This first full week of December ends on a somber note at the Capitol, as friends and colleagues and community members gather to remember State Senator Faith Winter, who died in a car accident the night before Thanksgiving.

And with that sorrow still present, we also turn to a number of pressing issues, including the mixed signals we are seeing on energy and the environment.

Let's begin with this week's Colorado Inside Out.

Hi, everyone, I'm Kyle Dyer.

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

We start with Patty Calhoun, founder and editor of Westford Penfield Tate, Denver attorney and community leader who served in both the Senate and the House of the Colorado Legislature, and Sea Lover, VP of Strategic Initiatives and editor of the Sum and Substance at the Colorado Chamber of Commerce.

And Chris Work, consultant with Work Media Colorado state Senator Faith Winter is the first lawmaker to die in office since the passing of House Minority Minority Leader Hugh McKean in 2022.

That was difficult for the colleagues back then in the legislature, and this week, we have seen a similar outpouring of support for Senator Winter, her family and those who worked with her as well as the governor ordering the flags to fly at half staff.

We won't know for a while the cause of that accident that took her life.

But, Patty, one thing we do know is that traffic deaths in Colorado have been rising for most of this past decade, and it's not a big surprise.

I drive right past where that accident happened.

It was one of two at the almost the exact same time on I-25.

And you see how people are driving now.

You see you've got the distracted drivers.

You also have the people who are going 100 miles an hour, which has really seemed to increase since Covid.

That's what I've noticed, people going so much faster.

And even if they arguably have control of their car, they throw the other people around them into panic.

So it's how people are driving.

It's how what is not being enforced, which seems to be the speed limit.

And then you throw in the weather and we had spin outs and fender benders and crashes all over the weekend when we had our first snow.

So people just have to remember to be careful, to be watchful and probably report people they see who are out of control.

There was a very sad ceremony for Faith Winter, and it's all tragic.

People just need to be careful when they're out there on those streets.

And you know Patty's right about the rise of accidents and I think it's not just Covid.

It's not just speeding.

It's also road rage seems to be on the increase also which is really disturbing.

The least little things seems to set people off on the roads.

But it's not just vehicles.

You know, pedestrian deaths are up 88% since 2015.

65% of those occur at dusk and at night.

I live in northeast Denver.

I was driving down Colorado Boulevard the other day, and I did not see a man walk off the median in two lanes of traffic against the light, but that didn't matter.

It's no reason to hit somebody.

But he was wearing dark clothing and nothing reflective.

So things need to change.

We need to pay better attention.

And Patty's right.

They had a nice ceremony for for Senator Winter.

As people know, she chaired the transportation and energy committees at the Capitol.

She was an advocate for transit and, you know, reduced better air quality and transportation, which is not inconsistent.

And I think she understood that it was important for all of us to get from point A to point B efficiently, effectively and safely.

It's just a cruel irony that she lost her life in this way.

And if this tragic accident isn't a call to action, maybe these numbers should be 492 highway deaths through November in Colorado, according to CDot.

The Reason Foundation, which does an annual study of roads across the country, ranked Colorado 45th in urban and 47th in inner in rural interstate pavement conditions, 40th in safety, urban wise, 32nd in terms of safety, rural wise, these are not good numbers.

There was a reason that a ballot initiative has been put forward by the Colorado Contractors Association to put more money into highways, and we can certainly discuss the details of that initiative.

But I think at this point, the question about whether we need to pay more attention to our highways and whether they are safe is no longer a question.

And for for residents, for busin And Chris, well and we have to be careful of who's on those roadways.

This accident was tragic.

Like Patti I know that intersection very well or not intersection but that that exit ramp.

And you have to pay attention at that one.

Apparently there was another accident involved.

And it's a complex, investigation that's ongoing.

Just two nights before, there was a horrible accident down in Frank town, which is in Douglas County, a further south.

And, five people were killed.

Three of them were children.

And they found out that the the driver that started the whole chain reaction, reportedly stole a car in Aurora, was driving and went off the road, came back on the road, hit another car and which led to this tragedy.

Come to find out, this man had been in prison, was a parolee, had been in prison twice, had multiple, offenses, had been convicted of multiple offenses.

