Did James Holmes know right from wrong when he walked into a sold-out Aurora movie theater nearly three years ago and began shooting? Or was he so mentally ill that he can’t be held responsible for murdering twelve people and injuring seventy others? That’s what a jury will have to decide…
Castor, the oldest Komodo dragon at the Denver Zoo, has died. Castor was a 21-year-old male dragon whose father, Naga, once belonged to President George H.W. Bush. He was born in 1994 at the Cincinnati Zoo and came to Denver that same year. In his 21 years, Castor fathered seven baby…
The battle over public education policy in Jeffco is getting uglier. An effort is underway to recall three school board members: Ken Witt, John Newkirk and Julie Williams, otherwise known as “WNW.” As explained in our recent cover story, “Class Warfare,” Witt, Newkirk and Williams ran for the board as a…
There’s no question that RiNo is changing. The once-industrial neighborhood of warehouses and factories is now home to at least ten breweries, two wineries and two cider-makers. There are several hip restaurants that serve kale salad and $12 hamburgers, and there’s the Source, an artisan market with a coffee roaster,…
Ever wonder if all that stuff you put in your recycling bin actually gets recycled? So did we. As explained in this week’s cover story, “Breaking Bad,” none of the glass that Denver residents put in their purple bins gets recycled into new glass. Because Denver has single-stream recycling —…
Glass is infinitely recyclable, so it’s easy to imagine that the bottles and jars you put out at the curb every week are headed off to be melted down and remade — baby-food jar into baby-food jar, beer bottle into beer bottle, forever and ever, amen. But not in Denver,…
Giraffes love lettuce. In fact, they love it enough to come right up to you, deploy their long black tongues and snatch a leaf out of your hand. Giraffe Encounter is the Denver Zoo’s latest feature, and it officially opened its doors on Monday. For $5, visitors can buy three…
Today is the final day of a three-day fast and vigil in front of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters in Washington, D.C. to call attention to what advocates — including a group from Colorado — say are unjustified deportations. Arturo Hernandez Garcia, an immigrant living in sanctuary in a Denver…
Willie Clark could get a new trial in the 2007 murder of Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams. The Colorado Court of Appeals has ordered a hearing to determine if juror misconduct tainted Clark’s first trial in 2010. One of the jurors admitted that he and some of the others conducted…
The Glendale landowners who are fighting the city’s authorization of eminent domain say town officials continue to make things difficult for them. The latest? A $11,500 charge for a Colorado Open Records Act request that the Kholghy family says yielded very little useful information. Instead, much of what the city…
Arturo Hernandez Garcia has been in sanctuary in Denver for more than seven months, living in the basement of a Unitarian church in order to avoid deportation. On Wednesday, his supporters gathered on the steps of the Capitol building to once again publicly ask federal immigration officials to allow Hernandez Garcia…
Before he opened fire in a sold-out Aurora movie theater, James Holmes planned the massacre in a notebook. Photocopies of the pages of that notebook were released today as part of his ongoing trial. On one page, Holmes wrote that a movie theater would be a better venue for mass…
Denver Health is changing the way it enrolls Medicaid patients into its health insurance plan. That’s good news for doctors and low-income patients who say that Denver Health’s “passive enrollment” system — which automatically enrolled any Medicaid patient with a Denver address into Denver Health’s plan, restricting them to seeing…
On April 25, 2012, Sharon Stern took her own life. The 33-year-old had spent part of the previous three years traveling the world with a Japanese dance master known as Katsura Kan, teaching workshops and performing. One video shows them on a black stage, side by side. They are barefoot…
Denver-based Zen Magnets has been barred from selling tiny, colored magnet spheres. A federal judge found that the company broke the law when it repackaged and sold the magnets, which it called Neoballs, because it had purchased them from a company that subsequently agreed to recall its products. The recall…
The Glendale city council on Tuesday night authorized the future use of eminent domain to acquire land within the 42-acre site that the city plans to redevelop into an entertainment district on the banks of Cherry Creek. But after hearing hours of testimony against eminent domain, city councilors added a provision…
The owners of Authentic Persian and Oriental Rugs in Glendale say the city misled them about the planned Glendale 180 entertainment district and is now trying to take their land by eminent domain. They are also suing the Glendale Urban Renewal Authority, claiming that it improperly denied their proposal to…
Gunman James Holmes believed that killing people would increase his self worth. Lawyers on both sides of his court case agree on that. But they disagree on what made him think that way. They also disagree about whether he’s guilty of murdering twelve people and injuring seventy more by opening…
A new fund to help the victims of the Aurora theater shooting has begun accepting donations. It’s called the National Compassion Fund/Aurora, and organizers say one hundred percent of the money that’s donated will go directly to the victims. The opening of the fund coincides with the trial of the shooter,…
The Independence Institute is attempting to raise $300,000 in the next sixty days to battle the teachers’ union in Jefferson County, where the fight over public education policy has turned ugly. “Teachers’ unions are a threat to our children’s future,” Jon Caldara, the president of the Independence Institute, wrote in…
The trial of accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes is scheduled to begin with opening statements on Monday, April 27, in Arapahoe County District Court. It’s been more than two and a half years since Holmes is alleged to have opened fire at the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora…
The divided and controversial Jefferson County school board continues to make headlines. The latest? A mea culpa from board member Julie Williams for posting a link on her Facebook page to a newsletter that encouraged parents to keep their kids home from school and “away from perverse indoctrination” and the…
