North Fork

Thirty years in, these Best of Denver winners are still the best in town

Video: John Hickenlooper's angry exchange with reporter latest example of his very hard year

For Governor John Hickenlooper, it was a very hard week at the end of a hard year, filled with disasters both natural and man-made -- disasters Colorado is still struggling to understand. The frustrations that consumed Hickenlooper over the past twelve months came bubbling out during an interview ab ... More >>

Photo: Billboard gives thanks -- and advice -- to embattled BLM director

When you're a bureaucrat under fire, accused of being a tool of Big Oil, there's nothing like a big, wet kiss from your critics to let you know you're being watched -- closely. Particularly if that greeting takes the form of a giant billboard on I-70 in Golden, not far from the Bureau of Land Manage ... More >>

Odell Brewing will make Tree Shaker from Colorado peaches

Odell Brewing has been shaking peaches from trees for a while now, having made a couple of beers from the Western Slope's signature pit fruit. But the Fort Collins brewery will turn out its latest peach beer in March when it bottles its latest Cellar Reserve series beer, Tree Shaker. See also: - Od ... More >>

Fracking secrecy: Judge orders BLM to reveal companies seeking to drill the North Fork Valley

In what's being hailed as a major victory for community groups fighting fracking projects, a Denver federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management can no longer keep secret the identity of companies seeking to obtain oil and gas leases on public lands. The landmark ruling reverses d ... More >>

Drilling at Mesa Verde and Dinosaur National Monument: BLM boss backpedals after protests

The director of Colorado's Bureau of Land Management office seems to be engaged in an elaborate game of chicken over the past few months. On several occasions, Helen Hankins has announced plans to auction off oil and gas leases in environmentally sensitive areas, including tracts near Mesa Verde Nat ... More >>

Fracking opponents' horror stories exaggerated, says FrackNation director in town tonight

The hydraulic fracturing process involves pumping chemicals into the ground to free oil and gas reserves trapped in tight shale formations. The debate over fracking's environmental risks isn't all that different; it's become a battle to squeeze a few facts out of stubbornly entrenched forces, amid a ... More >>

Colorado lawmakers inclined to legalize hiking the Manitou incline

While the clock ticks away on last-minute negotiations to avoid plunging the nation's economy over the dreaded fiscal cliff, the U.S. Senate did take steps late last night to provide a path up the side of a mountain -- and in the process transform thousands of Colorado scofflaws into legal hikers. A ... More >>

Year in Review: The 2012 Hall of Shame

See also: 20 Dumbest Denver Criminals of 2012

Thirty most memorable mug shots -- and most shocking crimes -- of 2012

As we all know, Colorado has been shaken by some extraordinarily startling crimes in 2012 -- and they're reflected in the mug shots that accompanied our coverage of these stories. Below, we've assembled the images associated with the best known among them, as well as other tales that give us just as ... More >>

Fracking the North Fork: Protests pour in over BLM lease plan

When Colorado native son Ken Salazar became Barack Obama's Secretary of the Interior four years ago, it was widely expected that he would steer a more "balanced" course through the energy wars across the West, pulling back on the drill-baby-drill mantra of the Bush years. It hasn't worked out that w ... More >>

Michael Maher, fake firefighter: Looking for skanks, blasting Journey

In June, we shared the story of alleged fake firefighter Michael Maher, who managed to pose with Governor John Hickenlooper amid the ultra-destructive High Park Fire; see photos below. Now, the Larimer County Sheriff's Office has released a huge incident report on the case, containing lots of oddbal ... More >>

Beauty and the Blues

Five biggest fakers in recent Colorado history

Former stolen valor arrestee Rick Strandlof has been many people in his life...two of whom were completely fabricated. But he has never been formally charged with profiting from his personalities -- nor is he the only person to have spun tall tales to change his life. Click through for stories from ... More >>

Waldo Canyon fire: 37 burglaries, 28 car break-ins victimized evacuees

Update: Last week, when Colorado Springs Police Department spokeswoman Barbara Miller told us that Waldo Canyon fire evacuees had been victimized by 22 burglaries and sixteen car break-ins, she stressed that the numbers could go up as authorities got more access to the blaze zone. And have they ever ... More >>

Charles Daugherty was Mistress of the Con -- even though he's a mister

Really, the stubble on that chunky female cheerleader should have been the first clue. But instead, notorious Colorado con man Charles Daugherty, who went by "Cheyen Weatherly" when he posed as a Colorado Springs high-school cutie, would go through many more identities and many more mysterious chapt ... More >>

Top 25 mug shots of June 2012

The alleged (and sometimes convicted) models for this month's mug shot roundup are a varied bunch, with the most serious criminals appearing with a guy whose energetic dancing may have introduced the world to his special place and a man who designed a shoe camera so he could photograph up women's sk ... More >>

Running Wild

The Shapeshifter: Skip Armstrong premieres Of Souls Water portrait of kayaker Ben Marr

This morning Forge Motion Pictures and Carbondale-based filmmaker Skip Armstrong premiered The Shapeshifter online, the third installment in Armstrong's five-part Of Souls Water series profiling paddlers of every stripe and their relationships with the water that connects each of them.

Photos: Did Michael Maher play dress-up at both High Park and Lower North Fork Fire?

Update: In our original post about Michael Maher, who's accused of impersonating a firefighter tackling the ultra-destructive High Park blaze (see our earlier coverage below), we noted that his alleged impersonation suggested that he'd been trying something new in comparison with his previous crimin ... More >>

Reader: Should Hewlett fire starter pay millions after Forest Service's North Fork mistake?

