12-3-25 - *FULL SHOW* Snow; Trump vs Autopen; Making Housing Affordable; TN Vote

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Roads a little or more than a little snowy, not
too much ice. This surface of the roads aren't that
cold yet. Gina's been keeping you updated on the weather
and traffic and all of that for the past hour
or so along with our traffic partners. But what we're
hoping to do with you today during the course of
this show would be to get your input as well.

(00:22):
If you would be so kind as to kind of
be our roving weather reporters and traffic folks and be
part of our team this morning. You can go onto
the iHeartRadio app and tune it if that's the right
verb to KOA, and you will see a little red
microphone icon thingy right dragon or and you hit that

(00:44):
and you can record up to thirty seconds of yourself
and then if you like it, you can send it
through to us and it'll show up on producer Dragon's
computer and he can play the good ones on the air.
And what we're asking you to do is just let
us know where you are. You're welcome to give your
name or not however you please, and and or just
first name, like you know, hey, it's Joe and I'm

(01:05):
you know at Buckley and a Rappa or whatever. I'm
just making something up and and here's what's going on,
or if you see an accident happen, or just something
that KOA listeners need to know or would find interesting.
So again, iHeartRadio app said, it's KOA. Click on the
little microphone thingy and send a talk through to us
and we'll and we'll share your talkbacks. We'll share your

(01:26):
talkbacks over the course of the show on the air,
and we would certainly appreciate your help. What'd we say, dragon,
I got one right now? Oh you got one already?
All right? Look at that people are paying.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
At snowy Wednesday. Might drive into work from what and
snowy roads, but left early and went a little bit
slow traffic not too bad, but snowy and what roads
are Thornton.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
There you go, So keep those coming, right, iHeart KOA
microphone button, send it through and we'll we'll we'll play
the good ones on the air. So there you go,
keep that coming. So I wanted to just there's a
lot of stuff to do today. There's there's national news,
there's international news, there's a lot of local stuff. At
some point I want to follow up on the on
the story that I just heard from Gina because I

(02:19):
missed it before. She said it about this Gray Star settlement,
which I think is a really interesting story. So we'll
get to that as well. But I want to start
with kind of a national thing. Obviously, President Trump is
the source of a lot of news, and and he
is again today or was yesterday rather and and one
of the things I wanted to mention is gotten some attention.

(02:39):
He put this out on social media. I'm just going
to read it to you. Any and all documents, proclamations,
executive orders, memorandums, or contracts signed by order of the
now infamous and unauthorized Auto pen within the administration of
Joseph R. Biden Junior, are hereby null, void, and of
no further force or effect. Anyone receiving pardons, commutations, or

(03:04):
any other legal documents so signed, please be advised that
said document has been fully and completely terminated and is
of no legal effect. Thank you for your attention to
this matter. Trump has in the past several months really
enjoyed adding that to the end of his social media postings.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. And so

(03:27):
first let me say I understand the politics of posting this.
I understand that President Trump and Republicans generally might like
to remind voters who aren't in a very good, right
good mood right now about Republicans or Democrats. Right, Republicans
favorability numbers are way way down, but they're still a
little better than Democrats even here, right, So, but Trump

(03:50):
wants to remind voters here's what happened during the Biden administration.
We had a president who many people believe was non compassment,
just not able to do the job, and that was
hidden from the American voter. And that's what I think.
That's partly what Trump is trying to signal here, but
I also think part of it is just what it says,

(04:11):
right Trump is. Trump is arguing that, and I think
pardons and commutations are the most important or most interesting
part of this, but a bunch of other things as well,
including executive orders. He's saying anything signed by autopen is
now null and void, and that if you got a
pardon or a commutation that was signed by an autopen,
that that Pardner commutation has been terminated and is of

(04:35):
no legal effect. So I just want to make something
very clear, helic, I'm not a lawyer, and we'll see
if this ever actually goes to court right the way
it would. It's not going to go to court based
on Trump sending out a social media post. But if
the Trump administration tries to take an action based on
that saying, you know, for example, going to re arrest

(04:57):
somebody for a crime for which he or she was
pardoned under the Biden administration, then that would end up
in court. And I just want folks to understand. Oh,
let me mention I wrote about this in my substack today,
so I'm gonna make a few comments. But there's more
in my substack. If you go to Rosskominski dot substack
dot com you can read my thoughts about this in

(05:20):
more detail. You can share them, and please do subscribe.
It's absolutely free and it's probably worth even more than that.
Rosskominsky dot substack dot com. Here's what you need to know.
I'll start with pardons. There is no requirement in law
that a pardon even be written on a piece of paper,

(05:40):
much less that it needs to be signed by a president,
much less that it needs to be signed in the
president's own hand rather than a machine. Now, it is
customary that pardons go through a pardon office. Trump hasn't
really done that, and I don't know how much Biden
did either, But that used to be the way. There's
a pardon office in the White House and they would

(06:02):
vet these things and try to figure out who really
deserves it and who doesn't, and maybe even what's the
political risk in all this, although normally for the ones
that are a little bit controversial they don't do them
until the end of their time in office, that they're
not really taking any political risk anyway. In any case,
it's really important to know when it comes to the

(06:23):
auto pen and pardons. Put aside autopen for a second.
For a pardon to be valid, the only thing that's
necessary is for a president to decide on the pardon
and then communicate it to somebody, to some relevant person.

(06:43):
It doesn't need to be in writing, and it doesn't
need to be signed. And so even though I agree
with Donald Trump and many other people that there were
probably hundreds of pardons given at the end of the
Biden administration that Joe Biden did not know about, you

(07:03):
will never be able to prove it, because all he
had to do to make the pardons legally binding was
to say to somebody in his administration in the chain
of command there. Hey, I want these pardons. It's all
he had to do, and maybe he didn't. Maybe he didn't,

(07:23):
but you'll never ever be able to prove that he didn't.
You'll never be able to prove it. So that's one thing.
Another thing is if he's going to avoid the autopen
for Biden, then what would that mean for autopen uses
by other presidents. Lots of other presidents have used autopen.

(07:45):
It goes back much further in time than you think.
I forget who was the first president to use it,
but might go back as far as Carter or something.
Trump has used autopen, but as far as I can tell,
he's never used autopen for something legally binding like a law. Right.
He's signed those things, and I appreciate that about Trump.
He deserves credit for that. But I just want to

(08:06):
be really clear. What President Trump is saying here is
that that the pardons are void and terminated and of
no legal effect. It's actually Trump's statement that has no
legal effect. Nothing Trump said in this is accurate legally,

(08:26):
and nothing Trump said in this can be enforced legally,
and if any of it went to court, if any
of it went to court, Trump would lose in a heartbeat.
I also want you to know it is legal to
use autopen even to sign a bill into law, but
it has to be authorized by the president for that use.

(08:47):
So a president can say I don't feel like signing
this thing, go use the auto pen to sign that
bill into law for me. And I don't like that.
I think they should sign these things, but they can,
but they can. So in any case. You know, this
is you know, gotten a lot of press and the
sort of conservative social media is pretty happy with it.
But I just want you to understand that, as a

(09:09):
matter of law, everything Trump has said about auto pen
signed stuff now being null and void and pardons being
of no legal effect is all absolute nonsense that will
not stand for even five minutes in a court of law.
All right, so we see what's going on in the

(09:30):
weather outside. Please keep those talkbacks coming through iHeartRadio app
set it's koa click on the microphone and send us
a little voice message as to where you are and
what the weather and traffic are like. We're spending a
lot of time talking about the roads, but of course, Gina,
there are also going to be people flying in and
out of Denver this morning. Got a fun listener text here,

(09:53):
welcome to Denver's favorite winter driving game, Pick your lane
where four lanes become a lanes. That's a fun game.
I don't mind that game. GENA, did you have that
game this morning? Do you get on the highway to
come to work or do you take the back streets?
I do.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
I get on the highway, And honestly, I think a
lot of people had a similar idea of like, maybe
I should get to work a little bit earlier because
I'm not sure what the road conditions are going to
be like, because there was more people on the roadways
than there generally is what I'm coming in. I was,
you know, that was what three two forty five in
the morning. Yeah, and there was several cars definitely doing
the I don't know who's lane as who's We're just
gonna kind of stay behind to keep a good distance.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
And I hope for the best. So we did get
a listener talk back that producer Dragon says is a
little noisy, and in fact, the person who left it
said so that, so I'm just gonna read it. It says,
sorry for the background noise. I'm at I think this
is dry creek and I twenty five snow conditions are
pretty difficult, slippery. I get by with a non four

(10:53):
wheel drive truck, but I would take it slow no
matter what. So please keep those talkbacks coming. I Heeartradio app.
Go to KOA, click on the red microphone and you
can send us up to thirty seconds of yourself talking.
You are welcome to include your name if you want to,
but you don't have to, and just tell us where
you are and what the weather and traffic are like.