So we have to know who is on the roadways, too.

And when, like Patty said, you see someone driving erratically, that's a problem and needs to be policed.

Speed leading cause of traffic deaths.

With all these numbers that we're hearing, speed is the leading cause of traffic deaths.

So we need to have some policing.

Okay.

Thank you all Colorado leaders and nonprofits that help those with food insecurity are kind of figuring out next steps for the 600,000 people in our state who use Snap benefits to buy food.

On Tuesday, the secretary of agriculture said that next week, the federal government will start withholding Snap benefits to recipients in 21 Democratic states, including Colorado, because the states have refused to provide the names of recipients and their immigration status.

I will start with you, pen, but you know, this is a bridge too far.

To put this in context, there are 347 million people in this country.

Approximately 42 million of them receive Snap benefits.

That's 12% of the population.

Among those receiving Snap benefits, 39% are kids 18 or under, 11% are kids five and under, and 28% are school age kids, and the benefits range from $298 a month to a single person family to $994 a month for a family of four, which is not 298 times four.

So it's not like people are double or triple dipping.

The problem with this whole initiative is the Trump administration has gone from sending the National Guard and threatening the military in blue cities and states.

He's very clear about that.

Red states are complying.

So he's targeting states where governors or legislatures are controlled by Democrats.

So he's decided now if militarization won't work, let me just starve people for no good reason.

And part of why this makes no sense is a court has already ruled that the administration is not entitled to the data they're asking for.

You can't permanently disqualify people from Snap benefits if they're lawfully in the country, and that's what they're doing now.

And so I want to take a little different angle on snap here, because we're going to be talking about this in the state legislative level very soon.

Representative Lisa Ferry, explain to me for a story that I wrote this week, that she's going to introduce a bill, that would require companies of at least a thousand Colorado workers who have, workers, part time workers specifically, who are on Snap or Medicaid benefits to start paying into those programs for those workers.

This is in terms of big, bold ideas.

Let's put it this way.

No state in the country does this.

Ferré has said, look, we need to do this because we feel like we subsidizing some of these very wealthy companies whose part time workers are using public benefits.

These companies and an organization that represents them, here in Colorado, the Colorado Retail Council said this is not a good idea.

One, you're blaming these companies for the problems we have in Medicaid, which are much more due to, increases in spending, increases in the services that go out through Medicaid.

And secondly, some people want to be part time workers.

In fact, they want to be part time workers specifically because they need to be on Medicaid to treat their kids complex medical conditions.

They can't otherwise find health insurance for that all is a lot to drop at this moment.

But I just want to say, when we're talking about snap, it's coming home to the Colorado Legislature.

And I think this will be one of the biggest debates of 2026.

Well, another area where the Trump administration is leveraging funding to get compliance is in the category of commercial driver's license, semi truck drivers, hazardous waste truck drivers.

Colorado is actually complying with a new federal rule that has paused CDL licenses, and that's for immigrants who are without citizenship or do not have green cards.

And this is part of an overhaul by the Trump administration.

To get sort of more regulation into these commercial licenses following some very high profile crashes involving undocumented immigrants.

And part of the problem is when we have immigrants here that don't speak our language, the tests are given in English.

Maybe don't fully understand our driving laws that can be become a problem.

While Sean Duffy, transportation secretary, has withheld $400 million from California to try to get them to come into compliance, he wants to revoke 17,000 client, licenses for lack of compliance.

Like I said, Colorado is actually complying with what the feds want on this.

I have heard the argument that this is only a very small population of drivers that are undocumented, undocumented immigrants.

Unfortunately, in this particular industry, safety is really key.

And what we have in these kinds of industries, where safety is really the pinnacle of of making sure the industry operates properly, is you can have low frequency but high impact incidents.

And so if they can crack down on those, the impact is even greater.

In in saving lives, to return to snap, we got such an education.

And really as Penn detailed, the people who really rely on snap, it's not like they're going to Fresca and having a great big dinner on snap benefits.

These are really minimal amounts.

They need them badly.

Most of the people, their kids, their families who, as Ed pointed out, people who might not be able to work full time because they have to take care of their kids, they have to pay their bills.

