Denver News Blog

Dan Tang

​This morning, prominent Thornton restaurant owner Dan Tang pled guilty to one count of money laundering for his role in what investigators labeled the "Dan Tang Drug Trafficking Organization."

When authorities took down the drug ring in February 2008, they came away with 24,000 marijuana plants growing in 25 suburban homes, along with $3 million in cash and more than $1 million of growing equipment.

Operation Fortune Cookie was the largest indoor marijuana bust in state history -- but behind the scenes, the investigation began to fall apart soon after the arrests. A tip-off letter had alerted the drug ring about the investigation, and afterward, the DEA launched a rancorous internal investigation into the North Metro Task Force, the police agency that started the case, looking for the leak. The results of the lengthy inquiry were never released, but in the year following the bust, half of the eighteen-member task force left or were reassigned.

Paper or plastic?

​Still no official response from United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 about this week's "last, best and final" contract proposals from King Soopers and Safeway. But several employees posting on the Facebook page linked to the union's AlwaysHereForColorado.com site don't seem to have been won over by the most unusual aspect of the offers: "bonus ratification" gift cards of between $150 and $1,000, depending on position.

"The gift card is a BRIBE! They are taking your money twice! by giving you a gift card for the store, then not giving raises and TAKING PENSION AND FUNERAL EXPENSES AWAY!," declares one poster. Another writes, "WOW... this is the most pathetic thing I have heard... 8 years of my life and I get a $400 gift card." And a third notes, "If the workers hold out, maybe they'll throw in a frozen turkey, too..."

Happy Thanksgiving.

Councilman Chris Nevitt doesn't want to give dispensaries an excuse to start buying from bad guys.

​While some officials seem to see the ongoing medical-marijuana boom as a threat to all that's good and strong and true about our fair state, Denver city councilman Chris Nevitt is focusing on the practical questions that arise from the issue.

Earlier this month, Nevitt talked about regulating dispensary food products that contain marijuana, among other things. But he wants to make sure rules placed on medical-marijuana purveyors aren't so onerous that they cause precipitous price increases -- a development that might cause entrepreneurs to give their business to drug dealers rather than more legitimate sources.

"For everybody who wants to participate in the medical-marijuana industry, we don't want them to be tempted to go the illegal route," he says.

At least you didn't get blown out this time, Dan.

​If moral victories mattered at this point (which they don't), CU's 31-28 loss to Oklahoma State last night would definitely qualify.

Yes, I know: OSU was without starting quarterback (and Chatfield High School alum) Zac Robinson, and the squad's been mildly overrated all season long, making its ranking as the twelfth best team in the country a bit suspect. But given its season to date, CU still shouldn't have been able to stick with the Cowboys, particularly with practically no rushing game. Somehow, though, the Buffs managed to go into halftime with a lead, and at one point actually held an eleven-point advantage before slowly succumbing to the inevitable.

After the game, QB Tyler Hansen, who suffered a bruised thumb that resulted in another unwanted Cody Hawkins sighting, acted as if Dan Hawkins career as CU coach didn't end for all intents and purposes several weeks ago: "We always get told that Coach Hawkins is solid right now. His job is pretty certain. He's going to be here," he said.

Doubt that in a huge way -- but some of the players Hawkins'll leave behind, including Hansen and receiver Markques Simas, have some significant upside. That probably won't be enough to convince a big-name coach that this mess can be cleaned up in a reasonable amount of time -- certainly not Mike Shanahan. But a coach who stresses offensive line play, overall discipline and other fundamentals could right this ship more quickly than CU's 3-8 mark implies.

That's what passes for optimism regarding CU football these days...

Obama meets Sambo? Click the photo to enlarge the image.

​So... whaddya think? Is this billboard, on display outside Wolf Interstate Leasing & Sales, 4855 Miller Street in Wheat Ridge, a bold (and legitimate) statement of displeasure with the Obama administration that has the guts to link the shootings in Fort Hood, Texas, with Islamoterrorism? Or is it an offensive throwback to the Little Black Sambo imagery that typified race baiting for far too much of the 20th century?

The general manager of the dealership says the man behind the message is Phil Wolf, who supplied billboard space for "Where's the Birth Certificate?" signage on I-70 backed by KHOW's Peter Boyles. He's currently in Seattle, but I've left a message on his cell phone and will update this post when and if he returns the call. His phone may be ringing more as the day goes on; David Sirota discussed the subject on AM-760 this morning, and there's a thread dedicated to it on the Daily Kos.

