Author: reporter

A vital but overlooked job of many food pantries is to supply meals to students — some of whom only eat with regularity outside the home. The challenges of doing so are steep, with food costs rising anywhere from 10% to 17% over the last two years, depending on the item, said executive director Barbara B. Moore.“We buy food online and some of the lists of (available) veggies used to be listed on three pages, with maybe 20 on each page,” she said of her nonprofit, which is a recipient of The Denver Post’s annual Season to Share campaign. “Now…

Dear Eric: My sister-in-law is one of the kindest and most giving people I know. She volunteers at her church, at our local YMCA and at our golf club. She has driven friends several states away for medical treatments.However, my brother/her husband of 30-plus years is not a social guy, and this irritates her to no end. She will complain to anyone who’ll listen about him. She recently started complaining to me about other things he does, such as not playing enough golf so she can have alone time, and his inability to find her choice of wine in Costco.Recently,…

Despite being more than 1,400 miles away, Justin Simmons still considers Denver home. Black and red are his new uniform colors, but he continues to bleed orange and blue.Simmons’ football career took a different path last spring when the Pro Bowl safety was released from the Broncos in March. The franchise’s longest-tenured player at that time was left to find a new team. He found it in Atlanta, signing a one-year deal with the Falcons in August.Months after the move, he is still learning to adjust to life away from the Mile High City.“It’s been a learning process,” Simmons told…

A skirmish erupted on the floor of the National Western Complex’s arena.Thunderous pops of gunfire, shouting and fancy equine footwork unfolded inside the Denver events center one Saturday morning last month, as a group of boys outfitted in authentic 19th-century U.S. Cavalry uniforms clashed with kids dressed in fringed pants, moccasins, headbands and a feathered war bonnet.The Westernaires, a Golden-based nonprofit that teaches kids horsemanship, has performed this reenactment of the Battle of Little Bighorn for decades. October’s “Horsecapades” show was the organization’s 75th annual hoorah.On the arena floor, the children clad in Native-inspired clothing whooped and shot blanks at…

Keith Bishop sees his life in windows.The most significant window for the former Broncos offensive lineman opened in early 1990. He was a backup left guard at the end of his 10th NFL season after losing his starting spot due to a back injury and viral meningitis. Shortly after the Broncos’ blowout loss to the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIV, he was scheduled to meet with coach Dan Reeves about his future.Only the meeting got postponed.“They said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to come back (and meet with Reeves),’” Bishop recalled. “And I go, ‘Well, I ain’t coming back.’ I…

A federal hiring freeze on seasonal U.S. Forest Service workers could mean fewer people putting out abandoned campfires, constructing trails and preventing wildfires across Colorado next year.The freeze is projected to impact 156 temporary seasonal positions across Colorado. Those employees cover a wide range of critical tasks: wildfire prevention and education, campsite management and biological fieldwork as well as trail construction and maintenance.Local government leaders said the staffing reductions would be felt hard in Colorado’s central mountains, where highly trafficked Forest Service land dominates much of the area and is the center of recreation tourism that fuel economies. Several counties pay…

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com. Bear by Julia Phillips (Hogarth, 304 pages) “Bear,” by Julia Phillips (Hogarth, 2024) San Juan Island, Wash., is heaven for tourists and the wealthy who summer there; it is something different for the locals. Elena, and her sister, Sam, live with their mother in a deteriorating home, struggling…

COMMERCE CITY — As if Cole Wearner was preparing for one of those pro-style champagne celebrations following his overtime winner in the Class 5A boys soccer final — well, maybe sparkling apple cider in his case — Cherry Creek’s latest sports hero took his post-championship interviews with a pair of ski goggles wrapped around his head.The senior had already tossed aside his jersey after his 93rd-minute goal sent the Bruins past Broomfield, 2-1, on Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. And shortly after that, he was signing autographs for some starry-eyed young kids. Ink for them and gold for Cherry…

The number’s in UMKC’s contact list. Against the University of Denver in the Summit League final, the Roos dialed it again.After dominating possession and going up a goal early, the Pioneers men’s soccer team looked to have a lock on the conference title that eluded them against the same opponent a year ago. But the Roos tied the game near the end of the first half and, with a man advantage, grabbed a winner to clinch their second-straight Summit League title, 2-1, on Saturday at DU Soccer Stadium.“I thought we could have been more dangerous in this game,” DU coach…

BOULDER — By the time Shilo Sanders crunched Utah quarterback Isaac Wilson late in the fourth quarter, forcing a fumble that set up another score to fuel the blowout, the point had been made repeatedly on Saturday at Folsom Field.This CU defense, a critical part of the program’s turnaround this fall into a College Football Playoff contender, is as salty as the offense is glitzy.“We know (Utah) is on their third or fourth quarterback; we understand that,” CU head coach Deion Sanders pointed out. “But we’re happy with where we are (defensively) and we know where we could be. That’s…