Dear Readers: I usually don’t allow anyone to hijack this columna, but an exception must be made for California State Assembly member Gil Cedillo. He’s been fighting the good fight for decades, recently trying to get driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants and ceaselessly supporting DREAMers. Cedillo was so moved by…
The controversy over “Niggerhead,” the hand-painted label on a rock at the hunting camp leased by Texas governor Rick Perry’s family for decades, got Roger Baker, manager of Gilpin County, thinking that it was time — long past time, actually — to change the name of “Negro Hill.” Yes, in…
Always begin right where you are And work out from here: If adrift, feel the feel of the oar in the oarlock first, If saddling a horse let your right knee slug The belly of the horse like an uppercut, Then cinch his suck, Then mount and ride away To…
It’s 2006 all over again. That was the year that Coloradans passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. It was also the year when lieutenant governor candidate Janet Rowland, when discussing same-sex marriage, uttered this: “Do we allow a man to marry a…
Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it…really fast. Today’s Denver Post has a fascinating — if redundant — Associated Press story about a Houston lawyer who’s tracking down missing moon rocks. At least 180 are unaccounted for — but not Colorado’s…
Like colorful spring flowers, red-bagged meters are popping up all over downtown. They’re part of a pilot program testing just how smart Denver’s Smart meters really are. Are they smart enough to know when you attempt to plug a meter? Are they smart enough to rat you out?…
My nephew in Chicago has a sudden interest in Colorado politics, and he’s been closely following the progress of the civil union bill at the legislature — a proposal resurrected yesterday when Governor John Hickenlooper said he would call a special session to debate the issue…
Yee-haw! The National Western Stock Show has saddled up for the future. Although NWSS chairman Jerry McMorris passed away yesterday, leaders went through with the announcement of a deal that will help steer the direction of the Stock Show, expanding it beyond an every-January event into more of a year-round…
Dear Mexican: I’m getting sick and tired of all these dirty, stupid Mexicans running around. The first part is easy: As Mr. Dicks says in David Copperfield when asked what to do with David, “Why, bathe him.” The second part could be just as easy: Pay them to learn English…
On January 29, 2009, Alex Landau was brutally beaten by Denver cops after they pulled him over for what they said was an illegal left turn — but he charged was racial profiling. And the City of Denver agreed — or at least was worried enough about the federal lawsuit…
My favorite artifact on display at the new History Colorado Center is an old “Colorful Colorado” sign right by the fabulous floor map of Colorado, riddled with bullet holes and sporting colored-in lettering — vandalism, according to the highway workers who took down the sign. History, according to History Colorado…
“In the real world, nothing happens at the right place at the right time. It is the job of journalists and historians to correct that.” So said Mark Twain, and after the first historic week of the History Colorado Center, we have a quick correction: You may not be walking…
Eric Holder called it the most serious terror threat to the United States since 9/11. And the bombs that could have blown up New York’s subway system got their start in Denver beauty-supply stores, where Najibullah Zazi bought the ingredients to make homemade detonators. But that plot exploded, and Zazi’s…
Don Hunt may be the hardest-working man at the State Capitol — and that’s saying a lot as the legislature heads into its final week. The head of the Department of Transportation helped pull the plug on a Beltway Authority proposal — and now he could bury a feud that…
She wasn’t named chief of the Denver Police Department — although she was rumored to be a leading contender until Michael Hancock decided to go outside of the DPD to tap Robert White. But tonight Captain Tracie Keesee will get another honor: She’s the alumni recipient of the 2012 Outstanding…
Dear Mexican: I am a twenty-year-old, tall, slender, blond Jewish Russian-American; he is a 24-year-old, short, muscular Mexican. At face value, you would never think we would work well, but we do. I started to love him. He’s the most unique person I have ever met. He is never down,…
Rock promoter Barry Fey saved Denver’s symphony in 1989 — and was honored by a plaque in Boettcher Concert Hall for his efforts. But last year, when the Colorado Symphony Orchestra hit the rocks, its leaders weren’t interested in Fey’s help, much less locating his plaque…
Here’s an idea that sounds like a definite smash: Smashburger, the homegrown chain, will introduce its first-ever SmashCart next Tuesday on the 16th Street Mall, one of the first physical signs of the extra effort that the Downtown Denver Partnership is putting into its mall vendor program. Smashburger already has…
Let’s go West, young man! The town backed by newspaper publisher Horace Greeley — the man who may, or may not, have proclaimed “Go West, young man!” — is all grown up. Grown up enough to introduce a new branding campaign for its downtown with a colorful, clownish logo and…
Does a bear shit in the woods — and outside a convention center? That question was answered when pranksters placed a pile of blue poo under “I See What You Mean,” the Lawrence Argent sculpture that’s known as the Big Blue Bear. Inspired, one critic turned her eyes to DIA’s…
The Brown Palace has hosted every U.S. president since Teddy Roosevelt first visited in 1905, thirteen years after the hotel opened, except for two: Calvin Coolidge and Barack Obama. And now Obama has snubbed the Brown again, opting to stay at the JW Marriott in Cherry Creek last night…after slumming…
Dear Mexican: How come there are a bunch of fair-skinned, European-looking guys running Mexico? When I am in Mexico, I see them having power lunches in fine restaurants, driving Beemers and escorting absolutely breathtaking women with long legs and high cheekbones around town. Who are these guys? How can I…
