California Zephyr heading into Union Station

The sun just started to edge up over the horizon after we passed Fort Morgan: The California Zephyr is running an hour or so late, but the miracle is that it’s going at all, after the mess the snowstorm made of the East Coast…

Making tracks to Colorado on the train

My first view of Colorado was from the train, at dawn, as the Denver Zephyr hurtled across the plains from Chicago. A horde of families from the ‘burbs were headed to the mountains for a budget ski vacation, and after fueling all-night shenanigans in the Dome Car with endless snacks,…

Andrew Romanoff’s latest fundraising request is a winner

Andrew Romanoff’s had one head-spinning year. Passed over by Governor Bill Ritter in his quest to be appointed to Ken Salazar’s Senate seat, Romanoff snubbed any White House entreaties regarding a job in international development in order to take on Senate appointee Michael Bennet. But even though Romanoff lost to…

Christmas is over, but the city’s lights glow on

Christmas is over, but the holiday show is still up at the Denver City & County Building. This season’s run will end sooner than usual, with the steps cleared of the Nativity and Santa’s horrific hoedown on January 15 to make way for the Big Air show coming to Civic…

Remembering Sandy Widener, John Parr and Chase Parr

The reminder for the memorial site at muchloved.com came in at 5:01 this morning. I did not need it: Not a day goes by that I do not think about Sandy Widener, John Parr and Chase Parr, the three members of a much-loved Colorado family who died in a horrific…

El Paso County Jail’s postcard-only policy is returned to sender

Prisoners in El Paso County got an early Christmas present yesterday, when county officials agreed to stop limiting outgoing inmate mail to just postcards. The ACLU had filed suit against that policy, which the El Paso County Jail adopted this summer, arguing that such restrictions for prisoners who are awaiting…

Is it racist to give my Mexican gardener my old stuff?

Dear Mexican: I live in a moderately fancy-ass suburb of Dallas, am super-white and make decent money. Naturally, I have a Mexican gardener/lawn dude who works his ass off, has fourteen brothers and sisters in Guanajuato, employs all his relatives, etc. He also has a sweet wife and three little…

Will it be lights out for Qwest’s blue sign?

For years, the blue light of the Qwest sign has dominated the downtown Denver skyline, even as its been joined by other light shows — the spire on the Four Seasons, the logo atop the Xcel building. But if the merger deal between Qwest and CenturyLink goes through, will it…

Reader claims that Mexico has a defective culture

Dear Mexican: Someone wrote you a while back wondering why Mexicans have made a mess of their beautiful country. You got all bent out of shape because he called Mexico a Third World country instead of a “bottom tier” First World country. I think you missed the point of the…

7-Eleven stores dueling signs shine spotlight on LoDo Aglow

I spent much of last night careening around LoDo, looking at the 21 decorated windows that are competing in the LoDo Aglow contest — only some of which were actually aglow. But it was impossible to miss two very lit-up new 7-Eleven stores on 18th Street, only three short blocks…