Representative Betsy Markey’s “yes” vote on the landmark health-care bill this past weekend made her a marked woman, with both the Gun Owners of America and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeting her for defeat in November. And now, Markey’s reportedly asked the Fort Collins Police Department to provide…
“Storm Clouds are Gathering Over the City’s Use of the Wastewater Enterprise Fund,” a June 2009 Westword feature, focused on “how Denver officials are using funds designated for the improvement and maintenance of the city’s storm-water drainage system to pay for various non-storm expenses,” according to a subsequent blog also…
As we noted in a blog yesterday about Frontier Airlines’ wacky new ad (in which a cougar asks, “Who wouldn’t like five more inches?”), Republic Airways Holdings is in the process of deciding if it should change the name of its recent acquisition. Frontier pilot Janet Vaughn-Elliott says “no” –…
With the sentencing of prominent restaurant owner Dan Tang this coming Wednesday, March 31, it seemed like the long, strange tale of Operation Fortune Cookie would finally be coming to an end. What started more than two and a half years ago as a vague police tip blossomed into the…
This past Monday, when Westword started making calls about a lawsuit that had just been filed by two former North Metro Task Force members alleging they faced retaliation for speaking out about corruption that occurred in Operation Fortune Cookie, a massive indoor weed bust, the case was so new that…
Yesterday, we told you that Balloon Boy dad Richard Heene had been given permission to serve the remainder of his ninety-day sentence for attempting to influence a public servant (by insisting that his young son Falcon was in an “experimental craft” floating over Northern Colorado) at home. Sounds cushy, but…
“A Violent Disagreement,” Letters, March 4 Free and Easy In response to a letter published a couple of weeks ago about who reads Westword, well, a lot of well-educated people read Westword. I love Westword. This paper shows just how open and relaxed we are in the Denver area. I…
For A.K. Barnett-Hart, the road from playing violin at Boulder’s Fairview High to fielding questions from the government’s Financial Crisis Commission didn’t turn on some magical epiphany. Instead, it turned where most roads do during freshman year: on a pulsing desire to hang out. “Everyone I knew was taking it,”…
For Darrent Williams, New Year’s Eve 2006 started with a football game. After a disappointing loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Denver Broncos cornerback and five of his friends from his home town of Fort Worth, Texas, headed to a nightclub called Safari, near Tenth Avenue and Broadway. They…
Just a week before prominent Thornton restaurateur Dan Tang is set to be sentenced for his part in the largest indoor marijuana bust in state history, the lead investigator on the case and a colleague have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that they faced retaliation from their superiors for reporting…
Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was riding in the back seat of a white Hummer limousine in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2007 with five of his best friends from Texas, fellow player Javon Walker and several women they’d met earlier at a nightclub. At about 2:15 a.m.,…
When you’ve spent your time since the early days of the Reagan years in a cell smaller than some people’s closets, progress tends to get measured in small, small increments rather than sweeping events. But Thomas Silverstein, America’s most isolated federal prisoner, got some momentous news today. His lawsuit challenging…
How did Denver police go about charging Willie Clark with the 2007 murder of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams? By using witnesses’ own criminal charges as a “vice grip” that convinced them to tell the cops what they knew about the killing, as explained in this week’s feature, “In the Hunt…
It seems like only yesterday that a silver balloon floating across Colorado caused a nation to stop — and celebrities to tweet — about Richard Heene and his young son Falcon, who reacted to the publicity his non-flight generated by vomiting on the Today show. And now? Richard, who pleaded…
You can always count on SAFER head Mason Tvert to defend the honor of marijuana. Note that he’s previously praised a study showing teen toking is on the rise but binge drinking is falling and advocated a boycott of Starbucks, allegedly because the coffee titan supports the anti-pot Colorado Drug…
Bet a trio of blogs about Denver would brighten your day… Bronco Talk’s Ian Henson interprets comments made about Brandon Marshall by Seahawks coach Pete Carroll as evidence that Seattle has been “speaking about a contract with Marshall.” Is the end of his orange era in sight? At Colorado Pols,…
Marijuana is a lot easier to steal once it’s been cultivated and packaged. So perhaps it’s an indication of how good the security systems are at Colorado Springs dispensaries that early this morning, three goons invaded a home in the city’s Sand Creek subdivision and stole an unknown number of…
Those of you still struggling with the trauma of having to dissect frogs during high school should thank the heavens above that you didn’t attend Alpine Elementary School in Longmont. Why? Because, according to Channel 4, fifth graders who took part in a demonstration about human circulation back in December…
Sarah Palin is a politician (or whatever she is these days) who loves to kick ass and take names. Names belonging to the likes of Betsy Markey (already targeted by the Gun Owners of America) and John Salazar, whose “yes” votes on the health-care package have got the SarahCuda ready…
At first glance, the sign above might look like it is identifying the Denver headquarters of the Ass Stance League. Who knew that our fair city had an association devoted to exploring the many different viewpoints on ass? However, after a nearly year-long investigation, the easily vandalized sign appears instead…
Yesterday in this space, Colorado Republican Party chieftain Dick Wadhams veered from ripping that “monstrosity” of a health-care bill to negatively critiquing Democratic candidates he sees as vulnerable. Among them: Denver mayor and gubernatorial hopeful John Hickenlooper — or, as Wadhams insists on referring to him as a way of…
Giving away a home in Vail has proven to be harder than Steve Michonski expected. Michonski is a board member for The Vail Academy, as well as director of the home raffle, which is intended to raise funds for the school. But while a press release touts the winners of…
