When she was sixteen, Aubrey Lloyd ran away from an abusive and dysfunctional home in Colorado Springs. But where she ended up was arguably worse: Lloyd was drugged, raped and then forced to work as a prostitute. On Thursday at the Capitol, she was the last speaker at an afternoon…
Under the newly re-gilted Capitol dome, lawmakers are debating budget cuts and trying to wrestle pork into and out of familiar barrels. It’s unlikely, though, that any of them are losing sleep over one burning issue that’s been a source of constant grumbling in places like Ordway, Sterling, and Buena…
On Valentine’s Day eve, while last-minute lovers were raiding grocery stores for cheap chocolates, plastic-wrapped flowers and prefab love notes, Jordan Garcia raced east on 14th Avenue toward the GEO Aurora ICE Processing Center. “I want to get there before Wade Castle leaves for the day. He’s the guy in…
In December 2010, Karina Sartiaguin Vargas was shot while standing outside Aurora Central High School. Then sixteen, Karina was left paralyzed below the belly button. As we explained in our recent cover story, “Bullet. Proof.,” the teenager eventually began speaking out about gun violence — even testifying before Colorado lawmakers…
Talk about a Mile High-plus example of Broncos pride: Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has temporarily renamed all the 14ers in the state after Denver players. The numbers work out well: The standard NFL roster boasts 53 players — and the number of Colorado 14ers just happens to be 53. That…
The GOP in Colorado wants to bring the Republican National Convention to Denver in 2016 — an interesting move, considering the acute political and social divisions in the state. Colorado, which for many years had settled comfortably into red-state territory, now swings the other way. And today, it’s known more…
An e-mail written by an outspoken sociology professor at Colorado State University-Pueblo, comparing job cuts at the school to the deadly Ludlow Massacre, has prompted university officials to cut off his access to the school’s computer system and accuse him of violating a campus communication policy that prohibit messages intended…
Sinice 2008, Colorado voters have repeatedly rejected personhood ballot measures, each time by wide margins. But another version of the proposal has already been certified for the November 2014 election — and a group of anti-abortion legislators have just introduced a bill, HB 14-1133, with very similar language. A pro-choice…
Immigrant Jeanette Vizguerra, who has been fighting her deportation case for five years, announced a victory today: Federal immigration authorities have granted her a stay of deportation for six months. The mother of four, who is a vocal activist for immigration reform, will be allowed to remain in the United…
The Colorado Consumer Health Initiative’s Adam Fox has kept us up to date on pro-Obamacare ads aimed at young, uninsured people — a campaign doubters have alternately derided as “brosurance” and “hosurance” due images of dudes doing keg stands and a babe eager to take advantage of free birth control…
Update: A proposed ballot initiative that would ban concealed handguns on public college and university campuses was given the go-ahead yesterday by a state board that reviews such measures. But that doesn’t mean the initiative will automatically be on the ballot. Starting in mid-January, the proposal’s backers will have six…
Unless you’re a fan of Major League Soccer, you may not have heard of Robbie Rogers, but the speedy winger made big news last February when he came out, and briefly retired, before returning to soccer and being traded to the LA Galaxy; in doing so, he became the first…
They’ve targeted Snooze and the Palm, and now an Occupy Denver-supported coalition of protestors is going after the Tattered Cover Book Store because of the store’s position on Denver’s controversial ban on urban camping — or, rather, because of the Tattered Cover’s lack of a position on the subject. Last…
The video created by the national organization called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America to mark the anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre on December 14 (see it below) counts 26 school shootings in the year after that tragic day in Newtown, Connecticut. But since the clip was…
As noted in our latest update about Friday’s shooting at Arapahoe High School, the national media continues to closely follow the tragic incident’s fallout — and even though it appears that Karl Pierson legally bought the weapon he used to critically injure fellow student Claire Davis, the attack has motivated…
Earlier this year, we told the story of Imelda Valenzuela Gonzalez, a mother of three who owns a hair salon and is one of a growing number of undocumented immigrants speaking out about their cases in the hopes of stopping their deportations. At a court hearing in April, Valenzuela Gonzalez’s…
Five years ago, a jaw-dropping scandal rocked Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system: A popular judge, known for the tough sentences he handed out to juveniles, had schemed with another judge to take millions in kickbacks from the builder and operator of two private youth detention facilities. Yet behind that brazen bit…
Every bureaucracy needs its whistleblowers and gadflies, its disgruntled ex-gofers and disillusioned ex-go-getters, eager to expose government waste and folly. Without them, the smell would become unbearable, like a public toilet that hasn’t been disinfected in months. And that makes the disappearance of The Real Colorado Department of Corrections, an…
The Colorado Democratic Party is lambasting the Republican candidates for Senate for opposing access to contraception. The Democrats have declared that Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, state Representative Amy Stephens and state Senator Owen Hill “have lined up to support intrusive polices that would restrict a woman’s right to…
The citizens of Deer Trail have yet to vote on a proposed ordinance to allow the hunting of drones within the town limits. The date of the vote has been postponed until December 10 because of legal challenges to the petitions and may be postponed again. But that hasn’t stopped…
With a flood of Kennedy material coming out to mark the fiftieth anniversary of that surreal day in Dallas, brace yourself for plenty of resurgent conspiracy theories concerning who and what was behind JFK’s assassination. Despite its come-on title, JFK: A President Betrayed, a new documentary playing on DirecTV and…
We recently introduced Got Insurance?, a Colorado-based campaign intended to encourage uninsured folks to sign up for health-care coverage. Critics dubbed the first batch of ads “brosurance,” with Congressman Cory Gardner ripping an image featuring a keg stand. Now comes the second wave of spots, which is stirring up more…
