Abenicio Rael’s mother, Irene, was one of hundreds of people forced to leave their homes in Denver’s oldest neighborhood before it was razed to make way for the Auraria campus in the 1970s. That made him eligible for the Displaced Aurarian Scholarship, though he soon found the limits of its promise of free tuition at […]
David Gilbert
David is a former Colorado Sun staff writer.
Twitter: @davidgilbert4u
Posted inBusiness, Health, News
10-digit dialing becomes mandatory across Colorado to make way for national suicide hotline
Practice makes perfect. Six months after state officials recommended callers in Colorado’s 719 and 970 area codes start getting in the habit of dialing 10 digits — area code plus phone number — for all local calls, the change became official on Sunday. The switch is to make way for 988, a three-digit dialing code […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
14 months after an Englewood slaying, the victim’s family pushes to keep the unsolved killing in the spotlight
On a lonely spot in the industrial district where the Little Dry Creek bike path crosses Platte River Drive in northwest Englewood, a hand-engraved metal plate is screwed into a wooden post. It reads: “JOSEPH MICHAEL HIX — MY FRIEND DIED HERE.” The little plaque is the only marker commemorating the life of Joe Hix, […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News, Water
Colorado heads into snowpack season with low reservoirs — but a twinge of hope
Drought conditions have eased up a bit from this time last year, but as the calendar turns on Colorado’s water year, worries about a dry winter still loom, the state’s assistant climatologist says. That’s not to say Colorado isn’t parched. Most of the state remains in drought, including the Eastern Plains, which spent much of […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Economy, Environment, News, Outdoors
Glenwood Springs is still dealing with the effects of a long I-70 closure this summer. Federal aid is a lifeline.
After a year marred by disease and wildfire, Defiance Rafting just east of Glenwood Springs was having a gangbuster whitewater season this summer — so much so that owner Gregory Cowan planned to replace the 26 rafts that came with the business when he bought it three years ago. But the mudslides that closed Interstate […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Littleton police officer shot multiple times responding to reports of gunfire in residential neighborhood
A Littleton police officer is in the hospital after being shot by a suspect near Powers Avenue and South Bannock Street late Monday night, the Littleton Police Department said. Police were searching for the suspect on Tuesday morning, but said they do not believe there is an immediate threat to the community. The officer is […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Littleton passed an ordinance requiring that gun stores take steps to prevent burglaries. Half of the city’s shops are struggling to comply.
Two of Littleton’s four firearm retailers will miss the deadline to comply with a first-in-the-state safe-storage law intended to prevent store burglaries, citing contractor delays and supply shortages. Littleton police, however, say they feel confident the retailers are on the path to compliance. Littleton City Council passed an ordinance in February requiring gun dealers to […]
Posted inColoradans, News
Three years after a fire tore through a Colorado apartment building for seniors, survivors are still struggling
“I remember the railing was hot.” On a calm June afternoon, Anne Heathman ran her fingers along the steel railing of the balcony of her old apartment — the first time she had visited since the morning she narrowly escaped with her life. Heathman, 76, was one of 163 seniors who fled an early-morning fire that […]
Posted inColoradans, News
On Memorial Day, a Colorado woman remembers the Marine son who is always with her
James Hessel came home from school on Sept. 11, 2001, and told his mom he was joining the Marines. “He felt it was his patriotic duty after that terrible day,” said Hessel’s mom Kathie Newman. “I told him to look into some of the other military branches. The Marines are pretty hardcore.” But Hessel was […]