This week's Cannabis Time Capsule, which stems from Ouray and goes all the way back to 1910, shows what might be the modern origins of stoner lore that the word "assassin" stems from hashish.

According to legend, hash-stoned mercenaries carried out murders for their blood-thirsty ruler in exchange for more ganja.

So is it true? Partly -- but it's not what you'd describe as "accurate."

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Dobson.

Yesterday, we posted about claims by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson that the IRS had discriminated against one of his other operations for political reasons. This alleged mistreatment put Dobson back in the public eye, and his reappearance took one of our readers by surprise.

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Charles Woodson.

Denver blog posts are voice-activated.

Mile High Report's Bronco Mike digs into the team and roster implications that will face the Broncos if they add Charles Woodson, who visited Denver on Wednesday -- and is slated to stop in Oakland next week.

Denver Urbanism's Ryan Mulligan: "East Rail Line crews have begun laying the first sections of ballasted track!"

Denver PR Blog: #Triathalonfail.

More photos below.

On the Schmuck of the Week beat, figuring out who's the schmuck turns out to be more of a challenge than it might seem at first blush.

The arrest of Fountain police officer Daniel Barkus on a stalking charge is a case in point. Based on the information that's surfaced thus far, it's difficult to tell if he did something wrong or if he's simply the victim of a big misunderstanding, albeit a high-profile one, due to his association with the reality TV series Prospectors and its sexy star, Amanda Adkins.

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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 dismaying state corrections officials, already reeling from parole snafus and the murder of prison chief Tom Clements.

It may also be more than slightly misleading.

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Outside Union Station.

Things have gotten hot at Union Station, where two model-train clubs are scrambling to find new spaces for their train layouts, which have occupied space in the basement for decades. Although both groups had been told in the fall of 2011 that the layouts could remain through the remodeling job, and then reopen along with the transformed building in the summer of 2014 -- they were recently told they needed to move. Permanently. And Union Station got really hot this morning, when a truck in front caught fire, sending flames towards the building's historic ornamentation.

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Big photos below.

A Montbello High student who says a schoolmate, nineteen-year-old Paris Bonds, tried to sexually assault her was so traumatized by what took place that she sought therapy before she reported the alleged crime to police.

But with the therapist's encouragement, the young woman contacted the Denver PD weeks after the disturbing incident happened. As a result, Bonds has now been formally charged with three counts, including two felonies. Details below.

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More photos below.

The campaign to either save Nathan Dunlap from the death penalty or execute the man convicted of four brutal murders at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in 1993 has turned into something of a public-relations competition. As the Arapahoe District Attorney's Office continues to dole out statements from victims and associates who believe he deserves the ultimate punishment, Dunlap's advocates are working to humanize him even as they emphasize broad support for Governor John Hickenlooper to alter his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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Marijuana addiction specialist Dr. Christian Thurstone conjured images like the one seen here when, earlier this week, he shared what he sees as evidence of weed users searching for bigger and bigger highs -- and added his fear that such people may soon turn to injecting THC, the active ingredient in pot.

Dr. Bob Melamede, among the country's most vocal advocates for the medicinal benefits of cannabis, pulls no punches when asked his opinion about such a prospect. "This is nonsense," he says. "It's idiotic."

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Maps, videos below.

On May 17, 2009, The Latest Word launched the Mile High Murderarchive. Today marks MHM's fourth anniversary, and as is clear from the following compilation of cases we've covered over the previous 365 days, it's been a very grim year.

Example: Last year on this date, the archive's total was 49. This year, it's 77 -- so many that in order to include interactive maps, videos or photos from each, we had to break the list into two sections. See part two below, and click to access part one.

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Maps, videos below.

On May 17, 2009, The Latest Word launched the Mile High Murder archive. Today marks MHM's fourth anniversary, and as is clear from the cases we've covered over the previous 365 days, it's been a very grim year.

Example: Last year on this date, the archive's total was 49. This year, it's 77 -- so many that in order to include interactive maps, videos or photos from each, we had to break the list into two sections. See part one below and click to access part two.

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Dr. Bang Bang. More pics below.

This week's feature, "Paging Doctor Bang Bang," tells the story of Kimmy Kimmy Bang Bang, a.k.a. Kim Wilms, a foot-and-ankle surgeon by profession and a badass blocker and jammer on the track with the Denver Roller Dolls. Wilms doubles as the roller derby league's unofficial in-house doctor, assisting skaters with the sprains and bruises that come with playing the fast-paced contact sport. Over the past two years, she's also operated on several skaters' broken ankles.

Some of the injuries were especially gruesome -- and we've collected photos of them for you, dear reader.

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More photos below.

On a day when representatives of more than fifty county sheriffs will hold a news conference announcing a lawsuit against Colorado's new gun-control laws comes a tragic reminder of how dangerous semi-automatic weapons can be -- even to those who own them.

The victim: Anastasia Adair, 22, who appears to have shot and killed herself while showing off her new assault rifle, thought to be an AK-47.

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Green Cross of Cherry Creek is in an old three-story office building; Green Cross is on the second floor, along with a nail salon that I'm sure at least a few stoners have absentmindedly walked into before getting a whiff of acrylic nail polish instead of skunk.

I say that based on the look of "Not again" on the faces of the three old Asian ladies in the nail shop as they stopped talking and simultaneously stared up at me before turning back to each other while I turned and walked out the door.

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Yesterday, Dr. Christian Thurstone told us he fears marijuana users in search of bigger and bigger highs may soon turn to injecting THC. Lots of readers weighed in on this possibility, with the one highlighted here speculating about what kind of people would, and wouldn't, give THC injection a shot, as it were.

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Laura McKeeman.

Denver blog posts are getting hot and bothered.

South Stands Denver's Luke Binder admires Rockies' player Josh Rutledge -- especially for his luck at landing his girlfriend, former Miss Florida/current Fox Sports reporter Laura McKeeman.

Denver Egotist on a lawsuit filed by Boulder's Moxie Sozo.

Denver Infill's Ken Schroeppel on this weekend's Union Station tour.

James Dobson.

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, James Dobson, founder of Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, has stepped forward to say his latest organization was targeted, too, even though the words "Tea Party" appear nowhere in its moniker.

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Big photos below.

On May 1, Adams County commissioners and other elected leaders gave Mayor Michael Hancock a week to provide a list of "tangible benefits" they would realize from Denver's plans to push forward with development around Denver International Airport. Hancock responded with a letter saying their demand had an "unrealistic deadline" -- which means the Adams County officials won't have their answers in time for today's meeting of the Airport Consultation Committee. So we're offering this starter set of five very tangible benefits:

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Big photos below.

Want proof there was a lot of pent-up demand for civil unions? According to Denver's Office of the Clerk and Recorder, the city issued 255 civil union licenses during the first two weeks of May, as compared to 245 marriage licenses.

Granted, 114 of the civil-union licenses were issued during Denver's May 1 midnight civil-unions event. Our Kyle Huninghake was on hand to capture images of the love. Check out highlights below and click to see our complete "Denver's First Civil Unions" slide show.

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More photos below.

Yesterday, we reported about 7News' story on the rate of sex-assault prosecutions under Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, whose on-camera ripping of reporter Keli Rabon was included online; see our original coverage below.

Since then, the tensions between the DA's office and the station have only risen, with the former publishing a list of alleged inaccuracies and omissions from the report, and 7News rebutting each and including documentation to back up its claims.

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