Angela Rae Harris's Blog, page 33

New mural honors old Denver’s Westside

Just in time for the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month, a vibrant new mural recently completed on the exterior of a Metro State University building at 800 Kalamath St. catches eyes and helps raise awareness about the history a of a Denver neighborhood long known as the Westside.

Titled “A Tribute to the Westside,” the 6,000 square feet mural depicts the Platte River, indigenous people, a buffalo, horses, a miner, a steam locomotive, the Colorado state capitol, St. Cajetan’s Church, a mariachi band, dancers and protestors.  

The mural designed and painted by a collective of five local artists wraps the building’s corner. In the alley off 8th Avenue, what first hits the eye is an enormous painting of a beefy boxer throwing a punch.

Community contributed ideas for mural

“One thing we got from three community meetings we held is that this neighborhood was always fighting for something — fighting for better housing, better education, a more positive political presence,” said Carlos Fresquez, one of five artists in a creative group known as Midbrow Collective.

“Denver’s west side used to have boxing nights in the 1960s and ‘70s, and one of the members of our collective, Zach Armijo, brought in an old photo of his uncle, a Golden Gloves boxer, so we used that image as a metaphor and symbol of the neighborhood’s fights,” said Fresquez.

Along with Fresquez and Armijo, the collective includes Spencer Eudaly, Adrian Raya and Ramon Trujillo. Fresquez taught at MSU for 33 years until his retirement two years ago, and the other four artists were his students. Completed with the assistance of current MSU art students, the mural is the first project of Midbrow Collective.

“I like our name: Midbrow,” Fresquez said. “There’s lowbrow art which is tattoos and graffiti or highbrow art which is usually in galleries and museums. We figure we are somewhere in the middle.”

Fresquez, who has numerous works in the Denver Public Art collection, noted that the mural project was sponsored by MSU, the Denver Latino Cultural Art Center and Museo de las America also provided sponsorship.

About two years ago, MSU issued a call for entries, inviting muralists to submit ideas for the exterior of the building.

“It is a dream come true to see this come to life in a little over a year from its first inception,” said John Masserini, dean of MSU College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. “This is a gift to Denver’s Westside, and I hope it helps tell the stories and honor the people of the community in perpetuity.”

Five local artists painted a new  6,000 square foot mural that documents the Hispanic history of one of Denver’s oldest neighborhoods Westside. (Courtesy photo, Monique Archuleta)An artist’s ancient roots in Colorado and New Mexico

“I’m a Westsider, and I’ll always be proud of that,” Fresquez said.

          He was born and raised in Denver to Coloradans — his father came from the San Luis Valley and his mother came from Trinidad. His grandparents were from the Taos and Santa Fe area, but his lineage traced much further back to indigenous people.

“The name ‘Fresquez’ was invented in New Mexico, and the first document listing a Fresquez from was from 1617. The family was part of the first settlement in the late 1500s. That’s something I never knew as child on playgrounds here in Denver in grade school, when kids had hatred and said, ‘Mexican, go back where you came from’,” said Fresquez, now 69. “We were part of this country since before it was a country.”

“When my son gave me a DNA test to do, I learned my genealogy is 50% indigenous and 50% European,” he said. “The Spanish came in conquered New Spain all around Albuquerque, but my Native American ancestors were probably around 10,000 years ago.”

Fresquez, married nearly 45 years to the folk artist Lynn Fresquez, recalled some of his earliest memories of Denver and the history he’s learned throughout his entire life lived in the Mile High City.

“The Mexicans who came to the region before Denver was founded settled around the Platte River. There were teepees along the Platte and Cherry Creek. The indigenous people — the Arapaho and Cheyenne — and the Mexicans were here when Colorado was still part of Mexico,” said Fresquez.

The muralists also depicted protest and prayer, both important to the culture. “St.Cajetan’s Church was the first church by and for the Mexican American community,” he said. “St. Elizabeth’s, built in late 1800s, didn’t allow Mexicans — not in the main church. They could go to the basement for services in Spanish.”

The mural depicts a popular cinema from days gone by.

“As a kid, Santa Fe Drive from about Alameda to Colfax was our main shopping district with markets, barber shops, stores and the Santa Fe theater with Spanish language movies,” said Fresquez.

Five local artists painted a new  6,000 square foot mural that documents the Hispanic history of one of Denver’s oldest neighborhoods Westside. (Courtesy photo, Monique Archuleta)Public art improves appeal, fends off graffiti

Denver’s mural collection has grown significantly, with scores of buildings now painted throughout the city.

“Denver started doing that because about 20 years ago graffiti was popping up really badly, and graffiti usually stops when a really nice mural is put up,” said Fresquez. “That’s what city found, and it was the same in LA and New York, where the taggers respected the murals.” 

