Ex-client sues lawyer Chad Hemmat over “toothless cooties” case

The law firm of Anderson, Hemmat & Levine doesn’t keep its light under a bushel. Commercials and billboards across the Front Range boast of how hard the personal-injury firm fights for its clients. The AHL website proclaims that “Justice for Victims Begins Here.” But a disgruntled former client is seeking…

Video: The art and mischief of Justin Simoni

Denver gonzo athlete Justin Simoni’s singular achievement this summer in the Tour Divide, a 2745-mile mountain bike race that crosses the Continental Divide 39 times between Canada and Mexico, is the focus of this week’s feature, “Going to Extremes.” But cycling is only one of Simoni’s multiple and oddly linked…

Albus Brooks leads a trip to Nairobi, Denver’s sister city

Denver has ten sister cities, each with its own customs and priorities. Among them is Nairobi, Kenya. City Councilman Albus Brooks, so much a fan of Kenya that he named his daughter after the nation, recently led a trip of Manual High School students (and one teacher), plus private sector…

Galvanize announces [i4c] winners at Summit

Schmoozing and boozing — that was the scene at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House last Friday just before the ten finalists of Galvanize’s [i4c] campaign, a city-specific initiative to grow socially and environmentally impactful startups through capital, community and curriculum, would be judged Shark Tank-style, with just three winning the…

Video: Tiny documents big dreams in mini-house movement

For a lesson in living large, look no further than Peyton Manning’s new Cherry Hills Village digs, a modest 16,000-square-feet pied-à-terre, snapped up for a mere $4.57 million. But a new documentary from a Colorado couple, charting their quest to build their dream home — all 125 square feet of…

Aspen real estate dips despite $49 million sale of Hala ranch

One handy gauge for checking on the relative financial health of the world’s one-percenters can be found right here in Colorado — well, okay, the other Colorado, the one populated with champagne wishes and caviar dreams. And the latest figures for real estate transactions in the Gucci-padded wonderland known as…

Video: Janitors march, vote to authorize potential strike in LoDo

Chants of “Si se puede!” and “Justice!” filled the air yesterday as downtown janitors marched on 16th Street for better conditions and voted to authorize a potential strike. The contract for almost 2,300 Denver janitors will expire at the end of June, and after four weeks of negotiation with contractors…

Echo Mountain: Denver’s closest ski resort up for sale

After one of the mildest winters in recent years, leaving some areas of the parched high country with less than 10 percent of normal snowpack — not to mention forests ravaged by drought and pine beetles, ready to explode into wildfires like the rapidly expanding High Park blaze — this…

Jared Polis, zombie killer, dispatches undead oil shale subsidies

Compared to the billions-a-day standard flow rate of tax dollars pouring into and out of Washington, $25 million amounts to scarcely more than chump change. But the passage of an amendment by Congressman Jared Polis yesterday, cutting that amount in oil shale subsidies, is a remarkable break with what adds…

Coal’s future so bleak even energy execs starting to admit it

About 40 percent of the nation’s electrical grid depends on coal for fuel. But facing increasing state and federal regulations that are shutting down many coal plants, a battery of pesky scientists moaning about climate change, increasing competition from ever-cheaper natural gas and renewables, and other threats, even power industry…

Groupon project enlists hikers to hunt for elusive pika

Known as a high-strung, high-country lagomorph that’s particularly susceptible to dramatic temperature shifts, the American pika has been described as a kind of “canary in the coal mine” for gauging the impact of climate change on alpine species. And an unusual collaboration between a local environmental group and Groupon’s philanthropic…