MediterraneanGrocery Wholesalers in Denver, CO

Fungi are ready for their close-up.

Driving the news: After Coloradans voted to legalize psilocybin in 2022, "magic mushrooms" are now becoming more mainstream, with a first-of-its-kind study and a national psychedelic conference on the horizon.

State of play: The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora this month announced it would launch the first modern-era psilocybin clinical trial for depression this fall.

Details: The hospital is working with the Food and Drug Administration on the study, though the federal government classifies psilocybin mushrooms as a Schedule 1 narcotic.

The intrigue: Gov. Jared Polis last week signed a bill implementing Proposition 122, which allows people 21 and older to grow and share magic mushrooms.

Of note: The Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in Denver next month is expected to draw some 10,000 people to discuss research, education and policy, according to a statement.

Zoom in: The UC Health study will focus on psilocybin, the chemical compound found in magic mushrooms, and test whether it can help with treatment-resistant depression, according to the hospital.

Details: Providing more access to treatment and developing new medications is another key reason for the UC Health study.

What they're saying: "Instead of having to go through months and months of trying to find the right medication and having the chance of not responding, the hope is that many people will respond to psilocybin," CU medical school neuroscientist Scott Thompson told the hospital's publication.

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CU Denver’s location in the heart of downtown Denver became the ideal location to discuss the future of the city on Tuesday during the first-ever 5280 Thought Forum. Discussions tackled big ideas from sustaining the vitality of the urban core to population growth and how to create an equilibrium between the outdoor industry and natural resources.

Each of the Thought Forum’s three panels featured prominent local experts, including several CU Denver faculty members, who discussed impending challenges and opportunities on topics related to Denver and Colorado’s future.

The event, for which CU Denver was a partner and presenting sponsor, was held at the university’s Jake Jabs Event Center. It drew more than 150 attendees from across the region’s business, cultural, and education spectrum to create conversations with the potential for lasting impact.

“For 50 years, CU Denver has been a catalyst and a laboratory for so many great ideas influencing our region,” Chancellor Michelle Marks said. “Co-hosting this forum with 5280 underscores CU Denver’s unique value as Colorado’s only public urban research university.”

Ken Schroeppel, assistant professor of urban and regional planning and director of urban design, College of Architecture and Planning, CU Denver, on the 5280 Thought Forum’s first panel, “The Future of Downtown Denver.”

Carrie Makarewicz, PhD, associate professor and department chair of the Urban and Regional Planning department, College of Architecture and Planning, CU Denver, on the 5280 Thought Forum’s first panel, “The Future of Downtown Denver.”

Paul Teske, dean of CU Denver’s School of Public Affairs, introducing the 5280 Thought Forum’s third panel, “The Future of Outdoor Recreation.”

Jeremy Nemeth, professor of urban and regional planning, College of Architecture and Planning, CU Denver, on the 5280 Thought Forum’s second panel, “The Future of Living in Denver.”

Brian Buma (Far Right), PhD, associate professor, CLAS, and senior climate scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, speaking on the 5280 Thought Forum’s third panel, “The Future of Outdoor Recreation in Colorado.” The panel included (from left) Lindsay King, 5280 editor; Luis Benitez, vice president for government affairs and global impact, VF Corporation; and Mark Eller, director of foundations and new business, Leave No Trace.

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Welcome to June in Denver! A month that acts like summer most of the time but isn’t afraid to show its brooding spring-like contempt whenever it feels the need—and it usually delivers those punches in the form of thunderstorms and large hail.

Like most of spring, June is a transitional month. It’s a month that lies between the cool rains of May and the warm rains of the monsoon season. Warm Gulf moisture will occasionally pick fights with cold fronts, creating periods of instability, thunderstorms, hail, and sometimes tornadoes.

Denver7 Chief Meteorologist Mike Nelson provides an outlook on June weather and explains some of the extreme weather statistics for the month. Watch the video in the player below:

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The month can receive the most intense severe weather of the year, according to the National Weather Service. Tornado season heats up as well during June. But let’s get the stats out of the way.

