Email Author Joel Warner

Awards

• 2012 - National Association of Black Journalists Awards, published January 20, 2011

  "Black and Blue"

• 2011 - Mental Health America Media Awards, published February 4, 2010

  "Martial Law"

• 2011 - National Council on Crime and Delinquency/Prevention for a Safer Society Award, published April 22, 2010

  "The Boy Who Wouldn't Tell"

• 2011 - Education Reporting Awards/National Education Writers Association, published May 27, 2010

  "Lax and the City"

• 2011 - National Association of Black Journalists Awards, published July 22, 2010

  "Trial by Fire"

• 2011 - National Association of Black Journalists Awards, published May 27, 2010

  "Lax and the City"

• 2011 - National Association of Black Journalists Awards, published December 2, 2010

  "Taken for a Ride"

• 2011 - Best of the West/First Amendment Funding, Inc., published May 27, 2010

  "Lax and the City"

• 2011 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published February 4, 2010

  "Martial Law"

• 2010 - Maggies: The Magazine Awards of Western Publishing, published September 10, 2009

  "Cash Crop"

• 2010 - Maggies: The Magazine Awards of Western Publishing, published February 5, 2009

  "Growth Industry"

• 2009 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published July 10, 2008

  "Father of Invention"

• 2009 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published March 20, 2008

  "The Good Soldier"

• 2009 - Society of Professional Journalists/Colorado Chapter, published March 20, 2008

  "The Good Soldier"

• 2008 - Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma, published June 28, 2007

  "You Do the Meth"

• 2008 - Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism, published June 28, 2007

  "You Do the Meth"

• 2006 - James Beard Journalism Awards/The James Beard Foundation, published November 3, 2005

  "Mr. Big"

• 2006 - Bert Greene Award/International Association of Culinary Professionals, published November 3, 2005

  "Mr. Big"

More

2009 Stories by Joel Warner

• There's a water war on the Colorado-Wyoming border, and Aaron Million is quick on the draw

  published November 26, 2009

  The threat of violence has always bubbled just beneath the surface of water issues in Colorado. The state's hardscrabble founders clashed over... More >>

• Dan Tang pleads guilty in exchange for reduced sentence

  published Nov 20, 2009

  This morning, prominent Thornton restaurant owner Dan Tang pled guilty to one count of money laundering for his role in what investigators labeled the "Dan Tang Drug Trafficking Organization." When ... More >>

• Kotaku's Child's Play Fundraiser lets gamers rock out for a cause -- and goodies

  published Nov 19, 2009

  Denverite Brian Crecente is sort of the Rupert Murdoch of video games. As the editor-in-chief of the influential video game blog Kotaku, Crecente, a former Rocky Mountain News scribe, was recently nam... More >>

• Skills Like This, a love letter to Denver, arrives on DVD

  published Nov 17, 2009

  It's been a busy couple of weeks for Denver film. For starters, we're smack in the middle of the Starz Denver Film Festival. And last week, the locally filmed cult fantasy INK received a huge publici... More >>

• There ain't no party like a pro-pot party

  published Nov 16, 2009

  What a difference a year makes. Almost exactly twelve months ago, more than a hundred of Colorado's most committed marijuana activists got together for a "Colorado Marijuana Reform Seminar and Activi... More >>

• Dude, where's my medical-marijuana IDr

  published Nov 13, 2009

  As part of a September feature on the state's growing medical marijuana scene, I went through the process of obtaining a state medical-marijuana ID. On August 26, after scoring the needed doctor's rec... More >>

• Union Station shindig blows the roof off the depot

  published Nov 12, 2009

  For a while last night during "A Night in Old Union Station," a swanky fundraising shindig that took over Denver's central depot, the grand old railroad station resembled what it must have been like d... More >>

• Planting seeds for the future of urban homesteading with Will Allen

  published Nov 11, 2009

  As noted in Westword's summer-long "Urbavore's Dilemma" series, Denver's in the midst of an urban-gardening renaissance, with city dwellers tending chickens and turning their yards into Green Acres. W... More >>

• Live blogging the Denver District Court pot hearing

  published Nov 10, 2009

  Last Thursday, several of the state's prominent pot lawyers filed a motion to void a recent Colorado Board of Health decision to strike from its rules what it means to be a marijuana caregiver -- a mo... More >>

