A few years after Harold and Kumar visited White Castle — but before they escaped from Guantanamo Bay — Kumar Patel’s real-life alter ego, Kal Penn, served a two-year-stint as the associate director of the White House’s Office of Public Engagement. In 2008, the House and 24 star campaigned in…
Yesterday, we recapped how Rachel Maddow had made Mike Coffman a national laughingstock over recent birther comments and his bizarre interview with 9News’ Kyle Clark, when he said he stood by his statement that he misspoke and he apologized five times in a row. Now, plenty of Maddow’s MSNBC colleagues…
Editor’s note: This is the latest profile in Kelsey Whipple’s ongoing series highlighting local political activists. The first time Magalie Lerman knew she had a drug problem was not the first time she overdosed. Nor did she realize the second time. Today, Lerman is two and a half years sober…
This week’s feature, “Sucker Punch,” traces how an assault at a heavy metal concert turned into a habitual criminal prosecution in Arapahoe County, with one of the defendants facing a mountain of time while the other got probation. In the three-way race for district attorney in the 18th Judicial District,…
Ever wonder who can afford to go to presidential fundraisers? Or who gets to attend without paying big bucks? We asked photog Christopher Morgan to find out during yesterday’s event at the Hyatt Hotel, which President Barack Obama highlighted shortly after delivering the commencement address at the Air Force Academy…
Political observers realized that Mike Coffman’s recent birther comments were a political gaffe. But even the wisest of them couldn’t have guessed his clumsy attempts to deal with the fallout would transform him into a nationwide punchline. Thanks for the latter goes to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who last night zinged…
A Good Samaritan bill aimed at ending busts after 911 overdose calls cleared the Colorado Senate in February. But while the measure passed the House prior to the civil unions logjam that prompted a controversial special session and awaits John Hickenlooper’s signature, it was diluted in ways that leave a…
Initiative 52 would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, as long as they provide an individual tax identification number, last year’s tax return and a form of government-issued ID from their country of origin. Today, backers of the initiative held a press conference at the Capitol to call for…
The mass protest against the weekend’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit might be 1,000 miles from Denver, but its ties to the city are represented by at least 25 Occupy Denver protesters who traveled to attend. And when Occupy Wall Street placed a call for national action this weekend, the…
On Monday, Denver City Council voted 9-4 to pass an urban camping ordinance, and the meeting wasn’t pretty: Opponents shouted “Shame!” at the councilmembers, turned their backs on the proceedings and launched a sit-in outside council chambers. From there, roughly fifty protesters followed the pro-ban council members to their cars,…
With a scribble of his ceremonial pen this morning, Governor John Hickenlooper set Colorado on a path not unlike that of the Iron Man himself, Robert Downey, Jr. No, our fair state isn’t going to rehab. Instead, lawmakers, film-industry insiders and Colorado boosters hope that the beefed-up film incentives package…
John Hickenlooper and Mike Coffman aren’t exactly ideological twins. But at the end of this big political week in the State of Colorado, they both face political fallout, albeit for very different reasons: a special session that failed to pass civil unions and comments questioning Barack Obama’s birth records, respectively…
Update: As we reported in our original coverage below, 6th Congressional District rep Mike Coffman made the wrong kind of news via audio of him questioning whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States; hear it below. That’s the kind of ammo prized by election opponents. And Joe…
Representative Jared Polis wants to introduce legislation that promises to reverse Congress’s controversial decision to keep pizza lsbeled a “vegetable” in school lunches. “What Congress has done, believe it or not, is defied logic,” Polis said in front of a crowd of lunchtime students at Louisville Middle School on Monday…
Earlier, we reported about Representative Mike Coffman’s excuse for a comment he made suggesting that Barack Obama may not have been born in the U.S.: “I misspoke.” By making this claim, Coffman is in good company: It’s become a favorite of politicians who say something dumb or inaccurate but want…
At noon, a day after Republican lawmakers defeated a bill to legalize civil unions in a special legislative session, conservatives rallied on the steps of the Capitol building. The event had been planned days in advance, but due to the demise of civil unions, the tone was celebratory. House Speaker…
The mood was charged from the beginning. Even before City Council voted nine to four to approve Denver’s new urban camping ordinance, one audience member made a point during the Pledge of Allegiance. During its conclusion of “peace and justice for all,” he shouted “ALL!” in protest against the measure…
The so-called House “kill committee” has put to death a bill to legalize civil unions. The measure, sponsored by House Minority Leader Mark Ferrandino, who is gay, failed despite having bipartisan support in the full House when the committee’s five Republicans voted against it. But first, supporters and and opponents…
When Snooze co-owner Brianna Borin spoke out in support of the urban camping ban at a city council hearing two weeks ago, Occupy Denver members took offense and launched a morning-long rally against the restaurant spot — which employed four homeless individuals inside at that very moment. Days later, co-owner…
It’s crunch time. As the Denver City Council prepares for a final vote tonight on the proposed urban camping ban, opponents and proponents spent the weekend discussing the issue in meetings and on the streets. At the Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation, regional representatives hosted a panel to debate the ordinance, which could…
Colorado’s special session, which begins today, is earning nationwide attention for Governor John Hickenlooper due in large part to the civil unions legislation whose death largely inspired it. But in conversation with the net’s Candy Crowley (see it below), Hickenlooper avoided espousing same-sex marriage and stressed that this issue and…
If a house falls into foreclosure and nobody is around to hear about it, does it make a difference? What about if an entire coalition is around? This week, volunteers at the Colorado Progressive Coalition tried the second option when they accompanied local homeowner Jim Erlsten to the downtown Broadway…
