🚨 Is Denver getting an ICE facility?

📰 One Year of Tren de Aragua

It’s been almost a year since rumors started swirling about a Venezuelan gang infiltrating Aurora. A look back at the Tren de Aragua storyline reveals how a viral video, a councilwoman’s incendiary Facebook Post, and President Trump’s “Operation Aurora” plan complicated a local issue that went national. [City Cast Denver 🎧]

💰 City Council Slams Vibrant Denver Project List

City council members were unimpressed, to say the least, with the initial list of 48 projects being proposed for funding by the $800 million Vibrant Denver bond package. Members expressed frustration over a lack of transparency regarding costs, an inequitable focus on Parks and Rec projects, and a glaring omission of some of Denver’s lowest-earning neighborhoods.

• Worth noting: Transforming the defunct Park Hill Golf Course into an actual park — which councilwoman Amanda Sawyer called the mayor’s “pet project” — made the cut. Here’s how that massive project is shaping up. [Denverite]

🚨 ICE Considers Colorado for New Detention Centers

As mass federal deportation efforts continue, ICE is looking for more space to hold detainees. Documents obtained by the ACLU show the agency is considering six Colorado facilities — in Walsenburg, Colorado Springs, Denver, and La Junta — for possible new detention centers. [Denver Post 🔒]

🦕 Dinosaur Bones Discovered Beneath DMNS

Researchers at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science have unearthed a dinosaur fossil nearly 800 feet beneath the museum’s parking lot. Scientists believe it belonged to a large plant-eating dinosaur that roamed what is now City Park 67.5 million years ago. The fossil — which is reportedly the deepest, oldest dinosaur bone ever discovered in Denver — is now on display inside the museum.

• Serendipitous science: Crews made the discovery while conducting a drilling test to assess the possibility of transitioning the museum from using natural gas to geothermal energy. [Denver Post 🔒]

Last week’s answer: It’s hard to miss this baby headed trash bin outside Liks Ice Cream off 13th Avenue and Vine Street in the Cheesman Park neighborhood. We don’t know much about the installation except that it was likely part of a mysterious guerrilla art series back in 2016 when small plaster baby doll faces were popping up on curbs, buildings, and other structures across the city.

📣 A super special shoutout for this week’s correct guessers:

• Manuel M. was the first to write in with the correct answer! 👏
• But Brandon S., Caroline M., Beth W., Trish H., Hannah H., and Phoebe weren’t far behind!

This Week’s Photo:

🕵️ Do YOU know where to find these swimmers made of stone? Be among the first to respond with the right answer and you’ll get a special shoutout in next Friday’s newsletter!

📸 Want to submit a photo? Send me a snapshot of somewhere in Denver, and I’ll consider it for an upcoming photo trivia segment!