The Coloradoan's impact was displayed in drug prices, elections and discourse in 2022
Coloradoan reporters published more than 2,000 local stories in 2022.
They ranged from broadly read stories on the potential end of daylight saving time in Colorado to more niche profiles on our neighbors like Erin Udell's piece on Brian Callahan, New Belgium Brewing's longest-tenured employee prior to his February retirement.
Some of those stories — 150, to be exact — were read by tens of thousands of online readers. Others, including a column or two from yours truly, reached only a few hundred readers.
I've always liked numbers, as you can probably tell. A box score tells a quick tale of a basketball game. A 35-0 vote in the Colorado Senate sends a clear message on a proposed law. A dozen new digital subscriptions tells us we've published something that people think is worth reading.
Numbers give us tangible, measurable aspects, but as we all know, they don't tell complete stories. Measuring the impact of our work as journalists can be a much more undefined pursuit. Sure, some stories lead to law changes or rights wronged. But many more deliver impact in more subtle ways:
A voter making an informed choice between two candidates or their position on a ballot measure
A couple going on a memorable date after reading about a new restaurant
A person struggling with depression connecting to the stories of their neighbors
A reader challenging their own viewpoint on a local issue while reading their neighbors' input via Coloradoan Conversations
The USA TODAY Network is publishing a special "impact report" in Sunday, Jan. 8, print editions across the country. Digital subscribers will also be able to read an electronic version of the report in the Coloradoan e-newspaper. I hope you'll read it and be as impressed with the contributions of my colleagues across the nation as I am on a daily basis.
In measuring the Coloradoan's impact in 2022, I'm focusing on stories or efforts that have created real change for individuals, for institutions and to public discourse. These examples from 2022 represent some of our best work and remind us of our centering mission to serve as a forum for better understanding and positive change in Fort Collins and Northern Colorado.
I hope you'll continue your support of this important work if you're a subscriber, or help us deliver it long into the future by purchasing a digital subscription for as little as 23 cents per week for the first three months if you're not yet among the thousands of our neighbors who help us bring fact-based news to Fort Collins every day.
Thank you, as always, for reading the Coloradoan. I hope you'll find this brief selection of work from 2022 as memorable as it was impactful to our community.
UCHealth slashes price of cancer drug Zoladex after admitting it overcharged patients
In April, UCHealth announced plans to slice the cost of a cancer drug after acknowledging it had been overcharging patients and insurance companies for years.
The move, which followed a Coloradoan investigation into the health system's billing for a Fort Collins woman's treatment, has the potential to save patients thousands of dollars on the monthly injection.
After the Coloradoan's investigation published in early April, Hoillie Quinn said UCHealth told her it was reducing the cost of Zoladex 3.6 mg from more than $9,400 per injection to just more than $3,100 and would reimburse her retroactively for past treatments. UCHealth pays $783 for the same injection, as of our reporting on the issue.
The huge markup came to light after Quinn complained about the cost of Zoladex, triggering the Coloradoan's investigation.
The investigation:Hospital's $7k price hike on Fort Collins woman's cancer treatment came amid near-record profits
The impact:UCHealth slashes price of cancer drug Zoladex after admitting it overcharged patients
Sweeping change at Loveland Police Department in aftermath of Karen Garner arrest
The fallout from the 2020 forcible arrest of a 73-year-old woman with dementia continued into 2022 for the Loveland Police Department, which last week installed former Fort Collins Police Services assistant chief Tim Doran as its new chief.
After Loveland agreed to pay $3 million to settle a civil lawsuit tied to the arrest of Karen Garner in 2021, two of the officers involved — Austin Hopp and Daria Jalali — were criminally charged and convicted of crimes related to the arrest last year. Others involved left the department or were fired, and some received warnings for violating department policy.
Garner's arrest and its aftermath damaged trust between the department and community, and community members demanded then-chief Bob Ticer step down. Ticer refused but in February was chosen to lead the Prescott Valley Police Department in Arizona.
Reporting from the Coloradoan, along with other outlets, brought much of the department's dysfunction to light, along with ongoing efforts to repair trust that Doran will lead into 2023.
Authoritative election coverage helps voters shape Colorado's future
Providing authoritative and comprehensive coverage of local elections is one of the Coloradoan's most important tasks. With local and statewide elections held in April, June and November, we had ample opportunity to help voters in and around Larimer County make informed choices about their future representation.
In 2022, Coloradoan journalists provided election coverage that readers couldn't find anywhere else for municipal elections in Wellington, Timnath, Windsor and Johnstown, along with exclusive coverage of local, county and state legislative races that other outlets bypassed while focusing on top-ballot races.
Our November voter guide included links to 36 original stories previewing races of direct local impact, and Coloradoan journalists produced countless other stories, compiled a large list of community endorsements and offered links to other helpful voter resources.
Dozens of civically engaged readers subscribed in 2022 as a direct result of this coverage, which at times was an all-hands-on-deck effort for our news reporters and editors. Your support of local journalism in Fort Collins allows us to provide this vital information to local democracy that isn't available anywhere else.
Coloradoan Conversations brings new participants to opinion journalism
In February, the Coloradoan launched Coloradoan Conversations, a reimagining of our role as a forum for public discourse on local topics. With the help of our Northern Colorado Deliberative Journalism Project partners, we've held multiple conversations — both online and in person — in an effort to help our communities engage their shared problems more effectively.
A big part of that effort in 2022 was to hear, and publish, more opinions from across our community. Our weekly Coloradoan Conversations questions and discussion recaps allow anyone who has completed a free registration at Coloradoan.com to participate. And unlike traditional opinion offerings written by a single writers, our recaps include a broad array of community voices sharing their views on high-interest topics.
Last year, we published nearly 100 questions and conversation roundups, and we've been pleased with readers' continued engagement in this growing community. Through Poudre River Public Library District, we've also taken some of these conversations into physical spaces through its monthly The Scoop discussion series. We'll have more about the Jan. 18 event later this week.
We hope you'll join us as we continue to grow this community designed to improve our shared understanding of views on our communities' most pressing issues.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: The Coloradoan's 2022 impact on drug prices, elections and discourse
