Passenger rail study for I-70 and I-25 corridors kicks off

Rocky Mountain Rail Authority chairman Harry Dale. On August 12, the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority announced the start of a feasibility study that could bring the state one step closer to a passenger rail system that goes from Wyoming to New Mexico along the I-25 corridor, and from Denver International…

Don Becker’s death was drug related

Don Becker. Don Becker, the late and legendary Denver comic, poet and playwright who cut off his arm beneath a passing train in 1986, died from “acute cocaine and Phenobarbital toxicity,” according to the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner. The autopsy report on Becker didn’t say whether the overdose…

Barack Obama Gets His Derek Zoolander On

“I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking.” Wait a second. Is that Barack Obama striking the famous “Blue Steel” pose perfected by Derek Zoolander? Pretty damn close — and it’s all thanks to the artistry of one Ron Keas, who’s whipped…

Denvention Wrap-Up: Exile in Geekville

“Famous authors, phone home.” So now it’s done. The Klingons have all gone home; the fans, laden with souvenirs, are back in their bedrooms arranging their newly autographed copies of The Alien Years and dealer’s room bric-a-brac. The writers (an incredible profusion of them, some of the biggest names in…

Barack Obama Gets His Derek Zoolander On

“I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking.” Wait a second. Is that Barack Obama striking the famous “Blue Steel” pose perfected by Derek Zoolander? Pretty damn close — and it’s all thanks to the artistry of one Ron Keas, who’s whipped…

Denver Post Columnist David Harsanyi’s Syndication Deal

Post journo David Harsanyi’s Capitol ideas could bring him more capital. When past Westword profile subject David Harsanyi hit town back in 2004, he was the token conservative columnist in a sea of liberalism — but somehow, he managed not to drown. Far from it: Last September, he released Nanny…

Nuggets Broadcaster Chris Marlowe Returns to His Olympic Roots

A young Chris Marlowe with two of his biggest fans. The marquee event during NBC’s prime-time Olympics coverage on August 11 was swimmer Michael Phelps’ (successful) attempt to win his third gold medal of the 2008 games — a race that was tape-delayed in these parts for an hour, which…

John Andrews’ Attack on Rima Sinclair

Rima Sinclair. Presumably, websites operated under the auspices of daily newspapers subscribe to the same ideals as the printed product. Yet it’s hard to imagine that “Jews Slant Media, Candidate Claims,” a piece by ex-Colorado Senate president John Andrews published August 10 on the Denver Post’s Politics West site would…

The Exclusivity of Channel 7’s Sacha Millstone Report

Sacha Millstone as seen on Channel 7. Channel 7’s 10 p.m. newscast on August 11 kicked off with what was touted as an exclusive story about Sacha Millstone, a Colorado Democratic delegate and Hillary Clinton supporter. Millstone told investigative reporter John Ferrugia she’d been summoned by the Colorado Democratic Party’s…

The Rocky Mountain News Almost Lets George Carlin Swear

For George Carlin, “B.S.” was “bullshit.” The Rocky Mountain News’ profanity policy isn’t exactly a paragon of consistency. In quoting a pithy comment made by Colorado Republican Party leader Dick Wadhams, the paper spelled “ass” as “a–“. And yet a site search turned up asses aplenty. The word, sans hyphens,…

The Westword.com Blog Shortcut, August 11 Edition

Kenny Be loves Wyoming. For today’s update, we’re going at things full blog. Demver is headlined by the 56th and final entry in Kenny Be’s mammoth Delegating Denver series, which finally gives Wyoming its due. Being at the end of the alphabet sucks. By the way, a slideshow of the…

“Sloppy Police Work” and the Denver Jail

Sure, the Denver jail has its problems, including denying cancer patients essential pain medication and detaining people after they’ve supposedly been released — problems we explored in the saga of Tim Thomason, published in the July 31 Westword. But to understand how people get locked up in the local hoosegow…

Yippies Attack Pepsi Center with Peace Bats

Actually, there were only four Yippies — one for every two journalists desperately trying to fill their DNC quota. The sixty or so younger activists who had also attended the “consulta” gathering of DNC protest groups at the Tivoli center earlier on Sunday wanted nothing to do with the Yippie…

Recreate ’08: Snowballs!

Is it the Denver Public Library or the Way-Bac Machine? A couple of blocks from the downtown Denver Public Library, they’re already shutting down and removing the mailboxes outside of the 14th Avenue post office because of “security concerns” during the upcoming DNC. They’re putting special locks on fire hydrants,…

Get Liquored Up and Live in the Past, Broncos Fans

Crack one open, orange-and-blue boozers. So you weren’t exactly overflowing with optimism after the Denver Broncos’ 19-16 loss to the Gary Kubiak-coached Houston Texans in their 2008 pre-season debut on August 9? Then fill your glass past the halfway point with help from this nifty Denver Broncos Talking Bottle Opener,…

Curtis Street To Become the Great White Way — Again

Denver when it was flashy. Civic boosters recently unveiled new signage going up in the newly christened “Denver Theatre District,” the downtown locale surrounding the Denver Performing Arts Complex and Curtis Street, signage that’s the first step towards transforming the area into a Western version of Times Square. Sure, this…

World Sci Fi Con Brings Fan a Renewed Sense of Geekiness

“Watch the slideshow. Or else.” For a slideshow of Friday’s masquerade, go to westword.com/slideshow. Among science fiction fans, it seems the World Science Fiction Convention is the premier event. In my various conversations last week, whenever I mentioned that I’d been going to cons for years, the response was invariably,…

Recreate ’08: Snowballs!

Is it the Denver Public Library or the Way-Bac Machine? A couple of blocks from the downtown Denver Public Library, they’re already shutting down and removing the mailboxes outside of the 14th Avenue post office because of “security concerns” during the upcoming DNC. They’re putting special locks on fire hydrants,…

At the Pepsi Center: Tents and Unions

Here’s where the DNC media will be camping. With the opening of the Democratic National Convention exactly two weeks away, national media organizations have begun to move into the giant white tents that surround the Pepsi Center. As you can see, there’s much work to be done, and the matter…

Carmelo Is Playing Defense at the Olympics. Really.

Carmelo Anthony can’t be smiling about his scoring output against China. Carmelo Anthony’s offensive stat line for the U.S. Olympic basketball team’s first game, against host nation China, could hardly be less impressive: for 3 from the field and 3 out of 4 from the line, for a grand…

MediaNews Group Changes Its Tune With Connecticut Sale

MediaNews Group (and Denver Post) head honcho Dean Singleton. In a memo to employees announcing the sale of the Connecticut Post and seven nearby publications to Hearst Corp., Dean Singleton, the chieftain of MediaNews Group, which owns the Denver Post and more than a hundred other U.S. newspapers, did his…

Ah! SkyNet’s Taking over Denver! Oh, It’s Just a Movie Screen

Today, just in time for the DNC, civic boosters plan to turn on SkyNet. Don’t worry, you can keep your end-of-the-world weapons stockpile locked away; we’re not talking about Skynet the scary computer-based defense system that takes over earth and spews out Arnold Schwarzenegger robots in the Terminator movies. We’re…