It's definitely a conversation-starter -- and probably an argument-starter, too.

Nicole strikes a pose with "Top Model" host Tyra Banks.

​On Wednesday night, Louisville's own Nicole Fox was named the winner of America's Next Top Model. (Relive the season by visiting our recap archive.) That meant a day spent yesterday meeting the press -- and while she was open about sharing her social ineptitude on camera, she's anything but awkward in conversation.

In fact, Fox explodes every sexist stereotype about models being vapid and vacuous. The CU sophomore proves to be extremely bright and witty in a Q&A on view in its entirety below:

Stephanie Villafuerte has a new strategy in her quest to become a U.S. Attorney.

​The nomination as U.S.Attorney of Stephanie Villafuerte hasn't gone nearly as smoothly as the Obama administration would like, due largely to accusations that she was involved in the political accessing of a federal database during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign -- the very act for which former ICE agent Cory Voorhis was sacked.

In October, Evan Dreyer, spokesman for Governor Bill Ritter, Villafuerte's former boss in the Denver District Attorneys Office, told the Denver Post that she would likely not answer questions about this matter until after her confirmation -- but yesterday, that strategy changed. A letter she sent to Senator Mark Udall was released to the public. In the missive, which can be read in its entirety below, she denies any wrongdoing in a way that's designed to squelch the controversy.

Not going to happen -- but from a political standpoint, it could be an effective move.

"Can't we all just get along?"

​Political observers have spent a lot of time har-dee-har-ing at Scott McInnis over the years -- and indeed, he's made plenty of errors and gaffes during his time in the public eye.

Note his prediction that fellow Republican Bob Schaffer would lose the 2008 Senate race to Mark Udall -- and that he would have won -- in the days before the election took place; the use of a non-Colorado mountain as the centerpiece of his gubernatorial campaign website; and a hilarious meltdown while being quizzed by KHOW's Dan Caplis, who seemingly has never met a member of the GOP he doesn't love.

But we may have underestimated Scotty M.

Wolfgang Volz, copyright Christo 2007

This is what the Arkansas River wrap might look like -- if it ever happens.

​Today's sudden death of Jeanne-Claude -- wife of fellow artist Christo, and his principal collaborator -- prompted expressions of condolence from a range of Colorado officials, including Governor Bill Ritter, Senator Gail Schwartz and Denver mayor John Hickenlooper. The reason (other than that they thought it'd be a nice thing to do): Her passing immediately calls into question the future of "Over the River," a massive, $50 million project that imagines six miles of silver fabric draped over the Arkansas River between Canon City and Salida.

The statement attributed to Ritter says Christo is dedicated to completing this work despite Jeanne-Claude's death, but actually making it happen would have been a challenge even if she'd remained in perfect health. For more, check out blogs by Alan Prendergast here and here -- and look below for what Ritter, Schwatz and Hickenlooper had to say:

Tom Tancredo has gone from fully intending to run for governor to entertaining the possibility of backing Scott McInnis.

​A lot's happened in Tom Tancredo's world during the past week.

Last Thursday, Tancredo said in this space, "I fully intend to run" for governor in 2010, adding that he planned to formally announce his intentions once he took care of some housekeeping matters. He also confirmed that he was considering a campaign because his candidate of choice, state senator Josh Penry, had dropped out. And while he didn't take the opportunity to attack Republican frontrunner Scott McInnis, who he's criticized in the past, he said the party was "looking for its soul, and I think it's looking in all the wrong places."

Since then, Tancredo's heard "lots of nice comments" about a potential gubernatorial bid "when I walk through the mall. Although I know that for everybody who comes up and says, 'Go, Tom, go!,' there are probably five people who passed me by saying, 'Go to hell, Tom Tancredo!'" Still, he confirms that he may stay out of the governor's race if conversations he's having with numerous parties, including folks from the McInnis camp, adequately address his concerns about offering a truly conservative agenda.

Mike Shanahan is a wanted man.

​It only took a day for evidence that speculation about Mike Shanahan following the doomed Dan Hawkins as head coach for CU to crumble.

