fall has arrived in Colorado.

And within a taste of winter.

With snow up at higher elevations.

This has also been a rather cold, intense week when you think of the climate facing the upcoming state legislature.

The continuation of targeted gun violence and the debates over free speech.

And the Broncos are not having the greatest start to the season.

I'm happy to say that our starting lineup for this week is all warmed up and ready to go.

So let's get started with 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 westward.

Alton Dillard, principal consultant at The Diller Group, senior advisor to ROC for gray, and political analyst at Denver seven.

Alvina Vasquez, an advocacy leader in Denver and also a member of the PBS 12 Community Advisory Board.

And Christy Burton Brown, executive vice president at Advanced Colorado and former chair of the Colorado Republican Party.

The ongoing budget crisis continues to just hover over Colorado.

Last week, we discussed what local governments are dealing with right now.

When it comes to the statewide level, it's becoming very clear that state lawmakers need to make even more cuts to spending beyond what was done in the regular session.

And then this special session we just had.

There's also no time to waste to get vacancies filled for the positions of some of the leaders who have quit, most recently calling it a toxic environment inside the state capitol.

Patty.

And of course, then we also have the possible government shutdown on the federal level, right?

While we wait to see what is going on in Washington, D.C., presumably we won't jinx everything and make them come to a decision while we're filming.

Right now, but we're still playing brinksmanship there.

It's no surprise that the toxic environment in D.C.

has spread around the country, and that we see it at the Colorado Legislature.

Tensions are high for a variety of reasons, not just because budgets are tight, but philosophies are so far apart.

I'll say the Colorado Republicans worked fast with their vacancy committee to put in.

I think it looks like a really interesting person at elbow flannel, hasn't been in public life before.

Owns a gun shop.

She'll bring an interesting voice to the group.

Let's hope she leaves her gun behind, unlike some previous representatives.

But we need to have a stability course there.

They don't have to pay for it.

We would be happy to go over from channel 12, since we are all civil on this show and say you can disagree, but you can still get along, then you're going to have to get along.

If you're going to do this very, very tough budget, cut it.

You're right and I'm game for that.

All right Alton, it is going to be an interesting budget year because remember, one of the things we've talked about at this table was the the focus on what was going to happen in 2026.

But these cuts are just really sort of scraping the surface because this budgetary situation is remaining as is.

So even this next session is probably even going to be more challenging.

So I've been talking to people who play in the legislative space and they're like, you know what?

Budget's probably going to take up 80% of the oxygen under the dome next year.

So people are really having to be strategic as far as what other types of bills are run.

Now, as far as the toxic environment, I have a prediction that, you know, day one and day two, there'll be some minor kumbaya moment.

And then the first time that someone reaches across the aisle, then they're going to start taking fire from the left, or the first time someone in the conservative caucus doesn't get their way, and then it's going to get personal and jump and the ad hominem attacks.

And so even though it's a utopian dream of mine, I'm hoping, post Kirk, that the temperature comes down a little bit.

Okay, Albina, you know, it's really quick for folks.

I feel like there's this attitude of it's really quick to be the first one to say the meanest thing, to make headlines, to get clickbait, to get your face, you know, in front of people.

But who's going to be the first one to, like, try to get along with folks, get things done, stop with the censures and the resolutions that are impacting people, like budget cuts like food for like food for kids, like our public education system.

Those are the things that matter.

These censorship, these resolutions, they're a waste of time.

They're hurtful.

They're only positioning to hurt other people, to, to create more divides.

It's not it's it's not getting our state anywhere closer to being.

What, what we want to be this utopian where we are a community.

We do have common values.

You know, Chris and I were just talking about our kids and their education.

And there are things about us that are in common, and we have to get back to that place as well.

And I'd say when I serve on the state Board of Education, like there's a split between Democrats and Republicans there.

And I really feel like we've found a way as a body to have civil discourse and civil disagreements and even vote the same way for different reasons, but because we do care about things like kids and education.

So I do wish the legislature would maybe take a page out of other government bodies and stop having such a toxic environment.

It's possible to get along even if you disagree.

And I do think it's interesting it wasn't just the recent Republican resignations, but also Democrat resignations where they've also cited a toxic environment.

So that is, I would say, particularly disturbing when it's your own site, like they're the leaders at the Capitol and their own side is saying there's a toxic environment created by leadership there.

So definitely some evaluations need to happen.

I think when you look at the budget, absolutely going to be the topic going into next session.

