Willie B on 25 Years at KBPI
On April 3, 1993, Willie B made his first appearance on KBPI. Exactly 25 years later to the day, he’s still there, and in the following in-depth interview, he provides a guided tour to the whole crazy ride.
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Parkland School Shooter’s Fans Echo Those of Aurora Theater Shooter
Recent reports that Nikolas Cruz, who shot and killed seventeen people at Parkland, Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, has been inundated with fan mail and inspired the forming of alternately sympathetic and worshipful social media groups echo some of the disturbing responses that followed the July 20, 2012 Aurora theater shooting, when James Holmes took twelve lives and injured seventy other patrons at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises.
Average Person Can’t Afford Average House in 10 of 11 CO Counties Analyzed
In recent years, high costs have made home ownership seem like an impossible dream for plenty of people in Denver and other parts of Colorado despite the strong economy. And in the first quarter of 2018, the situation seems to be getting worse instead of better. According to a new study, the average wage earner in ten of eleven Colorado counties analyzed, including six in Denver metro, can’t afford a median-priced home in the area.
Michael Bailey: I Lost My House and Job Because of Sheriff’s Office Laziness
“What does a person do when you realize you’ve lost everything?” asks Michael Bailey. “And I did. I lost my vehicle, my house and my job,” all because he was held in custody for nearly two months on a warrant from another county he didn’t know existed. Moreover, the charges against him were dismissed shortly after he was finally transferred to the proper court.
How Trump’s Immigration Policies Are Raising Coloradans’ Health Care Costs
According to a new report cited by Denver-based Center for Health Progress, the immigration policies enacted by the administration of President Donald Trump are not only making undocumented individuals in Colorado sick, but they’re hitting the rest of the citizenry directly in the pocketbook.
Denver City Council’s Hancock Probe Delay FAQs More Like CYAs
The theory that the Denver City Council isn’t that into investigating Mayor Michael Hancock for possible sexual harassment against Detective Leslie Branch-Wise during the 2011-2012 period when she was on his security detail got a boost yesterday evening, March 29, when council president Albus Brooks released a statement revealing that he and his colleagues are still mulling over whether or not to launch an inquiry and suggesting strongly that whatever happens will take place beyond public view. Accompanying these remarks was a collection of frequently asked questions about the case — some surprising, others indicating that plenty of ass-covering is underway.
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Meet Kristi Kelly, the Face of Colorado’s Marijuana Industry
In July 2016, the Marijuana Industry Group, among the most powerful cannabis business organizations in Colorado and the country as a whole, seemed on the verge of collapse after the mysterious departure of Michael Elliott, its executive director. Less than two years later, MIG is back to being a powerhouse advocate for marijuana enterprises in the state, and much of the credit goes to current executive director Kristi Kelly, who’s helped change the tone of an outfit that was once vilified by boutique shops in the state.
Tour “Denver’s Best City Penthouse” — Yours for Just $10.7 Million
A new unit for sale in the Four Seasons building, at 1133 14th Street, is going for $10,750,000 and is being touted as “DENVER’S BEST CITY PENTHOUSE!” Take a photo tour here.
Inside Denver’s Big Bucks Settlement Mania With Man Who Got $660K
The controversy over Denver Mayor Michael Hancock sending inappropriate texts to police detective Leslie-Branch Wise has led to increased scrutiny on settlements made by the city; Branch-Wise was given $75,000 in 2013 after she made complaints about the behavior of Wayne McDonald, who received $200,000 in 2016 following a lawsuit over his firing by Hancock, his ex-friend. Among those asking questions about such payouts is Stuart Shapiro, a former assistant city attorney and recipient of his own $660,000 settlement from Denver in 2016 over alleged retaliation against him in the wake of a jail-abuse case that cost taxpayers $3.25 million.
Lies, Punishment and the Case of the Pencil “Attack” at Denver’s Main Jail
The tension between the Office of the Independent Monitor and the Denver Department of Public Safety at the center of a recent special report about the in-custody death of Michael Marshall is vividly illustrated by an incident captured on jailhouse video seen here. The former considers the clip evidence that a deputy blatantly lied on a report in which he accused an inmate who wanted to issue a complaint against him of taking part in an attack with a pencil. The latter thinks it’s possible the deputy innocently misperceived what happened and therefore didn’t deserve punishment as harsh as the monitor believes justified.
Why Phil Anschutz Might Rather Watch the Denver Post Die Than Try to Save It
After the Denver Post announced that it would be laying off thirty people, or around 30 percent of the newsroom staff, the Denver Newspaper Guild, which represents 25 of those getting pink slips, put out an open call for a wealthy benefactor to buy the publication from Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund that’s been stripping it down like a stolen car for years. Billionaire Phil Anschutz seems to fit this bill, and he has a notable interest in newspapers, having purchased the Colorado Springs Gazette in 2012. But a story shared by Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn suggests that Anschutz may prefer to let the Post die in order to replace it with a resurrected version of the Rocky Mountain News, which was shuttered in February 2009.
