Westword feature subjects the Highland Mommies have a new website. The nearly 3,000-strong northwest Denver parents group recently acquired the easier-to-find www.highlandsmommies.org address and switched to a more robust web platform, including a “public” page for non-Mommies that lists information about northwest Denver schools and Highlands Mommies events, as well…
Update below: New stats show that 72.4 percent of Colorado high school students graduated “on time” in 2010. In other words, 72.4 percent of freshman who started high school in the fall of 2006 donned caps and gowns in the spring of 2010. But is this better or worse than…
Former Denver mayor Wellington Webb is standing up for Nate Easley, the Denver Public Schools board president who’s the target of a recall. That effort was initiated by failed school board candidate John McBride, who once served under Webb. Now, proponents are working to collect the required 5,363 signatures. But…
Brian Hicks, the reputed leader of the Tre Tre Crips gang, has been convicted of soliciting two men to kill a witness named Kalonniann Clark. The 28-year-old Clark was killed on December 6, 2006 — just a week before she was scheduled to testify that Hicks tried to shoot her…
Last week, we wrote about the case of Katia Birge, who claims to have been raped by a Denver Catholic lay minister in 2008. Today, her father, attorney Tom Birge, called to dispute a statement made by the Archdiocese of Denver spokeswoman — and to clarify other points…
Update five: Recall proponents are hard at work gathering signatures. But it hasn’t always been easy. See more below our fourth update. Update four: The petition to initiate the recall process has been approved. See more below our third update…
Today, on Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania, groundhog weatherman Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow, thus predicting that an early spring is on the way. But last week, on no sort of knob whatsoever, a Denver Zoo prairie dog named Daisy crawled out of her enclosure and did see her…
LGBT-rights organization One Colorado is behind a legislative push this year to legalize civil unions in the state. On Sunday, the organization held a kickoff event for its civil-unions coalition, Voices for Strong Families. Among those in attendance was Senator Pat Steadman, who plans to sponsor the bill…
A program that delegates federal immigration enforcement powers to local officers is not netting as many serious criminals in Colorado as in other states, says a study released today by the Migration Policy Institute…
Update below: SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is criticizing Catholic officials in Denver, including Archbishop Charles Chaput, for their handling of the Katia Birge case. Birge claims to have been raped by a Denver lay minister in 2008, when she was 25 years old…
This week’s cover story, “Special Delivery,” tells the story of Indra Lusero, a home-birth-mom-turned-lawyer who has thrust herself into a legislative battle between midwives and doctors. After giving birth at home with a midwife eight years ago, Lusero became an advocate for the age-old profession. And she’s not alone…
It was nighttime when the contractions started to come. Indra Lusero wandered from the bedroom to the living room to the bathroom as she labored in the Highland bungalow she shared with her partner, Allison Lusero Hoffman. The birth had been carefully planned: A portable hot tub was set up…
Louis Hampers, the former Children’s Hospital ER doc charged with writing hundreds of phony prescriptions, now has one fewer lawsuit to worry about. Deborah Sherman, a reporter for 9News, has settled her civil lawsuit against Hampers, her lawyer says. The terms are private…
Soon after Indra Lusero gave birth in the bedroom of her Highlands bungalow in 2003, she made a decision: She wasn’t going to be the typical midwifery client who had her baby and then never thought about midwives again. No, she was going to become an advocate for the centuries-old,…
Today, reputed gang leader Brian Hicks stands trial in Denver for the murder of a witness named Kalonniann Clark. Prosecutors say Hicks ordered the killing while he was in jail on drug charges in 2006 in order to stop Clark from testifying that he’d tried to shoot her a year…
Update: Easley responds to DeFENSE Denver below our original item. DeFENSE Denver, a self-described coalition of parents, students and educators, is one of the forces behind the recent recall attempt of Denver Public Schools board president Nate Easley. And the group has not taken kindly to the Denver Post calling…
Earlier this week, the National Western Stock Show apologized for gay jokes told by its rodeo clown/bullfighter and announcer. But the incident wasn’t the first of its kind for the stock show. In 1997, there were two others: one in which a black rodeo clown made a joke that many…
Update: The spokeswoman for the stock show has responded to our post and acknowledged that mistakes were made. See her comments below our original item. I was sitting in the stands of the rodeo at the National Western Stock Show on Saturday night, watching men wrestle steer to the ground,…
The sex, scandal and shoulder pad-obsessed screenwriters who brought you Dynasty are bringing you Dynasty again: Creator Richard Shapiro announced this week that he plans to make a movie prequel to the sordid ’80s series set in the 1960s, à la Mad Men. The series allegedly took place in Denver,…
What do you do if you suspect your kid is on drugs? A) Fry an egg in a pan and say, “This is your brain on drugs.” B) Make him watch the E! True Hollywood Story of Lindsay Lohan. C) Attend a Time to Act Community Program. The first two…
Would you eat at a joint called Sports Orgy? What if all the waitresses looked like Anna Kournikova? Well, judging by the Craigslist ad below, you may soon have the chance. The ad, which was posted last month, explains that a Denver restaurant called Sports Orgy is looking for waitstaff…
Last year, Westword profiled Andrea Merida, a Denver Public Schools board member who caused a stir in 2009 when she had herself secretly sworn in. Last year, a few voters tried to recall her after she wrote a negative op-ed about a senate candidate without revealing that she was working…
