Sixteen-year-old Nicole Castaneda had one request of the supporters who gathered in front of the Denver immigration court before her hearing: to sing John Lennon’s “Imagine” because, as an advocate explained, Nicole wanted them to “imagine a world where kids could just be kids, without fear of deportation.” Nicole was…
Update: Jaime Leon Rivas, a nineteen-year-old undocumented immigrant who we wrote about last week (see below), has been released from detention, where he was awaiting deportation. On April 2, a week after his friends and family held a vigil outside the GEO immigrant detention center in Aurora on the occasion…
Libertarian politics in Colorado have always been among the most fun to watch. After all, the nation’s third-largest political party was founded in Colorado Springs 42 years ago and has attracted all kinds of colorful characters, from Lakewood City Councilman Doug Anderson, who became the first Libertarian elected to office…
Washington Park is without question one of Denver’s favorite parks. But is this status endangered by the bad behavior associated with alcohol? That’s among the assertions made in a letter by Denver City Councilman Chris Nevitt, who’s calling for a ban on alcohol in the park. Continue for more information,…
Update: Earlier today, we noted that the Republican National Committee was on the cusp of determining the finalist sites to host the Grand Old Party’s 2016 convention. Denver was one of eight contestants — and a short time ago, the Mile HIgh City made the final cut, along with Cleveland,…
“Should I write movies or work for a production company?” a fresh-faced Miguel Ali (formerly Miguel Ali Hasan) asked his professor, John Badham, the director of Short Circuit and Saturday Night Fever. Badham replied: “Go get some life experience. It will make you a better director.” So Ali did: He…
Jaime Leon Rivas turned nineteen years old yesterday. But he didn’t spend his birthday with his girlfriend, his friends or his family. No, the Summit County resident spent it inside the GEO immigrant detention center in Aurora, where his girlfriend says he’s the youngest person in the custody of federal…
It’s March Madness time, when everyone decides to create their own Sweet Sixteen matchups for everything from movies to hot dog condiments. And speaking of hot dogs, Progress Now’s 22 state affiliates have tapped twenty politicians that they consider the “most outrageous, radical, out of touch right-wingers” for their “March…
Just over three years after 21-year-old Jose Medina, a valet at the now-defunct Rockstar Lounge at 940 Lincoln Street, died after getting struck by a hit-and-run driver, Governor John Hickenlooper signed House Bill HB14-1191 into law and created the Hit and Run Medina Alert Program, the first of its kind…
Renegade Colorado crafters will be out in force this morning, delivering handmade “no thank you” cards to Attorney General John Suthers and telling him that birth control is #NotMyBossBusiness. Suthers filed a friend-of-the court brief in the Sibelious v. Hobby Lobby case, which the Supreme Court will hear today along…
Reporters generally do a lousy job of analyzing the incarceration rate in the United States — which, despite recent sentencing reforms, remains the highest in the world, with more citizens per capita behind bars than in Cuba, Rwanda or Russia. That’s why a recent report by the Prison Policy Initiative,…
We have nothing bad to say about fruits or vegetables. They are beautiful and amazing parts of this world, upstanding members of the ecosystem and, according to many sources, apparently healthy to eat. And even if we did have something bad to say about them — cauliflower, in particular –…
That car driving slowly or erratically in front of you? Odds are good the person behind the wheel is talking on a cell phone. But unless the driver is under eighteen, doing so is perfectly legal in Colorado. Representative Jovan Melton would like to change that. A new Melton-sponsored bill…
Update: Javier Gallegos Rosales, the young immigrant whose story we posted earlier today, has been granted a continuance in his deportation case. His lawyer, Hans Meyer, tells us that Gallegos Rosales is due back in court in October — and Meyer says they’ll use the extra time to strengthen their…
Alfredo Carrillo, Norma Barron and more than 150 other immigrants will attempt to cross the California-Mexico border today as part of #BringThemHome, an effort being led by the National Immigrant Youth Alliance. The purpose? To reunite family members who’ve been separated by deportation and other immigration laws. Carrillo’s wife and…
When GQ offered to make over Colorado Congressman Jared Polis — caught on camera wearing a polo shirt with a bow tie — we couldn’t resist offering our own makeover suggestions for the Boulder Democrat. So when two Republicans recently announced they were going to join the hordes going for…
Rocker/gun-rights fan Ted Nugent is backing Tom Tancredo for governor and has even authorized a fundraising letter in which donors are entered into a contest for a new AR-15. (See it below.) But will such support cost Tancredo as much as it gains? After all, Texas gubernatorial hopeful Gregory Abbott…
Representative Jared Polis was not doing a great job of representing Colorado earlier this week, when he was spotted on the House floor wearing a bow-tie and a purple polo. Afterward, GQ offered to give him a makeover, stating in an article “Okay. Calm. Breathe. Alright, Congressman…Jared Polis of Colorado…
Should Medicaid payments for circumcision be cut off in Colorado? That’s the argument of The Whole Network, a national organization that’s encouraging its members to contact Colorado legislators who might be thinking about reinstating such funding. A network spokeswoman says the fight has taken place behind the scenes at the…
Last month, Rick Raemisch, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, decided to get a taste of his own medicine. He cuffed up and shuffled in leg shackles to an administrative segregation cell, bereft of TV or books. Sitting in solitary, listening to the noise from other cells, soon…
When she was sixteen, Aubrey Lloyd ran away from an abusive and dysfunctional home in Colorado Springs. But where she ended up was arguably worse: Lloyd was drugged, raped and then forced to work as a prostitute. On Thursday at the Capitol, she was the last speaker at an afternoon…
Under the newly re-gilted Capitol dome, lawmakers are debating budget cuts and trying to wrestle pork into and out of familiar barrels. It’s unlikely, though, that any of them are losing sleep over one burning issue that’s been a source of constant grumbling in places like Ordway, Sterling, and Buena…
