Denver’s Ben Higgins, who gave up on a potential run for the state legislature over pressure from the producer of a reality TV series intended to build on the popularity he’d gained during his season starring in ABC’s The Bachelor, has broken up with Lauren Bushnell, his fiancee and co-star on both shows, including Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After?
Doug Robinson, the latest hopeful to announce for the 2018 Colorado governor’s race, is the nephew of Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and the 2012 Republican candidate for president. But Robinson is optimistic that his experience in the technology industry, his passion for issues such as education and his status as a political outsider will help him top the better-known candidates with whom he’s competing.
Though many people in Denver — and around the globe, for that matter — look to Jeanette Vizguerra, an undocumented mother-turned-activist, for inspiration, she’s got plenty of detractors, too, as we learned after Chris Walker wrote “Jeanette Vizguerra Will Stay in U.S. Until at Least 2019, Leaves Sanctuary.” Says Henry: How is…
When Jeanette Vizguerra took sanctuary in the basement of the First Unitarian Society in mid February, the undocumented mother of four from Denver became one of the faces of resistance to President Trump and his platform of increased immigration enforcement. Vizguerra’s story has been carried by publications across the globe,…
In the wake of the deadliest season at Colorado ski resorts in five years, a national snow-sports safety advocate recently argued in this space for ski areas to share data about injuries and casualties and publish their safety plans. At present, though, there is no legislation pending or in the works at either the state or federal level that would make such actions a requirement for the ski industry, which fears that greater transparency could lead to a flood of lawsuits. Moreover, no state legislators and just one member of Colorado’s Congressional delegation, Representative Jared Polis, appear to have the issue on their radar.
Five days into his presidency, Donald Trump told ABC News’s David Muir that DREAMers — young undocumented immigrants that are currently protected under a provision enacted by President Obama called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — needn’t worry about deportation under this new administration. “They shouldn’t be very worried. They…
The Meyer Law Office released two videos that show agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement are continuing to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants in and around Denver’s courthouses, despite the City of Denver sending ICE a letter on April 6 asking that agents stay away from “sensitive…
North Korea’s branding of Cory Gardner as a “psychopath” and a “man mixed in with human dirt” is not just a boon for the Colorado senator, whose reputation as a foreign policy hawk will no doubt be enhanced by the rogue nation’s decision to attack him. It’s also among the country’s ten best insults of all time, joining a memorable list shared below.
The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which requires tax increases to be okayed by popular vote, was approved in 1992, meaning that it’s been in place for nearly a quarter-century and a pain in the neck to legislators for the same amount of time. Six years ago, a coalition of lawmakers and other notables filed suit in federal court to overturn it. But their efforts have been stymied again, this time by a U.S. District Court ruling that says the plaintiffs don’t have standing to have brought the suit in the first place.
Because Senator Cory Gardner is still refusing to hold any in-person town halls, Indivisible Front Range Resistance, the group that staged its own town hall sans Gardner back in February, has assembled a collection of more than 225 videos in which his constituents pose questions they’d like to ask him in person.
Nearly four years after an initial proposal for partnership, Boulder and Nablus, Palestine, are officially Sister Cities: In a special ceremony on Monday, May 1, Boulder Mayor Suzanne Jones and Nablus Acting Mayor Ass’ad Salwalmeh signed the paperwork to cement the pairing, the final step necessary for recognition by and support…
Former Denver reporter Eli Stokols left Fox31 in favor of Politico in early 2015, and since then, he’s seen his star rise on the national journalism stage. He was recently named a White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal, and from this high-profile position, he has a closeup view of the Trump administration, for better or worse.
Last night, May 2, Arturo Hernandez Garcia, a Mexican immigrant and former sanctuary seeker who was detained on April 26 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, received a temporary reprieve that will allow him to attend his daughter’s graduation from high school. During this brief period of freedom, his attorney hopes to convince an appeals court to take another look at his case, which his supporters see as representing everything that’s wrong and unjust about the current U.S. immigration system.
Erik Soliván is Denver’s latest hope when it comes to bridging the gap between homelessness, affordable housing and home ownership; even the name of his department, the Office of HOPE (Housing and Opportunities for People Everywhere), suggests as much. In January, Soliván was selected to head up the new department…
Want to get involved politically? You’ll have plenty of opportunities in Denver in May.
Since early February, a coalition of immigrant rights advocates, lawyers and community members have been working on a detailed sanctuary-city policy that they hope the City of Denver will adopt into law. The policy was unveiled on Thursday night at the Denver Inner City Parish before a standing-room-only audience that…
Today, Thursday, April 27, U.S. District Court Judge William Martinez granted class certification in a lawsuit that challenges Denver’s homeless sweeps. According to the attorney representing the plaintiffs, Jason Flores-Williams, the ruling is historic: It was made on civil-rights grounds, and the certified class covers every single person who finds themselves…
Maria de Jesus Jimenez Sanchez, an undocumented woman with four children, one of whom is developmentally delayed, has been deported from the Denver area to Mexico, even though her only crime beyond unauthorized border crossings was driving without a license. Her attorney says she was forced to walk back into Mexico by border agents who told her she’d be shot if she dared to look back.
Arturo Hernandez Garcia, a Mexican immigrant who made headlines when he spent nine months in sanctuary during 2015 at the First Unitarian Society in Denver, has reportedly been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Hernandez Garcia was the subject of a Westword cover story, “Sacred Ground.” He’s been fighting…
After Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, the American Civil Liberties Union launched a major grassroots resistance platform called People’s Power. With help from the Bernie Sanders campaign, the movement’s website, peoplepower.org, has been a hub and organizing tool for creating events across the country. On Tuesday, one of those…
After former Colorado state treasurer Cary Kennedy announced that she is running for the 2018 Colorado governorship on Facebook Live from behind the wheel of a moving car, the video went viral for reasons she hadn’t anticipated; political opponents and the press needled her for supposedly distracted driving. But rather than fuming over the response, she says she’s pleased that so many people got to hear her message, which she expands upon in a wide-ranging interview with Westword.
On Wednesday, state lawmakers on the House Local Government committee heard from over sixty people who testified in favor of the Right to Rest Act, which would have banned law enforcement agencies and municipalities across Colorado from “criminalizing” homelessness by issuing citations or arresting anyone who rests, sleeps and eats in…
