We've got Trump's impact on oil, the spread of marijuana, delays for ski resorts, the history of a beloved clocktower and more in this morning's news roundup.
Drillers delighted?
President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to roll back restrictions on drilling for oil and on coal production. Combined with his plan to promote new drilling infrastructure, this could provide a boost to Western energy extractors. His promises to revive the coal industry could be harder to meet. All this might hurt natural gas producers. (Fox Business)
Public consumption of marijuana is still running too close to tell.
Initiative 300 was ahead by about 3,400 votes and a 1.7 percentage points as of 9 a.m. Wednesday. If that holds, Denver will allow businesses to get permits to set aside bring-your-own-weed areas. However, there are still a lot of votes to count as of this morning. (Denver Elections, Denverite)
More delays for skiers and snowboarders:
Keystone and Breckenridge have postponed opening day "indefinitely." No word from Winter Park or Copper, which were scheduled to open this week. (Summit Daily)
An overview of sidewalk advocacy:
This is a helpful resource if you're looking to learn about the debate over sidewalks in Denver. The city is making moves (slow ones, maybe) toward a more-complete sidewalk network. The current rules often leave low-income areas with the worst walkways. (Denver Urbanism)
Colorado politics don't change much with last night's results.
We've got the view from each party's event, plus an overview of the balance of power in Colorado. Hint: We're pretty much the same. (Denverite)
Nura Afia, Denver's hijab-wearing CoverGirl, made the New York Times.
Afia, 24, is a married young mother who made an online career out of YouTube make-up tutorials. CoverGirl recently announced she would be the company's first campaign-leading model to wear a hijab.“Frankly, I feel proud to be part of a movement that is showing the hijab in a positive light for once," she said. This NYT piece explores the market for self-presentation among Muslim women. (NYT)
Romano's Macaroni Grill is moving to downtown Denver.
Their national headquarters will be in the Dairy Block, a800 block of Blake Street in Lower Downtown. Apparently they only need 9,000 square feet? Is this place fancier or less fancy than Olive Garden? (BusinessDen)
Boulder passed the soda tax.
They're the second in the nation. Kombucha may be affected. (Boulder Daily Camera)
The marijuana market just quadrupled.
Four states passed recreational marijuana laws. (Denverite)
Downtown Castle Rock:
This article starts with a word I heard so very often when I was covering suburban North Carolina: "Vibrancy." Basically, developers and the city hope that $60 million of apartments, office, retail and restaurants will convince people to put some life into our southerly neighbor's central strip. The city council like this idea a lot. (DP)
Looks like Jefferson County may have shot down its school bonds.
Most of the Denver metro approved the school-funding measures on the ballots, but JeffCo (home of Golden) apparently rejected a $568 million tax package. (DP)
The story of the clocktower on 16th Street Mall:
I've always wanted to know more about the D&F Tower. This is a nice little history feature. (Confluence Denver)