I went to a town hall, by a state rep who lives near me.

Bob Marshall, Democrat who represents Highlands Ranch.

And he said, I didn't really like the Republican accusations.

There's a lot of overspending.

But he said, but we have mis budgeted.

And I think that's a really interesting admission from the Democrat side.

Like whether you want to call it overspending or mis budgeting, basically it's committing money.

You don't have to projects you can't fund.

And that is what's been going on for years, is the legislature.

They're going to have to make some hard cuts and it's like whether they like it or not, it's going to happen.

Okay.

All right.

Following the shooting at an Ice detention center in Dallas in which three detainees were shot by a sniper, anti ice language was found written on ammunition, ammunition left behind by the gunman who took his own life.

And one of the victims died instantly.

Just one month ago, that same facility was the target of a bomb threat on top of the regular protests, which are also taking place at the Aurora facility.

But again, protests.

We don't want any more violence, but Alton Ice is looking to open more Ice detention facilities within Colorado, and we don't really know much about what is planned for, let's say, what's going to happen in Hudson or Walsenburg.

Yeah, they have at the ice level.

I've seen sort of a lack of transparency about a lot of the things that they do.

You know, whether it's their reaction to unplanned visits by members of our congressional delegation or anything in between there.

But you also have to be honest about one thing.

As far as Colorado and especially rural Colorado, there is such thing as a prison industrial complex.

Prisons are job and economic drivers in a lot of the state.

And so that's one of those sort of uncomfortable truths.

And so when it comes to the whole ice thing, if there was a little more transparency about, okay, this is the when we're going to pop up a place here or this is the how we're going to do it, it'd be probably a slightly different discussion.

And then also on the subject of ice, you know, there's been some back and forth regarding the commercials that are airing trying to recruit law enforcement, but also keep in mind that I've seen the similar kind of recruitment going on from like the Wyoming State Patrol saying, hey, if you want to get out of a state that doesn't enforce laws, come join us.

Avena I mean, kind of going back to my last point is where's the humanity?

Why are immigrants not allowed to be humans and exist in this world?

Why are they victims of violence by our own government?

Why are why does the why does this country continue to separate families?

They did it to black young men, black Latinos in the 80s about, you know, the drug war.

Now it's immigration.

We had, Ronald Reagan, who I don't agree with him on a lot, but he saw the humanity.

He created an amnesty program to build our economy on people working, not imprisoning them.

There's a difference of how you invest in people and community.

And it's it's disappointing to see that this is happening and it continues to happen.

We don't learn from it, and we keep doing it.

So I see the overarching issue when you talk about Ice, people forget that Ice is actually a division of the Department of Homeland Security.

They are tasked with keeping Americans safe.

And one thing that's popular, actually across the political aisle, not when you're talking about who's elected, but when you're talking about people in the streets.

People who vote is keeping our borders safe.

This is something the Trump administration and Ice is really working on is keeping our borders safe, closing our border.

And I think the reason that we want to do this is we're blocking the criminals who are trying to come into our nation, human traffickers who prey on children, who are actually the people who are separating children from families and bringing them across the border and misusing them and abusing them in horrible ways.

Those people should be stopped from crossing our border.

All the gangs that have committed tons of violence in America, that have come across the border illegally and were not deported by the Biden administration.

So I think Ice has a lot of catch up work to do.

I absolutely believe the focus should be on those violent criminals, those repeat felons.

Those are the ones we should be deporting.

Those are the ones who should be in the facilities.

But I do think often some on the left love to focus on who shouldn't be in these facilities instead of who absolutely should be, and the successes in who are who is being deported right now and absolutely should be to make our nation, our communities safer.

I think we can agree that there's some people who absolutely shouldn't be led in this country.

If they came in this country, they should be sent back if they're caught.

But I think we can also agree that people who have been detained should be treated civilly.

And we've had a lot of problems in Aurora.

At the facility.

Run the Ice facility run by Geo Group long before Trump was elected.

People the second time people have complained about how they were treated.

They weren't necessarily Mexican.

They weren't from South America.

They were from all different countries and had significant issues.

And there have been lawsuits.

So we need to be sure that they are treated fairly.

The Ice ads are the things that really get me.

You've seen them, you saw them in Maryland.

But when you suddenly saw this, heard this nasty, deep, intoned voice and saw pictures of Denver and it was directly addressed to Denver, it was a little much.

And I loved Chief Thomas, who responded when Axios asked him about it and just pointed out how much more people get paid.

