Occupy Denver was among groups in 27 cities to rally in support of Occupy Oakland, which experienced a recent round of 300 arrests. About 125 protesters gathered for an impromptu march that shut down large sections of traffic near Broadway and Colfax between 7:30 and 10 p.m. and attracted the…
It probably shouldn’t have been a surprise that Doug Lamborn, Republican congressman from Colorado Springs, decided to boycott President Obama’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday. Lamborn, after all, is the same guy who referred to Obama’s economic and debt-reduction policies as a “tar baby” in July. (Oops, guess,…
In the war of words over the plan to round up thousands of wild horses on federal lands, it’s the images that speak loudest. Even as the Bureau of Land Management argues that the thinning of herds is for their own good, critics of the program keep coming up with…
The first time Sonia Skakich-Scrima learned about fracking, she was reading the Denver Business Journal almost a year ago to date. What she read alarmed her, but what she Googled afterward tripled that. “I tried to understand why we didn’t care about the environment or the aftermath,” she says. “I…
Of all the constitutional freedoms cited in defense of the Occupy movement, the First Amendment is staked most territorially. But in Occupy Boulder, attorneys defending protesters arrested for illegal camping are using the Fourth Amendment in a push to dismiss evidence gathered when police officers opened tents to look inside…
Earlier this month, Colorado Republican Party chairman Ryan Call argued that this year’s Colorado Republican Caucus will mean more than ever, in part because the date was moved up to February 7. When Mitt Romney looked poised to sweep Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, this claim looked suspect, but…
After six months at the head of Mayor Michael Hancock’s communications staff, Wil Alston began a new position yesterday leading the same function for Denver’s finance department. Hancock created the position specifically for Alston, who joined his administration in July 2011 and has long been a friend. In the interim,…
What Tobacco-Free Aurora lacks in longevity and membership, it makes up for in ambition. Founded a little more than a year ago with a rotating volunteer staff of twelve to thirty, the group recently pushed the entirety of its efforts toward creating a city ordinance regulating the sale of tobacco…
Occupy the Courts supporters met on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol at 10 a.m. holding signs that read “Corporations Are Not People” and “Restore Democracy” — step one in their two-part protest of corporate personhood under the umbrella title Move to Amend. CleanSlateNow.org, Colorado Common Cause and…
Update: Secretary of State Scott Gessler has been named a possible suspect regarding flaws in the Colorado Independent Spending Report released by the National Institute on Money in State Politics; the report showed a total expenditure for 2006-2010 much larger then was actually the case. However, Gessler’s spokesman says the…
Preliminary numbers show that about 15 percent of the 7,923 immigrants whose cases were reviewed as part of a Department of Homeland Security pilot project in Denver will be allowed to stay in the country, says Laura Lichter, the president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Those include local student…
Even though Rick Santorum kinda won the Iowa caucuses, he’s a long shot to pass Mitt Romney and become the Republican pick for president. His last chance appears to be a strong showing in South Carolina tomorrow — one that’ll require evangelicals to get behind him (and not sinful Newt…
On Sunday, at 2 p.m. in the Bemis Public Library, five people gathered to launch the first general assembly of Occupy Littleton. If the idea that democracy takes time ever needed proof, this would be it. One person shy of a round half-dozen, the group appeared dwarfed in the city…
In 2010, Colorado welcomed 2,367 refugees from around the world. That’s more than in 2009, when 2,157 refugees were resettled here, but fewer than in 1980, when 4,200 refugees made Colorado their new home. So where do these refugees come from — and why? As explained in the cover story…
Colorado Republicans are the Guardians of Liberty, according to Liberty Watch, an organization holding elected officials accountable for the organization’s proposed “Principles of Liberty.” Early this morning, Liberty Watch held an awards ceromony honoring ten Republicans from the Colorado Legislature, deeming each a Guardian…
Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler is a controversy magnet, with many progressive figures taking his name in vain. Example: a blistering October critique by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. But today, NPR, a news outfit frequently accused of liberal bias, sent the mega-conservative Gessler an audio love letter in which he’s…
If Occupy Boulder and Occupy Denver weren’t fully supportive sister occupations located roughly an hour from each other, it would occasionally be tough to tell that they’re even struggling against the same system. Comparisons between the two movements often end at opposite sides of the activism spectrum. Case in point:…
Colorado Democratic leaders are applauding the Obama Administration’s newly proposed immigration policy, a measure that would permit undocumented spouses and children of United States citizens to remain in the country during the legal immigration process. Under current law, undocumented family members of United States citizens must leave the country while…
Last March, Senator Pat Steadman told us he believed the civil unions bill he sponsored would pass the Colorado House, as it had the state senate, if not blocked by extremists. In the end, however, it fell one vote short in committee, with all six of the panel’s GOP members…
Yesterday afternoon, RedLine art gallery housed hundreds of Occupy movement supporters from Colorado and beyond as they reflected on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy and how to translate it to protesting inequality between the 99 percent and the 1 percent. But in recent weeks, the local movement has made…
As we wrote about earlier today, Broncos fans could use chalk on the streets, but not Occupy Denver. And did they ever. Led by Denver mayor and one-time Broncos mascot Michael Hancock, fans used blue and orange sidewalk chalk to “transform Bannock Street into ‘Broncos Boulevard!'” (Just look how far…
Violeta Pando couldn’t sleep last night. After all, today is the last for a six-week pilot program to review the deportation cases of all non-detained immigrants in Baltimore and Denver — including the case of her wife, Sujey Pando. “The hours that I did sleep, which were very few, I…
