Any way you slice it, the very, very, very strained relationship between Douglas County Coroner Lora Thomas and Sheriff Dave Weaver can’t be good for homicide investigations in the county. Both sides have accused the other of interfering with and jeopardizing their work, and now a backer of the sheriff…
Federal judges in Denver are of two minds about the kind of punishment doled out at the supermax penitentiary in Florence. While one is allowing a Tanzanian terrorist’s complaint about the prison’s restrictions on his mail and visitors to proceed to trial, another has thrown out Thomas Silverstein’s lawsuit alleging…
Nine years into a 145-year sentence for sexual abuse — a crime that his alleged victim insists never happened — Charles Farrar has now filed what may be his last, best hope for freedom. It’s a handwritten request for an appointed lawyer and a new hearing, based on claims of…
Last year, when state lawmakers set about reining in the sky-high interest rates of payday lenders in Colorado, the industry howled and moaned that tighter regulation would cost bunches of jobs. But a new report from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office suggests the biggest impact of the reform has been…
No, he didn’t get a crown, Dr. Aubrey J. Lavizzo informs me, when the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association named him the 2011 CVMA Veterinarian of the Year. But he did get “a free lunch for me and my wife, Gale” — and a round of applause from his colleagues in…
Grief doesn’t respect demographic boundaries, and the devastating impact of a homicide in the family can be found in all walks of life. On Monday, a coalition of victim groups gathered outside the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse downtown to remember lost loved ones and listen to a keynote speech by Denver Mayor…
Colorado does a miserable job of monitoring the guardians and conservators who control the finances — and, in many cases, the living conditions — of incapacitated adults, minor wards and other vulnerable populations, according to a scathing report released yesterday by the Office of the State Auditor. In other words,…
No question, rebranding can be a bitch. Is that Slinky in the CenturyLink commercials really an improvement over the Qwest lightbeam? But nothing quite spells “public relations fiasco” like the U.S. Army’s clueless attempt to change the name of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site to “Fort Carson South,” after years…
An effort to operate a faith-based, residential drug and alcohol treatment program in a vintage mansion in Capitol Hill suffered a major setback yesterday when a Denver zoning official ruled that the area is already overloaded with group homes. Granting a transitional housing permit to Open Door Ministries for 740…
Last month, under pressure from Representative Scott Tipton and ranchers in the Pinon Canyon area, Air Force officials backed off a plan to conduct intensive low-altitude training flights over southeast Colorado. But the recently unveiled boundaries for the low, low flights probably won’t cause much joy in Durango, Montrose, Grand…
The news that “lobbyist lawyer” Tom Strickland, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s chief of staff for a hectic two years, is now taking a job with British Petroleum’s law firm in its battles with his former boss over the Deepwater Horizon mess made a big splash in the Denver Post ,…
Fifty years ago this week, a modest black-and-white movie about pool sharks and the people who back them, love them or break their thumbs had its world premiere in Washington, D.C. The initial critical reception was mixed, but over time, The Hustler would be recognized as a classic, a startling…
Corrections officials are understandably defensive about a controversial Bureau of Justice Statistics survey that indicates a high incidence of prisoner sexual abuse in their facilities. But is that any reason for jail bosses to claim that inmates are concocting fake stories of prison rape in order to get cookies, or…
“Hello, my name is Donny Andrews. I am a first-time, non-violent offender who has been in prison for 23 years on an 80-year sentence… I came to prison at 20 years of age in 1989, and I am now 43 years old.” Thus begins a recent letter of appeal from…
In his spare time, billionaire Philip Anschutz likes to collect interesting bits of Americana, such as cattle ranches, soccer teams, railroads and media and energy companies. As part of his acquisition of the Oklahoma Publishing Company, he’s also picking up the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs — a nice chunk…
This week’s cover story, “Leave It to Beaver,” explores the work of Sherri Tippie, who’s spent more than 25 years rescuing beaver from trash-choked urban streams and drainage areas and relocating them to high-country habitat, or installing flow devices in dams so that beaver can thrive in the inner city…
Last week, we reported on the mounting criticism of Aaron Million’s proposed 550-mile pipeline to deliver water to the Front Range. The opponents’ campaign is just beginning, though — as new billboards take that message to the public and to water officials considering the Flaming Gorge pipeline at a meeting…
The roar of our all-terrain vehicles sends birds and chipmunks fleeing as we grind our way up the mountainside. We are high above the Roaring Fork Valley, skirting the edge of the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area. The view is spectacular, a jaw-dropping vista of craggy peaks hovering over wildflower-studded meadows…
When powerful development forces in metro Denver conspire to drain more water from already depleted Western Slope rivers, there’s only one thing for a self-respecting environmentalist to do: Grab your gear and head to Boulder for The World’s Largest Kayak Drum Circle. At least, that’s what protesters hope a large…
That sucking sound you hear out at Denver International Airport isn’t the arrival of the long-awaited, ever-elusive direct route to Tokyo. No, it’s the sound of tens of millions of dollars in “concepting” and design fees vanishing into the wild blue yonder, as architect Santiago Calatrava bows out of the…
Nederland’s official website declares that the funky mountain burg is a “town like no other.” And the abrupt resignation of Mayor Sumaya Abu-Haidar eighteen months into her two-year term, amid what she describes as a hostile political climate and “extraordinarily rude, insulting and disparaging” e-mails from opponents, seems to underscore…
Real-estate investor Aaron Million’s audacious proposal to provide water to a thirsty Front Range by building a 550-mile pipeline from southwestern Wyoming, the subject of a 2009 feature by Joel Warner, is no cheap fix. Two years ago, Million estimated the cost of the project at around $3 billion. But…