(11:13):
And you can be part of our part of our
weather team this morning, and that would be pretty great.
Let me just do a quick update for you. I
had mentioned to you yesterday that there was an election
in Tennessee last night, and it was in and it
was it was in and around Nashville against a very
so it was a very trumpy Republican against a very

(11:34):
left wing Democrat, a woman who endorsed Mom Donnie in
New York and who some people had found some audio
now I think it was. I think it was a tweet,
not audio, of her saying that she hates Nashville and
she hates country music, which seems bad for somebody running
for Congress in Nashville. The last poll going into the

(11:55):
election had the Republican up by q in the district
that Trump one by twenty two a year ago. My
prediction was the Republican was going to win by well
more than two. I was thinking five or six, but
it ended up being nine and the Republican one by nine.
So I'll what I'll say about that is that's a

(12:17):
sigh of relief for Republicans for sure. That probably was
at the time of the election. That was as big
a margin of victory as probably the Republicans could have
hoped for. So they're feeling pretty good about that. And
then the other side, because there's always two sides at least,
is that he won by nine in a district that

(12:39):
Trump won by twenty two, and that does show some
significant Republican headwins going into the elections of next year.
You can never read too much into special elections, but
I did just want to share that with you. This
other story probably deserves more time than I'm going to
give it right now, but I saw a piece of

(13:01):
the Colorado Sun PUC Public Utilities Commission. So that's the
quasi governmental organization that sets the rules about electricity rates
and natural gas and all this kind of stuff your utilities.
It says, PUC finalizes plans to push natural gas out

(13:22):
of Colorado home heating to hit one hundred percent decarbonization.
And then the subtitle of the article excel and other
utilities must make forty one percent cuts to natural gas
heating emissions in ten years and transition fully by twenty fifty.
So let me just say, this is insane and impossible,

(13:45):
and it is going to massively add to the costs
of anybody who's buying natural gas. And yet there are
people like the Sierra Club who have wanted insane and
impossible things for a long time. They are actually upset,
not very upset. They just wanted something even more aggressive

(14:08):
than that. Right, They said, the Commissions approved target of
forty one percent emissions reduction by twenty thirty five. Right,
so forty one percent lower in ten years? Are you kidding?
They said, it's not as strong as we recommended. The PUC.
What they're doing they call a compromise. They call a compromise.
And then, just to give you a sense of also
how political this is, there's a group called me Familia Vota,

(14:30):
a left wing Hispanic group, and it's they say the
targets are a meaningful win for Latino and working class
families who deserve clean air, lower energy bills, and healthier homes.
But what's really going on here is these are groups
that are just anti fossil fuel groups that are using
Hispanic folks and working class folks as kind of human

(14:53):
shield to mask their anti fossil fuel stuff. The one
other thing I'll mention on this is what what they're
trying to do here. There's a very good chance that
it's illegal. States are not allowed to effectively ban one
particular kind of energy use that violates federal law. We'll
see how it plays out when we come back. Gina

(15:16):
has booked Kylie Burse from Fox thirty one, great meteorologist
over there to give us an update not just on
what's going on right now in the weather, but what
you can expect for the rest of your day.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
There's twenty one days, seventeen hours, twenty three minutes and
sixteen seconds until Christmas. Ross, I need to kill a
lad the honic account on you. We got to get
that going here. Gina Gondek here. Ross Kominski on the
News with Gina gondek As today as a Fox thirty
one pinpoint whether alert day of the snow coming down
in the metro area. We already have a ground delay
at the Denver International Airport. Joining us on the Kawa

(15:47):
Common Spirit Health hotline is Fox thirty one meteorologist Kylie Burst. Okay, Kylie,
so from last week chatted, I'm curious we're starting to
see some of the five o'clock five thirty snow totals
coming in. Who are the biggest winners so far and
who could come the biggest winters by later on this morning?

Speaker 4 (16:03):
You know what, the biggest winners are really going to
be down to the south and.

Speaker 5 (16:06):
West, which is, you know, kind of where we were
expecting it to be. We've definitely seen just a few
inches that are coming down when we're looking at like
boulders right around four inches Denver right now is about
two point three.

Speaker 4 (16:15):
That's out at the airport in downtown's more like two inches.

Speaker 5 (16:18):
So we're doing pretty good. I mean, this is a
nice little snowstorm that we've got going and we're not
done yet.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
I know you explained a little bit about the type
of snow we're getting. Sometimes they call it the heart
attack snow if we're getting that really really heavy wet snow.
But what are we seeings falling as of late?

Speaker 5 (16:32):
You know what, it's more in the middle. So I
definitely wouldn't call this like that super light.

Speaker 4 (16:35):
Fluffy snow that you can like sweep, but it is.

Speaker 5 (16:38):
Certainly you know, on the warmer ends, since those temperatures
are in the upper twenties and hovering, you'ar thirty.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
Is this something that's going to help us when it
comes to drought conditions, because I know this was some
much needed snowfall fall and a lot later than what
we generally see about this.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
Time of the year.

Speaker 5 (16:53):
Yeah, I mean, we desperately needed this snow, and so
it's good that it have a little bit more moisture
to it.

Speaker 4 (16:57):
So any snow that we get is certainly a good thing.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Hey, Kylie, it's ross slightly personal question. You sound so
happy here, You sound like and you and Gene are
talking about the big winners, and so is this in
your line of work? Is this your idea of a
good time?

Speaker 5 (17:16):
You know, I do acknowledge that this is tougher drivers
and whatnot on the roads, But yeah, as a meteorologist
and especially as someone who is concerned about the climate
and the drought conditions here in Denver, this is very
very good news we meet these so fims are a
pain to drive in that they are a very important
part of our climate. As we're kind of looking ahead here.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
One O. One other question for you, slightly more serious question,
So is there is there something about the existence of
a city of large buildings and so on that can
actually affect the weather right there? And I don't just
mean like a warmer road keeping the snow, you know,
melting the snow, but actually changing the amount of precipitation.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
No, not necessarily. The biggest impact that we see with
like big buildings and you know, with a like a
city is the urban heat island effect, and that we
do see that warm up that happened, so traditionally it's
usually a couple of degrees warmer when we're talking about
all the different buildings and the concrete and whatnot than
what you would find out in like the country where
it's a lot more vegetation. But as far as impacting
the amount.

Speaker 5 (18:16):
Of crucifitation, not so much. That would have more to
do with our orographic part of our state, which is
down over the divide and into the foothills.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
I love when you start to nerd out on the
weather because you say terms that I'm like, I have
no idea what that means, but I love to hear it.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
Uh, Kylie, I am curious about the high country here.

Speaker 3 (18:32):
Our ski resorts have been just itching for some real
good snowfalls to get some more runs open.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Is this a snowmaker for the high country?

Speaker 4 (18:40):
Yeah? More so.

Speaker 5 (18:40):
Yesterday we saw some really good snow. I think Kelly
Ryde was just I was just emailing with them. I
think they saw like eight inches or something like that,
which is just awesome that.

