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Opinion: Medicare’s drug prices put my MS medication out of reach

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:52 GMT

When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, or MS, back in 1988, there were no treatments on the market. The only prescription I received then was a recommendation to go home and rest. It wasn’t until years later that the first treatment was released. Since then, a lot has changed, but unfortunately, what hasn’t changed is the exorbitant health care costs people like me face.That’s why I’m glad that Colorado’s leaders continue working to lower costs. Gov. Jared Polis, Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, and countless dedicated legislators are doing everything possible to save people money on their health care. The legislative package introduced by Democratic lawmakers will do exactly that.Sky-high costs are forcing many Coloradans to choose between the care they need to live healthy, happy lives and making ends meet.This is a choice I know all too well.About seven years ago, I began taking an oral drug for my MS, Gelenya, which cost $63,444 per year. Luckily, my copays were $200 per month....

Opinion: Pat Schroeder was a tad short of trainable

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:52 GMT

Editor’s note: Sue O’Brien, The Denver Post editorial page editor from 1995 until her death from cancer in August 2003, wrote this column on Dec. 3, 1995, on the occasion of Rep. Pat Schroeder’s announcement that she was not seeking a 13th term in the U.S. House.I cringed when Pat Schroeder handed out Easter eggs in that bunny suit on the Great Wall of China.I wanted to wash out her mouth with soap the first time she confided to a waiting world that she had private parts. (Q. “How, Mrs. Schroeder, do you manage being both a mother and a congresswoman?” A: “I have a brain and a uterus, and I use them both.”)I loved it when her first Christmas card from Washington said, “Both Jim and I need a wife.” But I worried when the one-liner got her in trouble with more orthodox feminists.That’s it. Orthodox.Through all those early years I kept wishing that Pat Schroeder would be just a little more orthodox.Not because I needed a role ...

Happy birthday, Colfax! Plus MCA Denver’s Cinema Azteca and more things to do this week in Denver

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:52 GMT

Happy birthday, Schulyer Colfax!Thursday. Denver’s Colfax Avenue has been keeping it real for decades, and its namesake will get an appropriately historical celebration this weekend as History Colorado Center celebrates the 200th birthday of Schulyer Colfax.The former speaker of the U.S. House, who had a prominent role in ratifying the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery, will get his due with stories from The Colfax Avenue Museum founder Jonny Barber (his collection’s still intact, and looking for a home) as well as the “40 Years on the ‘Fax” exhibit, birthday cake and more.Free, but RSVP to  [email protected]. 3-5 p.m. Thursday, March 23, at History Colorado Center, 1200 Broadway in Denver. historycolorado.org or colfaxavenue.orgDanceAspen’s latest dazzlersFriday-Saturday. One of the region’s freshest dance outfits has a world premiere this weekend featuring six choreographers — three with profile, and three locals — a...

“Boston Strangler” is a compelling look at infamous murder spree through the lens of female reporter

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:52 GMT

For its producers, “Boston Strangler” arrives at what arguably is an opportune time, when content based on true crime is hot.Although the Boston Strangler murders occurred about 50 years ago, the murky story of who exactly killed several unmarried women in and around the Massachusetts city — and why — remains a fascinating if also gruesome subject.One of the stronger 20th Century Studios films going straight to Hulu, where it debuts this week, “Boston Strangler” revisits the saga from the point of view of one of two women who covered the killings for the city’s Record-American newspaper. And so while it is, in fact, another serving of true-crime-based fare, it also very much is a journalism movie — one highly interested in exploring the sexism faced by women journalists of the era. (Expect to hear derisive phrases such as “girl reporters” tossed around by male characters.)Written and directed by Matt Ruskin, “Boston Strangler” begins with a murder in 1965 in Ann Arbor, M...

Colorado has taken steps to improve maternal care, but more work needed to advance health equity

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:52 GMT

Colorado passed laws two years ago to try to reduce the problem of women being ignored or mistreated during their pregnancy care, but advocates say more needs to be done — particularly for mothers of color.In 2021, Colorado adopted a law requiring the state’s Civil Rights Division to accept complaints about mistreatment in medical settings during pregnancy and the postpartum period, though the division is not required to investigate all claims. The Civil Rights Division declined to release any information about the number or type of complaints it has received.Senate Bill 21-193, which mandated that the division accept complaints, also required hospitals and other facilities where patients give birth to have policies that mothers be allowed to bring a support person or doula, in addition to their romantic partner.Another law passed that year required the state’s maternal mortality review committee to recommend ways to collect more data about marginalized groups of p...

