08 05 26 ABC's Benjamin Siegel talks about the Tuesday primary election results also ABC's Jim Ryan on how many Americans use marijuana on a daily basis

This episode sponsored by Sweapblock. Big meeting, first date, summer wedding, and your sweat wants to make it memorable for the wrong reason? Try Sweeplock. Sweat block is doctor-created, dermatologist recommended, and made for excessive sweating and odor on underarms, hands, feet, face, and body. Their max clinical antiperspirant wipes can stop sweat for up to seven days per application, and Sweat Block has more than 20,000 five-star reviews. Go to sweatblock.com. That's sweatblock, sW-E-A-T-B-L-O-C-K dot com. Shop sweatblock today and get free U.S. shipping on orders of $30, plus a 100-day money-back guarantee. K-O-A, an high-heart radio station. Guaranteed human. 5 o'clock Wednesday morning on Colorado's morning news, 8.50 a.m. 94.1 FM and on the Iheart radio app. Good morning. I'm Gina Gondack. Fox 31 pinpoint weather. Heating back up today. Plenty of sunshine and our high temperature should be reaching the mid-80s. Overnight low back into the mid-50s and then returning to the 90s tomorrow, upper 90s by Friday. Similar pattern of what we've seen in the past couple of weeks. Right now we're at 55 degrees in Denver. We begin with a new firefight right here in Colorado, which is sending people out of their homes. This one in Jackson County, just east of Steamboat Springs. Firefighters are calling it the Indian Creek Fire. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office says it started north of Kremlin around seven last night. Emergency authorities ordered mandatory evacuations for homes south of Highway 14 as firefighters drop slurry on the blaze. Voluntary evacuation orders are in place for people north of the highway. No word yet on how many acres the fire has burned or how it started. Brenda Stewart, K-O-A. Meanwhile, the Aspen Acres fire burning in Pueblo and Custer counties is now 71% contained. That fire has burned nearly 102,000 acres, and destroyed 850 buildings, including more than 300 homes. It's not the fires burning in our state creating our poor air quality right now. Fox 31 meteorologist Alden German says the smoke is actually coming from the wildfires burning in the Pacific Northwest and in Utah. And our recent cool front has not helped. We're still going to be in a position where we can see some fairly dense smoke in our skies from Wednesday and even into Thursday when it's likely going to get a little bit worse again. Ozone concentrations will be moderate to unhealthy for sensitive groups today. Eight firefighters from Aurora Fire Rescue heading to Washington State to help battle the wildfires near Spokane. The worst one has burned more than 115,000 acres and is only about 5% contained. The crews are taking two type 6 wildland fire engines, also known as brush trucks. Once they arrive, the firefighters will begin a 14-day assignment on the fire line. Those who've lost their homes in Spokane have gone from being sad to being angry. After a 37-year-old man was arrested for starting one of the wildfires there, Chelsea Riley's parents lost everything. You know, you could make sense of it when it was an act of God somehow, but now that it's arson, someone did this to our family. That's hard to wrap our brains around.

Aaron Faranachi was arrested by a SWAT team after a witness saw him acting suspiciously near where the old trails fire began on Saturday. He's being held on a million dollar bond. CDOT working to cut down on the number of deadly crashes in Douglas and Jefferson counties with some high-tech warning signs. CEDAWRES recently completed installations of these conflict warning systems across the Denver metro area. So four intersection locations in Jefferson and Douglas. County can now see this technology implemented. C dots, Maddie Garbelitis says crews are finishing up the work on the warning systems on Highway 74 at Kerr Galsh, Highway 83 at Gillian Avenue, and Russellville Road intersections, and on Highway 86 at Deerfield Road. You'll see the flashing signs alerting you to traffic at those locations. Former Vice President Mike Pence will soon be a faculty member at Colorado Christian University. Mike Pence will hold lectures and classroom discussions and work with students once a month on the Colorado Christian campus. He'll be teaching constitutional government, public policy, and leadership. Prior to becoming the vice president from 2017 to 2021, he served as the 50th governor of Indiana and was in the House of Representatives for six years. Rob Dawson, K-O.A. President Trump says a deal to reopen the Strait of Ormoos and Dean Newcomb. Iran could soon come as soon as today. It comes after negotiations with Iran continued until late last night. He says a confrontation with Iran was long overdue. This should have been done by other presidents for 50 years. You know, you keep here at 47, but that's been for three years now. It's been over 50 years. Other presidents or other countries should have been able to do this. And I did something that I had to do because if they had a nuclear weapon, this whole world would be a different place. The president is not commenting on allegations that at least 12 states reported cyber attacks against their water systems that may be linked to Iran. There have been no reports of any disruptions to water supplies or wastewater treatments so far. Minnesota was the first state to report the attacks last week. A man from California under arrest after being found scoping out Trump's National Golf Club in California. Federal agents say Janine John Talley is facing charges after he was spotted suspiciously walking the grounds at Trump National Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdez, California. The 38-year-old was busted Sunday days ahead of President Trump's planned visit to the course for a fundraiser. Investigators say Taley had a loaded pistol and a 16-round magazine. They add he was taking pictures. at the golf course and an apparent effort to monitor security activities ahead of the president's arrival. Tom Graham, Fox News. They're still counting the votes from a key primary race in Michigan. We knew that this was going to be a close race. And that's exactly what we've got. Moderate Democrat Haley Stevens running for Senate and facing off against progressive Abdul El-Sayed. Money out of? Money in your Medicare. Medicare for? All right, y'all, look, I wish I could tell you that I was declaring victory right about now. Turns out it takes a long time to count some votes in Michigan. The race is not only critical for potential control of the Senate, but also seen as a signal for the future of the Democratic Party. The winner will face Republican Mike Rogers in November who's supported by President Trump. And another Trump Act, Congressman John James, defeated billionaire Perry Johnson in the governor's race in Michigan.

