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Colorado Wins More 2018 Winter Olympics Medals Than 78 Countries

By Michael Roberts

In the first few days after the start of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, we shared a post headlined “Colorado’s Won More 2018 Winter Olympic Medals Than 81 Countries” to celebrate the achievements of the state’s first two medalists, snowboarders Red Gerard and Arielle Gold. In the days that followed, plenty of other athletes from these parts competed in various disciplines, and while critics expressed disappointment with the performance of the U.S. Olympic team overall, Coloradans still managed to collect ten medals, more than 78 of the nations that took part.

Kratom, Marijuana Can Help People Kick Opiates, Addiction Expert Says

By Michael Roberts

After Denver Environmental Health prohibited sales of kratom for human consumption in the wake of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration alert late last year, advocates for the plant-based pain reliever spoke out, with many saying the product had helped them kick addictions to powerful opioids, including heroin. These testimonials are echoed by Roxanne Gullikson, facility director for Portland, Maine’s Greener Pastures Holisticare, a residential treatment center opening next month that will use kratom in combination with marijuana as part of a formal and comprehensive addiction treatment regimen. To her, Denver’s ban is both unjustified and potentially damaging.

Second Skier Death at Keystone This Season

By Michael Roberts

On the afternoon of Sunday, February 25, a skier died at Keystone, a short time before 47-year-old Gabriel Wright was killed while snowboarding in the backcountry not far from his home in Telluride. The Keystone death is the second this season at the resort, following the fatal accident that took the life of Nathan Enright in December. And the ski area has also been at the center of two other major stories recently shared in this space, involving a controversial negligence ruling and an organ-and-tissue-donation failure after the passing of Jason Taylor, who was killed at Keystone two years ago.

Reader: We Need Better Highways Now!

By Westword Staff

CDOT is proposing at least one fix to a problem known as “The Gap.” The treacherous eighteen-mile stretch of Interstate 25 between Castle Rock and Monument could be expanded to include a toll lane.

Reader: No One’s Blaming the Guns, They’re Blaming Easy Access

By Westword Staff

Debates about guns and access to them continues more than a week after the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left seventeen students and staff dead. And in Colorado, home to the most infamous school shooting in modern history, the debates feel especially personal.

Aurora Mobile Home Park Sues Landlord, Fights Gentrification

By Nora Olabi

Denver Meadows Mobile Home & RV Park residents offered their landlord $20.4 million to buy their community and prevent it from redevelopment. But he refused. Now, residents are suing their landlord for what they allege is retaliation for their years of community organizing to thwart redevelopment. And they’re taking their fight all the way to city hall.

Mothers Against Cory Gardner on Guns: “I’m Terrified”

By Michael Roberts

At 10:30 a.m. today, February 23, members of several Indivisible groups along the urban corridor will be both outside and inside Senator Cory Gardner’s Denver office, at 721 19th Street, to protest what they see as his tone-deafness when it comes to the need for gun legislation of the sort students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida began calling for in the wake of the February 14 shooting there.

Sheriff: Blaming School Killings on Guns Is Like Blaming Burglaries on Locks

By Michael Roberts

The February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida has sparked numerous threats in Colorado, where student arrests and increased security at various facilities have occurred statewide during recent days, as well as plenty of conversation about whether new gun-control laws are needed. Against this backdrop, Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario has stirred controversy aplenty by way of a Facebook video on view here in which he suggests that blaming weapons for such incidents is flat-out nonsensical.

Jeff Murphy Is 6th to Die Seeking Forrest Fenn’s Treasure, Says Ex-Wife of Victim

By Michael Roberts

A Freedom of Information Act request conducted by Montana’s KULR-TV has revealed that Jeff Murphy, who died from a 500 foot fall in Yellowstone National Park last June, had been searching for a $2 million treasure said to have been hidden by New Mexico author Forrest Fenn. As we’ve reported, three Coloradans previously died in this quest during the past two years, making Murphy the fourth person confirmed to have lost his life during a Fenn treasure hunt. But the ex-wife of one victim from the state believes that two additional people have perished to date for what she’s dubbed a hoax, bringing the total to six.

Denver TV Stations’ Desperate Pitches for Stars in DIA Train Voice Contest

By Michael Roberts

After Denver International Airport announced the ten finalists for its new train voice contest on February 12, 104.3 The Fan host Darren “D-Mac” McKee ripped Fox31 anchor Jeremy Hubbard’s candidacy, and his own exclusion from the competition, resulting in a hilarious Twitter war between the pair. And now, with the February 25 deadline for online voting fast approaching, the campaigns for the various local TV (and radio) personalities have gotten increasingly desperate.

Why an Assistant Principal Is Suing Disney Over Pirates of the Caribbean

By Michael Roberts

In a new lawsuit, a Colorado Springs firm claims that the Walt Disney Company stole the concept, characters and even some dialogue for 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and its multiple sequels, including one released earlier this year, from two screenwriters represented by a manager located in the city. Their lawyer says one of the reasons the writers waited so long to file suit is because they were afraid of ruining their careers in the film industry — something that’s now less of a concern for plaintiff A. Lee Alfred II, since he’s currently making his living as an assistant principal.

“Ima Shoot Up Bear Creek:” At Least 5 Post-Parkland Colorado Student Arrests

By Michael Roberts

The number of Colorado students arrested for making threats in the wake of the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida continues to grow. By our count, there have been at least five busts of this type in the state over the past week, including one involving a fifth grader, with three additional incidents leading to increased security measures at other schools. Four of the threats took place in metro Denver, which is known worldwide for the 1999 attack at Columbine High School, whose April 20 anniversary is scheduled to be marked by a national student walk-out.

Neo-Nazi Clash at CSU: University Calls Collusion Claims “Ridiculous”

By Michael Roberts

The Denver General Defense Committee, a progressive group affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World, also known as the Wobblies, has published a fiery account of the clash between members of a white supremacist group and Antifa protesters outside a controversial event on the Colorado State University campus earlier this month. In it, the authors explicitly state that members of the CSU Police Department stood “on the side of the neo-Nazis and fascists” during the confrontation and argue that a video shared here provides evidence to that effect by way of an officer telling a protester afterward, “If you guys need something, let us know.”