Speaker 4 (18:48):
Yeah, they got eight inches on Sunday nights, so they
haven't seen a ton in the last like twelve hours.
The biggest winner in last telve hours through places.

Speaker 5 (18:54):
Like al Dora and Loveland because it's a little bit
more of a front range system rather than you know,
getting up over the continental divides. So we'll see at
fillin throughout the day today. But it's good news. We
needed this system up in our high country and the
one that came in before as well.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
In afternoon evening commutes, are we going to be more
worried about snow at that point or is there the
concerns of icing over as well.

Speaker 5 (19:14):
You know, for this afternoon, if you're open places like
Fort Collins and whatnot, and even here in the Denver
metro it might be lingering with some light snowfall, but
most of the accumulation is going to be for this morning. Now,
this storm system is going to clear out from north
to south, so as we're getting down over the Palmer
Divide back, we could see accumulating snowfall into the afternoon.
I do think that you're picking your kid was up
from school there it might be a little bit more challenging.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Fox thirty one meteorologist. It's Kylie Burg's Kylie. Appreciate your
time as always on these busy days, especially you probably
get bored after saying sunny and seventy all throughout summertimes.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
So this is an exciting day for you.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
It's a busy and better day when it comes to
just predicting the forecast and monitoring it.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
So we appreciate your time. Thank you, of course, always
happy to chat. I love it when the weather folks
get super excited about I know, and I hope she
didn't think that like that. I thought she was happy
when the rest of us are, you know, having a
tough time driving. That wasn't my point at all. I
just loved how happy she was.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
I know she talks about how sometimes, like talking about Colorado,
especially like Denver, weather can get boring because it's just like, yeah,
it's another beautiful.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Sunny, warm, nice day throughout.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
The summertime, and you know, you're not dealing with a
lot of lake effects snow or things that are happening
out in the ocean or hurricanes.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
So it's like.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Every once in a while, she's like, anytime I can
get a good change in a mixed and let people
know ahead of time. That's the fun part about her
job is being able to tell you, warn you, prepare
you for this morning. So hopefully you're not waking up
and going, oh my goodness, I didn't even know it.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
Was snowing this morning.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
You have a good idea of what you're gearing up
for later on for your commute.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
I won't talk about it now, but boy, you take
me way back with the mention of lake effect snow
when I first moved to Chicago, and I had no
idea what that was about. And if you don't know
what lake effects snow is about it. It's a doozy,
It's a real thing, all right, We got it. Still
a ton of stuff to do on today's show, and
of course we're keeping you updated throughout with all of

(21:09):
our news, whether in traffic. Keeps you here on KOA
if you are willing and able and don't do anything unsafe,
not being sarcastic here, don't do anything unsafe. But if
you are out and about and you are in some interesting,
challenging weather traffic situations where your information might be helpful

(21:30):
to other listeners, we would love to hear from you
by talkback. So you just open your iHeartRadio app on
your smartphone. You set it to KOA, You hit the
little red microphone icon, and you can record up to
thirty seconds of yourself just telling us what's going on.
You can include your name or not as you please,
but just tell us, hey, you know it's Joe, or

(21:50):
don't say your name and say I'm here. Here's the weather,
roads are slippery, be careful, or I just saw an
accident or anything like that. So iHeartRadio app KOA, hit
the little red microphone icon and send us a talkback.
I wanted to just do two minutes on a story
that I learned about from Gina this morning on my

(22:12):
drive in. And the headline and this was originally from
nine News, but it's it's all over the place. Gray
Star to pay twenty four million dollars over hidden rental fees,
Attorney General Weiser says, And I've talked a little bit
about Gray Star in the past. I've got Look, I
got nothing against it, you know, gray Star, any or

(22:34):
any given company. I just I want companies and expect
companies to treat their customers honestly. Okay, it's all I
care about, honestly, right, No fraud, no cheating. You know,
the price can be low or high. I don't care
as long as it's honest and then people can make
an honest decision. Right. So what this story is about,

(22:56):
and it's not just a Colorado story, but it includes Colorado,
is a lawsuit that was filed by the Federal Trade
Commission and by Colorado alleging that for the past six
years or so, what Gray Star did. So Graystar manages
many thousands of apartments around the country and including here

(23:17):
in Colorado. And keep in mind that Colorado does not
have and the Denver metro area does not have very
many relatively low priced condos because of construction defect law
and that kind of thing, so we end up with
lots and lots of apartments. So a quote from nine
News gray star lord tenants with deceptively low advertised rents

(23:39):
only to impose hidden fees for services including pest control,
trash package, concierge, utility administration, and other amenities. Perspective, renters
often didn't see the total costs until they signed leases
or paid non refundable application fees. Under the settlement, Colorado
will get a million dollars for reimbursement of costs and

(24:00):
other consumer protection efforts. In the remaining twenty three million
dollars will go to the Federal Trade Commission, which for
nationwide relief. So I think, actually, I think I heard
Genas say that some of this money is going to
get paid back to some of these renters who were abused,
and that will be in Colorado and in other states.
But I do think this is a good thing. And again,

(24:21):
like I'm not one of those people who dislikes companies
or dislikes profits, but I definitely dislike cheaters. I saw
over on our news partner's Kitty v R Fox thirty
one website an interesting headline, Woman's nineteen eighty seven murders solved.
And I'm actually gonna not even read more of the headline,
just leave you in suspense for a moment there, so

(24:43):
that our guests can kind of tell you the rest
of the story. Michelle Kennedy is a crime analysis supervisor
at the Douglas County Sheriff and an investigative genealogist, which
sounds like a lot of fun to a nerd like me. Michelle,
good morning, Thanks for making time for us on short notice.
I appreciate it.

Speaker 6 (25:04):
Good morning, and thanks for sharing Ronda's case.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
Right, so tell us a little bit about Ronda's case.
Who is Ronda and what is the case?

Speaker 6 (25:16):
So in April, on April first, nineteen eighty seven, Rhonda
Fisher's body was found down on an embankment in the thirty
five hundred block of South Perry Park Road in rural
Douglas County, south of Sedalia. She was found nude and
she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
So, and you said nineteen eighty seven, right, So we're
talking what thirty five years ago or so eight thirty
eight years ago.

Speaker 7 (25:48):
So.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
All right, so let's take the next step then. So obviously,
for some amount of time, well until almost now, it
wasn't solved at the time. Were there any strong suspect.

Speaker 6 (26:02):
At the time, There were at least two suspects that
were looked into to include the suspect that was attributed
to this case, but we didn't have the DNA technology
that we have now, so we weren't able to make
a final determination until recently.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
Michelle talk about the DNA technology that was used, because
it's pretty fascinating to talk about a thirty eight year
old cold case that you're able to resurrect and solve
based on some evidence that was literally at the scene
of the crime.

Speaker 6 (26:34):
Well, one of the good things that occurred in this
case was that we had a great team of the
initial detectives and csis that responded and so they collected
the evidence, they placed paper bags overt Rhonda's hands, and
they preserved that evidence and it's been preserved since nineteen
eighty seven. I wasn't here in nineteen eighty seven, but

(26:57):
then in twenty seventeen, we had a a cold case
detective at the time and he submitted some of that
DNA evidence, but the technology at the time wasn't advanced
enough to develop a full DNA profile. And then in
early twenty twenty five or earlier this year, myself and

(27:18):
a DNA analyst and the cold case detective had an
evidence review where we went through the evidence determined what
could be sent for additional DNA testing, Was there any
new evidence that hadn't been tested, And we sent the
paper bags that had been on Rohnda's hands when she
was found at the crime scene, So that was not

(27:42):
something that we had ever submitted for DNA processing at
the time, you know, since.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
She was found.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
That's very clever, that's remarkable. So from sitting here in
the cheap seats Michelle and not really knowing very much
about this stuff at all, it does seem to me
that there are two primary ways when you're going with
the with the DNA, there's two paths that can go down.
And again I'm sure I'm massively oversimplifying or just wrong,

(28:12):
but sometimes I hear cases where the DNA leads to
a relative, a cousin that's you know, shows up in
something like twenty three and me, even if it's maybe
not exactly that one, and then law enforcement uses that
to try to find whoever was actually in Colorado. And
sometimes it's just direct. You have the DNA of the suspect,

(28:33):
of the of the perpetrator on file in the database
for some other reasons. So, first of all, is that
kind of way to think about two paths? Is that
kind of right? And and if it is, what was
it in this case?