Fresquez admitted to his own brief stint as a tagger,  but he shifted to public art when he did his first mural in the late 1970s.

“It went into an orphanage in North Denver,” he said. “I was working with an artist friend, and looking at the painting on the wall, I realized it was a gift to the community.”

Public art supports public spaces

Fresquez shared an anecdote from an installation of one of several of his sculptures in the Denver Public Art collection.

“We were installing the sculpture, and a woman came up and asked why we are spending money on this when we have homeless people and hunger,” Fresquez said. “I told her, ‘This is about humanity. We have a lot of bad in the world, but we also need to look at and honor the idea of creating and offering more than just that. People need and want to create, and art adds to our city. The creativity of art helps us see more than the negative.”

Fresquez emphasized the value of the mural not only as visual art, but also as a teaching tool.

“Art is for everybody,” he said. “Really, these murals are walls with tongues. They have something to say, whether ridiculous or insipid or smart or educational or political. It’s nice to have the opportunity to do that.”

An unexpected, angelic mural moment

Working on a grand scale on an exterior surface under Colorado’s intense summer sun challenged the artists.

“The toughest part was the heat,” Fresquez said. “Our last day was super, super hot, probably 95 degrees and probably 110 on the wall, with no breeze. Ramon and I were on a lift to reach the top of the two-story building to finish final details, and it was unbearable.”

Five local artists painted a new 6,000 square foot mural that documents the Hispanic history of one of Denver’s oldest neighborhoods Westside. (Courtesy photo, Monique Archuleta)

Then, something surprisingly cool happened.

“When we came down, we were exhausted, and this guy walks by – scruffy blond hair – and drops off two Gatorades. It was perfect timing, almost angelic,” Fresquez said. “We didn’t get his name, we just told him thank you, and he waved and walked on. It was really cool that somebody cared enough about what we were doing.”

Fresquez will participate in the 40th anniversary of Edge Gallery from Oct. 3 to Oct. 19. More information: www.edgeart.org

EDITORIAL: Colorado’s costly call of the wild

If only managing the state’s wildlife were as simple as dialing in Animal Planet from your suburban family room and then reaching for the remote when it’s time to shoo the kids off to bed — and the animal kingdom back to the wilds.

For the vast majority of Coloradans, that’s where their understanding of wildlife begins and ends. The complexities, the challenges, the delicate balance of the wildlife eco-system in our state’s vast high country and on its plains are an abstraction for most people in our population centers.

Much the same can be said for their limited knowledge of the agricultural world that puts food on their tables. The hard work and high risk of farming and ranching in the ever-volatile ag economy are another abstraction to Colorado’s largely urban-suburban population.

Hence, recent survey findings that a majority of Coloradans stills supports the state’s controversial, costly and counterproductive wolf-reintroduction program five years after it was mandated by the state’s voters. Just barely more than half of Coloradans voted for Proposition 114 on the 2020 statewide ballot, and a similarly slight majority, 52%, continues to support the ongoing program, according to the poll by the respected Magellan Strategies.

Never mind that the reintroduction effort has been floundering almost from Day 1. By any measure, the endeavor is backfiring — just as its critics, including The Gazette’s editorial board, had predicted.

For starters, 10 of the 25 gray wolves imported to Colorado so far have died. A 60% chance of survival is little more than even odds — a de facto death sentence for a significant share of the unfortunate animals brought here. It doesn’t bode particularly well in the near term for the putative purpose of reintroduction, i.e., to bring greater balance to Colorado’s food chain.

Meanwhile, wolves that have survived already have been wreaking havoc on the state’s pivotal livestock producers. As Colorado’s Common Sense Institute noted in an analysis of the program’s impact, at least 65 cattle, sheep and other livestock — even a llama — have been killed or injured so far in confirmed attacks by wolves. 

The state’s statutorily required compensation to those ranchers, as well as related costs incurred by the program, have driven the total bill to the public over $8 million, according to the institute’s analysis. The program was originally supposed to cost about $800,000 a year.

Yet, the public supports it — because it isn’t in a position to connect the dots between the wolves and the damage they’ve done. The vast majority of the survey respondents haven’t been nursing wounded cows or finding decimated calves on rangeland. 

Nor have most Coloradans likely been keeping a running tally of the program’s mounting costs — despite ultimately having to pick up the tab. Those numbers are lost in the overall state budget, which, let’s not forget, had faced a nearly $800 million deficit until lawmakers convened in special session last month to bridge the gap.

There’s nothing wrong with city slickers knowing little about ranching. That’s how it always has been. The problem is when they meddle with the best of intentions — through the ballot box. 

The state’s Division of Parks and Wildlife has a highly trained staff that includes wildlife biologists; presiding over them is a commission of stakeholders who understand wildlife management in depth. If wolf reintroduction had made sense, they would have been the ones to advance the idea. 