We've just gotten over the shutdown and kind of gotten snap back again.

And now Denver, Colorado is being threatened because it dares to do what's right for the people who live in Colorado.

So at this holiday season, we have to remember how many people are in need.

And that includes all the people who work at the feed food banks and are strapped because of what they just went through.

So give and give often.

Yeah.

Okay.

We have talked a lot about the fiscal challenges facing Colorado and they're serious enough that Governor Polis has now extended the current spending cuts through the end of February to free up another $265 million to balance the budget.

And what happens after the end of February?

It seems like there will be even tougher choices down the road.

That and cuts that will still need to be made.

I mean, there are a lot of tough choices coming up and let's not forget, we're following a $1.2 billion, budget shortfall from last year with an $800 million budget shortfall this year.

And, a lot of what Polis is doing here is trying to cut around the edges.

For example, one of the cuts is extended with his executive order is, he's rolling back 1.6% increases in reimbursement for Medicaid providers to flat.

And then that's what he's planning for again next year in the budget he's presented.

And these are interesting choices.

We talk a lot, especially on the national level, about Medicaid and cutting fat and cutting waste out of Medicaid.

But at the same point, I've been very interested to see that the reaction to policies, Medicaid spending pull backs, which includes 334 million in pulling back on Medicaid spending, proposed for next year by doing things like limiting the amount of benefits you could get or limiting reimbu These are alarming hospitals.

And the reason they're alarming them is they're saying, look, more people are coming in on Medicaid these days, and if they don't have Medicaid, you know, we're not going to be able to, to get any money from them.

And they said, particularly if you're cutting back on reimbursements for Medicaid, you're going to have providers that are not going to provide for Medicaid anymore.

And those providers don't just treat Medicaid patients, they treat everyone.

And suddenly we could see services disappearing because of lack of providers.

I don't have an answer for you.

I just want to frame how difficult this conversation is going to be in the budget this year.

Okay.

All right.

Chris.

Well, one area that, we likely won't see cuts is in the wolf reintroduction program, and I hate to be a one trick wonder, but I am going to bring this up.

This governor sees this as his legacy to bring wolves, put them on the ground in Colorado because he says that's what the voters wanted.

The vote was not a mandate by any means.

It was a very narrowly passed measure.

But in October, after we had had a special session to address budget shortfalls, we found out that the state had entered a contract with British Columbia to obtain 15 wolves for $400,000.

Now the feds stepped in.

They put the kibosh on that.

So it would not surprise me if Governor Polis does still try to broker an agreement with British Columbia, since they do have wolves they're willing to give despite the feds intervention.

We will see.

I don't know how that would would, transpire.

This comes at a time when C.P.

W is having a lot of changes and they're not good ones.

We've seen, Jeff Davis was, asked to step down.

It has been learned he stepped down, but it was at a request.

And he's taken a new role within the Department of Natural Resources.

And then yesterday, it is rumored, and I believe, confirmed, that one of the Colorado parks and Wildlife commissioners, Murphy Robinson, is stepping down.

And he is somebody who has pushed back on wolf reintroduction, has asked thoughtful questions.

And that leaves his seat open for another, governor appointment.

And it probably will be one that favors wolf reintroduction.

So really concerned, I think in 2026, we are going to see this governor doubled down on wildlife issues, not just wolves, but other species that is believed, such as prairie dogs that they believe require protection.

But prairie dogs have gotten protection and for a long time.

But I'm going to leave them alone for now.

It is interesting.

I thought we were under a state freeze.

There weren't supposed to be any new jobs.

And here's a new job created for Jeff Davis, who was ordered basically to leave.

And they created this job for him.

But no matter how you what I was trying to be nice guy.

Now, no matter how you feel about the Wolf introduction program, no one is crying wolf about the budget problems.

There is no question it is going to be so difficult at the legislature this year.

And pinnacle, which was kind of like the big solution, doesn't look like it's going to be the solution anymore.

Certainly these Medicaid cuts are so challenging, especially for rural hospitals.

It's not like they're doing boutique medical treatment.

They are dealing with people who have no options out there.

There's so few places to go.