Speaker 6 (28:49):
Yeah, that's that's correct. So with today's advancements we really
use when we're speaking about DNA, we really use two
different methods. If we have DNA and we submit, the
first step is to submit that DNA. Once a DNA
profile has been developed, submit that DNA to COTIS, which

(29:10):
is the FBI's DNA database. It stands for the Combined
DNA Index System. If there is a hit with an offender,
we don't need to move forward with the investigative genetic
genealogy that you are talking about, identifying DNA relatives and
building family trees and identifying a suspect that way. In

(29:30):
this case, we received a CODIS case to case match
with three Denver homicides from nineteen seventy eight seventy nine.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
I'm sorry, Wow, all right, so we have two minutes
or we have a minute and a half left here, Michelle,
So tell us a little bit about the about the perpetrator,
about the guy who killed Rhonda, and what's his status
right now.

Speaker 6 (29:58):
So the case to case matching codis led us to
Vincent Darryl Groves, and he was one of Colorado's most
prolific serial killers. He died in custody in nineteen six,
nineteen ninety six, and since that time he's been attributed
to four additional homicides. We believe he's responsible for anywhere

(30:23):
from twelve to twenty homicides in the Denver metro area
between nineteen seventy eight and nineteen eighty eight.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
Wow, wow, all right. I don't think I need to
ask you to add more. I just I want to
take congratulations and thank you for solving this case. I
don't know if Ronda's family is around, maybe just to
talk about that very briefly, you know, was there is

(30:53):
there anybody still around close to Ronda who's kind of
waiting for closure that you were able to provide.

Speaker 6 (31:00):
Unfortunately, both of Rhonda's parents are deceased and so is
her brother, so we weren't able to share this information
with them before they passed, but we were able to
contact a cousin and we shared information with the family
that way, and they're very grateful.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
I'm sure they are. I'm sure they are. All of
us are for your work. Michelle Kennedy is the crime
analysis Supervisor and investigative genealogist with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.
Thanks again for your hard work and for solving this
cold case and for spending some time with us this morning.
Thank you so much.

Speaker 6 (31:39):
We have a great team here.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
Absolutely absolutely all right. And thank you very much also
to Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly for helping me get
Michelle on the show. I read that story last night.
I got in touch with the sheriff and I asked
if he could help, and he did. I hope you
found that as interesting as I did. Keep it right
here on Kaway. Ginea is going to bring some news.
We're gonna have a lot more updates on traffic and

(32:02):
weather as well. For those new to the show, we
here in the studio are always listening carefully, and I'm
saying this just just to mess with you so that
you never you know, listened to this the same way again.
Whenever Jonathan Steele says jamming, what dragon? What sluggish? Or sluggish?
When Jonathan Steele says jamming, what do we think of

(32:25):
jam or Bob Marley? We' bee jomming, right, I just
think of all these people singing reggae out on the road,
or when they say sluggish. I think of a really
bad joke that producer Shannon told me one time, and
that is I had a pet snail, and I thought
he might enjoy going a little faster, and I thought

(32:47):
it might help him do that if I took his
shell off. So I did, but it just made him sluggish.
And so that's that's I'm sorry. Do you think, Gina,
is that too much of a dad Joe? I like
that one a lot. I like it a lot. Speaking
of slugs real quick.

Speaker 3 (33:04):
Latest closure to be aware of the Denver Zoo Conservation
Alliance will be closed to the public for daytime admission today.
But the zoo lights the Christmas holiday zoolights that they do.
Those are rain or shine, you name it. They continue
to do those, but you will not be able to
view the animals. I don't know if they have slugs
or not. But I sayd a good transition to say
that the Denver sun is closed.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
Yeah, very very very well played. And I think based
on what I heard you say and when I heard
Kylie say, probably by it by the time for zoo
lights tonight, the snow's probably going to be gone by then, right,
I think you're not going to be dealing with snow
at that point.

Speaker 3 (33:39):
I think you just need to be very concerned about
the chili temperatures. We're only going to get up to
about thirty degrees, so a lot of this stuff I'm
where he could freeze overnight tonight, and then you're dealing
with just the icy conditions on the roadway, So just
be cautious about that. But the snow should be tapering
off by later this morning and possibly by the afternoon
evening commute shouldn't be snowy, is what they're saying, but

(34:00):
it could still be slick or sluggish.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
I don't know. That's awesome, folks. If you want to
be sort a part of our weather and traffic reporting
team this morning, open up your iHeartRadio app on your smartphone,
go to KOA, click the little microphone icon and send
us up to thirty seconds of of you telling us
what's going on out there on the roads, especially if
you've got something that you think would be helpful for

(34:26):
other listeners to know. Dragon, you have an example of one.

Speaker 8 (34:31):
Hey, guys, just wanted to say thank you for being
on this morning. It's always a pleasure listening to you. However,
if you're going southbound on Kipling between thirty eight and
thirty second going up the hill, guys, please don't try
and drive your front wheel drive cars up that hill.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
If you have all.

Speaker 8 (34:49):
Wheel drive or four wheel drive, you're good to go.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
Good advice, and remember the new chain laws in effect
for I seventy so thanks. Yes, for passenger vehicles, it's
a big change because I'll be honest, I drove my
Volkswagen Jetta up to the ski resorts all the time,
like I'm a Michigan or I can do this, but
now you have to have the chains on hand and
actually utilize them if the chain action laws are in

(35:15):
effect like they are today.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
Do you think the car knows that you're from Michigan
and therefore just automatically gives you better traction? Yes, like ah,
she's got this, no problem. Welcome or welcome back or
where whatever your situation is, to Ross on the news
with Gina. Obviously, we have a busy day with our
first significant snow of the year, and we're just trying

(35:36):
to keep you updated on absolutely everything. Thanks to Gina
getting this done. We had Kylie Burst from Fox thirty
one on the show earlier and in about an hour
we will have what's her name, Courtney. We're having Courtney.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
Courtney from She is one of the Fox thirty one reporters.
She is in the Pinpoint Weather Beast. The Beast is
what they call it, that.

Speaker 1 (35:57):
Big souped up I don't know, I don't know my car,
but it's the.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
Fox thirty one car that they truck whatever that they
drive around really focusing on the road conditions, kind of
going around and checking things out. And I always feel
bad for them to just be like, yeah, drive on
the sloppy roads, tell us how sloppy they are.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
And that's that's pretty much all of their Beast was
the same as the President's Beast, and they had this
massive bulletproof Cadillac. Yeah with everything.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
It was fun because it's got all the little like
antennas and satellites and things on top.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
But it's obviously not as souped up as that that'll be.
That'll be in about an hour. All right, let me
let me do a little national news here, and Producer Dragon,
if you put my audio up, I would I would
appreciate it. Now, there was a big cabinet meeting yesterday.
A lot of cabinet members said a lot of things
to President Trump. And then, as usual President Trump. One
of the things I like about him is that he

(36:47):
takes a lot of questions from reporters, and he was
asked about stuff going on in Minnesota. And before I
share that audio with you, let me just tell you
just very quick kind of setting the scene here. We
talked last week about a report that came out from
Chris Rufo about fraud in Minnesota, primarily coming from Somali

(37:11):
immigrants to Minnesota. And now even the New York Times
has picked this up. New York Times headline, how fraud
swamped Minnesota's social services system on Tim Walls's watch. So
Tim Wats is the very very left wing governor of
Minnesota who was Kamala Harris's running mate in the last
presidential election. And again now you've got the New York

