Hi! I was reading an article about how to get more done. It suggested going on a news diet. Unfortunately, my news diet currently includes 50 sources every morning, which is quite a news-bowl of news-oatmeal. Oh well. Here's the best of today's serving, including a street-sweeper nightmare, missile job moves, food desert strategizing, the mayor's homelessness reset and more.
Street sweeper injury:
A bicyclist alleges that the driver of a Denver sweet streeper first tried to pass him, pelting him with debris, and then suddenly made a 180-degree turn, striking the cyclist and throwing him into the air. The cyclist says in a lawsuit that he suffered permanent brain injuries, as Kirk Mitchell reports. (DP)
Missile manufacturing to Colorado:
Lockheed Martin is moving 650 jobs from its submarine-launched missile program to Colorado and Florida. The exact split is not known yet, but the Colorado jobs will largely be for engineering and design, as Emilie Rusch reports. (DP)
Millions for Target, and a new food strategy?
Denver City Council last night approved $4 million in incentives to bring a Target to 16th Street Mall. It's unusual for the city to pay up for retailers, leading Robin Kniech to oppose it – but Councilman Paul Lopez supported the payout because he wants to set a precedent. In the future, he'll be asking that these incentives be used to draw grocers to neighborhoods that don't have good food options, as Erica reports. (Denverite)
Sessions blames violence on weed:
More unclear signals from the Trump administration, as Sadie Gurman (Hi, Sadie!) and Eric Tucker report from DC: Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reviewing an Obama administration memo that gave states leeway on marijuana. He also said that "experts are telling" him that there's "more violence around marijuana than one would think." He added that states "can pass the laws they choose," but correctly reiterated that it's still a violation of federal law.
What does it mean? It means he's not committing to any path right now, but the dude does not like weed. (AP)
The mayor's reset of homelessness and housing:
Earlier this year, the mayor created a new brand (my description, not his) for the city's homelessness, housing and poverty efforts: the Office of HOPE, led by new hire Erik Soliván. On Monday afternoon, I got a glimpse of how Soliván operates. It seems that he's setting expectations for some significant changes. He's talking about a comprehensive approach to a complicated problem – and the first pieces are in place. (Denverite)
Also, the Salvation Army might tear down and rebuild its Crossroads Shelter in RiNO because of the issues I wrote about last week. (DP, Denverite)
An A Line fix in sight?
This piece in Front Porch Stapleton is one of the most thorough explanations of the A Line problems that I've yet seen. The real news nugget, though, is about the timing of the fix.
Citing an off-the-record RTD source, John Fernandez writes that the A Line's technical issues could be fixed early this spring, and the federal government could certify those fixes within 90 days. Once that happens, RTD could create quiet zones for the train and finally open the G Line to Arvada within a couple more months – so, perhaps five months from now, assuming this report is correct. We'll see. (Front Porch)
Text and drive punishments:
A bill that cleared a major hurdle today would make texting-and-driving tickets a lot more serious. (Denverite)
Wild beers in Five Points:
Goed Zuur is opening on April 7, with a sole focus on sour and wild beers. Adrian's got the goods. (Denverite)
