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MorningMagazine_2024-11-18 Jack Dawson
Spirit Airlines files for bankruptcy
Spirit Airlines was hit hard by the pandemic, and only exacerbated their struggles after a failed attempt to sell the airline to JetBlue.
The airline lost over $2.5 billion since 2020, and faces more than $1 billion in debt payments over the next year.
Spirit says it expects to operate as normal throughout the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, and that customers can continue to fly and book without interruption. They do plan to cut down their October-through-December schedule by nearly 20% compared to last year.
Spirit has seen an increase in passengers over the past year; however, they’re paying 10% less per mile, and revenue per mile from fares is down nearly 20%. The Associated Press and The Denver Post report that this trend isn’t new; Spirit failed to return to pre-pandemic profit margins after travel picked back up.
The last bankruptcy filed by a major U.S. carrier ended when American Airlines merged with US Airways in December 2023, and came out of Chapter 11 protection.
Donald Trump picks Denver-based oil and gas CEO as energy secretary
President-elect Donald Trump has picked Chris Wright, a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive, to serve as energy secretary in his upcoming administration.
Wright is the CEO of the Denver-based oil and gas company, Liberty Energy. He’s historically been loud and proud of oil and gas development, including fracking, and stands firmly against efforts to fight climate change. That’s according to The Colorado Sun.
Democrats lose Colorado House majority, pending recounts
Republicans flipped three seats in the Colorado House of Representatives as of Thursday night, costing Democrats their super majority.
Republican defense contractor Rebecca Keltie defeated Democratic Representative Stephanie Vigil by seven votes in House District 16, winning the Colorado Springs-based seat. In District 19, former state Republican Representative Dan Woog defeated Democrat Jillaire Mc Millan by 123 votes. Those two races were won by paper-thin margins, according to The Colorado Sun.
The third seat went to Republican Ryan Gonzalez, who beat Democratic incumbent Mary Young of Greeley.
The D-16 and D-19 races will still see recounts, since Colorado law requires an automatic recount when the difference between the top candidates is less than 0.5% of the winner’s vote total. The recounts must be completed by December 6th, and not expected to change the outcome of the contest according to The Sun.
Colorado Democrats still have big majorities in the legislature, since most other legislative contests reaffirmed the statewide dominance of that party.
Denver students walk out in protest of school closures
Hundreds of students from the Denver Center for International Studies at Baker school walked out of classes Friday Morning to protest Superintendent Alex Marrero’s proposed school closures.
If Marrero’s plans are approved, the school would be restructured into a middle school only, removing grades 9 through 12. That school is one of seven threatened by Marerro’s proposal.
You can hear more about that walk-out on today’s Morning Magazine here.
E.Coli outbreak linked to organic carrots
One person has died as a result of a newly reported E. coli outbreak linked to organic carrots.
Signs of the outbreak have shown up across 18 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, infecting a reported 39 people so far. 15 of those individuals have been hospitalized.
Only one Colorado outbreak was reported, but officials say that the symptoms take a few days to appear, and many people recover without medical attention. Over the weekend, the outbreak was linked to organic bagged baby carrots from Grimmway Farms. The infected carrots are unlikely to be on store shelves, but could still remain in customers’ homes.
Grimmway Farms notified customers directly who received any of the recalled products and requested that the customers notify distributors. The recalled carrots had best buy dates from September 11 to November 12, and could have been bought in stores between August 14 and October 23.
In addition to Colorado, cases have been reported in Washington, Oregon, California, New York, and a handful of other states. You can find a map of those outbreak locations on kgnu.org.
Recalled carrot brands include not only Grimmway Farms, but also 365, Good & Gather, Nature’s Promise, Simple Truth, Sprouts, and Trader Joe’s. A full list of those retail grocers will also be available at kgnu.org.
