Bipartisan cooperation for the sake of our mountain communities.

You heard that right.

Lawmakers are working together to help towns hit by fire and flood.

Yet several controversial rules recently introduced by the Department of the interior, however, are certain to divide on this side of the Rockies.

This week, we saw the end of a high profile case against CBI analyst Missy Woods, but the fallout continues.

And of course, candidate polls, campaign blunders and tired voters.

It's never boring in an election year.

Our insiders are ready to discuss.

So let's get started with this week's Colorado Inside Out.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Krista Kafer, a guest host for Kyle Dyer, who will return next week.

Let me get right to introducing you to this week's insider Paddle.

Got Patty Calhoun, founder and editor emeritus of Westword.

Eric Schneiderman, columnist with Colorado Politics and the Denver and Colorado Springs Gazette.

Chris Roark, consultant with Work Media.

And Alvina Vasquez, community leader and political strategist.

closer we get to November, the more we hear about elections like the state.

Just find Victor Marx's campaigned $51,000 for violating campaign finance laws.

He doesn't seem to exercised over it, though.

And then there's the 14 ballot initiatives, not a record.

That was set in 1912 with 32 measures, but it's still a lot.

Will it drive turnout, or will other factors like dissatisfaction play a bigger role?

New polling by the Colorado Latino Policy Agenda found 46% of Latino voters polled felt the state was moving in the wrong direction.

Another poll found 50% of voters view Denver Mayor Mike Johnston unfavorably.

Is he trying to get ahead of the pack by launching his campaign now?

Time will tell.

But things are heating up for November.

Patti, what do you think will happen next?

We hope what will happen next is that we will actually get ballots in our mail, because they were finalized last Friday.

But on Wednesday night, we have President Donald Trump offering $5,000 to every American voter legal who, if the Republicans win at the midterms, what is going on?

When the president of the United States is technically bribing everyone to vote Republican?

At the same time, he is still talking about how unfair, how illegal, how fraudulent voting is in Colorado.

On Wednesday, we had the Supreme Court get their next round of responses on Trump's attempt to stop mail in voting.

We have the California, Colorado and 22 other states responded.

The League of Women Voters responded.

The Supreme Court has not yet responded, and I'm hoping they will recognize that it's too late and be.

The president of the United States is bribing people to vote for a certain party.

But we don't know yet what will wind up at our mailbox.

Patty is absolutely right.

I mean, it was the president's speech on Wednesday was just astounding.

Astounding on several levels.

But the bribery is just naked.

If he were to pull off this stunt, the total cost would be in the ballpark of $1.3 trillion trillion.

With the tea.

And you know that is money.

We're ready now surpassed $40 trillion in debt.

So let's just add another trillion plus change.

On top of that, I'm going to be curious to see whether he shows up here in Congressional District eight.

There is no more competitive congressional district in the country than the Gabe Evans Mandy route.

No.

District Gabe Evans was not in Dallas, which was a good thing to miss on his part.

It was strategic for him not to be there.

And I can't imagine that Gabe Evans is all that excited about Donald.

The Donald Trump Show coming, coming to this town.

But we'll see if that happens or not.

When Trump wants to come, he comes regardless of whether the congressperson wants them or not.

Lastly, with regard to Victor Marks, I'm really starting to wonder, you know, is he running to win?

Not that he's going to win, but is his reason for being in this whole race running to win?

Or is it just one big grift?

And the more the evidence accumulates, it's more about the grift than it is about the politics.

I couldn't have said it better.

Chris, what do you think of what's going on this election season?

Well, I'm looking at the many ballot initiatives that are, going to be coming online.

It's there's going to be a lot to choose from, the constitutional right to hunt and fish, something I'm involved with.

Full disclosure, I am a consultant for a wildlife group that supports the amendment has finally been given.

Certification.

And it is amendment 83. there's an issues committee opposing this, and it's the same people that brought us wolf reintroduction, the mountain lion hunting ban, fur bands and all kinds of other, attacks on hunting and fishing.

And they are blanketing the state with op eds.

And one of the things they're criticizing is the ballot language that says this, amendment will ensure traditional hunting methods are used.

And they're saying that means that traditional hunting methods will bring back cruel leg traps, foot traps, steel, jaw traps, baiting of bears, spring bear season.

And that is simply not true.

These were constitutional amendments that have already been passed in 1996.

