When a national magazine starts its examination of southwestern Colorado “uranium widows” with a glimpse of a woman drilling for ore while clad only in “sandals, denim shorts, and a bra,” I brace myself for the worst — another condescending article about the state’s tragic history on the front lines…
An international competition to design a special wildlife bridge for West Vail Pass has announced five finalists for the $40,000 grand prize — two teams from New York and one each from Toronto, Philadelphia and Amsterdam. But local bridge builders shouldn’t call foul. Each team is required to have on…
While Colorado officials fret over whether drilling regulations are too tough, this month Wyoming will become the first state to require energy companies to disclose what’s in the mysterious, highly toxic fluids they pump into the ground to extract oil and gas. Yes, that’s right. Wyoming, bastion of Dick Cheney…
This week, without much fanfare and after months of budget-related delays, state officials opened one wing of Colorado’s second supermax prison, designed to hold “the most disruptive offenders” who have “demonstrated the inability to function at a less secure facility.” The move set off waves of speculation among the solitary…
Memo to process servers: The best place to find Douglas Bruce over the next few days is the Denver courtroom of Judge Brian Whitney. That’s where Bruce sat this morning, listening to process servers explain their attempts to deliver subpoenas to the anti-tax activist — part of a larger struggle…
On the heels of reports about a burglar using a bong as a weapon in a Fort Morgan home invasion comes a claim by state representative Mark Waller that a recent assault on his car — with salad dressing — may have been in reprisal for his stand against medical…
A promising plan to revive the Cuchara Valley ski area in southern Colorado — complete with zip line, tubing hill, a halfpipe for snowboarders and a seventy-room hotel — has folks in Walsenburg and La Veta cautiously optimistic. The caution is understandable given the number of times the scenic but…
A few months ago we first reported on the “labia lift” — an extremely invasive search process that the Colorado Department of Corrections has started using at its Denver women’s prison. Now the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado has taken notice — and demanded that the DOC immediately halt…
The oddly popular county coroner races in Colorado have led to some wild contests this year. But for real drama, consider the choice Arapahoe County voters are facing in the slugfest between veteran incumbent Dr. Mike Dobersen and attorney Jay Ledbetter. Dobersen has been the county coroner for seventeen years…
The first trailer for 127 Hours, director Danny Boyle’s much-anticipated movie about amped-up Colorado climber Aron Ralston, is now making the rounds of websites and moviehouses. It’s sure to whet appetites for the flick, teasing audiences with impending disaster while keeping the gore offscreen…
An unusual land swap deal on the Western Slope orchestrated by Representative John Salazar, one that would benefit his largest campaign contributor, is starting to draw scrutiny well beyond disgruntled hunters and activists in Gunnison County, who claim the public is getting the short end of the transaction. The Wall…
A 48-year-old violent inmate somehow walked away from the Sterling Correctional Facility last night, putting area law enforcement on high alert. The last time Douglas J. Alward busted out of a Colorado prison, nearly twenty years ago, he kidnapped a citizen and shot at a police officer before being recaptured…
The photograph offers a moment frozen in time: Four teenage girls playing dress-up, looking impatiently into the camera. An image nobody would have thought twice about if it hadn’t turned out to be one of the last moments of innocence, before terrible things happened. The photo is hidden away somewhere…
This week’s feature, “The Asphalt Jungle,” examines how better policing, including surveillance cameras, helped to quell years of street violence during Let Out in lower downtown. But cameras are also capturing more Denver cops using dubious arrest tactics in dealing with intoxicated suspects. On the heels of the disturbing April…
Lou Smit, who passed away Wednesday at 75 after a battle with cancer, was the kind of hard worker who never got the hang of retiring. In his case, the work was homicide investigation. And sticking with it put hundreds of truly scary, violent men behind bars…
More than a hundred new state laws go into effect on August 11, dealing with everything from clean energy to so-called “smart” government. But one of the most hard-fought reforms is House Bill 1351, which requires the payday loan industry to cap its annual interest rate at 45 percent. “Any…
While Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has been enduring a summer of media broiling over everything from the BP oil spill to federal wild-horse roundups, his brother John has been coolly and quietly toodling toward re-election and a fourth term in Congress. But now, the Other Salazar is facing…
This is shaping up to be one lively governor’s race, what with GOP hopeful Dan Maes suspecting a UN agenda behind Denver’s bicycle program, promising layoffs of state workers and an unshackling of the energy industry — and claiming to have driven 5,000 miles a month in his campaign. Is…
Fresh from chastising leading Colorado Republicans over sins ranging from plagiarism (e.g., Scott McInnis) to knee-jerk reactionary pandering, GOP bad boy Muhammad Ali Hasan is now tweaking conservative noses on a national scale. A recent Huffington Post column by Hasan wades into the heated controversy over building a mosque near…
At 2 p.m. today, Denver City Council members will be voting on a 384-bed expansion of the Smith Road jail, a bond-fueled construction contract worth about $25 million. But expect at least one strongly dissenting vote from Councilman Doug Linkhart…
Jailers in Boulder and Colorado Springs have cracked down on inmate mail, banning personal letters and limiting prisoners to postcards that staff can monitor and intercept if the communication is objectionable. County officials say the practice saves money and makes their operations more secure. But it’s also a pretty good…
Meet our video star of the week: Ignacio Rael, convicted of beating his ex-girlfriend to death in 2008. Rael didn’t want to attend his own sentencing, so Montezuma County Judge Douglas Walker ordered him forcibly brought to court, leading to a video of sheriff’s officers zapping him with a Taser,…