Ohio Congressman Max Miller refuses to suspend his re-election campaign over domestic abuse allegations, even after getting a phone call from the president. I reminded him of the same resilience that he had when people told him that he was going to struggle in 2016 and he became the 45th president of the United States. Miller is now the focus of a congressional ethics investigation. And a piece of SpaceX rocket is expected to slam into the moon overnight near Einstein crater at around seven times the speed of sound. This will mark the second known time that a piece of space debris has crashed into the moon. SpaceX launching the five-ton falconine rocket in January of 2025, carrying the firefly aerospace Blue Ghost 1 and a resilience lunar landers. After successfully completing the mission, it ran out of fuel and was not able to return to Earth. From the Common Spirit Health, K-O-A news desk, I'm Tina Kotek on K-O-A. Ken and Nixon joining us with the latest check of business and money news as all that glitters. It's not gold. Season ticket holders could be forced to shell out thousands if they want to keep those seats in the new Broncos Stadium. The Broncos said they wouldn't ask for public dollars in the new stadium project, but there is another way for them to cover the billions of dollars to build that stadium, tapping into personal seat licenses or PSLs. A PSL is a one-time fee giving fans the right to purchase season tickets. It could cost thousands of dollars. Fans in Buffalo who wanted to keep their season tickets in the new stadium had to pay between 2,500 at 5. $50,000 with the PSL varying based on seat location. The bills have raised around $260 million from PSLs and still need fans to buy those tickets. Broncos President DeMani Leach says the team is still considering PSLs, but nothing has been decided yet. He did add that PSLs, quote, are likely. The project is expected to be complete for the 2031 season and is being privately funded by the team's owners, but the PSLs are a workaround from that. The 11 U.S. cities that hosted the World Cup are looking to FIFA for promised money while Denver might have avoided a financial headache by staying on the sidelines opting to not promise FIFA a blank check. According to the athletic, FIFA promised a $1 million contribution to each of those host cities as seed funding to grow the sport, but it was a verbal promise and not included in the operating contracts. A number of executives in host cities are chasing down those payments from FIFA, but haven't received anything more than two weeks after the final game. Denver was in the running to play host to the World Cup, but reportedly backed out after FIFA informed stakeholders, they would need to front a bulk of the operating costs, all while.

FIFA took home money from tickets, concessions, and even parking at the stadiums. California Democrats are officially backing a ballot measure that would tax the state's wealthiest residents to help fund health care. The state Democratic Party's executive board voted to endorse Proposition 40, which would impose a 5% tax on the net worth of billionaires to help prevent health care cuts, hospital closures, and layoffs. Supporters say the measure would protect essential services while opponents, including Governor Gavin Newsom. Some labor groups and business organizations argue it could drive wealthy residents out of the state and reduce long-term tax revenue. You're up today on the latest business of money news. Taking a look at your early Wednesday morning drive, we head to the KOA Traffic Center and say good morning to you. Happy Wednesday. We're doing pretty well. There is a few lingering construction areas, and one is on Pena coming out of the airport. This is in the area of Jackson Gap, which is past the terminal. There are some slowdowns through there with lane restrictions. Not a real big delay, though. It does open up on the I-70. We're building nicely to the east on I-70 and 225. And, of course, paving operations still continuing down on C-470 in the area right now. of Kipling or just a little bit west of Wadsworth. There is some slowdowns through the area. Just watch for crews there. Be extra careful if you're driving through any kind of work zone. Everything else good. I-25 set to post at speed limit. We'll keep you advised. Jonathan Steele on K-A-8.30am and 94-1 FM.

