Rupert Murdoch May Buy Fox31 Before Group Ripped by John Oliver Can

The announced purchase of Denver’s Fox31 and CW2 by the controversial Sinclair Broadcast Group, which was memorably ripped by HBO’s John Oliver for allegedly forcing its hard-right ideology on affiliates while attempting to build a conservative media empire capable of becoming a stealth Fox News, may not happen. Fresh reports suggest that in a bid to win FCC approval for its May 2017 purchase of 42 outlets owned by Tribune Media, Sinclair is on the cusp of selling ten of them, including the two Denver outlets, to 21st Century Fox and mogul Rupert Murdoch, who, in a surprising twist, suddenly looks to some observers like the lesser of two evils.

Mailing Marijuana Out of Colorado: Are Your Odds of Getting Caught Going Up?

In “Mailing Marijuana Out of Colorado: How Likely Are You to Get Caught?,” published circa November 2015, the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area’s Tom Gorman estimated that 90 percent of illegally shipped cannabis packages weren’t being found by postal inspectors. More than two years later, figures from a pair of recent analyses maintain that hundreds more pot-packed parcels are being intercepted than in previous years even as our Ask a Stoner columnist suggests that successfully mailing weed out of state is still a snap if proper precautions are taken.

32,000-Plus Demand Resignation of Rep Steve Lebsock, Alleged Sexual Harasser

At 9 a.m. today, January 10, at the Colorado State Capitol, attendees of a rally are expected to call for the resignation of Representative Steve Lebsock, a Thornton Democrat accused of sexually harassing at least eleven women, including fellow rep Faith Winter and lobbyist Holly Tarry. The group will be led by Erin Hottenstein, a Fort Collins resident whose petition calling for Lebsock to step down has been signed by more than 32,000 people at this writing.

New Evidence Stops Trial of Police-Body-Slammed Video Star Michaella Surat

A mistrial has been declared in the case of Michaella Surat, a Colorado State University student who was charged with obstruction and resisting arrest after an April 2017 incident during which her body-slamming by a police officer was captured in a viral video. The reason? New evidence has been discovered by the defense team, led by attorney David Lane, and after learning about it, Judge Joshua Lehman dismissed jurors so prosecutors could review it in more detail.

Mile High Stadium Naming Clusterf*ck and Revenge of the Nerds

This week, crews are removing Sports Authority signage from what has been known in recent years as Sports Authority Field at Mile High, presumably because the Denver Broncos are sick of playing in a stadium emblazoned with the name of a company that declared bankruptcy in March 2016 and liquidated all its assets a few months later. Since acquiring stadium naming rights in August of that year, Broncos executives have tried and failed to line up a new sponsor, and a branding expert says the type of tech companies most able to afford the $10 million per year the team wants are hesitant to get involved in a business relationship that could well conjure painful personal memories.

Convicted Wife Killer Harold Henthorn’s Freedom Bid Ends, Suspicions Don’t

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by Harold Henthorn, who authorities say killed his second wife, Dr. Toni Henthorn, by pushing her off Deer Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park in 2012. In so doing, the jurists let stand a July 2017 affirmation of previous rulings by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, which rejected Henthorn’s arguments regarding what his writ to the court calls “the doctrine of chances.” Specifically, the document, on view below, maintains that the original court biased the jury against him by allowing testimony about the suspicious death of Henthorn’s first wife, Lynn, and a serious accident suffered by Toni the year before her death.

Unite Colorado’s Plan to Snuff Out Partisan Political Bullsh*t

Although politically engaged folks seem to be at odds over just about everything these days, there’s one thing on which they agree: The current system, in which Republicans and Democrats spend a lot more time arguing than getting things done, is a mess. But Unite Colorado aims to change that, at least here, by way of an ambitious plan to back independent legislators who pledge to put the people’s business in front of endless bickering that accomplishes nothing.

JonBenét Family Lawyer Says Lawsuit Rulings “Pave the Way for Justice”

In October 2016, Burke Ramsey, older brother of JonBenét Ramsey, who was murdered in Boulder on Christmas Day of 1996, filed a $150 million lawsuit against Dr. Werner Spitz, a Michigan-based forensic pathologist who theorized on the CBS program The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey that Burke had killed JonBenét with a blow to the head. A separate $750 million lawsuit against CBS followed, and while Spitz and the network asked that the cases be tossed, Michigan Judge David Groner has now allowed each to move forward in what Ramsey family attorney Lin Wood sees as a much larger victory than representatives for CBS are willing to acknowledge.

Rescinding Cole Memo One of Eleven Ways Trump May Try to Kill Legal Pot

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s announcement about rescinding the Cole memo, an Obama-era Department of Justice document that provided some legal protections for businesses operating in states that allow and regulate cannabis sales, has shaken the marijuana industry in Colorado and beyond. But Justin Strekal, political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), isn’t surprised by this action. As we noted last July, Strekal believes an op-ed from the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation enumerating eleven ways the administration of President Donald Trump can kill legal cannabis is being used by Sessions and company as a crackdown guideline, and junking Cole is fifth on the list.

