If a house falls into foreclosure and nobody is around to hear about it, does it make a difference? What about if an entire coalition is around? This week, volunteers at the Colorado Progressive Coalition tried the second option when they accompanied local homeowner Jim Erlsten to the downtown Broadway…
As we’ve reported, Governor John Hickenlooper called for a special legislative session following the blockage of a civil unions bill. The governor’s office has identified seven bills that Hickenlooper hopes will be addressed beginning on Monday, including the controversial THC driving bill. Does that mean Hickenlooper will sign the latter…
When AM 760 dropped popular progressive host Mario Solis-Marich late last year, fans freaked. The loss, propelled by budget cuts, incited protests against the station and its host company, Clear Channel, fueled by fear that Denver’s Hispanic community had lost one of its voices in the media. And while Solis-Marich’s…
For those keeping track at home, the investigation of the April 2009 on-camera beating of Michael DeHerrera has lasted more than three years — and it’s not done yet: The Colorado Progressive Coalition announced today that the case had been delayed for five more months. Over the past three years,…
Welcome to Colorado, Hollywood! The word from the Senate Majority Office is that House Bill 1286 — better known as the film incentives bill — has passed the Senate, its last hurdle before reaching the governor’s desk. The bill increases the cash rebate offered to filmmakers from 10 percent to…
Last night, House GOP leadership killed a civil unions bill sponsored by Senator Pat Steadman by preventing a procedural vote that would have brought it to the chamber’s floor today. Steadman was severely disappointed by this manner of murder, which also prevented the passage of many other bills. But he’s…
Update: In our coverage yesterday about a pro-civil unions rally on the west steps of the State Capitol (it’s on view below), we asked: “Can Colorado House leaders be shamed into giving a chance to the civil unions bill?” Turns out the answer is “no.” The civil unions bill died…
Breakfast and politics don’t always mix — but Occupy Denver waits for no muffin. After Brianna Borin, co-owner of downtown early-morning eatery Snooze, spoke in “strong favor” of the proposed (and preliminarily passed) urban camping ban at last Monday’s eight-hour City Council meeting, the local movement aimed its ire at…
Editor’s note: This is the latest profile in Kelsey Whipple’s ongoing series highlighting local political activists. For his first job, a preteen Julien Ross sold lemonade and lied about it. Or at the very least, he didn’t tell the whole truth about it. The juice came from freshly squeezed lemons,…
Update below: Boulder has filed a temporary restraining order against Seth Brigham, a local known for irritating officials in public places — once by stripping to his boxers at a city council meeting (more on that below). A city spokeswoman cites an expert on workplace violence who sees Brigham as…
Update below: Wednesday, Colorado Ethics Watch requested an IRS investigation into the nonprofit status of Open Government Institute of Colorado based on a video featuring OGI’s executive director, Jessica Peck. The claim: OGI was working to benefit Congressman Mike Coffman, who’s running for reelection. In response, Peck maintains that “this…
Representative B.J. Nikkel, a Republican from Loveland, became a hero to supporters of the Senator Pat Steadman-sponsored civil unions bill when her vote in favor of the measure allowed it to pass the House judiciary committee yesterday; see a slew of tweets singing her praises below. She was the sole…
Yesterday’s May Day events brought together protesters across the world in support of workers’ rights, with Occupy Denver joining other activist communities on marches, teach-ins and direct actions. But while Seattle erupted in scenes of violence and New York witnessed more than thirty general strike arrests, Denver experienced relatively few…
In January, Senator Morgan Carroll told us she feared Senator Steve King’s reboot of the THC driving bill would be difficult to kill due to a clever maneuver that avoided her committee — and the tricks didn’t stop there. The measure appeared to die on the Senate floor a short…
Update, 3 p.m. May 1: Today, hundreds of protesters took the day off from work and school to spend it with Occupy Denver in Civic Center Park. For the local movement and its community partners — the Mercury Cafe included — May Day began at noon with a march and…
Before last night’s epic Denver City Council meeting started, and well before its members voted nine to four to preliminarily approve the proposed urban camping ordinance, the line for public attendance stretched far outside the City and County Building. Many of these people left during the following seven hours of…
Initiative 84, a proposed constitutional amendment that would require lenders to prove ownership of property before foreclosing on it, has passed another hurdle in its move toward legalization. On Friday, proponents and opponents met before the state title board to discuss its language, which made it through relatively unchanged. The…
Statehouse veterans know that the easiest way to squash a bill they don’t like isn’t to kill it outright but to send it out for serious “study” — to some lonely subcommittee or outside agency, where it will languish and eventually die a slow, agonizing death from neglect. Senate Bill…
Civic Center Park, which shut down in March for construction work and landscaping work, will remain closed longer than originally announced. According to Parks and Recreation reps, the downtown hub will continue to be shuttered through at least mid June. The news applies immediately to Occupy Denver, whose members have…
Editor’s note: This is the latest profile in Kelsey Whipple’s ongoing series highlighting local political activists. The first time Belinda Garcia was confronted by racism, she was in a public pool. During elementary school, she, her parents and four siblings walked into a Denver YMCA and stood there roughly five…
“Urban camping” is an odd phrase that encompasses homeless people sleeping on city streets — and the subject of this week’s feature, “Unhappy Campers.” A proposed urban camping ban that’s working its way through Denver’s city council would ban homeless people from sleeping on 16th Street Mall or any other…
Later today, the Colorado Senate is expected to formally approve a bill that would legalize civil unions. Of course, the Senate also approved a civil unions measure last year, only to see the proposal die in a House committee, with all six Republican members voting against it. Can it avoid…
