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Using Medicare open enrollment to best fit your healthcare needs

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:31 GMT

ST. LOUIS – Medicare open enrollment started in early October and runs until December 7. Experts say now is the time to evaluate your coverage and adjust if needed.“They could be out hundreds or thousands of dollars every year because they didn’t do anything in open enrollment,” Darren Hotton, associate director of community health and benefits at the National Council on Aging, said.He says people often choose recognizable Medicare plans instead of what best fits their needs.“What they do, though, is they just watch the commercials, and they’re like, ‘Well, that looks great. I should just join that plan,’ without thinking about all the ramifications associated with the Medicare Advantage plan,” Hotton said.Hotton tells us some people overpay for a plan with coverage they don’t need, while others choose plans without enough coverage, putting them at risk of expensive medical bills. A lot of folks just don’t understand the enrollment process.“They think it’s too hard, it’s too complic...

“Fourth Wing” is taking the book world by storm. Here’s what you need to know about Colorado’s Rebecca Yarros and the sequel “Iron Flame”

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:31 GMT

Colorado’s Rebecca Yarros was already a staggeringly successful New York Times best-selling author when Amazon announced Monday that it is planning a TV series based around her latest fantasy novel, “Fourth Wing,” and its sequel, “Iron Flame,” which is due out Nov. 7.But the news reinforced Yarros as a force in global publishing, with 25 weeks on The New York Times best-seller list (13 of those weeks at the No. 1 spot) and an estimated half-million copies sold of “Fourth Wing” as of this writing. Yarros has garnered another 1 billion views to date across all related hashtags of her name and work on TikTok (more on that below), Variety wrote.Colorado Springs author Rebecca Yarros and her London-based publisher, Waterstones, is prepping the new book “Iron Flame,” which is already a preorder hit, for a Nov. 7 release. (Katie Marie Seniors, provided by Kaye Publicity)Yarros is known among fans and critics for her evocative, richly de...

Amore for amaro: It’s a sweet time in Denver for lovers of the bitter Italian liqueur

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:31 GMT

Amaro, simply put, is a liqueur fortified with bittering herbs, honey or sugar and aromatics, often served after a meal. Italian in origin, the flavors showcase ingredients found in each region, where often the beverage gets homemade and dolled out to visitors and family.In the United States, amaro isn’t nearly as well-known as other liqueurs, and its distinct flavor profile can make it polarizing. But commercially bottled versions increasingly can be found on the shelves of top restaurants. While most don’t offer homemade amaro (well, one place in Colorado does), many have curated a list, ranging from very bitter to sweeter. Some also offer amaro cocktails. With so many options, it’s a good time to get a taste of Italy’s old-school, herbal drink and learn not just how it plays into the meal, but how each dram speaks to a place as well.DENVER , CO – JUNE 27: Spuntino general manager Elliot Strathmann, left, chats with customers at the bar while he prepa...

The Colorado star of Half Baked Harvest inspires loyalty — and controversy

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:31 GMT

SILVERTHORNE, Colo. — Tieghan Gerard was busy lighting pumpkin spice-scented candles when I arrived at her sunlit studio in October. After more than a year of negotiations with the representatives who guard her schedule and her image, she’d agreed to cook two recipes I’d chosen from the thousands on her immensely popular recipe site, Half Baked Harvest.Tieghan Gerard slices apples at her home in Silverthorne, Colo., Oct. 9, 2023. Since 2012, Gerard has styled, shot and edited every photograph for her near-daily new recipe posts on Half Baked Harvest. (Theo Stroomer/The New York Times)Small, soft-spoken and eager to please, she welcomed me warmly, but the coq au vin blanc meatballs and coffee-frosted pumpkin spice cake were not to be. “That cake takes two days to make,” she said.Instead, her staple white chicken chili simmered in a pumpkin-shaped Dutch oven. She sliced apples and toasted pumpkin seeds for her fall harvest salad before moving on to her favorite part of the proce...

As Midwesterners move to Colorado, is Denver destined to become the next Chicago?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:31 GMT

Dino McTaggart, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, moved to Denver in 1997 for the love of a woman.Eleven years later, the 55 year old channeled his adolescence working at his father’s bar to create a space for Midwesterners to rub elbows — and, more importantly, drink beer — downtown: Cap City Tavern at 1247 Bannock St.The successful business model of serving the state’s population of Midwestern migrants has resulted in other spots like Badgers Pub and Wally’s Wisconsin Tavern popping up throughout the city to please newcomers, with almost 44,000 moving to Colorado from the region’s 12 states from 2021 to 2022.Although Californians and Texans have historically led the charge in leaving their respective states for the Rocky Mountains, the pipeline from the Midwest to Colorado proves to be a reliable source of tens of thousands of new residents year after year. Their reasons vary, whether it’s to enroll at a Colorado university, escape to better climates...

