Denver, CO
Controversial restaurant wage bill vote delayed amid uncertain support from Colorado lawmakers
A controversial bill intended to help struggling Colorado restaurants by cutting servers’ pay stalled out early Tuesday morning as the measure’s sponsors attempted to shore up support from leery fellow Democrats.
House Bill 1208 was set for a second committee vote Monday, with full votes in front of the House coming next. But after hours of testimony that stretched past 1 a.m. Tuesday, the measure’s sponsor — Denver Democratic Rep. Alex Valdez — asked that the bill be laid over, delaying it for at least a week.
The bill would clip the tipped minimum wage paid to restaurant workers in Denver and several other cities with higher rates than the state’s minimum, and it’s aimed at shoring up an industry that says it’s reeling from high costs. Under current state law, tipped workers can be paid $3.02 less per hour to account for tip income. As written now, the bill would require Denver and other local governments to lower their tipped minimums.
While the bill is sponsored by Democrats and backed by Gov. Jared Polis, its provisions have divided Democrats, both in the Capitol and in Denver. Denver City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, who testified against the bill Monday night, said it was “appalling” that Democrats were supporting the measure.
The rhetoric and debate around the bill — which has played out in crude flyers depicting the bill’s sponsors — has become sharp enough to draw a rebuke from the House’s leadership; they condemned the flyers in a statement Monday.
Supporters said Monday that they had asked fewer restaurant owners to come testify because those who had testified at a prior hearing were later insulted and targeted with bad online reviews.
“It’s been the worst hearings in the seven years that I’ve been here,” Valdez said Tuesday morning, several hours after the vote was delayed. He’s co-sponsoring the bill, which would lower the tipped minimum wage for restaurant workers in response to restaurants’ warnings of high costs and a reeling industry, with fellow Denver Democratic Rep. Steven Woodrow.
Whether the bill had enough support to pass the House Finance Committee, which has an 8-5 Democratic majority, is unclear.
Valdez told The Denver Post that it “definitely” had enough support but that he wanted to work on finding a consensus among fellow Democrats, who hold near-supermajority status in the Capitol.
He said he wanted to delay the vote because “we’re not trying to stuff anything down anyone’s throat here.” He had prepared several amendments, including one to soften the wage reductions in Denver and to make clear that restaurant workers would always be paid at least the state minimum wage.
“We’re negotiating with members of the caucus,” he said, referring to House Democrats.
But Rep. Lorena Garcia, an Adams County Democrat and a critic of the proposal, said the bill didn’t have enough support — from either Democrats or Republicans — to pass Tuesday morning.
“It does not actually help anybody in the restaurant industry,” she said of the bill. “I mean, where was there ever any proof that cutting wages supports an industry?”
Rep. William Lindstedt, a Broomfield Democrat and the Finance Committee’s chairman, said he didn’t know whether the bill had enough support to advance. The bill comfortably passed its first committee vote, though the committee Lindstedt leads has more progressive Democrats who’ve openly opposed the proposal.
The bill would have its largest impact in Denver, where the tipped minimum wage is $15.79 and the standard minimum wage is $18.81, higher than the state’s standard of $14.81. City leadership is split: Mayor Mike Johnston has backed the proposal, and his deputy chief of staff — former state Sen. Dominick Moreno — testified in favor of the bill shortly before Valdez delayed the vote.
But roughly 90 minutes earlier, three members of the City Council — Lewis, Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and Sarah Parady — all testified against it.
The Denver council members said Monday night that the council wanted to address the problems facing restaurants, but the city should take the issue on itself.
However, in comments to The Post, Valdez accused the council members of “saying they have no interest in fixing the problem.”
The bill will likely be voted on next week. Should it pass the Finance Committee, it will proceed to the House floor.
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Denver, CO
Denver Barkey scores first career goal as Flyers take down Oilers
Item 1 of 33 Jan 3, 2026; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Philadelphia Flyers right winger Garnet Hathaway (19) skates on the ice during the pre game warm up as the Edmonton Oilers take on the Philadelphia Flyers before the first period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images
[1/33]Jan 3, 2026; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Philadelphia Flyers right winger Garnet Hathaway (19) skates on the ice during the pre game warm up as the Edmonton Oilers take on the Philadelphia Flyers before the first period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images Purchase Licensing Rights
January 3 – Denver Barkey’s first NHL tally highlighted a three-goal first period for the Philadelphia Flyers, who beat the host Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Saturday.
Travis Sanheim and Bobby Brink also scored in the first, while Nick Seeler and Owen Tippett each posted a goal with an assist and Sean Couturier added two helpers for the Flyers, who finished a 3-2-0 road trip. Dan Vladar made 22 saves for Philadelphia, which allowed 13 Edmonton shots on goal in the first period, but just 11 the rest of the way.
