Expectant Parent Worries About 'thirdhand Smoke'

Although it has been open for a dozen years now, and producing ponder-worthy exhibitions all along, the Fulginiti Gallery on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora remains something of a mystery to many people in this region. Tucked deep within the sprawling complex of educational buildings — I would describe it as behind the dental school and diagonal from the student cafeteria — it is hard to see and difficult to reach.

Colorado voters will likely side with two ballot measures promising greater property tax relief than what a bipartisan legislative compromise rushed through in the session’s final hours is offering, the head of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce warned Monday. Senate Bill 24-233 will save property owners an estimated $950 million in taxes compared to the legislature taking no action.

Container gardens offer instant gratification to those who want to enjoy flowers and plants all summer long. Fill a pot with soil, pick your plants and voila! The payoff comes in having a beautiful garden to enjoy. Gardens in a pot are perfect for those who crave variety. “You can change things every year and through the seasons,” says Annie Huston, co-owner of Denver boutique Birdsall & Co. and a longtime garden designer.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed two marquee land-use reform bills into law Monday, clearing the way for the building of more accessory-dwelling units and denser development in cities and suburbs across the Front Range. “The success of this bill will be measured in years,” Rep. Steven Woodrow, a Denver Democrat who sponsored the density measure, said at the signing ceremony outside a light rail station in Denver.

Debora Palizzi, the owner of Palizzi Farm in Adams County, is learning the hard way that almost any developer in Colorado can be granted the power of eminent domain by city or county officials. Then, conflict of interests be damned, those developers can take land as they see fit for their own personal gain at great expense to others. Palizzi is being dragged into court by developer Jack Hoagland because he wants to route an underground stormwater control system through a portion of her farm, and she refused to sell.

Dear Amy: My father died 20 years ago after a long battle with alcoholism. At the time, he was separated from my mother and estranged from my younger brother. I chose to maintain a relationship with him through the last months of his life when he was suffering from liver failure, and I forgave him for the pain he had caused our family. My brother did not maintain contact, and I completely understand why he made that decision. At my father’s memorial service, a “mystery man” attended. He didn’t come through the receiving line, speak to anyone in the family, bring a card, or sign the guest book. Several of my relatives remarked later that they wondered who he was, but no one had talked to him. He was well dressed and young — maybe early 20s (slightly younger than my brother and I), so not of the age that you would expect someone to show up at a funeral if they were not connected to the deceased. At the time, family members made awkward jokes that I might have a brother I didn’t know about.