Well, there were plenty of exciting moments in the second game of the series with Tampa Bay with the Rockies showing fight and erasing a deficit behind some power. Oneiac had a hitter's count to pitch. And he got the pitch he was looking for. Deep to right field just shy of the second deck. Mickey Moniac ties up the game in the bottom of the third, his 19th home run of the year. Zach Goodman on the K-OA Rockies Radio Network. The Rockies had just given Mickey Moniac a two-year contract extension after not trading him on Monday. The deal was worth more than $16 million. This avoids any arbitration talks for the 28-year-old. Well, back to the game. The Rockies came back from down 5 to 1 to take a 7-5 lead to into the top of the 9th, but couldn't get those three outs, giving up two runs. the game to extras, the race ended up taking the win in the 11th, 9 to 7, manager Warren Schaefer. I thought that that game was a, I mean, that was a great battle, great baseball battle back and forth. A lot of really good things in that game. The bounce back after we gave up a five spot and put up a four spot and then Gabe throwing up a zero after that. The Rockies and Ray's finished the series today. K-O-A coverage starts at 1230. And the high school football season is unofficially kicking off. 20 teams from around the state are taking part in Media Day at Empower Field at Mile High. Defending 3A state champion Pomona quarterback and Wyoming commit, Tucker Carlson Ingersoll says he has something to prove. I think that I'm without a doubt one of the best quarterbacks in the state of Colorado. The Colorado High School football season officially kicks off with week zero games Thursday, August 20th. Connor Shreve, K-O-A. And the countdown to the start of the college football season continues today with the release of the preseason. and coaches poll. Ohio State opens the campaign atop the rankings, followed by Oregon, Georgia, Texas, and Notre Dame, rounding at that top five. Raining national champion, Indiana is slotted sixth. The SEC leads all conferences with nine teams in the poll, followed by the Big Ten with eight, Big Twelve with four, and the ACC with three. Colorado was left out of the top 25. I'm Keenan Dixon on K-O-A, Home of the Buffs, Broncos, and Rockies in K-O-A sports today after the Rockies game. Colorado's morning news. K-O-A news time 517. The three-month lockout continues for workers at a meat packing plant in Fort Morgan. This is after union members voted to reject Cargill's latest contract offer, arguing that they deserve more. Details of the contract have not been released, and both sides will have to continue discussing wage and benefit demands. Over 1,700 meat packers at Cargill have been off the job since May 20th. And at last reported, still no arrests have been made after an illegal street takeover on South Broadway and Denver over the weekend. Videos showed vehicles screeching tires doing donuts and burnouts on the intersection Friday night and into Saturday, even launching fireworks on the roadway. Police Chief Ron Thomas says they're still examining evidence. And while officers did take down license plate information, they chose to take no action on the night of the takeover in the interest of public safety.

Coming up a recap of last night's primary elections, what races may still be too close to call. Next. A look at your Wednesday morning drive first with Jonathan Steele and the K-A traffic center. Yeah, a little bit of a delay coming out of the airport at this hour on Peña near Jackson Gap or past the terminal and approaching E470. We've got some delays developing there, some backups that actually will cost you a few extra minutes. And then heading back to I-70 does look good. I-70 from Pena West, back to I-25's 10 minutes. 270's building nicely. We'll start to see those ramps. I-76-270 backing up here in a little bit. so good on I-25, though, coming in from Thornton and North Glen, Boulder Turnpike, just less than 25 minutes from Denver to Boulder. 6th Avenue looks good out of Lakewood and C470. It's not too bad. There are some slowdowns all due to that paving operation in the area of Kipling. It seems to be the westbound side this morning. Watch for the slowing and the crew still working there. Jonathan Steele on K-A-8.50am and 94-1 FM. This episode sponsored by Sweeplock. Big meeting. First date. Summer Wedding. And your sweat wants to make it memorable, for the wrong reason? Try sweatblock. Sweatblock is doctor-created, dermatologist recommended, and made for excessive sweating and odor on underarms, hands, feet, face, and body. Their max clinical antiperspirant wipes can stop sweat for up to seven days per application, and sweatblock has more than 20,000 five-star reviews. Go to sweatblock.com. That's sweatblock, sW-E-A-T-B-L-O-C-K.com. Swetblock.com. Shop sweatblock today and get free U.S. shipping on orders of $30, plus a 100-day money-back guarantee. K-OA news time 519. Jada got on Colorado's morning news. We knew that this was going to be a close race, and that's exactly what we've got. All right, y'all, look, I wish I could tell you that I was declaring victory right about now. Turns out it takes a long time to count some votes in Michigan. The results in from the Tuesday primary elections in five states, but some races still too close to call. In Michigan's Senate race, progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed holds a slight lead over moderate representative, Haley Stevens, in that high-stakes battle to face Republican Representative Mike Rogers in November's general election. Joining us with more is on the K-OA Commons Spirit Health hotline is ABC News Deputy Political Director Ben Siegel. Ben, appreciate your time this morning. focusing on that Michigan Senate race from what you've seen so far, is it going as expected or has anything really surprised you in these results so far? There's been a little bit of surprise in the margin here. It's still too close to a race to call. About 95% of the vote has been counted. But for weeks, progressives have been talking about a blowout. They had released polling internal polls to suggest that this would be a double-digit victory for Abdul El-Sayed. And from what we've seen right now, that will not be the case. Just about 20,000 votes separating El-Syad and the moderate congresswoman Daley Stevens in that race.

