Jamaal Edwards, who had previously been found guilty of second-degree murder for killing John Shoeboot in January 2015, has now confessed to culpability in the death of James Clyde Brown during the same incident. But his plea in the Brown case was to manslaughter, not murder, and the admission doesn’t add one day to his sentence for actions that he summed up to investigators by using the two-word phrase, “Shit happened.”
On Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’s July 2 edition, host John Oliver took on Sinclair Broadcast Group, a media firm that’s little known around the country but extremely powerful in markets such as Denver, where SBG recently purchased sister stations Fox31 and CW2. In a jeremiad against corporate consolidation in local news that’s on view below, Oliver warns that the stealthy way Sinclair forces its hard-right ideology on its affiliates has the potential for turning regional outlets like the ones in the Mile High City into arms of a media empire with the potential of becoming a conservative force rivaling Fox News.
At a press conference that ended moments ago, a Denver Police Department commander confirmed that the two people shot by Englewood or Littleton officers on Santa Fe Drive after a suspected carjacking and chase early this morning were both women. One is dead, while the other is in critical condition at this writing. In addition, a spokesperson said it’s unknown at this point if the suspects shot at police before cops on the scene opened fire or if a weapon was found in or near the stolen vehicle.
Heather Balogh Rochfort, the woman behind the adventure blog JustaColoradoGal.com, was once a dance specialist whose interest in nature fell well short of obsession. But now, she’s the author of Backpacking 101, a guide to those who want to better acquaint themselves with the great outdoors, and she offers her top ten tips for getting started in Colorado.
More than a decade has passed since the still-unsolved murder of Denver 420 Rally founder and groundbreaking Colorado marijuana activist Ken Gorman. But he hasn’t been forgotten. Indeed, current rally organizers meeting to talk about appealing the City of Denver’s three-year ban of the event brought along Gorman’s ashes, treating them like the equivalent of holy relics. And the mere mention of Gorman triggered both deep emotion over his loss and anger that his killer or killers have yet to be held responsible for their actions.
A carjacking in Littleton prompted a police chase that crossed multiple jurisdictions before culminating in an exchange of gunfire in Denver that left one suspect dead and another injured. Part of northbound Santa Fe Drive, where the shooting took place, remains closed at this writing.
The most prominent anti-marijuana group in the country is touting the absence of language in a key Congressional funding bill that has protected the medical marijuana industry in Colorado and beyond from federal prosecution in recent years. But a cannabis advocate dismisses the suggestion that this development could soon unleash a law-enforcement blitzkrieg against the MMJ biz.
This week, Boulder police found approximately 31 pounds of marijuana in an open space area, not far from where three people were camping in violation of local ordinances. But none of them were hit with charges related to the pot, because officers couldn’t figure out to whom it belonged.
Seth Kienzle disappeared in Boulder on February 19, 2016, just over a month after Ryder Johnson vanished elsewhere in the county. More than a year later, both remain missing. Now, one of Kienzle’s longtime friends, who’s frustrated by the decision of law enforcement to stop searching for him based on a theory she doubts, is sharing his story in the hope of finally solving a mystery that grows deeper and more heartbreaking with each passing day.
June 27 will go down as one of the deadlier days at Colorado water attractions in state history. On that day, three men drowned at different locations within hours of each other, including two rafting deaths and an incident involving a man who fell off a paddle board into an ice cold lake.
Hugh Jackman is reportedly set to play former Colorado Senator Gary Hart in The Frontrunner, a new film by writer-director Jason Reitman. The movie will examine Hart’s 1988 run for the presidency, which imploded after the publication of a photo showing the senator and a model named Donna Rice posing in a friendly manner in front of a boat named the Monkey Business.
Denver’s economy is booming, yet blue-collar and service workers who rent in the Mile High City’s metro area have less money after paying for housing today than they did ten years ago, according to a new study. And the woman who oversaw the report says there’s no indication that the situation will improve anytime soon.
The death yesterday, June 27, of an as-yet-unidentified man during a commercial rafting trip was the second to take place on the Poudre River over a nine-day span. Moreover, the part of the river near where the man died took two lives in 2014 during another especially dangerous period for the Poudre.
Roman Morales originally claimed to have been insane when he fatally strangled two-year-old cousin Donnie Ro’Mello Romero Jr. at a Lakewood apartment in September 2015. But the jury hearing the case ultimately found Morales guilty of first-degree murder under the theory that his bizarre behavior, including claims that he’d somehow been ordered to kill the child, was actually a symptom of psychosis spurred by meth use.
Jamie White is marking her fifth year back on Alice 105.9, the station where she first became one of Denver’s biggest radio stars during the 1990s and early 2000s. But despite all the words she’s spoken, and all the eyebrows she’s raised, during her separate Mile High City stints, she’s seldom gotten the chance to share the complete story of her unusual three-decade broadcasting career. And in the following interview, she tells the tale in her trademark no-holds-barred fashion.
New Mexico author Forrest Fenn considered ending the search for a hidden treasure after the death this month of Grand Junction pastor Paris Wallace, the second Coloradan to perish looking for it over the past eighteen months. But he has now concluded that the hunt should go on in part because of a life he says was saved by the quest.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether Denver’s Masterpiece Cakeshop discriminated against a gay couple, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, by refusing to make them a wedding cake just over a year after the case was rejected by the Colorado Supreme Court. Attorneys for Masterpiece owner Jack Phillips argue that a Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruling in favor of Craig and Mullins violated his rights as an artist not to create works that violate his personal beliefs, and they may find a find that Neil Gorsuch, a Coloradan who ruled in favor of religious freedom in an important case prior to being appointed to the Supreme Court, has sympathy for this view.
Welcome to Denver, the worst place in these United States for people who drive under the speed limit in the fast lane.
Molly Berkenhoff, who was rescued after a terrifying fall at Boulder Canyon on June 21, remains hospitalized a week later as a result of injuries to her spine. And according to her sister, Eileen Mervish, “Molly will have a long road of rehab and recovery ahead of her.”
Only days after the release of a study saying that collision claim frequencies in Colorado are about 3 percent higher overall than would have been expected without marijuana legalization comes a competing report stating that the crash fatality rates haven’t changed significantly. These seemingly contradictory findings leave one marijuana reformer confused but certain that the sky isn’t falling.
Since longtime 9News sports personality Drew Soicher left the station late last year, many news programs on that outlet and other local network affiliates have been de-emphasizing traditional sports coverage despite Denver being one of the country’s most sports-crazy cities. A veteran anchor who left a net for cable says the reason has everything to do with the rise of online sports media at the same time station budgets are getting tighter and tighter.
Neil Gorsuch, who was sworn in as a U.S. Supreme Court justice in April, is selling his Boulder County home. The property is described as a “Horse Lovers Paradise,” and if it sells for anything near the asking price of $1.675 million, it should add considerably to the net worth of Gorsuch, who may already be the wealthiest member of the Supreme Court.
