Video below.

This week's cover story, "The Insider," profiles Colorado Oil and Gas Association president Tisha Schuller, whose efforts to defend her industry's strong presence in the state have been made tougher by the fallout from Josh Fox's antifracking documentary Gasland. That film "has really changed the conversation" about using hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and gas," Schuller admits -- especially a scene showing a Fort Lupton homeowner setting his tap water on fire.

More »

Big photos below.

Last month, Cardhub.com compiled a list of the ten worst travel cities for summer 2013 that didn't feature Denver -- because it was deemed the finest.

Now, the company has ranked the best -- and worst -- cities to work for a small business in, and Denver's is number one again. But of which list? Find out below, where we feature the top five in each category, complete with photos and text from Cardhub. Let the countdown begin.

More »

Big photos below.

Colorado's gun-control laws, which include a ban on magazines that can hold more than fifteen rounds, are under fire from numerous foes, including 55 Colorado sheriffs suing to stop them. Now, Magpul Industries, a weaponry business based in Erie, has announced that it will donate proceeds from the sale of two magazines -- "Free Colorado" and "Boulder Airlift," both of which hold thirty rounds -- to fight gun-control laws here and beyond. And while the mags quickly sold out, more are on the way.

More »

Legislators working on bills pertaining to Amendment 64 nearly passed a repeal measure aimed at retail sales of recreational pot in part over fears that taxes modest enough for voters to approve might not cover costs. But a document revealing retail sales and state sales taxes in fiscal year 2012 (see it below) suggest such concerns may be misplaced. The state collected well over $5 million on sales of more than $199 million on medical marijuana alone over that span, at a rate much lower than the one approved by the legislature.

More »

The City of Longmont has been criticized and sued -- once by the state, once by the Colorado Oil and Gas Association -- over its citizens' decision last fall to ban fracking within the city limits. That's discouraged other local governments along the Front Range that have been thinking about getting tough on oil and gas drilling in their backyards, too. But it hasn't scared a group of activists in Loveland, who are pushing for a two-year moratorium on the practice despite reluctance from town leaders to enter the fray.

More »

This week's feature, "The Dogs of War," reports on the ongoing campaign to manage -- and, in some cases, exterminate with poison -- prairie dog colonies in the emerging Stapleton community. Master developer Forest City and city park managers are battling to protect natural-looking (but not quite natural) open space areas from being overrun with the rodents, a keystone species of the shortgrass prairie ecosystem, while touting the development as a "return to Denver's natural heritage as a city established on the prairie."

More »

Trixie will make you pay.

Oh, Frontier! You went from being our homegrown alternative to the big bad airways to being one of our least favorite ways to fly. From the fees to the discontinuation of our cookies to your chipmunk identification problems, squeezing our asses into your tiny little seats now makes us sad every time we are forced to fly with you. And last week, you made things worse by jamming new fees down our throats under the guise of making customer service improvements.

More »

A new developer will take over the stalled Gaylord hotel project in Aurora, which won an estimated $81.4 million tax rebate from the state last year before hospitality giant Gaylord Entertainment announced it was restructuring -- and that building the 1,500-room hotel and conference center here wasn't in its plans.

But will the City of Aurora, which won the sought-after sales-tax rebate for the project, have to reapply to the Colorado Economic Development Commission for the money? No, say state and city officials.

More »

Big photo below.

When the Slow Food idea began back in 1986 in Italy, it was simply another innovative concept regarding sustainable agriculture. But as its founder, Carlo Petrini, continued to build a following and expound on the potential benefits of stopping the spread of fast food, the concept caught fire and turned from a concept into a reality. Today, there are Slow Food chapters all over the world -- in 170 countries, according to Petrini -- including eight chapters alone in Colorado. But is food the only thing that can benefit from slowing down? How about money, too?

More »

Photos, video below.

If you're looking for a crash course in how to be annoying, you could do worse than study the guerrilla tactics of Colorado Extraction Resistance, a group of activists bent on chafing the thick hides of energy interests who rely on hydraulic fracturing methods to drill for oil and gas. The group infiltrated a major industry gathering in downtown Denver last week, to noisy effect -- generating an online account of the affair that concludes, "It was much easier than you might think. All you need is fancy clothes, a few days for planning, and a little bit of raw nerve."

More »