Proposition 114, whose campaign was funded by out-of-state interests, was derided it at the time as “ballot box biology.” It was in fact a ballot box backfire. 

Many Coloradans still don’t realize that — and can’t be expected to — on such an arcane issue. Which is why it never belonged on the ballot in the first place.

Mark Kiszla: Does Coach Prime have the patience to pull Buffs out of the ditch?

BOULDER — The one thing a struggling CU football team needs most right now is something coach Deion Sanders isn’t wired to give.

Patience.

Coach Prime ain’t got time for that.

“I’m not a patient man. I’m not a patient man on anything,” Sanders said Tuesday, when I asked his feelings while watching the Buffs stumble to two losses in three games, with a spinning carousel of quarterbacks and a defense getting trampled underfoot.

“I’m a fixer, man. I want to fix the problem. I’m not a guy that wants it lingering, just to have that kind of stuff going on. I’m just as upset as some of you watching this durn (game) … I’m just as upset, or even more, because I know what’s supposed to be happening.”

In Year 3 of the Coach Prime experience, it simply isn’t happening.

From the Buffs’ lack of physicality in the trenches to poor clock management on the CU sideline, almost nothing has gone as planned.

While expressing deep gratitude for how Sanders rescued this CU program from the dark side of the moon, then quickly returned it to front and center on the college football map, is it also fair to mention that after 28 games as coach of the Buffs, his record is 14-14?

That’s not prime. It’s the very definition of mediocre.

“I don’t care what kind of car we pull up in, so long as we pull out of here with a W.”

Sanders is a coach who naturally gravitates toward shiny objects, whether it’s Heisman-caliber talent or the red light of a live TV camera.

But does he have the patience to do the long, often boring grind of building the foundation of a program that can win consistently?

While there remains a lot of football yet to be played this season, 25% of CU’s games are already in the books. That’s late in the fall semester for a college team to be figuring out its starting quarterback and how to defend the run.

If the Buffs appear a step slow on the field, maybe it’s because they are lost in the weeds, searching for their identity.

“I don’t know coaches that seek identity. I think coaches seek winning,” said Sanders, refusing to buy my premise. “You can call it what you want, but it looks the way it looks. I don’t care what kind of car we pull up in, so long as we pull out of here with a ‘W.’” 

Without Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and the A-list college QB that Shedeur Sanders undeniably was, a Colorado roster with barely a handful of returning starters looks like a bunch of strangers that don’t entirely trust each other or the game plans they’ve been given.

After being disturbingly non-competitive during the Big 12 Conference opener at Houston, Sanders stood in front of his reeling Buffs at a team meeting this week and declared: “Why not us?”

It sounded as if Coach Prime was trying to convince himself as much as the players that this group could be more than frustrated dwellers of the conference cellar.

While Sanders played coy about which of his three quarterbacks would start in a must-win game against Wyoming, isn’t the choice obvious?

Ryan Staub was a feel-good story with a short expiration date. Still shy of his 18th birthday, ballyhooed freshman JuJu Lewis appears to be both a little  undersized and a little overrated. Veteran Kaidon Salter should win the starting nod by default.

As a great disruptor locked and loaded to shoot for the stars, Sanders was the perfect man for the moment in the earliest years of the immense NIL and transfer portal chaos that shook college football to the core.

But a program built to last cannot be constructed with shiny objects.

In order to win consistently, a team must first commit to how it wants to win.

“I can’t be narrowed down to ‘What’s your identity?’” Coach Prime insisted. “What’s your identity? I don’t even know what that means.”

I’m not here to argue with Sanders, because he’s going to do it his way, regardless of what some knucklehead like me thinks.

But watching these Buffs sputter and lurch, I’m not certain Sanders knows whether he’s driving a Tesla, a Mack Truck or a Yugo.

“Winning is winning, man. It’s not one thing you can hang your hat on,” Sanders said. “I would love to say: ‘Shoot, we can do this or we can do that.’ But you have to have consistency before you start opening your mouth and rambling off like that.”

It’s my strong belief that a perennial top 20 football team knows what it does best, has an established system to develop talent and consistently plays to its strengths, then dares any or all challengers to beat it.

More often than not, the Buffs of Coach Prime have been consistently better at making you look than blocking and tackling.

In this Louis Vuitton era, when five-star recruits like offensive tackle Jordan Seaton and Lewis can pack up and leave Boulder as quickly as they became big men on campus, there’s no future in the Buffs being a 4-8 football team.

And maybe that’s the best explanation for why Sanders has absolutely no time for patience. 

Robert Redford remembered at Boulder’s The Sink as former janitor

Oscar-winning actor and director Robert Redford, who died Tuesday at 89, was once a janitor at The Sink in Boulder, leaving behind a legacy and a caricature on the wall for all who eat there.