And with more people unable to afford health care of any kind, given what's going on right now, as people try to find providers, there will be more people trying to go to hospitals, to the emergency rooms for care.

So it's tough.

And then you know I think health care is probably the most difficult aspect of this budget problem because the reality is is we all get sick, we all get injured and no one's going to go untreated.

They're going to go somewhere.

The question is how do you compensate the providers?

Colorado has historically had a problem where we don't have enough doctors and or nurses to cover our entire geography, just because of the challenges of distances and population density and everything.

This just makes a bad situation even worse.

Ed said 850 850 million was the hole.

I was told yesterday it was 1,000,000,000W, 250 million for it somewhere.

Yeah.

It's not good.

And the federal act, the, the big bill, cost the state about $700 million.

So one thing that we as Coloradans are to realize, it's not just the governor and the legislature who have made mistakes.

There are other factors impacting the budget.

The governor has done some temporary things.

Most of them cannot last because the governor's ability to affect spending is limited.

It has to be done in law by the legislature.

And so it's going to be interesting to see what the tradeoffs are.

There's a lot of bills that are going to get introduced that are going to be killed in the first committee because there's no money.

Yeah, okay.

There is a lot of mixed messaging going on when it comes to energy and also the environment.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission finalized a plan, to move home heating away from natural gas and toward electricity, a major step in Colorado's push to cut emissions.

Meanwhile, the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden was renamed this week the National Laboratory of the Rockies, with federal officials saying that the word renewable is outdated.

And all of this is happening in a state where the governor is still really pushing hard to to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2040.

Chris.

Yeah, that move by the PUC is going to cost people a lot of money.

I think it costs like $10,000 to convert a home, a heating system, to take that on.

But, you know, it shouldn't be a surprise that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is now going to be the national laboratory of the Rockies, per President Trump.

He came out in January, January 20th, first day in office, had an executive order, basically said that we're not going to prioritize one source of energy over another.

And so I think this shows that he wants to have an equalized attention span on energy production overall, sort of an all of the above.

It's interesting because it was Gerald Ford that originally established the laboratory.

It was called the Solar Energy Research Institute.

A Republican, by the way.

And, then George Herbert Walker, the what Herbert Walker Bush, renamed the National Renewable Energy Lab.

I doubt its mission of of bringing about energy innovation is going to change.

Much rather it's going to broaden instead of just focused on renewables.

You know, and I don't want to see an either or mentality when it comes to energy.

I think all of the above is the way to go.

When you look at the state of Texas, known for fossil fuels, they have a very robust renewable program, and I think they're the top three in the top three states for renewable energy production.

So all of the above okay.

All right.

Patty.

Well, Texas wouldn't be there and you wouldn't have your cheap heating bills because of solar if it hadn't been for general.

And what it did to really study for renewables and make them be cost effective.

I remember when Syria opened the Solar Energy Research Institute, it was an outgrowth of Earth Day, and Jimmy Carter came here when he was president, when the when they were doing the groundbreaking and went to Rick's Cafe, a notorious phone bar, because they had a solar run dishwasher.

And it was so cutting edge.

But look at how solar is now in so many lives saving money.

You need to subsidize science sometimes to get to get to where we want to be, as opposed to now the gas guzzling roll back on save and car gasoline that Trump just initiated them and you know that this is a difficult conversation to have.

You know, we like oil, we like gas, we like electricity.

We're used to it.

But with oil and gas, we know it's a finite resource.

And we know at some point we may not know when, but we know at some point there won't be any more of it.

And actually, if you look at some of the OPEC countries, some of their production has declined, not because they're trying to punish the U.S., but they're figuring out these wells are about to run dry.

And so it I think to Chris's point, I think it's important that Republican presidents in the past have focused on solar and renewable, because the end point is unavoidable.

And it's obvious we've got to have alternatives to fossil fuels.

Changing the name of Israel isn't going to make any difference.

I think it will affect the mission.

I think people will be frightened to be as innovative and look at some alternatives as they otherwise would.

But we need to come to grips with this.

I think we'll see whether a rose by any other name still spells a sweet Jesus.

Okay.

All right.

And Ed, I mean I'll be quick.

