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Denver’s fast-growing RiNo “music district” finds its groove amid vinyl renaissance

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:52 GMT

Scott Hagen drops the needle on a shiny slab of black vinyl — Fleet Foxes’ 2021 record “A Very Lonely Solstice” — and takes the time to admire the turntable’s delicate hardware as the tone arm slowly circles the grooves toward the center.A rich, smooth sound emanates from the speakers — so close and intimate it feels like the melancholy acoustic performance is right in front of you.Scott Hagen, CEO of Victrola, in front of new products on April 10, 2023, in the company’s corporate headquarters in Denver. s to offer on April 10, 2023 in Denver. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)That’s the intended effect of the hardware demo that Hagen, the chief executive of 117-year-old record player brand Victrola, has set up in his company’s temporary, Denver-based headquarters. The sleek Victrola Stream Onyx, which retails for $599, works as a standard turntable but also streams pristine audio via Bluetooth to Sonos speakers...

Will a gun that uses facial recognition reduce firearm deaths? A Colorado entrepreneur thinks so.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:52 GMT

The country’s first biometric smart gun started as a Boulder teenager’s high school science fair project.Ten years later, Kai Kloepfer is bringing his smart gun to market in what could be the first weapon to break a decades-old political and manufacturing “log jam” that has kept smart guns from mass production.Kloepfer’s Broomfield-based company, Biofire, on Thursday announced the sale of guns that use both fingerprint and facial recognition to make sure only authorized users can fire the weapon.His goal is to reduce accidental deaths and suicides and to keep children from accessing their parents’ weapons. The gun will allow people to have a weapon at hand but want to make sure children, visitors or criminals can’t use it.The gun is primarily marketed for use as a weapon for home defense, Kloepfer said. Gun owners must balance keeping a weapon easily accessible in case of emergency but also secure enough that others can’t access it.“Ho...

Music, art and some excellent shopping will join global mayors at Cities Summit next week

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:52 GMT

The Cities Summit of the Americas, which comes to town this month, makes real a vision of Denver that many of us here have been working hard to manifest: cultured and consequential, leading, diverting and global — or at least hemispheric, since the event brings together politicians, artists and innovators from North, Central and South America.There are rising stars in that mix all around, including mayors of major cities who are embracing the rapid political and technological changes taking place in the world while looking toward the future. Americans tend to focus inward, but the lineup of 250 mayors coming here — including Bogota’s Claudia Lopez, Rio de Janeiro’s Eduardo Paes and Tijuana’s Monserrat Caballero — are intercontinental superstars leading the charge for tens of millions of people who want the same things we do: quality education, healthy citizens, a robust planet.That said, they also want to have a good time, and that is probably what makes the summit...

What’s hiding in your home’s walls? Denver renters, homeowners still dealing with asbestos.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:52 GMT

The architecture of buildings around Denver stands as a testament to years past. Styles of older homes can run the gamut from a classic bungalow to a Victorian to a Tudor, just to name a few. But sometimes those buildings were constructed with outdated materials like asbestos.Today, asbestos can still be found within insulation and popcorn ceilings, hiding in walls only to be discovered during a home renovation or the replacement of a waterline. And when it’s found, it can be more than just a nuisance: It can pose a potential health hazard. Cleanup is a complicated process that can require the temporary displacement of homeowners and tenants – and can financially burden everyone involved.On Wednesday, a crew of two for Asbestos Abatement Inc. took a hammer to a kitchen wall at Monaco Place Condominiums in Denver. Earlier in the morning, licensed asbestos worker Jacob Wilson, 22, and supervisor Brad Packwood, 43, donned their full-body hazmat suits and respirator masks before s...

Denver’s best stoner dining, according to the pros on “Stoned Appetit”

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:52 GMT

Stoner holiday 4/20 may only come once a year, but Denver residents Kip Wilson and Chris Byard celebrate practically every day.That’s because they’re co-hosts of “Stoned Appetit,” a food- and weed-focused podcast that enables listeners to follow Wilson and Byard as they explore Colorado’s robust cannabis and restaurant scenes. And it’s fair to say that the podcast has been a hit.In the five years since its debut, Wilson has been able to transition to working full-time on “Stoned Appetit,” while Byard joins him when not working as senior grant officer at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The two have also collaborated with local marijuana companies on specialty products, such as a vape pen and oil release with Denver’s Seed & Smith.“We like to consider ourselves at the intersect of culinary and cannabis worlds,” Wilson said.Together they’ve traversed the Mile High City corner to corner, from cuisine to cuisine. That’s why this 4/20, we asked Wilson and Byard to...

