But everyone's going to have to wait a bit longer to find out Tang's fate. Tang's lawyers have been allowed to reschedule the sentencing hearing for Thursday, March 25 at 9:30 a.m., so they can have a longer, four-hour hearing time to argue on their client's behalf before Daniel makes his decision. According to court records, the presentation will include testimony from David Kan, M.D., a forensic psychiatrist from San Francisco.
We're pretty sure Mr. and Mrs. Gonzalez won't be among those chilling for PETA tomorrow.
Check out these three blogs about Denver, why don't you?
The Denver Egotist reports that PETA will sponsor a "Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" event at the 16th Street Mall tomorrow. There, "'sexy activists' will cuddle up in a bed on a public sidewalk wearing nothing but their underwear and holding a sign reading, 'Fur-Out, Love-In.'" And then they'll go to the hospital suffering from hypothermia.
Denver Stiffs' Andrew Feinstein calls the Nuggets game against Utah on Saturday "a good loss." And their victory over the Lakers the night before was a beyond-good win.
Rollie Heath suffered a politically unfortunate slip of the tongue.
Democrats' attempts to remove tax exemptions from everything from candy to bull semen in order to balance the state's budget has prompted angry cries from Republicans, who insist these maneuvers are actually tax increases.
Of course, Dems insist that's not the case -- but today, former gubernatorial candidate turned state senator Rollie Heath, speaking at the state Capitol, accidentally said otherwise before correcting himself. The key passage: "We're gonna add a tax for candy -- excuse me, not add a tax, but remove the exemption..."
Shortly thereafter, Colorado Senate News, a Republican megaphone, starting disseminating Heath's comment -- listen to it by clicking here -- along with a press release that attempted to connect the dots. Who knew so many of them were Freudians? Here's their statement:
If you think the Broncos' quarterback situation is stable, think again. This weekend, ESPN's Sal Paolantonio reported that Denver's had multiple conversations with the Philadelphia Eagles about the availability of QB Donovan McNabb.
Is a deal likely to be reached between these two teams for a player as high profile as McNabb? Survey says unlikely -- although this time last year, most observers would have bet money on a bromance developing between Jay Cutler and Josh McDaniels. But even if nothing happens, there's little doubt that the continuing search isn't good news for Kyle Orton.
Three years later, a new morning team is being announced -- and its most notable feature is the absence of Donaldson. News director Tim Wieland confirms that her contract wasn't renewed; her last scheduled appearance on the station is February 19.
Why make these moves? Wieland can't go into detail about that -- but the cause is likely the troubles the TV industry in general has suffered since 2007.
That's not news to Eagle resident Elizabeth James, one of the many Prius drivers whose stories appear in our April 2009 feature "The Prius Can Take Owners on a Wild Ride." Thanks to what reporter Paul Knight refers to as an "unintended acceleration" problem, James's vehicle wound up in a river.
But for me, the biggest Broncos flashback occurred during the second half of the game, when the Indianapolis Colts defense proved incapable of shutting down Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints' offense when it really counted. And who was the mastermind behind this strategy? Defensive coordinator Larry Coyer, who pretty much perfected this approach during his time doing the same job for Denver.
This morning, Schneeberger is having the last laugh. The spot that aired yesterday (see it below) made no explicit mention of "abortion," "choice" or any obvious code word. Instead, it featured Tebow's mom Pam talking about how she almost lost Tim -- after which Tebow, in an unexpected sight gag, appears to tackle her. Then viewers are referred to the Focus on the Family website, where an additional video features Pam talking about having been urged by doctors to get an abortion and her refusal to do so -- with the result of her decision being Tim.
In the end, Focus scored big with the ad thanks to those protest groups, which wound up serving as a megaphone for its pro-life philosophy. This wasn't Focus's concept from the start: "It was definitely an accident," Schneeberger admits. But he's clearly happy with how it turned out.
The new Writer Square: Land of concrete and Medieval banners.
Now that the controversial re-imagining of Writer Square is more or less complete (minus most of its especially controversial signage plan, since the Las Vegas-inspired spectacle was shot down in a boisterous planning board meeting in September), people seem to be stocking up on their rotten tomatoes.
Over at the DenverInfill blog, contributor Chris Geddes has been considering the site all week. His conclusions from this multi-part smack-down analysis? The 16th Street Plaza sucks, the new lampposts suck and the stupid, locked-up "triangular terrace for hire" especially sucks.
Far from it: In lieu of testifying about the bill at the statehouse next week (he has "scheduling conflicts"), Suthers sent a letter to legislators; see it below. In the document, he goes on record as "vehemently opposing any legislation that embraces the clinic or dispensary model for distribution of medical marijuana."
