No, this lady didn’t win the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes. Instead, Dorthy Gibbons is being rewarded for how she handled her Shih Tzu’s shit. For twelve years, the local company called Pet Scoop has scooped Sasha’s poop. And yesterday, it so happened that Gibbons’s was the millionth yard Pet Scoop…
Starting tomorrow, Aurora will play host to the International Powerlifting Federation World Masters Bench Press Championships. As explained in our cover story about tourism in Aurora, “Wish You Were Here!,” local powerlifting champions Dan and Jennifer Gaudreau worked with the fledgling Visit Aurora to woo the competition — Aurora’s first…
Sam Johnson’s job title is unique: President and Scoop Master. Except he’s not in the ice cream business. He’s in the dog poop business. And tomorrow, the business he started in 1994 — Pet Scoop, advertised as “Denver’s most reliable pooper scooper service” — will celebrate its millionth yard cleanup…
An ethnic Nepali, Sher Mizer fled the violence of his country, Bhutan, when he was twelve years old. His family ended up in a refugee camp, where a tarp and some bamboo became their home. Mizer yearned for education, and thanks to a scholarship, he was able to study in…
Monarch Montessori, the charter school that’s the subject of this week’s cover story, “Play Time is Over,” has enrolled enough students to open this fall. Denver Public Schools, which approved the school due in part to pressure from the State Board of Education, gave Monarch until April 20 to enroll…
On Sunday night, NBC’s Education Nation, a traveling summit about innovations in education, will host a Teacher Town Hall in Denver. Moderated by NBC education reporter Rehema Ellis, the teacher-only event will feature a rotating panel of nine local educators picked for their expertise on topics such as school funding,…
We first told you about the Denver Zoo’s plan to turn a shitload of shit into electricity and heat back in 2009. The key is a scientific process called gasification. Basically, it works like this: Poop and trash and other waste goes in, science happens, and then voila! The end…
Catholics are pushing back against a decision by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to cut off funding to an immigrant advocacy group in Durango because it has ties to an LGBT advocacy group that supports the legalization of civil unions. The progressive national nonprofit Catholics United has started a…
Frank Gray is president of the Castle Rock Economic Development Council in Douglas County. Yet at a public hearing yesterday on six projects vying for big-bucks state tourism incentives, Gray eschewed his county’s own project and, like many of the 23 people who testified, spoke in favor of Gaylord Entertainment’s…
In February, Catholic Charities testified that if Colorado lawmakers legalize civil unions, it may stop providing adoption and foster care services. Now, it seems that another Catholic organization, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, has cut off funding to an immigrant advocacy group in Durango because it belongs to a…
The fifteen kindergartners are squirmy when they return from playing outside, their cheeks pink from the wind. They sit in a circle on a rug decorated with a map of the world, wearing slippers and blue-and-white gingham smocks. An aproned teacher sits with them, the only one who’s not wriggling…
Tomorrow, the Colorado Economic Development Commission will hold its first public hearing on the six projects vying for big-bucks sales-tax rebates under the state’s Regional Tourism Act. They include a 1,500-room hotel and conference center in Aurora. The hotel would be the city’s biggest tourism draw — a distinction that,…
The planned revitalization of Havana Street in Aurora may just be another reason to visit Denver’s upstart neighbor to the east. As explained in our cover story, “Wish You Were Here!,” the suburb is looking to draw tourists with a unique plan that targets athletes, hospital patients and folks with…
Havana Street in Aurora is home to several new restaurants, according to the latest word from the Havana Business Improvement District. Among them: Havana Street Station, a family restaurant serving mostly American and Mexican food in the space at 1911 South Havana Street that used to be Dumitri’s Family Restaurant…
Colorado is one step closer to (hopefully) dominating the silver screen once again. Today, the House Appropriations Committee approved $3 million to fund a bill to increase the state’s film incentives. As explained in our cover story, “The Reel West,” the number of movie cameras pointed at Colorado has dwindled…
The loudest applause at a rally at the Capitol today for the prevention of child abuse and neglect was for two teenagers who know the child welfare system firsthand. As a child, Latisha was placed in twelve different foster homes. Her brother Adrian lived in twice as many. Today, they…
Photos of Angie, a documentary about the murder of transgender Greeley teen Angie Zapata, can now be viewed for free on the website Hulu. Made by local filmmaker Alan Dominguez of Loco Lane Films, the film features interviews with Angie’s family and friends, gay-rights activists involved in the case, Weld…
Theron and Teague Harrison, the whiz brother-sister debate team from Manual High School who we profiled last year in our cover story “Say What?”, are once again headed to the Urban Debate National Championship. The pair snagged first place at the Denver Urban Debate League City Championship earlier this month,…
Colorado has a new NASCAR team called Slice Racing. Want to know more about it? We do, too. But at this point, the secret folks behind this secret team are keeping most of the details secret…
They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch. But there is free day care — at our 2012 Best of Denver winner for “Best Free Service,” Warm Welcome Childcare Center. If you’ve got business at Denver District or County Court, Warm Welcome will watch your tots for free…
Louis Hampers, the former pediatric ER doc who pleaded guilty to prescription drug fraud, was sentenced today to five years of supervised probation. Hampers must serve the first six months of that probation in home detention. He must also pay a $30,000 fine, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Jeff…
A roller derby nickname must be several things. Among them: short, clever and intimidating. This year’s winner of “Best Roller Derby Nickname” in our 2012 Best of Denver issue is all three: Boo Boo Radley of the Denver Roller Dolls. But there’s more cleverness and badassery to go around. Here,…
