Author

Showing 4005 - 4026 of 24720

Michael Roberts

Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword‘s news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor’s degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master’s degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

michaelrobertscolo@gmail.com

Gun Porn: See the Gat Rep. Lori Saine Was Busted for Taking Into DIA

By Michael Roberts

As we’ve reported, Colorado Representative Lori Saine was arrested at Denver International Airport on December 5 on suspicion of introducing a firearm into a transportation facility. Since the publication of our previous item, the Denver Police Department has released a probable cause statement that reveals the make and style of Saine’s weapon: a Kahr Arms 9mm semi-automatic handgun that’s the subject of consistently positive online reviews and a YouTube video that’s been viewed more than 67,000 times at this writing.

The Not-Guilty-by-Reason-of-Insanity Horror Story of David Lynn Cooper

By Michael Roberts

As we’ve reported, Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood will learn during a December 15 hearing if he’ll be allowed to venture unsupervised off the grounds of Pueblo’s Colorado Mental Health Institute, where he’s resided since being found not guilty by reason of insanity in a 2010 shooting at Deer Creek Middle School. First Judicial District DA Pete Weir is among those objecting to this plan, and he offers as one reason for caution the awful story of David Lynn Cooper, who brutally killed his ten-year-old daughter mere months after being released from the state mental hospital because he’d supposedly regained his sanity.

Denver Rent Increases in 2017 Were Even Worse Than You Thought

By Michael Roberts

As we’ve reported, rent prices have finally started to moderate in Denver. But these shifts follow a long period in which rental costs have continued to go up and up and up in the Mile High City’s red-hot housing market. Even with recent improvements, rents for one-bedroom apartments during the course of 2017 have increased by well over 15 percent, a rate that’s the third highest out of one-hundred large and mid-size cities across the country.

David Mueller: I Did So Pay Taylor Swift $1 Judgment — With Sacagawea Coin

By Michael Roberts

The ugliness that marked the dueling lawsuits between Denver DJ David Mueller and pop star Taylor Swift over an alleged butt-grabbing incident at a 2013 Pepsi Center concert has provided a predictably nasty coda. As we’ve reported, Swift told Time magazine that Mueller had never paid her the $1 judgement she won during an August trial, adding that she considered his failure to do so “an act of defiance” that was “symbolic in itself.” But Mueller quickly fired back, insisting that he had sent her the $1 in the form of a Sacagawea coin that served as a symbol for him.

Taylor Swift: Denver DJ Hasn’t Paid $1 Judgment for Grabbing My Ass

By Michael Roberts

In an interview for Time magazine’s Person of the Year issue, which pays tribute to women, dubbed “silence breakers,” who spoke out about sexual harassment and assault in 2017, pop star Taylor Swift says Denver DJ David Mueller, who sued her in June 2015 for getting him fired from his job at KYGO after claiming (falsely, he insisted) that he’d grabbed her ass during a 2013 show at the Pepsi Center, still hasn’t paid her the $1 she won from him at a high-profile trial earlier this year.

Thanks, Donald Trump: Anti-Semitic Incidents in Colorado Double

By Michael Roberts

According to an analysis by the Anti-Defamation League, the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Colorado doubled during the first nine months of 2017 as compared to the same period last year. And while an ADL representative doesn’t directly blame President Donald Trump for mainstreaming such behavior, he makes it clear the Commander in Chief isn’t helping the situation.

Why DA, Victim’s Family Object to More Freedom for Deer Creek School Shooter

By Michael Roberts

Next week, on Friday, December 15, a judge will determine if Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood will be allowed to venture unsupervised off the grounds of the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo, where he’s resided since being found not guilty by reason of insanity for shooting and wounding two students at Deer Creek Middle School seven years ago. Among those who strongly oppose this idea are Pete Weir, current DA in the First Judicial District, where Eastwood was prosecuted, and the family of Matt Thieu, who survived after Eastwood shot him in the torso.

Douglas County School Board Kills Controversial Voucher Program

By Michael Roberts

At a meeting on Monday, December 4, the Douglas County School Board killed the district’s controversial voucher program, ending years of conflict. The fight has waged for years in the court system, but in the end, victory was achieved at the ballot box thanks to the electoral success of anti-voucher candidates last month.

How to Convince U.S. Supreme Court to Rule Against Masterpiece Cakeshop

By Michael Roberts

This morning, Monday, December 5, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, with the nine jurists charged with considering whether Denver-based Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips discriminated against a gay couple, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, by refusing to make them a wedding cake because their union contradicts his fundamentalist Christian views. Given the current ideological makeup of the court and the ultra-conservative proclivities of the newest justice, Colorado native Neil Gorsuch, many observers expect the court to side with Phillips in a ruling that critics say would preference one group of Christians over all others. But an expert thinks there’s still a chance the Supremes will reject the Masterpiece claim and suggests arguments that may sway the court’s potential swing justices.

Steffan Tubbs: No KOA Return Despite Domestic-Violence Charge Dismissal

By Michael Roberts

Steffan Tubbs will not be rehired by KOA radio, which fired the longtime Colorado Morning News host  in August after he was arrested and accused of domestic violence by telephone. This decision was made even though the charge against Tubbs was subsequently dismissed and his accuser was herself busted on November 17 for allegedly stalking him and violating a protection order that forbade her from making contact.