NFL.com's Vic Carucci reports that Shanny's likely to talk next week with the braintrust of the Buffalo Bills, who just sacked Dick Jauron. Carucci points out that the Washington Redskins have been rumored to want Shanahan's services, too, but a "source close to the Bills" says he's "intrigued by the 'low-maintenance' situation he would have in Buffalo as opposed to Washington," where owner Daniel Snyder is basically an Al Davis-in-training when it comes to interference.

There's no guarantee Shanahan will take the Buffalo position if offered -- although, having dealt with Brandon Marshall, he'd have a leg-up when it comes to handling the Bills' most notable sideline-and-locker-room challenge, Terrell Owens. But the entreaty demonstrates that Big Mike has oodles of options more attractive than trying to put CU back together again.

Stan Garnett and Jann Scott: e-mail buddies?

​Beware of sending an e-mail to Jann Scott. The longtime public-access gadfly (profiled by yours truly back in 1992, prior to the launch of our online archives) tends to forward his correspondence to anyone and everyone -- and that's precisely what happened in the case of an exchange about marijuana this week with Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett.

Garnett has been out front about medical marijuana: A few months back, he declared that he was "committed to having the most progressive approach to medical marijuana of any DA's office in the state." That doesn't mean he feels the process of sorting out rules and regulations regarding dispensaries and the like has run smoothly, however. He concluded his note to Scott by writing, "Essentially, my view is that MM in Colorado could be a law school case study of how not to approach such an issue."

Look below to read more of the Scott-Garnett exchange:

ICE seems determined to keep publicity about Cory Voorhis to a bare minimum.

​The saga of former ICE agent Cory Voorhis seems to get messier with each passing day.

Voorhis was dismissed from his job for allegedly accessing a federal database for political rather than law-enforcement reasons -- the very thing his supporters accuse U.S. Attorney-nominee Stephanie Villafuerte of doing. But Voorhis, who was acquitted of criminal wrongdoing in the database matter, has been ordered not to talk to the press in advance of a December 9 and 10 hearing before Merit Systems Protection Board administrative judge Jeremiah Cassidy to determine whether he should get his old position back.

The latest? Voorhis still hasn't received a chunk of back pay that was supposed to have come his way as the result of a July settlement -- and ICE reps are trying to prevent any members of the media or Voorhis supporters (aside from his wife and mother) from attending the December proceedings.

Nicole with co-finalist Laura. And now you know why Nicole won.

​Louisville's Nicole Fox has looked like the sure winner of America's Next Top Model, cycle thirteen, for weeks now, and that presented a major problem for the show. How to maintain the suspense when Nicole was clearly head and shoulders above her fellow competitors (despite being a petite five-seven)?

The producers (and editors) responded to this challenge in last night's finale by doing everything -- and I mean everything -- in their power to make it seem as if challenger Laura Kirkpatrick was going to pull off an eleventh-hour upset. In the end, justice prevailed and Nicole was deservedly named the champ, but not until after fighting off plenty of negative energy -- most of it coming from her fellow contestants.

​Update below:

Still no official comments about the "last, best and final" offers delivered to representatives of King Soopers and Safeway staffers on Monday from either the companies or the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7. But a web page for King Soopers employees features the first details of the contract proposal that have surfaced thus far.

The big news: a "ratification bonus," in gift card form, of up to $1,000 if voters approve the contract. The implication: the firms want to do anything they can to avoid a strike right before the holidays, including offering unionized workers a payoff for cooperating.

For more of King Soopers' sales pitch to workers (complete with assorted misspellings; looks like a rush job), read on:

Lt. Jerry Schiager says claims that medical marijuana hasn't increased crime aren't quite accurate.

​Among those speaking about medical marijuana at last night's Fort Collins City Council meeting was Fort Collins Police Department Lt. Jerry Schiager, commander of the Northern Colorado Drug Task Force. In his remarks, he used a handful of grabby stats to contradict claims by weed advocates that the proliferation of medical marijuana doesn't cause an increase in crime.

"There have been at least five armed robberies, seven burglaries and one kidnapping" related to marijuana in the Fort Collins area over the past year and a half or so, Schiager says. "And those are only the ones we know about."

In his opinion, there could have been a lot more.

Would a short commute be enough to convince Mike Shanahan to stay in Colorado?

​We've reached the point in the Dan Hawkins saga where no one is even pretending he can survive as coach of the CU Buffs. After this past weekend's catastrophe against the Cyclones of Iowa State, talk among members of Buffs nation has transitioned from silly discussions about bowl eligibility to fantasies about who might take Hawkins' place.

