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Colorado - Thu. 01/23/25 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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14 COLORADO SEMIFINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR JAMES BEARD AWARDS
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Fourteen food or drink specialists in Colorado have been named as semifinalists for the prestigious James Beard Awards, the foundation announced Wednesday. A shortlist of nominees will be released on April 2, followed by a ceremony in June to declare the winners. The James Beard Foundation, a culinary arts nonprofit based in New York City, is now in its 35th year governing the awards. The Colorado semifinalists, along with their respective categories:
- Josh Niernberg, Bin 707 Foodbar, Grand Junction (Outstanding Chef)
- Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder (Outstanding Restaurant)
- Anna Nguyen and Ni Nguyen, Sắp Sửa, Denver (Emerging Chef)
- Alma Fonda Fina, Denver (Best New Restaurant)
- Carolyn Nugent and Alen Ramos, Poulette Bakeshop, Parker (Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker)
- Hop Alley, Denver (Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program)
- Traveling Mercies, Aurora (Best New Bar)
- McLain Hedges and Mary Allison Wright, Yacht Club, Denver (Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service)
- Hosea Rosenberg, Blackbelly, Boulder (Best Chef)
- Bo Porytko, Molotov Kitschen + Cocktails, Denver (Best Chef)
- Paul C. Reilly, Coperta, Denver (Best Chef)
- Kenneth Wan, MAKfam, Denver (Best Chef)
- Penelope Wong, Yuan Wonton, Denver (Best Chef)
- Erasmo Casiano and Diego Coconati, Lucina Eatery & Bar, Denver (Best Chef)
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COLORADO HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATES HIGHER IN 2023-24
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The four-year high school graduation rate in Colorado’s 178 school districts jumped to its highest in more than a decade during the 2023-24 school year, with 84.2 percent of seniors graduating as part of the class of 2024. That’s up 1.1 percentage points from the previous school year. A total of 58,318 Colorado students graduated in four years in the 2023-24 school year, an increase of 1,506 compared to the prior year. Statewide, 66 percent of school districts and BOCES improved or stayed the same in their four-year graduation rates. In Colorado, students can take up to seven years to graduate high school. This year, five- and six-year graduation rates improved, showing progress for students needing extra time. However, seven-year rates remain lower, reflecting challenges faced by students who were juniors when the pandemic began. For the graduation rates in any school district, go to cde.state.co.us/code/grad-dashboard.
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USFS BANS RECREATIONAL SHOOTING IN PIKE NATIONAL FOREST
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The Supervisor of the Pike National Forest released a statement announcing the finalization of major changes to recreational shooting to address what land managers have called "unsustainable" gunfire across Pike National Forest, encompassing El Paso, Teller, Douglas and Park counties. The plan, the Integrated Management of Target Shooting Project, will close 73 percent of the Pike National Forest’s 1.1 million acres to shooting, while six ranges, complete with targets, shooting lanes and “noise abatement features” will be developed. The dispersed shooting closure goes for the entirety of Pikes Peak Ranger District lands around El Paso and Teller counties. Some of the 230,000-plus acres have already been under an "emergency order" closure, including off Rampart Range Road. The release from the Pike National Forest said implementation is expected to take “several years.”
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HEADS UP, COMMUTERS: RTD WILL CLOSE PORTIONS OF E AND H LINES NEXT WEEK
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The Regional Transportation District (RTD) announced that portions of the E and H lines in southeast Denver will close down Tuesday through Thursday next week for maintenance. RTD riders can catch the bus shuttles at multiple stations: I-25/Broadway (gate A2); Louisiana/Pearl Station (northbound gate B, southbound gate A); University of Denver (gate B); Colorado (northbound gate E, southbound gate C); Yale (gate A); Southmoor (gate A). RTD’s website, at rtd-denver.com, also has a trip planner to help riders.
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WORST SNOWSTORM IN 130 YEARS HAMMERS THE SOUTH
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In the U.S. South, preparing for bad weather usually means filling sandbags or boarding windows to protect from the wind and rain of hurricanes. This week brought a very unusual weather storm…snow and cold. The region’s worst snowstorm in 130 years has seen as much as 10 inches pile up in New Orleans, smashing a record of 2.7 inches set in 1963. Temperatures fell to 26F (minus 3C) overnight. Similar accumulations of snow were recorded in Pensacola, Florida, and more than four inches hit the Houston area. Airports struggled to keep up with the weather, with more than 1,800 flight cancellations as of Wednesday afternoon, and many more delayed. At least 420 flights in and out of Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport were canceled, including 37 percent of all outbound flights. Temperatures in the city fell to 24F overnight.
Southern airports, where extreme cold conditions are rare, tend to lack enough equipment to de-ice planes or keep runways clear when major winter storms do hit. While less than an inch of snow fell across Georgia, icy roads made for a hazardous drive home on Atlanta’s busy roads, as commuters crashed their cars or got stranded navigating the notoriously hilly streets in the region. Many businesses and schools in the city were closed on Wednesday, and Mayor Andre Dickens urged residents to stay at home as crews worked with limited equipment to clear roads for the second time in two weeks. Many schools in Houston were closed Wednesday.
