Inflation is gaining a stronger grip across metro Denver’s economy and is now driving up costs on a large majority of items that consumers spend money on, according to the latest Consumer Price Index for the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area. Consumer prices rose 7.9% between January of last year and January of this year, up from a 6.5% year-over-year gain in November, a 4.5% pace in September and a 3.5% pace in July.