And the Denver police force, when they had said it was such a bad place and such a bad law enforcement authority.

So good for Chief Thomas coming out.

Let's talk about police in Aurora.

They want to boost their ability to identify suspects, make more arrests and solve crimes.

And to do that, the department is asking the city council to let it use facial recognition software and add it to its biometric toolbox.

So along with, like, fingerprint matches, DNA matches those kinds of things.

Now, if the department gets the okay from the city, it will be able to take an image and compare it to a mugshot or internet images.

But critics are worried about the misidentification that could happen.

And also there are concerns over privacy.

So, Alvina, these are valid concerns.

It'll be interesting to see where the Aurora City Council stands on this.

You know, at a time when the Supreme Court said anybody who looks brown or has an accent is, probably undocumented and not allowed to be here to add this element of, inserting themselves into people's daily lives.

It's very dangerous people of color.

I mean, even when, you know, there's automatic lights in a building for black and brown people who don't turn on for us, like the technology is not there to be specific.

It's gonna be more mistakes.

It's going to be more imprisonments.

It's going to be a waste of taxpayer dollars.

And, yeah, it's not it's not the way to go.

It's interesting because I remember like when DNA first came out, people were like, oh, can you really be sure about that?

And that's like, you know what?

Everyone goes on now, it'll be interesting to see if this works.

If it flies.

Chris, your thoughts on it?

Sure.

And, Kyle, I actually agree that anytime you have new technologies that do you have to figure it out that do have bugs in them that you need to be fixed and made better.

People often object and have hesitations, and I think those hesitations make sense.

But what I think we have to do is put the right safeguards in place.

When we're using new technology, it doesn't mean we can't use new technology and have to reject it, because I think we have to realize the problem is, is trying to solve.

In Colorado, we have a big problem with not solving enough crimes.

There's about half of crimes in Colorado that are not solved.

The suspect isn't found and therefore more people are victimized.

U.S.

News and World Report says we're the second most dangerous state in the nation.

And part of that goes because we part of it is our state laws.

And then the other part is that we're not catching these criminals.

And so the software I really looked into it actually, because I was like, if Aurora is going to put up videos everywhere and try and do facial recognition on people like China does, let's say no.

But what they're actually doing is using, images that are already public of people publicly available, and then images that are released by people who willingly do it like they're their security cameras on their home when a crime is committed in their neighborhood.

And then I also notice that some of the safeguards in place, I think, aren't going to violate constitutional protections that everyone has.

For example, the video cannot be probable cause.

It is a piece on the path to going and finding a suspect.

And so I think what Aurora probably needs to do is put an oversight committee in place where people who are really deeply concerned about privacy issues sit on that committee, watch what happens.

And there's a lot of accountability that goes on as this is developed.

And I also think software companies absolutely need to get better at identifying people of color.

And when there's problems, you have to fix them.

You can't just keep on using it as it is.

But I think it's a technology that will help us solve more crimes.

And so it should be used with caution.

I'm going to agree some with Kristy and disagree.

But first the disagreement, which is does U.S.

News and World Report figures are old?

They're a couple of years old and Colorado is definitely doing better.

And Denver in particular has dropped down on the crime level.

But I think we could use a tool like this if it's properly handled.

And when you think about Aurora at all they have gone through and how they have been under the state to really make sure their police department is doing better, and how you at least have Police Chief Todd Chamberlain out there talking about the different incidents, the it's not technology so much that is the concern in Aurora.

It's making sure officers are trained appropriately and deal appropriately with suspects.

And that has been the big issue, how they've handled people once they've gotten them.

So we need to be very careful on one level that you're not identifying someone as a suspect who in no way was involved in that crime.

And then when you are going after a suspect, how to behave, because in Aurora there have been way too many bad incidents.

All right.

And Alton, I'm going to cosign with Elvie.

And she made a really good point.

So I am a sort of fair skinned black person.

You should see me even try and wash my hands in a public restroom.

I put my hand under the faucet.

It may or may not work, so sometimes I have to go to the faucet and go to the soap at different basins because of my complexion.

And when it comes to Aurora, Aurora's under a consent decree for a reason.

So to echo a couple of Patty's points, they definitely need to do a bit better job of dealing with suspects.

So technology is great.

But I also think that Aurora needs to go back to basics.

Let's try to start with not shooting unarmed black men.

Let's try to have that as a baseline and then we can work on the technology and those issues.