Redford, the Hollywood golden boy who became an Oscar-winning director, liberal activist and godfather for independent cinema under the name of one of his best-loved characters, died “at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved,” publicist Cindi Berger said in a statement. No cause of death was provided.

In the mid-1950s while a student at the University of Colorado Boulder, Redford worked at The Sink as janitor, cleaning the burger restaurant’s floors and saving up money to go get breakfast across the street, owner Mark Heinritz said.

University of Colorado, Boulder students Julia Delenea and Erica Griffiths eat at The Sink next to a caricature of Robert Redford on Sept. 16, 2025. (Kyla Pearce/Denver Gazette)

The Sink has been a core part of The Hill, CU Boulder campus’s student social hub, since 1923.

“We lost a legend,” The Sink posted on social media platform X Tuesday morning. “Farewell Robert Redford. You will always hold a special place in The Sink’s history.”

The Sink obviously stuck with him, Heinritz said, and he’s come back to visit and buy t-shirts.

“His memories of The Sink were very fond,” Heinritz said. “There are a bunch of people up on our wall, but the ones that excite us most are the ones who have history with The Sink.”

Redford was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity while at CU.

The Sink is proud to have Redford as part of their history, Heinritz said.

“We hoped for Sundance, he’d be able to sign his caricature on the wall, but that’s how life goes,” Heinritz said. “It’s just one cool representation of how our history overlaps with so many other people.”

Legendary actor Robert Redford talks to the crew working on the set of a Netflix film, “Our Souls at Night”. The film was being shot at a house in Old Colorado City on Monday, Sept. 12, 2016. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette)

Twin crashes kill two people in Brighton within 18 hours of one another

Two people are dead after twin automotive crashes took place within 18 hours and six miles of one another in Brighton between Monday and Tuesday.

The first, which took place just before 11 a.m. Monday, involved a man dying after his co-worker ran over him in a concrete truck, according to the Brighton Police Department.

Police first responded to the incident that took place in the 2100 block of East Crown Prince Boulevard and were told that a 29-year-old man driving a concrete truck had run over another male co-worker, according to a news release from the BPD.

When authorities arrived, they found the victim unconscious and another man performing CPR, according the release. The driver remained on the scene and cooperated with investigators. He did not show any signs of impairment.

The initial investigation showed that the crash took place on a commercial private property while both men were working, according to the release. Anyone with additional information about the crash is asked to call the Brighton Police Department tip line at 303-655-8740.

The second crash took place about 18 hours later, just before 4 a.m. Monday near Mt. Bierstadt Street and East Bridge Street, according to separate news release from BPD. Investigators believe that a 47-year-old man was driving a truck eastbound in the westbound lanes when he collided head-on with another vehicle.

The female driver of the vehicle was taken to a nearby hospital with serious injuries, police say. The male driver of the truck was also taken to the hospital and died shortly after arrival.

Authorities believe that alcohol was a contributing factor in the crash, they said, but the investigation remains in the early stages.

After false report of death, ex-Broncos boss Wade Phillips is fine, may continue to coach

Wade Phillips is alive and well and attended last Friday’s Colorado at Houston game.

There was a post on Facebook early this month that claimed with a headline “Breaking News” that Phillips, 78, a former Broncos head coach and defensive coordinator, had died. Phillips then went on X on Sept. 5 and wrote that a “sick and cruel person sent this false information on me” and “me, my family and friends were very upset.”

Phillips was the Broncos’ head coach from 1993-94 and had stints as their defensive coordinator from 1989-92 and 2015-16. In a phone interview with The Denver Gazette, he discussed how upset he was at the false report.

Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, left, and cornerback Kayvon Webster acknowledge the crowd at a rally following a parade through downtown Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016 in Denver. Fans crowded into Denver’s downtown to salute the Broncos for the team’s victory over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

“One of my friends from Denver was crying when she called my wife (Laurie),’’ said Phillips, who lives in the Houston area. “It caused a lot of consternation, really. It’s kind of unhuman really to do something like that.”

Phillips said a “lot of people” reached out to the family after seeing the Facebook post, including some who called his phone. What was the reaction when he answered?

“I think they were glad to hear me,’’ he said. “I hope so. But I’m not going to laugh about it. It’s really not funny.”

OK, Phillips did get at least one chuckle.

“I had one friend who texted, ‘Rest in peace, Wade,’’’ Phillips joked about the friend sending the message after he knew Phillips was fine.

Phillips had first heard about the false report when a Broncos fan reached out to him on X with a screen shot of the posting to inquire how he was doing. That’s when Phillips put up his response saying he is “in good health and feel great except for this.”

Phillips’ son, Wes Phillips, is offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. He didn’t learn about the Facebook post until after he knew it was false.

