💩 A 'historic' dog poop protest

💩 ‘A Poop Protest’

A landmark house near East 7th Avenue Parkway and North Clayton Street has been sitting vacant and in disrepair for years. Now, fed-up neighbors are throwing bags full of dog poop on the property to voice their displeasure. A renovation project stalled in 2019 and the house landed on the city’s “neglected and derelict” list in 2024, though a permit for renovations is reportedly in process. [CBS News Colorado]

• Related: Denver’s Dog Poop Problem by the Numbers [Hey Denver 📰]

💰 Anti-Youth Violence Research at Risk

After testing out an innovative new strategy in Park Hill, Youth Violence Prevention Center reported a 75% decrease in youth violence arrests between 2012 and 2021. But the nonprofit is now in danger of shutting down due to the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to funding for public health research. [CPR]

🤜 Feds Give Colorado Ultimatum on ‘Sanctuary’ Policies

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter last week to Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser threatening to pull federal funding if the state doesn’t remove so-called “sanctuary” laws that protect undocumented immigrants. The letter also threatens criminal charges to Polis and Weiser for “violating federal law” if they don’t comply by August 19. [Denver7]

🍕 The Hottest Trend in Denver Pizza is …

Pickles? Palisade peaches? Hot honey? Or is that last one played out? There’s been crazy hype over a new spot called The PZA on Santa Fe, but other people are saying that the best pizza in Denver is actually in Longmont. So where’s the best pie in Mile High these days? Two pizza lovers dish on their faves on today’s podcast. [City Cast Denver 🎧]

Colorado Governor Jared Polis is notoriously weird online. He posts questionable selfies, puts Star Wars references in his speeches, and is all over the latest TikTok trends. I set out to put together his online highlight reel, some of his most viral and unforgettable moments, and try our best to understand … Why is he like this?

Plus, I included my own state of the art emoji rating system for each of the stunts, so you can see how I think his online antics stack up.

Home Improvement Hero

Featuring the tune of the Home Depot theme song, Governor Jared Polis took a table saw to a stack of 208 “outdated” executive orders back in December 2024, symbolizing the “cutting of red tape” to make government more efficient. This was around the time of the Trump administration’s rollout of the Department of Government Efficiency, and this stunt put Colorado on the map as one of the first states to hop on board.

My take: (🥽🥽🥽) This one was pretty outrageous, but Polis gets some bonus points for hiring artist Joe Molina to take all that shredded paper and make it into something beautiful. His office confirmed it’s still hanging in his office today.

A Flattering Portrait

Earlier this year, President Trump caught wind of his portrait hanging in the Colorado Capitol and was… less than pleased. It turned into a huge media storm on his platform, Truth Social, where the president called the painting “purposely distorted” and said Gov. Polis should be “ashamed of himself” for displaying it. The portrait was taken down, but in a post on X, Gov. Polis mocked the language of the president, showing off a new “official portrait” of himself, which was the South Park cartoon rendition of the Governor.

My take: (🌮🌮🌮🌮🌮) Is it going to take the Governor of Colorado to hang up this portrait in real life to get the South Park guys to open up Casa Bonita for all?!