Author: reporter

Renck: Lost in a quiet offseason, questionable defense and Jamal Murray’s fitness, did the Nuggets find the Strawther than stirs the drink? Or at least the Liquid IV to caffeinate the bench? The Nuggets dropped four of their five preseason games, but there has been one positive development: the improvement of second-year pro Julian Strawther. At 6-foot-7, 205 pounds, he provides an ideal mismatch on the perimeter, but it never translated last season when his rookie year was a brick-by-brick construction project. A year later, everything is different. So, Sean, can Strawther become the focal point of a Nuggets bench…

The Nuggets aren’t overly alarmed by their preseason, but they’re not mincing words about it, either. That includes their three-time MVP center.Nikola Jokic, asked where Denver still needs to improve in its final days of practice before the season, responded with a simple and blunt “everything.”“I think we didn’t play the preseason how we’re supposed to be playing,” Jokic said Monday. “The defense was not where it’s supposed to be. We couldn’t make shots. So we played really bad and poorly the whole preseason. So hopefully we can do something a little bit better when the (regular) season comes.”That’ll be…

By Eric Kim, The New York TimesATLANTA — There was a time in Hank Kim’s life when eating hot, crisp-fried chicken wings every day was the norm — he could easily down about 20 in a sitting — not least because his family opened a wing shop, Cafe Hot Wing, in 1988.Another reason he could put away so many? The wings in question were smaller, sharper in flavor, even lighter than their Northern cousins, Buffalo wings. Much like the Atlanta hot wings of today, these Korean American wings were coated with a red-hot sauce, unbridled in their cayenne flavor and…

The Nuggets are getting close to having their top-nine rotation players healthy and available for the season-opener.Peyton Watson was a full participant in practice Sunday for the first time “in close to five weeks now,” coach Michael Malone said. The 22-year-old forward sustained a soft-tissue hamstring injury a few days before training camp, forcing him to miss all five of Denver’s preseason games.The Nuggets are still planning on Watson being available for opening night, Thursday at Ball Arena against the Oklahoma City Thunder.“We’ll see how that injury and how that muscle reacts to what he did today,” Malone said Sunday.…

Snow continues to linger across Colorado’s mountain ranges on Sunday and the state’s rocky peaks could see another couple of inches stack up before the storm moves out, according to the National Weather Service.Between 6 a.m. Sunday and 6 p.m. Monday, another 4 to 6 inches of fresh snow could fall on mountain passes above 9,000 feet — including Loveland Pass, Cumberland Pass, Independence Pass, Berthoud Pass, Eisenhower Tunnel and Wolf Creek Pass — according to NWS forecasters.Areas above 10,000 feet, especially in southwestern Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, could see another 10 to 12 inches of snow Sunday, according to…

Spending on the litany of measures on Coloradans’ ballots has surpassed $24.5 million, led by the campaigns to overhaul the state’s election system and to protect abortion access in the state constitution.Campaign finance reports updated in the last week show total fundraising has reached more than $31 million, including nonmonetary donations, among campaigns for and against more than a dozen state ballot measures in the Nov. 5 election. The campaign for Proposition 131, which would change the election system for many offices, has reported raising roughly $12 million and spending $9.1 million with just under three weeks to go until the…

Most might overlook the play, but it exemplified Tremon Smith’s value to the Broncos’ special teams.Lined up as a gunner for the punt return unit in Week 5’s matchup against the Raiders, the 28-year-old cornerback backpedaled down the field while staying in front of cornerback Darnay Holmes. When Marvin Mims Jr. caught the ball and cut to the left, Smith used his body to wipe out three defenders, creating an opportunity for the second-year returner to speed down the field for a 38-yard gain in the third quarter.Denver’s special teams have turned it around over the past two seasons under…

MANCOS — Stacks of historic documents and copies of nearly 100-year-old deeds blanketed a pingpong table in what Patrick Pipkin described as the Free Land Holder Committee’s meeting hall on his ranch in southwestern Colorado, near where the group recently claimed 1,460 acres of the San Juan National Forest by running barbed-wire fence around the land.The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago and other documents are all part of Pipkin’s “chain of title” that he said proves the Free Land Holders own the U.S. Forest Service land.Pipkin’s long narrative twists…

Aurora officers fatally shot an armed 18-year-old during a Saturday night hostage situation and shootout at a Heather Ridge apartment complex, police said.Police said the man fired multiple shots at officers before one Aurora officer returned fire and shot him. Paramedics took the man, who has not been publicly identified, to a hospital where he later died from his injuries.Aurora officers responded around 11:15 p.m. Saturday to reports of an argument between multiple people at an apartment complex in the 1900 block of South Vaughn Way, in southwest Aurora’s Heather Ridge neighborhood, the police department said in a statement.The caller…

Dear Eric: My mother has been a widow for quite a few years now. Her days consist of watching TV. We took her on vacation with us once, but she wanted to just stay in the hotel and watch TV. She rarely sees friends or goes out. My siblings and I live about an hour away, have full-time jobs, spouses and children so going over to see her a few times a month is all we can take on at this time.We have suggested she might be depressed or lonely, but she scoffs, saying she likes spending time alone. We…