“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” said George Santayana, who condensed his moral code into The Life of Reason in 1951 — the same year the feds announced they was building a facility dedicated to fighting the Cold War sixteen miles northwest of Denver. The…
Is it bye-bye for Boone? The once-official, now unofficial University of Denver mascot was all over the news at the end of May, when DU’s lacrosse team made it to the semi-finals in Philadelphia and ESPN2 showed many closeups of the Disney-designed character adopted by the school in 1968, booted…
Denver may be landlocked, but Lower Highlands had lots of liquid assets last night. And we’re not talking about all the new bars popping up in the hot LoHi area. A water main break at West 29th Avenue and Zuni Street sent torrents of water cascading through the neighborhood –…
Westword’s comics issue is on the street, the first in what we hope will be an annual series. Noah Van Sciver, the creator of our weekly 4 Questions cartoon (and the artist shown at right), had approached us with the idea of a comics contest before last year’s Denver Comic…
Dear Mexican: I went to a Los Angeles Dodgers game today and noticed that they now have Doyer Dogs, which are disgusting and covered in nacho cheese, jalapeños and chili. Not that it doesn’t have potential, but this is Dodger Stadium, not a food truck. But my question: Do you…
Last week, Union Station Alliance announced the first three restaurant tenants that will be in the rehabbed station for its summer 2012 opening — local projects all. But while a Snooze, the Kitchen Next Door and a new market/restaurant concept from Fruition’s Alex Seidel have signed on, it’s still unknown…
By now, just about everyone admits that the Fox31 story of the cab driver fingering an Italian businessman with the Perazzi gun company as a terrorist was a fake, including the station, grudgingly. We know how it happened (9News has done a good job of dissecting the original story), but…
Dear Mexican: Like many Americans, I’ve heard about the Fast and Furious scandal, in which our own ATF was shown to be corrupt and guilty of supplying guns that ended up in the hands of the drug cartels. I also recently saw a report about the violence in Mexico, and…
Last week’s meeting of the Denver Board of Education was a mess of complicated math problems, including: Question 1) If Denver Public Schools is planning to release 220 teachers, how long will the public-comment period — seven-and-a-half hours, filled with complaints — extend the meeting? Answer: Until after 3 a.m…
Last week, Mayor Michael Hancock was at the CELL to announce the expansion of Transportation on Patrol, a program that empowers Denver’s cabbies, limo drivers, truckers and even pedal-cab operators to alert law enforcement of suspicious behavior. Days later, a taxi driver reportedly called the cops because a supposed gun…
Things have gotten hot at Union Station, where two model-train clubs are scrambling to find new spaces for their train layouts, which have occupied space in the basement for decades. Although both groups had been told in the fall of 2011 that the layouts could remain through the remodeling job,…
On May 1, Adams County commissioners and other elected leaders gave Mayor Michael Hancock a week to provide a list of “tangible benefits” they would realize from Denver’s plans to push forward with development around Denver International Airport. Hancock responded with a letter saying their demand had an “unrealistic deadline”…
Dear Mexican: Where did the notion of adding an -o to the end of an English word and assuming it makes it a Spanish word come from? Juanito Dear Wab: “Anglos have long held power in making Spanish and Spanish-speaking culture invisible,” writes University of South Florida assistant professor of…
When a wrong is almost 150 years old, righting it may not be quick. That’s one of the many lessons of the Sand Creek Massacre, a stain on Colorado history that stretches back to November 29, 1864, when Colonel John Chivington led 700 troops on a raid of a peaceful…
The Better Block Project comes to Five Points tomorrow, when it will focus on sprucing up the block of Welton Street that’s home to the legendary Sonny Lawson Park — and its ballfield. Neighborhood groups have been meeting for over a year to discuss what to do with this parcel…
Dear Mexican: Why is it that people from Chihuahua and Monterrey are such jackasses? They come from pinches ranchitos and talk about their haciendas, and they cross the border and act as if their cagada does not stink. Why do they act as if they are better than us American…
Civic Center Park is ready for its close-up tonight, when the Civic Center Conservancy, Historic Denver Inc. and Denver Parks and Recreation will share a 2012 State Honor Award for their Civic Center work during Colorado Preservation’s awards at History Colorado. Although Civic Center has already hosted several big gatherings…
Historian Ari Kelman was watching Iron Man 3 this past weekend with his son when he was startled by a familiar reference, one that seemed very out of context in a Hollywood blockbuster. Mandarin, the apparent arch-villain played by Ben Kingsley, was comparing his own act of terrorism in attacking…
While last week’s snow and this week’s predicted rains have made forecasts of drought seem all wet in metro Denver, the threat is still very real to farmers in southern and eastern Colorado. Last week, they planted more than 550 acres of Rocky Ford cantaloupe — almost a 40 percent…
While the truncated 4/20 festivities have turned Civic Center Park into ground zero for a discussion of which events are a First Amendment exercise and which are commercial, the Civic Center Conservancy will soon take a pot-free breather. On May 8, the Civic Center Conservancy, Historic Denver Inc. and Denver…
Dear Mexican: Although I’m familiar with your column, I don’t read it regularly. But today I was struck by something you said recently. And I quote: “We called ourselves Spanish, we considered ourselves white.” I’m Mexican, and I consider myself “white” because I’m not black or red or Asian. I…
Civic boosters love to travel to other cities to see how they do business — and maybe engage in some monkey business themselves. The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce’s City-to-City Leadership Exchange (LEX) will make its 24th annual trip in October — this one to Pittsburgh (last year was Austin)…
