State officials have a new plan for improving Colorado’s child-welfare system, one that will beef up training for caseworkers, make data about child deaths more readily available, and employ a “common practice approach” in all 64 counties — an idea that hasn’t gotten far in the past, as explained in…
Back in 2007, Luke Turf wrote a cover story on Life Skills, the last-chance high school in the Golden Triangle. The piece started out with why nineteen-year-old Justin Martinez had missed school again: He had to go to Pueblo to see his father. In the morgue. Justin went on to…
On Saturday night, Westword introduced the eighth class of MasterMinds — artistic entrepreneurs who are changing the cultural landscape. Since we started the program, we have given more than $130,000 in grants to artists and arts organizations. The latest winners (click on the link for profiles): Minor Disturbance; Andrew Orvedahl;…
The rumor going around the medical cannabis community that all seed sales have been suspended is not true. However, state Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division officials admit that they aren’t quite sure how to regulate that part of the industry…
It’s Presidents Day weekend, one of the busiest times on Colorado slopes — snow or no snow — and so also one of the busiest times on I-70, where anticipated traffic put the brakes on the Colorado Department of Transportation’s pace car concept. The jam inspired this addition to our…
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the still-unsolved murder of Ken Gorman, a man many consider the forefather of Colorado cannabis activism. Gorman, a Denver native, became active in the marijuana community in the early 1990s and quickly became known for his open advertising for marijuana on Westword’s back page…
The Boulder City Council is considering a proposal to reduce penalties for sixty minor legal violations such as littering and throwing rocks. Under ordinance 7831, first and second time offenders would no longer face jail time, though their rights to a trial by jury would be changed to a single…
A former prisoner, now a shareholder in the country’s largest for-profit prison operator, has won a battle with company management over his campaign to hold the Corrections Corporation of America accountable for reducing sexual abuse at its facilities. The Securities and Exchange Commission has ruled that the shareholder resolution, calling…
Denver blog posts think we should all have Presidents Day off. The Colorado Independent’s Teddy Wilson on Mike Coffman and Doug Lamborn joining a hundred colleagues to co-sponsor a measure making English the official U.S. language. Qué? 5280’s Jeff Panis shares the mag’s photo of the week. Denver Egotist shares…
Yes, as Douglas Bruce told the old the Denver Post this week after he was sentenced for felony tax evasion, “There have been other political prisoners.” But, Doug, you are not one of them…
Our post about the 9th Circuit Court declaring Proposition 8, California’s gay marriage ban, unconstitutional, focused on the Colorado case that spelled doom for the state’s anti-gay Amendment 2 circa the ’90s. But could this ruling cause problems for measures like the civil unions bill progressing in the Colorado Senate?…
The Dougherty gang — Lee Grace, Dylan and Ryan — may have precipitated a nationwide manhunt prior to their car-flipping arrest in southern Colorado last August. But thanks to a series of plea deals, they may not spend the bulk of their lives in jail — good news for those…
A Good Samaritan bill intended to prevent those who call 911 when a friend is overdosing from being arrested for doing so passed the Colorado Senate despite very opposition at the committee level from a slew of law-enforcement groups. The antipathy of such organizations to the proposal didn’t exactly shock…
When I spoke to attorney David Lane about the Adams County’s $20,000 payout to prisoner Mario Ybarra, who was thumped by deputies after he gave them grief over a troublesome fingerprint device, I asked about his demand for every document related to excessive force complaints against Denver cops and sheriff’s…
A bill to increase Colorado’s film incentives has won its first victory, passing the House Economic and Business Development Committee by a vote of nine to three. Though the victory celebration came up short when compared to the exhausted jubilation at the end of the best movie ever, Rocky, the…
Certain stories have Fox News written all over them — like, for instance, the tale of James Harper, a small town Colorado student who quit his high school choir after discovering that one of the lines he was asked to warble translates to “There is no truth but Allah.” Number…
February has seen a virtual meme explosion on area campuses, with pages devoted to CU-Boulder, Colorado State University, the University of Northern Colorado and Colorado College popping up. Last (for now) but not least, we bring you highlights from the DU meme Facebook page, launched just last week. The comic…
Disgraced ex-Illinois governor Rod “Blago” Blagojevich isn’t the only infamous convict likely to be Colorado bound. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, dubbed the Underwear Bomber after a failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airplane on Christmas 2009, has been sentenced to life in prison, and he’s widely expected to do his…
Last December, we reported about convicted Illinois governor Rod “Blago” Blagojevich’s desire to complete his sentence at FCI Englewood, a facility Forbes called one of the best places to serve time a few years back. Now, a U.S. District judge has granted his wish. But is the Englewood facility really…
This dispensary has closed. My visit to Tea Pot Lounge started out normally enough. I walked in to the funky bungalow, checked out some “Down to Blaze” T-shirts, then sauntered back to the receptionist. But after checking my ID and red card, she looked at me oddly and said, “I…
Earlier today, the joint foreclosure committee featuring members of Occupy Denver and the Colorado Progressive Coalition successfully stopped a local foreclosure auction at the Wellington Webb Building — for fifteen minutes. And while the group’s success cannot be judged an overwhelming success, it is the first step in its plan…
The turmoil continues at the Ricardo Flores Magon Academy charter school in Westminster, the subject of our recent cover story, “A Hard Line.” Facing two lawsuits and many more complaints, the school has now (at least temporarily) lost its leader, about whom many of the complaints were made. While principal…