And also, there have been instances of misidentification.

So I would rather aurora concentrate on the basics of policing.

And then we can start adding technology as layers on top of that.

Okay.

All right.

We have discussed at this table before the social media postings from Do Better Denver that called out the city for all of its problems with videos and photos of homelessness, drug use, safety issues, you name it, things that we don't like seeing that we might not agree with is part of a bigger conversation we've been having about free speech.

It's still it's there because we're allowed to see it in this country.

Christy, you want to start on this topic because you know a little bit more about the do better Denver.

Sure.

And I think you do do better Denver account was another person stepping out of the political space, most likely because of the divisive and dangerous nature of politics right now.

And, you know, as someone of a family myself, like, I can understand why people make that choice and just say, maybe the calculus is it's not worth it anymore.

Now, I would I would be on the other side myself and say, you have to have someone speaking out on issues.

So it's going to be someone with a family.

It's going to be someone who's concerned for their safety.

And if we really want to continue to change things, I think, you know, we need some people at least to be willing to be in there for the long game.

No, and there is personal cost, obviously.

We saw that highlighted with Charlie Kirk's assassination.

The personal cost can be very high, very deep, and perhaps more than some people are willing to pay.

But I think when we look at the underlying free speech issue in our nation, one thing that I think a lot of people need to be clear on, and as a constitutional attorney, I really care about this.

You don't have free speech rights against other people.

You don't have free speech rights against the Denver Post.

You don't have them against the do better Denver account.

You don't have them against ABC like you have them against the government.

And so if the government comes in and tries to limit your speech or conducts viewpoint discrimination, that is a violation of your free speech rights.

But if you're hired by someone, if the media doesn't like what you do and they come out and expose it like that's not a violation of your free speech rights, and instead it's the calculation of do I believe so much in exercising my free speech rights that I'm willing to pay private consequences?

Sometimes that happens.

Sometimes we're asked to do that.

And I think you can see so many leaders throughout America's history, civil rights leaders, people who fought for equality, who were willing to pay the cost.

And I'm not faulting anyone who isn't, but I'm saying that's the calculation that anyone has to make in today's society is can you stand out there, pay the cost and tone down the temperature as you stand for what you believe?

So I have one very specific objection to do better, Denver, which was it didn't give context.

So if they were taking a picture of someone who was having a breakdown in the middle of the street, it might be, oh, look at this drunk, and it might have been a person who was really having a psychotic break.

You sometimes had the relatives write in and say, that was my sister, that was my nephew, and they were on their way, you know, to the hospital.

So that was probably you didn't get context.

It was very sensational on that level.

Little context.

That explains it, why that baby is sitting on the sidewalk.

It helps people understand.

And on top of it, it's really necessary when no one is being held accountable.

You can't call the person or email the person who's putting up that post and say, well, you need to know more about this.

So we all sit here and we say things and you know who we are and you know how to reach us.

And I think that's always something a media outlet should have and clearly do better.

Denver, although not a traditional newspaper is it was a media outlet.

Other.

Yeah.

When it comes to do better Denver, there were always two schools of thought.

There was one side that said, well you're, you know exploiting people in crisis.

And then there's the people who think a little more like I do is far as shining a light on what is a definite problem.

I just came to the studio today down Broadway Pass, the old channel seven building, and there's a fentanyl camp there.

Unless they're recycling aluminum foil, it's a fentanyl cap.

And there was a lady with a stroller crossing the street the distance from you to I, Kyle.

And so that's why I never had any issues with do better Denver.

Sometimes you have to be willing to take that unvarnished look.

And we understand that.

It's not like the old days when there were the big encampments and everything, but you still see people struggling in the streets here.

And so I don't know if we need to do what, like Gavin Newsom is doing in California with his plan, where he's saying, if you're a danger to yourselves or other, you may have to go into some kind of, conservatorship or receivership or something along those lines.

But we cannot continue to just try to sweep these issues under the rug.

Okay.

And Albina, I mean, I, I, I don't agree with videotaping or sharing videos of people who are vulnerable and don't give consent.

I don't think that I think that violates people's identity and it violates whatever future they might have, you know, especially in social media, because those videos live forever.

But I do think that there's an impactful way to do it.

And, and I don't think telling that part of the story without context does enough.

Anyway, I feel like you have to talk about the beginning, the middle, and the end.

How did this person find a solution?

What was the journey to get there?

Because in order to help the majority of people, to give them hope, to get help for themselves, they have to see what else other people are doing to get out of that.

