It’s one of the greenest houses in Colorado, but you’d never know by the looks of it. How one Boulder couple built an eco-friendly house that’s also beautiful.

To become Colorado’s first openly gay speaker of the House, Mark Ferrandino had to overcome learning disabilities, harassment, and prejudice. But will leading the Legislature be his toughest challenge yet?

This spring’s looks hark back to the brooding attitude of ’90s grunge. Get ready to rock.

Joe LaNier grew up in the Jim Crow–era South and served in the segregated Navy during World War II. All he knew was separate and unequal. Until he came to Denver.

The local culinary scene has never been brighter. This year’s crop of new restaurants is vibrant, relevant, and, above all, delicious. Book your table now.

If drinking beer is good, drinking freshly brewed beer straight from the source is even better. Lucky for all of us suds lovers, there are 22 craft breweries, serving hundreds of inventive beers, right within our fair city’s limits. Pull up a stool and taste the revolution.

Looking for love? Don’t sweat it—we’re making it easy on you. We tracked down 17 of the hottest singles in the Front Range, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Dig in for 5280’s most eligible dates.

The controversial businessman is building an Old West town near Paonia that’s a full-scale reproduction of a 19th-century settlement. But is the town simply the project of an eccentric billionaire, or is there more to the story? 5280 got an exclusive look at the controversial project—and spoke with the man behind the classic Western dustup.

Colorado and Wyoming rank at the top of the list for lightning-strike fatalities in the United States. It’s scary stuff. But dying from a bolt of electricity may not be nearly as frightening as surviving one.

Sleep is essential. It’s a simple fact of life, but it’s one we often fail to comprehend completely. We’re supposed to spend about one-third of our lives asleep. It’s how the human body is wired; it needs the rest. Almost nothing—work, play, or otherwise—demands that much of our time. The problem is, we live in a society that views sleep as optional. We stay up late working, watching TV, folding the kids’ clothes. And when we do go to bed, we simply plop on a mattress, shut our eyelids, and expect a revitalizing slumber to ensue, which doesn’t happen all that often. This blatant disregard for something our bodies require is doing more than making us tired, though. Lack of sleep can cause health problems ranging from a lousy memory to a compromised immune response to heart disease. And research shows that 50 million to 70 million Americans have chronic sleep disorders. The good news? In the past 30 years, the field of sleep medicine has expanded significantly, and, in the process, doctors—including a bevy of them along the Front Range—have unlocked the secrets of good slumber and discovered practical tips to help us all sleep more soundly. In the following pages, the experts explain the most effective ways to get the right kind of shut-eye.