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Colorado’s first all-state youth mariachi group finds culture, connection in music of past generations

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:50 GMT

Genisis Tarango’s braces glinted behind her bright red lipstick as she belted out a grito, the passionate yell synonymous with mariachi singing, on Saturday evening outside Casa Bonita.Ten of her fellow ensemble musicians, all decked out in traditional Mexican attire, played trumpet, vihuela, guitar, guitarrón and violin behind her, exuberant.The performers’ families and friends encircled them, emanating pride as robust as their cheers, outside the newly reopened restaurant in Lakewood. The youth ensemble Mariachi Estelares de Colorado — the first all-state mariachi ensemble in Colorado and one of only a few nationwide — was preparing for its more formal debut on Saturday, a free performance at the 2023 Viva Southwest Mariachi Festival at Denver’s Levitt Pavilion.This practice set — the cohort’s first public concert — found the group serenading Casa Bonita patrons as they awaited entrance into the iconic pink eatery. But there was some...

Food hall planned as Westminster agrees to sell Shoenberg Farms buildings

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:50 GMT

A pair of developers who are purchasing historic farm buildings in Westminster from the city want to turn a dairy barn into a food hall.MJ Developers, a group formed by John Crays and Matthew Lawrence specifically for this project, is set to pay just $10 for 0.81 acres at 7231 Sheridan Blvd. and 5202 W. 73rd Ave. in the suburb north of Denver. The Westminster City Council approved the deal Monday night.“There’s a need for an area where people can congregate, get together and dine – it’s a crucial part of human interaction – and we’re playing into that need,” Lawrence said. The site is home to a dairy barn, farmhouse, pump, milk and carriage house and two silos. The structures were once the heart of Shoenberg Farms, which operated for the bulk of the last century.Westminster bought the buildings in 2008 for $664,182 with the goal of restoring the structures to some degree and selling them to a private buyer. The city solicited multiple bids over the years. Fifteen years later, with ...

Characters and a sense of the past make “The River We Remember” more than just a story

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:50 GMT

“The River We Remember.” By William Kent Kruger. Atria.In an epilogue to his novel, author William Kent Kruger writes, “Our lives and the lives of those we love merge to create a river whose current carries us forward from our beginning to our end. Because we are only one part of the whole, the river each of us remembers is different, and there are many versions of the stories we tell about the past. In all of them, there is truth, and in all of them a good deal of innocent misremembering.”And so Kruger’s brilliant novel, “The River We Remember,” is a pastiche of stories, not just of remembering the past but of coping with the present. They flow together with their snags and hidden debris like the waters of the Alabaster River of Kruger’s story.Jimmy Quinn is the wealthiest member of Black Earth County, and the most hated. So there is little sorrow when his body, ravished by hungry catfish, washes up on the shore of the Alabaster River, which runs past the town of Jewell...

Denver Urban Gardens employees see “reawakening” in union drive

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:50 GMT

Denver Urban Gardens staff members this week won voluntary recognition for their months-long unionization project, but workers say that enshrining pay, benefits and other protections at the gardening nonprofit is just the beginning.“A huge reason why we unionized was not because we were frustrated by where we work or how we’re treated,” said 26-year-old Shay Moon, one of 11 eligible employees who joined the nascent union discussions in April.“It’s a wonderful organization and we don’t have huge concerns about benefits or pay,” he said. “We’re doing it because, in principle, unions should just be a normal part of the working landscape, and we’re frustrated at the level of union busting and backlash that happens in the American economy.”Denver Urban Gardens leaders declined interviews and emailed a statement attributed to board president Brooke Gabbert. “Denver Urban Gardens’ leadership and board have voluntarily ...

All eyes on Aurora courtroom as first of three trials begins in Elijah McClain’s death

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:50 GMT

Elijah McClain is pictured in this undated photograph. (Photo provided by family of Elijah McClain)Four years ago, Elijah McClain died after Aurora police officers tackled him and paramedics injected the 23-year-old with an overdose of the sedative ketamine.The violent arrest of a young Black man wrongly detained by white police officers sparked a national outcry in 2020 and led to a litany of protests, reforms and consequences that are still impacting Aurora and the state as a whole.McClain’s death led thousands of Coloradans to take to the streets to protest police brutality, prompted changes to state law to limit the use of ketamine during police encounters and triggered a consent decree over the Aurora Police Department. The city agreed to pay $15 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought by McClain’s parents, at the time the largest police misconduct settlement in the state. And after McClain’s death, six protest leaders were charged with felonies in ca...