Those those, traps were banned with amendment 14.

Amendment 83 does not bring back leg traps.

It does not bring back a spring bear season.

And I want to be really clear about that because these people are playing on people's emotions.

Once again.

Thank you.

Elvina, what's on your radar?

Well, I think at the ground level to what Chris said, there's 14 ballot initiatives.

This is a lot So what concerns me is this information overload.

People will feel like they don't have the right information to vote, and they may not decide not to vote.

And then add to that are we adding precincts?

How do I do mail in ballot?

It's just it's just creating a sense of insecurity in our election system, which I think is the goal of, of this president is to make sure people don't feel like they belong in this country or allowed to participate in democracy, other than unless you're a Republican, because you'll get paid for it.

And so I think that as we see I'm I'm seeing a sense of community organizations, of building a sense of belonging in our state because that's getting lost.

It's getting divisive.

We look at the Latino policy agenda.

Immigration didn't used to be a top issue for Latinos.

It was always in the top five.

But it's creeping back up because we have an administration that has a video game about catching brown people and taking them over the border.

So when you create those divisive politics, it makes, the sense of Colorado, the sense of being an American, very hard to swallow because we're represented by somebody that's very divisive and unkind.

On this eve of Aspen viewing season, much is happening on the Western Slope.

Governor Jared Polis and Congressman Jeff Hurd and others are working together to petition the federal government for funds to rebuild after the devastating fires and floods, and they've been successful.

Where to be bipartisan?

Meanwhile, the U.S.

Forest Service, which oversees 17,000mi of Colorado Forest, is considering opening up more roads and trails to motorized vehicles like ATVs, motorcycles and it could have a famous mountain town possibly change its name.

Maybe on screen.

Also, we have a Chonky winner from the first annual Fat Marmot Week.

Eric, you love the mountains.

Let's shine some light on the topics.

You referenced, the name change, obviously, the creators of South Park, which they're next season, I guess is starting at some point soon.

And are playing with the idea of changing the name of South Park to South America, in keeping with, our president's obsession with naming everything for America, where we live.

And the tavern area is in Middle Park.

So I guess now I'm part of middle America.

In terms of what's happening in rural Colorado, one on the Western Slope, one thing that's not happening, I read, is that John Hickenlooper is not going to show up for the club 20 debate.

That is sort of a kickoff to the political season.

Obviously, Hickenlooper is not threatened in the Senate race, and he's trying to be very low key about it.

But, you know, he can get in a car or get on a plane and fly to Grand Junction and show up for the club.

20 debates.

So I think that's, an unforced error on his part in terms of the Forest Service rule.

I find that very disturbing.

You know, we have motorized vehicles, so many places you can't walk across Denver or walk across the street with almost, you know, getting knocked over by a scooter, if not a car.

Are we now going to have scooters on all these, trails?

Across the mountains?

I mean, let's keep wild places as wild as possible.

So I look at that askance.

Like, Eric, you've also lived in the mountains.

Chris, what are your thoughts about what's going on?

Well, Trump has just approved federal aid for the Aspen Acres fire and the Gold Mountain fire.

Of course, the Gold Mountain fire was over on the western slope near Ouray.

My horse was affected by it and was, evacuated.

But she's now back at her barn.

However, he's only approved public assistance for cleanup.

And the individual financial aid is really, under review at this time.

So we'll see if that comes forward.

This these fires did 140,000 acres of damage.

And now we've seen with the monsoon rains, you know, flooding in the in the burn scars.

So that's been really troublesome.

But the biggest thing that we need to maintain is forest health with these forest fires.

And there is, the Colorado's largest mill in Montrose has just announced that it will be closing and laying off 90 people.

They tried to find a buyer for it, but they could not.

And financially, it's just not there for its Montrose Forest products.

And what is very important about this mill closing is this is where a lot of that dead timber was brought off Forest Service lands to clean up to prevent fires, and they'd take it to this mill to be processed into usable products.

Well, that resource is not there anymore.

So that's a concern.

And for jobs as well, I would think.

Alvina well, I had the distinct pleasure to be a board of trustees and at Western University in Gunnison.

what I learned, I think in that experiences, as we just talked about, the sense of belonging is in these Western communities, you see people of different parties and community come together for a shared responsibility of our public lands.

And I think that that's a great example of what Colorado is, is that community is coming together no matter what your political party is.

