Last month, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the national Stolen Valor Act of 2006. That decision led to the dismissal of charges against local college student Rick Strandlof (“Will the real Rick Strandlof please stand up?”), whose friends became suspicious when he pretended to be a Marine…
In this week’s cover feature, “Will the Real Rick Strandlof please stand up?,” Westword delves into the fascinating story of 35-year-old college student Rick Strandlof, whose past false identities ended with a second chance last month. On June 28, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the Stolen Valor…
Colorado’s minor political parties have banded together to express major gripes with new rules from Secretary of State Scott Gessler — rules that the groups say create conflicts of interest and threaten to undermine the integrity of upcoming elections…
Jose Luis Vazquez Campos has lost his battle to stay in the United States — for now, at least. Despite a rally and petition stop Campos’s deportation, the father of two young boys was unable to process the paperwork to request that his case be closed. Last week, Campos said…
The backers of Initiative 52, which would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, have been collecting signatures for months. “It’s going slow,” says Homero, a volunteer. Thus far, they’ve gotten 15,000 signatures notarized and have hundreds of volunteers trying to collect 75,000 more by the August 6 deadline. To…
In addition to campaigns and super PACs pouring money into local television ads, one of the many (dubious?) perks of Colorado being a key swing state in the presidential election is lots and lots of polls. And there’s good reason for all the attention: It’s shaping up to be a…
A year after taking office, Mayor Michael Hancock delivered his first State of the City address this morning, promoting a range of priorities, including restructuring the police department, increasing programs for children and a new online initiative he is calling “e-Denver.” That’s right, Denver is getting modern, y’all!…
For six weeks, Eldren violinist Josh Lee waited in custody at the Immigration Customs and Enforcement detention center in Aurora after a recent criminal charge complicated his immigration status. As he collected money for his $20,000 bond, the Denver music community rallied around him, staging fundraisers and benefit concerts for…
Put up or shut up. After a group of Democratic leaders staged a press conference last week to demand that Mitt Romney release more of his tax returns, ABC News asked the group if they would make public their 1040s, too. Several refused to do so — but not Aspen…
Last night, former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff visited the grand reopening of the CELL, the downtown terrorism prevention center, to discuss cyber security and impending concerns in the Middle East. In front of a packed house at the Denver Art Museum, Chertoff talked both Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah –…
Jose Luis Vazquez Campos doesn’t have much time. An undocumented immigrant, Campos must prove to federal immigration authorities that he’s in Mexico on July 18, which means he’ll have to board a bus in Denver on Sunday to get there. Yesterday, the American Friends Service Committee held a rally to…
Ana Vasquez says she tried to explain to the police officers that it was her boyfriend who’d abused her, and not the other way around. She had a broken finger to prove it: In the midst of an argument that turned physical, her boyfriend trapped her fingers between his and…
A poll released yesterday by a pro-Obama organization shows that voters, well, generally like the President more than Republican challenger Mitt Romney across five key swing states. And breaking down the data further shows that folks in Colorado appear to support Obama and dislike Romney at percentages higher than the…
Wildfire season — which has included several massive Colorado blazes already this year — puts thousands of seasonal firefighters to work. But because many have temporary status, they aren’t eligible for federal health insurance — a concern Representative Diana DeGette hoped to address in a new bill…
Mitt Romney spent yesterday in Colorado: raising cash in Aspen, visiting the fire zone in Colorado Springs and speaking in Grand Junction, where he attempted to flip the script on some of the many Barack Obama campaign commercials currently running in the state by labeling the President the “outsourcer in…
More than eight months ago, Occupy Denver protester (and former Westword cover subject) Corey Donahue called it a “bad nut-tap joke gone wrong.” But this morning, during his trial for the misdemeanor charge of unlawful sexual contact, the events of October 15 grew more serious. After a day-long trial that…
After months of research, Denver City Councilwoman Robin Kniech concluded that Denver’s city council was among the worst in the country when it came to allowing public comment. Heated debates followed. But this week, Kniech successfully lobbied her colleagues to agree to a change in standards that will give the…
Illustrating the importance of Colorado as a key battleground in the presidential election, Mitt Romney is campaigning in the state this week — and the Dems aren’t letting him get away without a counterattack. Romney is hosting a fundraiser in Aspen tonight and has an event tomorrow morning at a…
Correction: A previous version of this post referred to Crossroads GPS as a super PAC, when Crossroads GPS is in fact a nonprofit group that is a sister organization to American Crossroads, a Republican super PAC. They didn’t waste any time. Just hours after the latest unemployment statistics came out…
Initiative 84, a proposed ballot measure that would have reformed the state’s foreclosure process, is effectively dead — but it will enter a third life in the next legislative session. Five weeks before 87,000 signatures were due at the Secretary of State’s office — and with only 25,000 in the…
John Buechner, former mayor of Boulder and former head of the University of Colorado, thinks he has some solutions to the challenges of local government — mainly that elected officials don’t actually get that much done and citizens don’t really care. He outlines his prescription for low-level politicians in his…
Exactly six months after Arapahoe County District Court blocked Marla Sneed’s house from foreclosure, the 53-year-old mother of three is back to square one. Or perhaps square negative one: Earlier this week, she received a letter from PNC Bank demanding a payment of more than $42,000 by July 15 lest…
