday off for Labor Day, but you can hear more from us on Friday when I interview a spokesperson for Boulder Valley School District. As always, thanks for listening. Before you go, here's one more thing.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

So our Wi-Fi and our computers, no longer can students access social media. I think last spring we've we turned off ChatGPT as well. There's always a balance when it comes to technology. We want to make sure that students are getting the skills that they need in order to really do well in their future, whether that's college or career or whatever they choose. They're going to be touching technology. There's no question that they'll be working with AI. I think at this point it's pretty clear. And yet we know that the research shows that when kids are on their cell phones, they're less attentive to their schoolwork. And really the place that I think it shows, if you ever walk through a high school now is that the socially, all the kids would be down looking at their phones. So that ability to have them there present and hanging out with their friends during lunch and having conversations and playing boosball or ping pong or whatever it might be is really crucial. And I think you're seeing some of this through the lawsuits and the settlements that are happening in a national level too. People are coming to terms with this technology that really is integrated into so many of our lives now, all of our lives. We as adults probably realize a little bit like, how is it that I end up on this never ending train of videos I can't stop? But for our kids, it's even harder where they are mentally with their development. And so I think it's important that the school district has taken some actions in order to protect them while they're at school.