So the expectations game, I think, was a bit mishandled by progressives here, and it does actually raise some questions, you know, about how competitive this race will be in November with Mike Rogers, even in what seems like a favorable political environment. Poor Democrats, after all, this is a state Donald Trump won twice. Yeah, looking at that matchup in November, whoever wins in this Democratic race, is it too close to call of what it could look like in that matchup? Or is it going to be just as tight as what we're seeing on the Democratic side when we deal with the November election with Congressman Rogers? You know, it sounds like a cliche, but it all comes down to turnout, specifically who is in the electorate, which voters turn out. Abdul El-Sayed did very well last night because he really supercharged his base of highly advocated progressive voters in places like Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Grand Rapids, where there are a lot of voters with college degrees. But he did not do as well in rural areas of the state. in Wayne County, Detroit, outside of Detroit, with black voters and likely older black voters. Stevens performed better there. So it does call on the question, you know, who shows up in November? You know, do progressive show out in big numbers in places like Ann Arbor in the big cities? Or do some semblance of the Trump coalition, the rural voters, the less college educated voters, do they show up for Mike Rogers? in a way that will maybe blunt the Democrats' momentum. So it all does come out to whose base shows up, who's the more motivated to vote. And there may be some people who are motivated to vote against El Cyan compared to Stevens. So a big question going into November. Yeah, Ben, let's stick with Michigan here because it looks like this governor's race, Democratic Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, Republican Representative John James. What are some of the takeaways you see in this? Because I'm originally from Michigan, and both of these names have... name recognition for me, but it's also the fact that Guy Benson has been highly criticized for her support of our data centers and James has the support of President Trump, which might make some moderate Republicans not feel comfortable with that. So are we going to see a pretty tight matchup for Michigan's governor? Yeah, I mean, this will be a fascinating thing to watch for all those reasons. I do wonder, you know, to what extent will tariffs and the president's trade policy come into play, a backlash over the war in Iran? Is a candidate who's in lockstep with the president with his endorsement, you know, is that going to hurt him, given, you know, the political environment and people's sort of discontent right now with the country? But it also raises some fascinating questions. You mentioned James. You know, he would look to be, you know, a Republican governor, one of the, you know, one of, if not the only black Republican governor in the country. And, you know, how does he reach out to voters? And what does that do, especially if these results hold on the Senate race with Abdul El-Sayed, you know, underperforming Stevens in majority black counties?

and town. So that'll just set up another fascinating dynamic. Maybe there's some room for James to grow there, even in this environment. But Guy Benson is probably still favored just because of, again, that environment, the economy of the war to run. But data centers are also such a resonant issue. Let's look at Missouri real quick. The first district, a pretty interesting upset or a rematch and a defeat that we saw with Missouri's first district. Yeah, I think that was an interesting matchup. Another progressive moment, Congresswoman Cori Bush, the former member looking to reclaim her seat from centress Wesley Bell, a moderate who was backed by resources associated with APAC, the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel group. He supports closer ties with Israel. That was a major issue for progressives. But Bell still won his re-election in a quite commanding way. And this was a, you know, a blemish on the record tonight for the, excuse me, on Tuesday night for the progressive movement, for the, for the DSA, Democratic Socialist crowd, Bell, coming out with a victory there in Missouri's district in St. Louis. Ben, in wrapping up with you, any other races really stood out from last night in any of the states that we saw? I think it's all about the Senate race in Michigan. That is the big race. Also, Michigan 7th District. This is a swing seat. The progressive candidate won there. Well, that district make it harder for Democrats to flip because of that result. This is one of the most competitive seats in the country. ABC News, Deputy Political Director, it's Ben Siegel. Ben, thanks for your time this morning. Appreciate it. Thanks. Taking a look at your early Wednesday morning drive with Jonathan Steele and the K-A traffic center. Yeah, it still looks pretty good for us. I'm not seeing any delays down on C-470. The crews may have already started picking up cones down there. Pena's still running a little heavy coming out of the airport. That's a project that started up this morning. It was causing delays. It is just a little slow. Highway 85 and 112, starting to see backups through that intersection. But I-76 does look good from that point, heading back to I-25 and just a little bit of a glitch. developing on the southbound 25 ramp to eastbound 270. It is backing up a little bit. So it may take a few extra minutes there, although 270 is only about six or maybe seven minutes getting through Commerce City both directions. Jonathan Steele on K-O-A-8.50am and 94-1 FM. Good Wednesday morning. Gina contact on Colorado's morning news, 8.50 a.m., 94-1 FM and on the IHeart radio app. Fox 31 pinpoint weather. Our cool, spite of weather is pretty much over today as our high temperature. We'll be back into the mid-80s this afternoon. Overnight low will be dipping down into the mid-50s, climbing back into the 90s come tomorrow and Friday. Right now we're at 55 degrees in Denver. So those warming temperatures and stronger winds prompting red flag warnings today for central Colorado, including in Jackson County, where a new wildfire as prompted evacuation orders. Everyone living here ironclad mountain along County Road 53 was ordered out of their homes last night as fire crews brought into plane and helicopter to drop slurry on the flames. Now, people who live near Highway 14 west of County Road 53 have been warned to pack up their essentials and get ready to leave if the fire spreads. There are no reports of any buildings lost so far, but firefighters say it's...

