
Susan Greene



Deputy Accused of Killing Unarmed Man Had History of Using Deadly Force
Kiowa County’s sheriff ignored questionable incidents, records show

Colorado’s Quietest Police Killing
Dear reader, The people of Kiowa County woke Wednesday morning to an edition of their local newspaper unlike any other. The cover story, “Three Bullets to the Back,” is a deep investigative

Three Bullets to the Back: The Striking Silence Around a Police Killing in Small-town Colorado
KIOWA COUNTY, Colo. – Nearly a year has passed since the local undersheriff and a rookie deputy gunned down handyman Zach Gifford in this Eastern Plains county where trust in law

After Wanting to Die, Learning to Live
Navee Essien has grown up keenly aware of her gifts. More times than she can count, people have reminded the senior at Aurora’s Rangeview High how fortunate she is to

How Friendship Can Be a Mental-Health Safety Net
It started about four years ago when Laurel Carpenter and Melissa Humphrey bought matching parkas and then matching comfort shoes. Soon enough, the nurses-slash-best friends from Grand Junction found themselves

When Politics Feels Like a Moral Injury
Scott Zayatz upped his dosage of antidepression and antianxiety medication in early spring when the pandemic started clobbering the nation and the presidential race, post-primary, turned foul. The 43-year-old news

With Family Missing in Ethiopia’s Civil War, Denver Woman Says Her ‘Mind is the Hardest Place to Be’
Millete Birhanemaskel, a refugee, long-time Denver resident and businesswoman, grappled with 2020 as many others have: She tried to protect her family, her employees, her tenants from COVID’s reach. She

Colorado’s Behavioral Health Chief Opens Up About His Own Severe Depression
Some words fail us, and for Robert Werthwein, “depression” is one of them. The 41-year-old director of Colorado’s Behavioral Health Office prefers to say “everything turned to complete shit” when

What Can’t Be Washed Off: Psychiatrist Absorbs Her Patients’ Pain
Dr. Patricia Westmoreland washes her hands 20 to 30 times each day she does rounds at the Medical Center of Aurora. That, she says, “doesn’t count sanitizing them who-knows-how-many times