January 16, 2014
50 cents Jefferson County, Colorado | Volume 148, Issue 7
A publication of
goldentranscript.net
GOVERNOR TOUTS ECONOMIC NUMBERS DURING ANNUAL ADDRESS Gov. John Hickenlooper motions to his cabinet, seated in the House chambers in the Colorado State Capitol, during the State of the State speech in Denver on Jan. 8. Photos by Hannah Garcia
Hickenlooper: State of state is strong By Vic Vela
vvela@coloradocommunitymedia.com Gov. John Hickenlooper sounded like a man running for re-election during his annual State of the State address inside the Capitol on Jan. 9, as he touted Colorado’s economic rebound and called on lawmakers to “ignore divisive politics.” The governor sounded themes of unity throughout his speech, but particularly when he lauded Coloradans’ resilience during times of tragedy last year — which led to one of the most enthusiastically-received lines of the day. “Colorado does not shutdown. Colorado does not quit. Colorado does not break,” he said, to a standing ovation inside the House chamber, where all 100 state lawmakers were gathered. Hickenlooper hyped Colorado as a magnet for businesses and a state where job numbers continue to grow. And, for the most part, he stayed away from contentious issues that dominated the Legislature last year.
While Democrats walked away glowingly from the governor’s speech, many Republicans voiced a “wait and see” response. “Well it felt good, but let’s see if those feelings continue for the rest of the year,” said Rep. Carole Murray, R-Castle Rock. “When he talked about not wanting parties to lock down, I hope he holds to that with his own party.” Much of the governor’s speech focused on the state’s improving economic numbers. Hickenlooper said that the state has experienced a significant rebound in job numbers since 2010, when the state was ranked 40th in the nation in job growth. Now, the state ranks fourth in that category, has added 170,000 jobs over the last few years, and has seen its unemployment rate drop from 9 percent in 2010, to its current rate of 6.5 percent. “But let’s be clear,” the governor cautioned, “the unemployment rate is not low
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State Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, D-Arvada, gives a thumbs-up to fellow lawmaker Mary Hodge, D-Brighton, a few seats over during Gov. John Hickenlooper’s State of the State speech at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on Jan. 9.
Liquor compliance tallies low mark By Amy Woodward
awoodward@ coloradocommunitymedia.com Golden City Police Department handed out 14 liquor violations to employees at local establishments throughout the city during the department’s annual liquor compliance checks in Dec. 2013. The employees, who will face the city’s POSTAL ADDRESS
liquor hearing officer, were cited for selling alcohol to underage persons at restaurants and liquor stores including Grappas, Bridgewater Grill, the Briarwood Inn and El Dorado, to name a few. A total of 62 businesses were canvassed for the compliance checks, leaving most Golden businesses with a 77 percent success rate in not selling to an under-aged person. Businesses were notified of the pending checks 60 days before they began.
GOLDEN TRANSCRIPT
“There were a higher number of violations this year in comparison to previous years,” Detective Matt Cole with the Golden Police Department said. “Obviously having the amount of violations we did this year is concerning and we will need to take steps to ensure better compliance rates.” Last year, businesses in Golden were handed six violations, with 2010 seeing a mere two citations. Other cities in Jefferson County like
Arvada saw an 81.48 percent compliance rate in 2013, a 23 percent increase from the previous year. The number of Arvada merchants checked was lower than that of Golden with 27 establishments checked, and five citations. Lakewood reported that out of 175 checks conducted by Lakewood police, with the assistance of the Colorado
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(ISSN 0746-6382)
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