Politics & Government

The political actions just keep coming. Here are five ways to get involved in Denver, February 11-12, 2017

When Wells Fargo employees and security guards saw more than one hundred indigenous activists and allies marching down Broadway from the State Capitol to Wells Fargo’s corporate office at Broadway and 17th Avenue, they tried to seal off the building.

Jason Flores-Williams has added some literary flair to a case in which he’s defending clients who were arrested at an inauguration protest in Washington, D.C., on January 20 and charged with felonies under the federal riot act.

This week marked the death of legislation that would have allowed cyclists to treat red lights and stop signs as yields at intersections with no oncoming traffic. Because the so-called “Idaho stop” bill failed to escape the state senate’s transportation committee, bike riders who roll past stop signs even when the route’s clear will be breaking a state law that’s already filled with plenty of oddities and quirks.

Yesterday, Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s controversial pick to head the Department of Education, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate only after Vice President Mike Pence cast a tie-breaking vote. As such, every “yea” was key, including the one delivered by Colorado Republican Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, a persistent cheerleader for the selection who just happens to have benefited from the newly minted Education secretary’s largesse.

Interested in getting politically involved? The rallies and protests continue this week, with One Colorado’s statewide tour hitting Denver and a major demonstration set for Saturday, outside Senator Cory Gardner’s office, to support Planned Parenthood.

A civil-rights lawsuit and motion for a preliminary injunction have been filed in relation to protests at Denver International Airport against President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order about immigration, which bans all refugees from entering the country for 120 days, indefinitely restricts U.S. entry by Syrians, and forbids visits by citizens of seven nations (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen) for ninety days.

This month, a bill will be introduced before the state legislature to outlaw anti-homeless ordinances enacted by municipalities across Colorado, including the urban-camping ban in Denver. The bill — sponsored by House representatives Joseph Salazar, a Democrat from Thornton, and Jovan Melton, a Democrat from Arapahoe County/Aurora — will not…

If you’re mentally ill and in crisis in Colorado, you can be legally put in jail for 24 hours even if you haven’t committed a crime. Moreover, an attempt to change this rule last year was driven by law enforcers who wanted the hold time for innocent sufferers to be extended, not eliminated. A task force assembled at the behest of Governor John Hickenlooper came to a very different conclusion. In a report on view below, the group called for so-called M-1 holds to end and provided some ideas about how to make it happen.

“We are going to protect the people of Denver. Period.” That’s what Alan Salazar, chief of staff for Mayor Michael Hancock, told a standing-room-only crowd at North High School last night. For two hours on February 2, hundreds of community members heard from city officials, state representatives and immigration advocates…

Michael Huttner got his start as a trouble-maker as an intern for Westword. Now he’s CEO of the Fenton Group, a social-change agency, making trouble for the Trump Administration.

Five days into his administration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that threatens to pull federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities that shield undocumented immigrants. Does Denver qualify as one?

Beginning shortly after 10 a.m. this morning, as part of a campaign dubbed 100 Days of Action, members of the Colorado People’s Alliance will be among those scheduled to show up in force at the local office of a U.S. Senator, where they’ll make it clear that putting out a statement critical of President Donald Trump’s refugee ban isn’t enough.

Tuesday night, President Donald Trump nominated Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals justice Neil Gorsuch, a native Coloradan with an Ivy League background and a Ronald Reagan-approved pedigree, to fill the seat vacated by the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court. But while Gorsuch, 49, was assured and impressive in what was essentially his national debut, his selection immediately triggered a partisan backlash that will likely roil the American political scene for many months to come.

The actions didn’t stop with the Women’s March on Denver or the protests at Denver International Airport this weekend. Here are more ways to stay involved this week.

Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett has been named to a working group of DAs from across the country who will advise the administration of President Donald Trump on marijuana policy. Garnett hopes to influence the Justice Department and presumptive attorney general Jeff Sessions, an avowed pot hater, to be thoughtful about cannabis and not make the sort of mistakes he associates with their actions to date regarding immigration, as exemplified by the chaos that followed an executive order about a temporary refugee ban and more.

Three Republican Congressmen from Colorado who didn’t immediately share their thoughts on President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order about immigration have now publicly endorsed it, although two express minor reservations.

Emad Alayoubi had never been to a protest.

As President Donald Trump grapples with a campaign promise to complete a wall between the U.S. and Mexico — and protesters rally at Denver International Airport to welcome an immigrant’s arrival to the place he considers home — Colorado continues to struggle with its own immigration issues. See the slide show…

Joy prevailed as roughly 1,000 people gathered in Denver International Airport’s Great Hall, Saturday, January 28, to welcome an unsuspecting passenger named Omar to town and to rebuke Donald Trump’s vision of the United States as a nation that would ban people fleeing violence and discriminate against immigrants based on their religion.

The momentum of the Women’s March on Denver will continue with activities this week…and beyond.

Forty individuals camped out along Denargo Street in north Denver were made to move their tents and belongings on Thursday morning, January 26.