June is the city’s third-warmest month of the year, behind July and August. Denver`s monthly mean temperature for June is 67.4 degrees, based on averages from 1981 to 2010. We start the month with an average high of 77 degrees and end the month 10 degrees warmer on average. The hottest it’s ever gotten in June was 105 degrees for two days in a row in 2012!

Temperatures can dip down to below freezing, but it’s very rare. The coldest temperature recorded in June in Denver was 30 degrees on June 2, 1951. But we average about 48 degrees at the beginning and 56 degrees toward the end of the month as far as low temperatures are concerned.

Coming out of what is considered the wettest month of the year, May, the sixth month of the year precedes what is considered the second wettest month of the year in Denver, July. We tend to see a lot of moisture in the form of severe thunderstorms during June, after all, severe weather season is in full force.

The monthly mean for precipitation is 1.98 inches. The wettest June we saw in Denver was in 1882, when 4.96 inches of moisture fell in the city. And more recently, in 2009, we got 4.69 inches of moisture. But our driest June occurred in 1916 when only 0.08 inches of rain fell in Denver for the entire month.

And remember snow? It can happen, but it too is a very rare event. Snow has occurred only seven times in June in Denver since 1882 with the last occurrence in 1974 with a trace, according to the NWS. The Mile High City’s snowiest June happened in 1953 when a whopping total of 0.5 inches fell during the entire month.

Severe weather season

As mentioned above, June can be the most relentless month weather-wise for Denver. Severe thunderstorms with large hail, damaging wind gusts, heavy rain, and strong tornadoes are common during the sixth month of the year.

Colorado is entering peak tornado season. The state sees an average of 27 tornadoes during May and June, with June being the busiest month with an average of 17 tornadoes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There have been 2,125 tornado events recorded in Colorado and at least five deaths related to twisters since 1950.

The most tornado-prone county in Colorado — and the entire country — is Weld County, which has seen 268 tornadoes since 1950. The city and county of Denver has seen 16 tornadoes in the same period.

The biggest tornado event that struck Denver was on June 15, 1988. Seven people were injured when an F-3 tornado touched down in the southern part of the city, cutting an erratic path 2.5 miles long. The storm damaged 85 buildings and several cars and uprooted trees.

The injuries were minor, but according to NWS reports, very traumatic for some of those involved. A golfer was thrown 40 feet but was not hurt. A man clinging to a telephone pole was unscathed but lost both of his shoes. A woman holding a baby was sucked through a broken window of a convenience store, but neither the woman nor the baby was hurt.

Tornadic activity doesn't always occur in the usual places in Colorado. Although extremely rare, tornadoes and funnel clouds have been spotted on the Western Slope and in high-altitude areas. There have been three tornado touchdowns in Park County, occurring on June 8, 2014, Aug. 18, 2009, and Aug. 23, 2008. In 2011, a tornado was documented on Mount Evans with an elevation of 11,900 feet. And on June 20, 1975, an F2 tornado touched down in Pitkin County.

Damaging hail is also a concern in June. Storms can produce hailstones up to the diameter of a fully-grown grapefruit. In a typical season, which is from mid-April to mid-August, the Front Range sees about three or four catastrophic hailstorms, according to the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.

Colorado, along with Nebraska and Wyoming, makes up what meteorologists call “hail alley.” The area averages seven to nine hail days per year. According to the National Severe Storms Laboratory, the reason why this area gets so much hail is that the freezing levels (the area of the atmosphere at 32 degrees or less) in the high plains are much closer to the ground than they are at sea level, where hail has plenty of time to melt before reaching the ground.

Hail is usually pea-sized to marble-sized, but big thunderstorms can produce big hail. Baseball-sized hail pounded parts of Golden and Lakewood during a record-breaking storm in 2017.

According to the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, Colorado had the second-highest number of hail claims in the US from 2013 to 2015 (182,591), second only to Texas. The costliest hail storm to hit Colorado was on May 8, 2017. The Denver metro area sustained $2.3 billion in insured damage.

