Opinion & Commentary

Endless vistas of the mountains and plains? Endless pours of craft beers? Endless protests about gun-control laws? What makes Colorado Colorado? That’s what the state plans to find out with Making Colorado, an ambitious branding effort being announced today by Governor John Hickenlooper and Aaron Kennedy, Colorado’s chief marketing officer,…

The rumblings of a boycott started even before Governor John Hickenlooper signed three gun-control measures ten days ago, and they’re only going to get louder with President Barack Obama coming to Colorado on Wednesday to tout this state’s new laws as an example for the rest of the country. “I’m…

This is our thirtieth Best of Denver edition. Over the years, we’ve given at least 15,000 awards. Some of the categories — Best Mobile Hot Tub? — have disappeared, reflecting how trends come and go in a boom-and-bust-and-boom town; other honorees, such as the Winter Park Ski Train, simply reached…

The explosions outside the State Capitol yesterday startled people from downtown to Capitol Hill. But unlike so many other explosions today, these were planned. Artillery blasts marked the 151st anniversary of the Battle of Glorieta Pass, on March 26, 1862, when Colonel Major John Chivington led members of the First…

For Governor John Hickenlooper, it was a very hard week at the end of a hard year, filled with disasters both natural and man-made — disasters Colorado is still struggling to understand. The frustrations that consumed Hickenlooper over the past twelve months came bubbling out during an interview about his…

Is Denver International Airport in the dark? The airport will be celebrating touchy-feely Earth Hour tomorrow, turning off lights between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 23. The black-out includes the illuminated DIA sign along Pena Boulevard, the illuminated sign marking the Jeppesen Terminal and the lights on…

It should be all hearts and flowers when Governor John Hickenlooper signs the civil unions bill at History Colorado this afternoon. But we’re betting that this historic moment will also have a history-making amount of security, given the vehement response to Hickenlooper’s signing of three gun measures yesterday — just…

When all the smoke clears over the gun debate, Colorado will still have other tough issues to tackle. What’s the future of this state? That’s what TBD Colorado wants to determine. Last year, the non-partisan nonprofit — “No state dollars are being spent on TBD Colorado,” its website promises –…

Joe Garcia, Colorado’s coolest lieutenant governor, won’t be going to Washington, D.C. — not now, at least, and not as the head of the Department of Labor. Yesterday, the White House announced that Tom Perez, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, will take that post. Like Garcia, Perez…

Want evidence of just how colorful Colorado has become? Stop by the Colorado Senate this morning, where two big bills will be considered. One, calling for new sex education standards, shows how very blue the Colorado Legislature is these days, The second, HB 13-1061, which would set standards for “responsible…

The late Dale Tooley — longtime Denver District Attorney, one-time mayoral candidate and full-time Irishman — is remembered every year in Denver, when a downtown street is officially, if temporarily, changed to Tooley Street for St. Patrick’s Day. For years, the street sign at Wazee and 17th streets was the…

The University of Denver Pioneers have always had that fighting spirit — but lately, much of the fight has focused on the school’s long-defunct mascot, a bearded, coonskin-cap-wearing cartoon character named Denver Boone, which was designed by a Walt Disney artist and served as the school’s official mascot for thirty…

History Colorado’s Denver A to Z is designed to stir up interest in this city’s story, but the interactive displays linked to letters of the alphabet is a real snooze — and a historically inaccurate nap, at that. Zombies? Would it have been so tough to cook up a heartier…

History Colorado bills Denver A to Z as a “lighthearted and interactive exhibit” from Adrenaline to Zombies. Zzzzz. “Near and Dear” mountains for “N”? It’s hard to come up with a smart alphabet-shtick variation; I try and fail in this week’s column. And I already have a correction: “A” should…

The state of Colorado today? Snowy. The state of this state in the future? That’s TBD. And today, you can help determine it at a public meeting of TBD Colorado, the non-profit project created last year to jump-start conversations about the biggest issues facing the state. More than 1,200 Coloradans…

In August 2010, then-Governor Bill Ritter joined Lance Armstrong to kick off a glamorous new event in Colorado: a bike race originally dubbed the Quiznos Pro Challenge. But as the race revved up for a second round (now under the name USA Pro Challenge), Armstrong took a back-seat role –…

Raj Chohan is a pro. While working — hard — as a reporter at CBS4, he was also attending law school. When he became a full-time lawyer, it was definitely a loss to journalism — but at least viewers got to watch him every Friday, as the host of Colorado…

This is Founder’s Day at the University of Denver, with the founder in question being then-territorial governor John Evans. In fact, “the university’s highest award” is the Evans Award, which will be handed out to a Board of Trustees member tonight. Before he moved to Colorado, Evans had founded Northwestern…