Connor McDavid extended his point streak to 15 games with his 25th goal of the season and Evan Bouchard also scored for the Oilers, who have dropped two straight and three of four.
Philadelphia made its mark early in the first period. Tippett passed the puck into the slot for a streaking Barkey, who beat Oilers’ Calvin Pickard (24 saves) for his milestone goal just 7:16 into the contest.
Barkey’s marker essentially set the tempo, as the visitors made it 2-0 with 9:29 left in the first when Sanheim beat Pickard from the right circle.
Philadelphia then extended its lead a little over four minutes later when an Edmonton turnover led to the puck deflecting into the net off the heel of Brink’s skate off a shot from Cam York.
Vladar, meanwhile, was solid by stopping 12 shots in the first period. However, he couldn’t prevent McDavid from scoring on a breakaway, which came off a Sanheim turnover in the neutral zone, with 3:52 remaining before the first intermission.
The Oilers made it 3-2 on the power play with 10:06 remaining in the second period. With an assist from McDavid, Bouchard unloaded a successful slap shot from the left point to give Edmonton at least one goal on the man advantage in nine of the last 10 games.
Philadelphia found some breathing room with 10:51 remaining in regulation off Seeler’s wrister for his first goal of the season. Tippett added an empty-netter as the Flyers scored at least five goals for the third time in their last six.
McDavid, meanwhile, has 14 goals with 22 assists in the last 15 games.
–Field Level Media
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Denver, CO
A franchise quarterback is vital to winning division titles
You might respond to this headline with ‘and water is wet’ and I wouldn’t blame you, but I was looking over the Denver Broncos history and how often they have won a division title. In their 65 years, the Broncos have brought home 16 AFC West division titles. That’s not very many, but given their first winning season was almost 20 years into it then it doesn’t look so bad.
The other thing I noticed is that only those teams who had a franchise quarterback type player under center did they repeat often as division winners. 11 of those 16 titles were won while John Elway or Peyton Manning were quarterbacking the franchise. Craig Morton won two backed by the vaunted Orange Crush defense of the 70s, but the rest were one-off division winners like Jake Plummer and Tim Tebow. Now that latter list includes Bo Nix.
The craziest stat that I found researching this topic was that all but one Broncos team that did not win the division were one-and-done in the playoffs. The lone team that wasn’t was that 1997 Super Bowl winning squad. Every single other team that finished second or third in the division and made the playoffs did not win a game once they got there. That doesn’t have much to do with the franchise quarterback topic here, but I found this little tidbit too interesting to not share.
As for the division winners, there were plenty of one-and-done seasons there too, but all of their playoff wins sans-1997 are also there.
The question I meant to get to sooner before going off on that side quest regarding the playoff outcomes was whether or not Bo Nix joins Elway and Manning or ends up with the Plummer and Morton’s of history of pretty good but not all-time great. A few playoff wins over the next month would certainly move the needle some before adding more division titles down the road.
Denver, CO
Denver police report increase in street racing arrests and citations in 2025
DENVER — Street racing continues to pose threats to Colorado drivers, so Denver7 looked into the trends we saw throughout 2025.
Denver Police report 80 citations and arrests as of December 17 for 2025. That’s 20 more than last year, according to Doug Schepman, director of communications for the Denver Police Department (DPD).
There is one strip of road in Denver we asked Schepman about specifically, after hearing from business owners that it’s particularly troublesome.
We’re talking about the 2000 block of S. Santa Fe Drive in Denver.
Michael Gray, owner of Discount Fishing Tackle, said it’s a weekly occurrence to watch or hear cars and motorcycles zip past.
“Recently, we’ve seen the kids on the motorcycles coming by with the front wheel in the air, going just as dangerous as can be, and especially dangerous because so many other people are going so fast on this road,” Gray said.
He said he’s noticed that as more turnoffs are removed and the spacing between traffic lights gets longer, more drivers tend to use it as their personal raceway.
“It doesn’t affect us really too much, but you don’t like to have something as dangerous as that going on all the time,” he said.
Schepman said patrol districts are aware that street racing occurs along this stretch of South Santa Fe Drive, and that officers are directed to patrol the area during periods when reports are more prevalent.
He adds that the community plays a critical part in helping investigators curb this problem.
The Colorado State Patrol said it has received more than 1,700 reports from the community this year.
You can continue to report street racing here.
Denver7
Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Allie Jennerjahn
Denver7’s Allie Jennerjahn covers stories that have an impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on crime, corruption and ways to protect your family. If you’d like to get in touch with Allie, fill out the form below to send her an email.
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