This is something we all care about.

But it's threatened when people at the community don't have a say in how these implementation things are happening.

I mean, we know about the horses now that are being round up, the wild horses, the wolf reintroduction that has been, clunky and and disastrous for some agriculture.

So I think we have to make sure that, in that, in that belonging space, in that we're bringing people together, that voices are being heard and answers are being found through combined solutions of people's different ideas.

Well said.

Patty, we're not just worried about the roadless rules, although that is key.

With the Forest Service suddenly opening up these beautiful spaces to motorized vehicles, you also look at the drilling that the BLM is opening up, and there are, auctions right now for leases, including right outside Aurora today in Utah.

Unless it was stayed by the courts, they started they've cut back on the monuments because they are doing drilling right in what used to be monuments.

They didn't tell, until Trump rolled it back.

The big question is, if Tina Peters hadn't been given, you know, let out of jail, would we actually have had the Aspen Acres federal declaration of emergency?

We don't know, because we certainly didn't get the 2025 fires declared emergencies.

So we have to stay very we've kind of stay in community, but we've got to keep an eye on Washington, D.C., because it is not getting better.

It is getting worse.

Colorado wildlife officials had to kill two yearling wolves this week in Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties for killing livestock.

20 wolves have been killed since reintroduction began.

Officials believe there are now 32 wolves in western Colorado.

Is the voter initiated program on track?

Meanwhile, President Trump has directed the Department of Interior to consider whether wolves should be removed from the Endangered Species Act.

Will this be a setback?

Chris, you've been tracking the situation for some time.

Yeah.

Just Thursday morning, a third wolf was killed this week, in Grand County for chronic depredation.

This is a failed program.

I've said it.

I'm constantly on the show saying this, but, three things here I want to recommend an article by Miles Bloom heart at the Coloradan who did a story on these wolves being removed.

But he also talked to two wolf biologists.

And these wolf biologists say it is not effective to remove these devastating yearlings.

You have to look at the breeding pair because they're the ones that that teach the bad behavior to the pups.

And, you know, the recommendation is even to take out a full pack if you want to stop the depredations.

So that's an excellent article to read.

As far as Trump de-listing the wolves, I mean, there is an element here where ranchers should have the right to defend their herds, and they've had to sit by and watch cow after cow after sheep, after working dog taken by these wolves and being helpless to do anything and really is a lethal deterrent.

It trains a pack to stay away from cattle that could be more effective.

And then finally, as far as, ag wiser, I know he loves the law and it's one thing that I share with him.

I love the law also.

But when a law hurts people, we need to revisit that law.

And so my question to AG wiser would be we have heard very little about his wildlife policy.

And if he wants to be the next governor, perhaps we need to know more about where he stands on wolves and he stands on wildlife policy.

Thank you.

Alvina.

I think this is a question.

I think the big picture, this is a this is kind of the issue with 14 ballot initiatives, as you have people across the state deciding what's going to impact a small population of people.

And so when there's miseducation or not the right voices at the table, these decisions are being put in front.

I'm not a wolf expert, so I'm not going to get into the policy like Chris can, but I can say I'm probably not as qualified to answer if that is a good question for our, that I don't have any personal experience with it.

So it's really hard.

When we look back at those 14 ballot initiatives that people see themselves in those because that's the only way they're going to care about it.

And if they don't have the right messengers, if they don't have the right stories, they're going to vote the wrong way.

And it could hurt people.

So empathy.

Empathy.

I think about who might be a rural voter, who's going to be thinking about that, who might be someone from a very different background, speaking of different backgrounds.

So Victor Marx, maybe if I asked him about wolves, what it would be lions lying down with the lambs.

But what?

I think we will see wiser will be in the governor's office, and he's going to have the problem of dealing with Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

The commission is a little rabbit right now, if I may use another animal term that you have a fight over the public, the public comment portion, which is so important to any state agency people want to be heard, especially on issues that range across the state.

And they've been going back and forth fighting about that.

So we are certainly going to see wiser, have to figure out what's happened with that commission and how to fix it in addition to all the wolves.

And then let's just give it up for the bears who are just not obeying anybody's laws except the laws of nature and piling into Denver whenever they get a chance.

I'm going to give it up for marmots because don the marmot one fat marmots week, and I think it's a species that we actually can live, pretty reasonably with.

