Westword Cafe critic Jason Sheehan brought home the bacon this month when he took first place in the Newspaper Restaurant Review or Critique category of the James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards, which honor the country’s best food writers. But that wasn’t Westword’s only national win. Last week, staff writer Julie…
Colorado’s Republicans keep insisting that Karl Rove, chief policy advisor to President George W. Bush, had nothing — absolutely nothing! — to do with that surprise redistricting proposal at the General Assembly, a move that conveniently tossed Mike Feeley right out of the seventh, which he almost took from Bob…
The case of Jayson Blair, a New York Times reporter who resigned after higher-ups discovered that an enormous percentage of his articles bore only a passing resemblance to reality, is a genuine rarity — a journalism-ethics tale so startling that it’s crossed over into popular culture. On one evening last…
It’s a very long road from the tricky little S-curve at Denver Indoor Kart Racing to the famous Tobacconist’s Corner at the Grand Prix of Monaco. But if passion were the only fuel you needed to make the trip, young Chris Clark would already be there — shrieking through the…
The Skyline’s the Limit The kids are all right: Regarding Michael Paglia’s “Sunset for Skyline,” in the May 15 issue: I am one of the kids who used to hang out at Skyline Park, and to hear the language used by city officials and the media regarding the kids who…
At first Randall Zimmerman wasn’t sure whether he’d just awoken from a nightmare or if he was waking up to one. What happened the night before didn’t seem real. Couldn’t possibly be real. His name and face had been flashed on every news station in Denver like he was some…
The state has finally burned its little black book of accused child abusers. For more than thirty years, the Colorado Department of Human Services has been keeping a list of people who may have abused or neglected a child. Not people who were convicted or even charged with committing such…
Joe Phillips — that’s the Commish to you — lights a smoke and surveys the old, raised baseball diamond at Morey Middle School. He’s getting a little impatient. It’s past two in the afternoon and the only Denver Kickball Coalition booters present are Sweet Baby Jesse and Noel, aka the…
You are an RTD bus driver, and like all of RTD’s 2,397 employees, you have recently completed a federally mandated anti-terrorism training course titled “System Security Awareness for Transit Employees.” Now you are pulling a graveyard shift on route 15, the notorious, endless traverse of East Colfax Avenue. You see…
1. As Racines prepares to leave its home of nineteen years at 850 Bannock Street next month, the Quizmeister is rummaging through the Tupperware of memories — as are the restaurant’s fixtures. Co-owners David Racine and Lee Goodfriend, for example, met while: A. Debating food quality (and lack thereof) on…
When did John Hickenlooper change from “the goofy guy across the street” to a mayoral frontrunner? Through an incredibly scientific survey of Kenny Be’s cartoon archives, we were able to trace the transformation back to sometime in 1998 — ten years after the unemployed geologist and five friends opened the…
The Sunday, May 4, Denver Post was first-rate from top to bottom. The front page was anchored by “The Pariah,” a complex and thoughtful story by reporter Electra Draper that examined the case of a convicted sex offender who’s completed his sentence and the New Mexico community that wants him…
“We are a sports, entertainment and culture company,” said Kroenke Executive Vice President David Ehrlich, who announced details of a ten-year contract. Kroenke Sports Enterprises also owns the Colorado Avalanche, the Denver Nuggets and the Pepsi Center. — from a story describing Kroenke’s recent deal with the Colorado Ballet, Rocky…
Gat’s Life Shoot to thrill: Regarding David Holthouse’s “Justin Got His Gat,” in the May 8 issue: This kid got what he deserved and in no way should he receive any sympathy. This has nothing to do with him glorifying some media-hyped rap culture, but with lost white kids who…
Somewhere at the bottom of Grasmere Lake is an Egyptian-made assault rifle with an empty clip. It was manufactured in Cairo and then shipped to Scottie’s Guns & Militaria on East Colfax Avenue, just a short walk from the elegant Park Hill home where Justin Green grew up and where…
In prison parlance, cellmates are known affectionately as “cellies.” In the initial stages of my incarceration, I had nine cellies in four months. When you walk into a new cell for the first time and meet face to face the man who you are forced to trust your life with,…
It’s spring. The birds are singing, the bees are strumming their little guitars, and in the petition-happy town of Berthoud, the locals are headed for another special election, locked in the throes of what Yogi Berra calls “déjà vu all over again.” For the fourth time in less than three…
1. Maybe-mayor John Hickenlooper revealed that his name is Dutch for: A. Able to leap medium-sized buildings in a single bound. B. Grinder of grains, soaker of hops. C. Hedge hopper. D. Man of many pants. 2. Don Mares’s last name appears in the Spanish phrase “Estaba sudando a mares”…
One was basically booted out of city government; the other got out while the getting was good. But the last place former parking czar John Oglesby and former mayoral mouthpiece Andrew Hudson expected to cross paths last week was in Washington, D.C. Hudson was there on assignment for his new…
On March 31, Denver observed an official city holiday in memory of Cesar Chavez, the late labor organizer who devoted his life to helping migrant workers. Yet the only allusion to the celebration in that day’s Rocky Mountain News was a modest-sized blurb in “Extra!,” one of the “channels” that…
Make the odds eight to five that the only decent team playing at the Pepsi Center next season will be armed with those funny sticks with the nets on the end. In its first season, the Colorado Mammoth proved to be a tough-as-nails contender in the indoor lacrosse wars, and…
Speed Demons Hit or meth: Regarding David Holthouse’s “Confessions of an Ephedrine Eater,” in the April 24 issue: Ephedrine is the key ingredient in meth. I used to take it all the time before I had kids. It has some really nasty adverse effects. Sure, it is great to get…