burning in a heavily wooded area, so it's tough to gauge just how large the fire is. Sam Spack, K-O-A. The smoke that you're seeing and breathing in, actually, coming from the wildfires burning in Washington State and in Utah. That smoke expected to linger into the metro area for the next few days, and don't expect any rain to really help clear the air anytime soon. We have no rain in the forecast for your Wednesday, and that's the same statewide. So once the storms to the south and east wrap up, then we build in some clouds in the mountains, but no showers are in. anything to track there. Just some passing afternoon clouds looks to be it. Fox 31 chief meteorologist Dave Frazier says the fire danger in the metro area and in the mountains will only get worse as temperatures climb back into the 90s. A Colorado bank raising money to help the families of the firefighters who were injured or killed while fighting the Snyder Fire near the Colorado, Utah border. Alpine Bank has started a fund for the families of Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson, Sidney Watson, and Nathan Matthews, who died while fighting the fire. Money from the fund will also go to the fifth firefighter who was injured. They've collected about $240,000 so far. Colorado fire crews stretched thin, but that's not stopping some departments from sending crews to other states to battle their wildfires. Now eight firefighters from Aurora Fire Rescue are heading to Washington to help battle the Sin Lahican fire, about 180 miles northwest of Spokane. A wildfire has burned more than 150,000 acres and is 5% contained. The crews are taking two type 6 wildland fire engines, also known as brush trucks. Once they arrive, the firefighters will begin a 14-day-a- assignment on the fire line. Carrie Mack, K-O-A. A climber recovering after falling at least 50 feet onto a rock ledge on the Little Bear Peak to Blanca Peak in the San Grades-Cristo Mountains on Sunday. The Colorado Army National Guard had to be called in because of the steep terrain. The climber suffered a compound fracture and other injuries, but is expected to recover. Denver police are asking any witnesses to come forward and share photos and videos of that street takeover involving drag racers blocking traffic near the intersection of Broadway and Mississippi Saturday night. Authorities responded to the scene. This witness says that they cleared everything pretty quickly. It was really crazy. In a matter of seconds, the intersection was silent. Like it was like nothing had ever happened. Denver police say drivers who are identified could face public news and citations and possible jail time. Denver changing the way it deals with run-down abandoned homes across the city. They're implementing stricter fines and using a new enforcement system to address problem properties. Community planning and development administrator Jim Hicks says the changes are long overdue. City Council wanted to implement enhancements to the neglected and derelict properties program by hastening the process. The goal is to make sure properties comply with city codes more quickly and don't remain long-term nuisances for neighboring residents. Primary night proving to be a real test for progressive insurgents who campaigned against the war in Iran and American military funding for Israel. In a blistering attack after a loss, Missouri progressive, Cori Bush slammed the incumbent Democrats. These bills that come about where we're sending $3.3 billion for war to Israel, we can't just let that go and nobody say anything about it.