(37:33):
Times writing about this not just the conservative Chris Rufo.
So you can't have people you won't you easily be
able to get away with folks on the left saying, oh,
this is there's nothing to see here. It's just conservatives griping. No.
New York Times reports. Over the last five years, law
enforcement officials say fraud took root in pockets of Minnesota's

(37:53):
Somali diaspora, as scores of individuals made small fortunes by
setting up companies that build state agencies for millions of
dollars worth of social services that were never provided. Federal
prosecutors say that fifty nine people have been convicted so
far and that more than a billion dollars in taxpayer
money has been stolen. That's more than Minnesota spends every

(38:15):
year to run its Department of Corrections. And it goes
on from there. It's a very very big piece in
the New York Times about fraud being committed by Somali's
in Minnesota and Minneapolis. So this came up yesterday in
the cabinet meeting, and President Trump went on this, well
what the New York Times, I think it was called

(38:38):
an unapologetically bigoted tirade. I don't actually see it that way. Yes,
it's trumpy, aggressive language, but there's more than a grain
of truth to it. And I realized some folks are
aren't gonna love hearing Trump say this stuff. But I
think it's important that we hear it. So let's have
a listen.

Speaker 9 (38:57):
Amadias gripped off that state for billions of dollars billions
every year, billions of dollars, and they contribute nothing.

Speaker 10 (39:11):
The welfare is like eighty eight percent. They contribute nothing.
I don't want them in our country. I'll be honest
with you. Okay, somebody say, oh, that's not politically correct.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
I don't care.

Speaker 10 (39:22):
I don't want them in our country. Their country is
no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we
don't want them in our country. I can say that
about other countries too. I can say it about other
countries too. We don't want them to help.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
We got to. We have to rebuild our country.

Speaker 10 (39:38):
You know, our country is at a tipping point. We
could go bad. We're at a tipping point. I don't
know if people mind me saying that, but I'm saying
that we could go one way or the other, and
we're gonna go the wrong way. If we keep taking
in garbage into our country. Elan Omar is garbage. She's garbage.
Her friends are garbage. These are people that work. These

(40:01):
aren't people that say, let's go, come on, let's make
this place great. These are people that do nothing but complain.
They complain and from where they came from they got nothing.
You know, they came from paradise and they said, this
isn't paradise. But when they come from hell and they
complain and do nothing but bitch, we don't want them

(40:25):
in our country.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
All right, you get the idea. That is some very
aggressive stuff. Look, we can talk about the language, we
can talk about the wording, we can talk about whether
Trump should be calling a country or a member of
Congress garbage. It's all very trumpy. I get that, and
you can quibble around the edges of that. But the
point I really wanted to make today is that there

(40:49):
is more than a grain of truth underlying it. And
what's going on, what's been going on with the Somali
immigrants ripping off that state and of that state, because
it's a very very high concentration of Somali's there is
it's a serious problem, and it's very likely that it
wasn't looked into nearly enough because they were Somali, because

(41:15):
they were Somali. And there there have been other similar
cases in England where some very bad stuff being done
by immigrants and the politicians and the police didn't want
to touch it because they didn't want to be called racist.
And I think a lot of Americans share Trump's view.
If you want to come to America, work hard, make money,

(41:36):
build the place, come on in. But if you're going
to come and do this other stuff, We'd rather not
have you here. And I will say I think despite
the aggressiveness of Trump's language and some of that, I
do think many many Americans agree with his underlying point.
I really do. I should mention if you're new to

(41:56):
the show. Typically what we do is when we have
a guest on show, we put it on the website
at Rosscominski dot com, which readirects to my kaa page
anyway as a standalone podcast, so you can go hear
the interview. For example, earlier this hour, we had Michelle
Kennedy from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office talking about solving

(42:18):
a cold case. I thought it was a pretty interesting story.
I don't know what you thought, Gina. It's a little snowy,
so we might not see you if you wave at us,
because the visibility is not quite as good as usual, right, Gina, Right,
you don't see quite as many people waving as usually.

Speaker 3 (42:33):
Read one day, you're gonna encourage someone to be sitting
right out there and just be waving in the window
and just startle me be like, yeah, you could wave
to Gina and then turn around because I had the
window behind me on the windows to my back, Yeah,
so I wouldn't even know if there was just somebody
waving out on that snowy balcony.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
Right now, I'll tell you what I would like to do,
and you're not going to enjoy this at all, Gina, Great,
But what I would like to do is take a
little video of you going out on that deck throwing
a snowball at me, like at the window, as if
you're throwing a snowball at me. No, I'm in do
you think it's snowball? Making snowball? I don't know you

(43:09):
were talking about that with I think it was with
Kylie before, like and she said it's not the light
fluffy stuff you can sweep away so maybe.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
Yeah, she said it was pretty much like a medium
snowfall right now, where it's not gonna be that really
really heavy shoveling one that's a struggle, but it's also
not super super light. And actually that seems like a
pretty good description of what I'm seeing on Earth, Mattie
right now.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
So when do you want to do that? When you
want to throw?

Speaker 3 (43:32):
Try to do one right now, see if I can
make it snowball? Yeah, yeah, for sure, I do, all right,
for sure? Do you have gloves? You're just gonna go.
You're from Michigan, You're impervious. All this is nothing.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
Yeah, okay, And I'm going to get I'm gonna get
the camera going and get the video thing going and
we'll take a video of that. I want to just
briefly respond to a listener question I shared with you
earlier a story from the Colorado Sun about the Public
Utilities Commission going along with a plan to essentially try
to force natural gas out of Colorado as as a

(44:07):
heating source. Dragon, do you do you want to come
in here and take the video and I'll just talk
so you don't have to do anything on the board anyway.
So the PUC. The PUC says that Excel has to
make forty cuts to natural gas heating emissions in ten
years and transition fully away from natural gas by the

(44:30):
year twenty fifty. And a listener had asked that you
got a good video going there? All right, look at
that Gina's out there. It's got a big snowball. Oh
my gosh, what an arm, What an excellent arm. Gina
could be pitching for the for the Detroit Tigers. Look
at that, and there's even there's even snow stuck on
the window. Now. Yeah, and Dragon producer Dragon Redbeard took

(44:50):
the video and then so we'll give that to Gina
and she'll do whatever Gina does with all the social
media stuff anyway, So let me just stick with this
for a second, because because some listeners were asking, well,
if they're pushing out natural gas, what are they gonna do?
And I didn't talk about that the first time around?
And what they're going to here, I'll go to the
Colorado Sun the majority of cuts. Great jobs, Gina, and

(45:13):
you have a really good arm. I'm impressed with that.
It stuck. That was great snowman, making snow really really good,
easy to make. Can I give you this to do
whatever you want to. I don't know how here, take
my phone and do whatever you want with it. Or
you probably pretty good arm on her too. Yeah, I'm

(45:35):
not sure if it came over the air, but it
was a nice fud.

Speaker 11 (45:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
It was really actually worried because it was way better packing.
So I was like, what if the shatters it was? Yeah,
it is impressive. If the if the Detroit Tigers need
a reliever from Michigan, they call you, uh so from
the Colorado Sun. The majority of cuts will need to
come from more effective overhauls of home and building heating systems,

(45:59):
replacing natural gas burning furnaces with electric driven heat pumps
and other clean heating devices. There are also plenty of
gains to be had from accelerating installation of more efficient
appliances and home insulation. So what it sounds like to
me is that Excel Energy is going to have to

(46:19):
subsidize people maybe getting rid of perhaps older and somewhat
less efficient gas heating things and putting in heat pumps
or something like that. A spokesperson for Excel said, our
Clean Heat Plan gives customers a portfolio of options conservation, electrification,

(46:40):
new technologies and cleaner fuels so they can choose solutions
that fit their needs and deliver deeper, cost effective reduction.
So let me just say this plan is somewhere between
ridiculous and insane, or somewhere between ridiculous and impossible. The
idea of elimit eating natural gas as a heat source

(47:02):
as things stand right now, is nuts. Natural gas is
extremely energy dense, it's quite efficient. It's a relatively low
carbon thing. Although I don't care very much personally about that,
but it is for people who care. They say about
ten percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Colorado come from

(47:23):
natural gas burning home appliances and building furnaces. So if
you could get rid of all of that, you reduce
ten percent of the greenhouse gas emissions. You're not they're
not actually gonna probably be able to get rid of
all of it now. They're talking about twenty fifty to
get rid of all of it. That's, you know, twenty
five years from now. Maybe I don't know, But at

(47:44):
what cost this is the thing. At what cost if
the power company is going to have to spend millions
and millions of dollars basically bribing people to give up
their furnaces and put in these other things. Then what
is that going to do to your electricity rates? That's
the thing we're going to need to keep an eye on.

