It’s no secret that private, for-profit prison operators such as Corrections Corporation of America pay their employees far less than what correctional officers earn in the public sector. But Republican state senators have managed to put thousands of state workers on their guard, as it were, by suggesting that the…
Update to our update, July 18, 4:10 pm: In response to Judge Robert Hyatt’s ruling, below, Governor John Hickenlooper has signed an executive order designating September, 10, 2013, as the date for the recall elections of state senators John Morse and Angela Giron. “We appreciate that the court acknowledged we…
The acquittal of George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of Florida teen Trayvon Martin has sparked protests and prayer vigils and a seemingly endless discussion about race and guns, self-defense laws and justice in America. One of the oddest responses to cross our desk comes in the form of an…
The Denver District Attorney’s Office is still sorting out its response to a fatal shooting on South Glencoe Street last week. It may well be that the death of 29-year-old Charles McLaughlin, who allegedly fought with the male occupant of a home and attempted entry before he was shot, is…
The language is similar, to some extent, and both laws were intended to clarify a person’s right to self-defense. But there’s a world of difference between Colorado’s 28-year-old home- protection statute, commonly known as the “Make My Day” law, and Florida’s 2005 “Stand Your Ground” law, which has been a…
The cynics among us have long believed that elected officials tend to be treated better by the law than the rest of us — and now, they have more evidence to bolster that theory. A new report reveals that state legislators are exempted from the current photo-radar system because of…
Today, Clarisa Mesta joined the ranks of undocumented immigrants who have successfully stopped their deportations after speaking publicly about their cases. Before her hearing in Denver’s immigration court this afternoon, the mother of three addressed a small crowd gathered on the sidewalk. “My name is Clarisa Mesta,” she said into…
At 10 a.m. on Monday, July 15, Mayor Michael Hancock will deliver his annual State of the City, this time at the Forney Transportation Museum, right by the Denver Coliseum, at 4303 Brighton Boulevard. The Forney was once in the old Tramway building that’s now home to the flagship REI…
“He dragged the rose down her chin, her neck, and tortured her, dragging it down between her breasts, her belly and across the top of her panties. She moved, arched, ached for more.” A scene in Fifty Shades of Grey? Nope. The passage is from 2004’s Beantown Heat, written by…
“This is not a protest!” exclaimed Ryan Tuleja, one of several dozen Second Amendment defenders who gathered outside the Colorado State Capitol on the day a ban of high-capacity magazines went into effect. And he was right. The event was more of an act of civil disobedience, with people in…
A decision today by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals could have a positive effect on the deportation case of Imelda Valenzuela Gonzalez, whose story we told in this week’s feature, “Out of the Shadows.” The appeals court ruled that an undocumented immigrant named Elia Ibarra should not be considered…
What would the immigration reform bill passed by the U.S. Senate yesterday mean for undocumented immigrants who are already in deportation proceedings — such as those featured in our cover story, “Out of the Shadows”? According to the office of Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, who is one of the “Gang…
Last month, Colorado’s legislature passed a hemp-farming registry bill that Governor John Hickenlooper signed into law. But can hemp escape the role of marijuana’s sober sister on a national scale? A new development gives it the best chance of doing so in ages. Colorado Representative Jared Polis was among legislators…
Can an elected coroner be held liable for the destruction of key evidence — a piece of a dead man’s aorta — needed in a medical malpractice lawsuit? That’s the six-figure question at the heart of a federal claim against Adams County and James Hibbard, its former coroner. Hibbard hasn’t…
There was an uproar immediately after Governor John Hickenlooper granted a temporary reprieve to Nathan Dunlap, the condemned killer who murdered four people and badly injured a fifth in 1993 — and not just from critics like Colorado Attorney General John Suthers or Tom Tancredo, who said he’s running for…
How unhappy is Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway about the political direction in which Colorado is heading? So unhappy that he and several of his colleagues are gathering support among officials in other nearby counties to form what he calls the “51st Star Committee.” Its mission: to secede from Colorado…
Governor John Hickenlooper’s decision to grant a temporary reprieve to Nathan Dunlap, who killed four people and seriously wounded a fifth in an attack on a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant circa 1993, has been cheered in some quarters, but jeered in others. Tom Tancredo decided to run for governor due…
Moments ago, during an appearance on Peter Boyles’s KHOW talk show (and while surrounded by TV cameras), former Congressman Tom Tancredo announced that he’s running for governor…again. “I announced 5 minutes ago my intention to seek the Republican nomination for Governor of Colorado and look forward to fighting for jobs,…
A new government report on the rate of sexual victimization in America’s jails and prisons lists the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility as having the highest rate of sexual assault and misconduct by staff of any lockup in the nation — four times the national average, in fact. That figure is…
Yesterday in this space, we noted that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder may not have time to weigh in on Colorado marijuana laws because of two mushrooming scandals — one of them involving reports that the Internal Revenue Service placed extra scrutiny on Tea Party groups seeking nonprofit status. Now,…
Troy Anderson, a mentally ill inmate at Colorado’s supermax prison, won a landmark decision last summer when a federal judge ruled he’s entitled to at least three hours a week of fresh air and outdoor exercise. Now, Anderson’s attorneys claim Department of Corrections officials have failed to comply with several…
A bill that would bar Colorado private probation companies from also providing chemical dependency treatment to an individual client has failed for the second year in a row. The question at the center of our cover story, “Blow Back,” was whether providing both services was a conflict of interest. Lawmakers…
