Coloradans have very specific tastes when it comes to local news.
Centennial State readers voraciously read stories about encounters with wildlife and backcountry search and rescue efforts, and even months after Casa Bonita technically reopened under new owners Matt Stone and Trey Parker (we say “technically” because you still need an invite to dine there), the Pink Palace remains one of our most-read-about topics.
Our readers also love following Colorado sports, and in that arena, it’s been a big year. The Nuggets won the NBA championship in June, which set off wild celebrations throughout the city. Unfortunately, that included a mass shooting during post-game celebrations downtown, and a Denver police sergeant losing his leg after being run over by a fire truck during the victory parade. That very same sergeant later led the Legend High School football team out onto the field in a wheelchair before the Titans’ win over Parker rival Ponderosa.
Deion Sanders dramatically raised the profile of CU Buffs football in his first season in Boulder, making tickets hard to get. QB Russell Wilson is in his second year of trying to turn the Broncos around, to mixed results, and the Rockies … well, the Rockies are indeed still a baseball team; we can say that much.
Here’s a look at The Denver Post’s most-read news stories of 2023.
10. Shooting that injured 10 after Denver Nuggets’ NBA Finals victory may be tied to drug deal, police say
At least 10 people — including a suspected gunman — were wounded in a shooting in downtown Denver in June that police believe may have been connected to a drug deal. At least 20 shots were fired from multiple guns near the intersection of Market and 20th streets as thousands of revelers began to disperse the night the Nuggets won the championship.
Police arrested three suspects in connection to the shooting.
9. FBI Denver warning: Don’t use free public phone charging stations
The Denver FBI office issued a warning back in April advising travelers and shoppers to avoid public free phone charging portals, warning that “bad actors” use these to install malware and tracking software onto computers and phones in a practice known as “juice-jacking.”
8. Bigfoot in Colorado? The “ever-elusive creature” may have been caught on camera from Durango train
A Wyoming couple spotted what they believed to Bigfoot while riding the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in southwest Colorado in October.
“We were looking for elk in the mountains and my husband sees something moving and then can’t really explain it. So he’s like, ‘Bigfoot!’” Shannon Parker told The New York Post. “It was at least 6, 7 feet or taller. It matched the sage in the mountains so much that he’s like camouflaged when crouching down.”
Was it really Bigfoot? Check out the photos and video and judge for yourself.
7. Colorado property owners to face astronomical tax increases next year
It was a dramatic year for Colorado property taxes and the homeowners who pay them.
In March, we learned that homeowners faced “unprecedented and unsettling increases in their property taxes next year as the run-up in home prices during the pandemic works its way into the state’s tax base,” Aldo Svaldi reported.
Enter: Proposition HH. Coloradans voted in November on the contentious ballot measure that sought to “soften the blow of property tax increases by taxing a smaller share of your property’s value than what it’s actually worth,” Seth Klamann reported. But the measure failed when over 60% of voters rejected it.
After Prop HH went down in flames, the Colorado legislature held a pre-Thanksgiving special session at which lawmakers approved a relief bill, rental assistance and flat TABOR refunds.
When all was said and done, Gov. Jared Polis issued a public plea for local governments to lower their property tax rates, and “further relief appears to be a trickle more than a torrent for Coloradans,” Nick Coltrain and John Aguilar reported. “Few local officials have taken up Polis’ request so far, including in metro Denver.”
As for those TABOR refunds: Colorado taxpayers can expect an extra $800 back when they file state income tax returns next year, Nick Coltrain reported on Dec. 20.
6. Casa Bonita offers fans a sneak peek inside restaurant ahead of reopening
When Matt Stone and Trey Parker offered a sneak peek of the newly revamped Casa Bonita back in May, everybody wanted a taste. The restaurant initially closed in 2020 and was feared lost until the “South Park” creators bought it in 2021.
Despite the restaurant technically reopening this summer, many sopapilla-hungry fans say they still cannot acquire the coveted email invite required to dine at the Lakewood eatery.
In the months since the soft reopening, we’ve heard from readers who say Casa Bonita 2.0 is “too exclusive” or “no longer family budget-friendly.” But that hasn’t stopped fans from snapping up all the email reservations — I’ve been on the email list since it launched and still can’t get in.
5. Casa Bonita employees send list of demands to ownership
Of course, there was some Pink Palace drama this year as well. In July, 50 employees gathered for an all-hands meeting and delivered a letter of demands to owners Stone and Parker.
As Lily O’Neill reported, some were unhappy after staff was “notified just days before the Lakewood landmark reopened on June 23 for a series of soft openings that higher-ups had decided to eliminate the option for customers to tip and instead offer workers a flat fee of $30 an hour.”
