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O'Fallon sewer backup costs family nearly $50,000

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

O'FALLON, Mo. - When a family from O'Fallon in St. Charles County returned home to find their entire basement swamped with raw sewage and human waste, it was a nightmare.It was because of a backup in the city’s main sewer, which had apparently become clogged with tree roots and other materials.The struggle for the family is that they can’t get much help. Their house was declared a biohazard. They had to relocate to a hotel for three weeks with two children, one of whom is a four-year-old with special needs. The cleanup cost $10,000, and another $7,000 was needed to replace floors and walls. The cost kept rising.It’s been heartbreaking for Rylee Rooneo and her husband, Jason."Now, the city is telling us that they’re not liable even though they’ve had our lateral scoped, and it’s 100 percent not on us," she said. "They agree with us that there’s nothing that we could have done to prevent this. They’re saying that it’s deemed an act of God because we have to prove that they knew about ...

Growing plants and grass on a slope can be an uphill battle. Here are some ideas for how to do it.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

One of the most challenging landscape issues is what to plant and how to manage gardening on slopes and inclines.From firsthand experience, I can confirm the ups and downs of dealing with plants on a slope. We’ve lived on one for more than 20 years, and it’s working well for us.A short incline is removed, soil leveled on top and replaced with an attractive stone retaining wall. (Betty Cahill, Special to The Denver Post)When slope plantings are well executed, it’s not only pretty to look at for you and passersby, but it also can be mostly trouble-free, which is the goal.The reality with slopes is that everything goes in one direction — downward, especially soil and water. Wasting water that rolls downhill is not good in any circumstance. And forget trying to mow grass on a steep slope: You might as well install padding and safety netting at the bottom because someone along the way (probably you) will be rolling down to the bottom.If you have several feet in length and a d...

Boston Market ordered to pay $590K to Golden HQ landlord

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

Boston Market has been ordered to pay nearly $600,000 to the landlord at its longtime headquarters in Golden after defaulting on its lease and ignoring a lawsuit.On Thursday, Judge Meegan Miloud in Golden ordered the fast-casual restaurant chain to pay $589,538 in back rent and fees to Tebo Properties in Boulder, which owns the building at 14103 Denver West Parkway that Boston Market has made its headquarters since 1996.Court documents that BusinessDen obtained in January show Boston Market shrank its footprint there from 63,000 to 27,655 square feet in 2019 but still struggled to pay its monthly rent of $58,000 during the pandemic. Tebo allowed it to defer payments until 2021 but the debt only piled higher and Tebo sued Boston Market at the start of 2023 to collect.Boston Market was served the lawsuit Jan. 18 but never responded in court, so Tebo asked Miloud to issue a default judgment against the company. She did so Thursday.In February, Tebo sued Boston Market for a second time,...

5 jazz festivals to hit this summer in Colorado’s high country

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

It’s just about time to gas up (or charge your EV) and head to the Colorado mountains for this year’s round of jazz celebrations. It’s exciting to see so many of the festivals that are back in full force this summer, and there’s something to appeal to just about everyone, at altitude.Aspen-SnowmassThe JAS June Experience takes place in venues across Aspen June 22-25. Headliners include New Orleans’ Galactic featuring Anjelika Jelly Joseph; Greyboy Allstars with saxophonist Karl Denson; vocalist Veronica Swift; pianist-singer Eliane Elias; Rebirth Brass Band and more. (It’s a deep list this time around.) Tickets are available for single events up to weekend passes, and can be purchased through jazzaspensnowmass.org.Winter ParkThis is impressive: The Winter Park Jazz Festival celebrates 40 years July 15-16. That’s quite a landmark in any facet of the music business. This year’s lineup includes smooth crowd-pleasers Jeff Lorber, Everett Harp, The Dave Koz Summer Horns with Candy Dulfer...

Federal Boulevard’s Asian food bounty is constantly overflowing | Opinion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we will offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems). Denver’s Federal Boulevard spans an Asian and Latino cuisine paradise that only occasionally gets the high praise it deserves.Longtime Denverites know it, as do chefs, foodies and the occasional tourist. But the diverse, working-class corridor just south of Colfax Avenue seems to fall under the radar for some younger transplants, and they’d do well to diversify their eating while getting a more balanced view of the city.In this case, that’s a less polished, less bourgeois one where the people who make and deliver your food can actually afford to live. (See also: the Korean, Ethiopian and Mexican-food paradise of Aurora.)Brisket pho from Pho Duy.There, newcomers will realize that toothsome vegetarian food is more af...

