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Jeanette Vizguerra Named One of Time‘s 100 Most Influential People

Time magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world was just announced, and it includes someone in Denver who has been making international headlines lately: Jeanette Vizguerra. Vizguerra is a well-known activist and undocumented mother of four who has taken sanctuary at the First Unitarian Society in...
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How Dancing With Drunk Woman Led to Young Dad Christopher Bryant’s Murder

Four years after the brutal murder of 22-year-old Christopher Bryant Jr. outside an Aurora sports bar and the serious wounding of his friend, Demetrey Adams, the last of three people charged in the shooting has finally been sentenced. Daeshaun Howard, who is now 22, is the second conspirator to be given life without the possibility of parole for a crime that prosecutors say took place after Bryant danced with a woman who'd been with Howard and company.
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Denver Cruisers to Replace Iconic Weekly Rides With Monthly Events

Since its founding in 2005, the Denver Cruiser Ride has sponsored bicycle rides in the Mile High City that doubled as rolling costume parties every Wednesday throughout the summer. But for 2017, DCR founder Brad Evans has announced that the weekly rides will be replaced with five monthly events. In the meantime, he's launching two new projects: Bike City, a cycling advocacy group, and happy hour meetups called City Spark that he sees as a way to bring together veteran Cruisers, longtime residents and folks who've just moved to the area to build a larger and more cohesive community.
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100 Colorado Creatives 3.0: Jeffrey Keith

A longtime member of the Denver art community, Jeffrey Keith is a painter with an astute ability to assimilate free brushstrokes into tightly constructed, color-conscious compositions. A teacher at the University of Denver, he's curated the Storm Warning, which is the focus of an April 13 symposium.
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“Happy Accident” at Distillery 291 Results in a Spicy New Whiskey

Colorado Springs whiskey maker Distillery 291 recently released a new spirit that was created — literally — by accident. An unexpected doubling of the amount of rye in the process of making the distillery's flagship Colorado Bourbon Whiskey resulted in a whiskey with a spicier flavor than originally planned. Owner...
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Prison Deaths and Hepatitis C: A Health Crisis Behind Bars

Through an open records request, Westword  obtained records for fifteen years (2001-2016) on causes of death that the Colorado Department of Corrections submits to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Close to twenty percent of the deaths during that period were attributed to "end stage liver disease" or related illnesses.
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No Discipline for Jessie Hernandez-Killing Cops: Lawyer on Respect, Possible Suit

Just shy of two years after a pair of Denver police officers shot and killed seventeen-year-old Jessie Hernandez while she was behind the wheel of a stolen car, the department for which they work has announced that they will face no discipline in the controversial case, since their actions didn't violate policy about firing into a moving vehicle in place at the time of the incident.
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U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Masterpiece Cakeshop Gay Discrimination Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether Denver's Masterpiece Cakeshop discriminated against a gay couple, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, by refusing to make them a wedding cake just over a year after the case was rejected by the Colorado Supreme Court. Attorneys for Masterpiece owner Jack Phillips argue that a Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruling in favor of Craig and Mullins violated his rights as an artist not to create works that violate his personal beliefs, and they may find a find that Neil Gorsuch, a Coloradan who ruled in favor of religious freedom in an important case prior to being appointed to the Supreme Court, has sympathy for this view.
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Judge Blasts Orgy House Sex Assaulter Sean Crumpler for “Alternative Lifestyle”

Sean Crumpler, who pleaded guilty in March to multiple sex-trafficking counts related to underage boys living at what's been characterized as an orgy house, has now been sentenced to fifty years in prison. In asking for this lengthy punishment, prosecutors rejected any suggestion that Crumpler was taking part in an acceptable alternative lifestyle, and so did the judge in the case, who branded his actions "despicable."
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Longer Suspension for Sexy Text Than for Killing Michael Marshall

Attorneys and family members of Michael Lee Marshall, who died in Denver jail circa November 2015, call discipline imposed on two deputies and a supervisor over the incident incredibly insufficient. And indeed, previous suspensions of Denver law enforcers in cases that didn't lead to death, including actions involving a sexually explicit text, flashing a badge to get faster restaurant service and more, were as long or longer than those handed out in regard to Marshall's passing.
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Colorado’s New Prison-Gang Program Draws From Inmate Efforts

Over much of the past decade, several inmates in a Colorado prison developed a series of revolutionary programs that challenged the way most correctional facilities handle gang violence. Their approach was so successful that Colorado Department of Corrections administrators are now using some of their ideas for their own new prison-gang program.
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TDA_Boulder Ad Agency Creates Custom Strains for Denver’s Creative Class

TDA_Boulder has no problems with its employees getting high — for the sake of creativity. The advertising agency partnered with grower Colorado Kind to create three specific strains of weed for "The Fifty," the 2017 theme for the Denver Ad Club's annual awards show. Each strain was tailored to aid different personality types in the advertising profession.
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Inside Philippa McCully Jail Lawsuit, Tie to Sheriff Terry Maketa Sex Scandal

College coed Philippa "Pippa" McCully's lawsuit claims that she was badly injured during a bizarre excessive-force episode at the El Paso County jail and then refused medical treatment for a knee injury severe enough to startle the team doctor for the Miami Dolphins. Video of the incident appears to confirm much of McCully's account. But her attorney says the case has dragged on for more than a year in part because it took place during the administration of former El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, a lawsuit defendant whose recent indictment on felony charges that include extortion and official misconduct arising from an alleged sex scandal involving at least three employees has complicated the situation immeasurably.
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The Mystery of 1,600 People (or More) Who’ve Gone Missing on Public Land

Approximately 1,600 people, and perhaps many more, have gone missing on public lands, according to sources cited in a fascinating new article from Outside magazine. The piece prominently highlights two tragic Colorado cases covered in this space, involving Joe Keller and Dale Stehling. Regis University instructor Heidi Streetman, also took part in the article, and she tells us that progress is being made toward her goal of creating a national database that could help solve such mysteries.
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Rachel Dewey Killed Skiing in Colorado, Death Won’t Count Toward Total

Rachel Dewey, a 48-year-old middle-school teacher, part-time professor and mother of three teenage boys, was killed skiing on Pikes Peak's Little Italy couloir on Sunday, March 19. However, her death will not add to the number of skiing casualties in Colorado during the 2016-2017 season, which has already surpassed last year's total.