New Parole Unit Logs Massive Overtime in First Year

In the year following the 2013 murder of state prison chief Tom Clements by a parole absconder, parole officers working for the Colorado Department of Corrections put in for an unprecedented 8,858 hours of overtime pay — and nearly a third of that overtime was logged by one small, elite…

The Arapahoe High Shooter Followed the Columbine Playbook

When security guards Christina Kolk and Cameron Rust heard the first gunshot, they headed toward the north hall of Arapahoe High School. Only moments earlier, a janitor had called them on the radio, saying something about a suspicious individual at the north entrance. Three more shots erupted in the next…

DU Tagged for $695,000 Verdict in Battle With Fraternity

Update below: Late last Friday afternoon, a Denver jury returned a $695,000 verdict against the University of Denver in a long, involved dispute with the local chapter of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity. On the surface, the five-day trial was mostly about how property is valued in an area of…

Merry Christmastime: Film Shooting in Denver Seeks Mob of Extras

Despite the state’s efforts to beef up its movie industry, it’s still unusual to see a crew actually filming on location in Denver. And it’s even rarer that one of those productions announces it’s holding open auditions for scores of extras — all ages and types, no experience necessary –…

Christmastime (The Movie) Comes Early to Park Hill

Some folks are always jumping the gun when it comes to holiday decorations. Still, the idea of trotting out the Christmas ornaments before Halloween arrives is so bizarre that it’s just not done — particularly in oh-so-stylish Park Hill. Unless, of course, you happen to be shooting a movie. A…

Jeffrey B. Miller Tackles Epic Tale of Forgotten WWI Heroes and Belgian Relief

Jeff Miller’s grandfather never talked much about how he happened to meet Jeff’s grandmother while he was assisting civilian relief efforts in German-occupied Belgium during the Great War. That reticence stirred Miller’s writerly curiosity about the little-known exploits of the American-led Commission for Relief in Belgium, which went to ingenious…

ARC Calendar Project Strikes a Few Iconic Poses

If, as Fred Allen once suggested, a celebrity is someone who works hard at not being recognized, then the folks featured in the soon-to-be-released 2015 calendar put together by The Arc Pikes Peak Region are true superstars. The models — all people with developmental disabilities and Arc clients — have…

Bob Autobee: Parents of Murdered Officer Protest Prison Policies

This weekend marks a grim anniversary in the Autobee household. It was twelve years ago — October 18, 2002 — that Eric Autobee, a 23-year-old correctional officer, was murdered in the kitchen of the Limon Correctional Facility. His killer, Edward Montour, was a mentally ill inmate who was off his…

Why Did Colorado Shut Down Its Most Successful Parole Program?

A highly successful parole program that helped inmates serving decades-long sentences transition back to society — and had the potential to save the Colorado Department of Corrections millions of dollars each year in reduced housing and medical care costs for geriatric prisoners — has been scuttled without adequate explanation, say…

Fracking: Call For Ban Cites Quakes, Spills, Exploding Trains

Only days before the United Nations Climate Summit, the environmental group Food & Water Watch has released a wide-ranging critique of the oil and gas industry, linking the practice of fracking to a host of adverse economic, health and climate impacts — from scarred landscapes, declining air quality and community…

John Hickenlooper’s Fracking Panel Snubs the Fractivists

Earlier this week, when Governor John Hickenlooper announced the names of the nineteen people selected for a special oil and gas task force intended to address fracking-related land use and health issues across the state, he boasted of the group’s “balanced and informed representation.” It was as if he was…