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Housing Authority closes on $26M hotel purchase for city homeless shelter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:34 GMT

The Denver Housing Authority has closed on the purchase of a northeast Denver hotel that the city plans to lease for use as a homeless shelter.The organization’s $25.95 million purchase of the 194-unit former Best Western at 4595 Quebec St., which it announced in late July, closed on Wednesday, records show.The city said in a news release last month that it would lease the property from the Denver Housing Authority and contract with an organization to operate as a non-congregate shelter with supportive services. In a few years, the property will be converted to supportive housing; more than half the units already have kitchenettes.Mayor Mike Johnston touted the deal last month as a critical part of his effort to house 1,000 homeless individuals by the end of the year.“This acquisition is the first key piece of that puzzle and puts us on a solid path to achieving our goal, connecting our unhoused neighbors to housing and low-barrier shelter, and improving quality of life in neighborh...

Here’s how chefs at one of Denver’s best restaurants shop at the farmers market

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:34 GMT

Coperta’s chef de cuisine Kenny Minton could be using his Saturday morning to sleep in after a long week. Instead, he spends Friday nights prepping for the weekend, gets up at 8 or 9 a.m. the next day and drives nearly 40 minutes with his sous chef, Cam Lee, to Boulder where the two of them shop for planned restaurant dishes at the Boulder County Farmers Market.“We’ve only missed three so far,” Minton said.On Saturday, Aug. 12, a particularly cloudy and humid day, the pair strolled through the market with a produce cart in tow and a mission in mind. Next month, they will introduce a new menu, highlighting fruits and vegetables ripe for the picking at the end of the summer harvest.Minton and Lee like to collaborate with the farmers themselves, figuring out what produce will be in season or pre-ordering special items that the growers introduce to them. On most days, 90% of Coperta’s menu is sourced from local farmers, and the chefs like to keep menu descriptions vague in case they fin...

Ouray Sportswear hanging up its hat in Colorado after 58 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:34 GMT

Ouray Sportswear has informed the state that it will close its Englewood plant and let go of 154 workers who printed T-shirts, headwear and other customized apparel for college, resort, golf and corporate customers.“Changing business needs require us to close this facility permanently and, therefore, we are providing you with this notice in accordance with the Federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act,” President Connor Knutson wrote in a letter filed with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. The letter, dated Aug. 18, said 154 employees had been told of their permanent dismissal starting on Oct. 17 and through the end of the year, excluding a few positions that might continue into the first quarter of 2024.Ouray Sportswear’s facility, 1201 W. Mansfield Ave., covers 114,000 square feet and contained 13 automatic screen print presses with 176 embroidery heads, according to the company’s website.L2 Brands, based in Pennsylvania, acqu...

Denver poised to buy 200 pallet houses for the homeless — but where they’ll go is still unknown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:34 GMT

The city of Denver is poised to spend more than $5 million on 200 prefabricated Pallet shelter homes toward Mayor Mike Johnston’s goal of providing shelter for 1,000 people living homeless on the city’s streets by the end of the year.The administration is eyeing paved lots as the future landing places for the easy-to-assemble, temporary shelters, Cole Chandler, the mayor’s top homelessness advisor, told a City Council committee Tuesday.But just where those paved lots — and undeveloped “raw dirt” lots that Chandler said are being considered for villages of manufactured tiny homes — will be located remains unknown outside of executive sessions and private talks between city officials and property owners.The council’s finance and governance committee on Tuesday signed off on a $7 million master purchase order with Everett, Washington-based Pallet. The public benefit corporation has emerged as a leading provider of temporary shelters for p...

Olde Town Arvada takes step toward common consumption area

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:34 GMT

Olde Town Arvada is the latest suburban neighborhood in the metro area to take a step toward allowing visitors to wander around with an alcoholic beverage, while Denver continues to see no takers on the concept.The Arvada City Council voted 6-0 earlier this month, with one member absent, to approve an entertainment district application for Olde Town Arvada.Becoming an entertainment district allows businesses that are in areas closed off to vehicle traffic to create an association and apply for a common consumption area, which then allows customers to drink and roam. The setup is the result of a state law passed in 2011.The district approved last week encompasses all 41.5 acres of Olde Town Arvada, which spans from Ralston Road to Grandview Avenue and Yukon Street to Upham Street.For Olde Town, that means just under 30 businesses with liquor licenses in the pedestrian mall area between Grandview Avenue, Webster Street and Olde Wadsworth Boulevard would be able to serve to-go alcoholi...

