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Morning Brief: Boulder County Residents are at Risk

In Boulder County, 54% of homes have unhealthy radon levels; that's equivalent to every person in the home having 200 chest x-rays every year. This compares with only 6% of homes having unhealthy radon levels across the rest of the country.
Macie May
Macie May

This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

Boulder County Logo Source: Boulder County website

In Boulder County, 54% of homes have unhealthy radon levels; that's equivalent to every person in the home having 200 chest x-rays every year. This compares with only 6% of homes having unhealthy radon levels across the rest of the country. Take action this January during National Radon Action Month by testing your home for radon.

Winter is a great time to test for radon because homes are closed up, and short-term testing can be done easily. Testing is both simple and inexpensive, and when problems are discovered, they're easier to fix than you'd think. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment provides one free test kit for all Colorado residents. To order a free test kit, go to www.ColoradoRadon.info. Test kits can be purchased for less than $20 from ReSource Central Tool Library in Boulder and Colorado State University Cooperative Extension in Longmont.

Radon is a naturally occurring, invisible gas that decays into radioactive particles, which increase the risk of lung cancer for those living with radon trapped inside their homes. Lung cancer kills more people than breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney, and melanoma cancers combined. Radon exposure causes over 500 lung cancer deaths every year in Colorado.

As we work toward sustainable communities, making our homes more energy efficient plays an important role in our health. When we tighten our homes, it can impact the air quality indoors. Residents enrolled in the EnergySmart Program, which helps increase energy efficiency of homes, can now receive a short-term radon test kit as part of an energy audit. Over 1,000 EnergySmart participants have tested their homes for radon so far. For more information about the EnergySmart Program, contact them at 303-544-1000.

For more information about radon and testing, visit www.BoulderCountyRadon.org or call Boulder County Public Health at (303) 441-1580.

Data: 2018-2019 City of Longmont Employee Salary Explorer

The Longmont Observer has created a series of dashboards to examine the earnings of all full-time and part-time employees working for the City of Longmont. On December 21, 2018, the Longmont Observer obtained this data by requesting salary records from the City of Longmont through the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA).

The Bantering of Rose and J.J.: The Will of 2018

This week Rose and J.J. discuss their past year, things they have experienced, and what they hope is in store for 2019.

Current members of the St. Vrain Valley Schools Board of Education. (From left: Paula Peairs, Amory Siscoe, Karen Ragland, Bob Smith, John Ahrens, Joie Siegrist and Richard Martyr) photo from svvsd.org

SVVSD Board of Education Agenda for January 9, 2019

The St. Vrain Valley Board of Education will meet on Wednesday, January 9 at 6 p.m. The meetings will be held at the Educational Services Center, 395 South Pratt Parkway, Longmont.

Opinion: Anthony Maine--Democrats Have the Wrong Target in the Shutdown Fight

As the federal government shutdown enters a third week, it's becoming apparent that Democrats are aiming their rhetoric at the wrong target. President Trump's demand of money for a physical wall at the Mexican border may not be popular with the public at large, but it's a winner with his base, and whether out of delusion, or as some have argued an intentional strategy, Trump will unlikely relent.