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Colorado - Thu. 10/10/24 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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COLORADOBIZ TOP COMPANIES 2024: ALPINE BANK, WINNER FINANCIAL SERVICES
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For 37 years, ColoradoBiz magazine has been presenting its Top Company Awards each year. This year, 45 companies hailing from 18 Colorado cities were honored as either winners or finalists in 14 industries, plus the Startup category. The ColoradoBiz Top Company, Financial Services 2024 was awarded to Alpine Bank.
ColoradoBiz noted, "Alpine Bank has faced intensifying competition from larger financial institutions and emerging fintech companies. Consolidation in the banking industry has led to the emergence of mega-banks with vast resources and expansive networks that enable them to offer a broader range of products and services at competitive rates. Meanwhile, fintech startups have disrupted traditional banking models by leveraging technology to deliver innovative financial solutions directly to consumers. To remain competitive in an increasingly digital world, Alpine Bank has upgraded its technology infrastructure and enhanced its digital capabilities while maintaining its core values and continuing to build strong relationships with its customers." Alpine Bank offers an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, which is the largest shareholder of the bank’s stock.
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ONE MORE YEAR AND THE 16TH STREET MALL CONSTRUCTION WILL BE FINISHED
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Tuesday was the MyDenver Day block party celebrating the reopening of the stretch on Denver’s 16th Street Mall between Larimer and Arapahoe streets. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston addressed the annual meeting of the Downtown Denver Partnership on Tuesday saying that by summer next year, the entire 16th Street Mall from Union Station will be open to buses “running all the way to the Sheraton.” The free MallRide was rerouted off the mall when construction began two-and-a-half years ago in the spring of 2022. The construction work came at an estimated cost of $170 million, funded from a combination of federal, state and local dollars and was originally scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
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“SEPTEMBER EFFECT” CLEARLY OVER, S&P 500 HITS ALL-TIME HIGH, DOW UP 400 POINTS
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Stocks continued to power up for a second consecutive day, with the S&P 500 notching an all-time high closing at 5,792.04. The 30-stock blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 431.63 points to settle at 42,512.00, a record close. Wednesday’s gains came despite lingering fears of a broader war in the Middle East and a disappointing session in China as investors took profits from the recent stimulus-fueled rally. Wall Street is coming off a strong session driven by tech gains and easing oil prices. Those moves seemed to reflect growing optimism that the Fed can navigate a soft landing, especially after last week’s jobs report showed continued strength in the labor market.
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WIMBLEDON REPLACING LINE JUDGES WITH AI
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The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club isn’t exactly known for being on the cutting edge of innovation. As the governing body of The Championships, Wimbledon, one of the tennis grand slams, they have not substantially changed the tennis tournament since they held the inaugural Lawn Tennis Championship in 1877. The tournament, which is the only grand slam event on grass, has had ball boys and girls and notably, line judges who would make an obvious arm motion to call a ball “out.” Next year, the historic tournament will no longer have line judges. They will be replaced by an automated electronic line calling system (ELC) on all Wimbledon courts. Wimbledon used about 300 line judges. One of the leading proponents of the use of technology to make calls has been John McEnroe. With no line judges, there will be no opportunity for players (remember McEnroe) to argue with line judges over calls.
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BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON TURNING 25 AND THERE WILL BE A PARTY
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On Oct. 21, 1999, then-President Bill Clinton signed Public Law 106-76, creating Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, changing its status from a National Monument to a National Park. It had been a National Monument since March 1933. There will be a party to celebrate the occasion, Monday, Oct. 21 at the Park’s South Rim Visitor Center. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., a ranger will guide visitors through the sky with a solar telescope. A talk on the area's human history is set for 11 a.m. at the Pulpit Rock overlook, where a talk on geology is scheduled to follow at 2 p.m. The park has grown in popularity since becoming a national park. National Park Service data show 191,506 recreation visits in 2000, a year after the park's establishment. That figure was 357,069 last year, up 15 percent over the past five years.
