Short on dispatchers
Boulder County Communications Center handles all emergency calls from those along the front range. When understaffed on dispatchers, as the communications center has been for more than a decade, the first responders take on 12-hour, overnight shifts to calmly talk to someone in the state of emergency and send necessary police and fire responders.
Boulder County Communications Center employs 16 full-time dispatchers who are all on mandatory overtime, but requires 24 to be adequately staffed.
Read more about how the Boulder County Communications Center is handling the labor shortage in the Daily Camera.
Astronauts drummer
Longtime Boulder resident, and drummer of Boulder-based surf band the Astronauts, Jim Gallagher died at age 78. As the Beach Boys rose in popularity, so did the Boulder High and Fairview High graduates making up the Astronauts in 1960s Boulder. The Astronauts’ surf music was even more successful than the Beach Boys’ in Japan.
Read more about the Boulder band at Yahoo Finance.
High winds
The National Weather Service alerted Boulder of winds up to 100 milers per hour around some areas of the foothills on Wednesday, with parts of Boulder proper experiencing up to 91 mile per hour gusts. The intense weather caused several businesses and homes to lose power, plus road closures and property damage from falling tree branches. The violent wind came from storms on the Pacific, which become increasingly severe as changing climate patterns and temperature differences influence wind speeds, especially those off the coasts.
Read more about Boulder’s wins at Broomfield Enterprise and about climate change and wind at Scientific American.
Microsoft space
Though Microsoft moved into 1650 Canyon Boulevard, adding to the 32,000-square-foot space it bought on 15th Street around a decade ago, the company says the new office space isn’t a major expansion. Regardless, Microsoft’s addition represents growth many tech companies, especially startups, experience in Boulder today.
Read more about Microsoft’s move in the Daily Camera and about Boulder’s startup culture on BLDRfly.com.