“It may be for clicks or whatever, but people put false information out there,” Wes Phillips told The Denver Gazette. “You see it more and more these days. It’s hard to know what to trust. … It’s a shame that (the family) had to deal with that. … There are things better than getting some clicks or some likes, whatever they’re looking for, but when you they post something like that, you can affect people’s lives in a negative way.”

Phillips has been a football coach for 56 years and might not be done. He coached the San Antonio Brahmas of the spring United Football League to the league championship game in June 2024. However, last April, after the Brahmas started 0-3, he took a leave of absence for the rest of the season for health reasons.

Phillips is the oldest coach in pro football history, having been two months shy of 78 when last on the sideline. He said the leave was due to an adverse reaction to a different medicine he was prescribed for diabetes.

“The medicine I was taking was giving me bad side effects,’’ Phillips said. “And I actually changed medicine and I’m a lot better.”

Asked about his overall health, Phillips said, “I’m doing well.” His son agreed.

“He’s doing great,’’ said Wes Phillips, who last saw his father before the start of training camp in late July. “He’s lost a lot of weight. He looks good. He feels good. His knees aren’t bothering him as much. He’s had to buy new pants (due to the weight loss).”

With his health not a concern, Phillips said he has an opportunity to return to coach the Brahmas next spring.

“I still haven’t decided, so we’ll see,’’ said Phillips, the defensive coordinator on the 2015 Broncos, who won Super Bowl 50 and had perhaps the best defense in team history. “I love coaching. It was a good gig for me (in the spring) because it’s only four months and I can go to NFL games during the NFL season, especially with my son coaching.”

The oldest NFL head coach ever is Pete Carrroll, who returned to head the Las Vegas Raiders this season after not coaching in 2024. He turned 74 on Monday.

Phillips, the son of legendary NFL coach Bum Phillips, began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater Houston in 1969. After some other college stints and one in high school, he entered the NFL in 1976 as an assistant under his father with the Houston Oilers.

Phillips remained in the NFL through 2019, when he was defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams at age 72. He also had head coaching stints in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills and interim head coaching stints with the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans. His career coaching record is a strong 82-64.

Phillips was head coach of the Houston Roughnecks of the spring XFL in 2023. Then he took over Brahmas in 2024 after the XFL merged with the USFL to form the UFL.

“He doesn’t have any hobbies,’’ Wes Phillips said of why his father has continued to coach. “Football is just his thing. … He just enjoys the game, enjoys being around the players and coaches and watching tape is kind of his hobby.”

His son has mixed feelings on whether he wants his dad to coach again.

“There’s a part of me that if that’s ultimately what he wants, then absolutely,’’ he said. “And then there’s the other part of me that it’s been a good career, a good run. Let’s relax and take some of that stress off and just enjoy life.”

In the meantime, Phillips plans to attend the 10-year reunion of the Super Bowl 50 team during the weekend in which Denver plays host Oct. 19 to the New York Giants. Phillips called the plays for the only team in Broncos history to have finished No. 1 in the NFL in total defense.

“I’m excited to get to see the guys again,’’ Phillips said. “It’s a special group. Winning a Super Bowl is the ultimate in our profession.”

Wes Phillips, 46, won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams in the 2021 season as their tight ends coach and pass game coordinator, and his father jokes about how much bigger his son’s Super Bowl ring is than his. Phillips is optimistic his son one day will be an NFL head coach, which would make the family the first in league history to have three generations of head coaches.

“He’s a better coach than I was,’’ Phillips said of his son. “He knows what I know and he also knows what he knows.”

Wes said “that’s a good line” by his father but he doesn’t agree with it. He said his father passes on a lot of “wisdom” to him before and after Vikings games.

“Maybe I’m a better offensive coach,’’ Wes quipped.

For now, Phillips is making plans to see how many Vikings games he will attend this season. He already is loading up on college games. In addition to going to last Friday’s 36-20 win by Houston over Colorado, he went to last Saturday to Lamar’s 31-7 victory over Texas Southern in Houston.

Phillips is indeed alive and well.

Evergreen High School shooter fired 20 rounds, police say

The Evergreen High School shooter fired off approximately 20 rounds from a revolver inside and outside of the school, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

The shooting took place around 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 10, with alleged shooter Desmond Holly, 16, entering the school and firing at students, eventually critically injuring two students — one outside of the school and one inside. Holly eventually shot and killed himself.

Both of the victims remain in critical condition. One of the victims was identified as Matthew Silverstone, who had just turned 18 the day before the shooting.

The whole event lasted nine minutes, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

Holly allegedly entered the school with a revolver and fired and reloaded “on and on and on,” Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Jacki Kelley said at a news conference last week.

“The suspect’s gun was fired a lot,” Kelley said, adding that it is lucky more students were not injured.

