Ken Salazar pushing for “more balanced” hard rockin’

No law is truly written in stone. Not even those tablets Charlton Heston brought down from the top of Mount Hollywood in The Ten Commandments, which looked suspiciously like slabs of heavy cardboard. But some laws, as they age ungracefully, begin to resemble big cement blocks. Take, for example, the…

Twitter Tuesday: Mile High Music Fest edition

Back again with more great Twits to follow for your burgeoning Twitter feed. As always, follow us at @denverwestword, @cafewestword and @casciato. @WidepreadPanic: To kick off this very special edition of Twitter Tuesday, dedicated to amping you up for the Mile High Music Fest this next weekend, how about jam-band…

About-to-be-remodeled DIA winning awards just the way it is

Officials at Denver International Airport recently floated ideas about an ambitious redesign of the facility’s terminal — although none of them were as interesting as those envisioned by Westword’s own Kenny Be. (Take a gander at his notions here, here and here.) In the meantime, Fentress Architects, the original airport’s…

Urbavore’s Dilemma: Taking a spin with compost king Mike Haynes

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. The ads are…

State, insurers respond to hepatitis-C scare

Surgical tech Kristen Parker, accused of spreading hepatitis-C to patients at two Colorado medical facilities, has precipitated actions by both Colorado agencies and private insurance firms. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has set up a hep-C page complete with links to Rose Medical Center and Audobon Ambulatory…

Take a relaxing flight over Denver

Stressed? Uptight? I wouldn’t know anything about that: See, I actually enjoy the drillin’, sawin’ and hammerin’ associated with Westword’s ongoing remodeling project, which I’m separated from by a thin sheet of dry wall and a Mexican blanket thumb-tacked over a hole that’s been chopped into my office wall. But…

Boulder’s Lou Barnes on the “stupid” credit market

Got iffy credit? Then don’t hit up Boulder West Financial Services. In recent days, Lou Barnes, one of the firm’s owners, was quoted saying this in a recent New York Times article about tight mortgage rules: “The credit pendulum is stuck at ‘stupid.’ I am turning down loans every day…

Meet Jim Pfaff, leader of Colorado’s stop-Sotomayor campaign

Even Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham concedes that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will be approved unless she has a “complete meltdown.” But that hasn’t prevented conservatives across the country from frightening their ideological comrades with the horrific prospect of a “wise Latina” judge on the most important bench…

Judge to DA Carol Chambers: Get cracking

Julie Stene has waited nine years for her day in court, and Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos Samour Jr. figures that’s long enough. Denying a reluctant district attorney’s effort to further delay filing charges in a 2000 rape investigation that the DA’s office repeatedly refused to pursue, Judge Samour instructed…

Can Arron Afflalo become the next Dahntay Jones?

The Nuggets’ loss of Dahntay Jones to a free-agent deal with the Indiana Pacers hurt, and not just because Kobe Bryant grew to despise him over the course of the Western Conference Finals this year. His toughness and aggressiveness were just what the Nugs need to become a perennial playoff…

Grocery-workers union recalls Soopers’ first King

The contract dispute involving workers at King Soopers, Safeway and Albertsons has been quiet of late, with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 7 seeking to maintain member loyalty during this period via releases about, for example, pension reductions that would go into effect if the store’s latest…

Expert to Frontier’s new owner: Don’t go changin’

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert D. Drain’s approval yesterday of Republic Airways Holdings’ plan to purchase Denver-based Frontier Airlines was widely expected and went according to Hoyle — and while other bidders can step forward in the next thirty days, you can bet none will. Now, the clock is running…

The Westword.com blog shortcut, July 13 edition

You’ve got to moove it, moove it. Today in Cafe Society: • Free Food — the film, that is. • Milking It: Arrowhead Mills Puffed Millet Cereal. • Washington to finally get some balls. • Gemelli’s morphs into House, moving from Italian to American comfort foods. • What’s Cooking? Marczyk’s…

Denver Blogs: When did the National League West stop sucking?

Our daily look at local bloggage. Send tips this way. The Rockies are better than expected. But — and this is a problem — so is the rest of their division. (Purple Row) It’s never too early to start trashing a politician. In this event, it’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Josh…

Tweet up tonight at Film on the Rocks for Office Space

As if you needed any other reason to go watch the office-drone classic Office Space at Red Rocks (details here) other than the simple fact that it’s playing: Tonight’s Film on the Rocks event is doing double duty as a Denver Tweetup. Local Twitter heavyweight @TheBigKlosowski has set up a…

Running toilet terrorizes children; no one flushes

Far be it for me to question to the message of Denver Water — “Use Only What You Need” — or its toilet mascot, who attends events around town, flushing that message down. But it seemed a little excessive when the toilet, fresh (so to speak) off a visit to…