Israel also factoring into the Michigan Senate race where progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has a slight lead over moderate Haley Stevens before the polls closed. Michigan officials warned it could be a long night. Hundreds of thousands of absentee votes had to be counted. The winner will face Republican Mike Rogers in November who's supported by President Trump. We have a responsibility to assure that we unite. to make sure that Mike Rogers never sees the inside of the U.S. Senate. Another Trump-acted Congressman John James defeated billionaire Perry Johnson in the governor's race. Still no deal on reopening the straight-of-war moves, but President Trump still insists that a deal is imminent. What happened? Tomorrow is the next day. A lot of progress has been made. He says talks with Iran and Oman lasted late into the night. And a former vice president, Mike Pence, switching from politics to teaching. He's joining the faculty of Colorado Christian University for the 2026-27 academic year. He'll hold lectures and classroom discussions and work with students once a month on the CCU campus. He'll be teaching constitutional government, public policy, and leadership. From the Commons Spirit Health, K-O-A news desk, I'm Tina Kotek on KOA. Let's take a look at your business and money news with Kenan Dixon this morning. And Keenan, everything's getting more expensive, but artists are Trying to make it cheaper. Yeah, some artists are making tickets cheaper than a drink at a show. Coldplay is one of those groups, creating what they call infinity tickets, selling those seats for around $25 on their current tour. They want to make their shows more accessible and affordable for people. Olivia Rodriguez is following suit, creating the Silver Star tickets, which go for just $20. Charlie XX is also running a similar promotion on her upcoming tour. There aren't a ton of these tickets available for shows, but Live Nation says it's enough to... make an impact for fans. Ticket prices for concerts continue to rise, especially on third market sites. If you can't get in on the artist's pre-sale, the cheapest ticket going for Noah Kahn's show on Saturday in Denver at Corsefield. $389. Am I close? Did I get it? It's about there, $3.50. Because I've been staring at that one ticket. Step-up fees and everything. Yeah, that's exactly what it is. So not uncommon for these major artists playing in stadiums to have to shell out hundreds of dollars to go see them play. And season ticket holders. For the Broncos could be forced to shell out thousands of dollars if they want to see the Broncos play in the new stadium. The Broncos said they would not ask for public dollars in the new stadium project, but there's another way for the team to cover the billions of dollars to build the stadium, tapping into personal seat licenses or PSLs. A PSL is a one-time fee giving fans the right to purchase season tickets. It could cost thousands of dollars. Fans in Buffalo who wanted to keep their season tickets had to pay between $2,500,000. With PSLs varying on seat location.

The bills have raised around $260 million from PSLs and still need fans to buy those tickets. Broncos President DeMani Leach says the team is still considering PSLs, but nothing has been decided yet. He did add that PSLs, quote, are likely. The project is expected to be completed for the 2031 season and is being privately funded by the team's owners, but the PSLs are a workaround to fund that. California Democrats are officially backing a ballot measure that would tax the state's wealthiest residents to help fund health care. The state Democratic Party's executive board voted to endorse Proposition 40, which would impose a 5% tax on the net worth of billionaires to help prevent health care cuts, hospital closures, and layoffs. Supporters say the measure would protect essential services, while opponents, including Governor Gavin Newsom, some labor groups and business organizations argue it could drive wealthy residents out of California and reduce long-term tax revenue. You're up to date on the latest business of money news. Jonathan Steele joining us with a look at our drive from the K-OA traffic center. Yeah, still quiet. We're seeing a little more traffic forming on the road, especially to the north, high 25 down from Thornton, still seeing that hang up on the ramp, getting on to 270 there from southbound 25. And it looks like 270 also around Vasquez is just slightly slow. There's still some construction lingering on Peña coming out of the airport. This is kind of near E470 or approaching anyway. It's on the southbound side coming out of the airport, so maybe a... slight delay there. Other than that, we're still wide open on I-25 to the south. In fact, between downtown of the Tech Center, 10 minutes on your drive time. C-470 looks good, too. It's about 15 minutes between Ken Carroll and I-25. Jonathan Steele on K.A. 8.50 a.m. and 94.1 FM.

