Good afternoon! Here's your news roundup for today, which includes Denverite going HAM on the politics beat, questions about city jails, a dog-doo update, an interesting immigration story from El Paso County, RiNo development and more.
Can Denver solve its jail problem without building another jail?
Sheriff Patrick Firman said that Denver's jails are getting more crowded and more violent, but he didn't have a reason why. Councilman Paul Lopez urged the sheriff's department to find ways to keep people out of jail rather than building another, as Noelle Phillips reports. (DP)
Young Basquiat:
I love an exhibition with a theme or a story. The Museum of Contemporary Art has just that with "Basquiat Before Basquiat," capturing the first years of the late artist's career. It combines painted objects, photos and more from Basquiat's apartment in NYC, as Corey Jones writes. (CPR)
Also, Ray Rinaldi has five different types of art to see in Denver this month. Love this format too. (OneGoodEye)
Evergreen dog park won't permanently close:
The sprawling Elk Meadow dog park will be shut down for rehabilitation on April 4. It's unclear how long it will take to fix eroding banks and clean up hundreds of pounds of dog poop, but about seven acres of the 107-acre park will stay open in the meantime, as John Aguilar reports in a wonderfully worded story. (DP)
POLITICS:
Rep. Mike Coffman wants Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the investigation of potential Trump-Russia links. Diana DeGette, a Denver Congresswoman, wants Sessions to resign. Republican Sen. Cory Gardner is less sure, but he's concerned.
Also, here's what Gardner said yesterday in a telephone town hall and how our readers reviewed him.
(Denverite, Denverite, Denverite, Denverite, Denverite)
Why El Paso County stopped cooperating with the feds:
"The El Paso County Sheriff's Office was the last Colorado jurisdiction to train officers as immigration agents," as Rachel Estabrook explains. Why? Because there "weren't any tangible benefits," the program made the sheriff's office liable for "potential legal violations" and it "risked eroding trust." Read up. (CPR)
Open space, affordability or both?
Boulder's open-space policies have kept the city surrounded by natural beauty, but they've also driven up housing prices by restricting development, including that of a 200-unit project proposed by the Boulder Housing Authority. No solution is yet apparent, as Haley Gray shows. (5280)
Li'l RiNo development:
A new three-story building will host a Southern restaurant, Voca Public Relations and a dentist at 3264 Larimer Street, next to Dio Mio, Burl Rolett reports. (BusinessDen)
Also, Ironton Studios is becoming a distillery. Ironton Distillery will still make room for perhaps a dozen artists. (Denverite)
