🚨 Peters gets prison

It's Fri-yay! The weekend looks great for leaf-peeping. Don't be a ding dong, though.

• Today's weather: Sunny with a high of 84.

🎂 Happy birthday to our Axios Denver member Michael Roberts!

📣 LAST CALL: Axios Denver is hosting a 2024 election event at 5:30pm Tuesday at the Denver Press Club.

• Hear from top political analysts and join in ballot mania to get smarter on this year's referendums.
• Bonus: First drink is on us. RSVP now.

Today's newsletter is 920 words — a 3.5-minute read.

Tina Peters, a prominent election denier and Trump supporter, was sentenced Thursday to 8 ½ years in prison and six months in jail for election tampering after prosecutors and witnesses blamed her for fueling a national movement to undermine trust in U.S. elections.

Why it matters: The prison sentence is one of the first for perpetrators of "the big lie" that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from then-President Trump.

Driving the news: Colorado District Court Judge Matthew Barrett, an appointee of the Democratic governor, issued the sentence after telling the former Mesa County clerk she is a danger to the community who "would do it all over again if you could."

• He told Peters she's "no hero — you abused your position and you are a charlatan" who peddled "a snake oil proved wrong time and time again."

Catch up quick: A jury in August found Peters, 68, guilty on seven of 10 counts, including four felonies, related to her role in tampering with county voting equipment and records after the 2020 election.

• The guilty charges include first-degree official misconduct, three counts of attempting to influence a public servant and violation of duty.
• She faced up to 20 years in prison and the prosecution asked for the maximum sentence or at least the midpoint.

Zoom in: In 40 minutes of remarks to the judge, Peters defended her actions, maintained her innocence, disputed the conduct of the trial and asked the judge for no jail time.

Keep reading

Movie lovers, rejoice. Tickets go on sale at 10am today for this year's Denver Film Festival.

Why it matters: It's an annual celebration of diverse voices in cinema, providing a platform for indie filmmakers and global talent to showcase their work and talk to fans.

The big picture: The festival opens its 47th year Nov. 1 with 185 films, documentaries and shorts — with 22 Colorado films featured in the lineup.

• The screenings take place across the city through Nov. 10 at venues including the Sie FilmCenter, Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Botanic Gardens, AMC 9 + CO 10 and the MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater.
• Tickets start at $17.

What to watch: "The Order" — based on a nonfiction book written by former Rocky Mountain News reporter and current Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn — stars Jude Law as an FBI agent tracking a white supremacist group and its charismatic leader.

• "Lovers" — which centers around two women who return to their Denver hometown for the funeral of a friend who's taken his own life — is executive produced by Colorado's very own singer-songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff, who also debuts a new song in the film.

Zoom in: Other local screenings not to miss include "Half-Life of Memory: America's Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory," which focuses on the past, present and future of the Rocky Flats Plant in Arvada, where the U.S. secretly made thousands of atomic bombs.

More film fest deets

Anna Charney's murals are meant to bend the mind.

The intrigue: Her style is "abstract pattern work that has some natural inspired elements to it. A lot of colors and flowing compositions … within the abstract psychedelic landscape," she tells us.

State of play: Charney, 30, is one of the 17 artists participating in the Denver Walls event this week and is working on a mural at the Flora building. True to the building's name, it's a nature inspired design.

• Born and raised in Denver, she started in traditional art settings and moved to mural painting when she finished a bachelor's in fine arts in Chicago.
• Now she's painting internationally.

What she's saying: "I love the physical feeling of spray paint, [the ability to] move around with our bodies and dance with our creations … and also interactions with the public," she says. "It's really, really powerful as an artist."

Zoom in: Get to know her as part of our Local Spotlight series.

📍 Favorite place in Denver: Sloan's Lake. "You can see the mountains and you can see the city."

🤩 Favorite visual artist: Felipe Pantone

🎨 Favorite project: A mural she painted off Broadway on the Reefer Madness dispensary that wraps around all four sides.

😋 Favorite place to eat: Brunch at Onefold

🎧 On rotation while painting: Recordings of live DJ sets or long mixes. "It's important to me that I can't really tell the passing of time."

At Chevron, we've been working alongside you in Colorado for nearly a century. As the state's largest oil and natural gas producer, we're employing our neighbors and teaming up with organizations to focus on protecting the environment, enhancing education and more.

That's energy in progress.

🏀 The Denver Nuggets kick off their NBA preseason against the Boston Celtics in Abu Dhabi. Catch the games at 10am today and 8am Sunday. (NBA)

⛷ A new ski village with workforce housing, called the West Lionshead, is planned at the Vail ski area after Vail Resorts and the town government settled a years-long legal battle over a separate development project. (Colorado Sun)

⛺ The city of Denver is just 50 people away from reaching Mayor Mike Johnston's year-end goal of sheltering 2,000 unhoused individuals. (Denverite)

🔍 Plan ahead with these events.

Axios Newsmakers: 2024 Colorado Election at Denver Press Club on Oct 8: Interviews with top Colorado political minds about the upcoming election and what it means for locals. Join Axios Denver and sponsors, The Denver Foundation and Next50, for its second event this election year to get smarter, faster about what's at stake. Your first drink is generously provided by our sponsors.

47th Denver Film Festival at Multiple venues across Denver Nov 1-10: Lights, camera... action. Explore cinema's infinite possibilities and discover the year's greatest films premiering in Denver at the 47th Denver Film Festival, the largest film festival in the region.

Hosting an event? Email local-events@axios.com.

Skiptown, dubbed a "Disney World for dogs," opens today at York Street Yards near Denver's Clayton neighborhood.

Details: The 21+ off-leash dog park offers boarding, training and grooming services — plus a full-service bar, where pet owners can sip on espresso from Denver's Queen City or choose from more than 20 local draft beers and specialty cocktails.

• The space spans 50,000 square feet, with nearly half of that outside for endless zoomies.

How it works: Day passes start at $15, or go all-in with memberships (starting at $210 per year) for unlimited access, exclusive perks, and discounts on pet care.

Full story

At Chevron, we've been working alongside you in Colorado for nearly a century. As the state's largest oil and natural gas producer, we're employing our neighbors and teaming up with organizations to focus on protecting the environment, enhancing education and more.

That's energy in progress.

Our picks:

🤩 John is seeing Dasha, Leon Bridges, Blink 182 and Chris Stapleton today at the ACL Music Festival.

🥯 Alayna is trying the bagels at Odell's, which officially opens tomorrow in Denver's Highlands neighborhood. (She'll report back!)

🌴 Esteban is back on Monday.

Thanks to our editors Hadley Malcolm and Ross Terrell.