Overview:
The March 2026 Bucket List radio show covers Denver Summit FC, an Aurora safe zone cafe, school phone bans and Colorado's moon connections.
The March episode of the Bucket List Community News radio show on KGNU takes listeners from the excitement of Denver’s newest professional sports team to neighborhood organizing, evolving school policies and Colorado’s role in humanity’s return to the moon. The ninth episode of the show, hosted by Bucket List editor Toni Tresca, aired Thursday, March 5, and is now available to stream on our website, Podbean, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
The first segment highlights a milestone moment for women’s sports in Colorado. Freelance journalist Cassis Tingley joins the program to discuss Denver Summit FC’s upcoming inaugural home match on March 28 at Empower Field at Mile High. The city’s new National Women’s Soccer League franchise will face the Washington Spirit in its first home game after weeks of early-season road matches against Bay FC, Gotham FC and the Orlando Pride.
Tingley traces the long road that led to Denver landing the team, beginning with grassroots advocacy from supporters pushing for an NWSL franchise in 2022, followed by an ownership bid in 2023 and the league’s official announcement awarding Denver the team in 2025. She also explains the broader conversations surrounding the team’s future stadium near the Santa Fe Yards site, which received $70 million in city funding and has sparked debate about public investment during a period of municipal budget cuts. For now, the team will split its matches between Empower Field and Dick’s Sporting Goods Park until its permanent stadium opens.
From there, the show turns to Aurora, where reporter Daniel Montoya explains how one local coffee shop has become a community anchor amid rising immigration enforcement. Ollin Cafetzin, a Chicano- and Mexicano-owned café on East Colfax, has positioned itself as both a cultural space and a gathering place for immigrant residents navigating uncertainty surrounding increased ICE activity. Montoya spoke with co-founder Cynthia Moreno-Romero about the café’s mission to commemorate Indigenous history while also providing a welcoming space for community members to organize, connect and support one another.
The episode then shifts to Colorado classrooms. Reporter Fabian Dierks explores how schools are responding to new statewide policies limiting student cellphone use during the school day. The legislation, House Bill 1135, requires districts to adopt formal policies restricting communication devices by July 2026. Through conversations with students and administrators in both the Boulder Valley School District and Denver Public Schools, Dierks reports that while students initially worried about the restrictions, many now say the changes have helped them engage more with classmates and classroom discussions.
In the arts and culture segment, Sadie Gonzales checks in on Colorado’s film scene ahead of the 98th Academy Awards. Gonzales speaks with Denver Film CEO Kevin Smith and Lyric Cinema owner Ben Mozer about audience trends and the continued appeal of theatrical moviegoing despite the rise of streaming. With the Sundance Film Festival scheduled to move to Colorado in 2027, both see the coming years as a particularly exciting moment for the state’s film culture.
The show also includes a studio interview with the leaders of the Neighborhood Village Project, a Front Range initiative that aims to combat social isolation by assisting residents in developing deeper relationships with their neighbors. Through six-month cohorts, the program encourages participants to take small steps, such as knocking on doors or organizing neighborhood gatherings, to gradually transform strangers into supportive community networks.
The episode concludes with a look beyond Earth. Reporter Ryland Scholes explores Colorado’s surprising connections to NASA’s Artemis II mission, which will return humans to lunar orbit for the first time since 1971. Organizations across the state are contributing to the effort, including Lockheed Martin in Littleton, which built the Orion spacecraft capsule; Golden-based startup Lunar Outpost, which is developing lunar exploration technology; and the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, whose research helps scientists understand the moon’s environment.
The next episode of the Bucket List Community News radio show airs Thursday, April 2, at 3 p.m. on KGNU. Listeners can find all previous episodes by clicking here.
