Opinion & Commentary

Civic Center Eats, the weekly gathering in Civic Center Park hosted by the Civic Center Conservancy, has been such a hit this year that it was continued long past its original end date in August — and it’s definitely the place to be on this last Tuesday of the summer…

Was it good for you? In a conference call yesterday, the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research determined that “a trough in business activity occurred in the U.S. economy in June 2009.” In other words, the recession is over. Tell that to the people still…

When Dan Maes isn’t comparing himself to the heroic Serpico, he’s linking Tom Tancredo to loony “Uncle Fester” of The Addams Family — a label he first offered Denver Magazine, and repeated last week on KOA. But if Tancredo is Uncle Fester, who is Maes?…

The really wild ride of Scottie Ewing, former ski pro turned porn purveyor and swinging entrepreneur, took another turn yesterday, when he pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion in connection with the sale of the Denver Sugar/Denver Players prostitution business, which he ran through his Sindicate Media company…

On Tuesday, when Tom Tancredo was waiting to see if he would stay on the ballot, the American Constitution Party candidate for governor overtook official Republican Party candidate Dan Maes in the polls. It was just the latest thrill in a campaign that has had more twists and turns than…

On a Labor Day detour from DIA, we spent a few hours wandering around the Shops at Northfield — with time out for the Mexican Cobb salad at La Sandia, Richard Sandoval’s restaurant there, one of several eateries in the development that could use more traffic. It was a much…

On a Labor Day detour from DIA, I spent a few hours wandering around the Shops at Northfield. It was a much more successful mission than my first attempt to reach this area, when I exited I-70 on what I thought was the right access road — and wound up…

Tom Tancredo won’t be at today’s Colorado Election 2010 Gubernatorial Candidate Forum at the University of Denver — he had a scheduling conflict from the start. Nor will he be at a second forum, Putting Kids First, on Thursday. But the organizers of this second event say Tancredo backed out…

Tom Tancredo wasn’t allowed to speak at the Club 20 debate Saturday night and he won’t be part of the University of Denver gubernatorial candidate forum tomorrow because of a scheduling conflict. But he’ll have a forum today — in court, where he’s righting a suit to have his name…

As a third-party candidate, Tom Tancredo wasn’t invited to be part of the Club 20 gubernatorial debate in Grand Junction this weekend. Not unless he wanted to sit in the audience, that is. But nobody puts Tommy in a corner!…

What happened to eight-year-old Kristen Stillman and her twin brother after their mother left them in northwest Denver was unspeakable. And after a few frustrating attempts to tell adults of the abuse, Kristen quit trying. A prisoner, she stayed silent through four pregnancies, all the result of rape, for twelve…

The 16th Street Mall used to be a panhandlers’ paradise. But one recent Friday, when I walked the mall from one end to the other on a challenge from a booster who thought it’d gone downhill, I saw nothing but busy, happy people — and Denver Voice vendors, so polite…

“Change. Not Charity.” That’s the mantra at Chinook Fund, the nonprofit devoted to social justice that John Hickenlooper — then an unemployed geologist thinking about opening a brewpub — co-founded over two decades ago. Because of its ties to Hickenlooper, the charity is in the news, including a recent Denver…

How much wiggle-room is there in today’s deadline for the state’s ballot certification? After repeated questions on Thursday — prompted by Republican hopes that Dan Maes would drop out of the gubernatorial race — Secretary of State Bernie Buescher finally issued a statement to clarify things…

At noon, all three Colorado gubernatorial candidates are slated to be at Channel 12 to tape the first debate of the season, which is scheduled to air tomorrow night. That’s the day the Colorado Secretary of State’s office must officially certify the names on the November ballot…

What candidate would a mayor with a simmering police scandal in his city not want to face in a gubernatorial race? A candidate with a background in law enforcement — unless, of course, that background is looking pretty murky. Lucky John Hickenlooper, meet Dan Maes…

When John Hickenlooper unveiled his education platform yesterday, he touted the experience of running mate Joseph Garcia, currently the president of CSU-Pueblo. Which would make Garcia, who’s already served as director of the Department of Regulatory Agencies under then-governor Roy Romer, a natural to head the Colorado Department of Education…

While Ali Hasan — wearing a bolo tie as well as “Muhammed” in front of his name — proudly proclaimed himself a Republican as he pushed for the controversial Muslim community center/mosque project near Ground Zero on Fox News last week, his mother was telling Talking Points Memo that the…

He may not have been a great candidate for Colorado treasurer, but Ali Hasan — now using the Muhammed in front of his name that he usually dropped in favor of Ali, and billing himself as “an American and Constitutionalist first, a Muslim second” — came out the winner in…