On April 12, 1864, Black Hawk became the second city in Colorado to be incorporated — three years behind Denver and just a few hours ahead of Central City, the booming mining town up Gregory Gulch. But Black Hawk is the boom town today — thanks not just to its…
Dave Philipps, an investigative reporter for the Gazette in Colorado Springs, just won the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for “Other Than Honorable,” his three-day investigative series that examined how soldiers injured during war were being discharged without benefits. Philipps wasn’t in the newsroom when the announcement of the Pulitzers…
Eight years ago, after a $300,000 renovation job that installed low-maintenance plants, easily hosed-off pavement and benches where you could sit, not sleep, the city dedicated Edward J. “Eddie” Maestas Park at the corner of Broadway, Lawrence and Larimer streets, renaming Triangle Park after a longtime businessman and neighborhood Good…
Coloradans could vote on at least three new gambling proposals this November, including one that would allow Kiowa County to build a casino. The proposal’s boosters are asking legislators to put a measure on the November ballot that would ask Colorado voters to authorize casino gambling in the county, as…
What does LoDo need? Two weeks ago, mysterious chalk messages suddenly appeared on sidewalks across downtown Denver — in 83 spots, to be exact — referring passersby to a website where they could share their thoughts on what LoDo was missing. “In 25-square blocks, LoDo has boutique clothing stores, multi-story…
As anyone traveler to Denver stuck downtown at midnight knows, it’s almost impossible to hail a cab. But not so long ago, it as actually illegal! The transportation scene has changed so much — with new ride options like Uber and Lyft joining an increasing number of cab companies, and…
Cab drivers in Denver face a lot of challenges, as Joel Warner outlines in his current cover story, “Street Fights.” They not only have to pay high lease rates for company cars, but then have trouble making ends meet because of stiff competition on the streets not just from other…
Even before last night’s special meeting of the board of directors of Caprock Academy, a charter school in Grand Junction that had banned a nine-year-old girl from class on Monday because she’d shaved her head in solidarity with her best friend, an eleven-year-old undergoing chemotherapy for neuroblastoma, the school had…
Yesterday, the State of Colorado, History Colorado and representatives of the tribes whose ancestors died at Sand Creek — the Northern Cheyenne of Montana, the Northern Arapaho of Wyoming, and the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes of Oklahoma — signed a Memorandum of Agreement, “government-to-government,” said Governor John Hickenlooper, recognizing the…
Collision, the History Colorado exhibit devoted to the Sand Creek Massacre, has made some history itself over the past two years. And a new chapter will begin today, when Governor John Hickenlooper will announce the creation of the Sand Creek Massacre Commemorative Commission and also mark the signing of the…
The highlight of Monday’s luncheon for Imagine 2020, the city’s first cultural plan in 25 years, was local slam poet and DU student Jose Guerrero, who’d written a poem about Denver for the event that included a memorable reference to the “Big Blue Bear’s butt” and even more telling lines…
It had been more than a decade since Westword had competed in the Colorado Press Association awards — since the last time we were able to challenge the state’s major dailies, in fact. That was back when the Rocky Mountain News was still going strong; after the News complained to…
In the early 2000s, Denver was all about the creative class. Author/big thinker Richard Florida had labeled the metro area one of the top creative spots in the country, an honor that John Hickenlooper used to promote the city that had just elected him mayor. Fifteen years before, he’d been…
The Emily Griffith Opportunity School could soon be history — literally, since the circa 1926 school building at 1250 Welton Street has been recommended for landmark status. But the name of this pioneering educator will live on. This morning, Denver Public Schools will announce the name of its ambitious project…
Michael Herrera grew up in Greeley and Brighton, where the fields were full of chiles, and green chile was often on the table at home. But he didn’t know that his future would be very, very green. Instead, he began his career with KFSC, the station started in the early…
Our boilers are antiquated,” says Jeff Barratt, head of the Emily Griffith Technical College. “I swear, some of them are out of the Titanic.” Close. Emily Griffith, who’d worked as a substitute teacher in Denver Public Schools until she got the okay from the district to start a less traditional…
Monday was Tourism Day at the State Capitol, and when boosters said the numbers looked good, that the industry was healthy, they weren’t blowing smoke. But then, they didn’t mention marijuana at all. Think of it as the big pink elephant in the room — if you really want to…
For over a decade, I’ve enjoyed sharing my neighborhood on the edge of LoHi with the students of the Contemporary Learning Academy, a DPS high school for kids whose needs and/or schedules just don’t fit with the system’s more traditional high schools. When DPS first bought the building overlooking I-25,…
As the sun rose this morning — reflecting off the blue-and-orange-hued Elitch Gardens Ferris wheel and the still-glowing Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium — the real show was just over downtown……
Editor’s note: Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day — a federal holiday. The Westword office is closed, but we’ll be posting occasional updates on westword.com today. The country’s largest parade in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. — the Marade — will kick off this morning by the MLK…
Despite obvious interest across the country, Colorado’s big tourism boosters are still shying away from any reference to recreational marijuana: On Colorado.com, the Colorado Tourism Office’s otherwise expansive site, and Coloradoski.com, Colorado Ski Country USA’s site, searching for “marijuana” nets you exactly…nothing. But some tourism businesses see the possibilities: “We’re…
Update below: The DenverDepartment of Excise and Licenses just updated its list of stores now fully licensed to sell recreational marijuana on January 1 — although there’s no guarantee that all eighteen will be open tomorrow. Although the lion’s share of the retail applicants are in Denver, 25 more municipalities…
