An item in the November 22, 2007 Message talks about an arrangement between the Rocky Mountain News and the Colorado Springs Gazette to share reportage — an arrangement that has led to bylines from one paper regularly appearing in the other. This deal isn’t an exclusive one, though, and in…
Former Colorado governor Ralph Carr has been dead since 1950 and obscure for nearly as long. But he’s returned to the public eye of late thanks to Channel 9 reporter Adam Schrager, whose new biography, The Principled Politician: The Ralph Carr Story, celebrates the bravery of its central player. Carr’s…
Why do you argue? These were the words that may have killed CNN’s Crossfire, which was cancelled not long after. Jon Stewart’s now-legendary appearance on that show took not only conservative bow-tied Tucker Carlson to task, but also spanked democratic strategist Paul Begala. Begala no doubt thought that he was…
Word is leaking, painfully, out of the Ron Paul commune today that the Good Doctor is ending his candidacy for the presidency, three days after he was mathematically eliminated from the Republican nomination. There’s nothing quite like choosing your own moment to exit, regardless of circumstance, and Dr. Paul holds…
The Summit Daily News has reported on former Westword cover boy and current state representative candidate Muhammad Ali Hasan, saying his ex-girlfriend and unofficial campaign coordinator Alison Miller has filed a temporary restraining order against him. “Miller accused Hasan, a Republican who is running to represent Eagle County in District…
In the January 31 Message, J. David McSwane (pictured), the muckraking editor of Colorado State University’s Rocky Mountain Collegian newspaper, set off alarms over the possibility of Gannett purchasing the publication. In his view, CSU’s decision to hold an unannounced meeting with representatives of the corporation, which owns the nearby…
The March 6 Message column concerns the many changes that have taken place of late at Denver radio stations — and shortly after the physical copy of the issue hit racks, another alteration went into effect at a pair of signals owned by Lincoln Financial Media. On March 7, KKFN/The…
District Court Judge Wiley Y. Daniel confirmed the merits of a lawsuit against Quiznos in Denver federal court yesterday, in a move plaintiffs’ lawyer Justin Klein is touting as a victory with nationwide implications…
The unfortunate thing about cutting-edge graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister’s stopover in Denver on Friday, March 7, to deliver a lecture at the Oxford Hotel, courtesy of local American Institute of Graphic Arts chapter, is that it’s completely sold out. But one reason for his visit, his unique new publication called…
Noting a recent spike in Westword.com traffic being directed from the Russian culture and oddities blog Dirty.ru, I did some investigating. It turns out Dirty dug up a story we ran in 2000 about one Storme Aerison — a man, Charles Daugherty, turned model pictured above, turned false high schooler…
In a bad interview, a hundred questions may not be enough to elicit interesting information from a subject. But in a good interview, a mere handful of prompts can produce fascinating results, as the following communique with director Amy Serrano demonstrates. Serrano, who’s making two Denver-area appearances on March 6…
“Death Benefits,” Alan Prendergast, February 28 There’ll Be Hell to Pay As an attorney none-too-fond of the death penalty, I was nonetheless embarrassed by attorney David Lane’s unfair and reckless use of hyperbole in criticizing how district attorneys are funding death-penalty cases in prison murders. Until the people of Colorado…
Doomy pundits have been predicting the death of terrestrial radio for several years now, and recent reports about nationwide advertising-revenue declines in the 5- to 15-percent range won’t convince them to swallow their words. The profit pool is slowly draining everywhere, including Denver, the scene of copious high-profile shifts over…
T.J. Cole refers to them as To Sir, With Love moments, a reference to the 1967 Sidney Poitier film in which the actor plays a rookie teacher facing a rowdy class of street toughs in London’s East End. Of course, there are variations on the theme: Lean on Me, Stand…
Slide Show The coffee has been ground, the portafilters have been packed and the espresso shots have been pulled at the first-ever Mountain Regional Barista Competition, which occurred last weekend in Thornton. Now, with the dust or, rather, coffee grounds settled, the caffeinated champions have proven their mettle. Competition for…
I was surprised this week to get an email from DISCUS, the national trade group for distilled spirits producers and marketers, about a pro-Sunday sales press conference to be held at Argonaut Wine and Liquor — of all places. Two years ago, when I was reporting on a campaign to…
Originally, my review of Agave Grill was supposed to be a two-fer — a kind of culinary Entebbe Raid whereby Laura and I would roll in fast on slow nights to the King Soopers plaza at Orchard and Holly, where both Agave and Mel’s Greenwood Village incarnation are located, have…
Stroll into some sporting goods stores, and you’ll find racks of Javon Walker’s Broncos jersey for sale – but not because there is high demand for the once-popular player’s No. 84 duds. No, it’s because after last year’s Walker soap opera, no one wants them. And when the team finally…
In December, I boarded an airplane bound for Haiti with Dan Jeune, a man who’d just worn a dashiki through Denver International Airport. Since back in my days at j-school, before I was ever paid to write a word, Haiti was a spot I’d hoped to go on a story…
Denver’s new justice center won’t house women, or food– for too long. After the facility’s projected completion in 2010, men who are arrested will be detained at the new facility through the duration of their legal proceedings. Women, on the other hand, will only be housed at the new facility…
Gary Gygax wasn’t the father of Dungeons and Dragons. He was the weird uncle that lived in the basement, painted lead miniatures, and could expound on the twelve different types of polearm weapons. So it’s understandable that gamers might have trouble talking about it openly. Instead, here are some ways…
The night started out with Vermont being crazy. Not crazy because they went for frontrunners Barack Obama and John McCain, in sizeable fashion (Obama carried white voters, male voters and even female voters by smart margins), but because they voted to arrest Bush and Cheney, 2,012 to 1,795. If that…
