Great balls of fire! Angela’s Meatballs, the winning entry in an all-firefighter meatball contest cooked up by North Metro Fire Rescue District’s Lieutenant Don Wiercinksi and Matthew Gintzler, will be added to added to the menu at both Denver Maggiano’s restaurants as of today. And anytime a customer orders the…
It’s been a bad year for newspapers, with cities acorss the country losing important institutions like the Rocky Mountain News. But it’s been a very good year for homeless newspapers, judging from the entries in the first annual North American Street Newspaper Association Newspaper Awards. I was lucky enough to…
Sometime this morning, right after the full House votes on the Food Safety Enhancement Act (the discussion starts at 8:30 a.m. MST), Representative Diana DeGette and other members of the working group that pushed the measure will hold a press conference to discuss its ramifications. In anticipation of this day,…
On January 22, new President Barack Obama signed an executive order promising that Guantanamo would go — within a year. But closing the prison in Cuba — and figuring out where to put the 229 suspected terrorists now held there — has proved complicated. Moving at least some of them…
No boss could refuse you a coffee break this morning — not when dozens of downtown establishments will be offering all comers a free cup of joe between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. Who’ll be pouring it on (and out)? The three homegrown Ink! outposts, as well as the thirteen Starbucks…
On my way home from the Colorado Civil Rights Forum last night, I stopped by Lola, which was hosting the first of the Denver Five dinners. (More on that coming later today from Nancy Levine, who was at the dinner from the start.) And, inevitably, I spotted a restaurateur in…
The Colorado Civil Rights Commission took its show on the road last night, hosting an evening forum at the Blair-Caldwell Library. And if the conversation didn’t seem to go exactly where Colorado Civil Rights Division director Steve Chavez wanted it to go — after an active initial discussion of racial…
When I last spoke with Tom Botelho, he was in an airport lounge, looking at Gerard Depardieu (foreshadowing!), heading to Europe on a family vacation, and not talking about anything but that. He was certainly not talking about the rumor that he was about to be named the new executive…
Spam is enjoying unprecedented popularity in these trying economic times, which means that the 2009 Great American SPAM Championship, a recipe competition that includes a qualifier at the Colorado State Fair, could be the toughest contest on record. Last year, a Colorado man, Ron Pearman, took the national prize with…
Yes, the University of Colorado has big budget troubles — so, of course, school officials have done the only thing they could do: issued a $780,000 contract to an international branding company, Landor, to design a new logo that will unite all branches of the CU system under one common…
Denver District Court Judge Larry Naves played the tough guy last week when he issued his ruling in the Ward Churchill case — not only refusing to give the controversial former University of Colorado prof his job back, but also tossing the entire lawsuit, determining that the CU Board of…
Gustavo Arelleno, author of Ask a Mexican, is getting ready to travel around Estados Unidos to do research for his upcoming book on the history of Mexican food in the U.S.– and he could use your help. He’s looking for favorite Mexican restaurants, and is running a contest for the…
The original casket of Emmett Till was among the missing items uncovered in the Alsip, Illinois, cemetery scandal. After the body of the fourteen-year-old civil rights martyr was exhumed in 2005 for an investigation into Till’s lynching back in 1955, when the Chicago boy dared to talk to a white…
The Cherry Cricket’s expansive new patio is a hit — and the kitchen has taken a major hit trying to handle all the business. “Needless to say, the patio has been an overwhelming success,” says Mark Schiffler, the chef who was an original partner in the Wynkoop Brewing Co., which…
Pulling up to Denver International Airport yesterday, I was already feeling nostalgic. New aviation director Kim Day is working on a master plan that could turn the grand, tented terminal into a giant mall that would be off limits to anyone who hasn’t gone through security — and security itself…
The Wazee Supper Club was just three years old when I first walked in — but it felt like it had been there forever, a great hideaway tucked under the still-standing 15th Street Viaduct, in an area of lower downtown that was still a decade away from being nicknamed “LoDo.”…
On Saturday, as railroad enthusiasts chased the 65-year-old Union Pacific steam engine powering the Denver Post train to Cheyenne Frontier Days, the chase was also on inside the train: to find out if Bob Beauprez is going to throw his cowboy hat in the ring for the U.S. Senate seat…
Yesterday, a reader sent me this note: The other day I got a letter in my mail box from Governor Bill Ritter about Long Term Care. It is great to see him helping out Coloradans with a very important life experience issue. I applaud his efforts. However, it pained me…
At the entrance to my local Safeway, just off Federal at 26th Avenue, a small plaque in the ground commemorates two grocery-store workers who were killed when a car crashed into the store’s parking lot back in 1996. On a door to the store are fliers advertising job opportunities at…
Westword’s first office was located in the 1400 block of Market Street, before that area was nicknamed LoDo, before Larimer Square a block away was one of the hottest restaurant neighborhoods in town, back when our neighbors were parking lots and restaurant and hospital supply companies. The space right below…
Mayor John Hickenlooper delivered his seventh State of the City speech yesterday, standing on the Greek Pavilion in Civic Center Park at the start of the work day. It was a stunning setting for a sobering speech; the park’s lushness made Hickenlooper’s message all the more stark: There’s no money…