CU Denver creating lab to test outdoors gear in partnership with Outside Inc.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:31 GMT

Engineering students at the University of Colorado Denver soon will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience testing outdoors gear with precision machinery in a newly created “innovation laboratory” through a partnership with Outside Interactive Inc., the Boulder-based media company that is home to more than 30 online platforms, including Outside magazine.Officially called The Outside Lab at CU Denver, its mission will be to provide a space where faculty, students, Outside editors and entrepreneurs in the outdoors industry can test skiing, running, hiking gear and other outdoors equipment using highly sophisticated machinery.Outside will use laboratory findings to enhance gear review features across its platforms by introducing objective testing data to augment subjective field tests, while students will gain valuable experience operating in a laboratory setting, the university said.“They might create the next Gore-Tex,” said Outside chief executive R...

Pedestrian reportedly struck on 101 Freeway, CHP stops all traffic 

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:31 GMT

All traffic on one stretch of the southbound side of the 101 Freeway was closed early Wednesday morning after reports came in of a pedestrian being hit by a car. Footage from Sky5 shows CHP squad cars parked in the middle of the 101 near the Vermont Avenue exit with a steady stream of commuters lining up behind the blockade. Authorities halted all traffic on a stretch of the southbound 101 Freeway after a pedestrian was reportedly struck on Nov. 1, 2023. (KTLA)It is possible that the case may turn into a death investigation, according to KTLA 5’s Rich Prickett. The incident comes just two days after another victim was fatally struck on the 101 Freeway near the Santa Monica Boulevard exit in Hollywood in an early morning collision. 

WeHo Halloween Carnaval’s epic return makes for massive cleanup operation 

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:31 GMT

The highly anticipated WeHo Halloween Carnaval made its long-awaited return after a four-year hiatus on Tuesday night, with thousands dressing up and flocking to West Hollywood to attend one of the nation’s largest Halloween celebrations. Now, the race is on to clean up after a night of nonstop partying and reopen Santa Monica Boulevard, which closed between La Cienega Boulevard and Doheny Drive for the festivities. Street sweepers were seen maneuvering from curb to curb on Santa Monica early Wednesday morning, and cleanup crews were also power washing sidewalks, picking up trash and removing portable toilets. Sanitation officials told KTLA 5’s Carlos Herrera that this year’s mess is not as bad as previous years, despite festivalgoers partying extra hard for the first Halloween Carnaval since 2019.  The simple reason why your streaming bill keeps going up Attendees believe that the festival lived up to the hype, emphasizing just how much they missed the celebration that was c...

NEIL FRANCES feels Fuzzy

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:31 GMT

NEIL FRANCES feels Fuzzy: Los Angeles indie-dance duo NEIL FRANCES‘ Jordan Feller and Marc Gilfry met years ago while both were working on other projects.“I produced a song for his previous band,” says Feller. “We then happened to re-connect when I moved to L.A. in 2016. We were both looking to do something new so I sent him some demos I’d been working on with the intention of having someone else sing them and put them out. When we shared the songs we’d written with some friends they gave us positive feedback, with one friend in particular sharing the songs with Chris Douridas at KCRW. To our complete surprise Chris played one of the songs on the radio and the rest is kinda history.”They describe their sound today as, “Fuzzy and for the weekend.” That’s perfectly appropriate, given that their new album is called It’s All a Bit Fuzzy.“The album was recorded over the past 12 months,” says Feller. “Our initial idea...

Delta-8 Brands You Can Trust

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:31 GMT

Delta-8 THC is the new star among cannabinoids. With a quick rise to the top of the market, the number of delta-8 products available has boomed. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that all delta-8 THC products for sale today are of equal high-quality. Getting a high-quality delta-8 product is key to an enjoyable experience. If you are curious to try delta-8 but are unsure where to start, read on for a breakdown of delta-8 brands you can trust.What Is Delta-8 THCDelta-8 THC, D8 for short, is a naturally occurring compound in cannabis and hemp plants. Although it can be found naturally, delta-8 is a minor cannabinoid that is found less abundantly. For that reason, most delta-8 THC products sold today are made using CBD processed in a lab into delta-8.There are over 100 cannabinoids in hemp and cannabis plants, and it is said delta-8 is similar to delta 9. From a chemical standpoint, they differ mostly due to a difference in placement of a double bond on the carbon chain. Delta-8 THC ha...