Denver Neighborhoods With the Most Violent Crimes So Far in 2017

Violent crime has gone up in Denver during the first half of 2017 as compared to the same period last year. But there’s a wide variation in the number of these offenses from area to area. Denver Police Department statistics for all 78 officially designated city neighborhoods, as shared below, show that two of them didn’t register a single violent crime through the initial six months of this year, while one was the setting for more than 150 offenses in this category.

Just in Time for 7/10, Evolab Releases Fruit-Flavored CO2 Cannabis Oil

Strains like Blueberry and Strawberry Cough have long been popular thanks to their distinct flavors, so Evolab has unveiled a new line of hash oil for fans of fruity cannabis. Just in time for the 7/10 holiday, the concentrate company has announced its Colors products, a line of CO2-extracted oils infused with naturally derived fruit flavors.

Inmate Killed at Denver Jail Before Call to Investigate Marvin Booker’s Death There

Earlier today, on the morning of July 10, an inmate was killed at Denver’s main downtown jail. The incident, which a source says involved inmate-on-inmate violence, took place mere hours before speakers at a press conference scheduled to take place outside the facility are expected to demand an investigation into the death of Marvin Booker, who died at the jail on July 9, 2010, nearly seven years ago to the day.

Marvin Booker Family Claims Coverup, Wants Criminal Charges in Jail Death

At 5:30 p.m. today, July 10, family members of Marvin Booker, who died in Denver’s main jail seven years ago this month during an excessive-force incident that led to a $6 million settlement, will take part in a press conference at which they will demand that Denver District Attorney Beth McCann begin a new investigation into the case. They say a Taser used on Booker is missing, and they believe the story behind its disappearance suggests a potentially criminal cover-up.

Denver Neighborhoods With Priciest Two-Bedroom Rent: One Is Almost $3,000

While rents in six metro-area suburbs are rising faster than in Denver proper at present, prices are still going up in most city neighborhoods, and costs remain on the high side. Median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Denver’s tenth most-expensive neighborhood exceeds $1,600, and that’s just over half the nearly $3,000 tag in the part of the city at the top of the scale.

New Marijuana Distribution Law Allows More Efficiency, Product Consistency

Dispensary shelves across Colorado are about to become more consistent now that a new distribution law has taken effect, according to several cannabis businesses owners. The law, passed in June and effective July 1, now allows third-party couriers and distributors to store cannabis inventory in third-party locations and gives them more time to ship products.

Angie Zapata Tragedy Goes National on Investigation Discovery’s Murder Calls

The 2008 murder of Angie Zapata, a transgender teen from Greeley, stands as both a horrifying example of violence targeting the LGBTQ community and a precedent-setting case for federal hate crime laws. Now, Angie’s story, which we’ve told in a shattering Westword feature and numerous followup posts, is going national by way of “Lost Angel,” an episode of the Investigation Discovery series Murder Calls that debuts tonight, July 10.

Reader: Eighty Years of Prohibition Has Not Stopped Anything!

The Trump administration has ordered members of the Justice Department’s Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety to “undertake a review of existing policies” regarding federal marijuana law enforcement, among other things. The group’s report is due this month, and readers think they know what it will say.

Reader: Vote Gardner Out and Take His Health Care Away

After protesters took to Senator Cory Gardner’s office last week to protest his involvement in the American Health Care Act, the Republicans’ proposed replacement for Obamacare, readers had plenty to say about the Colorado senator and health care policy in general.

Ten Ways to Improve the 16th Street Mall

Today, July 8, marks the beginning of the Meet in the Street Prototyping Series by the Downtown Denver Partnership. On every Saturday through August 26, proposals to improve, grow and celebrate the 16th Street Mall will be displayed on the strip.

Queen Phoenix Maintains Innocence in MJ Case, Heads to Jury Trial

In March, we reported that the local activist Dezy Saint-Nolde, who goes by Queen Phoenix, pleaded not guilty to five felony and three misdemeanor charges related to her “gifting” marijuana in exchange for donations. Queen Phoenix says that since March, when she entered her plea, the Denver County District Attorney…

Mason Tvert on Why He’s Leaving the Marijuana Policy Project

Mason Tvert, a key figure in the passage of Amendment 64, the 2012 measure that legalized limited recreational marijuana sales, and the Denver pot-legalization regulation that preceded it, is leaving his post as communications director for the national Marijuana Policy Project in favor of a similar position at VS Strategies, a Denver-based consulting firm that’s become a national powerhouse.

Budding Out: Towns With Great Dispensary Scenes Outside of Denver

Buying and trying cannabis around the state isn’t as social as drinking beer, and it may never be as fun of a field trip thanks to social consumption laws, but it’s time the dispensary scenes outside of Denver got some love. Here’s six towns outside of Denver that help make Colorado the poster child of pot.

Why It Could Cost You $21 to Use Express Lanes from Denver to Boulder

Drivers traveling between Boulder to Denver using express lanes on Interstate 25 and U.S. 36 could be paying more depending on the time of their commute mere weeks from now under a new proposal by Plenary Roads Denver, the private concessionaire that manages the lanes for the Colorado Department of Transportation. The price tag for people who don’t use Express Toll, the service that automatically assesses fees rather than mailing bills based on license plates, could be as high as $21 to travel the route, more than $5 higher than the proposed toll rates less than two years ago.