News

DeAngelo Starnes’ Facebook photo. DeAngelo Starnes apparently didn’t enjoy landing on page one of the October 28 Denver Post — and that’s no surprise. After all, “Ex-Union Advisor’s E-mail ‘Crude,'” the article in question, focused on an embarrassing note in which he went after Amendment 47 co-author Ryan Frazier, an…

Meow, meow, meow. Black cats are mysterious, alluring and surrounded in superstition. But they can also be targets during October, which is why local animal shelters limit or even prohibit their adoption during the season of ghastly ghouls, creepy crawlers and trick-or-treaters. “Cats are often the victims of cruel pranks,…

The fat cat seen in this Jim Davis image is sitting pretty at the Rocky. In “The Rocky Mountain News Throws Garfield in the Litter Box,” an October 2 blog, I took great delight in noting that the Rocky had booted the enormously lame strip “Garfield” from its comics pages…

Michael Johnston at Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts. With less than a week before polling places close on November 4, the Barack Obama campaign spent more than $3 million on a thirty-minute prime-time infomercial last night. The feel-good address included moving clips of Obama’s speeches set to music and…

Shhhush… We’re taking a few seconds off from political ads. With just days to go before the election, the number of political ads appearing on TV screens throughout this swingin’ state is unprecedented, as is the vileness of all too many spots. But Channel 7, Denver’s ABC affiliate, is offering…

BBC journalist Greg Palast in Colorado, in an image from a Rolling Stone video. Greg Palast, a BBC investigative journalist and co-author (with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) of “Block the Vote,” a damning voting-system story in the October 30 edition of Rolling Stone, isn’t shy, as his interview with Westword…

Colorado Common Cause’s Jenny Flanagan during an appearance on CBS4. (Her name is misspelled in the station graphic.) The main headline on today’s Denver Post front page reads “A Win For Purged Voters” — and that’s true to a point. Colorado Common Cause, Mi Familia Vota and a number of…

For a visual tour of Hotel Martino, go to westword.com/slideshow. Every night after the 8 p.m. free meal at the Denver Rescue Mission, 18-year-old Shantrell and 24-year-old A.K. walk six blocks to claim their spot on the porch of a vacant building at the edge of Five Points. Their home-away-from-homeless…

If you want to know what it’s like to be a veteran in John McCain’s home state, stop by the Justa. On a Thursday morning, a volunteer named Twyla stands in front of a group of clients at Justa, a day program for homeless seniors in Phoenix, explaining what she’s…

Dollars to doughnuts, you’ve had a conversation recently about early voting. And doughnuts to police officers, that conversation probably started with you asking a friend or co-worker whether or not they were going to vote prior to November 4, a choice opportunity afforded to voters in Colorado as well as…

A t 2 p.m. on October 29, U.S. District Judge John Kane will consider arguments by Colorado Common Cause and other organizations that approximately 30,000 names stricken from the voter rolls during the last few months be reinstated prior to Election Day. The hearing marks the latest example of unwanted…

“Amendmentos,” Kenny Be, October 2, 9 & 16 Mmmm, Good Thank God for Kenny Be! Without his three-part “Amendmentos” guide to the initiatives, I would still be trying to fill out my mail-in ballot. Even though he presented his opinions in comic form, I found them seriously good recommendations and…

Shackin’ up. Allow us to guide you through the confusing labyrinth that is the World Wide Web. Today in Cafe Society: • Jonathan Shikes survives the attack of the Rib Shack. • Richard Sandoval’s second local La Sandia Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar is among the new restaurant openings. •…

Ken Salazar thinks the fine people in Colorado Springs really need to see this. Thirteen US Senators this week found time to co-sign a letter urging the NFL to show its Thursday-night games on broadcast television, raising questions about why more people don’t punch more U.S. Senators in the face…

TV and radio personality Tom Martino, aka The Troubleshooter, has built his reputation exposing negligent business owners. But in this week’s Westword, Jared Jacang Maher tells the story of “Hotel Martino,” an abandoned building owned by a company registered to Martino. Pick up this week’s paper to read the article…

You don’t look a day over 89, Will. Congratulations to all you brilliant commenters who suggested that the mysterious, one- word “WILL” billboards around town — whose meaning we pondered fruitlessly last week — referred to the 90th birthday of the non-profit Goodwill Industries, which I just applauded as a…

Scott McInnis. Former Republican Congressman Scott McInnis isn’t waiting for the November 4 election to offer a post-mortem on his party’s campaign. In an October 28 interview with the Colorado Independent website (an online source that leans leftward), he predicted that GOP senatorial candidate Bob Schaffer will lose to Democratic…

The Goodwill branch at 21 S. Broadway. In these trying economic times, it’s hard to justify doling out extra dough for a Halloween costume. If you must dress as a slutty nurse, should you really have to pay $44.99 for the privilege? So this weekend, my friend Marci and I…

Nick Roberts. “‘Block the Vote’ co-author and Rolling Stone contributor Greg Palast on Colorado’s troubled voting system,” an October 29 blog, suggests that our fair state makes it mighty tough on folks who not only want to vote but are interested in their ballot counting. Here’s one more anecdote to…

Greg Palast in front of the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, as seen in a Rolling Stone video. “Block the Vote,” an article in the October 30 edition of Rolling Stone, argues that “in state after state, Republican operatives — the party’s elite commandos of bare-knuckle politics — are wielding…

Susan Greene. In the blog headlined “‘Block the Vote’ co-author and Rolling Stone contributor Greg Palast on Colorado’s troubled voting system,” BBC journalist Greg Palast — who teamed with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to pen “Block the Vote,” a piece in the October 30 issue of Rolling Stone — goes…