The most unlikely name to have popped up thus far? Mike Shanahan. Really.

Fort Collins councilman David Roy didn't see medical marijuana as an emergency issue.

​The word "emergency" has been bandied about frequently in relation to medical marijuana, as in the recent Board of Health meeting to change the definition of caregiver -- a decision that was subsequently tossed in Denver District Court due in part to the lack of lead time given to various stakeholders.

Last night in Fort Collins, that term cropped up again -- but the city council rejected it. Tentative approval was given to a three-month moratorium on new medical-marijuana dispensaries -- but a final decision won't be made until the next council meeting, two weeks from now, at which members of the public will have another chance to have their say.

It's been a busy couple of weeks for Denver film. For starters, we're smack in the middle of the Starz Denver Film Festival. And last week, the locally filmed cult fantasy INK received a huge publicity boost after it popped up on various torrent servers, which probably won't make a ton of money for its filmmakers but will definitely spread the word about this unique film in one of the best possible ways.

Now, another Denver-based film has a chance to reach the masses. The local flick Skills Like This comes out on DVD today.

Will grocery shoppers be seeing signs like these in the near future?

​Update below:

King Soopers and Safeway told United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 reps they'd submit their "last, best and final" offer by the end of yesterday -- and they almost missed their own deadline. Just shy of 6 p.m., UFCW rep Laura Chapin confirmed via e-mail that nothing had shown up yet. But within the next hour, the packages arrived, and Chapin confirms that workers began reviewing the material at 7 a.m. this morning.

Chapin notes that no comments will be available until after they've gotten a chance to digest the information -- and decide whether it's something they, and their membership, can swallow.

Update, 3:08 p.m.: Just spoke to UFCW spokeswoman Laura Chapin, who says meetings slated for tomorrow at which union employees were expected to vote on the aforementioned proposals from King Soopers and Safeway have been "canceled/postponed" in order to give representatives more time to analyze them.

Dr. Reefer is open for business in Boulder -- but not yet in Denver.

​In a blog published yesterday, state senator Chris Romer said this while discussing some of his ideas for regulating the medical-marijuana industry: "The medical-marijuana community isn't the only stakeholder here. Lots of suburban parents are horrified when they drive their fifteen-year-old, who they want to keep focused on high school, down Broadway past Dr. Reefer. And they'll have a say about this as well."

Turns out someone else would like to be heard, too: Dr. Reefer himself. His real name is Pierre Werner, and he's got two dispensaries on different Broadways in the area: 1121 Broadway in Boulder and 2020 S. Broadway in Denver. But while the signage is up in the Denver location, Werner's yet to open for business at that location -- and he may not due to "major problems" he's having " with politicians and what-not."

In the meantime, he's plenty frustrated by Romer and the hypothetical parent he cites. "You know what they should really be horrified about?" he asks. "They should be horrified by the billboard right across the street from me advertising Bud Light."

The Broncos' hopes rest on Kyle Orton. And no, that's not a misprint.

​Another day, another dopey Denver Post sports column about Broncos QB Kyle Orton.

First, it was Woody Paige arguing that Orton should be benched in favor of backup Chris Simms -- an idea whose stupidity was proven by Simms' ineptitude after coming in for an injured KO against the Redskins. And now, Mark Kiszla argues that if Orton doesn't play against San Diego this weekend despite an ankle injury, "he is done as the quarterback in Denver."

Are you kidding me?

"When I said, 'Put that in your pipe and smoke it,' I didn't mean it like that!"

​Attorney General John Suthers has been the high-ranking state official most likely to imply that the sky is falling in relation to medical marijuana. No wonder he cheered a Colorado Court of Appeals ruling in the Stacy Clendenin case that aimed to tighten up the description of caregiver -- one that was tossed in Denver District Court when the Board of Health tried to adopt it too hurriedly.

Betcha it pained him, then, to issue an opinion that further legitimized the medical-marijuana industry. In response to an inquiry by Governor Bill Ritter's office, Suthers conceded that "Colorado law is clear: Medical marijuana, in most instances, should be subject to state and local sales taxes."

Click here to read the opinion in its entirety. But here are the key questions and answers:

​What a difference a year makes.

