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Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb pushes back on tax initiative for affordable housing

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Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb pushes back on tax initiative for affordable housing


Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb says now isn’t the time to ask voters to approve a sales tax hike for affordable housing.  

Webb says the measure, pushed by current Mayor Mike Johnston, will put a tax measure by Denver Health in jeopardy.

“I’m not opposed to affordable housing, I’m opposed to the timing,” Webb said. “I was surprised that Mayor Johnston, who has a lot of issues on his plate primarily around homelessness, did not delay it until the spring in order to get one of these issues passed.”

Webb says Denver Health — which is asking for a 0.35% increase — needs to be the priority. The hospital says it provided nearly $136 million in uncompensated care over the last six years.

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“Other hospitals in the Denver Metro area can’t carry that patient load. Denver Health is also a teaching hospital, and it is also the number one trauma center,” says Webb. “I think Michael is a bright guy. He’s a policymaker. He’s good at that. I question whether he’s a good administrator. Time will tell.”

Johnston’s .05% tax for affordable housing would be the eighth dedicated tax in the city and the largest. Voters have also approved sales taxes for parks, college scholarships, mental health, healthy food for kids, climate change and homelessness.

You can see those funds broken down by year here.

If both tax measures pass in November, it would bring the city’s overall sales tax to nearly 10%, on par with the likes of Los Angeles and New York.

Webb’s message to voters is, “If you have to choose, you make sure you vote yes on Denver Health. It shouldn’t be that difficult. Everybody in the city should be saying the same thing. In some cities around the country, they don’t even have a public hospital. We should be saying Denver Health is ours and we’re going to fight for it, and we’re going to protect it, and we’re going to nurture it, and we’re going to make sure it’s around for several generations to come.”

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A spokesperson for Johnston released a statement saying, “Mayor Johnston is a strong supporter of the Denver Health measure and will fight to ensure it gets passed. For too long, Denver leaders have been talking about the need for affordable housing without taking the bold action needed to address it at scale. And the longer we wait, the more expensive and more difficult it will be to truly address this crisis. The teachers, nurses, seniors, and working families that make our city run deserve both accessible healthcare and affordable housing, and we will work to make both a reality.”

Here are the dedicated sales taxes voters have approved:

  • Nov. 3, 2020: 2A Climate Protection – .025%
  • Nov. 3, 2020: 2B Housing and Shelter Tax – 0.25%
  • Nov. 6, 2018: 301 Mental Health (Caring for Denver) – 0.25%
  • Nov. 6, 2018: 302 Feed Denver Kids (Healthy Food) – 0.08%
  • Nov. 6, 2018: 300 College Tuition (Prosperity Denver) – 0.08%
  • Nov. 6, 2018: 2A Trails and Open Space (Parks) – 0.25%
  • Nov. 7, 2006: 1A Denver Preschool Program – 0.15% 



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Denver, CO

Denver Barkey scores first career goal as Flyers take down Oilers

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Denver Barkey scores first career goal as Flyers take down Oilers


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.

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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.

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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

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A franchise quarterback is vital to winning division titles

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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.

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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.



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Denver police report increase in street racing arrests and citations in 2025

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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.

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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.

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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

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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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