Author: Carol McKinley, Special to The Denver Gazette
-
Denver immigration activist under deportation order detained by ICE, daughters say
As security guards at the Aurora U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility slid an iron gate to let buses and employees into a parking lot Tuesday, immigration attorneys filed motions to find relief for a high profile immigration activist detained inside. Jeanette Vizguerra, who faces a deportation order from the court, was apprehended by…
-
Widow of murdered Denver officer fights to keep illegal immigrant killer in jail
Kelly Young has not been able to sleep since she received an email from the Colorado Department of Corrections informing her that her husband’s killer was applying for an early release from prison. Donald “Donnie” Young, a 12-year veteran of the Denver Police Department, was murdered on Mother’s Day weekend 2005 by an illegal immigrant…
-
Fired Colorado workers speak out, as VA secretary vows to deliver more efficient service
Ryan Bevard was in the field getting one veteran off the streets and another from surfing his parents’ couch when the termination email hit his server. He did not know the name of the person who fired him on the spot without, he said, so much as a “thank you for your service.” What he…
-
As Trump administration pauses military aid to Ukraine, Colorado nonprofit ramps up help
As the Trump administration paused U.S. military aid to Ukraine and Russia advanced on more territory, a tiny nonprofit in Colorado Springs is ramping up reinforcement to Ukrainians, one family at a time. “It’s not stopping me,” said Yana Malyk, the Ukrainian woman who fled the country with her two teenage daughters in 2022 and…
-
Denver strip clubs sue city officials over wage theft investigation
In a civil rights lawsuit filed Friday, two Denver strip clubs claimed that Denver labor officials showed a “reckless abuse of power” when they launched a wage theft investigation into Diamond Cabaret and Rick’s Cabaret and Steakhouse which led to nearly $14 million in fines. The 62-page complaint by attorneys representing RCI Holdings alleges that the City and…
-
DOGE reports termination of leases for 18 federal offices in Colorado
The federal government has terminated the leases of nearly 750 federal offices across the country, including 18 in Colorado. The word came down from the General Services Administration (GSA) on Feb. 25. In a section called the “Wall of Receipts” on the Department of Government Efficiency website, nearly 10 million square feet of government real estate…
-
1,000 people protest NOAA cuts in Boulder
About a thousand people, many of them retirees who had worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, gathered Monday in Boulder to protest last week’s firings of federal government employees. The protesters were at the intersection of Broadway Street and Rayleigh Road, near the NOAA office in Boulder. A group of armed guards kept…
-
Auditor finds Denver strip clubs owe $14M over stolen wages
Two of Denver’s most popular strip clubs must pay $14 million in penalties and back pay over stolen wages in what Denver Auditor Tim O’Brien described as one of the most “extraordinary cases he’s ever conducted.” The clubs, he added, “violated almost every provision.” Denver Labor Executive Director Matt Fritz-Mauer said that the allegations are…
-
Former Fort Carson soldier set for deportation removed from Aurora facility
At 5 a.m. Thursday, things got real for Jose Barco. Just before daybreak, he was rousted out of his bunk at the Aurora Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center and whisked off in a van bound for Denver International Airport. He was allowed to bring the clothes he was wearing and his Venezuelan birth certificate. …
-
Second trial of suspect in Christian Glass death nears end
Closing arguments begin Wednesday afternoon in the second trial of a former Clear Creek County Sheriff’s deputy charged with murdering a man who was having a mental health breakdown outside of Silver Plume. Both sides ended their cases Tuesday, leaving the jury to decide after closing arguments Wednesday whether Andrew Buen felt a fellow responding…