Spot the difference
Days after James Holmes was spared the death penalty, Denver jurors began hearing testimony Tuesday to decide whether convicted murderer Dexter Lewis should also be so lucky. Lewis — whose sanity has gone unquestioned — was found guilty of stabbing five in Fero’s Bar & Grill before setting the place on fire. The Denver Post reports on the other strange details of the case.
Rez Reservations
Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye told The Durango Herald he intends to sue the EPA over the 3 million — not 1 million as the agency originally estimated — gallons of wastewater now spilling out over their land. The Navajo Nation issued a state of emergency, declaring the tainted mine will have unknown and lingering effects on the area’s water system.
Analysis paralysis
Boulder County commissioners acknowledged that the county jail is overcrowded to the point of danger — and has been for years. Sheriff Joe Pelle first proposed a new facility over a year ago for low-risk inmates aimed at curbing substance abuse and mental illness. “We’re going to do everything we can to move the ball forward,” a commissioner told The Daily Camera recently.
Best defense is a good offense
TABOR mastermind Doug Bruce is suing his former attorney David Lane for taking too long to appeal 2012 felony convictions for tax evasion. Lane called Bruce mentally ill before giving The Gazette’s Megan Schrader the quote of the year: “The fact that the court doesn’t move as fast as Douglas Bruce wants it to is probably because there are not enough dollars to adequately staff the Colorado Court of Appeals due to the TABOR Amendment.”
Anatomy of a calamity
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs made a complete mess of the long overdue and over budget new hospital in Aurora. If you missed the debacle unfold, this Denver Post feature is the primer for you.
Free the nipple
A Fort Collins woman previewed an action planned for international “go topless” day later this month by standing on a street corner wearing a bikini with a placard over her chest that says “illegal to remove.” She wants the city to change its public indecency ordinance to make male and female breasts equal under the eyes of the law. Via The Coloradoan.
Root finding
Over the past decade, a series of legislative changes and court decisions have made adoption records in Colorado some of the most available in the country. The Daily Camera’s Alex Burness chronicles one woman’s 65 year quest to track down her biological family.
Photo credit: Rae Allen, Creative Commons, Flickr.
