Profiles in Snitching

At the moment the jury is still out in the first-degree murder trial of David Bueno, an inmate at the Limon state prison accused of killing another prisoner. Bueno and Alejandro Perez (who has yet to go to trial) face possible death sentences in the slaying, the prosecution of which…

Nicholas D. Kristof Comes Out as a Racist

It turns out that even New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof is a racist. In yesterday’s Sunday edition, he wrote about playing the the shooter bias video simulation developed by researchers at the University of Colorado. “I shot armed blacks in an average of 0.679 seconds, while I waited…

Delegating Denver #38 of 56: North Dakota

View larger image North Dakota Total Number of Delegates: 21 Pledged: 13 Unpledged: 8 How to Recognize a North Dakota Delegate: After the original building burned to the ground on December 28, 1930, North Dakota’s new state capitol was designed to soar to nineteen stories and contain enough office space…

Independence Institute Seeks Investigative Reporter

When accountants at daily newspapers across the country look to cut costs, their attention is often drawn to investigative units, which are important for reasons of overall quality and prestige but tend to require large investments that don’t pay off in terms of the steady copy flow that’s become increasingly…

Richardson Plays Ball — Just Not With Clinton

The Colorado Rockies’ first home game yesterday attracted a host of local politicos — Governor Bill Ritter, Denver mayor John Hickenlooper (who had to leave before the first pitch for a police academy graduation ceremony), Representative (and U.S. Senate candidate) Mark Udall. But a national star was in the house,…

AM 760’s Jay Marvin Signs New Contract

Launched in 2004, AM 760, the local Clear Channel branch’s foray into progressive talk, has never earned especially robust ratings. But the company has stuck with the format far longer than many radio observers expected, and the station will be around for quite a while more if morning host Jay…

NBC’s “New Approach”

NBC got the jump on the rest of the networks by announcing their plans for the 2008-09 season on April 2. NBC execs have been saying for months that they wanted to embrace a new approach. Apparently, the key to that “new approach” is this: more of the same old…

Closing Time

If Governor Ritter has any doubts about putting pen to paper to sign the long-overdue repeal of Colorado’s Sunday liquor ban, he should remember that the state’s honor is at risk. This is Convention Summer, and Minnesota sure as hell isn’t going to beat us to the booze. A legislative…

Sign Language

Absinthe, that naughty green elixir that was banned in the United States for 96 years, is back on the shelves in Denver — as reported by Westword here and here. Supposedly hallucinogenic, the wormwood-laced alcohol was a favorite of Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway and Vincent van Gogh — who some…

The Denver Post and Taking Credit for a Prisoner’s Release

The April 3 Message column touches on a dispute between the Denver Post and Emily Achenbaum, a reporter for the Charlotte Observer. Achenbaum suggested to Editor & Publisher, a journalism-industry trade publication, that “Trashing the Truth,” a Pulitzer-nominated Post investigation published in July 2007, didn’t properly acknowledge her reporting about…

Shmuck of the Week

Whether you’re disgusted by her behavior or inspired by it, sorry for her “victims” or jealous of them, once thing is certain: Carrie McCandless won’t be winning the teacher of the year award this year. Nor will she be able to bed — at least for the next thirty days…

Bob Gamage Remembered

Bob Gamage died a year ago this month after a dreadful, year-long struggle with lung cancer. The painter and owner of Berkeley Park Art Gallery came to the art world gradually, having first studied psychology at the C. G. Jung Institute in San Francisco and earning a masters degree in…

Odd Nosdam DJs His Own Art Opening This Evening

Get it Threw Your Thick Skull, promises to be a great exhibition of works by artists Antonio Diaz and David P. Madson — aka Odd Nosdam of anticon records — opens tonight at Andenken Gallery, 2990 Larimer Street, and will run through April 25. The opening reception, which starts at…

Liquid Amber

Back in October, I called local beer man Marty Jones of Oskar Blues fame (left) to talk about the Great American Beer Festival. When Jones asked me what kind of beer I preferred, I felt slightly ashamed to admit that, actually, I don’t like beer. He was beside himself. “We’re…

License to Swill

Some neighbors were confused last year when Café Caliente, a Highland Square coffee shop, began serving wine: The business, they knew, didn’t have a liquor license. But the issue was sorted out when Paul Bonacquisti, owner of Denver vintner Bonacquisti Wine Company, 4640 Pecos Street, told them he’d pulled a…

MyMotorMaid May Save My Marriage

If one single thing threatens my relationship with my soon-to-be wife, it won’t be my womanizing. That’s just not me. It won’t be the whiskey or the beer or the fact that I spend money like a drunken sailor or that night recently when I just didn’t come home. She’s…

Letters to the Editor

The Best of Denver 2008, March 27, 2008 Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow First of all, great issue, as always. It’s always a yearly delight poring through it and finding a few quibbles. This year is no exception. Your Best TV Newscast — Night award to Channel 9 is just lazy…

Mayor Hickenlooper and Governor Ritter Inhaled!

Governor Bill Ritter and Mayor John Hickenlooper were feeling no pain the day they filmed a promotional ad for the 9HealthFair, an annual community project that KUSA Channel 9 has been running for close to thirty years. To hype this year’s incarnation, which runs April 12-20, Ritter and Hickenlooper filmed…

Inviting Hickenlooper to Break Bread

Hickenlooper, buddy, what’s going on? It’s your old pal Adam Cayton-Holland. Yes, the same Adam Cayton-Holland who grew up in Park Hill. Hey, how are you enjoying the neighborhood? I noticed you put a trampoline in the yard — nice move. I’m sure Teddy’s loving that thing. My dad would…

Deconstructing the DNA of a Denver Post Pulitzer Finalist

“Trashing the Truth,” a four-day Denver Post feature about the destruction of DNA evidence, was the broadsheet’s single finest achievement in 2007. Beginning July 22, Post staffers Miles Moffeit and Susan Greene delivered an impassioned, far-reaching plea for justice that continues to resonate. And the section related to Clarence Moses-EL,…