Denverites love the arts — but the arts didn’t officially become a part of the city structure until “1 percent for the arts,” a program established under Mayor Federico Peña that earmarked one percent of any city construction project for art works. Even as that project grew, so did the…
Janet Napolitano is in town today for the National Fusion Center Conference, a meeting of the country’s joint intelligence centers. Not included in that local fusion lineup are some of our homegrown terrorism experts, including John Elway, who narrated “8 Signs of Terrorism,” a film at the CELL, our home-grown…
I’m hooked on an illegal substance. For the past few months, I’ve somehow managed to cajole my contacts into handing over icy-cold contraband, thinking that each fix could be my last. And at least in Colorado bars and restaurants, it very well could be: My beloved Corona Light is being…
Timing is everything. With gas prices going up, up, up due to the chaos in North Africa last month, suddenly a nuclear power plant started looking good to Pueblo County, where the commissioners are considering a proposal to make that county one of the spots in the country vying for…
Fresh from another round of eco-devo meetings and a quick side trip to a Craig hospital to get five stitches after he bumped his head in his state car, John Hickenlooper landed back in Denver in time for a reunion party at El Diablo with campaign staffers and supporters who…
The Colorado Legislature is wrestling with dozens of messy problems, including that endless, ugly battle between convenience stores and liquor stores. But there is no problem messier than untangling the state budget…
The brewhaha at the Colorado Legislature is more heated than last call in LoDo. But all the testy talk avoids the real issue: 3.2 beer is stupid, and so are the laws that have been crafted around its outdated existence…
In restaurants across town this weekend, I sucked down an illegal substance: Corona Light. In this craft-beer crazy state, it’s tough enough to stay loyal to a beer that one sneering beerman labels an “almost beer.” But last year, the Colorado Legislature made it even tougher: In a bill that…
When Westword moved into its first office, at 1439 Market Street, lower downtown was not known as LoDo. In 1977, this part of town was not a hip entertainment district. It was an old warehouse area, with a scattering of working-man’s bars and a handful of businesses that had been…
Denver International Airport rolls up the moving sidewalks early. As anyone regularly taking red-eye flights knows, most shops and bars on the concourse close before 10 p.m., and in the terminal, one fast-foot outlet and one sundries store stay open all night…
The playhouse in baggage claim is still locked, but at least Blue Mustang-friendly Denver International Airport and History Colorado have partnered on a new exhibit, Colorado Stories, that takes a playful approach to this state’s past — and shows that we have plenty of entertaining baggage…
Best line at last night’s twelfth annual Tourism Hall of Fame Dinner: “When you quit being governor, no one writes talking points for you.” So said former Governor Bill Ritter, who was one of the inductees last night, along with Cleo Parker Robinson and Terry Sullivan, the retired CEO of…
Back in 1985, when the Aguirre family opened Rosa Linda’s Mexican Cafe at 33rd and Tejon, the neighborhood was looking a little run-down (to be kind). But just as the restaurant has grown, and the Aguirre kids have grown up, so has the neighborhood — and today, it’s the hottest…
A week ago, I was watching the sun rise at the Garden of the Gods — a stunning experience that, if marketed right, could start a tourism stampede to Colorado…
While Denver has been enjoying unseasonably warm days, punctuated by the occasional plunge far below zero, snow keeps piling up on the East Coast. Faced with mounds of white stuff, my sister and her school-break kids booked a trip to escape winter — where else but Colorado?…
When John Hickenlooper moved from the Denver City & County Building across Civic Center Park to the State Capitol, he found a message from his office’s previous occupant posted on a painting by the governor’s desk. “I will be easy to find,” said the note from Bill Ritter, who’d drawn…
Image isn’t everything — but appearances count when you’re trying to market a state. Colorado already has a head start with its scenery and a colorful governor who’s a walking sound bite; here are three other ideas guaranteed to raise this state’s profile, if not its revenues. 1) A state…
John Hickenlooper’s appearance on ABC’s This Week yesterday wasn’t nearly as warm and fuzzy as his holiday gig on the same network’s Good Morning America two years ago. This time, he was part of a em>roundtable of four “top” governors taking on the country’s budget crisis and big labor pains…
The Colorado legislature just nixed a plan to tack a ten-cent fee onto movie tickets, money that would have been used to provide financial incentives for film companies that want to make movies in this state. As revised, the bill would now ask for donations from movie-goers — a good…
Pinnacol Assurance, the quasi-public workers’ compensation insurance fund, dodged a bullet last year when the legislature backed off on a proposed $500 million raid of its reserves to help fill budget gaps. But now Governor John Hickenlooper has nominated a critic to the Pinnacol board who’ll be the proverbial fox…
Attorney/urban-homesteading activist James Bertini didn’t even get the cease-and-desist letter the Dervaes Institute sent to other urban-homesteading groups, bloggers and publishers. Instead, he found out on February 14 that Facebook had disabled the page for his year-round, indoor farmers’ market (Westword’s Best Farmers’ Market in 2010) because its name, Denver…
“Please play,” urges the sign by the display of three playhouses at Denver International Airport, an exhibit officially titled “Form, Fun & Function,” and created by Colorado architects and builders. The kids waiting for their parents to grab bags at DIA last night would have loved to spend some time…
