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Taylor Swift hype, Red Rocks hailstorm, and Drake’s big diss: The year in Denver concerts

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:09:05 GMT

The year 2023 was marked by big shows — and even bigger ticket prices.Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Denver DJ-producer Illenium likely set records at Empower Field at Mile High, from the most tickets sold for a weekend run (Swift), to the biggest, venue-based concert in Denver history (Sheeran) and the biggest-ever show from a Colorado artist (Illenium).As state and federal legislators again failed to pass meaningful legislation protecting consumers from outrageous ticketing fees, prices soared. A nosebleed seat to one of Swift’s shows at Empower Field may have cost less than $50 if you were lucky enough to get one during the disastrous Ticketmaster pre-sale. But thousands were forced to buy them on the secondary market for prices ranging from $500 to $10,000 per seat.The Wall Street Journal found that the average price of a concert had doubled in the past five years, increasing from $125 in 2019 to $252 in 2023. The story was the same with re-sellers such as SeatGeek, wh...

East Colfax primed for change with bus rapid transit and design standards

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:09:05 GMT

Denver city leaders on Monday will vote on new rules that could dictate how East Colfax Avenue looks and functions for decades. But whether those rules, already in place on other busy streets, are a poor fit for the thoroughfare remains a point of debate.If approved by the City Council, the package of proposed zoning changes will govern future development for hundreds of properties between Sherman and Yosemite streets with an eye toward ensuring ample shopfronts and more space for sidewalk users along Colfax.The measure comes before the council as the city’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure marches toward a final design for the long-anticipated East Colfax Avenue Bus Rapid Transit network. Crews are expected to begin construction on the first segment of that project — which will install dedicated lanes and more than two dozen loading platforms to accommodate a network of high-frequency, fast-loading buses — next year.While BRT will change the face of...

Denver-based paleontologist broke new ground with advanced understanding of dinosaur behavior

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:09:05 GMT

Before Dr. Martin Gaudin Lockley set his sights on studying the footprints of dinosaurs, the scientific field known as paleoichnology attracted little notice or respect. The tall, talkative, Denver-based paleontologist who died of cancer on Nov. 25 at age 73 is largely credited with changing that by tracking fossilized dinosaur walkways on nearly every continent.Martin Lockley in the ’80s, wearing his love for fossils on his sleeve. (Courtesy of the Lockley family)For more than 40 years, Lockley identified and mapped Jurassic and Cretaceous period tracksites in Colorado and everywhere they’ve been found. His insights substantially increased knowledge about dinosaur activities including courtship, parenting, migration and herding behaviors.“I’ve asked other leading paleoichnologists about Martin’s influence and there’s no debate that he stood alone,” said Friends of Dinosaur Ridge (FODR) executive director Jeff Lamontagne. “As one colleague put it, Martin was...

On heels of well-received energy plan, Tri-State faces lawsuit by Durango cooperative

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:09:05 GMT

A Durango-based electric cooperative that has vocally criticized the practices of Tri-State Generation and Transmission has filed a lawsuit accusing the utility of being “sneaky and underhanded.” The La Plata Electric Association is seeking to end its contract with the power supplier or be compensated for damages it says it has suffered.The lawsuit accuses Tri-State, a wholesale power provider, of breach of contract. The electric cooperative is among Colorado rural electric associations that have explored leaving Tri-State due to disputes over rates, the push for more renewable energy and the desire to generate more of their energy locally.The La Plata Electric Association and Brighton-based United Power, Tri-State’s largest member, have gone to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to get what they view as fair terms for ending their contracts. LPEA said in its lawsuit, filed in La Plata County District Court, that T...

From “ass clowns” to bigfoot: The 10 most popular Colorado outdoor recreation stories of 2023

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:09:05 GMT

Coloradans (and Colorado visitors) love to get outdoors, whether it’s to ski and stargaze, camp and hike — or to drive onto dirt roads until they get stuck and have to be rescued.And The Denver Post’s readers love to dig into those stories. This year, as always, skiing was one of the top topics of discussion, especially Epic Pass sales and a resort ranking. But hiking and camping were also big, especially when it came to Rocky Mountain National Park.We also had an unusual sighting, literally, in our top 10. But we’ll let you see that for yourself. Here are our 10 most-read outdoor recreation stories of the year, with the number-one story at the end.Bad drivers in the backcountry are a big problemThe sheriff in San Miguel County called a group of people who slid off Black Bear Pass in their truck “ass clowns,” which is funny. But the problem is real: More and more people, who lack skills or experience or proper maps, are driving on backcountry road...

