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Club Q shooting suspect expected to take plea deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:50 GMT

By JIM MUSTIAN and JESSE BEDAYN (Associated Press)COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The suspect in a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub is expected to strike a plea deal to state murder and hate charges that would ensure at least a life sentence for the attack that killed five people and wounded 17, several survivors told The Associated Press.Word of a possible legal resolution of last year’s Club Q massacre follows a series of jailhouse phone calls from the suspect to the AP expressing remorse and the intention to face the consequences at the next scheduled court hearing this month.“I have to take responsibility for what happened,” 23-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich said in their first public comments about the case.Federal and state authorities and defense attorneys declined to comment on a possible plea deal. But Colorado law requires victims to be notified of such deals, and several people who lost loved ones or were wounded in the attack told the AP that state prosecu...

“Past Lives” is a patient, luminous indie drama that trusts its audience to get it | Review

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:50 GMT

The film-fest favorite “Past Lives” has all the momentum in the world going into its wide release this month, and every ounce of it is earned.The compact drama, distributed by the A24 imprint, is directed and written by Korean-American playwright Celine Song, who’s known in the theater world for such inspired projects as staging Chekov’s “The Seagull” in the Sims 4 video game.“Past Lives” is her directorial debut and heralds a staggering new creative voice in film, as sophisticated and deliberate as it is insightful. The movie centers on Nora, an elementary school girl growing up in Seoul, South Korea, alongside chum Hae Sung. The kids, played respectively and wonderfully by Moon Seung-ah and Leem Seung-min, tease one another and bond as their lives intertwine organically, forging a connection that neither can shake.Nora, a stand-in for director Song, comes from a creative family — a film director father and visual artist mother ...

Don’t be fooled by rain and snow, the Colorado River is still in serious trouble, experts say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:50 GMT

Water is rushing from Colorado’s Western Slope and into the tributaries of the Colorado River, restoring reservoirs across the American West to perhaps a semblance of their former glory.Cities, farmers, ranchers and water managers are breathing a sigh of relief at the crisis avoided this summer thanks to the robust snowfall this winter.A major crisis appears to have been avoided, for now anyway, water experts say. But the winter snow and spring rains aren’t enough to wash away the bigger picture that the Colorado River is still drying year after year.One good water year can be followed by several dry ones, Jennifer Gimbel, a senior water policy scholar at Colorado State University, said. The drying trend has been so strong over the last two decades that scientists no longer call it a drought. Instead they say this is the drier future to which the West must become accustomed. And state, federal and tribal officials must continue seeking new ways to use less water from the Colorado Ri...

Joyous Juneteenth, a bigger Boulder comedy fest, sensual cirque and more things to do in Denver

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:50 GMT

Juneteenth’s joyous song and danceThrough Sunday. Denver’s annual Juneteenth celebrations have been bigger and more widespread over the last couple of years, due in part to June 19’s designation as national holiday in 2021. This weekend’s big event is the Juneteenth Music Festival, which runs Saturday, June 17, and Sunday, June 18, along Welton Street in the Historic Five Points neighborhood.The free, multi-stage fest features not only live music and dance but local vendors, food and drink, and kid-friendly activities. Headliner Musiq Soulchild performs on Sunday, but don’t miss the Saturday parade, which begins at Manual High School and winds its way toward Welton Street — where some 70,000 attendees are expected over the weekend. There’s also the Saturday AfroRave dance party at Summit Music Hall. juneteenthmusicfestival.comIn addition this weekend: Cleo Parker Robinson Dance’s Friday-Saturday Juneteenth Celebration, which includes a...

Pixar’s “Elemental” is a mediocre but good-hearted romantic comedy | Review

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:50 GMT

It’s easy to view “Elemental” as a Frankenstein’s monster of recent animated films, considering how instantly and overly familiar its themes, visuals and pace are in its first few minutes.“Elemental,” which releases in theaters on June 16, once again drops us into a world where colorful, talking blobs confront big ideas via comic misadventures in a metropolis that mimics and critiques our own. That more or less describes not only the poignant, likeable 2015 movie “Inside Out” (Pixar), but also 2016’s just-meh “Zootopia” (Disney Animation), the same year’s abysmal “Angry Birds Movie” (Rovio Animation) and 2020’s well-intentioned “Soul” (Pixar).In “Elemental,” the colorful blobs represent the four traditional elements — fire, water, earth and wind — which are all crammed into (what else?) a place called Element City. Fiery protagonist Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) l...

