In the six months since it opened, the Office of Colorado’s Child Protection Ombudsman has investigated fifty calls ranging from complaints that entire counties are corrupt to more specific cries for help, says ombudsman Becky Miller Updike. Still, she’d like to hear from even more people who have concerns, suggestions…
Colorado’s cantaloupes have gotten a bad rap lately — and perhaps rightfully so. A listeria outbreak traced to melons from Jensen Farms in Holly has been linked to 29 deaths. But not all of the state’s cantaloupes are to blame — a point Colorado Agriculture Commissioner John Salazar hopes to…
Westword recognized the best of the local Web again in 2011 with the Denver Web Awards, held on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at Casselman’s. Below are the winners for this year; here the 2011 Denver Web Awards finalists. — Nick Lucchesi Colorado Peak Politics is Denver’s Best Political Blog Because…
East High School’s principal is leaving — though under less dubious circumstances than the principal at West High, who suddenly resigned earlier this year. In an e-mail to parents, East principal John Youngquist announced that he’s accepted a job to become Denver Public Schools’s Director of Principal Talent Development…
Roller derby girls are tough as shit. After all, the game they play involves dashing around an oval on roller skates, intentionally colliding into opponents and oftentimes sending them careening off course — sometimes face-first. Injuries are common; the starting line of this weekend’s WFTDA Championships in Broomfield was sponsored…
Every sports team needs super-fans — and that includes roller derby teams. Twelve of the best from around the country are at the 1stBANK Center this weekend, competing in the WFTDA Championships, and several brought their most rabid supporters — you know, the guys (and gals) who are willing to…
Maybe it’s because the skaters have names like Psycho Babble and Britches n’ Hose, but the running commentary provided by roller derby announcers can at times sound like narration for an X-rated movie or a horror flick. Yesterday’s bout between Denver’s Rocky Mountain Rollergirls and the Nashville Rollergirls at the…
“Rocky, Rocky, Rocky! Fight, Fight, Fight!” That’s the cheer of the number-one roller derby team in the country: Denver’s own Rocky Mountain Rollergirls, who kicked all sorts of spandex-ed ass last year to win the WFTDA Championships. The team will defend that title starting today at the 1stBANK Center Broomfield,…
Tomorrow is a city holiday, which means legions of city employees won’t have to show up to work (with the exception of police and fire folks, Denver Health doctors, airport workers and the animals at the Denver Zoo; what’s a giraffe have to do to get a day off around…
The Colorado Meth Project, which has been scaring the crap out of children since 2009, is back with — you guessed it! — some more scary stuff. Along with seven other states that have programs funded by the national Meth Project Foundation, it’s launched a new online anti-meth campaign to…
Seven acres of underutilized, wilderness-like city land in northwest Denver is experiencing a rebirth. The former Camp Rollandet, which was once owned by the Camp Fire Girls before being purchased by Denver Parks and Recreation in 2005, is now home to Outward Bound Denver. Camp Rollandet will serve as the…
The green weenie is here. The Denver Zoo has welcomed its first male elephant, a seven-year-old named Bodhi who hails from Ohio. Thanks to a new exhibit called Asian Tropics, the zoo will soon have space for up to eight male elephants — a serious undertaking for a very moist…
Update about the Jimenez-Draper Carson race below. By now, you’ve heard that Anne Rowe and Allegra “Happy” Haynes won seats on the Denver Public Schools board, and that incumbent Arturo Jimenez narrowly claimed victory over reformer Jennifer Draper Carson. As for Rowe opponent Emily Sirota, you won’t read her reaction…
West High School is not closing. At least not yet. That point was hammered home repeatedly today at a gathering of West High leaders, media and community members to talk about the future of the low-performing school, which will welcome two new academies to its building next year. “This is…
The bridezillas were peaceful at first. So were the groomzillas, the maids-of-honor, the moms, the grandmas and, in at least one case, a man who volunteered to sleep outside the behemoth Wellington Webb municipal building so his mother’s hairdresser could get the wedding date of her dreams. But it didn’t…
Update, Monday, October 31: Willie Clark, who was convicted last year of murdering Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams, was found guilty again today — this time of murdering a witness named Kalonniann Clark (no relation) in 2006. Clark was sentenced to life in prison plus 424 years for the murder. He’s…
With the temperature dropping outside, it’s getting harder to remember when Denver’s children were sweltering in their classrooms two months back. But Denver Public Schools hasn’t forgotten. In fact, the district has launched a task force whose goal is to survey the community about whether to delay the first day…
Though he’s probably most famous for fathering 24-hour cable news, World Championship Wrestling and, to budding environmentalists in 1990 the world over, the Saturday-morning cartoon Captain Planet and the Planeteers (Goooo Planet!), media mogul Ted Turner also loves animals. Especially animals that live in the wild, wild West, such as…
A judge sentenced 25-year-old Robert Walters to life in prison without parole today for the murder of his former girlfriend, Brittney Brashers. Though the sentence was mandatory, Judge Anne Mansfield also called it “fitting” after listening to heart rending statements from Brashers’s sister and brother. “Please be patient,” her sister…
Update, below: Wells Fargo will be the target of several actions this week by the Colorado Progressive Coalition, including plans to “move in” to a branch on Thursday with lamps, pillows and coffee pots to protest the bank’s high number of foreclosures. Dubbed the Mile High Showdown, the actions are…
Concerns about public education and the need to improve communication between city officials and citizens about everything from parking to park usage were hot topics this morning at Mayor Michael Hancock’s first community forum. Comments such as “City personnel need to be more available” drew applause from the more than…
What’s a dance club without booze? Some might say “intolerable,” but Darina Miteva — perhaps better known as DJ Darina, Bulgaria’s #1 female DJ — would beg to differ. “Everything is full of drunk people,” Miteva says. “People at home don’t like the environment in the nightclub.” Miteva, who doesn’t…
