Author: reporter

One year after the shooting outside Denver’s East High School that took 16-year-old Luis Garcia’s life, his family says they still feel his missing presence but are hopeful for justice. Luis Garcia. (Photo courtesy of the Garcia family) For Santos Garcia, Luis’s father, the last few days have been especially hard. He last saw his son on Super Bowl Sunday, a day before Luis was shot on Feb. 13, 2023, while sitting in his car near East 17th Avenue and City Park Esplanade outside East High. Luis, a junior who played on East’s varsity soccer team, died several weeks later.…

The family of an unarmed Colorado Springs man who died after being handcuffed and held to the ground during a mental health crisis in November 2022 filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the police officer and former paramedic involved in the altercation. Kevin Dizmang, 63, died Nov. 15, 2022, after an encounter with a Colorado Springs community response team consisting of Colorado Springs police officer Sean Reed, fire department paramedic Nick Fisher and a mental health clinician. The complaint, filed in federal district court Tuesday, alleges Reed and Fisher caused Dizmang’s wrongful death, that Fisher used unauthorized and excessive…

Last year wasn’t easy on Amos Watts. But, with a new location secured for his restaurant, he thinks 2024 is already looking better. The Fifth String — which Watts originally opened in LoHi in 2020 — will reopen in 3,200 square feet at 1490 Eudora St., along East Colfax in the Hale neighborhood. Watts said he closed the LoHi location in August because the space wasn’t right for the restaurant. But there was another complicating factor: doctors found benign tumors on his jaw. Watts said he knew The Fifth String wouldn’t close for good, but he was facing seven surgeries…

MILWAUKEE — When a team is successful enough for long enough, anything that even resembles a losing streak can start to feel like uncharted territory. With one game remaining before the NBA All-Star break, the Denver Nuggets are reckoning with consecutive losses for the first time since early December, exactly 30 games ago. Coach Michael Malone was consistently satisfied with Denver’s play throughout January, especially while facing a grueling stretch of playoff-level opponents that included the longest road trip of the season. He has also praised his team for establishing a measure of maturity in response to the uncommon losses.…

Living in 2024 means enduring ads for Apple’s new Vision Pro, a $4,000, virtual-reality headset that projects interactive images over a 3-D view of your surroundings. It’s a step beyond existing VR headsets (“spatial computing,” as Apple calls it) from Meta and Sony and, yes, it’s something most of us are going to ignore until it becomes much cheaper. That only enhances the appeal of touring VR shows. Why visit an arcade, or buy your own pricey headset, when you can just sample a big-budget “mixed reality” experience? The Denver run of “Space Explorers: The Infinite” answers that question with…

Partitioned bike lanes need maintenance too As an avid recreational cyclist and longtime bike commuter in southeast Denver, I watched eagerly as the City of Denver recently rehabilitated E. Yale Avenue between Clayton-ish and Colorado Boulevard. First, a much-needed repaving, and then fresh striping with green paint for the bike lanes — perfect! But then came protected barriers — rubber curbs with vertical barrier “pipes” — to physically separate the bike lane from the vehicle lane. Okay, but how can the city maintain the new protected bike lanes so they are actually safe to ride in? Do they have mini…

The state legislature will consider a plan to help fund a new medical school at the University of Northern Colorado and three other programs statewide that train the health care workforce. Rep. Mary Young, a Greeley Democrat, said she and others planned to introduce a bill Monday that would split $246 million among the four programs to help cover their construction costs and other infrastructure. She wasn’t sure how much each program would receive if the bill passed. UNC started exploring the idea of creating an osteopathic medical school in 2021. The university, located in Greeley, reported it will open the…

The RTD will reopen the Downtown Boulder Station lobby on Feb. 19 after over a year of renovations to replace the building’s interior ductwork, which was contaminated with methamphetamines last year. The inside of the station at 1800 14th St. in Boulder was closed last January after an investigation into strong odors emitting from a restroom revealed levels of meth exceeding Center for Disease Control limits, according to Regional Transportation District news releases. Residue was also detected in the ductwork and was impossible to clean out, necessitating a full replacement of the ventilation system. “The collective goal of all employees…

The presiding judge for Denver’s juvenile court retired last week amid an unspecified investigation into his conduct. Judge D. Brett Woods was suspended Dec. 21 with pay as the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline launched proceedings, court records show. The suspension order did not outline what prompted the investigation, and a spokesperson with the Colorado Judicial Department on Monday said he could not divulge any additional details. Woods on Thursday alerted Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Brian Boatright of his intention to retire. “It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve the citizens of Denver County as a…

The Colorado women’s basketball team was on a roll before it ran into Oregon State on Sunday. Now, the Buffaloes face a crucial stretch of games that could make or break their regular season. Following Sunday’s 65-59 loss to OSU, in a game that wasn’t nearly that close most of the day, the Buffs (20-4, 10-3 Pac-12) slipped four spots to No. 8 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll. It is CU’s 14th consecutive week in the top 10, the third-longest streak in program history. South Carolina remains the unanimous No. 1, but with Iowa, North Carolina State…