Opinion & Commentary

Latest Word scribes — and the Westword office — are taking today off, celebrating the fact that the world is not going to end in 2012, since local heroes at PeaceJam have revealed that people are misreading the Mayan calendar when they predict doom heading our way on December 21,…

Despite the efforts of Governor John Hickenlooper and Don Hunt, the head of the Colorado Department of Transportation, the negotiations with Golden, Jefferson County and the group that would build the Jefferson Parkway wound up going nowhere…fast. In mid-December, Golden outlined a $57 million transportation deal that town would get…

The word of the year? Our money (and yours) is on “fracking,” the shortened term for “hydraulic fracturing,” a practice that shook neighborhoods (in some cases literally) around the country this year, and has fueled the oil and gas boom in northeastern Colorado. But if energy execs really want to…

After months of negotiations put in gear by Governor John Hickenlooper and Don Hunt, his head of the Colorado Department of Transportation, Golden has definitely put the brakes on a deal that would have had that town sign off on plans for the Jefferson Parkway — in exchange for $57…

Golden came out strong against the proposed Jefferson Parkway — including a plan for the toll road to go through a right-of-way on the eastern edge of Rocky Flats. For the past year, though, state and project officials have been meeting with Golden, looking for a possible compromise — and…

The Westword office is closed for the holidays until Tuesday, December 27, and Latest Word is taking a break until then. In the meantime, enjoy these Colorado Christmas cards from Kenny Be — and if you have time on your hands, feel free to post a comment on the topic…

The image on the Shroud of Turin was not some medieval hoax, but was caused by a supernatural “flash of light,” according to a team of Italian scientists. The recent news reports of their findings conveniently coincide with the History Channel’s repeat showing of The Real Face of Jesus tonight…

Union Station was once a bustling spot, but as fewer people decided to “travel by train,” as its neon sign advises, more and more businesses pulled out of the station. By the early ’80s, the only refreshment options were a soda fountain in the lobby, the classic Caboose Lounge and,…

Campaigners are getting serious about the next election, but would-be candidates missed a golden opportunity in the Golden Triangle when they failed to lease the space at 1100 Bannock Street most recently occupied by the Michael Hancock campaign…

The Regional Transportation District Board is scheduled to make a final decision on the redevelopment of Union Station tonight — choosing between the proposal of the Union Station Neighborhood Co., which already has the contract to oversee the development behind the historic station, and the Union Station Alliance. But another…

On December 14, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it had completed planning for a western expansion of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge — that’s the former Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons plant, minus several hundred acres that are deemed too contaminated to ever go public — as…

The late Christopher Hitchens was not only a great writer, he had a great appreciation for alcohol. And he got a lot of mileage from an incident that occurred in Aspen back in 1990. Here’s his account from a 1994 Vanity Fair: “At a bar at the top of a…

Jesus and Saturday Night Live got it right: Despite the ardent orange-and-blue Tim Tebow fans who filled Sports Authority at Mile High yesterday, the Patriots clobbered the Denver Broncos — as an SNL sketch in which Taran Killam, as Tebow, and Jason Sudeikis, as an athletic-sox wearing Jesus, had predicted…

Kristen Stillman had been on the witness stand for two days — talking about how her mother had dropped Kristen and her twin brother, Will, off at a house in northwest Denver when they were eight, and how the head of that household had abused them emotionally, physically, sexually for…

Visit Denver just announced the people who will be inducted into the Tourism Hall of Fame at the thirteenth annual celebration set for March 14, 2012, and the list includes two key people from the Colorado drinking/dining scene: Great American Beer Festival president Charlie Papazian and Pete Meersman, president and…

In the 1860s, the town fathers of baby Denver realized the city would never grow without the railroads — but the transcontinental route was moving full-steam ahead through Wyoming. So Denver boosters funded a spur line that ran from Cheyenne to Denver, and saved the city. That move involved a…

The businesses of Lower Highland have been decking the halls — or at least their doors — for the holiday season, and the Laughing Latte, the coffee shop at 2001 West 32nd Avenue, just took top prize in the LoHi Merchant Wreath Contest with a wreath made of coffee filters…

Good news! The world is not going to end on December 21, 2012. That’s the word from Dawn Engle, co-producer of 2012: The True Mayan Prophecy, which airs tonight on Colorado Public Television. But just in case she’s wrong, we asked some state leaders for their can’t-miss Colorado activities in…

What’s next for Frontier Airlines? Charging to use the bathrooms? Selling off the mascot animals to a circus? The latest cost-cutting move for the onetime hometown airline is the end of its in-flight magazine: The Wild Blue Yonder is heading off into the mild blue yonder. Here’s the announcement from…