Denver restaurant group Edible Beats launches hydroponic farm

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:50 GMT

Tucked behind Vital Root restaurant, in a couple of parking spaces, a 320-square-foot shipping container is producing the same amount of veggies as a 2.5-acre farm.It’s not Justin Cucci’s original vision for his vegetarian restaurant that opened in 2016 — which was to build a four-story glass cube with three levels of hydroponic planters and a patio, where people could eat where their food is grown. “But that cost more money than anyone would lend us,” said Cucci, the founder of the Edible Beats group, which also owns popular Denver restaurants El Five, Root Down, Linger and Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox.Instead, Cucci and his employees started a small-scale garden in the restaurant’s backyard, at 3915 Tennyson St., operated a micro-green grow room and rented plots of dirt around town to grow their own herbs and vegetables. In the end, though, “It probably cost us three times more than the market price,” Cucci said. “Arugula was usually $6 a pound and ours probably co...

Meow Wolf will add onsite cocktail bar for thirsty intergalactic travelers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:50 GMT

Visitors to Meow Wolf in Denver will soon be able to order a Cosmo to pair with their journey through the cosmos, when the immersive art installation opens its first full bar onsite.The bar, called Sips (with a Z), will take over about 3,300 square feet of previously unused real estate on Meow Wolf’s second floor – near the music venue and the Hello Cafe – selling primarily cocktails, but also beer, wine and snacks like flatbreads.The concept is a riff on an executive travel lounge, which aligns with the installation’s overall theme, Convergence Station. But like everything else at Meow Wolf, it’s hardly that simple.Related ArticlesRestaurants, Food and Drink | Meow Wolf’s Vortex music festival returns to Denver with GRiZ, Remi Wolf and more Restaurants, Food and Drink | Adults-only nights return monthly to Meow Wolf in Denver Restaurants, Food and Drink | Meow Wolf Denver’s real story is an elaborate scavenger hunt. Is it worth...

Exchange wagering is like a stock market for sports bettors. Colorado could become the second state to allow it.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:50 GMT

A new form of online sports betting that bypasses traditional oddsmakers and allows gamblers to wager against each other could be coming to Colorado by late summer if approved by the state’s regulatory board on Thursday.The Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission will consider new rules at its monthly meeting that would govern exchange wagering, a form of online sports betting. Exchange wagering, for now, is only offered in New Jersey, and Colorado would become the second state in the country where exchanges operate.If the rules are approved by the gaming commission, the first exchange wagering companies could be in business in the state before the Denver Broncos’ home opener on Sept. 10, said Brett Buckingham, the Colorado Department of Revenue’s agent in charge of sports betting and fantasy sports.Under exchange wagering, gamblers can set their own odds on a game in hopes that another gambler takes them up on the bet. Odds are not set by in-house mathematician...

Tentative agreement reached in West Coast ports labor dispute

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:50 GMT

A tentative agreement was reached with the dockworkers at all 29 West Coast ports, the Pacific Maritime Association announced Thursday.The PMA, representing the port operators and shipping companies, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, representing the workers, agreed on a tentative 6-year contract.Details about the agreement were not being released at this time, the PMA tweeted.The dispute earlier caused the largest terminal at the Port of Long Beach to be shut down on Monday. Disruptions had also been reported at the Port of Los Angeles last week.The old contract expired July 1, 2022, leading to more than a year of discussions, according to the ILWU.The new agreement is still subject to ratification by both parties.“We are pleased to have reached an agreement that recognizes the heroic efforts and personal sacrifices of the ILWU workforce in keeping our ports operating,” said PMA President James McKenna and ILWU President Willie Adams in a joint statement. “We are...

Man survives lightning strike caught on video in New Jersey

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:50 GMT

(WPIX) — A longtime town maintenance worker was struck by lightning on a practice soccer field next to a middle school in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, officials said Wednesday.The strike happened just before 12:30 p.m. across from Iselin Middle School, where 39-year-old Woodbridge Township employee Eric Baumgartner was working. Police officer RJ McPartland was on his way to the middle school for dismissal when the call came over about the lightning strike. Baumgartner didn’t have a pulse when he arrived, McPartland said. They used an automated external defibrillator (AED) to revive him."I saw Eric out on the field, immediately ran up to him and checked for a pulse, and realized he didn't have a pulse," said McPartland. "He was still holding one of the machines. We were able to get that away from him. When more units arrived, we were able to get the AED hooked up to him, and start breathing for him."A doorbell camera in the neighborhood captured the lightning strike and...