Eric.

This whole thing is is really tragic in many respects.

I think you have to say this was a failed experiment.

Albinus point about asking voters to evaluate a so many issues and b issues that really are beyond their scope of interest or their scope of consequence.

They're not going to be affected by the outcome.

Now being is, you know, dead on right about that.

The blame on this does not go to the wolves.

Wolves are just being wolves.

They're doing what comes natural to them.

I don't think the blame also goes to the ranchers, the the livestock owners.

They are doing the best.

They can in a bad circumstance.

The blame.

And I'll pick up again on albino with this one.

The blame goes to the vote of the people who sold Colorado on this initiative.

And should have known better.

And then all those Front Range voters who sort of heard that siren call while they're driving their Subaru of, the romance of the West without really understanding the real world effects of what they were voting on.

So initiative may not be the best way to make law.

If, you and I might disagree on that in some cases.

But in this case, it certainly was not.

I would say that initiative is not the best way to manage wildlife.

I think we could all probably agree with that to a degree.

Lots of legal news this week.

See you.

Has spent $1 million defending itself against a lawsuit by Regent Wanda James.

At least the Boulder Valley School District is done spending.

It resolved a federal complaint by the Anti-Defamation League after a Jewish middle school student was harassed.

The Colorado Supreme Court, which just named its next chief justice, has decided it will determine whether it was proper to dismiss a lawsuit regarding the 2019 shooting at death of Kendrick Castillo, also former Colorado Bureau of Investigation analyst Missy Woods was sentenced to ten years in prison.

The state, however, is still cleaning up the mess.

Alvina, your take.

Well, the all these stories seem very different.

They're all very similar in that it's distrust in our institutions.

And I think this goes back to how voters and people that are experiencing American way of life are feeling about our elected officials and our institutions is that they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing.

They're being attacked from both ends, from the ground, from the top, from the law, you know, from the law.

And so, it's just it's really hard to see that our institutions being threatened this way by all of this, upheaval.

And, for those, I think, the most serious cases with missing words, the fact that so many and I, I'm probably they're probably mostly people of color, women and men of color that were probably victims of this, are going to are suffering those consequences.

Thank you.

Patty.

Well, the missing woods situation is incredible.

It's not an institution.

It's one woman could so screw up so many cases.

And it is true that the CBI did not heed warnings about it.

They are taking responsibility now.

They have the former general manager of safety.

I'm Abdul Soldat, who is in charge of the CBI.

We'll see if they can rectify things.

And he's trying, which is unlike Siu, which has spent $1 million fighting one, the James, a regent, because the other regents don't want to sit with her basically at football games because she dared to call out a pretty racist campaign at Siu health.

So how about just let her sit with you, drop the lawsuit and save the million bucks?

Be better for taxpayers, that's for sure.

Eric.

Real quickly, Missy?

Missy woods earned every day of that decade long sentence.

Good riddance to her.

The effects are just devastating for so many people in terms of Boulder and the settlement between the school district and ADL, the Anti-Defamation League.

I mean, I'm glad there's a settlement.

It is shocking what happened to this middle school student.

And it was not a one time incident.

It was on a sustained basis and ever so liberal, ever so, quote, taller and bolder that this happened.

Completely shocking as two, one, two.

James, Patty and I may differ on this a little bit.

this was a bipartisan censure.

I think Wanda James earned every bit of the censure for improperly involving herself in a way that affected her own industry, the marijuana industry.

$1 million is unconscionable money to spend on this case.

But I think ultimately the we need to put the blame where it belongs.

And that is with Wanda James.

Chris.

Well, the Colorado Supreme Court is going to consider the Kendra Kendrick Castillo case, and his parents have brought, and it could have impacts to government accountability and also to taxpayers.

Kendra Castillo was killed in 2019 at the Stem school, Highlands Ranch, shooting.

He put himself in harm's way when there was an active shooter.

His parents sued the school, and they offered up the maximum amount, $387,000, to with the ability of not admitting any liability.

Well, the Castillo's are going to the Colorado Supreme Court and saying.

I would like you to look at this case.

We'd like you to look at this case again.

And I got to say, it's worth a look, because $387,000 is nothing when you have lost a child.

And they have a right to the answers about who was responsible, why did this happen to their child and what went wrong.

So we'll see how the Colorado Supreme Court, you know, deals with it.

