Denver, CO
Keeler: Nuggets dynasty? For ex-CU Buffs star Derrick White, that would be awesome. Slightly painful. But awesome. “Everybody’s got to hunt them down.”
![Keeler: Nuggets dynasty? For ex-CU Buffs star Derrick White, that would be awesome. Slightly painful. But awesome. “Everybody’s got to hunt them down.”](https://www.denverpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/TDP-L-DerrickWhite-cha-364.jpg?w=1024&h=683)
PARKER — While the 16-year-old inside Derrick White was all shook up, the 28-year-old Boston Celtic on the outside was tempted to pull an Elvis on his television set.
“I mean, it was tough to watch,” White, the former CU Buffs and Legend High star told me during a break at his Derrick White Academy basketball youth camp Wednesday at Parker Fieldhouse. “I watched Game 5 (of the NBA Finals). That was the only one I watched.”
On this much, all the voices inside White’s head agree. The Nuggets haven’t just set the bar for the rest of the NBA. They are the bar. With or without free-agent super sub Bruce Brown riding shotgun.
“I don’t know about favorites or not. That’s out of my pay range,” White laughed. “But they were the best team last year. They did what they needed to do. And everybody’s now got to hunt them down.”
If Boston’s Jayson Tatum doesn’t roll his ankle in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat, what the hey? Maybe somebody else is king of the mountain right now.
But know this: That the C’s whiffed on a chance to meet the Nuggets in the Finals sure as heck wasn’t on White, who averaged 14.3 points and 3.3 treys in the conference finals while connecting on 48.9% of his attempts from beyond the arc. Oh, and there was that little last-second, heads-up make that single-handedly rescued Boston in Game 6 and forced the series to go the distance.
In arguably the most adorable moment of White’s insanely adorable Q-and-A session with campers during the 11 a.m. hour, one of the kids asked if Celtics guard could replicate the Tip Heard ‘Round The World.
“Someone’s gotta miss it the same way (Marcus Smart) missed it,” White replied with a shrug.
A billion little hands shot up at once.
“I can miss!” a kid shouted.
“I can miss, too!” another pleaded.
The shavers were in seriously good form Wednesday. Good questioning form, anyway.
Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray?
“Probably the hardest (duo) to guard in the league,” White replied.
Toughest guy to defend?
“(James) Harden (when I was a rookie) … pretty much any (replica) jersey you see at this camp is tough to guard.”
Could you work out a trade to Denver?
“Why would I wanted to get traded? I like where I’m at right now.”
As well he should. White was so efficient over his first full season in the Celtics backcourt that Boston felt comfortable enough to trade his old running mate, Marcus Smart, to Memphis in a deal that brought back big man Kristaps Porzingis from Washington.
“Obviously on a personal level, it’s tough to see Smart go,” White told me. “He does so many things — there’s really no replacing what Marcus Smart does.
“But bringing (Porzingis) in and the things that he can do is going to be a big help for our team and we’re looking forward to it. And my mind says I’ve got to get better. I’ve got to be better than I was last year and I’ll have more opportunity and I’ve just got to take advantage of it.”
And as good of a player White is, he’s an even better dude. During the camp’s lunch break, a strapping 7-footer in a white t-shirt snuck in to give his old pal a little grief.
It wasn’t long before one of the youngsters at the Fieldhouse ran right up to White’s pal and former Spurs teammate, Raptors center Jakob Poeltl.
The moppet then craned a tiny neck up as if the big lug was a skyscraper and asked him rhetorically:
“Are you an NBA player?”
Poeltl, who’d popped into town to hang with White en route to the wedding of San Antonio guard Tre Jones, just nodded and laughed.
At least big Jakob had a place to crash. Last June at this time, White worked out a deal with the family of Avs star Nathan MacKinnon to rent their suburban Denver abode for a stretch of the summer.
Alas, that gambit ran headlong into two hitches. One, the Stanley Cup Playoffs started late. Two, the Avs and MacKinnon rocked that party all the way up to closing time.
The Avs didn’t clinch until June 26 — Game 6 in Tampa, on a sultry Sunday night — and didn’t hold their celebratory parade until the morning of June 30.
“Yeah, it was a nice little thing we had running there, where Nathan MacKinnon’s parents would go overseas and then I’d be (coming) at kind of around the same time,” White recalled. “It worked out. Luckily, I don’t have to deal with that anymore.”
He’s got a place of his own here of now, so no harm done. Although watching Nuggets lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy was kind of like having one of Willy Wonka’s golden tickets in your hands, only for it to blow away. Then finding out the guy who recovered the thing was your best friend in 7th grade.
If it couldn’t be him, he’s glad it’s them. Mostly. Pretty much.
“Obviously it’s great for the state of Colorado,” White said. “And I want to say I was happy that (the Nuggets) won. But it was tough that we weren’t in a position (to win the Finals). That was our goal at the end of the day. So we’ve got to do what we need to do to get back and get to that level, too. Quick.”
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
Denver, CO
Did you know: Almost $1 million in coins pass through the Denver Mint every day
![Did you know: Almost $1 million in coins pass through the Denver Mint every day](https://kdvr.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/06/AP070815050276.jpg?w=1280)
DENVER (KDVR) – From the outside, the Denver Mint may be just another two-story government office across from Civic Center Park. But inside the Cherokee Street building, staff and machinery are busy pressing metal coils into millions of coins per day.
According to the Mint, it’s one of two facilities responsible for making circulating coins in the United States – making it a huge part of the nation’s coin flow.
