I made a marathon drive back to Colorado yesterday, arriving on the eve of this state’s birthday — just in time to watch a Coloradan make a splash on America’s Got Talent, where the self-proclaimed Professor Splash executed a record-breaking belly flop into twelve inches of water, at about the…
Sixty years ago, metro boosters celebrated the feds’ decision to put a factory that would manufacture plutonium triggers for bombs sixteen miles upwind from Denver. Today, the government is still wrestling with what to do with the former Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant, now slated to become a wildlife refuge…
Charley Garcia is gone from the Denver Manager of Safety’s office almost as quickly as he came in. In March, then-mayor Bill Vidal had appointed Garcia, a former state public defender, to the post, making him the fourth person to hold it in a year. He replaced interim manager Mary…
With many Denver streets undergoing repairs these days, traffic around town can be stop and start. On13th Avenue last Thursday morning, it came to a full stop for me. I was heading west in the left lane shortly before 9 a.m. when the already fitful traffic flow ahead of me…
A week after his inauguration, Mayor Michael Hancock really takes the reins today. This morning, he’ll hold his first Mayor-City Council meeting (five of the reps are complete newbies — unlike Hancock, who was on council for eight years). That’ll be followed by the initial gathering of Hancock’s National Western…
Want to run for political office? Have we got a deal for you! The luckiest address in Denver, 1100 Bannock Street, has a “for lease” sign on the door, and this golden spot in the Golden Triangle doesn’t rent to losers…
Back in the fall of 2009, trying to get a handle on the growing medical marijuana business, Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown visited Los Angeles, where he discovered that there were more dispensaries than Starbucks outlets. In January 2010, the Denver Post reported that there were now more dispensaries than…
A year ago, one-time gubernatorial favorite Scott McInnis was grappling with charges of plagiarism — leaving the path clear for darkest of dark-horse candidates Dan Maes to win the Republican nomination for governor. He was soundly trounced in November by John Hickenlooper, but at least he has something to show…
There sat Senator Michael Bennet in the Newseum, no jacket and shirt-sleeves rolled up, chatting about the debt ceiling, the gridblock in Washington and the challenges of creating change. And the audience, a combo of Democrat and Republican voters, was eating it up. So was the host of the chat,…
Imagine a great slogan. State legislator Federico Peña was a dark-horse candidate for mayor back in 1983, but he stood out in a crowded field with his progressive politics, his ethnic background, his age — he was just 36 — and a very smart slogan: Imagine a great city…
Michael Hancock hasn’t yet taken office as mayor of Denver. That’s on tap for later today. But Hancock’s already being pressured by some arts advocates to take another look at the recent merger of the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs and the Division of Theatres & Arenas into Arts &…
Michael Hancock may have gotten off to a sleepy start as the mayor-elect (more like a nightmare, dealing with that Denver Players mess). But with yesterday’s introduction of his “Dream Team” to steer the city’s financial future, Hancock’s administration is definitely waking up…
Denver has a lively downtown — sometimes too lively, if you’re on the 16th Street Mall at prime begging time — and it promises to get even better if the Downtown Denver Partnership makes good on its vow to bring a public market to the center of town…
Jaycee Dugard got a $21 million settlement from California, a book deal and a two-hour, prime-time interview with Diane Sawyer Sunday night. Kristen Stillman got a bill from Denver County and a story in the August Glamour, hyped on the contents page — under a story on jeans that make…
The Denver skyline is changing — fast. On Monday, CenturyLink will start taking down the blue Qwest signs that have glowed like alien azure orbs above downtown Denver for a decade. We were discussing this development while waiting for the fireworks show that has become a nightly feature at Elitch…
Mayor-elect Michael Hancock, back from a brief vacation yesterday, introduced his new chief of staff, Janice Sinden, and said he’s still looking for a new police chief. No matter his choice, Denver’s next top cop is unlikely to get the same warm welcome that greeted consensus-builder Sinden — and will…
While mayor-elect Michael Hancock continues to collect resumes for the numerous appointments he must make, a group of retired police officers will be gathering today to ask Hancock to appoint a new safety manager — the sixth person in that position in a year — who will be more sympathetic…
While hired guns fight over the future of the iconic National Western Stock Show, at 8 p.m. tonight Colorado Public Television takes a trip to a quieter time — back to 1951, when a newfangled media form known as “television” was sweeping the country, kids were learning to “duck and…
If the National Western Stock Show moves to Aurora — and don’t hold your breath for a big financial farewell from Denver voters — it will leave one big gap in a part of Denver that’s already been a dump site for polluting industries and a neighborhood-dividing Interstate. So why…
Back in the wild, wild West, rustlers were shot for stealing your property. Here in the mild, mild West, they hire lawyers and lobbyists and ask you to help build their new corral. Because now it looks like Denver will not only lose the National Western Stock Show to Aurora,…
Visit Denver’s Rich Grant got a call last year from a reporter for a national magazine who was looking for the quintessential Colorado drink. But while this state is swimming in craft beer, the tourism booster came up dry on the hunt for a Colorado cocktail…
When Elitch Gardens first moved from northwest Denver to a new, city-subsidized home in the Platte Valley, the amusement park promised fireworks every night. But the real fireworks were set off by cranky neighbors worried about the noise, and the nightly shows fizzled. Now, sixteen years later, they’re finally back…