Well, Jalen Wattle is settling into the Broncos offense as training camp continues. You've probably seen the clips of his one-handed catches during drills at camp. But what we don't see is the chemistry being built between the new Broncos wide receiver and quarterback Bo Nix. Oh, man, Bo's great. Last week he's seen me thinking about the plays. And you kind of just walked up to me and said, hey, bro, don't think just play. I got you. He's been having me. So, yeah, man, I love ball. The Broncos open the season in Kansas. City Week 1. The countdown to the start of the college football season continues today with the release of the preseason coaches poll. Ohio State opens the campaign on top of the rankings, followed by Oregon, Georgia, Texas, and Notre Dame rounding out the top five. Raining national champion, Indiana is slotted sixth. The SEC leads all conferences with nine teams in the poll, followed by the Big 10 with 8, the Big 12 with 4, and the ACC with 3. Colorado not included in the top 25. There were plenty of exciting. moments in the second game of the series with the Rockies and Rays, with Colorado showing some fight and erasing a deficit behind some power. Oniak had a hitter's count to pitch. And he got the pitch he was looking for. Deep to right field just shy of the second deck. Mickey Moniac ties up the game in the bottom of the third, his 19th home run of the year. Zach Goodman on the K-O-A Rockies Radio Network. The Rockies had just given Mickey Moniac a two-year-contract extension after not trading him on Monday. The deal was worth more than $16 million and avoids arbitration talks for the 28-year-old. In the game, the Rockies came back down 5 to 1 to take a 7-5 lead at the top of the ninth inning, but couldn't get those three outs, giving up two runs and going into every. extras. The Rays ended up taking the win in the 11th inning, 9 to 7. Manager Warren Schaefer, always positive. I thought that that game was a, I mean, that was a great battle, great baseball battle back and forth. A lot of really good things in that game. The bounce back after we gave up a five spot and put up a four spot and then gave throwing up a zero after that. The Rockies and Rays finished the series today. K-O-A coverage starts at 1230. I'm Kenan Dixon on K-O-A. Home of the Buffs, Broncos and Rockies and K-O-A sports today after the Rockies game. Colorado's morning news. KOA news time 547. Investigators are still trying to track the source of cyber attacks on water systems throughout the U.S. Federal officials now fear as many as 12. Additional states may have had water and wastewater utilities compromised in these cyber attacks. Iran remains the prime suspect, but federal officials are still trying to figure out if it was indeed Iran or maybe some other state actor mimicking how Iran would go about doing this kind of a hack in order to provoke some kind of a response from the United States. That's ABC's Aaron Kutterski. Todd Blanche's nomination to be the next U.S. Attorney General clears a major hurdle in the Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12 to 10 along party lines advancing his nomination.

The Denver Public School Board will not be holding another special meeting today to discuss the future of Superintendent Alex Marrero. The board's secretary said there wasn't enough support for a second meeting to review Marrero's contract and job status. Several board members were pushing for further discussion after last month's meeting ended with no action against Marrero. Coming up, move over cigarettes and alcohol. A new study shows the substance used the most every day. We'll have that report in just a minute. Taking a look at your Wednesday morning drive first. Let's go to the K-OA Traffic Center with Jonathan Steele. Yeah, it's shaping up pretty well for us. We're not dealing with any problems here early on. A little increase in volume levels, 270, both directions out of Commerce City. North End I-25 down from about the Thornton Parkway sluggish. Now we are seeing the hang up on that ramp to 270, so that's slowing every. everything down. I-76 a little bit busier into I-25 also. East Side by 70 is doing pretty well. Pena, of course, we do have some construction this morning just coming out of the terminal area. It's approaching E470, so it is slow there. It's not like a real big delay. 225 is about a 10-minute commute out of Aurora and everything else still building in great shape. Jonathan Steele on K.A. 8.50 a.m. and 94.1 FM. K-O-A news time 549. Gina contact on Colorado's morning news, daily marijuana use now surpassing cigarette use in the U.S. that according to the 2025 national survey on drug use and health. Joining us on the K-OA Commons Spirit Health hotline with more is ABC News National correspondent. It's Jim Ryan. Jim, appreciate your time. As always, we'll give us some of these other statistics or maybe some of the biggest takeaways in this new data because personally I thought, okay, yeah, marijuana use definitely. on the rise. I could see that, but daily marijuana use surprised me a little bit. Yeah, it is. And a rising number of people are using marijuana daily. This all comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. survey. That's a dot-gov. It's a government agency that puts these figures together, the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. And yeah, it finds that among people 12 and up last year, 56% used tobacco. They vaped nicotine. They used alcohol, used an illicit drug in the past month, including 44% who drank alcohol. So alcohol, Gina, is still the drug of choice, if you will, among Americans. When we look at the marijuana users, I was kind of surprised to see that 19.9 million people who smoke cigarettes, 17.2 million who consumed alcohol. I know that cigarette number, I assume is just cigarettes. Do we have a number when it comes to vaping and nicotine products overall? Because I feel like that would surpass marijuana. Yeah, it does. Well, yeah, I think you're right. And the vaping of nicotine, that's really the preferred use of that anymore because of cigarette taxes, because of smoking bans indoors, public awareness campaigns. Smoking numbers, you know, actual lighting up a cigarette, those numbers have been going down for some time, a couple of decades, really. But the number of people who are vaping nicotine, that number continues to rise. Is it reached the smoking level yet? Not yet. But interestingly, at least according to...