Douglas County library board to consider banning four LGBTQ+ books

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:34 GMT

The founder of a conservative men’s group wants the Douglas County Libraries Board of Trustees to ban four books with LGBTQ+ themes, including a children’s picture book titled, “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish,” because he believes they promote a hypersexualized lifestyle to children.Aaron Wood, a Douglas County father of two who leads the Freedom Fathers group, told The Denver Post that he doesn’t believe children should see drawings of drag queens or be exposed “to things that will damage them.”“We’re not banning books because these books are still available. They’re available on Amazon. They’re available at Barnes & Noble,” Wood said. “A library should set a higher standard. And with that the library should make sure children are not exposed to hypersexualized behavior.”But people within the county’s LGBTQ+ community say the request to ban the books targets homosexuals and people with di...

Suspect in Santa Monica assault to commit rape case may have more victims, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:34 GMT

Authorities are searching for more possible victims of a man arrested earlier this month on suspicion of assault to commit rape, the Santa Monica Police Department posted on its Facebook page Monday.Police say 27-year-old Fernando Chavez met with his victim while working at in downtown Los Angeles. Fernando Chavez is seen in an image provided by the Santa Monica Police Department. After Chavez finished his shift, the two went to a beach in Santa Monica. That's where police say the victim was violently assaulted for refusing to have sex with Chavez.Chavez was arrested on Aug. 4 on suspicion of assault to commit rape, the post stated. He remains in custody and is being held without bail. Investigators are searching for any additional victims or witnesses in the case. Chavez also has a pending case with the Orange County Police Department. Video captures mob of thieves ransacking Nordstrom Rack in Riverside He is suspected of assault to commit rape and forcible penetration with a f...

49ers’ end-of-preseason dilemma: Play starters, or sit them?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:34 GMT

SANTA CLARA — The 49ers have one more training camp practice Wednesday, then they’ll implement a rudimentary game plan designed to get out of the preseason against the Los Angeles Chargers as healthy as possible.As for who will take the field and who won’t at 7 p.m. Friday night at Levi’s Stadium, coach Kyle Shanahan wasn’t ready Tuesday to say.Shanahan and every other coach in the NFL face the same issue. Practice repetitions and preseason game reps (which are little more than elevated practice reps) are how players get incrementally better.And is it really worth having a player getting just a little bit better put at risk for being available when the 49ers open the regular season on the road on Sept. 10 against the Pittsburgh Steelers?At the end of the 49ers’ 21-20 win over Denver last weekend, Shanahan said he expected the starters to get some playing time against the Chargers. When he spoke to the media on Tuesday, he said he was waiting in pr...

Editorial: CPUC incompetence lets autotaxis dangerously run amok

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:34 GMT

The California Public Utilities Commission, the regulator that for years let PG&E play fast and loose with our safety, is at it again.Only this time the commissioners, now all appointees of Gov. Gavin Newsom, are letting the companies that run autonomous vehicles endanger Californians’ lives.A day will come when robotaxis are ready to freely navigate our streets and roads. But that day remains in the distant future.The CPUC’s mission is serving the public interest by protecting consumers. But on Aug. 10, the commission ignored significant safety concerns and voted 3-1 in favor of allowing GM subsidiary Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo to expand their robotaxis to any hour of the day throughout San Francisco.Previously, Cruise was limited to offering only paid rides at night and only in parts of San Francisco. Waymo could only offer free rides.One day later, 10 robotaxis abruptly stopped and jammed traffic for 15 minutes in the city’s popular North Beach neighborhood...

Northern California fires: Smith River Complex grows to over 40,000 acres at 0% containment 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:34 GMT

Wildfires continue to rage following lightning strikes across Northern California. The largest of the fires, the Smith River complex, has reached over 40,000 acres and is at 0% containment. Much of northeast Del Norte County is under evacuation orders due to the blaze. Dozens of other fires burn.Smith River ComplexFire personnel noted firefighters are facing complex weather conditions and challenging terrain in a morning briefing Tuesday.“This fire would be complex if it was just one fire, the Kelly fire. When we came here there were 12,” said Nic Elmquist, fire behavior analyst during the briefing. He noted that from aerial views, it looks like the fires want to grow together — two of the larger fires of the complex, the Kelly and Holiday fires, recently merged.The Kelly fire, which forced the closure of state Route 199 last week, reportedly moved southwest, growing 2.5 miles in the early morning Tuesday according to a U.S. Forest Service news release. More than 1,150 personnel are...