DENVER — In a governor’s race with lots of unexpected twists, this might have been the biggest.

Republican Dan Maes, already considered a maverick, told a group of supporters that Denver’s bike-sharing program was part of a United Nations plot that could eventually “threaten our personal freedoms.”

Maes was roundly criticized but won the GOP primary anyway, drawing Tom Tancredo into the race and all but assuring John Hickenlooper the victory.

COLORADO SPRINGS — The effects of the Great Recession became evident here when the lights — literally — went out.

To plug a budget shortfall, Colorado Springs turned off a third of the city’s streetlights, sold police equipment and took trash cans out of parks.

The city recently announced that streetlights will be turned back on, but some residents have petitioned to keep those on their street off. Lights are now optional.

CHERRY CREEK STATE PARK — The explanation was more bizarre than the event.

Two women were shot at the Family Shooting Center. That’s unusual enough. But over the coming days, deputies learned they were Australian twins with an interest in Columbine who came here in a suicide pact. One succeeded.

The survivor refused to say what drove them to suicide. The case was closed without charges.

DENVER — It actually happened in 2009, but when video of Denver police beating a man who was using his cellphone reached the Web in August, controversy followed.

Denver’s manager of safety resigned after a public outcry over his decision to suspend, not fire, the officers. Nearly two years after the beating, the police department has now reopened the internal investigation to decide whether the officers should be punished and, if so, how.

CLEAR CREEK COUNTY — A pair of rafting guides were arrested after they defied rescuing deputies and moved quickly to aid a 13-year-old Texas girl who had fallen from her raft in Clear Creek.

“This is just silly,” said the rafting company owner. The guides apologized to deputies and the cases were not prosecuted.

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