Almost exactly twelve months ago, more than a hundred of Colorado's most committed marijuana activists got together for a "Colorado Marijuana Reform Seminar and Activist Boot Camp" at Regis University. They were there to plan an ambitious new political strategy for the state, or, as Brian Vicente, executive director of the drug-policy reform organization Sensible Colorado, put it during the day-long meeting, to ensure that "Colorado will be seen as the place that ended the government's ninety-year prohibition of marijuana."

That might have seemed like an impossible goal back then -- but as Vicente and his colleagues prepare to host a public marijuana-reform "Thanksgiving celebration" at the Gilmore Art Center @ Mile High Framing, 2119 Curtis Street, beginning at 6 p.m., his words have begun to have the ring of truth.

Senator Chris Romer's gone to pot as an issue -- and medical-marijuana boosters don't like all his ideas.

​Earlier today, we told you about a Boulder Daily Camera article in which Senator Chris Romer predicted that half the dispensaries in the state would go out of business if some of the ideas he has for legislation become law next year -- speculation that fired up the folks at the Cannabis Therapy Institute.

In a subsequent conversation, Romer laid out more details, and while he made it clear that the proposed measure remains very much a work in progress, he believes his proposals will provide a way to get a handle on the runaway medical-marijuana industry.

"If you're a retail dispensary, this bill is probably not good news for you," he admits. "But if you're a patient, this bill is great news for you" -- although not necessarily if you're under 25.

​Today, King Soopers and Safeway are expected to submit their "last, best and final" offer to grocery workers.

Don't know much about the details yet, or whether the proposal will be notably different from the ones members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 have roundly rejected time and again, leading to repeated breakdowns in negotiations. But the union has already set up a series of votes, beginning on Wednesday: Click here for times and locations in Denver and beyond.

In the meantime, look below to read a note from King Soopers president Russ Dispense to associates intended to prepare them for this key development:

Dan Hawkins is finally at a loss for words.

​Since late last month, it's been abundantly clear that CU coach Dan Hawkins is a dead man talking -- a man hoping against hope that his enthusiastic jabbering about his underperforming team will convince the powers that be not to give him the boot at season's end. But after the Buffs fell yet again, managing just 10 points in a loss to the not-quite-powerhouse Iowa State Cyclones, athletic director Mike Bohn, among Hawkins' prime defenders, wasn't nearly as gabby, declining post-game interviews.

Has Bohn finally realized that he's undermining his own slender chances for survival every time he offers Hawkins a vote of confidence? Maybe so -- not that it matters at this point.

Timothy Dalton got his special license -- where's mine?

​As part of a September feature on the state's growing medical marijuana scene, I went through the process of obtaining a state medical-marijuana ID. On August 26, after scoring the needed doctor's recommendation, I sent my application and a $90 application fee to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), which oversees the state's registry of medical-marijuana patients and issues state medical-marijuana cards.

I'd heard the health department was swamped with marijuana applications -- lately, it's upwards of 500 a day -- so I knew it would be a while before I scored my ID. But I didn't realize just how long "a while" would be.

Dick Wadhams isn't leading the "Run Tom" parade. But he swears he's not putting up roadblocks, either.

​Yesterday, Tom Tancredo confirmed his plans to run for governor now that state senator Josh Penry has dropped out of the race. That throws a kink into frontrunner Scott McInnis' dream of a united party -- united behind him, anyhow.

Dick Wadhams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, claims to be uninterested in throwing himself on the tracks in front of the Tancredo Express before it can leave the station. "Our nomination process is still open, and our precinct caucuses aren't until March," Wadhams says. "My job as state chairman is to run an open and fair process from that standpoint. And that's what I intend to do."

Still, he hints that McInnis remains in the strongest overall position, no matter what kind of challenge Tancredo mounts.

Rob Corry thinks a trade association would do a better job of keeping dispensaries in line that the government.

​Attorney Rob Corry has been on a roll of late, having won over Judge Larry Naves in a recent Denver District Court proceeding that voided a Board of Health ruling about the definition of a medical-marijuana caregiver -- a response to a Colorado Court of Appeals decision in the case of Stacey Clendenin that threw the blooming medical-marijuana industry into a tizzy.

Now, Corry's hoping to build on that momentum through the formation of the Colorado Wellness Association, a trade group that he hopes will become "a self-regulatory entity. Because we can police ourselves much more effectively than the government can."