As the Hewlett fire near Fort Collins wound down, we noted that James Weber, who admits to accidentally starting it, may be on the hook for restitution in the $3 million range. One reader questions the fairness of such a charge given that the Colorado Forest Service concedes a prescribed burn sparke ... More >>

Hewlett fire photos: James Weber on hook for $300 fine, $2.9 million in restitution?

At this writing, the Hewlett fire near Fort Collins is almost 90 percent contained, with the soggy weather over the weekend helping to give firefighters the upper hand. The sooner they mop up the destructive blaze, the more quickly the meter stops running for James Weber, who'll be asked to help pa ... More >>

Jerry Meekins's story shows why Spirit's schmucky no-refund policy won't fly

The same day that Spirit Airlines celebrated its return to Denver International Airport -- complete with hefty new fees for carry-on luggage -- its CEO, Ben Baldanza, was still carrying on about why the company is not refunding $197 to a 76-year-old, cancer-stricken vet too sick to fly. He recognize ... More >>

Fracking the North Fork Valley: Opponents exult as BLM defers drilling

Yesterday the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced that it would remove 22 proposed oil and gas parcels in the scenic North Fork Valley from a summer lease sale, opting instead to "conduct additional analysis...based on public input." And the public that's been deluging the BLM with input -- obj ... More >>

Photos: Lower North Fork Fire review shares lessons learned by disaster

The just-released review of the Lower North Fork Fire, which cost three lives and destroyed dozens of structures, is quite a thorough document given the short amount of time it took to produce. And while the report (on view below) is written dispassionately, it's plenty damning when it comes to the ... More >>

Denver's 911 responses extinguish fire concerns...but not other worries

We'd just driven two hours through the dry, dry landscape when we spotted a fire on the side of the road just south of I-70. A small fire --- but then, the Lower North Fork fire was once small. I dialed 911, whose dispatchers are still feeling the heat over their response to calls about that conflag ... More >>

Lower North Fork Fire investigation reveals 911 "fall-out" of 100,000 phone records

The Lower North Fork Fire near Conifer cost many thousands of dollars in damaged or destroyed property and, most importantly, three lives, including Ann Appel, who didn't receive a reverse 911 emergency notification because of a glitch in the system. And it was hardly the only one. As revealed in a ... More >>

Denver Broncos' new uniforms have a new collar just in time for Peyton Manning's neck

Denver blog posts are redesigned on a daily basis. Bronco Talk's Jon Heath shows off the new Denver Broncos uniforms, which have a tweaked collar but are otherwise not as radically different as expected -- or as was suggested in a prototype also linked in the post. Burning Down the House's Andi on ... More >>

Reader: Forest Service that caused Lower North Fork Fire easier on itself than other firestarters

Our Lower North Fork Fire photo gallery collected stark images from a blaze that cost lives as well as destroying property and chewing up resources -- and all because a Colorado State Forest Service prescribed burn apparently got out of control. This last issue stuck in the craw of one reader, who s ... More >>

Lower North Fork Fire photo gallery: Symbols of blazes to come?

As firefighters work to squelch the Lower North Fork Fire near Conifer once and for all, Jefferson County photos of the destruction to nature and property left in the blaze's wake can't help raising concern for the future. Given the dry conditions, will scenes like these be repeated for months to c ... More >>

Scott Gessler: Are Democrats considering an effort to recall him?

Denver blog posts are go! The Colorado Independent's Scot Kersgaard on Recall Scott Gessler whispers by Dems that are getting louder. Colorado Peak Politics says John Hickenlooper is blaming the Lower North Fork Fire on global warming. The Grazing Mind's Jarod Ballentine offers a million reasons ... More >>

Lower North Fork Fire started by prescribed burn, Forest Service apologizes

The U.S. Forest Service is now admitting that the Lower North Fork Fire near Conifer, which appears to have led to at least two casualties (one woman is still missing), was started by a prescribed burn that got out of control. Meanwhile, Governor John Hickenlooper has suspended such burns until aft ... More >>

Fire bans in Boulder and Golden as Lower North Fork Fire blazes out of control

The Lower North Fork Fire has already resulted in two fatalities and remains uncontained at this writing -- and the conditions that have fueled it are clearly not lost on officials in other communities. Below, see information about newly announced fire bans in Boulder and Golden, as well as a releas ... More >>

Fracking the North Fork: Paonia residents rally against drilling assault

​Thanks to the increasing push for more oil and gas drilling, communities once considered out of the fray are being drawn into the controversies over hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" -- even folks in the stunning North Fork Valley, an area better known for its organic farms, ranches operate ... More >>

Five soul-warming Colorado wines to savor during the snowstorm

​Like it or not, for years people have habitually lumped wines from Colorado into its own special (read: inferior) category of domestic winemaking. Bottles from other, more mainstream wine-producing regions in the U.S., like California, Oregon, and Washington State, seem to score all the props ... More >>

Trattoria Stella's Valentino Ujkic dishes on dill doughs and dookie-staining his knickers

Lori Midson​ Valentino Ujkic Trattoria Stella 3201 East Colfax Avenue 303-320-8635 http://trattoriastella.squarespace.com This is part one of my interview with Valentino Ujkic, the executive chef of Trattoria Stella on East Colfax. Part two of our interview will run in this space tomorrow. ... More >>

Today in Stoke: Must-see action-sports porn at Mountainfilm in Telluride

Sometimes a stump is just a stump. "Life Cycles" is among the action sports porn featured this year at Mountainfilm​The 32nd annual Mountainfilm in Telluride festival kicks off tomorrow night with free outdoor screenings at the Base Camp Outdoor Theater in Telluride Town Park; the full festiva ... More >>