This assertion is open to interpretation, as is almost everything said by the former Colorado rep and onetime presidential aspirant. According to the Daily News, Tancredo told the crowd that President Barack Obama was elected partly because "we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote." He argued that "people who could not even spell the word 'vote' or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House."
Apparently Denver Public Schools isn't the only organization that views chicken -- fried or Southern-style -- and collard greens as a way to honor black history.
And it's not the only organization to be criticized for playing into racial stereotypes by doing so.
As the Huffington Post reports here, the NBC cafeteria served fried chicken, collard greens and jalapeno cornbread for lunch yesterday to honor Black History Month.
Representative Ken Summers, a co-sponsor of the latest bill with Rep. Tom Massey (the measure's frontman), Senator Chris Romer (taking the lead on the doctor-patient bill) and Senator Josh Penry, feels much better about it, naturally. "If the measure of a good piece of legislation is that nobody's happy with it, we've probably got a good bill," he says.
Yet even Summers has some doubts about the decision to set up dispensaries (called "centers" in the bill) using a nonprofit model. In his words, "That's actually an issue I'm not sure I'm sold on necessarily."
Senator Chris Romer's bill about the relationship between doctors and medical marijuana patients rolls on -- and advocates such as Matt Brown of Coloradans for Medical Marijuana Regulation don't see it as especially onerous.
To put it mildly, that view isn't shared by the folks at the Cannabis Therapy Institute. Many of the group's members, including patients with serious medical conditions, testified against the measure yesterday, only to watch the House judiciary committee pass it on a unanimous vote. Afterward, CTI released a jeremiad declaring that the bill would harm patients and rack up unnecessary costs for taxpayers.
The deal makes this union logo an example of truth in advertising.
In a blog yesterday, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 spokesman Dave Minshall made it clear that the union backed a "yes" vote on a new contract with King Soopers and Safeway.
Denver-area workers definitely got the message. Late last night, Local 7 announced that the contract had been ratified by a wide margin, ending bickering and strike threats that went on for the better part of a year.
The big changes: Kim Cordova's election as union president (read a recent Westword feature about her by clicking here) and a funds transfer that helps rein in rising health-care costs for retirees. Get more details from the Local 7 release below:
John Johnson's now in the tenth year of what began as a four-year sentence.
Four years ago, in a feature called "Over and Over Again," I reported on the staggering number of nonviolent offenders stuck in Colorado's revolving-door version of parole -- and costing the state millions of dollars. Exhibit A was an alcoholic parolee named John "Jake" Johnson, who'd been arrested in 1999 for stealing $1,500 from his employer.
Johnson was originally sentenced to four years of probation. But he had trouble staying clear of booze and reporting on time. He ended up in a seemingly endless loop of going to prison, being paroled homeless, then picking up technical violations and new charges ("escape," for leaving a homeless shelter without permission) and more prison time. At the time I interviewed him, he'd already cost taxpayers roughly a quarter million dollars in incarceration costs, court appearances and other expenses.
But Arnold is fighting back -- with a little help from his dog, Nola, who he adopted while taking part in emergency operations after Hurricane Katrina (Nola is short for "New Orleans, Louisiana"). In testifying against what he describes as a plan to tax doggy bags at restaurants, he passed out fliers with a photo of his pooch labeled "WHY IS THIS DOGGY SO SAD?" The answer: The tax will "cut off her supply of yummy take-home leftovers."
Look below to see the flier, as well as a clip of Arnold's testimony. Frankly, the latter isn't as funny as the former -- but that's probably because Nola wasn't on hand to help out.
"It's a lot better than I was expecting," he says. "It changed a lot in the last couple of days. There were a lot of little changes that softened some of the sharp edges."
That doesn't mean, however, that he thinks the document is perfect. He sees a number of significant issues, including the prospect that small, neighborhood dispensaries could essentially be legislated out of business.
In response to the befuddling recall of nine million vehicles by motor behemoth Toyota -- don't worry, it's just brake failure, or is it the floor mats? -- Lakewood's Ryan Scharrel is punching the gas on a class action lawsuit against the manufacturer whose brand was built on reliability.
According to the document, Scharrel is acting "on behalf of all persons in the state of Colorado who own Toyota vehicles of model years 2004 through 2010" in the hope that the court system will tap the brakes on potentially lethal defects that "send the vehicles into a rapid, unexpected, uncontrollable, and unsafe acceleration."
For much of the past year, contract negotiations at Colorado King Soopers, Safeway and Albertsons stores have dragged on amid an atmosphere riper than an unrefrigerated meat section. But at last, a peaceful solution seems near.
Last week, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 and Albertsons reached an agreement on a new contract, with employees in Grand Junction voting to ratify it as well on Tuesday. And today, Safeway workers who rejected the original pact, as well as folks from those King Soopers units that turned thumbs-down too, are gathering at the Denver Merchandise Mart to decide whether or not to accept an agreement sweetened by extra money going into retirees' health and welfare fund.
