Nathan Dunlap.

Governor John Hickenlooper's decision to grant a temporary reprieve to Nathan Dunlap, who killed four people and seriously wounded a fifth in an attack on a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant circa 1993, has been cheered in some quarters, but jeered in others. Tom Tancredo decided to run for governor due in part to frustration over Hick's actions, and both Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and Jefferson County District Attorney Pete Weir have released passionate attacks on his choice.

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More photos below.

Moments ago, during an appearance on Peter Boyles's KHOW talk show (and while surrounded by TV cameras), former Congressman Tom Tancredo announced that he's running for governor...again.

"I announced 5 minutes ago my intention to seek the Republican nomination for Governor of Colorado and look forward to fighting for jobs, small business and our Constitutional freedoms that we hold so dear," Tancredo just posted to his Facebook page. "Game on."

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Michael Hancock.

A much-contested deal to trade eleven acres of open space in the Cherry Creek corridor for an office building in central Denver, pushed by Mayor Michael Hancock and approved by city council in April, has triggered not one but two citizen petition drives to nix the swap and protect the land in question -- one of the last remnants of a prairie ecosystem in the city limits.

Voters may get to decide the matter this fall, although the city's efforts to squelch the campaign may result in a battle in court first.

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Is it legal to grow hemp in Colorado? Like, right now?

That's a complicated question -- and one that the Colorado Department of Agriculture is trying to clear up in a statement issued this week: "Amendment 64 did not authorize the immediate cultivation of hemp. It instead directed the General Assembly to enact legislation governing the cultivation, processing and sale of industrial hemp. This they have now done."

So can farmers start planting? Not yet.

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It's been over six months since voters approved Amendment 64, which allows adults 21 and over in Colorado to use and possess small amounts of marijuana, and the Obama administration still hasn't weighed in on the measure.

Last week, we speculated that the delays would continue thanks to current scandals that touch upon the Justice Department, and one of the main A64 proponents won't complain if they do.

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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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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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Eric Holder.

During a conference call shortly after the November 2012 passage of Amendment 64, Governor John Hickenlooper and Colorado Attorney General John Suthers encouraged U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to make announcing the federal government's response to the bill a priority. Then, in March, Holder said the feds' decision would be coming soon. Yet at May's midpoint, "soon" still isn't here -- and given the assorted scandals with which Holder's Justice Department is currently dealing, it's very unlikely to arrive in the near future.

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Michael Hancock.

A federal lawsuit against Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and other city officials, filed by one of Hizzoner's former best buds and top advisors, has been dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge John Kane -- just when filings in the case were getting interesting.

Ex-aide Wayne McDonald's complaint of wrongful termination had hinted at ominous revelations to come, not only about his rift with the mayor but some of the Hancock administration's more curious hiring practices. But Kane ruled there was more smoke than fire in McDonald's argument.

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A bill to register hemp farmers with the state has been approved by lawmakers. Now all it needs is the governor's signature before a nine-member committee can begin assisting the Department of Agriculture in developing a process that will allow the good people of Colorado to engage in widespread planting.

"It feels really, really great," says advocate Lynda Parker, who was featured in our cover story, "Green Acres," about the the legalization of hemp in Colorado, which was made possible by Amendment 64.

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