Frozen Norwegian won’t leave Nederland for resurrected Dead Guy Days festival in Estes Park — for now

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:52 GMT

Colorado’s most celebrated Norwegian, long dead and frozen, can command a crowd even when his corpse isn’t present.This weekend’s Frozen Dead Guy Days festival, newly moved from where it began in the mountain hamlet of Nederland to Estes Park, is expected to draw more than 12,000 revelers starting Friday. Visit Estes Park promoters said tickets required for access to activities are nearly sold out.But the cryonics-preserved body of Norwegian grandfather Bredo Morstoel still sits in a Tuff Shed 40 miles away in Nederland — where the mayor and others don’t want to let it go.That may change. Morstoel’s remains eventually must be moved to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, according to hotel owner John Cullen, who returned Tuesday from Norway following a second round of negotiations with Trygve Bauge, Morstoel’s grandson who in 1989 brought the body of his beloved, then recently deceased grandfather to America.A deal in the works will transfer Morstoel from the Tuf...

LAUSD unions to strike for 3 days next week, forcing closure of schools

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:52 GMT

Tens of thousands of union workers in the Los Angeles Unified School District plan to go on strike for three days starting Tuesday of next week, forcing the temporary closure of schools, union leaders announced at a rally Wednesday.SEIU Local 99, a union comprised of cafeteria workers, bus drivers, custodians and other support staff, voted in February to authorize a strike over wages and to address what they describe as unfair practices by the district.“LAUSD has continued to harass and threaten SEIU Local 99 members engaging in union activities for a fair contract. In response, our SEIU Local 99 bargaining team has called for a 3-day unfair practice charges strike,” union members explained on their website.SEIU leaders are seeking a 30% wage increase across the board.United Teachers of Los Angeles, the union representing 34,000 educators in the district, plan to honor the picket lines.“We continue to be underpaid compared to districts in our area,” Mallorie Evans with UTLA said. “E...

Baldwin Hills homes on the brink of collapse after mudslides

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:52 GMT

As a storm battered Southern California Tuesday night, heavy rainfall caused multiple mudslides in Baldwin Hills overnight, trapping cars in sludge and leaving several homes on the edge of disaster. Homeowner Thomas Anderson says he’s doing everything he can to shore up his property even as his next-door neighbor’s home was yellow tagged, meaning they only have limited access to their home but cannot stay in it.  The yellow tag came after mud and debris flowed down their back slope onto El Mirador Drive below.  “Because the hillside went under their slab, one of the bedrooms is right on the edge,” Anderson explained.   Southern California’s wet winter: Here are rainfall totals for your neighborhood Anderson’s property is also in a precarious position.  “We’re doing all we can to hold on, but we’re only this far from the pool, and we don’t want that to go,” he told KTLA. “We just replaced the boards up here to stop the yard from going down and we have a ret...

Orange County beach closed after massive sewage spill

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:52 GMT

Authorities have closed off ocean access at Doheny State Beach following a massive sewage spill on Wednesday.The waters were contaminated after a 4,000-gallon spill was caused by “an overflow in a main city sewer line in San Juan Capistrano,” said the OC Health Care Agency.Located in Dana Point, ocean access will be prohibited both 1,500 feet upcoast and 1,500 feet downcoast of the San Juan Creek interface, officials said.The affected area will be blocked off from any swimming, surfing or diving. Waters will reopen when the tested water quality “meets acceptable standards,” officials said.Doheny State Beach ocean access closed after a massive sewage spill on March 15, 2023. (OC Healthcare Agency)“I am closely monitoring this situation along with the other incidents occurring throughout Orange County,” said Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley. “My office has participated in the County’s Emergency Operations Coordination since the Board of Supervisors passed my resolution to declar...

Sideshows aren’t going away, but could come off the street if there were legal places to perform: Roadshow

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:52 GMT

Q: I agree entirely with Nick Harrah. Punishment is not the best way to stop sideshows.There is no difference between sideshows now and street racing of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. It is just 20-something boys showing off their cars and their macho, as immortalized in “American Graffiti.”Unfortunately, like the car that crashed and burned in the movie, many street racing kids crashed and burned, and some died. The solution was to build drag race parks to get them off the street and into a safe environment.What’s needed is a simple, paved lot with concrete barriers around it. Charge admission for participants and spectators. Provide an incentive for participants to get the shows off the street, just like they did in the drag race parks and Destruction Derbies, and like they do in race car tracks today.D.G.A: I understand the comparison between street racing and sideshows. The dynamics are different now, though. With cell phones and texting, participants can quickly draw ...