DIA today: many teepees but no reservations.

​
Press reports about Denver International Airport in the late 1990s included lots of optimistic forecasting about the arrival of a luxury hotel at the airport's doorstep by, oh, no later than 2002 or so. More than a decade later, that hotel still doesn't exist except in the minds of DIA management -- and groundbreaking just got delayed again.

The history of the Grand Non-Hotel is a study in how differently things have evolved at DIA than originally envisioned. After hotel operators balked at the expected high costs (and vacancy rates) of a property so far from town, Denver officials decided it would build and own the hotel, contracting with Westin's parent company to operate it. Then FAA concerns about the design produced more delays, followed by an uncertain/dismal economy.

Jay Vollmar

The Denver Roller Dolls (blue) battle the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls at the national derby association's Western regional tournament, hosted in Denver last October.

​ The Denver Roller Dolls -- the fourth-best roller derby league in the country, according to the Derby News Network -- have one of the best deals in derby. They've partnered with promoter AEG Live and Denver sports heavyweight Kroenke Sports Entertainment. Plus, they'll skate in a revamped 6,500-seat mini-stadium: the 1stBank Center in Broomfield.

(Read all about the Dolls' deal and that of their crosstown rivals, the fifth-in-the-nation Rocky Mountain Rollergirls, in the Westword feature "Denver's Roller Derby Rivalry Could Start the Sport Rolling Across the Country.")

And 7 p.m. tomorrow night marks their big 1stBank Center debut.

Sabrina Mitchell doesn't have a whole lot to smile about right now.

​Since the release of Denver's top-fifty-most-wanted-criminals list, we've kept you up to date with those who've been arrested:

Freddie Ray Lazzo and three others on Monday; Jharel Bobby Jones and another duo on Wednesday; and Samuel Crespin yesterday.

Today, four more: No. 16, David Bowman, No. 32, Sabrina Mitchell, No. 41, Richard LaRusso and No. 42, Raymond J. James. Unfortunately, no exciting tales of capture: Indeed, a Denver Police Department release acknowledges that three of the twelve fugitives checked off the roster thus far turned themselves in.

Look below for that release, plus photos and details about Bowman, LaRusso and James.

Isela Reyes-Talamantes pleaded guilty to trying to cover up a horrible death.

​Isela Reyes-Talamantes, 25, wasn't accused of personally killing her two-year-old son, Elijah, in 2008. But she's earned two decades in stir anyhow because, according to the Denver District Attorney's Office, she "rode around running errands for hours with her boyfriend as her 2-year-old son was dying a slow, painful death from scalding burns on his body."

The descriptions of these injuries are horrific. Three-quarters of Elijah's body was covered with burns that decimated sizable pieces of skin. Not even the bottom of his feet escaped unscathed.

The boyfriend in question, John Vigil, will be tried later this year for first-degree murder in the incident. Look below for more details, as well as a warning from Deputy District Attorney Kerri Lombardi. She says women who put their boyfriends ahead of their children, as Reyes-Talamantes has formally acknowledged doing, will go to jail.

"It'll get bushier. Trust me."

​This is the day that was in Denver bloggery.

At Mile High Report, guest blogger GreatGuessKowski notes that Kyle Orton is still the Broncos starter despite the arrival of pretty-boy Brady Quinn. The conclusion: "All you who are flush and feverish about Brady Quinn... go take a cold shower, and come back to reality... cuz 2010 is the year of the NeckBeard." Rant on!

Rocky Mountain Right declares Tea Parties losers in this week's caucuses. They're not going to like that...

Denver Egotist shares whispers about a flash-mob snowball fight at 5:55 p.m. tonight. Bring your gloves, and remember: No slushballs.

The personhood amendment is probably coming to a ballot near you.

​On Tuesday, we told you about a lawsuit over ballot-petition rules filed by attorney David Lane on behalf of advocates as varied as the Independence Institute's Jon Caldara and SAFER's Mason Tvert.

It's possible the group of plaintiffs could grow even more ideologically diverse. Gualberto Garcia Jones, director of Personhood Colorado, which is backing a new personhood amendment all but certain to reach the November 2010 ballot, notes that he was asked to be part of the suit.

At the time, Garcia Jones was too busy overseeing the gathering of signatures for the personhood initiative to even read the document. Now, however, he said his group is likely to either join this effort or file a separate lawsuit over rules involving notaries that he sees as responsible for Personhood Colorado initially falling short of the required signature threshold.

Jessica Corry wants to meet you for lunch, Agent Sweetin.

​Yesterday, we published an extended interview with DEA special agent Jeffrey Sweetin, a lightning rod for controversy about medical marijuana. Predictably, some of his assertions about the DEA's actions troubled Jessica Corry, an attorney and medical marijuana advocate.

But along with her criticisms, Corry, the wife of fellow attorney/advocate Rob Corry, also saw some positives in Sweetin's rhetoric, which was far less strident than in some previous interviews.

"Sweetin's had a radical change in tone, and he seems to have an emerging interest in having a dialogue -- and we invite that," Corry says. "Rob's going to try to invite him to lunch."

​I always liked Georgetown. Pretty campus, cool uniforms, lots of history -- what else do you need to know about a team to deem it Elite Eight-bound?

But then the tournament started, and Georgetown decided to wet itself against a team that, eighteen hours later, I can't even remember their colors. And just like that, the annual crumbling of brackets everywhere was underway.

Kenny Be

​
"You think my support of the Health Care Reform Bill will jeopardize my re-election? Well, just what do you know about anything? I can tell you this, what you don't know, Mr. Sirota, could fill a book. Make that two books, a blog and a three-hour daily radio show."

The late, great Alex Chilton.

​Mighty few semi-obscure musicians earn a full-scale obituary on National Public Radio -- but that's what happened yesterday in the case of Alex Chilton, who died at age 59.

Chilton had one major chart hit -- "The Letter," released in 1967 when he was a member of the Box Tops. But his impact has been much larger that his one-hit-wonder status implies, particularly when it comes to a subsequent group, Big Star. That band's "In the Street" became the theme song for That '70s Show, and an episode of How I Met Your Mother was graced by "Thirteen," one of the loveliest rock ballads ever written -- just two of countless pop-cultural references.

Fortunately, I got a chance to interview Chilton back in 1991, prior to the launch of Westword's online archives. The piece captures the anti-show-biz part of his character; he was scheduled to do an interview to advance a local appearance, but he didn't phone until a week past deadline, having missed the messages because he was living in a tent. Look below for the article, appearing online for the first time: