A new study estimates that it will take Denver millennials sixteen years to save enough to cover a down payment on a home. The reasons go beyond how difficult it is for young people to make a living in Denver despite the strong economy to include the failure of wages to keep up with housing costs, poor saving habits and misunderstandings about how much money it will take to purchase a house or condominium right now.
Taylor Swift is expected to appear in Denver on or around August 7, but not for a concert. Instead, she will likely be testifying in a lawsuit filed against her by David Mueller, a former Denver DJ who accuses her of getting him fired from radio station KYGO by falsely claiming that he’d grabbed her butt during a meet-and-greet photo session prior to a June 2013 concert at the Pepsi Center. Swift has countersued, maintaining that Mueller “reached up under my skirt and grabbed my ass right when I was having to pose for a photo.”
After last month’s abrupt cancellation of the morning show starring Larry Ulibarri and Kathie J, KS 107.5 has replaced the audience favorites with the crew of Tony V, Cedes and DJ Chonz. It’s a surprising team-up, given that both Cedes and Chonz left the station last year.
Sportswriter Terry Frei’s departure from the Denver Post following a tweet in which he announced that he was “very uncomfortable with a Japanese driver winning the Indianapolis 500 during Memorial Day weekend” made for a notably ugly exit. But it’s hardly unprecedented. Indeed, Westword has chronicled a number of bizarre firings or resignations at the paper over the years, involving plagiarism charges, gambling allegations and a previous Twitter scandal spurred by an uncomfortable come-on to a female hockey fan.
A new study maintains that Colorado has the third most serious drug problem of any state, with the highest percentage of both teenage and adult drug users in the country. However, the findings contradict a recent Colorado report showing that teen marijuana use here is actually below the national average. And the adult use statistics don’t take into account the fact that cannabis consumption is legal for those over age 21 in Colorado.
Representative Ed Perlmutter is currently the biggest name to have announced that he’s running for Colorado in 2018, and the Democrat, who’s represented the state’s 7th Congressional District since 2007, emphasizes his experience and willingness to reach across the aisle in a wide-ranging interview.
The conclusion of an amended autopsy report for John Patrick Walter, who died in Fremont County jail on April 20, 2014, has been changed from “undetermined” to acute withdrawal from benzodiazepine, a prescribed medication that was withheld from him by staff during his incarceration. The findings echo claims made in a lawsuit filed about Walter’s death, and Erik Heipt, an attorney for his family, feels the results would have been known years ago if not for obstruction by Fremont County officials.
Longtime Denver Post sports sportswriter Terry Frei has been disappeared from the paper following a tweet in which he announced that he was “very uncomfortable with a Japanese driver winning the Indianapolis 500 during Memorial Day weekend.” But while Frei’s ouster is embarrassing, the incident could also prove beneficial to the Post’s bottom line during a time of financial stress epitomized by its decision to move its newsroom out of Denver.
Christian Gulzow, the man arrested for the fatal stabbing of Brian Lucero in the parking lot of Torchy’s Tacos on May 23, is described by two members of The Undertakers, a Denver metal band with which he was once associated, as obsessed with demons, weapons and musical fame that was beyond his ability. They also say that after ending their friendship with him, Gulzow reacted by unleashing violent warnings that are even more disturbing given the current allegations against him.
The organizers of the Denver 420 Rally are preparing to formally appeal a decision by the City of Denver to ban them from applying for any event permit during the next three years and rescind the priority status that’s allowed them to regularly stage the annual gathering at Civic Center Park on or around April 20. They say that while some minor errors were made at this year’s edition, Denver officials have either greatly exaggerated or completely invented violations in a conscious effort to destroy an enormously popular, tourist-friendly festival that appears to embarrass them.
Brian Lucero has been identified as the victim of a fatal stabbing in the parking lot of Torchy’s Tacos, near the intersection of 11th and Broadway early on May 23. His alleged killer, Christian Gulzow, a Denver-area death metal singer with a substantial criminal record, has been arrested in the death of Lucero, a transient whose fate is evidence of the dangers regularly faced by members of the homeless community.
