Michael Diaz-Rivera hoped $25,000 in savings and a good credit score would give him enough leverage to buy a home. But his low teacher’s salary made that nearly impossible. “The prices in Denver were just a little too steep for me and the market was just too high,” he said in late April. “Every time […]
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Posted inColoradans, Economy, Education, Equity, Health, Housing, News
Key gaps between Black, Latino and white Coloradans have narrowed, but equity is “a dream unrealized”
Maria Bocanegra Tejeda awakens as the rising sun lights her room. Her room. In the house her family owns. That fact is still capable of surprising her, so far removed it is from her cousins’ crowded trailer in the crowded mobile home park where she spent nearly half of her 22 years. The night before, […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, Equity, News
Kiowa County will pay $9.5 million to settle wrongful death of man shot 3 times in the back by deputies
Kiowa County has reached a $9.5 million settlement with the family of Zach Gifford, the unarmed local handyman shot three times in the back by its undersheriff and a rookie deputy in 2020. The amount exceeds the county’s $7.5 million annual budget, but is less than the $10 million maximum its insurance policy would cover. […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: All Coloradans deserve access to trustworthy sources of local news
As the hours tick down before Tuesday’s general election, the news headlines about the state of our democracy could not be more dispiriting: As of Oct. 29, just 16% of Colorado voters had cast ballots Yes, Colorado’s school board races are becoming more politicized. Election disinformation has Colorado clerks trying new tactics to reassure voters […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: As media professors surveying Colorado’s local-news landscape, we have good news and bad news
The role of local news has never been more important than today during a pandemic that has killed millions and at a time when anyone can spew rumors and conspiracies while sitting behind a screen. In Colorado, online misinformation has led some to believe COVID-19 vaccines alter DNA, distrust legitimate philanthropic organizations in the community, […]
Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, News
How a rural Colorado traffic stop left a man dead and a sheriff’s deputy facing criminal charges
KIOWA COUNTY – Nearly a year has passed since a traffic stop ended with Undersheriff Tracy Weisenhorn and Deputy Quinten Stump shooting Zach Gifford, the unarmed passenger, in a nearby field, three bullets in his back. In the 11 months since the 39-year-old handyman’s death in Brandon on April 9, 2020, a state criminal investigation has concluded, […]
Posted inNews, Opinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Some Colorado newspapers are rethinking criminal justice coverage
In 1864, when U.S. cavalry troops slaughtered more than 100 Cheyenne and Arapaho in what became known as the Sand Creek Massacre, The Rocky Mountain News didn’t report it as a mass murder on behalf of white settlers. Instead, the newspaper heralded the soldiers for what it called a “needed whipping” — and it slurred […]
Posted inColoradans, Education, Health, News
On Edge: After wanting to die, an Aurora teen is now learning to live
Navee Essien has grown up keenly aware of her gifts. More times than she can count, people have reminded the senior at Aurora’s Rangeview High how fortunate she is to have a close family and strong support system, academic and athletic talent, ease making friends, and the kind of smarts, beauty and confidence that make […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News
On Edge: How friendship has been a mental-health safety net for two Colorado nurses battling coronavirus
It started about four years ago when Laurel Carpenter and Melissa Humphrey bought matching parkas and then matching comfort shoes. Soon enough, the nurses-slash-best friends from Grand Junction found themselves with matching Chihuahua-print leggings and matching hoodies with fleece-lined pockets in which they carry their matching Chihuahuas. Then came the matching housecoats they exchanged for […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Health
On Edge: For Tylan Jones, anxiety is also a battle between optimism and pessimism
Tylan Jones is not naive. He is a 20-year-old Black man living in the United States. This reality does not easily accommodate naivete. When he was in middle school, he says, he and some Black friends got off the bus in their east Denver neighborhood and an “old white lady” came out of her house […]