Willie Clark knows he’s not popular. “I understand that I’m Colorado’s most hated person,” Clark writes from prison in neat script, all caps. “But I’m still human and what I’m being forced to endure is not right.” For five years, ever since Clark was indicted in October 2008 for the…
The four candidates supportive of Denver Public Schools’ brand of education reform swept the school board election yesterday. Barbara O’Brien, Rosemary Rodriguez, Mike Johnson and Landri Taylor will fill the four open slots on a seven-member board that has been characterized by clashes between its reform-minded majority and a vocal…
About a year and a half ago, before he made headlines for allegedly kidnapping an eight-year-old girl in Aurora, John Snorsky contacted me. He’d read a story I’d written about a state law that would allow counties to place abused kids at a facility for juvenile delinquents, and he wanted…
A second round of campaign finance reports filed in the Denver Public Schools school board election reveals a familiar pattern: the four so-called reform candidates continue to raise the most money, thanks to donations from high-profile reformers, such as Texas billionaires John and Laura Arnold, while the four non-reform candidates…
The Denver-based Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking has released fourteen recommendations to strengthen Colorado’s response to human trafficking. Among them: form a statewide group of prosecutors focused on trafficking, create a prevention campaign targeted at vulnerable populations, and encourage the development of local coalitions dedicated to the issue. The recommendations…
Update: At least two of the nine Denver Public Schools Board of Education candidates — Michael Kiley and Meg Schomp — voluntarily disclosed all campaign contributions over $100 by midnight on October 25, fulfilling a request from a coalition of organizations that includes the Denver teachers union, which has endorsed…
The Colorado Department of Agriculture has released draft regulations for the growing of industrial hemp. The rules, which are on view below, specify that farmers must pay a fee of $200 plus an additional $1 per acre to grow hemp for commercial purposes, must disclose the location of their crop…
Outgoing Denver Public Schools board member Andrea Merida, once an active member of the Democratic party in Denver, is now co-chair of the 1,800-member Denver Green Party. And in that capacity, Merida, seen here, is speaking out on two ballot measures: Proposition AA and Referred Question 2A. Both deal with…
Parents (and kids) opposed to standardized testing took their fight to the streets this past weekend during the annual Zombie Crawl. With bloody pencils protruding from their skulls, kids held signs with messages such as, “Testing Kills Brains.” “Standardized testing is actually harmful for our children,” says Amber Olson, a…
Like much of the rhetoric surrounding next month’s Denver Public Schools school board election, the nine candidates are roughly split when it comes to who’s funding their campaigns. The four so-called reform candidates have received big checks from Phil Anschutz, Daniel Ritchie and DaVita CEO Kent Thiry and his wife…
Denver Public Schools is projecting that it will once again be the largest school district in Colorado, a title it hasn’t held since the 1970s. With an estimated 88,208 students enrolled this year, up from 72,188 students ten years ago, DPS calls itself the “fastest-growing urban school district in the…
West High School is closed until Wednesday so that exterminators can ensure the campus is bedbug-free after three of the little suckers were found in a classroom, according to a letter sent home to parents and shared in its entirety by 7NEWS. In the letter, West’s principals assure parents that…
After scoring some cameos in Fast and Furious 7 that are expected to bring $13 million to Colorado but only cost the state $700,000 in rebates, the Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media won approval this week to award incentives to two more (much smaller) projects. One is a…
Last week, we told you about the beginning of America’s first hemp harvest in more than fifty years, which started in late September in southeastern Colorado. This past weekend, that harvest continued with 45 volunteers from six different states, who converged on grower Ryan Loflin’s 55-acre hemp plot to finish…
Denver’s two syringe exchange programs can now provide mobile services, thanks to an 8-to-3 vote by Denver City Council Monday night to lift the restriction that kept exchanges 1,000 feet away from schools and child care centers. The goal is to allow exchange programs to reach more of the city’s…
This week’s cover story, “Drawing the Line,” delves into the Denver Public Schools Board of Education election — possibly the most important political race you’re not paying attention to. The future direction of DPS is at stake, with about half of the nine candidates in favor of continuing the district’s…
Accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes was back in court today for the first of several motions hearings that will take place over the next three weeks. Today, prosecutors and Holmes’s defense attorneys discussed which questions will appear on the questionnaire given to the 6,000 prospective jurors the judge plans…
This week’s cover story, “Drawing the Line,” delves into the Denver Public Schools Board of Education election — possibly the most important political race you’re not paying attention to. The future direction of DPS is at stake, with about half of the nine candidates in favor of continuing the district’s…
This week’s cover story, “Drawing the Line,” delves into the Denver Public Schools Board of Education election — possibly the most important political race you’re not paying attention to. The future direction of DPS is at stake, with about half of the nine candidates in favor of continuing the district’s…
This week’s cover story, “Drawing the Line,” delves into the Denver Public Schools Board of Education election — possibly the most important political race you’re not paying attention to. The future direction of DPS is at stake, with about half of the nine candidates in favor of continuing the district’s…
This November’s Denver Public Schools Board of Education election might be the most important political race you’re not paying attention to. Why is it so important? Because even if it’s unlikely to make headlines on CNN, it could serve as a referendum on Denver’s trend of aggressive school reform and…
Between January 2009 and September 2013, there were nearly two mass shootings per month in the U.S., according to a new report by Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The incidents described in the report include the July 2012 shooting at the Century 16 theater in Aurora, which left twelve dead and…
