After years of watching similar efforts crash and burn, advocates for 48 Colorado prisoners serving life without parole for crimes committed when they were juveniles finally saw some major reforms pass in this year’s legislative session. Two bills that could lead to a significant reduction in sentences of juvie lifers…
Back in March, we reported about threats of doxxing and more from Anonymous. The organization targeted Denver mayor Michael Hancock and others over the city’s homeless policies. Now, in a newly released video, Anonymous says it’s running out of patience with Hancock to do the right thing by Denver’s homeless…
Leaders representing Denver’s short-term rental industry who feel that their concerns have gone unheard held a roundtable discussion Wednesday morning to present new data and discuss a Denver City Council proposal that they say would significantly constrain STR owners, especially those renting out secondary properties. STRs have been a point of controversy…
The Colorado Department of Transportation held a public hearing on April 21 focusing on the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, CDOT’s four-year plan that directs funds toward various projects. But testimony from speakers focused almost entirely on a proposed plan to lower the I-70 viaduct in north Denver, and the hearing was…
We’ve all seen shows like House of Cards, where D.C. politicians are lobbied by smooth operators in backroom meetings involving shady deals, offshore bank accounts and questionable campaign promises. But let’s say we move away from the realm of blackmail and briefcases of cash for a moment. How does a…
Boulder has been named the least obese city in America multiple times in recent years — and a local group would like to keep it that way. Healthy Boulder Kids is backing an initiative that calls for an excise tax placed on sugary beverages such as soda and other sweetened drinks…
After thousands were disappointed Saturday to hear about the rescheduling of the Annual 4/20 Rally and concert, the turnout at Civic Center Park on the actual holiday was still something to sniff at – only I’m not sure if I liked the smell. There was no free concert with Lil…
Matt Batrowny and his brother, Brian, were early supporters of Bernie Sanders. One day last summer, shortly after the senator from Vermont announced that he was running for president, recalls Matt, “We were walking down the street with a couple of buddies, and we had Bernie T-shirts on. A lot…
On March 23, Westword made a number of Colorado Open Records Act requests to the Denver Department of Human Services and the Mayor’s Office for internal documents related to the planning of the homeless sweeps that the city has been conducting over the past month. Westword did not receive responses…
Today, thousands of fans and revelers will flock to Denver’s Ballpark neighborhood as the Rockies play their first game of the season. But not everyone hanging around Coors Field will be there to celebrate. At 12:30p.m., Denver Homeless Out Loud is staging a protest at 20th and Blake streets against the…
When the Denver Police Department sent officers to raid an encampment of tiny homes at Sustainability Park last October, “something in me snapped,” says photographer Paula Bard. “I began walking those streets were the homeless are trying to survive, photographing the faces of those my city has abandoned.” The result is…
Over the years, we’ve documented the misadventures of Gordon Klingenschmitt, who we described in a 2014 headline as an “Exorcism-Doing, Gay-Slamming, Just-Elected State Rep” from the Colorado Springs area. Our posts about Klingenschmitt, who’s also a priest, have featured his claim that “gays have lost their soul” and his prayers…
The cops arrived at ten in the morning, setting up a perimeter around the two dozen homeless individuals who were camping in the area known as “Resurrection Village,” near the former Big Wonderful site at the intersection of 26th and Arapahoe streets. The officers didn’t come alone. Their arrival was…
Donald Trump could be headed to Colorado for the state’s Republican Party convention next weekend — but he won’t get a warm welcome from many of the people who heard the comments Trump made at a recent MSNBC town hall regarding the legalization of marijuana, and the “very serious reports…
Colorado Republicans may not have been able to pick a presidential candidate at their caucus on March 1, but a former Coloradan just weighed in with the major vote against Donald Trump. Stephanie Cegielski, a graduate of the University of Colorado Denver who got a law degree from the University of…
On March 26 a delegation of interfaith leaders met with concerned community members at the Colorado Muslim Society, the largest mosque in the Rocky Mountain region, to openly denounce Islamophobia at “Building Bridges with the Muslim Community.” The gathering was organized by the newly-formed Coalition for an Inclusive Colorado, and offered break-out…
Inside a nondescript brick building on the corner of Colfax Avenue and Glenarm Place, directly across the street from the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse, is a room filled with trash cans. They’re the same kind of trash cans that many Denver residents roll out to the curb each week – green, with…
The Stompin’ Ground Games danced into the Swansea community center on Saturday, March 19, celebrating the conjoined neighborhoods of Globeville and Elyria-Swansea. Warm Cookies of the Revolution, the city’s “civic health club,” has been holding these events in different neighborhoods each month. January’s program in Capitol Hill, for example, used comedy…
“For rent: Downtown apartment, 2 bedrooms. Includes organic garden space, hot tub, great backyard. You can bring your dogs if they have references as good as yours. If voting for Donald Trump, do not call.” This ad appeared in The Nickel, a free publication in Grand Junction — and even…
Community groups in north Denver have joined forces with the Sierra Club to file a federal lawsuit against the EPA, claiming that the agency lowered its pollution standards in order to push forward the controversial expansion of I-70 through the Elyria and Swansea neighborhoods. The $1.8 billion project, which would…
On Tuesday, City of Denver workers launched a clean sweep of the Ballpark neighborhood, where the homeless had been setting up encampments — or at least stashing stuff that was not allowed in nearby shelters. During the move — which was overseen by Denver Police Department officers — some of…
The photo above pictures Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teen who posted a suicide note on Tumblr in December 2014 shortly before stepping in front of a semi-truck that killed her. Alcorn’s last words include references to how her parents forced her to take part in so-called conversion therapy, which is…
