Mandy Connell

WHEN A CAREER CHANGE IS ESPECIALLY SWEET I met my friend Sara Khoudari at a business event she put together for her clients several years ago. She was a buttoned up business consultant who always seemed to have it together but she wasn't particularly happy with her career path. So, she made a change and NoCo Chocolates was born. She's now a full time chocolatier with big plans for chocolate and she joins me today to talk about the switch, the magic of chocolate and why it might be the PERFECT Mother's Day gift. Find NoCo Chocolates here!

DAVE LAUER IS GETTING RID OF SOME ALBUMS And being Dave he doesn't want to move the 500 or so records he's accumulated in his life so he's going to give them away to someone who appreciates classical music. He's joining me at 1 to tell you what the collection includes so if you're a record person, this segment at 1 is for you! Side note, also knowing Dave these are likely in PERFECT condition.

FORT MORGAN IS GETTING ALL DOLLED UP Thanks to one of my favorite HGTV shows Hometown Takeover. I'm talking with Fort Morgan City Manager Brent Nation today about what that has meant for the town. The show airs this Sunday at 8pm on HGTV.

WANT TO LEARN ABOUT ENERGY? I'm so excited to be moderating a panel discussion created by the South Metro Chamber of Commerce about energy. We've got OUTSTANDING experts who will discuss the grid, electriciation, and what we can expect in Colorado when it comes to energy. This isn't a political discussion, but a fact based discussion about energy that is going to be very interesting. You can join it by clicking here, and I'm talking to Natela Manuntseva from the Chamber about it at 2.

MAYOR MICHAEL HANCOCK JOINS ME AT 1 And we're going to do two things. First, we're going to get the bottom of the Denver Public Schools kerfuffle where it seems the Superintendent, who couldn't be bothered to show up at a meeting with the City Council yesterday, said that the Mayor's office threatened to issue an Executive Order about School Resource Officers. The Mayor says that didn't happen. Then we're going to do a retrospective of the Mayor's time in office. It's going to be a good one!

MAYORS ACROSS COLORADO ARE UNHAPPY ABOUT POLIS' ZONING GRAB And I've got one today. Mayor Stephanie Piko of Centennial joins me to discuss her objections to the state inserting itself into local zoning issues at 1 today. What Stephanie may not know is that Fake Libertarian Jared Polis is just following the Democratic playbook from Massachusetts and Connecticut who did this here and here respectively. There is no new idea here. Or course the ski towns put up enough fuss that they are likely going to be exempted from this bill, however it looks when it passes.

LONGMONT HAS AN AWARD WINNING PIZZA JOINT! And I'm going to make the trip to try Urban Field Pizza Market, which you can find here. Nick Swanson (no relation to Ron) just represented Longmont's Urban Field Pizza in the 39th annual International Pizza Expo where he took seventh place. This is a very big deal as there are a LOT of competitors in the Vegas competition. I'm talking to Nick today at 12:30, just in time for lunch! Read the lovely article about his win here.

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OUR FUTURIST THOMAS FREY IS BACK And we're talking about the future of banking in light of the instability of some of our current banks. Read his column about that here. I also want to talk about his latest column where he presents eight scenarios where AI will work with us in the future. To be clear, in none of them do they rise up and kill us. Read that one here.

MIKE JOHNSTON IS SCOOPING UP ENDORSEMENTS As his campaign for Mayor of Denver barrels along. He got an endorsement from former Mayor Federico Pena yesterday and today he's on the show with me (although I do not endorse, as anyone I endorse loses) to do a little bit of a deeper dive on his plans for homelessness. He joins us at 12:15. Find out more about Mike and donate to his campaign by clicking here.

LAUGH YOURSELF BLUE IS THIS WEEK! And the guy who is going to make you laugh yourself blue to benefit Firefly Autism is JR De Guzman and he joins me today at 2 to talk about his new Netflix special and what we can expect from him on Thursday night. Buy your tickets by clicking here. Here is a little taste of his comedy.

AN IMMIGRATION DEBATE IS HITTING THE ROAD The Steamboat Institute's Campus Liberty Tour is back and this year, it's about immigration. The Steamboat Institute, in cooperation with the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado Boulder, has announced that the second event on the 2023 Campus Liberty Tour will be a debate on the resolution, “Illegal crossings of the U.S.-Mexico border are increasing at record levels; the U.S. government must secure the border immediately.” The debate will be held April 13 at Chancellor's Hall on the CU Boulder campus, and will feature opening remarks by Chancellor Philip DiStefano. Julio Rosas and Michael Anton will argue the affirmative on the resolution, while Benjamin Waddell, Ph.D, and Jose Antonio Vargas will argue the negative. The debate will be moderated by Steamboat Institute Blankley Fellow Hadley Heath Manning, Vice President for Policy at the Independent Women's Forum. Steamboat Institute's Jennifer Schubert-Akin joins me at 1:30 to talk about it. This is a super cool event.

HAS THE SLEW OF LEFTIE BILLS GOT YOU DOWN? Get together with a bunch of other bothered sorts to complain about what the Colorado Legislature is inflicting on us this year at the Independence Institute this Thursday. It's their W(h)ine and Cheese party and you can buy an extremely affordable ticket to it here. Chief Whiner Jon Caldara joins me at 12:30 to discuss.

IT'S CHILD ABUSE AWARENESS MONTH! And I'm talking to Andrea Cregan ,CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) Director of Development & Community Relations, and Josefina Milliner, CASA Executive Director about the role CASA plays in helping children who are in the court system because of accusations of abuse by their parents or caregivers. It's a tough job done by volunteers but it's a very, very important one. Find out more or become an advocate by clicking here.

DARRELL SCOTT DID NOT LET HIS DAUGHTER'S DEATH BE IN VAIN After Rachel Scott was murdered at Columbine High School her father decided to do something so that no other parent would have to suffer. He and his wife created Rachel's Challenge to help support kids who may be struggling with mental health issues that could lead to violence. Find out more or donate by clicking here, Darrell joins me at 2.

FIREFLY AUTISM IS A HUGE BOON FOR COLORADO And for the residents here who deal with autism on a daily basis. Autism is more well known that it used to be, but there are still a lot of misconceptions around the condition. Dr. Amanda Kelly is the CEO of Firefly Autism and she joins me today at 1 to talk about it and the upcoming Laugh Yourself Blue event next week that is just outstanding. Find out more about Firefly Autism here and buy a ticket to the Gala here.

TECH FOR SCHOOLS THAT SEES TRENDS BEFORE HUMANS DO I will be speaking with Harvey Hughes about his SmartData Dashboard for school districts and how it helps spot kids in trouble or headed for trouble EARLY so the right interventions can be deployed. When you hear about what this tech does and what currently ISN'T happening in our schools you will be shocked. I'm already going to ask my school board to look into this system, it's that good. Find out more about it here.