this survey, more people statistically are using marijuana than are smoking now, are lighting up and smoking cigarettes, which is amazing, you know, that we've surpassed that number. So, yeah, I think part of it has to do with legalization all over the country and so many parts of the country or decriminalization in some places where marijuana is still technically illegal. Jim, do we see specifics when it comes to an age range? I know you said 12 and up, which is shocking to go as low as 12 when it comes to that illicit drug use. But is it the young adults that are using marijuana most daily? It is, yes. It's people in that 15 to 35 group who are more inclined to use marijuana. Yeah, that number has continued to rise, and it does break it down. But 12 is kind of the lower age if they'd ask kids younger than that if they're using substances. Some would probably say yes, but they started this gauge at age 12. But yeah, when you look at that group, that's sort of that middle group, the 25 to 35 group, those are the ones most inclined to use. marijuana or THC in some form. Maybe one of the biggest changes that we've seen with marijuana use is a lot of people thought of it as a party drug or a hangout, pass it around kind of drug. But it seems like maybe the rise and the daily users might be those that say, well, it helps it with a medical condition of some sorts. Well, right, or they're substituting alcohol for marijuana, right? Whereas you used to get home and have a cocktail or have a drink, Don Draper style. Now people go home and light up a joint, you know, or use some other drug. But, yeah, and 52% of people in a separate survey from Modern Health, this was published there, more than 52% say they've used those substances while on the job, Gina. So it's not just something they're doing when they get home. Well, on the job. On the job. I can't say that I could do this job if I was using any substance, honestly. I don't think that's something that I'd like to say. Let's hope that it's not air traffic controllers or physicians or, you know, surgeon, somebody like that. But, yeah, 52%. Wow. ABC News National Correspondent. It's Jim Ryan. Thanks, Jim. See you, Gina. Wrap it up the show here on Colorado's morning news. Ross, today we're talking in our social media poll question, PSLs, which I've always known as pumpkin spice lattes. Is that the thing you check when you're seeing if you have prostate cancer? No, that's PSA. I never mind. You would know. Yeah. No. PSLs. What is it? I've always known them as pumpkin spice lattes, but they're personal seat licenses. Oh, yeah. We probably don't know them because the Broncos. Don't have them. But they're talking about them. Yeah. So I'm asking, and you have to like take your role of being at K-OA and being on the sideline out of the picture. Let's see you're a season ticket holder.

And you know that you're going to pay possibly thousands of dollars, but you are funding the brand new stadium. You're sitting in our brand new, awesome Burnham Yard Stadium, retractable roof anytime the snow is just coming down on you or it's negative degrees. Are you willing, or maybe just your thoughts on if PSLs are worth it? And on X, I say hate it because it's too expensive. Wish it could be avoided or fine because other teams do it. Because a majority of the teams have PSLs in some capacity. I think I'd be in the middle category. Wish it could be avoided. And look, I don't own season tickets, but I could imagine that. And it just feels a little. I don't know. Jamming their hand a little too far into the pocket saying you have to give us thousands of dollars for the right to give us thousands more dollars. I feel like it's a little much. I don't know. I mean, I got to say, and I think you mentioned this because I was listening to you on my drive-in. that they're not using taxpayer money. They're not asking for any taxpayer money for the stadium, which is fantastic. And I don't know what the economics of it are. Do they really, you know, need PSLs to make it work? What are people saying? And what do you think? It's obviously a majority are saying hate it too expensive, but then kind of saying wish it could be avoided and other teams doing it a little separated with all of them right now because I think some people know that. Yeah, someone did say, don't say that you're going to pay for it and then drop the tab on the fans. Yeah. Because that's one big thing too. For me, I'm a little concerned because sometimes PSLs can also mean that season ticket holders have first dibs on other events that happen at the stadium, including concerts. Wow. So sometimes season ticket holders get those concert tickets. And if they say, well, I don't feel like going to ACDC. I'm just going to put them back up. And maybe I just paid thousands of dollars for my PSL. So I'm going to try to double the price and make some of my money back. Right. So it's kind of like you've got a claim on the seat rather than a claim on a season ticket for football games. Yep. Yeah, that's super interesting. I never thought about it. In a way, it's kind of like if you more of a mindset if you had a suite at ball arena. And even though you're really going for the hockey games or the basketball games, oh, there's a concert, I'll go to that too. Yeah, very, very interesting. Yeah, I don't know. And as far as, you know, dumping the tab on the fans. The tab is always dumped on the fans. That's the whole purpose of the business is to dump the tab on the fans. Because if there weren't fans that you could dump the cost on, you wouldn't be in that business at all. And I don't think anybody's going to say, a couple thousand. I'll just let go of my season tickets. No, but you said something like it could be tens of thousands. Yeah. So would that be like a super high PSL if you're trying to get, you know, the most expensive season ticket?

Yeah, man, I don't know. I don't know. I'm torn between thinking I get it and it feels a little abusive. We'll see, though. We'll see how it all plays out. I'm sure they're listening to all of it. Gina and I have a ton of stuff to do today. We're going to talk about the Michigan primaries and even more detail than Gina's done already. We're going to talk about investing in AI and lots more stuff. Keep it here. Ross on the news with Gina.