Author: Travis M. Andrews
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America is ‘over-stored’ and Payless ShoeSource is the latest victim
Payless ShoeSource became the latest major retailer to declare financial distress when, on Tuesday, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced a restructuring plan that includes the immediate closure of 400 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico. Of the 400, only three were in Colorado: in Sterling, Lakewood and Northglenn. The…
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‘I shouldn’t have’: At 60, Vanna White reflects on her 1987 Playboy cover that inspired two lawsuits
Since she first stepped onto the set of “Wheel of Fortune” in 1982, young and clad in a purple gown, Vanna White was an American institution. Five years into White’s career, though, America gasped when the game show sweetheart, wearing only a long-sleeved shirt that exposed her bare behind, appeared on the cover of Playboy…
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Could the foul-mouthed, irreverent ‘Deadpool’ actually be nominated for an Oscar?
At one point in Marvel’s R-rated superhero movie “Deadpool,” the titular character pauses in the midst of graphic bloodshed and flashes back to a memory of – there’s no polite way to say this – his sexually pleasuring himself while staring hungrily at a stuffed unicorn. The list of things that come to mind upon…
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His dying wish was to marry her; the hospital sprang into action to make it happen
Raul Hinojosa knew he was about to die. The 33-year-old had leukemia, and on Friday morning, he was preparing to let go from his hospital bed in Amarillo, Texas. Hospital staff were aware he didn’t have long and asked if he had any final wishes. He had one, 11 years in the making. “I want…
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‘I cried all the way home’: Terminally ill 5-year-old dies in Santa’s arms
“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist and you know they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.” Those famous words, a response to an 8-year-old’s anxious note, appeared in the New York Sun in 1897, but they express a…
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Breast cancer patient got her wish, a Jeopardy appearance, but sadly, too late to view it
Like many smart people, Cindy Stowell always wanted to appear on “Jeopardy!” She was certainly intelligent enough, but she was busy earning a doctorate in chemical engineering and working a demanding job as a science content developer in Austin, Texas. Then tragedy struck – Stowell was diagnosed with breast cancer. Among the many things in…
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As Bourbon Street sees yet another mass shooting, La. politician fears ‘thugs’ will ‘kill tourism’
The day after a shooting on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans left one dead and nine injured, Louisiana’s Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser (R) said he feared the state would “let thugs kill” the city’s multibillion-dollar tourism industry. On Sunday, the French Quarter was packed when a 1:30 a.m. argument between two…
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Video shows group viciously beating man in Chicago, yelling ‘You voted Trump’
In a video that appeared to be shot on an smartphone, a group of young men and women viciously beat a 49-year-old man named David Wilcox while screaming phrases such as “You voted Trump” and “Don’t vote Trump.” Wilcox told the Chicago Tribune that it began Wednesday at around 1 p.m. at the corner of…
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Reality TV star killed in Louisiana murder-suicide, police say
Valerie Wells’ great and unexpected fortunes were rivaled only by the sudden tragedies she suffered. When the Louisiana-born woman was just entering her 40s, her parents Gerald and Kitty Downden made a life-changing discovery. They were deeply poor – at the time, the divorced Valerie worked in the public defender’s office but was living in…
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Big debate about Shakespeare finally settled by big data: Marlowe gets his due
For many, many years, scholars have wondered whether William Shakespeare’s plays were actually written by Shakespeare, or at least if they were written solely by the man we now colloquially refer to as the Bard. Although the arguments about his authorship have raged for two centuries, his plays have been printed and reprinted and reprinted…