It’s that time of year when media organizations get retrospective by scanning their top stories from the past year and wrangling them into some sort of list. Topping our list of lists is a tip of the hat to newly elected Congressman Cory Gardner—the Republican who will replace Democrat Betsy Markey in the 4th Congressional District—for making Politico’s list of 10 lawmakers to watch on energy and environmental issues. Gardner, who will sit on the Energy and Commerce Committee, is expected to advance production of fossil fuels, as well as renewable energy, although he says he won’t go as far as supporting cap and trade. It’s an expected retreat from the policies supported by Markey, who voted in favor of the last proposed climate bill.

Meanwhile, the regional Better Business Bureau brings us a list of the top scams from 2010. Leading that lineup are complaints about phony roofers, which rose 400 percent in the past year, with some taking payments for work that was never even started, notes the Denver Business Journal. Numbers two and three? Phony debt collectors looking for payments on money that was either not owed or was already paid, and free trial offers for which some companies, in fact, charged. Turning to the positive, Westword takes a closer look at art—specifically, 10 artists who left a mark on the state in 2010, including Marie Vlasic, whose exquisite realism appears at Walker Fine Art, and Christo, who hopes to see his visions for the Arkansas River realized some day soon.