How Long You Can Live in Denver on $1 Million

By Michael Roberts

Once upon a time, the average person thought of $1 million as an enormous sum on which members of a family could live in luxury for the rest of their lives if only such an amount was within their reach, which it wasn’t. But times have changed. A new study suggests that $1 million is now a reasonable total to set aside for retirement, and even those who manage to do so may eventually run out of cash. That includes people who settle in Denver, which is ranked in the lower half of major cities when it comes to stretching these seven figures.

What We Know About Donthe Lucas Arrest in Missing Kelsie Schelling Case

By Michael Roberts

Barely two weeks after Pueblo’s Donthe Lucas was arrested on robbery charges, the former Northeastern Junior College basketball star was served with an arrest warrant in the February 2013 disappearance of Kelsie Schelling, a Denver resident who vanished after heading south to tell her boyfriend, Lucas, that she was pregnant. The bust took place on the same day his mom, Sara Lucas, was taken into custody in regard to the aforementioned robbery, suggesting that authorities are trying to ratchet up the pressure on mother and son to reveal the whereabouts of Schelling’s body, which has not been found as of this writing.

“John Elway F*ck You:” Twitter Puts QB Legend on Blast After Broncos’ Loss

By Michael Roberts

Denver Broncos quarterback legend turned team executive John Elway received a plus-size amount of credit for the squad’s success during the Peyton Manning era, including two Super Bowl appearances and one victory. This goodwill largely protected him from criticism during the team’s slide the past two seasons. But no more. Twitter users absolutely roasted Elway during and after the Broncos’ completely humiliating 35-9 loss to the lowly Miami Dolphins on Sunday, December 3.

Pod Save America Tour Is Coming to Denver

By Michael Roberts

Pod Save America, currently the country’s hottest political podcast, is bringing its live tour to Denver in early 2018 in a double bill with its Crooked Media sister program, Lovett or Leave It. The shows will take place back to back at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Thursday, February 8, 2018, at the Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre.

Will Good Parents Let Their Kid Play High School Football Anymore?

By Michael Roberts

At 2:30 p.m. Saturday, December 2, teams representing Pomona and Eaglecrest will face off at Mile High Stadium in the Class 5A championship game. But even as excitement builds for the contest, plenty of observers are wondering about something more fundamental: How much longer will good parents let their kids play high school football? This question is being asked more frequently in an age when worries about potentially fatal consequences from repeated blows to the head are growing. Now, research by a University of Colorado Boulder professor shows that 25,000 fewer boys played high school football across the country last season than the year before, continuing a trend that shows no signs of slowing.

Pot Profiling by License Plate Still Happening in Kansas, Victim Says

By Michael Roberts

Since shortly after the 2012 passage of Amendment 64, which permitted limited recreational marijuana sales in Colorado, we’ve reported about alleged pot profiling. Over the years, multiple drivers have said they were pulled over for little or no reason while driving a car with Colorado license plates by state troopers in bordering states on the lookout for cannabis, with Kansas among the most frequently mentioned problem jurisdictions. Now, just over a year since a federal court ordered that pot profiling in Kansas end, a Denver-area resident tells us she’s recently been stopped three times in the state by law enforcers who apparently became interested in her the second she saw that her plate represented a legal-pot state.

The Colorado Cities Home Buyers Would Rather Move to Than Denver

By Michael Roberts

In recent years, people have been moving to Denver in droves, lighting an even larger fire under the already red hot housing housing market in the Mile High City. And even though local home prices have moderated to some degree in recent months, a new analysis suggests that Colorado Springs and Boulder are currently more appealing to potential buyers than is Denver.

Denver Post Layoffs as Witnessed by a Surprised Survivor

By Michael Roberts

Earlier this week, when we reported about a new round of layoffs at the Denver Post, we noted that we wouldn’t immediately know the identities of those leaving the paper because of the way union contracts work there, and in the days that followed, journalist Alex Scoville, age 23, learned firsthand about the volatility of the process. On Monday, November 27, she was told she’d be gone from the paper within weeks, but two days later, she found out her job was safe because other veteran employees had decided to leave voluntarily.

How South Park‘s Trey Parker and Matt Stone Can Make You Immortal for $10

By Michael Roberts

Colorado-bred South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are offering fans of the Comedy Central staple what Parker describes in a new video on view below as “eternal life” for as little as $10. Specifically, folks who donate at least a sawbuck to the charity NEXT for Autism will be entered into a contest to have a character based on them be drawn into the show as one of the townspeople that have appeared in the background of scenes for more than twenty years.

Claim: Denver Is USA’s Worst City for Dating Because Mile High Bros Are Lazy

By Michael Roberts

Denver is the worst city for dating in 2017 because too many Mile High City men make little or no effort when it comes to what they’re doing, where they’re going or how they dress, speak or act during such outings. In general, these lazy slackers would just as soon hang out with their bros than treat a date like she’s special. And while this behavior exasperates plenty of women, most of these potential partners let them get away with it.