Denver students are saying goodbye to mystery meat on lunch trays.

What's happening: Denver Public Schools is working to become a national leader in food quality, aiming to serve 100% of its meals from scratch for the district's 90,000-plus students.

Why it matters: Homemade meals tend to be healthier and more nutritious than ultraprocessed foods, which can hinder kids' energy, focus and cognitive development in the classroom.

• Nearly a third of Denver children — particularly those from low-income households — are considered overweight, and a quarter of kids eat less than one serving of fruits and vegetables per day, city documents show.

Driving the news: The Denver City Council on Monday approved a $1 million taxpayer-funded grant to buy a half-acre greenhouse to grow fresh salad ingredients for students citywide.

• Once constructed, the facility will sit on an empty lot in the southwest suburbs of Denver at 4900 S. Field Way.

Context: The move follows the school district's partnership this year with Brigaid, a Connecticut-based startup, to help meet its goal of serving scratch-made meals across 166 schools over the next three years.

• A dozen professional chefs are working with school kitchen staff districtwide to ramp up the program, Brigaid's biggest yet.

What they're saying: "We believe healthy school meals are actually a significant lever towards academic success," Theresa Peña with DPS Food & Nutrition Services tells Axios.

• Serving enticing and nourishing cafeteria fare also "changes the narrative that school meals are for everyone, not just for poor kids," she says.

What's next for the project

If you're job hunting in Colorado, you may need to get vaccinated.

State of play: An increasing number of job listings on Indeed.com are including COVID-19 vaccination as a requirement for applicants.

• The data shows that 2% of listings at the end of September explicitly mentioned the need for a vaccination, and while small, that's a larger percentage than at the start of the month.
• And job listings in Colorado are more likely to mention vaccination than other states, the data shows.

The big picture: The share of postings per million on Indeed that required vaccination spiked 242% in the past month, from about 1,700 to over 4,000, Axios' Erica Pandey writes.

• Corporate America is playing a key role in upping the U.S. vaccination rate.

Between the lines: The private sector is following the lead of federal, state and local governments that are embracing mandates.

• President Joe Biden will require every company with at least 100 employees to mandate vaccines or regular testing.

Yes, but: The directives are spurring lawsuits that will test the ability of private companies and governments to issue such requirements.

• And the new rules are expected to spur firings and resignations. One survey of companies found 69% were worried about increased turnover because of the latest vaccine orders.

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It pays to be in the medical field.

• Seven of the 10 highest-paying jobs in the 10-county Denver metro area work in medicine, according to the Denver Business Journal's annual analysis of federal labor data.

Why it matters: The most recent figures go through May 2020, catching a glimpse at how the early months of the pandemic affected the mean wage at the top of the pay scale.

By the numbers: Most of the top 25 occupations in the Denver metro saw a salary bump year over year.

• Obstetricians and gynecologists once again held the top spots, and surgeons kept their place in the top three compared with 2019 data.
• One of the largest gains came from psychiatrists, who moved to third-highest-paid compared with sixth a year ago.

See the top 25

😷 Gov. Jared Polis issued an executive order to increase compliance of unvaccinated state employees and end temporary eviction protections for renters. (Denver Post)

👀 The Downtown Denver Partnership named Kourtney Garrett its new leader Monday. The Colorado native, who starts in January, has spent nearly two decades driving economic development to downtown Dallas.

📍 The owners of the Minturn Saloon, a 120-year-old Denver institution, are ending their three-decade tenure and selling the 3,521-square-foot bar and restaurant for just under $2 million. (Denver Post)

🏗️ Two 30-story towers have been proposed for the Golden Triangle neighborhood by Denver-based Urban Villages. (Denver Business Journal)

💰 Democratic state Sen. Kerry Donovan is weighing whether to stay in the race to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert after she was drawn out of the 3rd District. (Denver Post)

Doors Open Denver is once again offering virtual tours as part of its architectural showcase — a rare opportunity to see inside the area's iconic buildings.

• The new on-demand tours include the Daniels & Fisher Tower, Loretto Heights' Pancratia Hall and NCAR's Mesa Laboratory.

What's more: In-person tours return this year for the event, which runs through Oct. 17.

• The four daily tours each weekend feature the Clyfford Still Museum, the Elitch Theater, the 11th Avenue Hostel and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs.

Yes, but: Tickets are limited, so act fast.

New Kids on the Block announced a massive tour that will touch down in Denver next June.

• Along for the totally tubular ride at Ball Arena: '80s icons Salt-N-Pepa, Rick Astley and En Vogue.

• 🎟️ Tickets go on sale at 10am Thursday.

Alayna's thought bubble: If this doesn't make you want to listen to NKOTB's "The Right Stuff" or Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue's "Whatta Man," reevaluate those life choices, my friends.