Opinion & Commentary

Now, in the center ring, Denver mayor John Hickenlooper is about to get a chance to show mercy to elephants — even if, as the Democratic candidate for governor, Hickenlooper has Republicans on the run in Colorado (with a major assist from the sideshow of Tom Tancredo’s candidacy)…

The first six weeks at Euclid Hall were one wild ride, culminating in chef/owner Jennifer Jasinski being named Denver Magazine’s Chef of the Year — and then the restaurant doing 600 covers last Saturday, as Great American Beer Festers left the convention center and headed down to 1317 14th Street…

Scott McInnis collected $300,000 for his “Musings on Water,” but this one is free. Denver may be a landlocked city, but a river still runs through it — and the transformation of the South Platte River from a stinky stream to a true urban amenity is one of this city’s…

Kristen Stillman does not cry. The tears were beaten out of her early on — as was any hope that someone might listen to her, rescue her, during those twelve hellacious years she was held prisoner at the house in northwest Denver where her mother had left Kristen and her…

Some people want to give money to Kristen Stillman. Others want to set up a nursery for the child she’s expecting, or write letters to the governor asking for her child-support bill to be forgiven. And a few past and present residents of the 2500 block of Irving Street would…

The outpouring of support for Kristen Stillman, the survivor of horrific abuse who first told her story in the September 9 issue of Westword, has been amazing. Many, many people want to know how they can help her, and I thought a follow-up that will be published here today would…

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…