Denver news in 5 minutes: What you need to know today, June 6

3 min. read
Denver police putting on riot gear at Mile High Stadium in 1969. ( Rocky Mountain News Photograph Collection/Western History & Genealogy Dept./Denver Public Library)

Yo. Today's news roundup includes Stapleton's next step, the evolution of the marijuana market, the craziest soccer game in Denver's history and more.

Denver police putting on riot gear at Mile High Stadium in 1969. ( Rocky Mountain News Photograph Collection/Western History & Genealogy Dept./Denver Public Library)
It might rain:

High of 76 today, chance of storms (possibly severe) this afternoon. (Denverite)

Big things in Stapleton:

The developer of Stapleton is starting work on a project that will put a sizable office building and 420 residential units, plus retail, near Central Park Station. Long-term plans are much larger than that. Molly Armbrister reports. (DBJ)

Meanwhile, Arvada gets its Denver Beer Company next weekend. (Denverite)

The marijuana market is consolidating:

Chain retailers with three-plus locations have gone from controlling about 20 percent of Colorado's recreational market to 32 percent, as Eli McVey reports. (Marijuana Business Daily)

Marijuana growers are concentrated near DIA, Boulder, south-central and north-central Denver, as Adrian reports. (Denverite)

Street harassment:

We want to hear your stories about street harassment in Denver. Check out Ashley's post for more information. (Denverite)

The craziest soccer game to happen in Denver:

This week, the U.S. men's team plays a World Cup qualifier at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Last time that happened, a ridiculous amount of snow made for a wild game and created something of an incident. Christian did some great reporting and writing for this story. (Denverite)

Health insurance crisis:

The insurer Anthem will decide this month whether to continue selling individual insurance in the Colorado markets created by the Affordable Care Act. If they pull out, people in 14 rural Western Slope counties will be left to buy insurance off the exchanges, which is likely to be more expensive -- or they won't have it at all. John Daley reports. (CPR)

FUBAR sales tax:

Would you believe that Colorado has a very complicated sales tax system? While most states have a single sales tax rate, Colorado has "700 possible combinations of sales taxes that businesses have to collect," as Brian Eason reports. That's because there are tons of exemptions for various products, and cities and counties can opt in and out of them. There's a proposal to clean it up. (DP)

DUI mess:

Following claims of forged signatures and misleading results, a Colorado judge has made a decision that allows any DUI conviction from July 2015 through this January to be called into question, as Michael Konopasek reports. (KDVR)

Condo construction:

The Colorado Supreme Court just decided that condo developers have an important power over their buyers. Basically, the argument was about whether developers should get the power to veto proposed changes to condo associations' governing documents. The court decided developers do have that power, which means the owners' associations can't remove requirements without the developer's permission.

The most important implication is for construction defects. Many developers require condo owners to go through binding arbitration rather than suing in court over crappy construction. With this court ruling, condo owners have no chance to get rid of that requirement. Now we'll see whether developers grow more of an appetite for condos. (National Law Review)

Chipotle:

Laura Shunk has a long feature on how Chipotle established Denver as the place to be for fast-casual restaurants. (Westword)

Wash Park:

The city will revamp the loop road to make things less chaotic at Wash Park this summer. (Denverite)

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