It’s still unknown how Holly got the gun or what his motives were behind the shooting.

The sheriff’s office claimed Holly was “radicalized by an extremist group,” though they did not release details about the group or its ideals.

According to reporting from The Denver Gazette’s news partner, 9News, the Anti-Defamation League (a group that monitors hate speech and extremism) alerted the FBI in July to disturbing internet posts and activity that have now been tied to Holly.

The teen had also posted messages online “emulating” the two killers who murdered a dozen students and a teacher  – and wounded more than 20 others – at Columbine High School in Jefferson County in April 1999.

Roughly an hour before last Wednesday’s attack in Evergreen, the gunman posted a photograph of a .38-caliber revolver on his X account.

The sheriff’s office said its heart goes out to the community and it is “deeply grateful for the courage and calm shown by Evergreen High School students, teachers and staff. Their training, quick thinking and resilience helped prevent an even greater tragedy.”

The school is set to reopen next week, barring investigations. A fulltime school resource officer (SRO) will be staffed at the school going forward.

Initially, the school had a fulltime SRO, but she was on medical leave at the time of the shooting. A part-time SRO was on staff, but was attending to another incident at the time — an issue that has raised questions and ire throughout the community.

Community raises over $100K for victims

Through two separate fundraisers, the Evergreen community has raised around $105,000 in relief funds for the two victims and families involved in the shooting.

The Colorado Healing Fund (CHF) — a nonprofit formed in 2018 by a group of victim advocates and community leaders — began collecting donations on Sept. 12 to provide to families in need in response to the shooting.

As of Tuesday, the fundraiser has collected over $18,000.

“Donations will be distributed through CHF’s community partners. We are working closely with state and local victim assistance organizations to determine how best to support those impacted by this tragedy, both now and in the weeks and months ahead,” the organization said on the fundraiser page.

A personal GoFundMe started by Silverstone’s parents has already raised over $86,000 in two days.

The parents said Silverstone is still in “critical condition, facing multiple surgeries and a long road to recovery.”

All of the proceeds will go to a medical trust created by the family, according to the page.

The status and name of the second victim have not been released at this time.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver talks expansion, future of broadcasts | NBA Insider

Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets locker room:

NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks during a press conference before Game 1 of the NBA Finals basketball series between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)

NBA Insider

One expansion movement seems to have a little more steam than the other.

Most expansion talk in recent years has been domestic with Las Vegas and Seattle being the likely new markets. That doesn’t appear as imminent as it was prior to the new collective bargaining agreement and media-rights deals.

“The fact is (there’s) no new news to report today on domestic expansion, but it’s something we continue to look at. We did discuss it at the board meeting. I think that we’ve spent a fair amount of time on the economic models around expansion. We’ve gotten into more of, I’d say, a deeper dive than when I last addressed the media on it. Certainly now that we know what our media contracts are. That helps in doing the math, at least over the next decade,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last week at his annual press conference following a Board of Governors meeting.

“Part of the difficulty in potentially assessing it is a sense of long-term value of the league, and a little bit maybe it’s a high-class problem, but as with some of the recent jumps in franchise valuations, that sort of creates some confusion in the marketplace about how you might even price an expansion franchise. So I’ll only say it’s something that we continue to actively look at.”

Expanding the NBA’s footprint into Europe sounded like it might move a little faster, though Silver maintained he sees those as independent ventures that would not impact the other. A league full of European teams comes with its own complications. Some countries have well-established leagues with no shortage of name-brand recognition thanks to the soccer clubs that exist under the same umbrella – think Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain, Greek’s Olympiacos and Panathinaikos and Bayern Munich in Germany. It’s not the same in England where some of the most popular soccer clubs exist without a basketball squad. It’s additionally complicated because European clubs have existed without any sort of salary cap.

“Adding teams to an existing league where you have, from a national standpoint at least, a fixed pie of revenue, is very different than looking at an opportunity in Europe where it’s a clean slate. While there is an existing operation there, it’s sort of a greenfield in terms of what the opportunity might be,” Silver said.

“But to the extent anyone has taken from me a suggestion that Europe is more a priority than potential expansion in the U.S., it’s not the case. I view it as two independent work streams here.”

What I’m Thinking

It sounds like the NBA is planning for regional sports networks to be a thing of the past.

Silver spoke about the league’s new and existing media partners. ESPN will continue to broadcast games, but Amazon and NBC are joining the party.

“It was great to see the three partners together. They talked about ways in which they’re going to seek to elevate the game this season, ways they’re going to market it,” Silver said.

“We talked with them and among our owners on issues around streaming, the opportunities that present for our league over time to customize the telecast to do a better job engaging with our fans. There was a bit of a discussion around local television as well. Obviously, we’re going through a transition. Many of our regional sports networks have just come out of bankruptcy, and fair to say enormous disruption there. We’re thinking about the future when it comes to how we’re going to present the games locally to our fans.”

