A judge’s ruling that a restaurant has the right to serve alcohol until 2 a.m. could limit the city’s ability to regulate alcohol sales, officials said.
Boulder County District Judge Gwyneth Whalen ruled last week that Thunderbird Burgers, a restaurant in the popular University Hill area near the University of Colorado, could continue selling alcohol until 2 a.m. despite a city zoning condition calling for it to stop selling alcohol at 11 p.m.
The judge agreed with Thunderbird’s attorneys that only the state can regulate the hours during which alcohol is served.
Thunderbird’s owners sought permission in 2004 from Boulder’s Planning Board to stay open until 2 a.m. The restaurant won a zoning variance to stay open that late under the condition it stop selling alcohol at 11 p.m., prompting the lawsuit.
Cities cannot use zoning ordinances to make their own alcohol policy, Whalen wrote in her ruling Friday.
City Attorney Ariel Calonne said he hasn’t decided whether to recommend that the City Council appeal the ruling.
Additional local news briefs:
WASHINGTON
Allard targeting Social Security fraud
Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., introduced legislation to fix a problem he said he learned of after the immigration raids at Swift & Co.’s Greeley plant.
Allard offered an amendment to an existing bill raising the minimum wage.
Allard’s amendment would require the commissioner of Social Security to provide the secretary of homeland security with information in cases where a Social Security number is used with more than one name or when there is more than one worker reporting earnings for the same name and Social Security number.
Most of those arrested in the Swift raid are accused of using stolen identities to gain their jobs.
Swift & Co. said it used the government’s system for checking workers, called Basic Pilot. But that system only verifies that a Social Security number is valid, not when it’s being used at more than one job site.
“I was concerned to learn that Social Security and DHS were not sharing information, and my amendment provides a legislative fix to this problem,” Allard said.
DENVER
Gang unit probing drive-by shooting
A 14-year-old boy was shot in the leg Wednesday night while sitting with another teenager on the porch of a northeast Denver home, police said.
The victim, whose identity was not released, was rushed to Denver Health Medical Center in critical condition, but he had been upgraded to stable a short time later, Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.
Police were looking for a black, two-door car with dark-tinted windows, Jackson said.
Gang unit officers were investigating the incident, which occurred about 8:30 p.m. at East 49th Avenue and Milwaukee Street, Jackson said.
The other boy on the porch was not hit, Jackson said.
LOVELAND
Post office would love to resend valentines
U.S. Postal Service officials Wednesday announced details of the popular program to remail valentines with a Loveland postmark. The program begins Feb. 1.
Last year, more than 211,000 valentine cards and letters were mailed to Loveland and then resent with the city’s postmark, the Postal Service said. The mail came from more than 100 countries and all 50 states.
This year, senior volunteers will cancel stamps by printing a Cupid design and verse on each valentine received for remailing.
Officials said properly stamped-and-addressed valentines should be sent inside a larger stamped envelope to Postmaster, Valentine Remailing, Loveland, CO 80538-9998.
Mail must be received in Loveland by Feb. 12 for valentines to be resent within Colorado, by Feb. 9 for mail destined for other states and by Feb. 3 for overseas recipients.
WASHINGTON
Udall to be chairman of House space panel
U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., has been named chairman of the U.S. House’s Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee – part of the House Committee on Science and Technology.
Udall will help oversee U.S. space-exploration programs, NASA, earth science and other federal research.
Udall has worked to save the Hubble Space Telescope by securing funding for a rescue mission and has worked to give local governments access to satellite data for dealing with drought and forest-fire management, among other things.
Colorado has the second- largest space industry in the nation, Udall noted. Udall will also serve on the Energy and Environment Subcommittee, which oversees research by the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
BROOMFIELD
Coroner IDs woman who plunged off I-25
A Golden woman was identified Wednesday as the motorist killed when her car plunged off an icy Interstate 25 overpass this week.
The Adams County coroner’s office said Sarah Firebaugh, 29, died from blunt-trauma injuries suffered from the crash, which occurred about 7:30 a.m. Monday. Her Volkswagen went off the overpass and landed on its roof.
Another vehicle had slid off the overpass moments earlier but landed on its wheels. A female passenger of that vehicle was treated at a nearby hospital for injuries, authorities said.
DENVER
DeGette named to energy committee
Rep. Diana DeGette was named vice chairwoman of one of the House’s most powerful committees Wednesday, a role that gives her the ability to help write legislation and set priorities.
DeGette, D-Colo., jumped over 11 people with more seniority to land the post on the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., currently the longest-serving member of the House, chairman of the committee and a mentor to DeGette, pulled her up to the job.
“For me it’s really a dream come true,” DeGette said.
WASHINGTON
Groups want animal poisons eliminated
Advocacy groups are asking the government to ban two poisons widely used for killing wildlife.
The poisons are primarily used to kill coyotes that threaten livestock and game. Sodium cyanide capsules are placed in baited ejectors, and sodium fluoroacetate (Compound 1080) is used in sheep and goat collars.
The Agriculture Department’s Wildlife Services program distributes the poisons.
In a petition filed Wednesday with the Environmental Protection Agency, the groups cited problems with the poisons.