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GRAND JUNCTION'S AMAZON WAREHOUSE HOLDS GRAND OPENING
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Amazon opened its last-mile facility in Grand Junction just ahead of the 2024 holiday season, but it held an official ribbon-cutting and grand opening ceremony Wednesday morning. Community leaders gathered at the WCO8 Amazon facility at 800 Saccomanno Road to celebrate the company’s expansion into western Colorado. The 38,000-square-foot warehouse was opened to improve delivery service on the Western Slope. “Amazon has been proud to invest over $15 billion in the state of Colorado to create 20,000 jobs, but most of that has happened on the Front Range. This site represents our first expansion on the Western Slope,” said Sam Bailey, Amazon’s head of economic development policy for Colorado. Amazon donated $10,000 to Riverside Education Center after the ribbon was cut. The event included a tour of the facility and a breakdown of operations.
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DELAYS LIKELY AT EAGLE COUNTY AIRPORT AS CONTROL TOWER CHANGES MANAGEMENT
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The Eagle County Regional Airport could see some flight delays in the coming weeks due to a change in its control tower management. Airport officials were notified in December that the Federal Aviation Administration had put out to bid the contract for operations at the airport’s control tower. The tower had been operated for more than a decade by Serco. But effective Feb. 1, tower management will be taken over by Robinson Aviation, Inc.
The short timeline for the tower management change comes during the local airport’s busy season, so there are questions about how Robinson will staff the facility. If Robinson brings in new people, that means those people will have to find housing. They’ll also have to be certified by the FAA to run operations at Eagle County. Local officials have reached out to the FAA and the county’s congressional representatives for help. If Robinson’s people aren’t available by Feb. 1, flight operations will be handled out of Denver at the control center that also handles traffic for Denver International Airport. That’s standard procedure at other regional airports without control towers. That includes Steamboat Springs.
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DAVOS: ONE WEEK EVENT AND YEAR-ROUND PLANNING
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This week, Monday through Friday is the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, commonly referred to as Davos. More than 3,000 global leaders from business, politics and civil society every January travel to the tiny Swiss city to address pressing issues such as climate change and economic and geopolitical challenges. This year’s theme is “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.” The WEF, or Davos, was started in 1971 by the German economist Klaus Schwab, who initially named it the European Management Symposium. Today, the head of event management and operations for the WEF is Severin Podolak, who has run Davos since 2021. Podolak is responsible for making everything work…like the technology for presentations, or heat in the rooms, or all the attendees have accommodations and food.
Davos takes place in three venues: the Congress Centre; Kurpark Village, a nearly 65,000-square-foot temporary wooden chalet that debuted in 2024; and the Davos Ice Stadium. Collectively, they are known as the Secured Zone and are within a five-minute walk from one another. The WEF has more than 500 sessions over its five days. Of course, these events are the only ones under the direction of the WEF, the after-parties and gatherings that Davos is known for, are organized by individuals, groups and organizations coming to Davos. For Podolak, planning for Davos 2026 will begin next week. “As soon as one Davos is over, we start planning the next one and meet weekly up until two months before when we start meeting every day, sometimes multiple times daily,” according to Podolak.
Here is how Podolak describes organizing the event every year: “After the event, it’s our job to ensure that the relevant feedback is collected and findings are incorporated into next year’s event concept. Our team is responsible for the entire infrastructure and workforce for the event, contracting accommodations and providing comprehensive participant and staff logistics, including transportation. We also create the food and beverage concept, manage freight and material transport, and handle session logistics.
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PLANNING A TRIP IN 2025? BEST DEALS MAY BE IN TRAVELING ABROAD
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Airline fares were up 8 percent, on an annual basis, in December and 51 percent of Americans say flight cost will determine their destination choices for travel this year. Many Americans are looking to go overseas for their 2025 travel and so far, international airfare is down 4 percent this year:
- Airfare for U.S. flights is up 3 percent for 2025
- A recent Kayak analysis revealed about two-thirds of all flight searches in 2025 are for international flights
- However, international flight costs remain more expensive than domestic travel
- Hopper reports the average U.S. round-trip flight was about $300 in January versus $685 to South America; $750 to Europe
- But for some popular overseas destinations in Asia, fares are down – average airfare to Asia is down 7 percent from 2024
- Search interest in Sapporo, Japan is up 31 percent year-over-year, while average airfare is down 19 percent to $1,230; Fares to Osaka are down 14 percent to $1,233
- Top locations in terms of where the dollar is strongest and you can get the best rates of local currencies: Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and Hungary
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INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL COMPLETELY REBOUNDS, SETS RECORDS IN NOV. 2024
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The National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) released data last week which show that November 2024 was a record-setting month for spending by international visitors to the U.S.:
- International travelers spent $21.8 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the U.S. in November
- That is up 9 percent from November 2023
- For 11 months, Jan. – Nov. 2024, international visitors spent nearly $231.6 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services
- That is an increase of 13 percent over the corresponding period in 2023
- On average, for the 11-month period in 2023, international visitors injected $693 million a day into the U.S. economy
- Conversely, Americans spent $21.3 billion traveling abroad in November, resulting in a $435 million balance of trade surplus for travel and travel-related goods and services
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MARKET UPDATE - 01/22/2025 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 01/16/2025)
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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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