(48:04):
So that was I wanted to answer that listener question. Right,
If not natural gas, then what the other thing? And
I'm just gonna do this for literally one minute. I
saw a story at the Denver Post yesterday about RTD
headline RTD, Right, so that's the public buses in light rail.
RTD proposes record high budget but still faces a deficit

(48:26):
and service cuts are possible. Sixteen months ago, RTD leaders
declared Metro Denver's public transit agency fiscally robust with no
warning signs. Sixteen months ago, Okay, but now it's a
very different story. The agency's directors met yesterday to vote
on a record high operating budget of a billion and

(48:47):
a half dollars twenty five percent more than this year.
That's insane, twenty five percent more, and it still has
one hundred million dollar deficit, and they think it's going
to be a two hundred and fifty million dollar deficit
next year due to a combination of higher than expected
maintenance costs and repair costs and falling sales tax revenues

(49:09):
because sales tax funds seventy percent of ourtd's spending. So
they were planning on expanding service with this massive budget increase,
and instead it looks like they may need to cut
services again. It's a story that deserves more attention and
more detail than I'm going to give it here, But
I wanted you to be aware of the headline. Keep

(49:31):
it here on KOA for all of your news, traffic
and weather. Also keep those talkbacks coming. iHeartRadio app KOA.
Click the microphone icon and tell us what's going on
with the weather and traffic where you are. You know,
there's an ongoing issue here in the state of Colorado
about the cost of housing. With housing becoming so expensive here,

(49:53):
it makes it a more difficult place for people to
move to. What makes it more difficult for younger people
to buy their first home. It makes it more difficult
for businesses to want to set up here because of
the cost of living for their employees. So over at
the Common Sense Institute, where I am proudly the Mike A.
Liprino free market fellow, the folks there have put together

(50:18):
a very interesting plan, a really interesting plan the Colorado
Starter Home Initiative, and there's not a plan for individual
people to build a home or something like that. We'll
tell you what it is, so joining us talk about
it Tyrone Adams, and Tyrone is the relatively new CEO
of the Colorado Association of Realtors. That sounds like a

(50:39):
really cool job. And my friend Kelly Cawfield is executive
director of the Common Sense Institute. To the website CSICO
dot org. CSI like Common Sense Institute COO like Colorado
CSI COO dot org. So first, Kelly, just do a
very very brief introduction of this and then I'm to

(51:00):
spend most of the time talking to Tyrone.

Speaker 12 (51:05):
Thank you, Ross so Yes, common Sense Institute. We've been
around for fifteen years now and one of the primary
issues we study is housing and the need for more
affordable housing in Colorado. In twenty twenty three, sixty percent
of Colorado households did not earn enough to afford the
average home available. So the Starter Home Challenge is an event.

(51:28):
It's kicking off December seventeenth at Mile High Station.

Speaker 1 (51:32):
The event is free. Common Sense is doing this.

Speaker 12 (51:35):
In partnership with the Colorado Association of Realtors and the
Homebuilders Association of Metro Denver. It's December seventeenth, from eight
to twelve, and we invite you to register on our
website that Ross has provided CSI coo dot org. Under events,
you can join us and learn more about the challenges
of the need and the needs for more starter homes

(51:57):
in Colorado.

Speaker 13 (51:57):
We'll be talking about zoning and we'll be hearing from
some of the Denver Metro's leading mayors, Mike Kaufman and
Mayor Laura Weinberg, to talk about some of the strategies
they're working on to increase starter homes in Colorado.

Speaker 1 (52:12):
All right, So with that, let's go to Tyrone Adams,
who is CEO of Colorado Association of Realtors and Tyrone,
first of all, welcome. It's good to talk to you
for the first time. And before we jump into more
of the details of the CSI Starter Home Challenge, from
your perspective as a realtor who's watching lots of other realtors,

(52:36):
just briefly describe the problem as you see it from
your point of view.

Speaker 11 (52:43):
Well, I think that you know, Ross, thank you for this.
Kelly laid out one of the issues, which is that
the cost of living is occupent pace. The wages document
pace with the cost of housing. We know that and
we look here in Colorado. Actually you got a lot
of renters who who find themselves just not able to

(53:03):
actually buy a home. Now ninety three percent said that
they do want to buy a home. But when you
look at the average age right now for a first
time home buyer, did you know, it's age of forty
So think about that. Just a few years ago it
was in the thirties, but now it's about age forty
years old. So that complicated thing. And then then we

(53:23):
also want to make sure that people understand that, you know,
the benefits of home ownership when they when they're looking
at why would they should do that? You you look
at how things are, you know, wealth accumulation, but also
brings stability to communities, and that's very important for our
communities to thrive. It brings economic diversity, it brings stability

(53:45):
to community, and it helps our children.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
Yeah. I mean, I've got my kids Tyrone are seventeen
and nineteen, and you know, I wonder what it's going
to be like for them. I keep hearing from people.
In fact, I heard this from a friend of mine yesterday,
who's got kids a little bit older than mine, and
he said they can't afford to living they both have jobs.
They can't afford to live in Colorado anymore. And this

(54:10):
is a huge challenge.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
Yeah, it is.

Speaker 11 (54:14):
And I think a lot of that has to do
with the shortfall too. We're a little bit over one
hundred thousand homes short of making it even making it balanced,
and it's going to take about thirty four thousand homes
for the next decade per year in order for us
to catch up. And so when you have starting home
and issues like this, like see Andscien is putting out there,
I think that's very important that we find all kinds

(54:36):
of ways to do that and we look at what
starter homes are. Think about that condos, you know, town homes,
things that get people into that home without having a
single family home.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
That might be a lot of maintenance, might be.

Speaker 11 (54:49):
Ha's, might be a lot of metro districts, a lot
of different things that the younger generation right now are
not able to afford. And I'm going to use my
daughter as an example. She's twenty nine years old, and
guess what she wants to to own property. She wants
to own a home. But she said that I don't
want to own a single family home right now. I'm single,
you know, and I got a good job, but I
don't want to do all the maintenance that comes with

(55:11):
a single family home.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
I really have a condo, so from your perspective, and
I don't want to go too far down this road.
But for many years there's been a significant shortage of
condos and then secondarily of lower priced single family homes.
A lot of people think that a big issue there
is construction defect law and builders just kind of afraid

(55:32):
of getting involved with that. But what do you see
maybe including that or maybe you think that's not really
an important thing as the reasons for the shortage in
this kind of housing that younger people maybe can afford
as their first home.

Speaker 11 (55:48):
So I think that is just one of the symptoms
of the shortages. But if you look at last year,
the legislature did pass HP twelve seventy two, which actually
allows people to will encouraging builders to actually build condos
without being afraid of, you know, class action lawsuits. So
hopefully that helps move the needle sum But still we

(56:11):
need to make sure that when you know, when it
boils down to it. We said, this is a long
time ago. It comes down to simple supply and demand.
If you have enough supply for the demand, then the
prices will kind of level lounge and come down. So
we're hoping with this starter initiative when it comes to rezoning,
and we hope it would with HP twelve seventy two
that some builders would take a chance and go through

(56:34):
that program to help out with this shortfall.