Explicit Streetwear shop owner bringing bakery chain to Aurora, Colorado Springs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

For 14 years, Annie Song has been selling graphic tees and edgy jeans.Now she hopes you’ll try her croissants and quiches.The owner of Explicit Streetwear, which has operated in The Town Center At Aurora since 2009, is preparing to expand the Paris Baguette bakery chain’s presence in the Denver area.Song, 40, has signed a deal allowing her to open four Paris Baguette locations in the region, the first of which she plans to open at 10601 E. Garden Drive in Aurora in July.After Song’s store had to temporarily shut down during the pandemic, she said she realized she needed to expand her business portfolio. So, last February, she applied to become a Paris Baguette franchisee.“Food was an essential business during COVID, so it kind of just opened up my eyes,” Song said. The bakery and cafe sells pastries, cakes and breads, as well as salads and sandwiches. It has roughly 150 locations in the United States, including one in Park that opened under separate ownership in March. Song, whose f...

Pickleball players call fault on Denver’s plans to remove courts from two city parks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

Pickleball players are calling fault on a Denver Parks and Recreation plan to ban courts at two city parks and are accusing a parks official of making arbitrary decisions about where the sport should be played in the city.The players believe they are being targeted because their sport is louder than tennis and basketball and is growing ever more popular with city residents, who wait in lines to play the game on public courts that stay busy from dawn to dusk.“Denver Parks and Recreation has shown clear animosity and hostility toward pickleball,” said Hollynd Hoskins, a Denver attorney who is representing the pickleball community in its battle with the city’s parks department. “I don’t understand why.”In a 37-page appeal filed Monday to the Denver Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, Hoskins wrote that canceling plans to build new pickleball courts and ban the sport entirely at Congress Park and Sloan’s Lake were arbitrary decisions made by a ...

Disability lawsuits: Advocacy or shakedowns?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

Kate Bonnaud, operations manager of a Costa Mesa wine bar called Wine Lab, remembers clearly when a letter arrived a few months ago from an Orange County man with a bone to pick.The letter said Wine Lab’s website was inaccessible to visually impaired people like himself because it wasn’t equipped to handle screen-reading software. This meant the site wasn’t in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act."We took it very seriously -- seriously to the point that we took the website down so we could improve it immediately," Bonnaud told me.Not long after, however, the letter writer, Dominick Martin, filed a lawsuit against Wine Tribe, Wine Lab’s parent, seeking up to $75,000 in damages and legal costs.The lawsuit said Martin is a “tester” who seeks to ensure that businesses are in compliance with accessibility rules. It acknowledged that he has filed “multiple lawsuits” in this regard and intends to keep doing so."Generally speaking, we tend to see the same serial plaintiffs ov...

Nashville hotel manager enters guest's room, sucks on his toes: Police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

A manager at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Nashville has been charged with aggravated burglary and assault after he reportedly entered a guest's room and sucked on his toes.According to Metro police, 52-year-old David Neal was the night manager at downtown Nashville's Hilton Hotel, located in the 100 block of 4th Avenue South. PREVIOUS: ‘Why is this person touching me’: Texas man files lawsuit accusing Hilton Nashville employee of sexual assault Police said Neal made a key card and used it to enter the guest's room on March 30 at around 5 a.m. The guest, Pete Brennan, told police he woke up and found Neal sucking on his toes. He immediately confronted Neal and recognized him as the person who had come into his room the day before with another employee to address an issue the guest was having with his TV, according to investigators. Officers arrived at the hotel and spoke with Neal who allegedly admitted to entering the guest's room but said he did so after he allegedly smelled smo...

Lakers-Warriors rivalry on display at Crypto.com Arena for Game 4 of Western Conference Semifinals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

The L.A.-Bay Area feud was in full display Monday night outside Crypto.com Arena where the Los Angeles Lakers were hosting the Golden State Warriors in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals.  For some fans, it was more than just bragging rights at stake.  “You have the Bay Area that comes down thinking they own Southern California, but really, SoCal is the spot to be,” Lakers fan Jeremy Dinkin told KTLA. “When you think of California, you think of Southern California. It’s a conflict of power in the state.”  The rivalry between the two teams is even enough to test some marriages.  “All time Lakers fan forever,” Lamarr Boudreaux said.  “The girls are Warrior fans and the boys, they’re Laker fans in our house,” his wife, Ebony Boudreaux, responded. “It’s a house divided.” Then there’s the battle between LeBron James and Steph Curry.  “It’s like the battle of California,” Bakersfield resident James Davidson said.  James and his dad, Ryan, drove ...