Written Works
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‘They’re just staying away’: Colfax businesses struggle amid BRT construction
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August 7, 2025 | By Hayden Kim
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Businesses on Colfax are in trouble.
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As construction of the bus rapid transit line down Colfax continues, eateries and retailers along the corridor say they’re feeling the effects in the form of reduced sales and fewer customers.
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“They’re just staying away from this area altogether because of the construction,” said Maud Schaefer, the second-generation owner of Tommy’s Thai.
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Schaefer said revenue at Tommy’s Thai has dropped 25-35%, forcing her to make some difficult decisions.
“We’ve cut a lot,” Schaefer says. “And the people that work here are family or they’re friends.”
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The restaurant at 3410 E. Colfax Ave. did receive a one-time payment, of $15,000, from Denver’s Business Impact Opportunity fund, which is intended to partially mitigate losses. It was one of 29 businesses, from Starbucks to Cerebral Brewing, that received cash in a round announced last month...
College Counter Campus Circuit Preview!
October 23, 2025 | By Hayden Kim
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The College Counter Campus Circuit(C4) brings together four top-20 teams in a tournament that will shape the story for some of the top teams in all of collegiate Counter-Strike. The tournament is set to start in just two days on Saturday, October 25th, and features a $300 prize for the winner, with second place taking home $125.
Here is our preview of the action that will be streamed live on Twitch @nwesorg starting at 5 pm est.
The Unproven Favorites: Ohio State
On paper, #5 Ohio State comes into C4 as the favorites. They started the season as the #5 team in the nation and held onto the rank through this latest week. The main reason they haven’t moved up (or down) is that their strength of schedule so far has been weak to say the least. They play in the weak Central Conference in the PCL that has been dominated by #5 Ohio State and #4 Illinois – and the two teams haven’t even played each other yet. Their highest ranked win up to this point was against #27 University of Alberta...
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UT Austin unites Texas with first-ever Texas Collegiate Classic
October 15, 2025 | Written by Hayden Kim
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The home of the 2025 Austin Major is set to host another LAN.
The University of Texas Counter-Strike club has announced their first ever Texas Collegiate Classic set to take place at the Alienware Longhorn Esports Arena at the University of Texas at Austin. The tournament takes place on October 25th will feature teams from Texas in a four-team best-of-three single-elimination bracket with a prize pool that is to-be-determined.
“I feel like doing this will help Counter-Strike get out there,” said tournament organizer and Texas Counter-Strike club president Ricardo “Zel” Trinh. “I feel like the sense of community collegiate CS, and NA CS as a whole, has been slowly fading away.”
The Texas Collegiate Classic is another product of Texas Counter-Strike’s wider goal of building up the collegiate CS2 scene. The Texas Counter-Strike club is also the organizer for the Longhorn League, a league outside the traditional leagues of PlayVS and NECC, and includes teams such as #2, Texas, #8 RIT, #32 Texas A&M and #31 Penn State...
Syracuse CS2 team wins first Esports National Championship
May 1, 2025 | By Hayden Kim
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Photos courtesy of College Esports News
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The Syracuse Counter-Strike 2 esports team won the National Championship in their first semester after being promoted to the top division.
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The Orange beat Oklahoma Christian University 2-1 in a best-of-three series to take home the new varsity esports program’s first national title on Saturday. The National Championship took place in Orlando, Florida, hosted by Full Sail University and organized by the National Association of Collegiate Esports.
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“Winning a national championship in our first semester is unheard of, and something that will go down in the record books that we can be proud of,” said Joey Gawrysiak, executive director of esports at SU. “This will help us launch all aspects of esports here at Syracuse in a big way moving forward.”
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Syracuse’s road to the championship was not expected. The Orange came into the tournament as the No. 7 seed and finished second in their group behind Stony Brook.
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After defeating No. 10 seed Michigan Tech, the Orange completed three straight upsets against No. 2 George Mason University, No. 3 Stony Brook and No. 4 Oklahoma Christian.​..