Speaker 1 (56:37):
Okay, and last quick thing for you, Tyrone, before I
tossed it back to Kelly, to just remind folks about
the event, just give me a short answer to this.
What what's your take your your finger on the pulse
of the of the Denver metro area real estate market
right now? It feels a little bit stuck to me.

Speaker 11 (56:54):
It is if you look at earlier this year, it
was pretty much a seller's market, but now that is
the to a buyer's market. You see more homes on
the market. I think we're about four point one months
of inventory and you're looking at sixty days where holds
are staying on the market. So buyers have an opportunity
to go out there and create deals or strike up
deals because there is inventory out there, but the prices

(57:18):
of the homes have not come down significantly. That's one
thing that people need to understand. So that's where the
market is right now.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
It is.

Speaker 11 (57:26):
We feel like it is a buyer's market, but there's
opportunities out there for people.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
Who do really want to buy. Yeah, and maybe I'll
get you back on the show another time, because you know,
an as an economics nerd, I find it super interesting
that homes are sitting on the market for a long time,
but prices are not coming down and that's not something
you would usually see. So let me toss it back
to Kelly Coffield, executive director of the Common Sense Institute.
Just got a few seconds here, Kelly, can you just

(57:50):
remind us about the upcoming event and about the Colorado
Starter Home Initiative and Challenge.

Speaker 12 (57:57):
Join us December seventeenth, High Station for free events from
eight to twelve where we will be having our Starter
Home a Challenge. We will be talking about what mayors
are doing across Denver to increase the number of starter homes.
We'll be hearing from builders and developers. We'll be hearing

(58:18):
more from Tyrone Adams, longtime CEO of Colorado Association of
Realtors and we want you to join us, so register
on our website at CSICO dot org.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
Thank you very good. And when you go to csiico
dot org, if you click on events near the top,
you will see the Colorado Starter Home Initiative. Come right up,
Kelly and Tyrone, thanks so much for spending time with
us today. Appreciated and Tyrone and definitely love to get
you back on the show to talk about the real
estate market at some point. Well, good Ross, thank you
all right, thanks to you both Born and jar driver.

Speaker 7 (58:50):
Rick, there's an accident and Almeta and hand and a
couple of people decided to play bump for cars because
they wanted to go through this delight when it turned
just a message to everybody to please slow down, watch
yourself through intersections. It's just a snow day. We all
want to get home safe to our families.

Speaker 1 (59:13):
Thank you, Rick. Awesome, awesome talkback. You can keep them coming.
iHeartRadio app said it's koa click on a little microphone
thingy and then do what Rick just did send us
any any kind of message? Gina, You were just looking
at me, did you were you going to say something?
Or no? No, I don't think so. Do you want
to see a thing? If you want, you have a microphone.

Speaker 3 (59:32):
I know days like this are an eye roll to drivers.
They're like, yeah, it's snowy out, drive slow. But it
when it's the first one, and especially because it's the
second to latest snowfall that we've ever seen in the
Denver metro area. This is the first major significant amount
of snowfall that we've seen so far this season. It's
just a good reminder just to let people know because
like you mentioned, you know, truck drivers just have to

(59:54):
be aware of just slowing down. No reason to be
tailgating people. The people in the slow lane are going
and slow for a reason. There's a lot of transplants
in this state that maybe you know, white knuckle in
the steering wheel right now because they have no idea
how to drive in this for the first time.

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
Just be patient with you. It happens all with a
state full of Californians, now you know a lot of that.
If we had a state full of transplanted Michiganders, everything
would be just fine. Yeah, every exactly would be would
be absolutely fine. You could be driving a two wheel
drive Volkswagon and you would be stuck to it, like
like it was a zamboni or one of those machines

(01:00:29):
that that grooms the trails. Uh. Just quick follow up
on that last topic. You know, it was interesting when
I when I was thinking about that last topic with
starter homes and so on, and I'm thinking to myself,
I wonder if there's going to be interesting or boring,
And that's always a risky thing as a talk show host.
You don't want to bring a boring topic. I actually
thought it was really it was really interesting. And actually, Gina,

(01:00:51):
I might I might drag you into this. So you
and and your husband are a lot younger than I am.
As I said before, I don't actually know how old
you are, but I I think you are somewhere around
the age that I was when I bought my first place.
But of course, the first place I bought was a
condo in Chicago, and I think the first number in
the price was a one maybe it was a lot

(01:01:13):
low two hundred something, and it was, you know, kind
of in the heart of Chicago, in a fairly expensive area.
But this is a long time ago, so I'm kind
of curious how you and your husband you're renting right
now we're renting right now.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
Yes, I definitely do want you to get Tyrone Adams
back on at some point because I was so busy
with all the snow coverage. I have so many questions
going off of that of the first time home buyers
and hoping to become a first time home buyer.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
And he was talking about condos.

Speaker 3 (01:01:39):
And all the issues that they have with the construction
of the condos in the Denver area. So when we've
been looking, and believe me, we are looking, We've been
looking for quite some time. We've seen prices slowly, slowly
start to fall in the Denver metro area and some
places have been sitting on the market for just months
on end because for the longest time you couldn't find

(01:02:00):
anything under five Yeah, and I'm talking downtown Denver. We
love where we're at in downtown area. We would love
to stay there. And I'm talking to condos were in.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
The fives, sixes and now I'm.

Speaker 3 (01:02:13):
Starting to see a lot more threes and fours. But
then you got a cherry pick, because first off, I
will never go back to a community laundry unit, right,
and that is a deal breaker for me. Every place
that I see that I'm like, wow, this is this
is much more reasonable in costs, and then they show
the just community laundry and I said, absolutely not.

Speaker 1 (01:02:32):
I will never do that again, right, And.

Speaker 3 (01:02:34):
So looking at places, it's we're not asking for much.

Speaker 1 (01:02:37):
We don't need that much space.

Speaker 3 (01:02:38):
It's just the two of us, and you know, right now,
we really like where we rent and we'd like to
stay in the downtown area. But it has been a
struggle and really just defeating. When we first came here,
we were like, we'll never own anything. When we first
three years ago, when we were looking just let's see
what prices are at and just zilos constantly on my phone,
I was like, there's no way I could ever afford
anything in the downtown area. And I see more and

(01:02:59):
more people moving out of that area because they realize, Okay,
well how far do I have to go in order
to find a price point that I like? On top
of also just the convenience of being able to drive
downtown and enjoy the games and the concerts and the
events that we like to walk to.

Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
That's really our cup of tea for sure. So just
the last quick thing, So would you and your husband
potentially buy a place if something came up now at
at a reasonable price, or you kind of sort of
in the market, we would.

Speaker 3 (01:03:27):
Yes, we're definitely, We're definitely in the market. We're constantly looking.
But I think the catches is we don't really want
to leave where we're at the price point of where
it is currently. There's no way that we could really
forward where we want to write it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
And so you don't need advice for me, but I'll
just throw one generic piece of advice out there for
folks who are looking at condos. When you're looking at condos,
make very very sure you find out whether they have
a lot of deferred maintenance or some kind of upcoming
special assessment, because the last thing you want is to

(01:03:59):
buy a con Know, you think I can afford this,
I can afford the three thousand dollars a month mortgage
or whatever it's going to be, and then suddenly you
find out there's a fifteen thousand dollars per unit special
assessment coming up because you need to replace the elevator.
You need to research all that, all that stuff. Yeah,
advil quick, the HOA fees. That's the biggest thing in
downtown right now. As you see these places that don't

(01:04:20):
really you want to think would have a high ha.

Speaker 3 (01:04:22):
But there's some old buildings that they're like, well the
constant upkeep is and you talking six hundred and seven
hundred a month in some of these places.