Prepare for severe weather

Be prepared for severe weather when it strikes. Follow these tips provided by the Colorado Office of Emergency Management:

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John and Cody were driving to brunch Sunday when they found South Broadway was closed to vehicles. Undaunted, they picked up scooters and traveled on to their destination, like hundreds of others taking advantage of miles of roads closed for Viva! Streets Denver.

“We didn’t know this was happening, but we thought this was great,” said Cody, who like John, refused to give his last name. “We use scooters on a daily basis.”

One Sunday a month through August, Welton Street from Downing to Broadway and Broadway south to Alameda will be closed from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., freeing the pavement for people to walk, bike, Rollerblade or ride a scooter in the city to connect with neighborhoods and businesses along the route. The next Viva! Streets is June 4.

Viva! Streets also was created to introduce people to new forms of transportation. The program promotes a healthy lifestyle through the reduction of air pollution that new micro mobility options, like scooters, allow.

The idea isn’t new. Back in 1974, the city of Bogota, Colombia, began shutting down streets every Sunday morning for “La Ciclovía,” which helped link the arts, restaurants and other businesses with the community. Today, more than 400 cities around the world have similar programs.

Viva! Streets Denver is about thinking streets in a different way. Each Sunday, there will be many activities, such as art exhibits, dance and yoga classes or activities for the little ones. Businesses along the route will be able to offer their products to the community.

The route starts at Curtis Park, goes past the Capitol and down through all the thrift store zone on South Broadway to West Washington Park.

The Downtown Denver Partnership developed Viva! Streets after taking an “urban exploration” trip to Mexico City looking for ways to bring new mobility ideas to Denver. About 150 “city builders from Denver” experienced the ciclovía there, said Ellen Forthofer, urban planning manager for the partnership.

Denver has a good base to build on.

Forthofer said there has been a spike in adoption of e-bikes in Denver, in part because of a city program that offered rebates to people who bought them. But she also said that the city has “seen about 5 million trips on electric shared bikes and scooters in the last year.”

Rental scooters and bikes are important last-mile tools as the city encourages people to ditch their cars in the interest of cleaner air and less congested streets.

“If you take public transportation and have just a little more to go, a scooter or an e-bike serves that purpose,” Downtown Denver Partnership Kourtny Garrett said. “What we need to do is have a safe infrastructure for its use so that everyone can coexist in a safe environment.”

The DDP has partnered with Lyft and Lime, two companies that rent electric scooters and electric bicycles in the city, to increase the number of available bikes and scooters, and to make sure hubs are placed at bus and rail stops.

Corporate allies for public transportation

Between the last quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2023 more than 700,000 people in Denver made about 12 million trips on dockless scooters and electric bikes, according to the city’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. According to city data, there were more than 2,800 scooters and e-bikes on city streets during that period.

Lyft and Lime were present at the inaugural Viva! Streets event. “We just want to create a culture where people can get on their bikes or scooters and enjoy the city,” Lyft operations manager Arnaldo Colón said. “We want to collaborate with cities to change the way people get around.”

Lyft began renting scooters and e-bikes in Denver in 2018. The company currently has 300 scooters and 800 e-bikes, and 60 charging stations. Its service area covers 93 square miles of the city. The most active users are downtown.

“During the pandemic the city asked us to keep providing our service, at that point it became an essential service. We worked to keep the units especially clean and continue with that practice” said Colón, who also said scooters are the most popular choice among Denver riders.

Lime offered demo rides and instructed people about how to ride e-scooters and e-bikes safely, said Alex Sandor, the company’s Colorado operations managers. He also explained the Lime Access program, which offers discounted rides to people who are eligible for federal food, health or housing assistance.

Lime came to Denver more than four years ago and recently started a five-year contract with the city’s transportation department. Its fleet size varies depending on the time of year. Sandor would not say how many Lime scooters and bikes are on Denver streets today.

A living city

DDP’s Garrett estimated that during the height of the pandemic, stay-at-home orders decreased the daily workforce downtown by about 120,000 people per day. “We are about 60% of our daytime traffic, our evenings and weekends are back to pre-pandemic levels. People want to come back.

