Charlie Childs, the CEO of a biotechnology startup, moved the company to Colorado for the lifestyle and because she believes the state is an up-and-coming hub for the industry.

Ditto for Blake Herren, head of the startup Raven Space Systems, on Colorado’s quality of life. And outreach by the state and the business community made an impression as he was considering moving from Kansas City.

Their moves to Colorado come as a business coalition has raised concerns that the state’s status as a draw for tech and innovation companies is in danger. More than 230 business, technology and civic leaders sent a letter in April to elected leaders, saying that Colorado is losing companies and jobs to other states.

Palantir Technologies’ relocation of its headquarters early this year from Denver to Miami was a warning sign for those who believe Colorado’s reputation as a national leader in innovation and high tech is eroding. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the data-analytics and artificial-intelligence powerhouse said the effects of climate change in Colorado and the state’s regulation of AI were risks to the company.

But beyond the splashy headlines about Palantir’s exit, the coalition’s letter warned that other states are luring away companies and beating out Colorado for investment and entrepreneurs “by offering clearer policy signals, faster regulatory pathways, and stronger alignment between government and growth.”

The letter has been signed by more than 430 business and tech leaders and investors, the coalition said on its website.

Gov. Jared Polis was a tech and internet entrepreneur before entering politics. After Ensuring Colorado’s Innovation Future released its letter, Polis said he was committed to making the state “an even better place” for companies to grow and innovate.

“We always want to double down on our successes and we want to change whatever isn’t working,” Polis told The Denver Post.

He said his administration has been working on one of the coalition’s recommendations: improving the supply and affordability of housing.

“We’ve removed a lot of barriers to housing. We did condo liability reform,” Polis said. “You make it easier to build, reduce regulation and red tape, speed up the approval process.”

But a bill limiting local governments’ ability to set minimum lot sizes for single-family homes to make more room for housing failed in this year’s legislative session.

Making it through the legislature was a bill requiring state departments to establish a schedule to review rules and determine whether they’re still needed. The bill was signed into law.

Polis and Eve Lieberman, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, or OEDIT, met with about 70 business leaders last month. The session was the first in a series planned across the state to focus on the business community, innovation, supporting good paying jobs and Colorado’s economy, according to OEDIT.

“That acknowledgement that we want to do better is an important part of showing the business community that Colorado is the place to be and the place to invest, because we’re always excited to learn how we can be more competitive,” Polis said.

One of the tools the state uses is the Opportunity Now Colorado program, which aims to grow existing companies, attract new ones and “train up” workers for new positions.

The program focuses on the state’s strategic priorities, such as promoting advanced industries, and helps fill training gaps where there are workforce shortages, Lieberman said.

The Opportunity Now program is in its second year and the tax credits that companies can apply for will build on the $90 million in grants that have been awarded, Lieberman said. The grants are projected to serve 20,000 Coloradans across almost every county in the state.

“We have already placed almost over 8,000  workers into those advanced industries, healthcare and education, where there are workforce shortages,” Lieberman said.

The biotech company that Childs co-founded with Madeline Eiken received a $250,000 advanced industries grant from OEDIT. They moved the company, Intero Biosystems, to Colorado from Michigan over Christmas.

Childs and Eiken trained with Jason Spence at the University of Michigan. Childs said Spence was the original inventor of  the process that develops miniature human intestines, or “organoids,” from stem cells that she and Eiken then commercialized.

“If you have a drug that you want to take into clinical trials, you can test it on our organ instead of a mouse or a dog or a monkey and hopefully get a better data point on how it’s going to react in humans and ethically not use animals,” Childs said.

Intero hopes to work on other organ systems as well. The company chose to move to Colorado because people didn’t want to be in the industry hubs on the two coasts.

“We feel like we can live a much better life here. Our employees can live a much better life here,” Childs said. “From the business side, there are so many resources here, like the OEDIT grant.”

Up-and-coming biotech hub?

Childs said the Colorado Bioscience Association was welcoming, helping Intero employees plug into networks. The company has set up shop in a building for startups on the University of Colorado Anschutz medical campus.

“One thing about Colorado is it’s not one of the big biotech hubs, but it is like the up-and-coming biotech hub. We’re just really excited to be here at the early stages of it really coming into fruition,” Childs said.

Herren, CEO of Raven Space Systems, had a personal connection to Colorado. He grew up in Oklahoma and has visited Colorado since he was a child to go mountain climbing.

There’s also the fact that Colorado has a robust aerospace and defense ecosystem and didn’t seem to be as expensive as other areas where a lot of other aerospace startups are located, Herren said. “It seemed like a good balance of access to talent and access to investors that would be interested in what we’re building.”

The company developed a 3D printing technology that specializes in aerospace-grade composites. The applications include hypersonics, propulsion systems, reentry vehicles, satellites, aircraft, missiles and rockets.

Raven moved from Kansas City to Colorado last year and decided on Broomfield as the site for its pilot facility. Herren said the company just started shipping its first parts for rocket motors.

When the company was looking at relocating to Colorado, Herren said state officials and the people in the industry reached out. He said OEDIT briefed him on available grants.

The company landed a $250,000 advanced industries grant from OEDIT. Last year, the Colorado Economic Development Commission approved up to $5.8 million in job growth tax incentives over eight years for the company. The tax credits are contingent on meeting job creation and salary requirements.

“There have been a lot of examples of successful startups before us to kind of give us that level of confidence,” Herren said.

But it’s also good to have the kind of major aerospace companies found in Colorado because they draw investors, other companies and government interests, he said.

