Calhoun: Wake-up Call

Decades ago, when marketers started touting “the television family,” they were talking about all the network people who’d show up in your living room every day…

Tom Tancredo is busy these days. He just wrote the April Fools’ edition of Ask a Mexican. He has a real new job, as a marketing exec with a local investment company, so that others won’t lose their nest eggs to a Bernie Madoff character, as he did. He’s repairing…

This was not going to be the year that the legislature poured its time and energy into fixing this state’s arcane liquor laws. These old laws still have big brewers making watered-down beer for sale in convenience and grocery stores in Colorado — one of only five states that still…

The mayoral race is finally heating up, not because of TV ads, but because robocalls are burning up the phone lines — of those Denver residents who still have land lines, at least. I heard a recent message from James Mejia too late for “Denver-made” breakfast at his headquarters, but…

With the warm weather rolling into Denver, can a fleet of gourmet food trucks be far behind? Last year, the truck trend took the town by storm — but by the end of 2010, things were looking stormy, with Sean and Denon Moore complaining that their Denver Cupcake Trucks had…

In the years that Westword has published Savage Love, author Dan Savage’s savagely funny, very smart weekly sex column, I’ve been fascinated by the seemingly buttoned-up Denverites who always turn to his page first to see what he might be saying about butt plugs, for example, or who ask me…

Denver parking enforcement never sleeps — as those who take advantage of the new overnight parking option downtown will soon know all too well. I have the evidence: a ticket issued at 4:24 a.m. last Monday. The violation? Parking on the curb. On about six inches of the curb, judging…

Aside from skiing and John Denver, Colorado is probably best known around the nation for its beer — and not just because of Coors. There are currently 126 craft breweries in the state, according to the Colorado Brewers Guild, with more on the way. And right now, this signature industry…

For two decades, the Westword office was in lower downtown, where the parking rules seemed to change inexplicably, almost overnight. Or actually overnight: We emerged from one all-nighter to discover that our cars had been turned around by city trucks when the direction of Market Street was reversed. But the…

House Democratic Leader Sal Pace’s proposal to restrict travel at Pinnacol Assurance passed an initial reading yesterday, and could move on to a final House vote as early as today. And Pinnacol, is unlikely to fight this move…

Yes, timing is everything. Last night, opponents of a proposed nuclear power plant in Pueblo County pointed to the situation in Japan as just one reason to stop the project. And tonight, experts will talk about how nukes already resulted in plutonium contamination outside the former Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons…

Denverites love the arts — but the arts didn’t officially become a part of the city structure until “1 percent for the arts,” a program established under Mayor Federico Peña that earmarked one percent of any city construction project for art works. Even as that project grew, so did the…

Janet Napolitano is in town today for the National Fusion Center Conference, a meeting of the country’s joint intelligence centers. Not included in that local fusion lineup are some of our homegrown terrorism experts, including John Elway, who narrated “8 Signs of Terrorism,” a film at the CELL, our home-grown…

I’m hooked on an illegal substance. For the past few months, I’ve somehow managed to cajole my contacts into handing over icy-cold contraband, thinking that each fix could be my last. And at least in Colorado bars and restaurants, it very well could be: My beloved Corona Light is being…

Timing is everything. With gas prices going up, up, up due to the chaos in North Africa last month, suddenly a nuclear power plant started looking good to Pueblo County, where the commissioners are considering a proposal to make that county one of the spots in the country vying for…

Fresh from another round of eco-devo meetings and a quick side trip to a Craig hospital to get five stitches after he bumped his head in his state car, John Hickenlooper landed back in Denver in time for a reunion party at El Diablo with campaign staffers and supporters who…

The Colorado Legislature is wrestling with dozens of messy problems, including that endless, ugly battle between convenience stores and liquor stores. But there is no problem messier than untangling the state budget…

The brewhaha at the Colorado Legislature is more heated than last call in LoDo. But all the testy talk avoids the real issue: 3.2 beer is stupid, and so are the laws that have been crafted around its outdated existence…

In restaurants across town this weekend, I sucked down an illegal substance: Corona Light. In this craft-beer crazy state, it’s tough enough to stay loyal to a beer that one sneering beerman labels an “almost beer.” But last year, the Colorado Legislature made it even tougher: In a bill that…

When Westword moved into its first office, at 1439 Market Street, lower downtown was not known as LoDo. In 1977, this part of town was not a hip entertainment district. It was an old warehouse area, with a scattering of working-man’s bars and a handful of businesses that had been…

Denver International Airport rolls up the moving sidewalks early. As anyone regularly taking red-eye flights knows, most shops and bars on the concourse close before 10 p.m., and in the terminal, one fast-foot outlet and one sundries store stay open all night…

The playhouse in baggage claim is still locked, but at least Blue Mustang-friendly Denver International Airport and History Colorado have partnered on a new exhibit, Colorado Stories, that takes a playful approach to this state’s past — and shows that we have plenty of entertaining baggage…