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“We have seen retail and hospitality as sectors hit by the pandemic. However, within the last couple of months, six new businesses opened on the 16th Street Mall and 15 others are in the pipeline,” she said. “Retailers are beginning to see these numbers going back to pre-pandemic levels as well.”

About 35,000 people live in the core downtown Denver, and close to 100,000 if surrounding neighborhoods are included.

DDP volunteers Katie Picarella and Braden Soul were part of the team who helped greet attendees and aid automobiles crossing Broadway and Welton at key intersections. Picarella said the intent of the event is to make people feel more comfortable with new modes of transportation in the city and not having to use automobiles to get everywhere.

Soul belongs to a group of cyclists who ride around different neighborhoods and go to bars. His group, though somewhat informal, has talked with Denver city council candidates. Soul said “five years ago there were half as many scooter- and bike-friendly streets in the city.”

Not everyone can — or wants to — travel the 3.5 miles of car-free streets on foot or scooter, so the Downtown Denver Partnership is offering free rides in “limos” powered at least in part by humans.

These pedicab limos are hybrids, a 21-gear mountain bike that has a motor activated once the driver starts pedaling.

“It is a unique experience to operate without cars,” said pedicab driver Aaron Kimmelman, whose company Aaron’s GreenRides is providing the free service this summer during Viva! Streets.

The concept of home is more complicated for Reggie Jackson than most.

“I'm just from Earth,” Jackson responded to a Gazette inquiry at Wednesday's NBA Finals media day.

It’s an accurate and understandable answer. Jackson was born in Pordenone, Italy while his father was stationed at nearby Aviano Air Base. From there, the Jacksons moved to England, North Dakota, Florida and Georgia before settling down in Colorado Springs. He left the Springs roughly seven years later after a standout career at Palmer High School provided an opportunity to play college basketball at Boston College. Seven years is as long residency as Jackson has experienced. He opted to return to Colorado after reaching a buyout with the Hornets after the Clippers traded him to Charlotte just before the trade deadline.

"This is home for him,” Ish Smith said. “The familiarity is there and he just fits right in."

Smith and Jackson were first teammates with the Pistons. Detroit was Jackson’s second stop in his NBA journey. After three seasons at Boston College, Oklahoma City drafted Jackson with the 24th pick in the 2011 draft. His rookie year ended with the Thunder’s first, and only, NBA Finals appearance with a young core of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Now, he’s on the first Nuggets team to reach the Finals in his adoptive home state.

“It's great,” Jackson said. “It's been 11 years removed for myself being in the Finals, just exciting especially to be at home and be part of this team.”

The Thunder traded Jackson to Detroit in his fourth professional season. The Pistons waived him one day shy of the five-year anniversary of the trade that sent him to Detroit. Two days after being waived, he signed with the Clippers for the rest of the 2020 season. He stayed in Los Angeles until this year’s trade deadline. He’s better equipped to handle the frequent moves.

“It just prepared me for the NBA life, moving every two, three years,” Jackson said of his childhood. “When you're traded, hearing the rumors, it doesn't really faze you. You've been the new kid your whole life, so you find solace in being yourself and being alone.”

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He’s not exactly alone in Denver. His family is still in Colorado Springs, and his locker is situated next to an old friend.

"He's super smart," Smith said.

Jackson is sharing the wisdom he has gathered with another neighbor in the locker room, rookie Christian Braun.

“Reggie’s full of wisdom. You can sit there and talk to Reggie, and he’ll give you 20 minutes of wisdom every single day,” Braun said.

“There’s a lot of things Reggie has to say. We’re grateful, you know, just to have a veteran come in the locker room and teach us things. He’s been a big boost for us.”

Braun has occupied the eighth and final spot in Michael Malone’s rotation in the postseason. Jackson appears to be the odd man out, though not by much. When Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr. and Braun all picked up a pair of fouls in the first quarter of Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, Malone went to Jackson, a trusted veteran who averages 12 points and shoots 39.4% from 3 in 74 career playoff games, for a few minutes.

Jackson is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Whether he stays with the Nuggets, who could have a need for a reserve guard if Bruce Brown signs elsewhere, or continues his career elsewhere, Jackson will be representing his home.

“I definitely rep 719,” Jackson said.