Given that Pueblo County Commissioner Sal Pace is among the area’s most vocal advocates for legal marijuana sales, it’s no surprise he’s being challenged in this November’s election by a candidate on the right — but attendees at a debate last night were likely startled by just how far to…
Between legal weed and eco-friendly businesses, Colorado’s enthusiasm for green rivals none. But break out the pink and rainbows and the state suddenly gets squeamish. Even before the word “homosexuality” was invented in the late nineteenth century (French philosopher Michel Foucault argued that it first appeared in 1870), the newly…
On Tuesday morning, Republican Attorney General John Suthers, who discusses his long, hot summer debating the same-sex marriage issue in this week’s print edition, announced his candidacy for mayor of Colorado Springs. Minutes before embarking on a water tour of Colorado, Suthers took a few minutes to speak with Westword…
Even his supporters admit that Ethan Abbott, the embattled natural farming activist who’s been feuding with county authorities on several fronts, has a bit of a temper. But Abbott, 38, who was sentenced yesterday to ninety days in jail and eighteen months of probation in Weld County Court over a…
In June 2013, a month after Governor John Hickenlooper granted Chuck E. Cheese killer Nathan Dunlap a reprieve from execution but didn’t commute his sentence, a poll showed that Colorado voters disagreed with his decision by a three-to-one margin. Since then, the furor has faded — but the issue is…
This week’s cover story traces the dramatic shift in direction of the Colorado Department of Corrections since the 2013 murder of its chief, Tom Clements, by Evan Ebel, a violent parolee who’d just spent six years in solitary confinement. The death of the reform-minded Clements had a profound impact on…
The former chief financial officer for the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office is accusing Secretary Scott Gessler of harassing her, retaliating against her and eventually demoting her after she “began to push back on the financial mismanagement” she reportedly saw in the office. Heather Lizotte took issue with Gessler’s use…
New York Times columnist Frank Bruni was back in Colorado last week, eating (and tweeting) at Acorn, attending a book signing for Helen Thorpe’s Soldier Girls (which not only earned a good review in the Times, but a rave in People, of all places) and, it turns out, researching this…
For 35 days this summer, Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Hillary Hall made Colorado history when her office issued more than 200 same-sex marriage licenses. In doing so, she defied Colorado Attorney General John Suthers’s threats of legal action. Late last month, after the Colorado Supreme Court issued a stay…
At the start of the year, it looked like Colorado’s November ballot might overflow with citizen initiatives. That flood became a trickle; there will likely be only four to consider on November 4. But one of those, Initiative 48, which would require mandatory GMO labeling, could create plenty of controversy…
On June 25, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Utah’s gay-marriage ban, setting a precedent for states in its jurisdiction, including Colorado, where voters had adopted a ban on same-sex marriages in 2006. Hours later, Boulder County Clerk Hillary Hall began issuing same-sex marriage licenses. For weeks, Colorado…
The last of the petitions pushing citizens initiatives were delivered to Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s office last Monday. In the coming weeks, Gessler and his staff will determine which campaigns gathered the 86,105 valid signatures required to get their proposals on the ballot. After a busy season that…
When Amanda Cameron met her now-husband, Hap Cameron, on the beach in Mexico in 2006, she didn’t have the slightest clue that the nice guy from New Zealand would eventually become her husband — or what she’d have to go through to get his green card. That story is being…
Colorado’s primary was a month ago, and the candidates who triumphed in that round are racing toward the November 4 election. But 35 percent of the active voters in Colorado had no real say because they are unaffiliated. And although a voter can affiliate with a party in order to…
Ted Nugent used to be known for iconic guitar riffs and songs about getting laid, but now he makes headlines with his extreme political views — often peppered with vulgarity. Nugent’s remarks about certain Democrats and hot topics like immigration have made him a divisive figure (to say the least)…
Attorney Chris Forsyth thinks that Colorado courts need to change the way they do business, and the best way to do that is to start with cleaning up the bench, he says. If they make the November ballot and are passed by voters, Initiatives 79 and 94 would create different…
Jeremy Mathis is a strong supporter of LGBTQ rights. Early last year, Mathis and his wife filed a complaint against the school that their transgender daughter, Coy, attended in Colorado Springs, because the school would not let her use the female bathroom. The school reversed its decision, but the fight…
On Monday, July 28, what had been initiative 135 officially became Amendment 68, after the Colorado Secretary of State Office’s announced that it had reviewed the more than 136,000 petition signatures the campaign had submitted, and deemed enough valid to put the measure on the November 4 ballot. See also:…
Initiative 135, which would expand gambling in Colorado to racetracks, is heading into the homestretch, with a campaign chest that could make this one of the most expensive issues on the November 4 ballot. Earlier this month, the 135 campaign and Coloradans for Better Schools announced that they had gathered…
U.S. Representative and fracking critic Jared Polis and pro-fracking Governor John Hickenlooper do not see eye-to-eye on initiatives 88 and 89, two measures that proponents are pushing to get on the November ballot. And yesterday, Hickelooper acknowledged that his attempt to work with a bipartisan coalition to create a compromise…
Those who feel political polls conducted long before an election frequently have very little news value can point to two new pieces of evidence to bolster their argument. Yesterday, media organizations ballyhooed a poll showing that Governor John Hickenlooper leads Republican challenger Bob Beauprez by a surprisingly large 6 percent…
If a Colorado county or district does not allow gas or oil production within its jurisdiction, should it be given tax revenue produced in other areas of the state that allow these companies? No, says initiative 121, an industry-driven proposal that’s one of several measures focusing on fracking that could…