Clarence Thomas claimed income from defunct real estate firm, report says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:52 GMT

(The Hill) - Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has claimed on financial disclosure documents that his family received hundreds of thousands in income from a now-defunct real estate firm, according to a new report from the Washington Post.The Post reports that Thomas said the income came from Ginger, Ltd., Partnership, a real estate firm launched by his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, and her family, that was shut down in 2006. A new firm was opened under the name Ginger Holdings, LLC, according to the report, but Thomas continued to claim income from the unused firm. The Post notes that the discrepancy could be a mere error, but it comes as Thomas faces scrutiny for his finances as he serves on the nation’s highest court. A ProPublica report earlier this month said a Republican mega-donor paid for Thomas to take part in various luxury vacations over two decades, which the justice did not disclose. A subsequent report found that Thomas also didn’t disclose a 2014 re...

Kyyba Music’s TeeCee Rou’Lette Hits 65 Million Global Views with “Work”

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:52 GMT

What is Star Power? As an acronym STAR stands for (S)omebody (T)hey’ll (A)lways (R)emember, and POWER equals (P)erformance (O)ptomized (W)ith (E)nhanced (R)ewards. The artist development team helps to create STAR POWER. Implementing an “artist development” program makes the difference between an artist having longevity in the music business or just being a “one hit wonder.” The legendary Berry Gordy put heavy emphasis on artist development at his Motown record label. Berry Gordy developed legends. He trained the Motown artists to have a regal aura. The acts on Motown were groomed to have star power. Detroit is a pioneering musical city. Out of the despair of the pandemic emerges a new Detroit record label that echoes the spirit and essence of Motown. Kybba music is a production focused music company that keeps its ear to the streets.Kyyba Music’s mission is to focus on the impact and not just the reward. Their goal is to impact the culture. The ob...

How your car can power your home

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:52 GMT

Even as fierce winter winds knocked out power to thousands of Bay Area homes, Tammy Snyder’s rural storm-battered house remained bathed in brightness.Her plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt, linked to the house by long extension cords, powered her family’s favorite lamp, as well as the refrigerator, internet and furnace. It charged the batteries that run her phone, laptop, electric blanket, camp light, flashlights, power tools and a comfy heating pad that wraps around her shoulders.“It’s turned outages into slight inconveniences, rather than the hardships they used to be,” said Snyder, a 62-year-old who radiates practicality. Her family’s scenic Santa Cruz Mountains home is more than a dozen miles away from the comfort of the nearest town — and lost PG&E power 13 times this winter, once for eight days and another for six days.Her homespun setup is a preview of what may soon be easily available to many Californians: EVs that are equipped not just to receive power, b...

Drug suspect puts meth between buttocks, hides it in jail cell, gets busted again

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:52 GMT

An Ohio man faces multiple drug possession charges, including for methamphetamine that Royal Oak, Michigan police say he put between his buttocks and briefly hid in his jail cell until he was busted again.Suspect Nathaniel K. Cipriani, 28, of North Bend Ohio, is jailed on $50,000, 10 percent, bond.Police became suspicious when they spotted the suspect sitting in a Dodge Charger with a license plate that was registered to a Honda in Kentucky on April 8.Cipriani got out of the car as officers approached him and started walking away, police said.Police noticed he was wearing an electronic tether and said he told them he was recently arrested for drug possession in Macomb County.A K-9 unit was called to the Amoco gas station on Woodward Avenue south of 12 Mile Road.Police said they found a small baggie of suspected heroin beneath the dashboard radio.The suspect was arrested and taken to the police station.During a search police said they found he had a glass drug pipe in the waistband o...

9-year-old girl found shot in the back in Southeast DC

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:56:52 GMT

A young girl is in the hospital after getting shot in the back Sunday in Southeast D.C., according to police.“It’s disheartening,” said LaShay Makal, commander of the Seventh Police District. “I’m outraged and I continue to say that the community should be outraged as well.”Makal said during a press briefing on Sunday night that the 9-year-old was shot while sitting in the back of a vehicle at the 1500 block of Shippen Lane around 4 p.m.“Right now, we are in the early stages of the investigation, but we have located a crime scene,” said Makal. “We have recovered multiple shell casings in the road there.”Makal said two adults were also in the vehicle but neither of them were struck. They drove the young victim to the 2700 block of Douglass Place before realizing that she had been shot.The 9-year-old was breathing and conscious when police arrived on the scene. She was in stable condition at the time she was transported to a ...