Speaker 1 (01:04:29):
Yeah, absolutely, Okay. So when we come back, Courtney from
in the Pinpoint, whether Beast is gonna is going to
join us thanks to thanks to Gina knowing all these
folks and tell us what's really going out there on
the roads as we sort of work our way through
this morning's rush hour. Keep it here on KOA one
very quick thing before we get to Courtney. In just

(01:04:52):
one quick correction, when we were talking with Tyrone Adams
from the Colorado Association of Realtors, I said he had
been recently elected to run that organization actually has been
running for ten years, and I just wanted to get
that right, all right, Gina, take.

Speaker 3 (01:05:05):
It away, joining us on the Kway Common Spirit Health
Hotline on this Fox thirty one Pinpoint Weather Alert Day
is Fox thirty one Reporter Courtney from Courtney, I thought
you guys were in the weather Beast today, but it
sounds like you're out and about just checking out the conditions.
And another one of the many vehicles you guys travel
around on these sloppy roadways. But I'm curious what the
commute has been like from your station downtown Denver to

(01:05:26):
where you're at now.

Speaker 1 (01:05:27):
I believe you guys are around Morrison this morning.

Speaker 4 (01:05:30):
Yeah, Gina, good morning. I will say it has been
very tricky, to say the least. We're actually I don't
know if you guys get to your camra. Are you
in the studio, it's your camera, but we're coming up
on an accident right now. We're just merging back onto
six heading into the Denver area. Mikyle, your husband has
been keeping me safe on the road this morning. He's driving.
But we just saw in the last five minutes a

(01:05:52):
car on C four seventy a truck I should say,
totally lose control, whip around and go into the opposite
direction of coming traffic because he could not get his
car to stop because of the ice. We just saw
another car heading up on I seventy, obviously a front
wheel drive only completely stuck in the middle of the road.
Are on the side of the roadway, I should say
the car was not able to catch any traction to

(01:06:14):
get moving. Kyle and I we have not gone over
really thirty miles an hour yet this morning, just because
there is so much accumulation on the road. And then
Gina I will say too. I don't know if you
guys have talked about this, because I live up in Morrison.
I was shocked there was no school delays this morning.
Just what happened bad?

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
The roads are Yeah, that's what we've been talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:06:34):
We were really shocked to see DPS and everybody say, nope,
still on schedule, that's all the plans. It sounds like
the springs might have a little bit of closures. D
you a little bit of a delay. Regis Jesuit I
think was the only one that was closed today. Denver
Zoo closed to activities today, but the Denver Zoo lights
will go on as planned. So for the most part,
it was actually pretty surprising. Corky, I'm curious if what

(01:06:55):
you're seeing on the roadways going thirty miles per hour
probably the best? Is it the road conditions that are
the struggle? Is it people being careless while driving? What's
is a little bit of both? What are we kind
of seeing just for drivers right now?

Speaker 4 (01:07:07):
Yeah, it's a little bit of both. Definitely a little
bit of both. The roads are obviously not in great shape.
The plows are out and we've seen them, but there's
people who think they're invincible in this type of weather.
We saw some guy Kyle and I were driving up
on a scene with a sea dot worker. Multiple coms
set out and give people plenty of space who was
helping somebody on the side of the road. The guy
basically couldn't stop, kind of cut us off and then

(01:07:28):
almost hit the seat dot worker by a couple of feet.
The guy was the seat dot driver was very upset.
So I think people are being fairly careless. I imagine
that truck we saw spin out was driving just a
little bit too fast, and you need to know. I
think the big thing here is you got to know
how you're handled. Your car handles weather like this. If
your car's not equipped, I would say my best advice
is to work from home. But please, Gee, I've been

(01:07:50):
handing this all morning on air. Follow the move over law.
If you see people on the side of the road,
move a lane over if you can't drop it down
twenty miles twenty five miles under the speed limit, because
these people are trying to help individuals on the side
of the road, and you just don't want to cause
a tensent fatal situation.

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
Just one quick thing, Hey, it's ross Courtney. Than good
to talk to you. I just want to make sure
you understand how lucky you are that the person driving
you around is from Michigan, because they are as Gina
lets us know, frequently the best drivers, the best drivers
and snow and I hope Kyle can hear this.

Speaker 4 (01:08:29):
Yes, I think Kyle's listening. I will add that he
has been taking very good care of me today in
the cars, so we're nice and safe. But I also
want to touch too. I'm a Colorado native, so I
was born and raised to drive in these conditions and
I always feel safe driving. But it's just you never
know how the people around you're able to handle it.

Speaker 10 (01:08:46):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:08:46):
Box thirty one reporter Courtney from Courtney stays stafe on
the roadways. I appreciate your time this morning. We'll continue
to follow the latest and the snow can conditions and
what we're seeing. But thanks Courtney.

Speaker 1 (01:09:00):
Stuff love it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:01):
They've also been covering a lot of the chain laws,
the new chain laws that are in place, so any
front wheel drive vehicles along I seventy.

Speaker 1 (01:09:10):
Just like the.

Speaker 3 (01:09:10):
Truck chain laws, you now have to follow those and
actually be able to not just carry them, but utilize
them put them on. They said, they're not going to
be stopping people if you're not like having chains, if
they're not on your vehicle.

Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
However, if you're involved.

Speaker 3 (01:09:23):
In a crash, that is now against you because it
shows that you were not equipped for the drive, if
you're in a front wheel drive car on I seventy,
and there's a there's a.

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
Listener text and I hadn't really thought about this before,
but there's a listener text. And I don't know how
many people renting cars would be listening to us right
now if they know about KA. But this listener says
that you know, at the rental companies, they don't tell
you that there aren't chains in the car and that
you need to bring them on I seventy and so on,
and just speak. I mean, obviously, I don't know that
lots of out of towners are going to put on

(01:09:53):
the radio and listen to local radio. But we've got
to be careful and that, Yeah, the chain law thing
is a big deal. Do you have chains for me?
You go out to the mountains a lot, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:10:01):
Now, I think I'm going to because they say that
they even want theirs can be extreme conditions. It's rare,
but there'll be extreme conditions now on I seventy where
they're requiring all types of vehicles, yeah, to carry and
utilize chains. I'm thinking about maybe a listener can let
us know about them. The tire socks that they have,
I think they're a little easier to put on and
I would much rather have that than try to put

(01:10:23):
on chains. And they said that's anything that can just
add a little bit more traction to your tires, whether
it's the socks or the chains, you need those, and
especially if you have a front wheel drive car during
the traction.

Speaker 1 (01:10:33):
Laws, makes a ton of sense. When we come back,
I want to tell you about Colorado's new deal with
the federal government for rural internet service. I think it's
a much better deal for the taxpayer and probably for
lots of Colorado's than the deal that seemed like it
was going to go through before. But before that, we've

(01:10:54):
got Gina on the news, We've got whether we've got
traffic as we try to keep you as safe as
you can be on this snowy Wednesday morning, keep it
here on k Away And Gina threw a snowball at
me already sort of, and.

Speaker 3 (01:11:04):
My mom texted me a picture from Michigan. Hold on,
let me see if I can pull it. Listened to
the show, she sure does.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
Awesome, Hi Mom, look at that giant snow that they
made on it. Probably probably my dad. I would think
that's fabulous.

Speaker 3 (01:11:18):
It's funny because that's clearly good packing snow in Michigan.
But then there's no grass and cement all around it too,
so that must have been like snow that lingered.

Speaker 1 (01:11:27):
Yeah, he's got a belly button, he's got all things.

Speaker 3 (01:11:31):
It's some good snowman snowball making snow right now.

Speaker 1 (01:11:35):
Yeah, Gina's advising you go make go make a snowman.
I want to mention folks if you want to join
Ben Albrighton Nick Ferguson at burn Down, Denver and go
meet up with them at two pm on Sunday to
watch the Broncos Raiders game. So burn Down, Denver. It's
on Broadway and when you're there you can enter to
win a pair of tickets to the Broncos Packers game

(01:11:57):
and that's all presented by Arta Tequila, the official tequila
of the Denver Broncos.