staging.rockymountainvoice.com

Menu

Westword

Proposed Colorado law would cut base wages for Denver’s tipped employees
No Comments
State, Westword

Proposed Colorado law would cut base wages for Denver’s tipped employees

By Hannah Metzger | Westword In the last ten years, the minimum wage for tipped workers in Denver has more than tripled and the resulting increase in labor cost has played a major factor in the closure of many local restaurants. Now, state lawmakers are considering a bill that would roll back those increases. If made law, House Bill 1208 would change regulations around tipped wages in municipalities with a higher minimum wage than the rest of the state, including Denver. This would effectively make the hourly minimum wage for tipped workers the same statewide, at least temporarily. READ THE FULL STORY AT WESTWORD
Read More
Familiar voice Alan Roach announcing his 17th Super Bowl this Sunday
No Comments
Local, Westword

Familiar voice Alan Roach announcing his 17th Super Bowl this Sunday

By Catie Cheshire | Westword The Broncos aren’t playing in the Super Bowl this Sunday, but Denver will be well represented as longtime Colorado sports voice Alan Roach will handle public address announcing duties for the big game, as he has for most of the last nineteen years. Roach has served as the PA announcer for all of Denver’s major professional sports teams except the Denver Nuggets over the years, though he currently only works for the Avalanche and Colorado Rapids. His distinctive booming voice is recognizable to even non-sporty Coloradans as the voice of the Denver International Airport train announcements, too. Attending bucket-list sporting events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics, for which he has served as a PA announcer in hockey, makes Roach feel ...
Read More
In Denver, noise rules poised to change for first time in nearly two decades
No Comments
Local, Westword

In Denver, noise rules poised to change for first time in nearly two decades

By Catie Cheshire | Westword Denver has grown a lot since 2008 but the city’s noise ordinance has stayed the same — until now. The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment has finalized updates to the city noise ordinance for the first time since Barack Obama became president, with a focus on the rapid development and growth of the city. “Anybody that's lived in the City and County of Denver for any significant amount of time knows that our city doesn't look the way that it did almost two decades ago,” DDPHE noise program manager Brendan Doyle told a city council committee on February 5. “We recognize a need to balance the city's growth, the desire for activation and arts and entertainment and music events, while still holding true to our job at the p...
Read More
Second Colorado marijuana recall in January hits nearly 60 dispensaries
No Comments
State, Westword

Second Colorado marijuana recall in January hits nearly 60 dispensaries

By Thomas Mitchell | Westword The Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division has issued a health and safety notice over mold and yeast concerns for marijuana grown by Medpharm Holdings, LLC, which does business as cultivator Bud & Mary's. The recall, issued January 28, includes nine different harvest batches and impacts 58 dispensaries across Colorado. According to the MED, the flagged product was sold from February 7 through December 20 of last year. After testing marijuana from Bud & Mary's, some harvest batches were "found to have exceeded acceptable limits established for total yeast and mold," the MED notice says. According to Bud & Mary's, the recalled product passed initial post-harvest testing, but a test at the retail level identified microbial contamin...
Read More
Junk fees are putting Coloradans in debt. Legislation may be coming to help
No Comments
State, Westword

Junk fees are putting Coloradans in debt. Legislation may be coming to help

By Catie Cheshire | Westword Jade Smith's Housing Choice Voucher covers rent at her Denver apartment and a utility stipend for her Xcel Energy bills, but she still owes her complex over $200. That's because Smith's apartment complex, like many others in Denver, charges "junk" fees beyond utilities and rent. According to Smith, her complex charges her $180 per month for line items such as pest control, real estate tax, common area maintenance and processing fees. Because Smith is still working through the paperwork to establish a disability income due to her spinal fusion and post-traumatic stress, she only makes $224 per month doing odd jobs. The lease for her southeast Denver apartment only hints at those charges through a clause saying she may be charged for “other” service...
Read More
Eviction of Longmont’s prairie dogs a go and likely by death over relocation
No Comments
Local, Westword