Denver City Council Doesn’t Seem That Into Michael Hancock Investigation
Last night, March 27, the Denver City Council met in executive session to discuss the possibility of launching an investigation into inappropriate texts sent by Mayor Michael Hancock to Detective Leslie Branch-Wise during the 2011-2012 period when she was on his security detail. But the members emerged without making any commitment to such an inquiry despite another letter from Branch-Wise’s attorney (it’s shared below) urging them to take action.
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“Kratom Ruined My Life,” User Says
After Denver banned kratom for human consumption last November, advocates, including the communications director for the Libertarian Party of Colorado, spoke out on behalf of the herbal substance, calling it an effective pain reliever that can be substituted for much more dangerous opioids. But one Denver-area resident who spoke at length to Westword warns that kratom isn’t always benign, especially for people, like him, with addictive personalities. In his words, “Kratom ruined my life.”
Denver Radio Is “Fifty Shades of Angry White Men,” Says Ex-Host
Desi Cortez appeared regularly on Denver talk-radio stations from the first half of the 1990s to 2004. Since then, he’s made intermittent attempts to get back on the airwaves, and he feels strongly that he hasn’t gotten another chance for two reasons: his progressive views and the color of his skin.
Three Ways to Kill the Death Penalty in Colorado
The Colorado Supreme Court recently upheld a lower court’s decision to reverse David Bueno’s first-degree-murder conviction because evidence that might have helped him was withheld in his death-penalty case. Michael Radelet, a University of Colorado Boulder sociology professor and author of The History of the Death Penalty in Colorado, the definitive work on its subject, sees the Bueno case as a particularly compelling argument in favor of ending capital punishment in the state once and for all, and he sees multiple possibilities for how it might finally happen.
Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Fever Hits Colorado’s Luxury-Home Market
Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency are ultra-trendy among investors, speculators and others who dream of making a quick fortune. But they’re also becoming increasingly mainstream, especially among the super-rich, as illustrated by what appears to be a first for the luxury home market in Aspen. One seller with a spectacular property in the exclusive Starwood development has announced that interested buyers can pay for it using this form of exchange, a digital asset that’s secured using cryptography.
Post Broncos Writer Joins Site She Saw as Trying to Destroy Newspapers
The Denver Post isn’t only losing thirty newsroom staffers via layoffs dictated by it’s “vulture” hedge fund owner, Alden Global Capital. The broadsheet is also bidding farewell to Nicki Jhabvala, Nick Kosmider and Nick Groke, three prominent sportswriters and Denver Broncos specialists who are leaping to The Athletic, a rapidly growing online sports website whose apparent interest in wiping out daily newspapers Jhabvala chastised in a tweet sent out mere months ago.
Why Denver Post Staffers Not Targeted by Layoffs Could Still Be Leaving
The Denver Post announced thirty layoffs, or nearly one-third of its newsroom staff, on March 14. Just shy of two weeks later, we still don’t know the identities of all those who’ll be leaving, and that information won’t be made official for two more thanks to a complicated system that allows some laid-off workers to “bump” individuals who haven’t been notified that their positions could be in danger. But at present, no daily reporters are being targeted, with the layoffs focusing on what Denver Newspaper Guild administrative officer Tony Mulligan refers to as “the second set of eyeballs.”
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16th Street Mall Blocks With the Most Crimes
Safety on the 16th Street Mall remains a major concern, as evidenced by the large amount of media coverage related to last week’s stabbing death of 29-year-old Derek Sorenson at a 17th and Welton 7-Eleven just steps away from the iconic Denver attraction. And while the 2016 implementation of a new safety plan appears to have decreased crime in the area overall, there’s still a considerable way to go according to our analysis of Denver Police Department data. Over the past month, 46 crimes have taken place on the mall, with sixteen happening on a single block.
Sh*tstorm After Study Finds No Causal Link Between Marijuana, Homelessness
A new study about the impact of marijuana on Pueblo County maintains that there’s no evidence linking cannabis legalization and the increase of homelessness in the area. This contention has been ripped by Pueblo Police Chief Troy Davenport, who strongly believes such a connection exists, as well as the authors of a Pueblo Chieftain editorial that dismissed these findings as “junk science.” But one of the academics behind the document suggests that such critics would rather believe the sort of nonsense churned out by prohibitionists for decades than look at actual facts.
Denver’s Chief Financial Officer Didn’t Know About $75K to Leslie Branch-Wise
In 2013, nearly five years before police detective Leslie Branch-Wise unveiled inappropriate texts sent to her by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, she received a $75,000 settlement from the city after making similar complaints about Wayne McDonald, a Hancock friend and employee fired over the matter. Now, a spokeswoman for Cary Kennedy says the former Colorado state treasurer, who’s running for governor and handily won the recent Colorado Democratic caucus, didn’t know anything about the payout even though she was serving as Hancock’s deputy mayor and the city’s chief financial officer at the time.
Departing Denver Post Writer: Owners “Hurling Sh*t at Dedicated Journalists”
The Denver Post’s announcement that it would be laying off thirty journalists, or nearly one-third of its newsroom staff, included a March 21 deadline for employees to voluntarily join those who’d be departing. The biggest name to do so was outdoor writer Jason Blevins, whose tweet about his decision put Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund that owns the Post and is bleeding it dry, on blast.