Public Service Company of Colorado responds to Cabin Creek charges

Just over an hour ago, we told you about a federal grand jury indictment leveled against Xcel Energy, Public Service Company of Colorado, RPI Coating and two individuals over an October 2007 incident at Cabin Creek Hydro Plant near Georgetown in which five workers died. Since then, Public Service Company…

Why Denver beats Indianapolis in Frontier sweepstakes

Republic Airways chief executive Bryan Bedford is in town again today, meeting with employees of Frontier Airlines, which Republic purchased after unexpectedly besting Southwest Airlines at auction. He’s also been chatting with city officials who are understandably desperate to convince Republic to keep Frontier’s operations base here, as opposed to…

Yesterday’s climate-legislation rally not so spontaneous

Arguments continue about just how grassroots protests against healthcare reform like a recent shoutfest at an Ed Perlmutter event really are. But such displays of disaffection are positively organic in comparison with the rally about climate legislation that took place yesterday in Greeley. The Greeley Tribune reports that hundreds of…

Firefighters extinguish the Jay Cutler jersey-burning party

There’s always some authority figure just waiting to crush a brilliant plan…. The folks at Wrigley’s Chicago Bar & Grille, at 18200 W. Colfax Avenue in Golden, wanted to mark Jay Cutler’s return to Denver for a preseason game this weekend against the Broncos with his new team, the Chicago…

Hurry! The Sniagrab line has started forming!

No one can accuse us at Westword of not doing old-fashioned, shoe-leather reporting. Moments ago, I left our offices and walked across the street to the Broadway Sports Authority — once known to one and all as the Gart Sports Palace — to check out the first tent set up…

Denver Blogs: Up they go

Our daily roping of wild Denver blogs. Got any good ones corralled? Photographic evidence that development trudges on in Denver. (Denver Infill) Who will save our national parks? (5280) A happy birthday to Denver’s best Broncos blog. (Mile High Report)…

Zero progress evident in grocery-worker negotiations

In early May, it looked like a strike against King Soopers, Safeway and Albertsons by union employees was a real possibility. Since then, however, the situation has dragged out and out and out, with continued extensions creating little pressure on either side to get something done. Earlier this month, the…

How to avoid losing your job through social media

The social media world was abuzz yesterday after a survey commissioned by CareerBuilder.com reported that 45 percent of HR professionals are looking at your social media profiles before deciding to hire you. Well, duh. We’ve been hearing reports of people fired, censured or chastised for the stupid shit they post…

Southwest still shopping after losing Frontier

All signs pointed to Southwest Airlines purchasing Frontier — but despite Southwest CEO Gary Kelly’s optimistic projections in the days before an auction for the Denver-based carrier, a breakdown in labor talks with Frontier pilots presaged an unlikely victory by Republic Airways Holdings. Since then, Southwest has attempted to limit…

Tasteless head games at A Taste of Colorado

Colleen Don Dero got a taste of Colorado recently, but she didn’t like it much. Several decades ago, the Colorado native moved to Phoenix, where she runs a hat and T-shirt company called It’s All About the Head. The apparel features the company’s name as a slogan alongside a mug…

Medical marijuana isn’t just for big cities anymore

The lack of state regulation and oversight of medical marijuana dispensaries, which spurred a raucous Colorado Department of Health hearing last month, has Durango Police Chief David Felice worried. He tells the Durango Herald News that he and his colleagues across Colorado are e-mailing each other frequently with ideas about…

Carmelo Anthony and business manager not clowning around

Larry Harmon, once one of Carmelo Anthony’s key financial advisors, shares the same name as the late actor who portrayed Bozo the Clown. But neither he nor his client are laughing now. Earlier this week, Melo sued Harmon and a slew of others, alleging that they stole $2 million from…

Qwest Wireless sets a death date

Former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio received good news when he learned that the U.S. Justice Department had decided against appealing the reduction of his original six-year jail sentence for insider-trading violations. But many Qwest Wireless customers will probably be less excited upon leraning they’ve got to switch their service by…

Lockheed’s spin on impending layoffs at Jeffco facility

Lockheed Martin Space Systems’ Waterton Canyon facility has served as a major economic engine for southern Jefferson County for decades, and it will no doubt continue to do so — but its horsepower is due for a reduction. The firm plans to cut 800 jobs by the end of the…

Three possible futures for Denver International Airport

Republic Airways Holdings’ victory over Dallas-based Southwest Airlines in the Frontier sweepstakes raises more questions than it answers, as Dallas Morning News airline blogger Eric Torbenson makes clear in “What Will Denver Look Like in Two Years?,” an analysis published earlier today. In Torbenson’s view, United Airlines may not survive…

The risks of Republic Airways Holdings’ Frontier purchase

A Wall Street Journal article published in the wake of Republic Airways Holdings’ surprising victory over Southwest in the Frontier Airlines sweepstakes may temper the enthusiasm with which most locals viewed this unexpected turn. “Commuter Airline Aims Higher,” written by Susan Carey, calls Republic’s so-called “acquisition spree” risky and points…

Boulder housing market defies gravity

Forget about finding a bargain house in Boulder. As housing sales and prices continue to plummet nationwide, those in the community that puts the exclamation point in 3OH!3 remain unusually robust — so much so that Business Week has just named Boulder the strongest housing market in these United States…

Exxon-Mobil: admitted bird killers

Exxon-Mobil had a bad day in court in Denver yesterday. The firm pleaded guilty to killing migratory birds in five states, including Colorado. The size of the fine and community-service payments Exxon-Mobil has agreed to pony up — $600,000 — is, to use an avian reference, chicken feed given the…

Southwest post-game remarks about losing Frontier

Moments ago, Southwest Airlines released a statement about what everyone else had already figured out — that Southwest’s massive bid for Frontier Airlines had fallen apart at the last minute over an inability to get Frontier pilots to concede on seniority-oriented contract issues. In the document, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly,…