“The entire unfolding of these events was a shock for us. Matthew had never expressed a desire for violence toward anybody. We had no idea he had ownership of weapons or any plan.” That’s Ronald Murray, the neurosurgeon father of New Life Church gunman Matthew Murray, expressing his bewilderment on…

Despite my repeated pleas, a people’s poll and the work of the good folks at nodinger.org, Dinger, the Colorado Rockies’ insipid dinosaur mascot, somehow survived the last season, and is once again ready to bare his belly at Coors Field. The Washington Nationals have the right idea – they’re keeping…

I have a date with Mike Jones. Actually, it’s a threesome – with Paula Woodward. Tomorrow night, Jones, the gay escort/masseuse who made headlines in November 2006 when he revealed the identity of one of his regulars, will take the stage in Naked Before God: Exposing the Hypocrisy of Ted…

Back in 1982, Sandy Widener, one of Westword’s co-founders who by then had gone on to far more respectable employment with Rocky Mountain Magazine, was charged with coming up with a campaign slogan for Federico Pena, a lawyer/legislator and very dark-horse candidate running for mayor of Denver. John Parr, Sandy’s…

It’s no secret that police are logging onto MySpace to dig up incriminating information for criminal investigations. But who would’ve thought that cops are actually getting ON MySpace? Check out the official social networking page for the Denver Police Department that was registered last December. It not only has a…

“Is this your first time dining with us?” she asks, smiling. In response, I just bob my head like a moron—completely gone on whatever weird cocktail of hormones and brain chemicals it is that makes a grown man fall in love with a menu, with nothing more than words on…

Originally, my review of Agave Grill was supposed to be a two-fer — a kind of culinary Entebbe Raid whereby Laura and I would roll in fast on slow nights to the King Soopers plaza at Orchard and Holly, where both Agave and Mel’s Greenwood Village incarnation are located, have…

In December, I boarded an airplane bound for Haiti with Dan Jeune, a man who’d just worn a dashiki through Denver International Airport. Since back in my days at j-school, before I was ever paid to write a word, Haiti was a spot I’d hoped to go on a story…

Since writing my column about “Ana,” the faux-pregnant grifter poisoning this city’s fine streets, I have been inundated with many letters and countless comments from people who also fell victim to this scam-artist’s ruse – and not just in the Baker neighborhood – all expressing the same disbelief and frustration…

About three weeks ago, Chad Clevenger put Agave Grill through a mid-season menu overhaul, altering or outright dumping about two-thirds of the opening board. While the result could have been a return to the mixed Chihuahua-meets-Lyon Old World/New World fusion of the Cherry Creek Mel’s during Clevenger’s days there, he…

Crepes ‘n Crepes is uncompromisingly, unabashedly and unstintingly French. The cooks are French. Owners Kathy Knight and Alain Veratti have imported all their iron crepe griddles from France. The ingredients and preparations — the Camembert and Chambord, ratatouille and sauce aux champignons — are French. And the space itself –…

As reported in this story, Life Skills Center of Denver is the last chance at a high school diploma for many Denver dropouts. And now, thanks to the board of Denver Public Schools, the charter school is getting one last chance of its own…