Part of Rashaan Salaam’s Post-Suicide Heisman Sale to Benefit CTE Research

Today, January 8, bidding begins on the 1994 Heisman Trophy awarded to the late CU Boulder star Rashaan Salaam, who killed himself in a Boulder park circa December 2016. Salaam’s brain wasn’t tested for signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a brain disease associated with former football players, including sufferers who met tragic ends, because of religious reasons. However, a portion of the trophy sale’s proceeds is being set aside for CTE research.

JP Sears on His Hilarious Boulder Tribute Video and the Town’s Ultra-Spirituality

JP Sears has gained fame as a comedian, life coach and author of How to Be Ultra Spiritual, which offers readers a guide to achieving “spiritual superiority” in just twelve and a half steps. No surprise, then, that he has a soft spot for Boulder, the recent repeat winner (according to National Geographic) as happiest city in the country, which he lovingly needles in a hilarious video on view below. In conversation, he makes it clear that his fondness for the town is no passing fancy.

DA Sees Ties Between Illegal Pot Sale Murder and Marijuana Legalization

Marijuana-reform advocates who backed Amendment 64, the 2012 ballot measure that legalized limited recreational marijuana sales, argued that its passage would make Colorado safer, because legal businesses would squeeze out the black market and free up law enforcement resources to tackle more serious offenses. But in discussing the recent conviction of Raymundo Ugalde for a murder committed during an illegal pot transaction, George Brauchler, 18th Judicial District DA and candidate for Colorado Attorney General, argues that the state’s cannabis experiment has done just the opposite.

Inside the Device That May Show If It Will Ever Be Safe to Play Football

Although the University of Colorado Buffaloes aren’t going to a college football bowl game in 2017-2018 thanks to a mediocre 5-7 record, nine of its fellow members in the Pac-12 conference qualified, with eight of those contests taking place on or after December 26. If the Buffs fall short again next year, though, some of its staffers will be busy anyhow, since CU Boulder has been chosen to coordinate an ambitious research project into traumatic brain injury among student athletes, including those who slam heads on the gridiron, with one of the main tools being EYE-SYNC, a cutting-edge device designed to diagnose concussions by way of eye movement.

Ten Best Kyle Clark Tweets of 2017

Kyle Clark, host of the 9News’ weeknightly program Next With Kyle Clark, is Denver TV’s current king of social media, as well as our pick for best local media figure to follow on Twitter in the 2017 Best of Denver issue. And our pick was more than justified by Clark tweets over the course of the year. Take a look at our ten favorites below.

Colorado Public Radio’s Max Wycisk on Stepping Down, What’s Next for CPR

After more than forty years with Colorado Public Radio, the majority of it as the organization’s president, Max Wycisk has announced that he’ll step down as CPR’s boss at the end of June 2018. But he stresses that his move shouldn’t be interpreted as a sign of turmoil within the state’s largest and most powerful public-radio network.

How School Shooter Bruco Eastwood Changed State Law Seven Years Later

As we’ve reported, a December 15 hearing that could have given additional freedoms to Bruco Eastwood, who’s lived at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo since being found not guilty by reason of insanity for the 2010 shooting at Deer Creek Middle School, was canceled at the last minute. Among those relieved by this turn of events was Eastwood’s prosecutor, Steve Jensen, who channeled his frustration over a judge’s refusal to allow his psychiatric expert to interview the gunman into legislation requiring that court-ordered mental health examinations be recorded on audio and video. Believe it or not, doing so wasn’t mandated until the bill became law nearly seven years after the shooting. Here’s the story of Jensen’s quest and Eastwood’s role in it.

The Ten Best Movies Filmed in Colorado

Colorado’s natural beauty has lured filmmakers since the birth of cinema, and in recent years, the pace of production in these parts has picked up after something of a dry period. Here are the ten best movies that were filmed in Colorado.

Skiing Safety Expert: Less Snow Means More Risk of Injuries, Death

As we’ve reported, two people, Collin Zak and Nathan Enright, have died as a result of injuries sustained at Colorado ski resorts during the 2017-2018 season to date. Their fatal accidents occurred weeks earlier than the first and second Colorado ski area deaths last year, when fourteen skiers or snowboarders died, despite a lack of snow that has resulted in numerous resorts in the state delaying their openings or keeping some runs off-limits. That doesn’t surprise a national expert on resort safety, who believes snow shortages or surpluses can increase the danger for those who hit the slopes under such circumstances.

T.J. Miller Sex-Assault Accusations and Denials Get Ugly

Last December, when hometown Denver hero T.J. Miller was arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly slapping an Uber driver after an argument about Donald Trump, the tenor of the coverage was mild bemusement. Not this time, though. Miller is the latest high-profile star to be accused of abuse in the post-Harvey Weinstein era, with a woman coming forward anonymously to say that he sexually assaulted and punched her during his college years. But rather than issuing a vague apology for past behavior, Miller has responded with harsh words for his anonymous accuser.