The cynics among us have long believed that elected officials tend to be treated better by the law than the rest of us — and now, they have more evidence to bolster that theory. A new report reveals that state legislators are exempted from the current photo-radar system because of…
Today, Clarisa Mesta joined the ranks of undocumented immigrants who have successfully stopped their deportations after speaking publicly about their cases. Before her hearing in Denver’s immigration court this afternoon, the mother of three addressed a small crowd gathered on the sidewalk. “My name is Clarisa Mesta,” she said into…
At 10 a.m. on Monday, July 15, Mayor Michael Hancock will deliver his annual State of the City, this time at the Forney Transportation Museum, right by the Denver Coliseum, at 4303 Brighton Boulevard. The Forney was once in the old Tramway building that’s now home to the flagship REI…
“He dragged the rose down her chin, her neck, and tortured her, dragging it down between her breasts, her belly and across the top of her panties. She moved, arched, ached for more.” A scene in Fifty Shades of Grey? Nope. The passage is from 2004’s Beantown Heat, written by…
“This is not a protest!” exclaimed Ryan Tuleja, one of several dozen Second Amendment defenders who gathered outside the Colorado State Capitol on the day a ban of high-capacity magazines went into effect. And he was right. The event was more of an act of civil disobedience, with people in…
A decision today by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals could have a positive effect on the deportation case of Imelda Valenzuela Gonzalez, whose story we told in this week’s feature, “Out of the Shadows.” The appeals court ruled that an undocumented immigrant named Elia Ibarra should not be considered…
What would the immigration reform bill passed by the U.S. Senate yesterday mean for undocumented immigrants who are already in deportation proceedings — such as those featured in our cover story, “Out of the Shadows”? According to the office of Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, who is one of the “Gang…
Last month, Colorado’s legislature passed a hemp-farming registry bill that Governor John Hickenlooper signed into law. But can hemp escape the role of marijuana’s sober sister on a national scale? A new development gives it the best chance of doing so in ages. Colorado Representative Jared Polis was among legislators…
Can an elected coroner be held liable for the destruction of key evidence — a piece of a dead man’s aorta — needed in a medical malpractice lawsuit? That’s the six-figure question at the heart of a federal claim against Adams County and James Hibbard, its former coroner. Hibbard hasn’t…
There was an uproar immediately after Governor John Hickenlooper granted a temporary reprieve to Nathan Dunlap, the condemned killer who murdered four people and badly injured a fifth in 1993 — and not just from critics like Colorado Attorney General John Suthers or Tom Tancredo, who said he’s running for…
How unhappy is Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway about the political direction in which Colorado is heading? So unhappy that he and several of his colleagues are gathering support among officials in other nearby counties to form what he calls the “51st Star Committee.” Its mission: to secede from Colorado…
Governor John Hickenlooper’s decision to grant a temporary reprieve to Nathan Dunlap, who killed four people and seriously wounded a fifth in an attack on a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant circa 1993, has been cheered in some quarters, but jeered in others. Tom Tancredo decided to run for governor due…
Moments ago, during an appearance on Peter Boyles’s KHOW talk show (and while surrounded by TV cameras), former Congressman Tom Tancredo announced that he’s running for governor…again. “I announced 5 minutes ago my intention to seek the Republican nomination for Governor of Colorado and look forward to fighting for jobs,…
A new government report on the rate of sexual victimization in America’s jails and prisons lists the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility as having the highest rate of sexual assault and misconduct by staff of any lockup in the nation — four times the national average, in fact. That figure is…
Yesterday in this space, we noted that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder may not have time to weigh in on Colorado marijuana laws because of two mushrooming scandals — one of them involving reports that the Internal Revenue Service placed extra scrutiny on Tea Party groups seeking nonprofit status. Now,…
Troy Anderson, a mentally ill inmate at Colorado’s supermax prison, won a landmark decision last summer when a federal judge ruled he’s entitled to at least three hours a week of fresh air and outdoor exercise. Now, Anderson’s attorneys claim Department of Corrections officials have failed to comply with several…
A bill that would bar Colorado private probation companies from also providing chemical dependency treatment to an individual client has failed for the second year in a row. The question at the center of our cover story, “Blow Back,” was whether providing both services was a conflict of interest. Lawmakers…
At 4 p.m. today, the Senate’s State Affairs committee is scheduled to consider House Bill 13-1303, a measure intended to make it easier to vote in Colorado. The NAACP Colorado Montana Wyoming State Area Conference has endorsed the proposal even as it decries one particular attempt to rally opposition via…
Immigration has become more than a “hot-button” issue in the United States. It is a critical component to how the country functions in the foreseeable future. Undocumented immigrants are not going to stop coming into the country simply because there might be rules or laws against it. Instead, it’s up…
DUI treatment providers are once again pushing a bill that would bar Colorado private probation companies from also providing chemical dependency treatment to an individual client. The question of whether doing both, or having a financial interest in companies that do both, is a conflict of interest was the subject…
State lawmakers have passed a bill that repeals a much-criticized 2006 law requiring local law enforcement to report anyone they suspect of being undocumented to federal immigration authorities. The bill, HB1258, now heads to the governor’s desk. Immigrant advocate Justin Valas credits the bill’s passage partly to “having people come…
As Imelda Valenzuela Gonzalez headed into the Denver Immigration Court just before 8:30 this morning for a hearing on her deportation case, a crowd of supporters that had gathered on the sidewalk in front of the court building chanted in unison, “Si se puede!” When the 43-year-old mother of three…