Eviction of Longmont’s prairie dogs a go and likely by death over relocation

By Catie Cheshire | Westword Over one hundred prairie dogs that live next to the Harvest Junction Village neighborhood in Longmont will likely be killed in March after the Homeowners Association board voted to move forward with an extermination plan. The HOA board is giving activists and community members who don’t want the animals to be killed until March 1 to move the colony, but activists say that timeline is impossible. “This rushed decision disregards both resident input and the humane, cost-effective solutions that are available if the board delays extermination,” Longmont prairie dog advocate Jaime Fraina says in a statement. READ THE FULL STORY AT WESTWORD
Read More
Declining marijuana industry sales in Colorado hit seven-year low in 2024
No Comments
State, Westword

Declining marijuana industry sales in Colorado hit seven-year low in 2024

By Thomas Mitchell | Westword Colorado's legal marijuana market continued sliding in 2024, hitting a seven-year low in annual dispensary sales. According to monthly reports from the state Marijuana Enforcement Division, Colorado dispensaries brought in just over $1.28 billion in sales through the first eleven months of 2024, with around $109 million of that sold in November. Unless pot shops raked in over $200 million in December, in 2024 Colorado won't break $1.5 billion in annual marijuana sales for the first time since 2016. Based on state marijuana tax revenue numbers, dispensaries didn't sell enough pot to last month to keep that streak going. READ THE FULL STORY AT WESTWORD
Read More
Harvest Junction Village HOA wants to exterminate prairie dogs in Longmont, but activists are involved
No Comments
Local, Westword

Harvest Junction Village HOA wants to exterminate prairie dogs in Longmont, but activists are involved

By Catie Cheshire | Westword Jaime Fraina walks almost every day along Left Hand Creek in Longmont, where he enjoys a little fresh air and nature. Fraina particularly likes seeing the prairie dogs, which he often sees calling to each other, poking their heads out of the ground or relaxing in the sun. But those prairie dogs will soon be eliminated if the Harvest Junction Village Homeowners Association, which manages part of the open space where Fraina walks, follows through with a plan to kill them. To prevent the death of those prairie dogs, Fraina says he's proposed alternative solutions to keep the creatures from wandering into yards, but the HOA hasn't been receptive. READ THE FULL STORY AT WESTWORD
Read More
Lakewood sued by developer, as expected, over controversial new open space law
No Comments
Local, Westword

Lakewood sued by developer, as expected, over controversial new open space law

By Catie Cheshire | Westword As members of Lakewood City Council predicted when they passed a controversial new open-space law last November, the City of Lakewood has been named in a suit claiming that the law is illegal and being applied unfairly to a planned development next to Belmar Park. In September, Lakewood residents successfully petitioned to eliminate the city’s option to allow developers to pay a fee to build parks instead of dedicating parkland for each development; the council had no choice but to either send the issue to a special election or turn the petition into law. As a result, every project must now dedicate 10.5 acres of parkland for every 1,000 people expected to live at a new Lakewood development. Kairoi Properties filed the lawsuit ...
Read More
Denver home prices are falling, but does that mean buying a house is affordable?
No Comments
Local, Westword

Denver home prices are falling, but does that mean buying a house is affordable?

By Catie Cheshire | Westword Denver had the seventh-highest drop in home prices in 2024, according to Realtor.com. But that doesn’t necessarily mean buying a home in Denver is affordable. Though the median list price of a home in Denver was down 5.35 percent in December 2024 compared to December 2023, the median list price is still $577,350. Still, real estate experts are taking the news of the drop as another sign that markets are leveling out from pandemic-induced, skyrocketing prices. “Austin, Denver, Phoenix and Nashville were the darling markets of 2021 and 2022 and places where prices went wild,” says Joel Berner, Realtor.com senior economist. “Now, with more homes on the market, prices are returning to where they belong.” READ THE FULL STORY AT WESTWORD...
Read More