So I think that that's it's only a little bit of the story of that person's life journey.

I don't think it's fair to focus on that without focusing on what are the other things that impacted that person, to get them to that place and what what's the journey for them out of it?

How do we get them back to humanity?

I think that's my theme this week.

Humanity.

How do we get them back to their humanity so they can be a part of the discourse in the conversation of how we help more people?

If we just put them on there, they end up finding a journey and, and, you know, saving themselves and, and they're really successful.

And that video shows up.

What does that do for their trauma if they find out, oh my God, ten years ago that was me drunk in the street.

They lose their job.

They're back in the cycle.

Let's just be really careful how we're using our cameras out.

And I feel like when you've been on before, you've talked about how the Denver police for a while was responding to those posts, but then stopped.

Right.

The city just kind of ignored that.

Yes, they did.

And, you know, that was one of the things I actually shouted out to DPD for their willingness to engage.

One of the things with social media is some people treat it as a secondary website, and even I tell my clients, unless you have the capacity to actually use it as a two way communications tool, don't even go there.

Really?

Okay.

All right, let's go down the line right now and talk about some of the highs and the lows of this week.

We're going to start on a low note so that we can end on a good note.

Patty, let's start with you.

Colorado girl made good Lindsay Halligan, who is now the U.S.

attorney for Eastern Virginia at the age of 36, never having been a prosecutor who is taking James Comey to a grand jury.

She was put in charge by Trump of the Smithsonian clean up.

So I guess this is maybe an improvement, but really not a good appointment from Colorado, from Colorado High School.

We just college, so we just college.

Okay.

Gotcha.

My low is this whole thing about competency to stand trial and being turned loose into the public.

I know we've talked about it around this table, but there was a person running around the campus of my alma mater, University of Northern Colorado, with a gun that the Weld County Sheriff had warned people that this person is dangerous.

But to your point, because of Colorado's laws, they're turned back out into the street.

That has got to stop.

Didn't they just arrest them?

Yeah, they did just arrest him.

But he shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place.

Because again, it goes back to people with eight page rap sheets running around loose in public.

And they found him because he posted a picture holding a assault weapon.

Yeah.

Yes.

Okay.

I mean, I mean, I feel very vulnerable right now.

You know, I feel like there's a couple of layers of skin falling off as we, you know, the administration is flooding the zone.

You see a lot of pain happening in our community.

So that's just my daily journey of, you know, kind of getting through the headlines and trying to get through the day without crying.

Yeah.

Well, thanks for coming here this week and sharing, sharing.

So I very much support the Trump administration.

But my low would actually be something they did.

The wall of presidents that was just put up at the white House.

It's hilarious to put Joe Biden as an auto pen.

Like, I agree on the campaign side, but I think when you are the president of the United States, you don't have to respect the policies that came before you, but you should respect the people.

Okay.

All right.

Something good.

Patty.

A lot of good things around town.

Doors open.

Denver is your chance to see so many interesting institutions, architectural marvels.

Get out there and enjoy it this weekend.

Yeah.

You see my light blue motif that is in honor of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

Four and a half years survivor, guys, get it checked.

Oh, we should all be wearing blue for you this week.

All right.

Okay, well, is back to school season.

I've, been working on a project called Rheinland lead Code.org.

There's lots of tips for parents to talk to their teachers about their kids reading plan, so make sure you check it out.

Parent teacher conferences are coming up.

So all are, you know, immigrant Latino parents, make sure you go to to to those meetings with their teachers.

It's super important not to be afraid of our schools and to engage in their kids, even when there's all this fear, if there's a website where people can get more info.

Yeah, it's read learn lead.

Code.org.

Got it.

Thank you.

So there's a lot it's going to resonate for years about Charlie Kirk's memorial service.

But I think anyone who has not seen Marco Rubio speech should go watch it.

I think he presented the gospel very clearly, but he presented hope to all human beings, which is, I think, something we can all use a lot of right now.

So that we can all right.

My high is that I have passed the three year mark here on Colorado inside out.

And with October starting up, I will be heading into my fourth year here at PBS.

So I'm thankful and honored to be working with such bright insiders every week and our behind the scenes crew who really helped bring this show together in this conversation to you every week.

So here's to the team that keeps me on my toes, keeps me thinking and keeps me listening.

And thanks to you who are watching and listening along with us as well.

Every week I'm Kyle Dyer.

I will see you next week here on PBS 12.

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