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COMPOST YOUR LEAVES IN DURANGO, ON-DEMAND PICKUP
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The city of Durango will again partner with Table to Farm Compost to provide a collection service of autumn leaves. The program was operated on a test basis last fall during the annual Fall Cleanup, but this year it is a stand-alone, separate program. In 2023, the city purchased 1,500 bags that were distributed to residents free of charge at the recycling center. The bags were collected by city crews during their regular Fall Cleanup schedule and left at Table to Farm’s facility. The city collected about 1,000 30-gallon bags, or about 150 cubic yards of un-compacted leaves, from about 1,500 households over a four-week period. This year, the city won’t be collecting leafage. Instead, Table to Farm will offer collection services on-demand. The other change is residents will have to provide their own bags. People can purchase 30-gallon compostable paper leaf bags at Ace Hardware, City Market or Walmart. Plastic bags or bags with plastic linings will not be accepted.
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CPW RESTOCKS TROUT IN THE YAMPA RIVER
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife launched a project in July at the Chuck Lewis State Wildlife Area to restore the riverbanks of the Yampa River by adding berms and stabilizing materials like fiber-wrapped sod and willow vegetation mats as well as adding multiple rock structures to direct flows away from the banks. There are now new sections of underwater riffles in the shallower and faster moving parts of the river where rocks break the water surface, providing oxygen to the water as it rushes over the rocks. Another focus of the $500,000 aquatic habitat improvement program was to improve the fish life in the Yampa. On Monday, CPW brought some 20,000 rainbow trout fingerlings to dump into the river. CPW staff and volunteers worked to spread the 3-inch fish raised at the hatchery in Glenwood Springs across all restored areas before the larger fish moved in.
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IT IS THEIR CELEBRATED “NOBLE” ANIMAL, BUT IT REALLY DOES CAUSE PROBLEMS
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Moose were reintroduced in Colorado in 1978. Newfoundland introduced moose as a measure to increase hunting and tourism 120 years ago. The country imported calves from New Brunswick, but only four survived the ship ride. There are now an estimated 120,000 to 150,000 moose in Newfoundland, about a quarter of the country’s human population. Wolves, the only true predator of moose, were essentially eliminated from the island about 90 years ago. Newfoundlanders have adopted the “noble animal,” as it was called on its introduction, as a symbol of their rocky island, celebrating it in song and sculpture. And, instead of becoming a tourism attraction, the annual moose hunt involves locals and is a cultural event on the island.
However, the moose do constitute a significant problem, they are a vehicle collision waiting to happen. There are 1.5 moose-vehicle collisions daily, but Newfoundlanders believe that rate an understatement because of unreported accidents. Andrew Furey, the premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, says, “I’m not sure there’s anybody in the province who hasn’t had a close call. It’s always a concern for everybody.” Despite their imposing dimensions, moose can be difficult to spot. At night, moose eyes don’t glow brightly when struck by headlights, and their fur is dark. Motorists have different moose strategies, the most common one being simply not driving at night or at least avoiding the time around dusk and dawn, when accidents are most common. And the front of most heavy trucks are equipped with battering-ram-style tubular steel guards.
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NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS
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The Nobel Foundation announces winners of 2024 Nobel Prizes Oct. 7-14. To date, these winners have been announced:
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2024
- John J. Hopfield, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J. USA and Geoffrey E. Hinton, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; For foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024
- David Baker, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA; For computational protein design
- John M. Jumper, Google DeepMind, London, U.K.; For protein structure prediction
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024
- Victor Ambros, UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA and Gary Ruvkun, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; For the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation
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WHICH COUNTRIES ARE THE MOST POPULAR FOR U.S. EXPATS
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The latest data from the United Nations Population Division show that these are the most popular countries for U.S. expats (with number of U.S. expats in early 2020s):
- Mexico: 799,248
- Canada: 273,226
- U.K.:170,771
- Germany: 152,639
- Australia: 116,620
- Israel: 76,794
- South Korea: 68,050
- France: 61,668
- Japan: 58,340
- Spain: 57,112
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MARKET UPDATE - 10/09/2024 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 10/03/2024)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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