• Transcript of last week's Board of Health pot hearing reaches new heights of unintentional hilarity

  published Nov 09, 2009

  What happens when the state Board of Health decides to hold a last-minute meeting on a controversial topic like medical marijuana, and then tries to hold it via conference call using technology that a... More >>

• Marijuana lawyers file motion against Board of Health pot hearing

  published Nov 05, 2009

  During the emergency Colorado Board of Health hearing Tuesday that struck from state rules what, exactly, it means to be a marijuana caregiver and sent the state's medical marijuana community into tur... More >>

• Should Colorado marijuana dispensaries follow the New Mexico modelr

  published Nov 05, 2009

  As a recent Court of Appeals decision and a Board of Health brouhaha made clear, Colorado's medical marijuana is in desperate need of an overhaul. While officials and dispensary owners tussle over rid... More >>

• Everything you wanted to know about recent medical-marijuana developments -- but were afraid to ask

  published Nov 03, 2009

  State medical-marijuana rules have always been ridiculously vague and confusing, leading to the riotous growth of the local dispensary industry. Last week, the Colorado Court of Appeals weighed in on ... More >>

• Happy Halloween, Falcon: Behold the Balloon Boy tribute pumpkin

  published Oct 30, 2009

  Spotted over at Boing Boing, this wonderful piece of art, submitted in an office pumpkin contest, almost makes the whole Balloon Boy saga worthwhile. Almost. Go Falcon, go!... More >>

• The new pot biz: Marijuana institutes

  published Oct 28, 2009

  The explosive growth of Colorado's marijuana dispensary scene is sooo September 2009. The next big thing, it turns out, is marijuana institutes -- organizations designed to help folks makes heads or t... More >>

• Just how threatened is the Union Station redevelopment projectr

  published Oct 27, 2009

  A Denver Post story today noted that an unprecedented attempt to score up to $320 million in loans from two federal agencies in order to bankroll the still woefully underfunded Union Station redevelop... More >>

• Can municipalities get away with regulating medical marijuanar

  published Oct 26, 2009

  With the Justice Department's announcement last week that it won't be prosecuting medical marijuana cases in states where the practice is legal, the feds loudly and officially passed the buck on the s... More >>

• Denver's own superhero, the Wall Creeper, unveils his manifesto

  published Oct 23, 2009

  It's been a while since we've heard from the Wall Creeper, Denver's very own, real-life superhero. Recently, however, the crime fighter sent me a manifesto out of the blue. Maybe he sensed the good c... More >>

• Tips for dispensary goers who want to "shop local"

  published Oct 21, 2009

  Where's it all coming fromr That's the big question about Colorado's booming medical-marijuana scene. With all these new dispensaries opening up, people want to know where, exactly, the product for sa... More >>

• Was the Dan Tang Drug Trafficking Organization in cahoots with Colorado dispensariesr

  published Oct 20, 2009

  In February 2008, as detailed in the recent Westword stories "Up in Smoke" and "Tales of the Dragon," DEA agents and north metro narcotics detectives uncovered an indoor marijuana ring the likes of wh... More >>

• With development moratorium, do NW Denver NIMBYs have Councilman Garcia over a barrelr

  published Oct 19, 2009

  Denver City Councilman Rick Garcia may be the elected official behind a moratorium being considered at city council tonight that would halt multi-unit development in northwest Denver. But are the real... More >>

• Free coffee and tea this week at Red Trolley

  published Oct 19, 2009

  You know what would make this week infinitely betterr Free access to caffeine. And it turns out that Red Trolley, the ritzy ice cream joint at 2639 West 32nd Avenue, agrees. Sign up for Red Trolley'... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Honey, I bought a pot house

  published Oct 16, 2009

  At first, the three-bedroom ranch Mike and his family discovered while house-hunting in Thornton this summer seemed like the perfect spot. The price was right on the 2,200 square foot home, and it was... More >>

• Let the Balloon Boy myth-making begin!

  published Oct 15, 2009

  Balloon Boy's clearly a nationwide phenomenon. Within hours of the saga's origin, and just minutes after the discovery that Falcon Heene was safe and sound at home, there was already artwork devoted ... More >>

• 

  Deconstructing Colorado's largest indoor pot bust

  published Oct 14, 2009

  As described in this week's feature story, "Tales of the Dragon," prominent Thornton restaurateur Dan Tang has agreed to plead guilty to one count of money laundering for his involvement in a massive... More >>