As we enter the new year, there is no doubt to any business owner that the world is changing rapidly. Businesses are dealing with the after-effects of the global pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, economic challenges, as well as an ever-accelerating development of technologies. Consumers no longer see online and offline shopping as distinct experiences, and expect everything to be connected all the time — with many options available to them, including how they connect and interact with the businesses involved in the supply chain. Businesses must figure out how to do all this, and adapt to new technology, all while dealing with inflation and a talent shortage. 

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It was December of 2000 when I moved to the Pikes Peak region. As an entrepreneur, I’d written a few feature columns on topics like travel destinations and cause-related events for the San Antonio Current, and one of the first things I looked for when I arrived here was its equivalent — an a…

Over the years, I’ve heard from outraged restaurant owners and investors about the Indy’s food reviews. Occasionally, they’ve pulled advertisements because of our reviewers’ opinions. Seldom has anyone asked for a re-do, and no one has ever invited me to come and try the food or bring others…

When John Weiss and I first started bringing the Colorado Springs Independent to life in 1993, the paper didn’t even have a name, just a business plan. We didn’t have an office, so we set up shop in an empty room above Poor Richard’s equipped with a telephone and a couple of chairs. We took …

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In 1986, the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph (now The Gazette), purchased and closed down the Colorado Springs Sun, making Colorado Springs a monopoly newspaper town.

In April 1998, I walked through the doors of the ColoradoSprings Independent alternative newspaper, having faked being cool enough to score the graphic design job I was about to start. I was lost in my new hometown without friends, without a connection to local establishments, desperately wa…

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In September 1993, the Colorado Springs media landscape matched the description of the fast-growing metro area — stable, vibrant, thriving, ambitious.

I rarely sleep past 6 a.m., if even that late. I am usually up before the sun in the darker months and around dawn during the brighter ones. Thus, oftentimes I am reading the latest news before anyone else is awake. If there’s something that has happened since I went to bed and I want to dis…

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News that the state Legislature will once again look hard at gun-safety legislation is hardly surprising in the wake of the mass murder at Club Q.

It’s hard to believe the transition from one calendar year to the next is quickly approaching. Naturally, this time of year presents an opportunity for giving, often via consumerism. It’s a time when spending typically hits its apex. But does the cost go beyond the price tag? 

On Nov. 8, voters repudiated MAGA Republicanism and right-wing attacks on reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. They stood up for racial equity and LGBTQ rights. They turned out to sideline conspiracy theorists and defend democracy. They delivered a humiliating rejection of Donald Trump a…

A beautiful dish one of my beloved children gave me a few years ago features the following quote (attributed to Stuart Clarke): “So much of what we know about love, we learn from our mother.” It is impossible for me to think of the Thanksgiving holiday and not remember my mother. I was so fo…

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I know it’s a stretch to link these two couldn’t-be-less-alike political players, but I couldn’t resist the temptation. The status of both Nancy Pelosi and Lauren Boebert tells us so much about where we are in 2022 and where we might be headed in the near future.

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Universally, those of us, fortunate enough to have had good parents to teach us to be polite and say our ‘thank yous’ as appropriate, do so automatically. So why do we make that ONE day a year – Thanks Giving Day  - so especial? Is it to show God gratitude for His blessings, or our good fort…

I originally planned to write about The Walking Dead’s penultimate episode, which aired Nov. 6. To me, it was the best episode of the series. But we can discuss TWD matter via email if you’d like.

Violent crime is on the rise in the Fourth Judicial District, and in the past five years, crime in El Paso County has surpassed the national average.

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If there’s anything we know about Lauren Boebert, it’s that she loves attention. And as of now, she’s as famous — or infamous — as she’s ever been. And, depending on how things go over the next few days or weeks, she could be as famous or infamous now as she’ll ever be again.

Many of us know “On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month….” It refers to today, the annual commemoration of the Armistice of World War I, marking the ceasefire of that horrific bloodbath, which ended in 1918. The name was changed to Veterans Day in 1954 in order to recognize all w…

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Though this issue of the Indy went to press on Monday, before the election results were in, we’re pretty sure Doug Lamborn will have won his ninth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. And every two years when this happens, knowing he’ll use his extended time in office to do close to no…

In August, Sen. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, was indicted on one count of providing false information about his residence, a Class 5 felony, after Republican El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen presented evidence to a grand jury. The allegation was that two years ago, Lee violate…

Do you remember the last time you called up your internet service provider to thank them for the tremendous job they’ve been doing? I worked at Time Warner Cable’s call center here in town for a number of years (it’s called Spectrum now) and I remember the instructors informing us that custo…

November is just around the corner, and the chance to use the power of our vote is upon us. Election season can be stressful, what with wading through all the measures, trying to decipher ballot language and keeping up with the ads. But here’s one initiative that makes sense — Proposition FF…

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Once again, I’m faced with what I have come to think of as the Lauren Boebert conundrum: How crazy/bigoted/outrageous/provocative does she have to be — and she can be all those things at once — before I give in and write about her again?

While my colleagues were rubbing the dreamy sludge from their eyes and prepping the coffee pour on Monday morning, I was already two miles into a 32-mile (52 kilometer) charity walk around town for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, ultimately raising $660 to support local mental healt…

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If you ask young (would-be, should-be) voters what they care about, they can easily answer. They care about all the things that make their way to the ballot, and all the issues that need serious attention and problem-solving. But if you ask if they vote, the answer is largely no.

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Now that the Jan. 6 hearings have apparently come to an end, it’s fair to ask just what the committee has accomplished.

I was visiting with a beloved cousin this past Wednesday night and we were talking about our parents. Her dad was one of my mom’s three elder brothers and it was his birthday, though he passed away in 1995. He would tell my mother when they were growing up that the reason there was a legal h…