I mean, I just, I want to go back and say I think we still do need to talk about the all of the above approach at a time when Colorado has become one of the most expensive states in the country to live and work in.

The fact is, our energy costs hit businesses.

They hit officials, and we need to find a way to make sure everybody can afford their energy costs.

That should literally involve all of the above, regardless whether we call it end rail or end law or NOAA or whatever we want to call that center.

And I hope that this, discussion, this fight about its name doesn't distract from the purpose of, hey, let's actually work together and see if we can get back to this.

How do we get energy most efficiently, most cheaply to people?

Okay.

All right, let's go.

Throughout the table now and talk about some of the highs and the lows that we have experienced this week.

I sort of Patty on a low note.

Long running, low note.

We're back to Tina Peters.

Her lawyers want her to be released on bond because her mother's sick.

Meanwhile, Trump has joined the chorus saying calling police a lightweight for not releasing her.

And I love the rumors about threats to just go break her out of Colorado prison.

all right then.

My low is first a shout out to one of our usual panelists, Terry Erickson, soundman for something he posted recently.

It's, quote by conservative columnist George Orwell, quote, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seems to be a war criminal without a war.

An interesting achievement in quote.

Okay.

All right.

European leaders have come out and say they don't trust that Vladimir Putin really wants to achieve peace.

Really?

Well, guess what?

I hope American leaders are paying attention and have the same skepticism.

Yeah.

Okay.

Shocking Milo of the week is the busting outrider.

Our governor wants us to, expand our use of public transportation.

My daughter takes the outrider from Gunnison here.

I pick her up in Pine Junction rather than going down to Union Station.

Went out on Saturday and waited for the bus.

Waited for the bus, waited for the bus.

And the bus never came because it had full capacity at Union Station and didn't notify or stop by the stop anywhere down the line to let us know that it wasn't coming for us.

So we got up early the next day and caught the next bus.

Wow.

Okay.

All right.

Something good.

Patty, go to Union Station.

Not to catch Mustang, but this weekend, when the Parade of Lights is out there on Saturday all through downtown, it's just a good time to go.

Experienced what's really happening here.

The parade of lights is the best.

Yeah.

Fun.

Too quickly.

Don't forget, Colorado gives day next week.

And I wasn't here last week, but we lost, to legend and giant Pernell Steen.

Who was just well known here on Five Points.

Great pianist and historian.

And isn't there at dazzle a tribute to him?

It was yesterday.

Now there's another one on the 10th.

On the 10th.

Okay, good.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

All right.

I was really struck by a story this week about how the Douglas County Sheriff's Office has solved 38 year old cold case, and in the end, the murderer turns out to have died, decades ago in prison.

But the idea that that office continued to work on this and to give peace to the family of the woman who was killed back in 1987, gives me hope that, the police are out there and they are working this hard for us.

And Chris, I'm really grateful for the snow, and we need so much more of it.

And despite the ice and despite the troublesome driving, just slow down, take some time, enjoy it.

It's a peaceful time.

It's time to winter and we need the snow.

We need it up on the peaks so that we can have water this summer.

This summer, Thursday morning, the day after the storm was just beautiful and the sun came out all right.

My eyes kind of with pen.

Here is the anticipation and hope surrounding next Tuesday.

Colorado gives day the biggest day of giving in Colorado every year since 2010, Coloradans have raised more than half $1 billion through Colorado Gives Day, including $54.8 million just last year.

Now, Colorado gives a launch before the now nationally recognized Giving Tuesday, which was this week.

So you could say Coloradans generosity helped spark a national, movement.

And that spirit of giving shows up every single year.

Last December, 134,000 Coloradans donated to 4500 nonprofits in our state.

And this year, many nonprofits are facing even tougher challenges because of cuts in federal funding.

But Coloradans care, and I'm very excited to see what we can do together.

This coming Tuesday.

And also, thank you in advance to those of you who choose to support independent media and PBS.

12 thank you, team, for joining us this week.

Thank you all for being engaged and watching or listening to our podcast.

I'm Kyle Dyer.

I will see you next week here on PBS 12.

PBS's 12 believes in the power of original local programing.

Help us bring more shows like the one you just watched by donating at PBS's 12 Dawgs program Support today.