Cheers? Newspaper inks deal with Odell

For its 140th anniversary, the Fort Collins Coloradoan is collaborating with Odell Brewing Co. to brew a signature beer, a white coffee pale ale.

Odell is Fort Collins second-largest brewer and has a history of brewing beer for local businesses, including the Town Pump and Silver Grill, and now, the newspaper formerly known as the Larimer County Express will also have its own beer, although it has yet to be named.

Some may wonder about a potential conflict of interest on the part of the newspaper, which reports about the Fort Collins beer industry fairly regularly.

An ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, one of the most respected organizations in journalism, said that as long as the paper stays equally true to other breweries, a conflict of interest can be mitigated.

“It could spread the love around by making sure that the other breweries get decent stories over time,” the institute’s Kelly McBride said in an email. “If something comes up, it will have to assure (and reassure, every time it publishes a story) the staff internally and the public externally, that even though it had a relationship with the brewery, that it’s loyalties reside with the community and with the truth.”

That’s exactly what the paper plans to do, according to Executive Editor Josh Awtry.

“We think you can be closer to the community and still report on it,” Awtry said.
He also said the paper would still continue to cover all of the breweries in the same manner, even as it moves forward with its partnership with Odell.

Awtry added that, “While we’re happy to be collaborating with Odell, this is a product we’ve purchased. It’s not any different from any other vendor relationship out there — we do business with companies all over Fort Collins.”

No doubt. And it’s easy to imagine they, too, would enjoy such good press.

Chamber sets its fundraising bar higher

The Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce has upped the ante on its fundraising this year.

Rather than the $325,000 goal of years past, the chamber is looking at a $400,000 goal for its 2013 fundraising campaign.

In years past, the campaign has exceeded its goal, according to Ann Hutchison, executive vice president of the chamber. The 2012 campaign brought in about $360,000, Hutchison said.

The campaign will kick off in September.

“We want to think big, and having a big number helps us do that,” Hutchison said.

The chamber is also working to further improve the local economy through a new job-creation effort in 2013.

It has kicked off a new effort called “Fort Collins Works,” complete with its own website, www.FortCollinsWorks.com.

The site includes a jobs scorecard, which tracks how Northern Colorado legislative representatives voted on bills supported by the Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance, and includes details on what candidates in the upcoming municipal election had to say in response to questions about jobs and the economy.

The site also lays out a 41-point jobs plan that includes goals surrounding community competitiveness, retention of primary employers such as Woodward Inc. and innovation and entrepreneurship.

Economics, not politics, led to federal drilling slowdown

Oil companies and their lobbyists often complain that the Obama administration has stymied its efforts to drill on federal land, but a Denver-based group says economics instead has lead to the slump in activity on taxpayers’ property.

An analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Western Priorities found that a combination of low natural-gas prices and high oil prices made drilling for oil more profitable. Turns out, most of that oil sits on private property.

More than 90 percent of shale oil in the Lower 48 is located under “nonfederal” land, a majority of which is privately owned, according to the analysis.

Meanwhile, natural gas has plummeted to about $3.30 per thousand cubic feet, or approximately half its 2006 price. By contrast, oil prices have surged 44 percent in the same period, growing from $66 in 2006 to $95 per barrel earlier this year.

“Critics have wrongly blamed the federal government for a decline in federal oil and gas leasing,” said Professor Mark Squillace, former director of CU’s Natural Resources Law Center. “In reality, the decline is best explained as the result of market choices made by individual companies to shift their production to oil and other liquid plays and away from gas.”

“And this means less activity on public lands,” he added.

Living on the Bespoke Edge

You know that old college sweatshirt that wears so comfortably? Now imagine that same feeling in your suit Monday morning.

That’s the difference bespoke can make, according to Ron Wagner, owner of Windsor-based The Bespoke Edge.

The clothing company sells shirts, trousers, suits and coats, all made to order by a Singapore-based custom-clothing manufacturer.

Wagner worked in men’s clothing in Northern Colorado from 1977 to 2008, and then after a few years away from the industry, returned to open the Bespoke Edge in the fall.

Rather than maintaining a storefront, he comes to his clients’ homes or offices and takes the measurements himself. He then offers his expertise in choosing from hundreds of fabrics and designs, allowing the shopper to customize everything from tuck length to collar shape.

But in a region where even business professionals choose function over fashion, who exactly are the Bespoke Edge’s customers?

While Wagner believes in dressing for success, he also understands that Fort Collins isn’t New York. Which is why he offers shirt options that look good with jeans or left un-tucked and pants that can handle the bike commute without blowout. Of course, none of this stuff comes cheaply. Shirts start at $125, suits at $695. But, hey, you’ll look great!

on Facebook on LinkedIn