According to Tom Fesing with the Denver Mint, the facility produces roughly 4.5 million coins every 24 hours. Fesing estimates that about $750,000 to $1 million has gone through the facility each day this year.
That said, the Mint can’t exactly predict how much is going to be produced throughout the year as the number of coins depends on the orders the Mint receives monthly from the central bank, the Federal Reserve System, Fesing said.
Despite the millions of dollars in coins passing through, Fesing said the coin with the lowest value, the penny, has historically had the most production.
Those numbers depend on how many coins are needed for cash transactions in the economy, according to Fesing.
“When someone gets back a cent in change, what happens to them? They usually end up in piggy banks, or in a jar, and they’re not introduced into circulation as fast as, let’s say, a quarter or a dime,” Fesing said.
While the Mint can’t predict the numbers for the end of this year, it has produced almost 1.3 billion coins this year, with almost 800 million being pennies. In 2023, the Mint produced around 5.65 billion coins for the entire year.
Denver, CO
US ambassador visits conflict-ridden Mexican state to expedite avocado inspections
![US ambassador visits conflict-ridden Mexican state to expedite avocado inspections](https://kdvr.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/06/667a82dc8df384.89404283.jpeg?w=1280)
MORELIA, Mexico (AP) — United States Ambassador Ken Salazar praised Mexico’s effort protect American agricultural inspectors in the conflict-ridden state of Michoacan on Monday, a week after the U.S. suspended avocado and mango inspections following an attack on inspectors.
Salazar traveled to the state, plagued by violence linked to organized crime, to meet with state and federal officials.
Earlier this month, two employees of the U.S. Agriculture Department were assaulted and temporarily held by assailants in Mexico’s biggest avocado-producing state, prompting the U.S. government to suspend inspections.
The diplomat told the press that last Friday that Michoacan authorities had agreed to a security plan to restart avocado exports. “We are going to continue working on this,” he added.
The U.S. said that inspections in Michoacan would resume gradually.
Mexico played down the attacks, but President Andrés Manuel López Obrador agreed to work with the United States to guarantee the safety of inspectors.
Many avocado growers in Michoacan say drug gangs threaten them or their family members with kidnapping or death unless they pay protection money, sometimes amounting to thousands of dollars per acre.
There have also been reports of criminal groups trying to sneak avocados grown in other states that are not approved for export through U.S. inspections.
In February 2022, the U.S. government suspended inspections of Mexican avocados for about a week after a U.S. plant safety inspector in Michoacan received a threatening message.
Later that year, Jalisco became the second Mexican state authorized to export avocados to the U.S.
The latest pause won’t stop Michoacan avocados that are already in transit from reaching the U.S.
Denver, CO
2 career prosecutors square off in Denver District Attorney race
![2 career prosecutors square off in Denver District Attorney race](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/06/25/0331a288-902f-4f0d-81fd-75349f407cfd/thumbnail/1200x630/8038fa6fa7c8ce42092e2d7b327a4f80/john-walsh-leora-joseph-web-double.png?v=d44ea471ad55b1f821a0763c85064960)
One of the primary elections that may not be on your radar, but maybe should be, is the race for Denver District Attorney.
Even if you live outside the city, Denver has a large representation in the state legislature, so statewide criminal justice policy is often in response to what’s happening in Denver.
Leora Joseph, who worked as a prosecutor in Massachusettes for 25 years, served as chief of staff for the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and led Colorado’s Behavioral Health Agency, is facing off against John Walsh, former assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado.
Beth McCann, Denver’s current DA, said last year that she won’t seek another term.
Both have racked up endorsements from big-name Democrats. Joseph and Walsh agree on a lot, but where they split is on the issue of so-called safe injection sites — locations where drug users have access to clean needles and health services.
Proponents say the sites help reduce the spread of infectious diseases, help wean people off addictions and often have staff or volunteers on site who can address overdoses. Opponents say they encourage illegal drug use and make it easier for people with addictions to access drugs.
Both candidates have generally expressed opposition to the sites, but Walsh said he’d be open to a pilot program with one site if approved by the city council.
Political analysts Dick Wadhams, a Republican, and Mike Dino, a Democrat, joined CBS News Colorado political specialist Shaun Boyd to discuss the district attorney’s race in last week’s installment of Left, Right, Center.
Dino doesn’t think the race will hinge on the issue of safe injection sites but has more to do with representation.
“You’re right, I think they do agree on a lot of things or have a similar stance on issues,” he told Boyd. “I actually think we do have a woman DA, I do think Denver voters are bent on looking for getting more women into elected office in Denver and I think that would probably favor Leora Joseph.”
Wadhams says McCann’s endorsement of Walsh will likely weigh heavily in the race, but not as much as the candidates’ stances on issues such as the safe injection sites.
“It wouldn’t be a very strong endorsement from my standpoint. But I think she’s held in high regard by Democrats in Denver. So I think probably does help,” he said. “But I’ll tell you what; I do agree with Joseph on the safe injection. I think she’s dead right about that. That would influence my vote if I were a Democrat and if I lived in Denver, which I don’t.”
As the lead prosecutor for whatever judicial district they serve, district attorneys are tasked with overseeing criminal prosecutions and are often blamed when crime goes up and credited with reductions in crime rates when they go down.
“We’ve seen the car thefts go down significantly in Denver, so that’s been good, and violent crime has also seen a reduction,” Dino said. “They haven’t really been running on, you know, being the toughest crimefighter. That’s not their style. And, again, safe injection sites. I do think, by and large, Denver voters aren’t against them.”
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