A 23-year-old from Colorado Springs who is one of four men accusing Atlanta pastor Bishop Eddie Long of sexual abuse spoke to a Fox News reporter from Georgia last night. Jamal Parris is the first of the alleged victims to speak, and he told the reporter — who was waiting…
A federal court judge has set bail for Dr. Louis Hampers, the former head of the Children’s Hospital ER who is accused of writing 654 phony prescriptions using several aliases and stolen identities, at $2.5 million. The ruling came out of a detail-filled court hearing yesterday, at which a federal…
Lots of new details emerged at a detention hearing today for Dr. Louis Hampers, the Children’s Hospital ER doc arrested for fraudulently writing 654 prescriptions. Among them: that Hampers used the identity of a woman he paid for sex — and the identities of her two minor children — to…
Most of the ads under “men seeking women” on Denver’s Craigslist are meant to be tantalizing, to make the reader shout, “Yes! That’s me!” “Do You Like Kissing and Wearing Heels?” Sure! “Are You a Feminine Woman That Enjoys Riding Bicycles?” Of course! “Free Today, Have Big Breasts and Are…
Last month, the DPS school board held a day-long retreat at the district’s Balarat Outdoor Education Center. The seven-member board is divided on many issues, with four members in the majority and three — including Andrea Merida, the subject of this week’s feature — in the minority. The retreat was…
Our latest feature story, “Andrea Merida’s Classroom Behavior Has Earned Her a Seat Apart on the Denver School Board,” profiles Merida, the controversial DPS board member who, in ten months on the board, has butted heads with administrators, stood up for teachers when no one else would, and survived two…
Dr. Louis Hampers, the Children’s Hospital ER doctor charged with writing 654 fake prescriptions, appeared for the first time in a Colorado court today after being arrested in Virginia on September 7. At a 2 p.m. hearing, Magistrate Judge Kathleen Tafoya denied him bail…
Andrea Merida blows through the back door of the sunny conference room at Denver Public Schools’ Balarat Outdoor Education Center. She’s in a huff. She’s spent the past few hours in the car, hunting for the place, which is an hour and a half northwest of Denver and is perched…
Denver Public Schools board member Andrea Merida has shaken things up at DPS. In ten months, she’s butted heads with administrators, stood up for teachers when no one else would, and survived two recall attempts. Some think she’s too abrasive and divisive, and after failing to disclose that she was…
Nadine Montoya has been convicted of murdering a 49-year-old Aurora woman in a hit-and-run at a Burger King last May. Montoya, 27, will likely serve life in prison for crushing Lilian Verdonkschot with her Cadillac deVille and then fleeing the scene. The altercation started when Verdonkschot, her daughter and her…
As Westword’s Latest Word blogger-extraordinaire Michael Roberts pointed out, the premiere episode of La La’s Full Court Wedding was boring, despite the fact that title of the show sounds a little porn-y, like some horribly horrible sex act you’d read about on UrbanDictionary.com. “Gosh, I’m kind of nervous for the…
After 34 years spent advocating for and supporting Denver’s GLBT community, The Center has a home of its own. The nonprofit, which sponsors Denver’s annual PrideFest celebration, has moved to fancy new digs on the corner of Colfax and Lafayette — and Westword got a tour of the new building…
A second attempt to recall Denver Public Schools board member Andrea Merida has failed. The Denver Elections Division again rejected a recall petition submitted by three voters in Merida’s district because it contained numerous typos and legal flaws and was not in the proper format, according to a letter sent…
What started as a late-night drive-thru run last May for 49-year-old Lilian Verdonkschot, her daughter and her daughter’s friend turned tragic when Verdonkschot was hit by the driver of a Cadillac DeVille. The last thing Verdonkschot’s daughter heard before her mother was crushed under the Cadillac’s tires was, “Let’s just…
Dr. Louis Hampers, the Children’s Hospital ER doctor facing federal charges for writing 654 phony prescriptions, is headed back to Colorado. Hampers was arrested Tuesday in Virginia and appeared in court there this afternoon. According to Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Hampers did not contest his detention,…
An attempt to recall Denver Public Schools board member Andrea Merida failed yesterday when a petition to initiate the process was rejected by the Denver Elections Division. According to division spokesman Alton Dillard, the petition was not in the proper format. But one of the people behind the petition, Anita…
Dr. Louis Hampers, the Children’s Hospital ER doctor charged with writing 654 fake prescriptions dating back to 2007 and continuing through April, will return to court Friday in Virginia, where he was arrested yesterday. According to Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Hampers will face a detention and…
Children’s Hospital doctor Louis Hampers was arrested this morning on charges of writing hundreds of phony prescriptions. An indictment alleges that on 654 occasions between January 2009 and April 2010, Hampers used five aliases and eight fake patient names to fraudulently obtain drugs such as generic Vicodin, Valium and Ambien…
Our latest Westword feature article, “A Wing and a Prayer: Jeff Puckett’s Helicopter Gets Denver Closer to God,” tells the story of Prayer One, a helicopter ministry started by local businessman Jeff Puckett and his friends five years ago. Now, in this blog post, we bring you the story behind…
A pastor, a football player, a ministry leader and a seminary student walk into a helicopter. Well, they don’t walk, really. They hoist and scoot themselves into the seven-person Bell 407, a sleek navy-and-white beauty equipped with six aqua-green headsets attached to microphones that curl in front of the passengers’…
What would you call a helicopter that brings metro-Denverites closer — well, at least five hundred feet closer — to God? Local businessman Jeff Puckett calls his holy helicopter Prayer One, and he’s been flying religious leaders, politicians and, most recently, young former gang members on it for the past…
Reeves Whalen didn’t mean to touch a nerve when he organized tonight’s panel discussion on Senate Bill 191, the controversial “teacher tenure bill” drafted by Senator Michael Johnston and approved by lawmakers earlier this year. But the lineup of speakers the personal injury attorney and active House District 5 Democrat…