Ranchers in the path of the Aspen Acres Fire are not only rushing to get their animals out, but they’re also helping others save their herds as the fire approaches.

The Aspen Acres Fire has grown to over 86,000 acres, but firefighters are gaining ground. The fire has reached approximately 6% containment. Firefighters have been working to protect people and property, but the very active, fast-moving fire has destroyed more than 150 homes and other structures so far.

Ranchers around Beulah, Colorado City and Rye have been rushing to get their animals out as the fire spread across the area. Neighbors like Luke Woduick have also come together to help each other evacuate livestock from danger. Woduick says ranchers worked quickly to cut fences and move livestock out of the fire’s path as conditions rapidly changed.

“I can’t even explain how bad it is. I just feel for all those animals just trying to escape; there’s a lot of animals that didn’t get out. It’s a total catastrophe,” said Woduick. “It’s just, losing an animal is just, you feed these animals, and you tend to them, and you water them, and you scratch on them, and you love on them. But, to actually see some of them die from this fire, it’s sad.”

The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office has asked evacuees to cut fences and give the animals a chance to survive if they can’t take them. They also told all trucks and trailers helping with animal rescue, “If you see flames, cut fences for the animals and leave immediately.”

Pueblo CART Livestock Division – Community Animal Response Team has been helping to coordinate livestock rescue and evacuation centers. They say the shelter at the state fairgrounds is currently housing 1,330 animals, but there’s plenty of room for more.

Despite losing his own ranch in Beulah, Woduick says he spent days helping others relocate livestock, transporting them to the Pueblo County Fairgrounds. He worries more for the residents who have lost their homes than for himself.

“I just lost my ranch, so, in a couple of years, the grass will grow. I have no complaints. Other people, they got all the heartache,” Woduick said.

Pueblo residents like Joey Musso are also doing what they can. Musso and his family own a local restaurant in Pueblo. On Saturday, they closed early to provide food for first responders and volunteers.

“This is devastating, and just to hear what people are going through right now, it’s just absolutely heartbreaking,” said Musso.

Despite flames destroying homes and communities, Musso says showing support for one another is crucial right now. 

“Truly, nobody comes together like Puebloans and people in Colorado. I mean, it’s just amazing what everybody’s doing. It’s just one huge joint effort where people are taking care of one another,” Musso said.

Fire trucks from California are the latest in a string of support from across the country sent to help Colorado. Officials are hopeful they will contain the fire within the next few days.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) — Three firefighters who were killed battling flames on the Colorado-Utah border are being remembered as brave heroes who were trailblazers in their industries.

Wildfires have spread across the West fueled by months of dry weather and a record lack of snow, forcing residents from their homes as crews work to tamp down the flames.

Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson and Sydney Watson were killed Saturday, June 27, and two others sustained burn injuries when they were overcome by flames from fast-moving fires in Mesa County. They deployed emergency protective shelters, which are considered a “last resort” for firefighters when there is no other way out.

RELATED | 3 firefighters killed in blazes along Colorado-Utah border are identified

They were assigned to a Helitack crew that can be dropped into remote areas by helicopters and whose mission is to prevent new fires from growing into out-of-control blazes.

Their deaths came almost 13 years to the day since an elite crew of 19 wildland firefighters died when they were trapped in a steep canyon in Yarnell, Arizona.

A memorial service will be held for the three firefighters at 11 a.m. Sunday at Las Colonias Park Amphitheater in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Emily Barker

Barker, 38, had so much spirit, and the people around her always strived to be a better person by her presence, said Sarah Brubeck Schnurbusch, a friend and former roommate.

Barker was from Clinton, Michigan, and liked hiking, skiing, dirt biking and playing hockey. She loved firefighting.

“I’ve never seen someone so excited to go to work,” Brubeck Schnurbusch said. She added that her friend was an expert who helped pave the way for many women in the industry.

She said she is hopeful that Barker’s death opens people’s eyes to the hard work firefighters are putting in day in and day out.

“I just hope that Emily knows the impact that she left on everybody else, and how many people really truly love her,” she said.

RELATED | Firefighter killed battling wildfire previously worked in eastern Idaho and was featured in EastIdahoNews.com story

Nick Hutcherson

Hutcherson, 27, served in the U.S. Navy and had plans to become a physical therapy doctor, according to the Kaibab National Forest in northern Arizona where he was assigned. He was also an active member of the Northern Arizona Deaf and American Sign Language community and was a dedicated Muay Thai practitioner who trained at Southside Combat Academy in Flagstaff.
Hutcherson was from Glendale, Arizona.

The Kaibab National Forest said it is heartbroken over his death. Hutcherson exemplified the agency’s commitment to serving the public and the courage wildland firefighters bring to the job, it said.

The combat academy described Hutcherson as a warrior and said it is forever grateful to have known him and to have fought alongside him.

“We lost a good one,” read a social media post. “If you met Nick, you loved Nick. He was such a gentle and genuine soul. We are still in disbelief.”

Sydney Watson

Watson, 27, was from Warrior, Alabama, and graduated from the University of Tennessee Southern, according to the university.

A former pitcher on the softball team and “a quiet, composed leader,” Watson was assigned to the U.S. Wildland Fire Service Rifle Helitack crew, the university said in a statement.

In 2023, Watson participated in a program in North Carolina organized by the Women-in-Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges, the collaborative group wrote in a statement.

In her application for the program, she said she wanted to see more women on the fire line and to work with and learn from other women in the fire industry, the statement said.

“It’s hard for people outside of the firefighting world to understand why we do what we do. We do it because we love it. Sydney loved it,” the group wrote.