Update: PETA is still making problems for mall Santa and former Westword cover boy Bill Lee. Five days after calling him out for an incident in which his reindeer escaped from a Santa appearance in Dillon and had to be tracked down the next morning (get the details below), the…
This week’s cover story, “Bullet. Proof.,” tells the story of Karina Sartiaguin Vargas, who was shot three years ago outside Aurora Central High School. The bullet wasn’t meant for her, but it hit her anyway, paralyzing her from the belly button down. Because Karina was undocumented, she had a hard…
From where Karina Sartiaguin Vargas is sitting, at a scenic overlook near the entrance of the expansive Bluff Lake Nature Center in northeast Denver, she can see the dirt path that she used to run every night before dinner. It’s a warm day in November, and the nineteen-year-old is wearing…
Update: In our post yesterday about the fourth annual Colorado Gives Day, we wondered whether Coloradans would be more generous than last year, when the 24-hour online fundraising bonanza raised more than $15 million. We now know that the answer is yes. According to the Community First Foundation, which founded…
Looking for free condoms? The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment wants to have your back. The state agency is paying $15,000 to advertise a website called CondomFinder.org on various marquees operated by Denver Arts & Venues, including the digital display in front of the high-profile Denver Performing Arts…
A judge has ordered that Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood stop discriminating against gay couples seeking wedding cakes. The judge’s ruling (on view below) is in response to a complaint filed by same-sex couple Dave Mullins and Charlie Craig, who said that Masterpiece owner Jack Phillips refused to bake them a…
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…
Last month’s rant by 9News anchor Kyle Clark begging viewers to stop sending photos of their snowy patio furniture has incited a bit of a good-humored backlash. Today, on the occasion of Denver’s first big snowstorm, rival station 7News has taken to Twitter to solicit photos of snow-heaped deck chairs…
Today, a Fort Collins family is getting the type of holiday present that only an exterminator can give (sorry, Santa): a bed bug-free home. As part of a national charitable event called Taking the Bite Out of the Holidays, the Loveland-based EnviroPest company — tagline: Colorado’s cure for creepy crawly…
Back in October, we shared with you the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s draft regulations for the growing of industrial hemp. Now, those regulations are official — with one change. Instead of facing a registration suspension or revocation if testing reveals that a grower’s plants exceed 0.3 percent THC, the final…
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…
Condo construction in metro Denver has been hampered in recent years for several reasons, many of which are dissipating as the economy bounces back. But the one factor that continues to spook builders is the fear of being sued for construction defects. Such lawsuits can be so costly that many…
The Colorado Supreme Court is poised to play a role in determining who sits on the Adams 12 school board. The state’s high court has decided to hear a case that seeks an answer to a complicated question: Can candidate Amy Speers, whose story we told last week, officially win…
News that the trial of accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes would be delayed due to the prosecution’s request for a second mental evaluation wasn’t what victim Marcus Weaver wanted to hear. “From a victim’s standpoint, it’s a complete letdown,” he says. Weaver was at the Century 16 theater when…
What happens when an ineligible candidate wins an election with two-thirds of the vote? That’s the situation Amy Speers finds herself in. A candidate for the Adams 12 Five Star school board, Speers was declared ineligible a week before election day when district officials realized she didn’t live in the…
Earlier this week, we told you about how legendary Glendale strip club Shotgun Willie’s was auctioning off some of its unwanted items in the wake of its move to a brand new building right next door to the old one. The items up for bid included light-up dance stages complete…
Want to own a piece of Shotgun Willie’s? The legendary Glendale strip club recently shut its doors forever — and moved into a brand new building next door. The original building, which Shotgun Willie’s called home starting in 1982, will eventually be demolished to make way for much-needed road improvements…
This week’s cover story, “Blue in Orange,” is about Willie Clark, who was convicted in 2010 of murdering Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams. Clark is now appealing that conviction and is also fighting prison officials in court to get himself out of solitary confinement, where he’s been kept for five…
Aurora theater shooting case Judge Carlos Samour has issued several rulings related to motions seeking to suppress evidence in the case. The motions were filed by attorneys for suspect James Holmes and they request that certain evidence, including Holmes’s online dating profiles and statements he made to the police after…
Last night, Glendale’s legendary strip club — Shotgun Willie’s — closed forever. And right next door, in a $4 million building that was just a steel-beamed skeleton when we wrote about it back in August, a new-and-improved Shotgun Willie’s opened for business. In the hours before the new strip club…
Aurora Rise, a nonprofit founded by the owner of local comic book store All C’s Collectibles, is hosting a screening of Thor: The Dark World on November 12 at the Aurora Movie Tavern. A portion of the ticket sales will benefit the foundation, which provides support to the victims of…
Should Willie Clark, who was convicted of murdering Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams, be kept in solitary confinement in prison? That’s the question at the heart of this week’s cover story, “Blue in Orange,” which also details Clark’s criminal appeal. Clark says that he’s innocent and furthermore, he says that…
