The hottest summer on record could also be one of the driest. At the end of June, Governor John Hickenlooper requested that much of this dry, dry state be declared a federal disaster area because of “drought, low snow pack, excessive heat, and high winds” that had started on January…
Colorado’s urge to do something, anything, to help those affected by the wildfires has spread like, well, wildfire. Caravans of cars have descended on Colorado Springs, heading right past that IKEA sign on I-25, with piles of donated goods for victims of the Waldo Canyon fire. If the state were…
On July 1, Metropolitan State College officially became Metropolitan State University of Denver, ending a process that had dragged on for four years, through research, debate and, finally, the approval of the Colorado Legislature. But the school in the heart of the city really made its name last month, when…
This has been one hot summer — and it’s bound to get even hotter. Tempers are flaring over the handling of the wildfires, and rumors are heating up over their possible cause: terrorists are setting the fires. And President Barack Obama’s visit to the Waldo Canyon fire today is fanning…
A week ago, the state’s tourism office announced that 2011 had been a record-breaking year. And 2012 will break all kinds of records, too — but not the ones boosters like to shatter. Most disappointing ski season. Rafting industry drying up. And the rest of the summer tourism season going…
Voters “like having someone with a proven record,” Representative Doug Lamborn said after winning yesterday’s primary. And what a record! Hell would have to freeze over in El Paso County — which doesn’t look likely, given the Waldo Canyon fire raging there — before voters would skip sending this serial…
Plutonium lasts forever, and so do the legal actions emanating from Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant, which operated sixteen miles upwind from Denver for close to forty years. Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to reinstate the $926 million judgment that 12,000 property owners near the plant thought they’d won…
In January 2009, Alex Landau landed in the hospital after Denver cops pulled over the black teen for making an illegal left turn. He’s still waiting for the Denver Police Department to determine the fate of the officers involved — but another verdict came in this weekend, when Joel Warner’s…
It was a year ago today that Denver woke up to discover that upstart Aurora had rustled a major deal in the metro area: a massive, $800 million hotel/spa/convention complex that Gaylord Entertainment would build near Denver International Airport…
Jeff Peckman thinks outside the box — in this case, the “tinder box.” Two years ago, he asked voters to approve a UFO welcoming committee, an idea he pushed further as a 2011 candidate for mayor of Denver. And now he wants to help end the High Park Fire…
Colorado has dozens of museums devoted to unusual items — bells, washing machines. Some are temporary, some permanent. But no museum promises to have the half-life of the Rocky Flats Cold War Museum, devoted to the plant that manufactured plutonium triggers for nuclear bombs just sixteen miles northwest — upwind…
The city once thought it had the solution to Triangle Park — unofficially known as the Bumuda Triangle because of all the homeless who gathered there during the day, when the nearby shelters were closed. But five years and more than $300,000 later, Denver admitted its plan hadn’t worked and…
The smell of smoke is in the air. It could be a long-distance reminder of the High Park Fire still raging outside Fort Collins. Or it could be your next-door neighbors here in Denver, lighting up their illicit fire pit. Or their completely illegal chimenea…
Happy anniversary, Mayor Hancock. A year ago, Michael Hancock defeated Chris Romer in the Denver mayoral runoff, capping an unlikely campaign that saw Hancock polling at just 10 percent two months before the May 3 election, then trouncing Romer in the runoff. But where were the big stories taking note…
Colorado cantaloupes are ripening quickly this season, and so are concerns that the listeria hysteria over last year’s outbreak could put a damper on sales of the fruit. So the Colorado Department of Agriculture, headed by commissioner John Salazar, is pushing a project to improve the image of the vilified…
Why are the choices for the ninth One Book, One Denver so much better than the previous eight rounds? That’s the question I asked Kristin Rust, spokeswoman for Denver Arts & Venues. She pointed to the commitment of Mayor Michael Hancock, as well as a hard-working committee that came up…
The ninth time’s the charm. After years of serving up the literary equivalent of a Happy Meal for the One Book, One Denver program, the city finally has three great choices for 2012: Through June 22, you can vote for Denver, Enrique’s Journey or The Worst Hard Time, Timothy Egan’s…
I live in the belly of the beast, Denver’s hottest restaurant neighborhood: Lower Highland, or LoHi, as developers have dubbed it. (In response, I refer to my particular block as SoLola — south of Lola.) And with the news that Tavern Hospitality Group plans to put a Tavern LoHi here,…
Congress won’t pass the DREAM act and the Colorado Legislature killed ASSET. But Metropolitan State College (soon to be Metropolitan State University of Denver) is ready to do the right thing for would-be students who are living here illegally, kids who were brought to this country by their parents years…
There were definitely signs. When Westword was working on “Mr. Right?,” our cover story on Ali Hassan, the son of a political powerhouse couple who was recruited by the Republican Party to run for the House District 56 seat in 2008, the 27-year-old candidate took a break from the interview…
“Wilderness, Wildlife and Wonder.” That’s the slogan the feds chose to mark the centennial of Rocky Mountain National Park, which was founded in 1915. Personally, we’d have gone with “Crags, Crowds and Crappy Souvenirs” or “Treks, Tics and Traffic,” but they didn’t ask us. Not for a slogan, at least…
“I wonder how newspapers like Westword survived without weekly stories promoting gay, marijuana, and goth newslines! Patty, you should be ashamed!” So writes The Wilk in response to our current cover story, “Over the Rainbow,” which details efforts to stop the bullying of gay teenagers…
