Denver, CO
Innovative small businesses receive boost from CU Denver's Smart Futures Lab
DENVER — Ten up and coming companies have graduated from CU Denver’s Smart Futures Lab, an incubator that helps get small, tech-minded businesses off the ground.
“We want the best companies to come here to Colorado, and we try to bring them into our ecosystem to introduce to our faculty, to our staff, and then also to our cities, and bringing those solutions here,” said Dan Griner, director of the Smart Futures Lab. “We’re really continually amazed by the imagination and the variety of the people that are applying to our program.”
Denver7’s Ethan Carlson
The goal of the program is to improve Denver through Smart City implementation, where new technologies are being developed to improve infrastructure and benefit the people who live in Denver. Griner said that funding for Smart Cities is lacking in the United States.
“We are under-resourced in terms of investment in that space,” Griner said. “All those technologies are popping up in a lot of different places, and while we’re a tech leader in many ways, our implementation of those things is not matching that.”
One of the companies going through Smart Labs graduation today is Addazu, and its CEO Kelly Pickering. Addazu is a modular home company that specializes in creating homes made of flat-packed, steel pieces that are unpacked on site and put together to create houses.
Denver7’s Ethan Carlson
“There’s got to be a better way of doing this,” said Pickering, who has become frustrated with the housing industry. “To make us more efficient with our resources, to allow us to be more efficient with our labor constraints that we have with the skilled labor force that’s decreasing, and also to bring a more affordable product to the masses.”
Pickering wants to lower home prices and speed up the build times for new constructions, while also giving architectural variety to the modular home industry.
“If you think about traditional modular homes, which most of us are familiar with, you have your box that’s constrained by certain dimensions, right?” Pickering said. “We are able to break those dimensions because you’re not constrained by what you can ship down the road. We are able to flat pack everything, deliver it on site, and then get some of those more interesting architectural dimensions that help us live in a community that doesn’t feel as rigid and repeated.”
Addazu is currently seeking investments for construction along the Front Range, hoping to expand out of Colorado once they have their footing.
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BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — If you feel like we’ve had a lot of red flag days across Colorado since the start of the year, you’re right.
According to our Denver7 weather team, there have been 369 red flag warnings across the state since the start of 2026, marking the second-highest number recorded to date since 2005. In 2023, there were 408 red flag warnings from Jan. 1 through April 22 of that year, according to Denver7 meteorologist Danielle Grant
A red flag day happens when warm temperatures, low humidity and strong winds combine to create critical fire weather conditions.
▶️ WATCH: Denver7’s Claire Lavezzorio talked red flag fatigue with residents and officials
Colorado sees second-highest number of red flag days since 2005
In Boulder County, officials say the frequency of these warnings in their area is breaking records, too.
“We’ve had 21 thus far since the beginning of 2026, and that number is almost as many as we’ve had in the previous years combined, 2024 and 2025,” said Vinnie Montez, a spokesperson for the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.
Today’s Forecast
Fierce winds, high fire danger Thursday across the Denver metro, plains
With the high volume of alerts, Montez worries the frequent warnings will become white noise.
Denver7 asked him if there is some red flag fatigue in the community.
“When you see the same commercial come up over and over again, you’re kind of like, flip the channel, right? I think that can happen in what we’re messaging,” Montez said.
At Chautauqua Park in Boulder, residents are taking note of how often these days are happening.
“It’s almost every day,” Mac Whittington said.
Local
‘We’ve never seen this’: Rare fire danger grips Colorado mountain towns
Levi Brown, a Boulder resident, pointed out that all the ingredients for high fire danger are present.
“You look around, there’s a lot of fuel in the ground, a lot of wind blowing right now, in fact,” Brown said.
For Brown, who has lived in the area for 26 years, every warning carries weight.
“It seems to be more prevalent now. And I don’t take it lightly,” Brown said.
For those who do not take the days seriously, Whittington offered a word of caution.
“Hopefully we don’t have to learn the lesson the hard way,” he said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what’s right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.
DENVER (KDVR) — Denver police are investigating a hit-and-run crash involving a motorcycle on Tuesday evening.
The Denver Police Department reported that the crash also involved a motorist and happened at East 9th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard.
The motorcyclist was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
Police did not release any description of the suspect vehicle.
Denver police said drivers should expect delays in the area.
This is developing news.
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