A classic Colorado pizza joint holds on against stiff competition

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:09:05 GMT

Travel guides, transplants (and even this publication) have plenty of thoughts about Colorado’s best pizza places. I’m a transplant, too, and have fallen in love over the years with local favorites ranging from Beau Jo’s honeyed crust to Cart-Driver’s wood-fired pie.Related: 11 of the best pizza joints in and around DenverBut having arrived here 23 years ago from Dayton, Ohio — a city that’s no slouch when it comes to pizza — I’ve become dependent on a Denver shop that feels positively old-school compared to the new class of local pie-slingers.If your holidays include pizza — and why wouldn’t they? — East Colfax Avenue’s Enzo’s End is ready to bring the joy. (John Wenzel)Since 1996, Enzo’s End Pizzeria has been a comforting anchor on the semi-gentrified stretch of East Colfax Avenue between Colorado Boulevard and York Street, where pedestrian traffic is fairly constant. Its red, thatched shingles and...

Decades-old rule pushes mentally ill Coloradans out of hospitals too soon. Legislators may finally change it.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:09:05 GMT

Barbara Vassis keeps a spreadsheet to track her daughter’s years-long journey through Colorado’s patchwork mental health system.The sheet goes back 11 years, a third of Erin’s life. There are holes in the narrative: Her daughter is schizophrenic bipolar, Vassis said, and she’s moved around different parts of the country. Still, even incomplete, Vassis’ growing tracker provides a glimpse at the revolving doors that Erin and hundreds of other Coloradans are stuck in every year.From April 2021 to April 2022, for instance, Erin spent 106 days bouncing between emergency rooms, detox facilities, hospital beds, homeless shelters and crisis centers. During that time, she never spent more than two weeks at a time in one hospital, Vassis said. Instead, she repeatedly was discharged within a fortnight, still unstable, thanks to a decades-old Medicaid rule that often forces the early discharge of low-income, mentally ill patients.Vassis looks at the spreadsheet aga...

“The Soul of Black Folks” is worth looking into at the DAM

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:09:05 GMT

The Denver Art Museum is charging visitors extra to see its new exhibition of paintings by Ghanian artist Amoako Boafo, and that came as something of a surprise at the box office last week.Those admission price add-ons are usually saved for blockbuster shows built around artists most people know and love already. (DAM actually has one on display now in the form of “All Stars,” a traveling blow-out featuring names like Georgia O’Keeffe, Jacob Lawrence and Jackson Pollock.)Retrospectives of work by living and lesser-known artists are nearly always included with the regular ticket, and that newcomer description still fits Boafo, who is just 39, and who has had limited exposure to U.S. audiences. With so much to see at DAM already, and with admission costs already steep, visitors will be reluctant to take a risk.But I encourage paying a bit more to see this offering. Boafo is a unique talent and a rising star in the international art scene. The exhibition, titled “Soul of Black Fo...

Man dies after crashing into scaffolding in South Los Angeles

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:09:05 GMT

A pickup truck driver died Monday morning after crashing into scaffolding in the West Adams neighborhood of South Los Angeles overnight.The incident was reported just after 1 a.m. near Crenshaw Boulevard and West 30th Street. Police investigate a fatal crash in South Los Angeles on Dec. 11, 2023. (OnScene.TV)A nearby security guard performed CPR on the driver, who collapsed after getting out of the truck. The life-saving measures were unsuccessful however and the unidentified driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Racist remarks against Mexicans caught on camera in Disneyland bathroom There was no immediate word on what may have caused the driver to crash.

18 companies cut ties with Sean Combs in wake of sexual assault allegations

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:09:05 GMT

(The Hill) -- Eighteen companies shared that they have cut ties with a business venture created by Hip Hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs amid the slew of sexual assault allegations against the music legend. The companies confirmed with Rolling Stone Magazine on Sunday that they severed business relationships with Combs’ recently launched platform Empower Global. Empower Global, founded by Combs in 2021, is an immersive e-commerce, digital marketplace offering products from Black-owned businesses around the world. The platform is said to “elevate the Black economy by creating opportunities for Black entrepreneurs to build and scale successful businesses” for consumers. Luxury bag, eyewear, and apparel company House of Takura founder Annette Njau told the magazine that she cut ties with Empower Global after learning of Casandra Ventura’s – better known as R&B singer Cassie – lawsuit against Combs. “We take the allegations against Mr. Combs very seriously and find su...