Denver manufacturing job losses: We’re 45th!

Throughout the ongoing economic downturn, the Denver Business Journal has tried to look for upbeat stories to counterbalance the most dismal reports. But one of the latest has a small nugget of compensation built in. “Denver Loses 6,900 Manufacturing Jobs in Five Years” puts its worst news right in the…

More signs that Bob Beauprez wants to take on Michael Bennet

Our Monday Denver Blogs post linked a Colorado Pols item about Bob Beauprez, who lost to Bill Ritter in a 2006 gubernatorial bid, and now seems eager to take on Senator Michael Bennet in 2010. A Politico article Colorado Pols references finds Big Bob denigrating the chances that either Aurora…

Nancy Pelosi in the hizzy

The U.S. House of Representatives is on recess — but that doesn’t necessarily mean its members are having fun. They’ll likely spend much of their time off pimping healthcare reform — and to that end, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — the woman with giant eyes that seem capable of boring…

No more trashing bicyclists, rednecks

Today, a new law goes into effect requiring automobile drivers to give bicyclists at least a three-foot berth, and to refrain from chucking trash or other nasty objects at them when passing. When this last aspect of the regulation was reported yesterday in USA Today, it spurred some screwy commentary…

The Denver Water freebie train rolls on

Denver Water’s “Use Only What You Need” campaign is certainly unusual — or did you miss our blog about DW’s toilet mascot terrorizing children at City Park a few weeks back? But at least the organization continues to offer weird freebies to folks willing to publicize their message. Some time…

The Colorado Rockies: Winning gets you laid

Oh, you crazy Internet, you! What won’t you share with us? This question crops up in relation to the “Girlfriend Forum” on Talk-Sports.net, a series of pages devoted to the ladies who love professional athletes, regardless of marital status. The most visited cyber-nook at the portion of the site devoted…

Colorado Crimes: A badass mother-daughter tag team

That old saying, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”? It’s appropriate in the case of Julia Martinez and Monica Guardado, if a little too quaint — especially given that weapons are involved. According to the Denver District Attorney’s Office, which has charged both women with assault, Guardado, 21,…

Does Denver media care more when white people are shot?

Yesterday’s Denver-based TV newscasts were top-heavy with packages about a failed murder-suicide involving Randall Waggoner, 38, and Christina Waggoner, 35, both of Highlands Ranch — and this morning, the reports remain high on the list of local stories accessible at the web homes of Channel 7 and Channel 9, among…

The Westword.com blog shortcut, August 4 edition

Diamonds in the rough? Today in Backbeat Online: • Update: Diamond Boiz crew ready to bust through. • Over the weekend: Phish at Red Rocks, 8/02/09. • Flobots check in from the Blasting Room to hype the Bowling Ball. • Dialed In: This week’s local music radio playlists. • A…

A sunny day for Secretary Solarczar, but a slog ahead?

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar was back in Colorado today, August 4, touring a Longmont solar panel company as a way of pushing the Obama administration’s vision of a clean energy economy. But that vision, which involves collecting abundant solar power from a procession of solar farms set up…

Urbavore’s Dilemma: Blue and Yellow Logic hopes to mix up a new form of green

Urbavore’s Dilemma is an ongoing web series detailing city dwellers’ commitment to urban homesteading. From May through September, Westword writer Joel Warner will get his hands dirty, covering everything from backyard chickens to front-lawn gardens, from greenhouses to co-ops and food-sharing. Check out the full series here. In a grassy…

Denver Blogs: Diana DeGette on the line

A blogging we will go — but where? Tell us. Face the State headlines that Democrat Diana DeGette’s only town-hall meeting during the House recess will be by phone — but buries the fact that Republican Mike Coffman is among Colorado reps who haven’t scheduled any sessions at all. We’re…

Barry Fey will return to the air on Mile High Sports Radio

In 1997, legendary Denver rock promoter Barry Fey sold his share of Fey Concerts, beginning a long goodbye from the event-hyping business that had dominated his professional life for the previous three decades. The move gave him the time to launch a weekly radio show on the Hawk, a defunct…

Twitter Tuesday: Feel good, learn stuff, lean left

Back again with more great Twits to follow for your burgeoning Twitter feed. As always, follow us at @denverwestword, @cafewestword, @westword_music and @casciato. @Gaiam: The Twitter feed of Boulder-based company Gaiam, which makes “products for a healthy mind, body, home and planet.” The firm’s three-person Twitter team tweets contests (win…

Today’s featured event: Stephen White thrills at the Tattered Cover

The first twist in best-selling Boulder mystery-writer Stephen White’s latest page-turner? Police detective Sam Purdy, a fictional friend of White’s top-dog psychologist/protagonist Alan Gregory, assumes the lead in The Siege (Dutton, $25.95), wending his way through the hallowed grounds of Yale University on the trail of several unexplained disappearances. From…

“Gunny” Bob Newman leaves KOA for mysterious new assignment

As a former Marine gunnery sergeant, KOA radio host Bob Newman comes by his combativeness naturally. When politically liberal Colorado Media Matters, staffed by some of his most persistent critics, collapsed in March, Gunny Bob gleefully kicked the organization when it was down (and out) via a couple of for-publication…

It’s not easy being the greenhouses at Denver Botanic Gardens

This week, crews at the Denver Botanic Gardens are removing ten greenhouses, many of which have been at the DBG’s York Street site for decades, in advance of a $16 million renovation that should be completed by next year. Don’t worry about the flowers that once resided in these structures,…