Management responded to the list of demands from some of its employees, saying they wanted the iconic restaurant to be “intentional about opening gradually in order to refine the many complex aspects of the Casa Bonita experience,” Denver7 reported.
4. Mountain lion attacks man soaking in hot tub, Colorado wildlife officials say
In March, a mountain lion snuck up on a man and his wife as they were soaking in a hot tub west of Nathrop. “The two sat in their vacation rental’s tub around 8 p.m., when the man felt something grab his head,” Conrad Swanson reported.
The couple were able to scare the mountain lion off and the man “suffered four scratches to the top of his head and near his right ear,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said.
3. Boebert announces she’ll be a 36-year-old grandmother when her 17-year-old son’s partner gives birth
Remember when this was Rep. Lauren Boebert’s biggest drama of the year?
Back in March, the Western Slope Republican announced that she would become a grandmother at 36 as her 17-year-old son’s partner was set to give birth to a son. She has since been photographed several times holding her grandson Josiah Boebert.
That incident was one of many that put Boebert in the spotlight this year: She had a controversial visit at a rural Colorado school, which started a small revolt against the district in April; faced allegations that she misspent campaign funds in May; filed for divorce from her husband, Jayson Boebert, in May; and a 911 call from last December resurfaced in which one of Boebert’s sons called authorities seeking help because his father was “throwing” him around the house.
But those incidents pale in comparison to the drama that surrounded Boebert when she attended a musical theater performance in Denver in September. (More on that below.)
Heading into 2024, Boebert faces a serious challenge to hold onto her seat by both Democrat Adam Frisch and multiple candidates from within her own party.
2. Intoxicated woman found in Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin’s hotel room required transport to hospital, police report says
In April, a woman was found so intoxicated in Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin’s hotel room that a team doctor called for an ambulance to take her to a hospital, according to a Seattle Police Department report obtained by The Denver Post. Nichushkin did not play that night in Game 3 or in the remainder of the series, which the Avalanche lost in seven games.
The team welcomed him back “with open arms” for training camp ahead of the 2023-2024 season. The Avs never commented on whether Nichushkin was punished for what transpired, Corey Masisak reported in September.
1. Lauren Boebert escorted out of “Beetlejuice” musical in Denver after “causing a disturbance”
Our most-read story of the year by far was initial coverage of U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert being escorted out of a September performance of the “Beetlejuice” musical in downtown Denver, accused by venue officials of vaping, singing, recording and “causing a disturbance.”
Video footage later released of the incident also showed Boebert and a male companion groping each other in the middle of the crowded theater. A visibly pregnant woman seated behind Boebert detailed what she experienced that night after asking Boebert to stop vaping.
“The guy she was with offered to buy me and my husband cocktails. I’m pregnant!” the woman told The Denver Post.
Boebert later apologized for the incident.
“While none of my actions or words as a private citizen that night were intended to be malicious or meant to cause harm, the reality is they did and I regret that,” Boebert said.
Time will tell if voters in her district will re-elect Boebert in 2024.
“What happened in her personal life is unfortunate, but at the end of the day, it has no bearing on her legislating,” said Christy Ruckus, a Pueblo Republican who is all in on Boebert in 2024. “I’m not concerned — peoples’ memories are short.”
Bonus: Most-read Denver Post columns of 2023
5. Keeler: Ex-CU Buffs coach Mike Sanford on Coach Prime, transfers, recruiting: “Not every single kid on that team was a 1-11 person.”
“You have to win right now,” Sanford, who went 1-6 last fall, said of CU coach Deion Sanders. “That’s the way it goes.”
4. Kiszla: All it took to fix quarterback Russell Wilson was for Broncos to fire team’s worst coach in last 40 years
“Where the heck have you been hiding all season, Mr. Unlimited?”
3. Keeler: CSU Rams safety Henry Blackburn owes CU Buffs star Travis Hunter an apology for the mother of all cheap shots
“It was the Andy Warhol of cheap shots, a work of art so stunning and brazen that Henry Blackburn could’ve had it signed, framed in poison ivy, and propped up next to Travis Hunter’s hospital bed.”
2. Opinion: Boebert’s “outrageous” behavior at “Beetlejuice” shows, again, her astounding sense of entitlement
When a pregnant woman seated behind Boebert asked her to stop vaping during show, the politician simply replied “no,” she says.
1. Keeler: Broncos coach Sean Payton didn’t just quit on his team. He quit on Broncos Country during a playoff chase.
Even though Teflon Sean had 15 minutes and change left to play with, instead of throwing a red flag, the man threw in the towel. That part wasn’t Russell Wilson’s fault.