Thank you.

Now let's go around the table and talk about some of the highs and the lows we've seen this week.

We'll start with a blue note with Patty.

Well low and tragic.

We're talking about the 25th anniversary of 9/11 which is today.

And people are rightly really remembering all the victims and how it's changed not just our lives in this country, but lives around the world.

And kudos to United Airlines for realizing it.

Probably wasn't a good idea today to have military jets flanking a United plane that was going to land over near Dia, where they have a new training facility.

Not a good visual on 911, and there's so many more appropriate ways to mark the day.

Well said Plenty of low points this week, but one trumps all.

I can do puns as well.

And that was our president's speech on Wednesday night.

For all the cynicism and all the bluster and all the bombast, there were several things he just curiously didn't mention.

I didn't hear a word about Iran.

I didn't hear a word about gas prices, didn't hear a word about tariffs.

I didn't hear a word about Jeffrey Epstein, didn't hear a word about the ballroom.

It's amazing how selective that speech was.

Chris.

Well, I appreciate Patty bringing up Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission because at the last meeting, my friend Rebecca Nemec keep saying that name.

Rebecca Nemec, who is new to the board, tried to, question Colorado Parks and Wildlife, how they dealt with a mistake where a wolf was shot.

Hunter mistook it for a coyote.

Granted, one hunter should know what it's shooting before it pulls the trigger.

However, he cooperated.

He did everything right, and he got hunting points and he was given a fine.

She wanted to know why the district attorney wasn't involved and why this hunter didn't have a $100,000 fine and wasn't thrown in jail.

That's a problem.

The other things she tried to push through is, protections for prairie dogs on public lands.

And she said that her she had no patience to wait for it because her constituents were bugging her every day.

Finally, Commissioner Dallas May stood up to her and said, hey, I've got constituents too, and they want due process.

So Rebecca Nemec, she should not be confirmed next January.

Well, on a lighter note, I'm not a spider person, but I did want to start put it in people's minds at tarantula festivals coming up in the end of September.

So for those of us that are not spider people, stay away from the hunter.

But there's going to be a whole tarantula migration.

Spiders are awesome.

Go to a hunter.

It's a great event.

You go Hunter fatty.

On the other side of Colorado, we talked about South Park, so kudos to Coloradans Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

They just won an Emmy for their 27th season, which really took off after Trump in a way that many other pundits could not.

But it was a great season, and they've said a lot of things that need saying.

So it was their fifth Emmy.

Congratulations.

And they start up again on the 16th.

Eric something nice.

Well.

For 911, I mean, Patti made it low note as word appropriately goes.

But you know, I think on the on the plus side, we just do have to pay tribute to all those.

The whole country is a victim of 911, no doubt about it.

But let's really focus on the direct victims and the families they left behind and those memories that live on.

Secondly, today is the start of Russia, China.

So for all, Jewish viewers out there, latch on it, latch on it, over.

To you, Chris.

Well, on the 9/11 note, the thing that saved my heart during 9/11.

Was the birth of my son the next day.

And tomorrow's his birthday.

Excuse me for being emotional, but I can't believe he's 25 and I can't.

I think back to that.

That time where I literally cocooned up with him for three days while the world went by, and then dealt with the aftermath of 9/11 after that.

And he's been nothing but a bright light in my life.

So that's beautiful.

Thank you.

Alvina.

Wow.

I have to recover.

Was nice.

Well, I do want to say it is, chili festival like chili season.

Right.

Chili pepper season.

So a great way to support local agriculture is go to the original pop up stores, which are the on the side of the road.

People are, starting to put out their peppers.

I asked the guy at the pepper stand if the drought is impacting, and he said it is, but the drought is making the peppers a little more complex and a little bit hardier of a spice than before.

So just because the drought don't stay away from the peppers, it's a great way to support local businesses.

They're delicious.

They're delicious.

As for me, I saw a monarch butterfly in my yard flitting around my milkweed patch, and I would say that the upshot to the drought is that more people are removing turf and putting in Colorado native plants.

Colorado scaping, as they call it, at Denver Water.

It doesn't just help your water bill.

It supports pollinators and birds.

It's a great idea.

I want to say thank you to all of our insiders, and thank you to all of you for watching our listing on our podcast or Spotify or Apple.

Kyle will be back soon.

Thanks again for watching.

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