Colorado roofing contractor Skyyguard wins trademark dispute against Skyy vodka parent company

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:50 GMT

After more than four years of fighting international beverage company Campari Group in a trademark dispute, Chase Baron and Sean Smith of Denver-based roofing contractor Skyyguard won their legal battle this week.The David and Goliath battle over their company’s logo – and its alleged similarity to the logo for Campari-produced Skyy vodka, which could impair “the distinctiveness of the famous mark,” ended with an administrative trademark judge dismissing the liquor giant’s notice of opposition.The judge said Campari failed to prove that Skyy vodka’s logo has risen to the status of “a household name” in the U.S., so the company’s argument about potentially diluting it fell flat.“We finally have an answer after four and a half years of fighting,” said Baron, Skyyguard’s chief executive officer, in an interview. “We always felt this would be the outcome.”Founding the company in January 2018, the pair applied ...

Major march to campaign for UK return to EU to be held

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:50 GMT

A major march will be held in London later this month as part of the campaign for the UK’s eventual return to the EU.UK nationals who live and work in Europe will join people who are based in Britain on the march on 23 September.Called the “National Rejoin March” the demo through the streets of London will also be joined by several MEPs, including ALDE’s Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister, and Terry Reintke, from the Greens.The march will focus partly on Brexit issues relating to young people, many of whom voted to stay in the EU and who may end up being the hardest hit by the UK’s exit from the Union.It is expected they will be heavily represented on the march.Members of Bremain in Spain say they will also fly to the UK to take part in the march which is expected to attract thousands of people.Speaking to this website on Friday, Clarissa Killwick, of the group “Brexpats - Hear Our Voice" said, "It is great that UK nationals who made their homes in the EU will hav...

Stolen car pursuit ends with standoff at Beverly Hills Lamborghini dealership

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:50 GMT

A stolen vehicle suspect was taken into custody after a standoff with Beverly Hills police at a Lamborghini dealership Friday. Video taken during the early morning hours showed authorities in pursuit of a white sedan that was stolen earlier from a Toyota dealership in Hollywood.The chase came to an end at a Lamborghini dealership in the 8400 block of Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. At 1:37 a.m., the Beverly Hills Police Department issued a public advisory to avoid the area of Wilshire Boulevard and Hamilton Drive due to police activity.The suspect barricaded himself inside the Lamborghini dealership for about an hour.The same man was later seen on video being taken into custody. Police have not released any information about the suspect.

TikTok hit with $368 million fine under Europe's strict data privacy rules

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:50 GMT

LONDON (AP) — European regulators slapped TikTok with a $368 million fine on Friday for failing to protect children's privacy, the first time that the popular short video-sharing app has been punished for breaching Europe's strict data privacy rules.Ireland's Data Protection Commission, the lead privacy regulator for Big Tech companies whose European headquarters are largely in Dublin, said it was fining TikTok 345 million euros and reprimanding the platform for the violations dating to the second half of 2020. The investigation found that the sign-up process for teen users resulted in settings that made their accounts public by default, allowing anyone to view and comment on their videos. Those default settings also posed a risk to children under 13 who gained access to the platform even though they're not allowed. Also, a “family pairing" feature designed for parents to manage settings wasn't strict enough, allowing adults to turn on direct messaging for users aged 16 and 17 witho...

Avoiding THC In Your Hemp CBD — Which CBD Oils Have Zero THC?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:50 GMT

People unfamiliar with the hemp market are often surprised to learn that many CBD oils have slight traces of delta-9 THC. Despite the federal ban on recreational THC, the 2018 US Farm Bill allows hemp companies to sell products with ≤ 0.3 percent delta-9 THC content. Due to THC’s psychoactive traits, many customers don’t feel comfortable using CBD products with even tiny traces of THC.Luckily, plenty of CBD brands purify THC out of their products. Before buying a CBD supplement, consumers should carefully review their product’s lab reports to see whether it’s genuinely “THC-free.” Only third-party lab results will show whether CBD oils, capsules, or gummies have detectable traces of delta-9.Which CBD Products Have Zero THC?Only full-spectrum CBD oils are allowed to have ≤ 0.3 percent delta-9 THC. Customers who want a THC-free experience should focus on CBD oils labeled “broad-spectrum” or “isolate.” While there are signific...