The man identified by Denver police as Christian Gulzow, the suspect in the fatal stabbing of Brian Lucero in the Torchy’s Tacos parking lot early on May 23, is known online as both Christöf Gülzow and Nürüm Bellüm, a death metal vocalist. His various social media platforms feature multiple images of him with white makeup and gloves with long tips of the sort allegedly worn by the killer in the case, and a video on his Instagram account includes violent and bloody knifings.
Christian Gulzow, 36, has been arrested in what the Denver Police Department has now confirmed was a homicide that took place early this morning near the Torchy’s Tacos branch at 1085 Broadway. According to the probable cause statement, accessible below, Gulzow wore white, clown-like make-up and was wearing gloves that recall those associated with fictional ghoul Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street horror-film series.
Organizers of the Denver 420 Rally have been prohibited from applying for a Denver event permit for three years as a result of complaints about security and clean-up issues at this year’s edition, and their priority status with the city was rescinded. That pleases Colorado Christian University educator Jeff Hunt, the former marijuana user who spearheaded a petition to ban it.
Even as Attorney General Jeff Sessions continues to say terrible things about marijuana and hint at a potential crackdown against states that have approved recreational or medical sales, assorted members of Congress have introduced legislation aimed at changing the way the federal government deals with the plant, including its designation as a Schedule I narcotic by the Drug Enforcement Administration. But there’s disagreement among national leaders of the cannabis community about whether it would be preferable to shift marijuana to Schedule II or Schedule III, or to de-schedule it entirely.
Aaron Thompson, who was convicted in 2009 of child abuse resulting in death and more in regard to his daughter, Aaroné, despite the fact that her body was never found, has lost his latest attempt to gain his freedom. The Colorado Court of Appeals narrowly rejected his argument that he’d been unconstitutionally prevented from using the lawyer of his choice.
The 2017 County Health Rankings for Colorado vividly show the relationship between health and money. The Colorado counties that scored best in the report tend to be the most affluent, while the ones that finished toward the bottom of the roster are typically poorer. But there are exceptions to this rule, as witnessed by Denver winding up near the back of the pack when it comes to the CHR’s two main metrics.
Stacy Rewitzer and Jo Roby, a pair of flight attendants for Frontier Airlines, are at the center of a federal complaint that accuses the carrier of discriminating against them and their colleagues by not providing adequate accommodations related to pregnancy and breastfeeding, with one plaintiff maintaining that a representative of the carrier told her she’d have to wait approximately ten hours in order to express breast milk. The charges arrive one year after the filing of a similar lawsuit on behalf of four Frontier pilots.
Today’s departure of Tom Green from the CW2 morning show Daybreak and the hubbub over the awkward nature of CBS4 weather man Ed Greene’s slow retirement announcement are the latest reminders that longtime personalities at news stations in Denver and across the country are increasingly considered to be expendable. Falling revenues and shrinking audiences have resulted in cost-cutting that regularly leads to the vanishing of big local stars, as exemplified by news of 9News sportscaster Drew Soicher’s disappearance late last year and station anchor Adele Arakawa’s impending exit in June. Which leads to the inevitable question: Who’s next?
Shortly after the Denver Post revealed plans to move its newsroom out of Denver to Adams County, the newspaper is ending and rebranding Denver Post TV, an ambitious effort to regularly create television-news style segments intended to compliment and enhance its reporting. The Post has also parted company with Molly Hughes, a former CBS4 anchor hired in 2014 as the public face of the project. But editor Lee Ann Colacioppo stresses that the move shouldn’t be interpreted as the Post abandoning the visual side of news.
Indivisible Denver, a collective formed to oppose the agenda of President Donald Trump and hold local officials accountable, has undergone a division of its own. Co-founder Eric Shumake, who recently told us about weekly protests against Senator Cory Gardner dubbed the Sunday Gardner, has split off from numerous ID members who are now part of a separate outfit.
The Denver Police Department has launched a series of videos intended to reveal myths about sex offenders in the Mile High City. Detective David Bourgeois, who stars in the clips, provided Westword with additional details about myths exposed in the first installment, on view below, and previews future episodes, revealing, for example, that not every registered sex offender can be found online.