Streaming is the future, but there is concern over cost. For fans to watch every one of their team’s games, they will likely need Amazon Prime, Peacock and traditional cable or access to ESPN’s streaming platform. If Silver really wanted to take care of the fans who were interested in watching most, if not all, of their team’s games, he would remove blackout restrictions on League Pass now. Contracts are contracts, but it’s never sense that a Chicago transplant in Denver can watch the Bulls play without issue, while Nuggets fans in Denver have multiple hoops to jump through to watch the home team. It’s an issue that doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.

“I think we’ve all had that experience where you’re going to Google to find the game you want to watch because the world has changed it’s not just automatically in the place you thought it would be, but ultimately, I’ll talk about it in terms of reach and how you reach your consumers. It’s interesting because of the disruption in the regional sports network business. I never would have predicted this was coming 10 years ago, but a lot of our local games are moving back to broadcast television. In fact, we have more games on broadcast television locally than we’ve had anytime in recent history,” Silver said.

“We’re continuing to look at it. But the ultimate answer is we think a lot about it. We know where we have mass appeal. On a global basis, we’re literally reaching billions of people. We don’t want to disenfranchise people by working with partners that are creating price points that make it inaccessible to them.”

What I’m Following

The Nuggets are reportedly bringing more size to training camp. Moses Brown, a 7-foot-2 center, and the Nuggets reached a deal, according to HoopsHype. The 25-year-old played in 13 NBA games last season with Indiana and Dallas but spent most of the season in the G League. Signing guys like Brown and Kessler Edwards to training-camp deals helps the Nuggets reroute them to their G League affiliate.Fan-favorite-turned-foe Bones Hyland is sticking stateside. There were reports Hyland had been courted by some European powers, but the Timberwolves front office — led by Tim Connelly, the man who drafted Bones in Denver — offered Hyland what appears to be a minimum salary to stick in the NBA.Dennis Schroder continues to use international competition to bolster his case as a future Hall of Famer. The point guard produced in the clutch, as Germany beat Turkey, 88-83, in the EuroBasket championship game. Schroder was named the tournament’s most valuable player, while Slovenia’s Luka Doncic, Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmo, Turkey’s Alperen Sengun and Germany’s Franz Wagner rounded out the tournament’s All-Star Five. Greece beat Finland in the third-place game.

What They’re Saying

The most popular talking point at Silver’s press conference was, of course, the league’s ongoing investigation into Kawhi Leonard’s reported $28 million endorsement deal with Aspiration. Silver said he had never heard of the company or its dealings with Leonard until Pablo Torre’s podcast on the matter was published. Here’s Silver’s most interesting comments on the league’s ongoing investigation that’s being handled by a New York law firm.

“The burden is on the league if we’re going to discipline a team, an owner, a player or any constituent members of the league,” Silver said. “I think as with any process that requires a fundamental sense of fairness, the burden should be on the party that is, in essence, bringing those charges.”

The commissioner spoke about his powers should the investigation conclude the Clippers deserve to be punished.

“My powers are very broad,” Silver said. “Full range of financial penalties, (forfeited) draft picks, suspensions, et cetera. I have very broad powers in these situations.”

Silver didn’t seem interested in policing which teams can sign agreements with which players, noting it makes more sense for certain companies to work with players in their home markets. He does feel like the league has gotten better in making things more fair than when he first started working for the league.

“We have made progress there. I think that there’s enormous stigma in this league around any sort of cheating or any lack of fair play. I think also the results we’re seeing, again, from 2019 to now … seven different champions. I think there is the sense around the league that there’s no league bias toward particular markets,” he said.

Silver added, “I’m an NFL fan. When Pittsburgh plays Green Bay in the Super Bowl, it’s not billed as a small-market Super Bowl. It’s two storied teams. That’s where we’d like to get as the NBA, that it’s not a function of market size or even market attractiveness necessarily. In order to do that, you have to have a fair set of rules that people think, that the community thinks are going to be enforced without any bias and in a full and fair way by the league office.”

Johnston proposes a Denver budget that would ‘cut to the bone’

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston unveiled his proposal for the city and county’s 2026 budget during a news briefing on Monday, saying the $1.66 billion general fund budget would “cut to the bone.”

Johnston called the 5.8% reduction in spending, which aims to fill a $200 million gap, as the “most conservative” in 15 years.

The mayor insisted that, while significant budget cuts have been made across city departments, Denver residents would not see a cut in core services. 

