Since August, Mayor Michael Hancock and the City of Denver have been fighting a class-action lawsuit in federal court in which nine plaintiffs allege that the city violated their constitutional rights when it conducted sweeps of the homeless. The plaintiffs claim that, at various times, their possessions were trashed without…
Reports that incentive money to attract film and television productions to Colorado could be a victim of budget cuts arrived in close proximity to news that this very fund had convinced producers of Bravo’s Top Chef to film the show’s upcoming fifteenth season in Colorado, specifically Denver, Boulder and Telluride. Colorado Film Commissioner Donald Zuckerman, who shared his arguments for why the incentives should be increased from their current level of $3 million (far less than in states such as New Mexico, Utah and Georgia) for a Westword post published last October, says the Top Chef deal would never have happened without this monetary lure and fears significant harm to the burgeoning local film-and-TV industry if the budget blade chops off the resource.
Ken Salazar, a former Colorado Senator and Secretary of the Interior under President Barack Obama, has revealed that he will not run for governor in 2018. This announcement would seem to be good news for Mike Johnston, a former state senator who is currently the best known Democrat to have announced his gubernatorial candidacy. But Johnston’s response to the development is more about saluting Salazar than celebrating this turn of events.
Since the election of President Donald Trump, there have been multiple demonstrations at universities in Colorado around the #SanctuaryCampus movement, which calls upon schools of higher education to make formal declarations or enact policies that ensure that undocumented students are protected from deportation. In Colorado, they included demonstrations on November…
The American Health Care Act, the measure intended to replace Obamacare, has been the target of criticism aplenty since its introduction in part because of predictions that it would disproportionately hurt the poor and elderly in Denver and beyond. This reception, not to mention President Donald Trump’s threat to unseat any Republican who votes against the bill, has put GOP members of Congress in a difficult position, and those from Colorado have reacted with varying degrees of support and obfuscation.
Dezy Saint-Nolde, better known by her activism name, Queen Phoenix, has emerged as a prominent organizer of protests and demonstrations in recent months. These included the thousands-strong November 10 protest against Donald Trump’s election, the February 18 Defend our Constitution march, a health-care rally on February 25, and a Demand Russia-Trump…
When President Trump issued an executive order on January 25 threatening to pull federal funding from so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, the order mentioned that the Department of Homeland Security would start publishing a weekly report calling out jurisdictions with jails that refuse to honor Immigration and Custom Enforcement “detainer requests,” wherein ICE…
For evidence that the 2017 Libertarian Party of Colorado State Convention, which takes place March 24-26 in Westminster, is very different from the annual gatherings sponsored by Democrats and Republicans, look no further than the prominent speaking role reserved for Sarah “Daggers” Stewart, a prominent advocate for the decriminalization of prostitution.
A protest outside the Turning Points USA conference on March 18 resulted in arrests, and that demonstration was just the start of the political action the week of March 20 through March 26, 2017. Keep reading for details on how you can get involved.
As if there was any doubt about conservative John Elway’s position on Neil Gorsuch becoming the next Supreme Court Justice, he made things clear by sending a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee with the official Broncos letterhead. “Niel is a big Denver Bronco’s fan, and I can tell you…
When Sandra Hermans was selected as one of the residents for a proposed tiny-home village at 38th and Walnut streets in RiNo, she was thrilled. The 27-year-old has been homeless since January, when she had to leave a friend’s place where she’d been staying. Suddenly, Hermans found herself having to…
This week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that 24 million people would lose their insurance by 2026 under a new House health-care plan intended to replace Obamacare. That number will likely include many poor people and seniors in Denver, whose tax credits will be significantly smaller according to figures collected by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The Colorado Legislature is halfway through its session, so action inside the State Capitol will heat up this week. But the action will heat up outside, too, with rallies and protests. Keep reading for thirteen ways to get active at political and educational events this week.
On Monday, March 12, Jerry Burton visited the Denver Police headquarters, where he was able to retrieve a tent, a sleeping bag and some blankets from one of two locations where he had items taken by police officers as “evidence” that he’d violated Denver’s urban camping ban.
Senator Michael Bennet is set to take part in his first town hall in more than two years, and rather than scheduling it in a majority Democratic area, he’s venturing into the Republican stronghold of Colorado Springs.
Two things are happening this week: one, a House committee will debate HB17-1226, which is a bipartisan attempt to normalize the clocks in Colorado and stay on Daylight Saving Time permanently. And two, having just suffered through another spring forward weekend, everyone is going to be pretty damn cranky.
Cory Gardner didn’t show up to a town hall meeting planned in his honor, but Representative Jared Polis will have two in the Second Congressional District on Sunday. If that’s not enough political action, you can sit through an entire day of the Colorado Democratic Party Reorganization meeting, or party with GENeration Frontlines, a benefit for the Youth of Standing Rock. Keep reading for details of these events, and more.
This week, homeless advocacy group ASAP took to Facebook to announce plans for a tiny-home village to be located within the RiNo Arts District, at 38th and Walnut streets. Called “Beloved Community Village,” the tiny home village is being proposed as a 180-day pilot project, with a supporting crowd-funding campaign…
A not-safe-for-work Tumblr page featuring images such as a Pokémon named Squirtle having sex with a naked woman mistakenly wound up linked on the website for Colorado state senator Kevin Priola, a conservative Republican who prides himself on his family values platform.
Last night, Senator Cory Gardner was scheduled to take part in his second telephone town hall over the span of eight days, a tactic apparently intended to undermine criticism about his failure to conduct in-person town halls, despite multiple demands that he do so and even a late February forum in Denver that went on in his absence. I wasn’t planning to take part, but a Gardner robo-call urged me to do so, albeit when the event should have been almost over.
On Tuesday, March 7, a group of demonstrators gathered at Denver International Airport to welcome refugees and protest President Trump’s new “travel ban,” which he signed on March 6 and which goes into effect on March 16. The protest was an echo of a larger demonstration that took place at…
SB17-027 would increase the penalty for texting and driving by $300 and four points per offense.
