In 1987, Chris Gibbons was charged with revitalizing a Littleton economy that just saw it’s largest employer, construction aggregate supplier Martin Marietta, lay off about 7,000 employees amid a recession. And despite long odds, his Economic Gardening program was such a success that even Harvard has noticed…
As reported in this space on Friday, a new study from Common Cause tracks how oil and gas interests spent $747 million on lobbying and campaign donations since 2001 to win congressional support for “fracking,” hydraulic fracturing drilling methods that involve using toxic chemicals. Which may be why the House…
As the oil and gas industry has turned increasingly to hydraulic fracturing to extract reserves, fears about groundwater contamination from the toxic chemicals used in “fracking” have intensified. And that’s prompted a $747 million spending spree by major industry players in an effort to allay those fears and influence key…
It’s only been two years since Republic Airways Holdings bested Southwest in the Frontier Airlines sweepstakes — but the Republic-Frontier pairing is already headed for Splitsville. This week, Republic CEO Bryan Bedford said the firm is looking at selling Frontier, prompting speculation that Southwest or JetBlue may become bidders. But…
It’s distressing to learn that the good folks of Bent County are shelling out thousands of dollars a month to lobbyists in an effort to “repurpose” the decrepit, soon-to-be-shuttered state prison at Fort Lyon. After all, we suggested five amazingly practical new uses for the old place months ago, and…
Yesterday, after three years, more than 80,000 public comments, and countless hours reviewing ponderous economic and environmental issues — in other words, pretty speedy for government work — Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar unveiled the Obama administration’s slimmed-down plan touting “solar energy zones” spanning seventeen sites in six western…
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…
A few years back, reporting on a convention of prison officials and vendors who supplied them with everything from stab-proof vests to suicide-proof toilets, I noted that America’s spending on the corrections industry had reached $40 billion a year. According to two new documentaries worth checking out, that figure has…
It’s not often Laura Kriho, the driving force behind the Cannabis Therapy Institute and Legalize2012.com, speaks out against something pertaining to marijuana. But there she was, on a Fox station in Colorado Springs, criticizing marijuana-shaped candy marketed under names like Pot Head Ring Pots and Pot Head Lollipops. Predictably, though,…
The marketing department for Golden-based Good Times swears that their partnership with stoner comedy duo Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong for local radio ads had nothing to do with the boom in medical marijuana in Colorado. Apparently nobody told that to Cheech and Chong, though…
Aaron Perry, CEO and CFO of recycOil, a Boulder waste oil recycling firm also known as Rocky Mountain Sustainable Enterprises (RMSE), has been found guilty of trespassing on a competitor’s property, but not guilty of harassment and a misdemeanor trespassing charge. After a two-day trial, a Boulder County jury found…
Last year, when state lawmakers set about reining in the sky-high interest rates of payday lenders in Colorado, the industry howled and moaned that tighter regulation would cost bunches of jobs. But a new report from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office suggests the biggest impact of the reform has been…
Next month, Alicia Vargo, the proprietress of Pampered Passions Fine Lingerie in Englewood, will open a new outpost of her much-lauded house of bras and panties with an unlikely address and a noble cause. The boutique, to be called Pampered Passions Care Wear, will cater to the needs of women…
While (appropriately) pouring over glasses of ice water at their meeting this morning, the members of the Denver Water Board voted unanimously to support a 5.5 percent hike in the city’s water rates. After four months of public discussion, the decision comes as a direct result of analysis indicating the…
Colorado does a miserable job of monitoring the guardians and conservators who control the finances — and, in many cases, the living conditions — of incapacitated adults, minor wards and other vulnerable populations, according to a scathing report released yesterday by the Office of the State Auditor. In other words,…
Inspired by President Obama’s American Jobs Act campaign performance at Lincoln High School, Mayor Michael Hancock can now claim that new trash fees are needed to create new jobs…..
Feel like you’re getting jacked each time you use an automatic teller machine? There’s a good reason for that. A new survey from Bankrate.com spotlights the five U.S. cities with the highest ATM transaction fees. And guess who won…
The Moving Planet Party and Green Fair will be held at the State Capitol this Saturday, September 24, 2011, and will showcase the best ideas in moving beyond fossil fuels…..
Stem cell research comes with a generous handful of misconceptions. The first, of course, is that the science deals entirely with embryonic cells. The second, it would seem, is that it’s difficult. Within the next three weeks, IntelliCell, a publicly traded stem cell research company, will open a lab facility…
Update below: It’s barely been a month since CenturyLink finished replacing Qwest’s blue light with its own logo at 1801 California Street, one of the most familiar structures in downtown Denver. Now come reports that the company may be vacating the building less than a year from now…
In his spare time, billionaire Philip Anschutz likes to collect interesting bits of Americana, such as cattle ranches, soccer teams, railroads and media and energy companies. As part of his acquisition of the Oklahoma Publishing Company, he’s also picking up the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs — a nice chunk…
It wasn’t until I found a guide to the definition of “stalking” in Initiative 300, Denver’s Paid Sick and Safe Time proposal (Section 18-9-11, page 7) that my interest in the actual wording of the proposal developed into a plan to just plain exploit it. As the newest staffer at…
