Mike Wilson, on a continental 737 flight, twittered his plane crash almost as it happened. See his feed starting here.
posted by sdn on Dec 30, 2008 - 61 comments

Fear and Loathing in Denver, Colorado - August 24-28, 2008.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Aug 29, 2008 - 56 comments

Corrupt U.S. Government officials leased the Teapot Dome oil field to one Harry F. Sinclair in 1922 in a sleazy no-bid contract.

Turn back the clock. 27 years earlier, suspected grifter Gilmer Bonfils had seized control of the Denver Post; he and his family turned it from a sleepy, staid paper into a wild, brazen broadsheet. So brazen they were shot by a furious lawyer. For an editorial page, Tammen and Bonfils substituted invective, raked up so much scandal—a good deal of it true — that they kept a loaded shotgun in their office to discourage reader complaints. As the Post grew in power and prosperity, its proprietors branched into other fields; the Post became the first and last U.S. daily ever to own a circus (Sells-Floto), run a burlesque house and sell coal." [more inside]
posted by felix on Aug 13, 2008 - 33 comments

"Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was in Denver, CO, today for a town hall meeting. The event, at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, was billed as 'open to the public.' Yet Carole Kreck, a 61-year-old librarian carrying a 'McCain=Bush' sign, was taken away by police [on orders from McCain's security detail] for trespassing. A police officer told Kreck:

'You have two choices. You can keep your sign here and receive a ticket for trespassing, or you can remove the sign and stay in line and attend this town hall meeting.'

Kreck received a ticket for trespassing and her court date is July 23."^*. Video of Kreck's encounter with the police. [more inside]
posted by ericb on Jul 7, 2008 - 171 comments

The Pajamas Letter. I recently came upon a mysterious, unsigned letter in the deposit-envelope receptacle of a downtown ATM machine requesting that I draw a picture of my "normal pajamas" and send it back in an included self-addressed stamped envelope. Part Two. Slideshow.
posted by amyms on Mar 30, 2008 - 23 comments

Soapy Smith was "the king of the frontier confidence men." Born Jefferson R. Smith, he gained the nickname "Soapy" after running a successful scam that the Denver newspapers dubbed "The Prize Package Soap Sell Swindle." He ran criminal enterprises in Colorado and Alaska until his death at the hands of vigilantes in 1898. Every year his descendants hold a wake in his honor. His story has inspired several books and movies. The Soapy Smith Preservation Trust maintains an extensive archive of his life and times.
posted by amyms on Oct 16, 2007 - 20 comments

Definite tech trouble with voting machines this year. I just attempted to vote at 3 different locations here in Denver. Lines were extra long due to voting booth malfunctions. Luckily they had a combination of old voting booths and new voting booths at most locations. Lines were terrible as a result of these tech failures.
posted by PetBoogaloo on Nov 7, 2006 - 58 comments

"He spent much of his life recovering from the misadventures that plagued him even in the womb." A most unusual obituary that illuminates the life of a Denver-area man with unusuably horiffic bad luck.
posted by huskerdont on Sep 26, 2006 - 40 comments

Transit in Detroit details an urban planner's initiative to cut the costs of the city's traffic congestion-relieving highway expansion by proposing a transit system combining light rail and bus-rapid-transit. [More Inside]
posted by gregb1007 on Nov 25, 2005 - 15 comments

Denver knows what it's doing. Old local artists have made a scene that young blood has a lot to learn from. Cheers to the next First Friday.
posted by Viomeda on Nov 2, 2005 - 11 comments

Things to do in Denver When You're Stressed Unemployed meditation teacher Jeff Peckman, apparently having nothing better to do, managed to collect enough signatures to squeak his stress-reducing initiative onto the November ballot. What would he suggest for reducing stress?: Indian Sitar music in public buildings, healthier school lunches, and (surprise surprise) meditation. The Denver City Council thinks it's stupid, which they have expressed in varying degrees of bluntness:
--Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez: "While the ideas behind it are admirable, it would be impossible to implement."
--Council President Elbra Wedgeworth: "With a $70 million budget shortfall, this is not what we should be doing."
--Councilman Charlie Brown: "It's lunacy, it's frivolous, it's fantasy. If you want fantasy, go to Disneyland. These are city offices. We don't sit around holding hands, burning incense and singing `Kumbaya.' We are in serious economic times."
Denver martial arts instructor Ted Fowler scoffs at the proposal, calling it a waste of money and adding, “Well, I don’t listen to Indian satire music either. I’ve got a radio here and I can put on whatever music I like."
posted by Shoeburyness on Aug 21, 2003 - 20 comments

The Patriot Act Abuse Begins

An amateur photographer named Mike Maginnis was arrested on Tuesday in his home city of Denver - for simply taking pictures of buildings in an area where Vice President Cheney was residing.

I reported, you decide.
posted by nofundy on Dec 6, 2002 - 56 comments

Not your average law firm website. Powers Phillips, P.C., is a small law firm located in downtown Denver, Colorado within convenient walking distance of over fifty bars and a couple of doughnut shops. Powers Phillips is somewhat peculiar in that six of its lawyers are, to put it most politely, uppity women, who through various shenanigans and underhanded schemes control the firm. Found on Overlawyered.
posted by internal on Jun 12, 2002 - 9 comments

Some stories just warm the heart. From oil rags to black gold riches, a struggling club ekes out its way by hiring its first black manager. Luckily local news is on the story.
posted by crasspastor on May 3, 2002 - 3 comments

Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio and other fat cats in Denver skyscraper evacuated! The workaday stiffs on the lower floors weren't informed of threat.

The decision not to evacuate the building completely, he says, was driven by the late hour of the day because many occupants had already left the building. "The big part of the reason was to avoid a mass panic," he said.

Is this also how they issue earnings reports?
posted by crasspastor on Apr 19, 2002 - 9 comments

As a Denver news staple dies, he keeps a blog. Oh man, get the kleenex.
posted by crasspastor on Apr 4, 2002 - 7 comments

Attackers carve slur on young lesbian. I'm going to be sick.
posted by donkeyschlong on Mar 28, 2002 - 27 comments

AV'S WIN THE CUP!!! Bourque finally hoists it over his head.
posted by crasspastor on Jun 9, 2001 - 21 comments