UFCW Local 7 supports ratification, with spokesman Dave Minshall calling the deal a "win-win."
Brian Vicente sees some pros among the cons of the new medical marijuana bill.
Yesterday, we offered a sneak preview of a medical marijuana ballot initiative assembled by the advocacy group Sensible Colorado. That amendment will be formally made public by Sensible Colorado executive director Brian Vicente during an 11 a.m. press event on the west steps of the Capitol.
But even as Vicente prepares for this announcement, he concedes that he sees some positives in the new medical marijuana bill put forward by Representative Tom Massey -- and he'd be willing to forgo the push to put his measure on the November ballot if problematic aspects of the bill are addressed.
And if not? Vicente says, "The people will hold them responsible."
Tuesday's episode of American Idol spotlighted Denver, giving the rest of the country an opportunity to check out Haeley Vaughn, Colorado's great Idol hope, not to mention Ty Hemmerling, the shapely contestant known as Bikini Boy. But last night's compendium of the audition rounds featured some additional Denver moments -- most notably a turn by Kansas resident Jessica Furney, who cannily sang "Footprints in the Sand," co-penned by persnickety judge Simon Cowell.
State Senator Chris Romer was not expecting to fly solo.
State Senator Chris Romer (D-Buzz Kill Central) and Representative Tom Massey (R-Hiding in the Capitol Somewhere) teamed up today to introduce the latest attempt to reign in Colorado's medical marijuana industry, a bill the lawmakers say would protect patients' access to marijuana while forcing providers to be licensed by the state and to operate as nonprofits.
Actually, they didn't exactly team up: Massey -- the Republican who sponsored the House version of the bill, which will be introduced this afternoon -- showed up for the 1:30 p.m. press conference early, took a few questions and bailed right before things got interesting. Romer -- who said he barely had a chance to read through the final version of the bill -- then showed up, only to find himself standing alone to face the firing squad. Politics at their best.
The bill's not yet online, but you can read it in its entirety by clicking here. In the meantime, here are some highlights, according to Massey and Romer:
Today, King defended himself before a legislative ethics committee, where fellow legislator Mark Waller explained away the issue by calling it "a payday loan from the campaign account" in order to rent a car.
This week's cover story relates the tale of how Nic Gray, an Iraq war veteran, got caught up in the criminal justice system and eventually landed in an innovative new program called the El Paso County veterans treatment court. Gray describes what happened in his own words in the above video, produced by former Westword staff writer Jared Jacang Maher at Manmade Media.
But whereas CBS gave its blessing to Focus's spot, it turned thumbs-down to a commercial intended to promote Mancrunch.com, a gay dating service. ManCrunch spokeswoman Elissa Buchter insists that Mancrunch didn't create an ad the firm knew CBS would reject just to get some publicity -- a dubious assertion. Still, we wish CBS had said gone along, because it's pretty damn funny. See for yourself above.
Brian Vicente isn't waiting around to see what Rep. Massey's bill has to offer.
Representative Tom Massey's bill to regulate the medical marijuana industry -- previewed in this blog based on comments from a knowledgeable source and a second item containing insight from advocate Matt Brown -- hasn't even been made public yet; Massey will do so at a 1:30 p.m. event. But already, there's significant fallout.
Prime example: Sensible Colorado, an organization led by Brian Vicente (the co-chair, with Brown, of Sensible Patient and Provider Coalition), is announcing that it plans to place an initiative on the 2010 Colorado ballot intended to "secure patient access to medical marijuana."
The idea: To let voters establish regulations kinder to the medical marijuana industry than those likely to be passed by legislators. Look below to see a draft measure of the initiative and learn more about a Thursday press conference at which the mission will be formally launched.
Yesterday, we told you about a new worship space at the Air Force Academy designed for use by cadets and staffers who practice Earth-centered beliefs, including Pagans, Wiccans and Druids.
A photo of the new Air Force Academy worship space -- with an unwelcome addition.
Shortly thereafter, a photo began to circulate showing that last month, persons unknown placed a cross against the rock circle at the center of the space -- an apparent act of pro-Christian bullying of the sort pinpointed in a 2005 military study documenting religious intolerance at the Academy.
The response to this breaking news? The Academy is in full damage control mode, with Lieutenant General Mike Gould, AFA's superintendent, issuing a statement decrying the action (see it below) and Brigadier General Samuel Cox addressing cadets during lunch at noon today.
At the session, portions of the measure dealing with what Golden previously described as "measurements to see if the areola of a woman's breast is exposed or checking people's underwear" were excised. But the rest of it moved forward -- and Golden now believes the regulation is being pushed by the Boulder Police Department as a way to permanently squash such events as the Naked Pumpkin Run and a potential revival of the Halloween-themed Boulder Mall Crawl.
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