Dan Richardson

This month's topic of Meet in the Middle is "The Criminal Justice System: Where Law Enforcement and Mental Health Collide." Guests include Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario and Tim McFlynn, a retired social justice attorney and community builder. The discussion will dig into topics like ‘Red Flag laws’ and the new 9-8-8 mental health, substance use or emotional crisis hotline, and how law enforcement and the criminal justice system is addressing the growing mental health crisis.

Equality v. Equity: What's the Big Deal?What's the difference between the meaning of these two words and why does it matter? This episode of Meet in the Middle digs into what it means to provide equitable access to all, and what that looks like, if we want to achieve equality within a community. Guests are Jill Pidcock and Rob Stein.

On this show guests discuss Ukraine, Russia, China, and the U.S.’s role in global affairs. Guests are Alexandra Shaforost - born and raised in Ukraine, a first-generation immigrant to the U.S., and now a professional who has lived in 7 countries; and Marty Manosevitz, a retired professor of psychology, retired clinical psychologist, and an informed citizen and critical thinker.

On this episode of Meet in the Middle, Dan Richardson and guests discuss freedom of speech. This episode’s guests include Bryan Whiting, a teacher of 40 years at Glenwood Springs and Brush Creek High Schools. He taught marketing, economics, and entrepreneurship and has been awarded teacher of the year, man of the year and other accolades. Dan also welcomes Breeze Richardson to the studio. Breeze is the Executive Director at Aspen Public Radio. She has worked in marketing, communications and was a producer at WBEZ Chicago.

On this episode of Meet in the Middle, host Dan Richardson and guests chat about workforce affordable housing. The guests include Heather Henry, a former town trustee and co-chair of the West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition and Chris Hassig, an artist, community leader and Town Trustee for Carbondale.

On this episode of Meet in the Middle, host Dan Richardson chats with a couple of Gen Z’ers who grew up in the Roaring Fork Valley. Genesis Ramos is a 2021 graduate of Roaring Fork High School, a first-generation college student at Colorado Mountain College, and a Family Navigator at Valley Settlement. Lily Nieslanik is also a 2021 graduate of Roaring Fork High School, a 4th generation Carbondale native, and a track and field athlete at Colorado Mesa University.

Host Dan Richardson welcomes Gregg Rippy, chair of the Garfield County Republicans, State Representative from 2000-2004 and co-owner of Grand River Construction and Curtis Harrison, the interim state lead for the Colorado Forward Party. They talk about the effectiveness of the two party political system.

Host Dan Richardson talks with Clark Anderson, co-founder and Executive Director of Community Builders, and Paul Menter, local CFO, newspaper columnist, and a board member for a local nonprofit housing corporation. Clark and Paul wrestle with what’s working, what’s not, and what can be learned from efforts to date.