Hi. There's a lot of worthwhile news in this post today, including the RiNo ped-bridge snafu, the Broadway bike lanes, a giant map of old Denver, long-awaited improvements to RTD's ticketing system and an early case that shows how the Trump admin's new deportation orders are happening here.
Mother of four faces deportation:
Maria de Jesus Jimenez-Sanchez has no criminal convictions other than a 2012 incident of driving without a license, according to her attorney. Rep. Mike Coffman's office confirms that she was targeted because of new Trump priorities. I report. (Denverite)
Temporarily useless RiNo bridge:
The $6.7 million new pedestrian bridge near 35th/36th probably won't open until fall. That's 18 months of delays. District leaders are mad at the city. (Denverite)
In other bike-ped news, Megan reports that the South Broadway bike lane will eventually be extended by eight blocks. (Denverite)
Meanwhile, look for new Natural Grocers on South Broadway and in RiNo in the next few months, while the Platte Street store will close, according to Adrian. (Denverite)
Giant, beautiful map of Denver:
Also, here's what to do this weekend, by Ashley. Or you could go on Kevin's gorgeous New Mexico road trip. (Denverite)
Easier tickets for RTD?
RTD is on its way to installing a mobile ticketing system, which would let people buy transit fares from their phones, as David Sachs reports. One concern was that people would just wait until they saw a ticket-checker before buying tickets. (Streetsblog)
Another door closes on the Interstate 70 opposition:
The Federal Highway Administration has sided with CDOT on a civil-rights complaint about the I-70 project. The feds found that the highway widening will destroy dozens of homes in a Latino area, and will increase noise in the neighborhood – but they decided that it would be "less discriminatory toward the long-neglected neighborhoods of Elyria-Swansea and Globeville than any other option studied," as Jon Murray reports. (DP)
City Park West time:
Ashley's got your guide to eating, drinking, happy hours, transportation and more in City Park West. (Denverite)
The rare Canadian hot-take loop:
The CBC writes about Denverite writing about the Windsor Star writing about the mayor of Windsor, Ontario talking about Denver. He didn't like the "riff-raff" downtown and blamed legal pot, which Canada may soon have. (CBC)
Also, check out Denverite's second podcast episode. It's fun, I swear. I had fun, at least. (Denverite)
Accessible information:
A brand-new law opens records that will allow the public to see when employers are found to have defrauded their workers. Ladies and gentlemen, start your FOIAs. (CFOIC)
Autonomous cars:
A bill heading to the governor's desk could become one of the first state laws in the U.S. to regulate self-driving cars. It "acknowledges the existence of autonomous vehicles on state roadways, declares their regulation a matter of statewide concern and requires such cars and trucks to conform to every state and federal law of driving," as Ed Sealover and Cathy Proctor report in their full story. (DBJ)
Car listening:
Terry Gross has a Fresh Air interview with New Yorker writer David Owen on his new book about how we use the Colorado River. Download it, or just turn on your car radio because Fresh Air is on 85% of the time! (NPR)
Science:
WTF are they doing in all these federal labs around here? Bruce Finley will tell you. (DP)