“If there are any amendments to the budget that add cuts to any of the departments,” Johnston cautioned, “those would directly either cut these core services or require more limits, because there is nothing left to cut in these departments…”
~ Denver Mayor Mike Johnston

Johnston said his budget proposal solves the city’s $200 million deficit via the following:

$77 million in savings from services, supplies and internal transfers$118 million in personnel savings$5.7 million in revenue additions

The proposed budget now goes to members of the Denver City Council, who will review it and have the opportunity to propose amendments.

“If there are any amendments to the budget that add cuts to any of the departments,” Johnston cautioned, “those would directly either cut these core services because there is nothing left to cut in these departments from what has currently been done without affecting these core services or affecting layoffs, which is why we think it’s really critical for all the public to know about that in the process ahead.”

Along with hiring freezes and layoffs made earlier this year, Johnston said the city has identified close to $77 million in savings from services, supplies and contracts:

$10 million savings in technology purchases, including reductions in spending on software applications, such as Adobe and Zoom$8 million in credit card processing costsNegotiating a 2.5% reduction in the city’s tech liability insurance premiums with no decrease in policy termsSwitching to postcards, rather than letters for property tax notificationsReducing marketing campaigns for marijuana abuse prevention, Be a Smart Ash and job recruitingReducing the number of concurrent neighborhood plans undertaken by city planning staff each year from three to twoDenver’s Proposed 2026 Budget BookDownload

Other savings will come from department consolidations, use of technology to increase efficiency and the closing of non-congregate housing sites, including the Comfort Inn and the conversion of the Monroe “micro-community” to workforce housing.

Johnston said general fund allocations for the city’s homelessness initiatives will remain flat, with the Office of Housing Stability (HOST) absorbing $33 million in reductions across multiple funds.

“For us, this is good progress in showing the system we had was working, which is when we first opened these hotels,” Johnston said. “The purpose was to meet the overflow needs of getting folks off the street into transitional housing. That means we get people moved out of transitional housing and permanent housing faster. That means we need fewer hotel sites to do that, and importantly, this will include closing all the hotels from which we are paying rent or leasing, like any family, you’d rather own than rent.”

While the city will not see a cut to the number of uniformed personnel, Johnston said public safety agencies have absorbed $27 million through vacancy savings and the elimination of one fire academy class, as the Denver Fire Department is currently at full-strength.

Several people criticized the cuts.

Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul López blasted Johnston following the mayor’s budget announcement.

 “Mayor Johnston’s 2026 budget proposal seeks to underfund the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s office by the $4.5 million necessary to run our elections in 2026,” López said in a statement. “This proposal will decimate election operations in Denver by forcing the closure of polling centers and ballot drop boxes in every part of the city, jeopardizing voter turnout in what is expected to be a high-profile midterm election cycle.” 

Johnston defended his proposed spending reductions.

“In the middle of cuts, we tried to work with them on making reductions in the budget,” Johnston said. “They weren’t willing to work together on those, and so we just had to allocate them the amount of dollars that they could have used with a 5% reduction, which was our ask.”

City officials have blamed flattening city revenues, driven — they said — by national economic uncertainty and rising costs for much of Denver’s fiscal woes. They argued that, with the early action to slow hiring in 2024, reduce the size of government in the 2025 budget and freeze hiring this year, the city managed to minimize the impact to employees and public services significantly.

The full budget book and today’s presentation are available online at denvergov.org/budget.

Denver officer justified in shooting that injured man during fireworks response, DA says

The district attorney’s office determined the actions of a Denver police officer who shot and injured a man during a fireworks violation was justified.

Denver District Attorney John Walsh announced Monday the office won’t file charges against Denver police officer Michael Roake, according to a Denver district attorney news release Monday.

 Officials said on July 1, Roake shot and injured Lonnell King, 50, during a fireworks violation call.

Just before 9 p.m., Roake and a fellow officer patrolled an area of the Montbello neighborhood, when they heard two loud explosions nearby. The officers responded to the noise in front of 4328 Del Rio Court, where they found a mortar fireworks tube and several people nearby it.

When officers arrived, King walked away, disregarded officer commands, then reached for a 10mm semi-automatic pistol in his waistband, according to officials.

Officials said Roake noticed the weapon, yelled at King, who disobeyed orders, to raise his hands.

King then pulled out his handgun then turned toward Roake, according to officials.

”Believing King was going to fire his gun at him,” attorneys said in its release. “Officer Roake fired two gunshots. As the shots were fired, King tossed his gun to the ground.”

King, who sustained a gunshot wound to the pelvis above his left leg, was transported to the hospital.

“(King) could have raised his hands. Instead, during the critical three seconds after drawing his fun, and after hearing officer Roake’s commands, he failed to do anything to diminish the threat he posed,” DA Walsh said in his decision letter to Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas.

“What was intended to be a non-violent police contact was escalated when King reached for and drew his gun,” Walsh said. “Only then did officer Roake unholster his weapon and resort to physical force because of the imminent threat.”