Update, 1:30 p.m., April 15: This blog, originally published yesterday afternoon, has been updated to reflect the comments of Education Commissioner Dwight Jones. A union that represents 40,000 teachers in Colorado is abandoning efforts to compete for millions of federal dollars available through the Race to the Top program in…
The “Mile Highs and Lows” dispensary reviews you’ve come to know and love have welcomed a new member of the family: We’ve just published The Wildflower Seed’s critique of 420 Highways, located in scenic Lafayette. Don’t be late for this very important date. Then, check out other joints like this…
This dispensary has closed. As Colorado’s medical-marijuana industry grows, marijuana dispensaries of all types and sizes are proliferating around the state. Some resemble swanky bars or sterile dentist offices; others feel like a dope dealer’s college dorm room. To help keep them all straight, Westword is offering a no-holds-barred look…
Tea Baggers and pot smokers may seem like opposites. But today’s Tax Day Tea Party and Tuesday’s Denver 4/20 pot rally may reveal many similarities… Members of both groups love to “hog the spotlight” by wearing attention-getting outfits and organizing media-seeking rallies. More amazing likenesses below:…
Yesterday, members of the Commerce City Police Department stumbled on a home invasion at the 10779 Akron Street residence of Adrienne Bayless. But while their arrival caused the four invaders to flee (they were later arrested), North Metro Drug Task Force Commander Jerry Peters says it also led to the…
At around 1 p.m. today, toward the end of a Tax Day Tea Party event on the steps of the Capitol that’s just getting underway at this writing, Weld County district attorney and Republican senatorial candidate Ken Buck will step into the spotlight. He’ll do it again at Tea Party…
When Governor Bill Ritter nominated former aide Stephanie Villafuerte as U.S. Attorney, he couldn’t have known the political storm he’d unleash. Opponents linked Villafuerte to ex-ICE agent Cory Voorhis, who was fired for providing information from a restricted database to then-gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez. And as the fight got uglier,…
On Tuesday, we told you about attorney David Lane’s threat to sue if the University of Wyoming didn’t reverse its ban of Weather Underground co-founder William Ayers by noon the following day. When asked if he would file paperwork the next day if the university refused to change course by…
In November, Andrew Gelston Graham was found murdered near his Arapahoe County home. At first, clues were scarce, despite the existence of light-rail footage shot just before he was killed. Then, in February, Channel 4 reported a link between Graham and a criminal group that allegedly targeted Caucasian and Hispanic…
The trade of Brandon Marshall to the Miami Dolphins is official, with BM promptly signing a $50 million-plus contract (with $24 million guaranteed). But the debate goes on about whether this was a win-win or lose-win situation for the Broncos and the Fish. Typical was this comment from ESPN Radio’s…
The Best of Denver, April 1, 2010 Best or Bust? Every year, I wait for the Best of Denver, which I read cover to cover and then keep until the next year. And every year, I also wait for the letters the week after the Best of Denver, to see…
A crew from The Daily Show is in town this week to report on Denver’s booming medical marijuana industry, and they stopped by the Westword office on Monday, where correspondent Jason Jones interviewed pot critic William Breathes — and took a hit off a gas mask bong. That was the…
Around about the lunch hour on February 5 in Vale, South Dakota, a 33-year-old cattle rancher finished a morning of blogging, then stepped outside with a bottle of wine and a Flip video camera. “Hello, my name is Troy Hadrick. I’m a fifth-generation United States rancher in South Dakota,” the…
Ag, Ag, Ag Colorado’s not just home to Bernard Rollin, the Harley-riding animal ethicist from Brooklyn who brokered a deal between the Humane Society’s Wayne Pacelle and the state’s agriculture interests. It’s also headquarters for the American Humane Association, the oldest humane group in the country, and one that Kathi…
A bill that would legalize syringe exchange programs in Colorado cleared its first hurdle today. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved it with two nay votes. Last year, Westword wrote about the state’s lack of legal syringe exchange programs, which swap injection-drug users’ used needles for new ones…
Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t be friends with Colorado Attorney General John Suthers’s office — at least not on Facebook. And the office has recommended that any other state agency that doesn’t already have a Facebook page hold off for a while. “There could be conflicts with state…
Bloggers in Denver often write blogs about Denver. Funny how that works… Predominantly Orange’s Kim Constantinesco touts Dez Bryant as a Brandon Marshall replacement — and according to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, Bryant (as well as Rolando McClain and, eeesh, Tim Tebow) are visiting Broncosland today. Coincidence or conspiracy? The…
Update, 1:12 p.m.: An arrest has been made in the Arapahoe campus incident described in this post. Look below the original item for more information. Back in February, graffiti appeared at Boulder High School declaring “Everyone will die 2/12/10” — a threat followed a couple of weeks later by a…
Young Kayleah Wilson is still missing more than two weeks after heading off to a March 28 birthday party — and while her friends, family and other concerned folks are keeping up their spirits on a Facebook page devoted to her, they need help to continue looking for her in…
Last week, we told you about the death of Marvin Webb, who was killed after he was struck by an RTD bus in Lafayette while he was riding his bicycle. Today, RTD spokesman Scott Reed confirms that the bus’s driver, Paul John Johnson, has been charged with careless driving resulting…
The first game of the first round of the NHL playoffs is scheduled today and hockey wizards are saying that the San Jose Sharks will take the Colorado Avalanche in five. I’m much more optimistic and can safely predict that Avalanche fans will see the Stanley Cup in Colorado this…
The case against Gregory Scott Witherspoon, 27, hasn’t moved quickly. Instead, it’s been a slow-motion horror show. The tragedy began on June 27, 2009, when six-month-old Ci’Area Taylor-Witherspoon was transported to a hospital. Her father, Gregory, told police he’d left Ci’Area in the bathtub with her two-year-old brother, and when…
