A recent spate of tire-slashing incidents in the Stapleton area prompted someone to start a GoFundMe campaign to (somehow) help reimburse those affected by the vandalism. While this seems nice on the surface — and we’re sure the initial impetus was positive — it also seems remarkably insular and insensitive, even coming from Stapleton.
No offense to the City of Lights, but Denver is just a lot less dense.
On February 3, 2016, Colorado State University football coach Mike Bobo tweeted excitedly about offensive lineman Nicho Garcia formally committing to play for the CSU Rams. Exactly one year later, we’re guessing Bobo’s enthusiasm has been tempered. Garcia has yet to play a single game for the Rams, and his chances of doing so in 2017 took one helluva blow after he was arrested for allegedly punching out a guy who had the unmitigated gall to ask that Garcia stop urinating next to him outside their apartment complex.
Coloradoans are known for our commitment to sustainable practices and organic products, but this California CBD company has many of us beat. OJAI Energetics is the first company in the hemp space to get certification as a B Corporation — a designation for companies who are leaders of global movements and use business as a force for good.
This week, the Colorado Department of Human Services, in conjunction with Governor John Hickenlooper’s office, formally requested that the General Assembly allocate more than $6 million annually from the state’s marijuana-tax cash fund for a new program that would offer help to chronic drug users as opposed to criminalizing them. Art Way, senior director for criminal-justice reform for the national Drug Policy Alliance and director of the organization’s Colorado chapter, which worked closely with state agencies in crafting the proposal (it’s on view below), sees the impact of this approach as potentially revolutionary for those struggling with addictions to heroin and other heavy narcotics.
Recently released stats from Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division for the first six months of 2016 reflect what we already knew: cannabis cultivation and sales are on the rise.
The Denver Boot makes a guest appearance on Jeopardy.
The confirmation of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General in the administration of President Donald Trump was touted by Senator Cory Gardner, who voted to confirm the former Alabama senator shortly after doing likewise for new Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a donor, along with her family, of nearly $50,000 to the Colorado Republican. But the news isn’t being cheered by Colorado’s other senator, Democrat Michael Bennet, or marijuana-industry representatives fearful that Sessions, a vocal pot hater, will soon order a crackdown on cannabis sales in Colorado and beyond.
Jason Flores-Williams has added some literary flair to a case in which he’s defending clients who were arrested at an inauguration protest in Washington, D.C., on January 20 and charged with felonies under the federal riot act.
At the second meeting of Denver’s social consumption advisory council, on February 8, members addressed multiple issues, including a few carried over from last month and others that will come up again at the next meeting. Here’s a rundown of the top ten topics.
This week marked the death of legislation that would have allowed cyclists to treat red lights and stop signs as yields at intersections with no oncoming traffic. Because the so-called “Idaho stop” bill failed to escape the state senate’s transportation committee, bike riders who roll past stop signs even when the route’s clear will be breaking a state law that’s already filled with plenty of oddities and quirks.
Shortly after the passage of Initiative 300, Colorado’s Liquor Enforcement Division adopted a new rule that prohibits any business with a liquor license from also applying for a social-consumption license. On February 3, five plaintiffs filed suit against the state over that rule.
During a court hearing marked by tears and frustration, Brooke Higgins, now seventeen, was sentenced following guilty pleas in adult court for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and in juvenile court for solicitation to commit murder as part of what the 18th Judicial District DA’s office calls “a plot against Mountain Vista High School” circa December 2015. As district attorney George Brauchler told us in our previous coverage, on view below, this unusual combination of juvenile and adult charges was pressed so that prosecutors could publicly release their evidence against Higgins, and they’ve done so. Her arrest affidavit, also shared here, details what Brauchler and company see as practical plans for a Columbine-style attack and what Higgins’s family and supporters view as the dark fantasies of a troubled, drug-abusing teen who never meant to hurt anyone.
Yesterday, Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s controversial pick to head the Department of Education, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate only after Vice President Mike Pence cast a tie-breaking vote. As such, every “yea” was key, including the one delivered by Colorado Republican Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, a persistent cheerleader for the selection who just happens to have benefited from the newly minted Education secretary’s largesse.
Just a year ago, Denver was still basking in the glow of winning the Super Bowl when the Mile High City was named the “Best Place to Live in the USA” by U.S. News & World Report. Every year, the publication analyzes 100 metro areas in the United States to…
Sage is a very versatile strain, perfect for smoking while listening to Anderson .Paak.
Rebekah Joy Wallin has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the disturbing March 2016 death of Bethannie Johnson, the three-year-old niece of her live-in girlfriend, Shanna Gossett. When asked by the judge in the case why she had decided to enter this plea, Wallin gave a simple answer. “Because I’m guilty,” she said.
CW2’s Tom Green has announced that he’s leaving Daybreak, the morning-news program he’s anchored for fifteen years, at the end of May. And he’s doing it on his own quirky terms.
In states like Colorado, where the recreational use of cannabis is legal, the population is divided into two categories: those who use marijuana, and everyone else. LucidMood is hoping to bridge that gap with a product it bills a “cannabis for the rest of us.”
The February 1 press conference about the arrest of Joshua Cummings in the execution-style killing of RTD security officer Scott Von Lanken took place on an upper level of the Denver Police Department administration building. Afterward, I rode an elevator toward the ground floor with DPD public-information officer Doug Schepman and another man. As we descended, the man asked, “Do the elevators here always smell like weed?” Schepman laughed. “Some days, it’s worse than others,” he said.
While Uber, Lyft and the A Line continue to take a growing majority of the passenger fares at Denver International Airport, taxi drivers are awaiting a decision from DIA that will dictate who gets the rest.
Interested in getting politically involved? The rallies and protests continue this week, with One Colorado’s statewide tour hitting Denver and a major demonstration set for Saturday, outside Senator Cory Gardner’s office, to support Planned Parenthood.
