News

Showing 14455 - 14476 of 50594

Meet Kevin Sabet, USA’s Most Influential Critic of Marijuana Legalization

By Michael RobertsAugust 14, 2017

Kevin Sabet, the president and CEO of Virginia-based Smart Approaches to Marijuana, has become arguably the most influential critic of marijuana legalization in the United States. But in an extended interview on view below, he fights against the perception that he’s a one-dimensional prohibitionist along the lines of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sabet stresses that he and his organization, shorthanded as SAM, take what he sees as a sensible approach to cannabis by arguing in favor of treatment rather than jail time for users in trouble and advocating for greater study of the substance to determine the best ways to utilize it medically.

Meet the Taylor Swift Trial Sketch Artist Fans Love to Hate

By Michael RobertsAugust 14, 2017

The Taylor Swift trial appears to be drawing to a close, with most prognosticators predicting it will end today, August 14. That will likely come as a relief to Jeff Kandyba, the sketch artist hired to capture the scene in the federal courtroom, which doesn’t allow cameras. Kandyba’s work has been ridiculed by snarky media organizations, as well as Swift fans, some of whom have even implied that he’s purposefully submitted unflattering likenesses because he favors Katy Perry in her longtime feud with the “Bad Blood” singer. But Kandyba, who’s actually drawn courtroom sketches in high-profile cases for three decades in the Denver area, scoffs at the notion.

Reader: Let’s Keep Low-Rent Neighborhoods Shitty!

By Westword StaffAugust 12, 2017

Between a festival that’s overtaking the neighborhood this weekend, a liquor store that’s holding on despite it all, and the ever-continuing debates over newcomers vs. natives and gentrification, RiNo generates a lot of buzz in this city. And commenters have weighed in on recent stories we’ve written about River North…

Denver to Have Nursing Suites in All Downtown Sports Arenas

By Grant StringerAugust 11, 2017

Instead of illegally booting nursing mothers from their seats, Coors and Sports Authority fields are joining the Pepsi Center in installing private, four-by-eight foot pods in their main concourses to give moms the option of breastfeeding in a tiny, portable room — and not in the stands.

Homeless Man Sues Denver Cop for Tasing Him as He Surrendered

By Michael RobertsAugust 11, 2017

As we previewed in a January post, Greg Heard, a homeless man, has filed a lawsuit against a Denver police officer and the City and County of Denver over a June 2016 arrest during which he was tased in the act of surrendering even though he was unarmed. The complaint, accessible below, bolsters its argument with a video also shared here and references to a Westword post from March in which a police trainer harshly criticized Dulayev’s decision to tase first and ask questions later.

Denver Cops’ “Search” for Stolen Vehicle So Bad Owner Had to Find It Himself

By Michael RobertsAugust 11, 2017

A man living in the metro area says the response of the Denver Police Department to the recent theft of his vehicle was so slow, rude and ineffectual that he decided to search for it himself. He adds that many hours later, after finding the vehicle on his own, the officer he called to clear the case was more polite than his predecessors. But the cop’s comments about the charges and fees he’d incur for an investigation and the long odds of catching the culprit ultimately convinced him that the DPD would be of no help. So he took the vehicle home and shared his experiences on a neighborhood Internet bulletin board, prompting plenty of similar tales from folks living near him.

Bronco Bar Murder Was an Execution, Judge Says

By Michael RobertsAugust 10, 2017

Ignacio Luque-Verdugo received the maximum sentence in a 2014 triple shooting at Aurora’s Bronco Bar that the judge in the case described as an execution. Prosecutors said a man killed in the incident was shot six times, with five of the bullets fired into his back after he was already down.

Dear USA Today: Marijuana Hasn’t Devastated Colorado

By Thomas MitchellAugust 10, 2017

Jeff Hunt, the vice president of Public Policy at Colorado Christian University, invited Westword and others to share his op-ed, “Marijuana Devastated Colorado, Don’t Legalize It Nationally” earlier this week. Although we declined, USA Today obliged in spreading Hunt’s reefer-madness gospel on August 7

The Long, Strange Trip for Pot Club Studio420

By Michael RobertsAugust 10, 2017

Studio420, an Englewood marijuana club, has been ordered to shut down following an administrative hearing. The business is planning to appeal the latest negative ruling in a years-long fight with the city that dates back to a time when it was called iBake Englewood and fronted by an entrepreneur who called himself Thurlow Weed.

How a Tragedy Shut Down Colorado’s Most Famous Cliff-Jumping Spot

By Michael RobertsAugust 10, 2017

The death of James Cummings, a 27-year-old from Denver, who drowned after leaping from a cliff-jumping spot at Green Mountain Reservoir in Summit County, was at least the fifteenth fatality at a Colorado water attraction in 2017. Now, federal and local authorities have jointly decided to temporarily restrict access to the site, in part because of its spreading reputation online among adventurers in Colorado and beyond.

Colorado’s New Prison-Gang Program Draws From Inmate Efforts

By Joel WarnerAugust 9, 2017

Over much of the past decade, several inmates in a Colorado prison developed a series of revolutionary programs that challenged the way most correctional facilities handle gang violence. Their approach was so successful that Colorado Department of Corrections administrators are now using some of their ideas for their own new prison-gang program.