In this episode of the OutThere Colorado Podcast, Spencer chats about how Colorado voted during the recent election period (including on the mountain lion ban and weed sales in Colorado Springs), a major motion picture that was filmed in Colorado, wolf movement, a notable snowstorm, a new rule for drivers, the potential for another Buc-ee's, and more.
[00:00:00] Welcome to the OutThere Colorado Podcast. I'm your host, Spencer McKee. Today it's just me in our Colorado Spring Studio. Hopefully Seth will be back on the mic next week. That said, a lot of stuff happening in Colorado, so I wanted to get you some quick news headlines from around the state.
[00:00:16] First thing I wanted to chat about today was the recent election that took place. Obviously Trump won the presidential election on a national scale. That said, in Colorado, Kamal ended up accounting for about 54% of the vote to Trump's 43% of the vote. County by county, the state was as purplish as ever.
[00:00:39] Trump ended up winning 41 counties, at least with the votes they've tallied so far. So that's about 64% of the 64 counties in Colorado. Kamala looks like she's going to win about 23 of the counties, about 35%.
[00:00:55] There were a couple counties that were like surprisingly very, very close. So one of those counties was Grand County. The latest projection has Trump winning in that county by a single percent.
[00:01:06] Grand County being home to places like Winter Park, Grand Lake, Granby, I believe Kremlin as well. So interesting stuff there. Also Garfield County, which includes Glenwood Springs.
[00:01:19] Harris ended up, or it looks like she's going to win that county by about 1.5%. So very, very close races, so to speak, in those two counties specifically. Easy to see how the people in those counties are very divided on who they want the next president to be.
[00:01:37] In terms of what counties kind of went the most for Trump, in terms of support, a lot of those counties on the eastern plains were really heavily red.
[00:01:48] Cheyenne County, for example, 88% of the people in that county voted Trump compared to Harris's 10%.
[00:01:56] Meanwhile, a lot of Harris' votes came from kind of that Denver metro area, as well as some of the ski country or ski county communities, ski country.
[00:02:06] Yeah, ski country communities, Eagle County, Pitkin County, some of the counties down by Telluride.
[00:02:13] Harris got her largest share in Boulder County, which I think a lot of people might expect.
[00:02:18] She got 79% of the vote there to Trump's 19%.
[00:02:22] And yeah, like I said, looking at the map, you kind of see blue support, we'll say, in this Denver metro area, and then kind of west on I-70.
[00:02:35] Also including places like Chafee County, which is home to Buena Vista.
[00:02:40] Also including Lake County, which is home to Leadville.
[00:02:43] And then you also see that support down in southwestern Colorado, kind of in those more mountainous communities.
[00:02:49] While the very most southwestern county in Colorado, Montezuma County, did go red.
[00:02:57] Places like San Miguel County, San Juan County, Ure, and La Plata counties all went blue.
[00:03:03] So very much so divided in Colorado in terms of where that support ended up falling.
[00:03:10] But like I said, Kamala won Colorado pretty handedly.
[00:03:15] Meanwhile, Trump won the national election pretty handedly.
[00:03:18] So that's kind of a quick breakdown of how people voted for president in Colorado.
[00:03:23] But I think also kind of very interesting, there were a lot of proposals that were made for various things around the state.
[00:03:31] And the only two that I'm going to really talk about today are proposal 127, which dealt with banning mountain lion hunting.
[00:03:39] And then also kind of what happened in Colorado Springs in terms of recreational marijuana.
[00:03:45] So for starters, the mountain lion hunting ban, proposition 127, didn't pass.
[00:03:51] About 55% of the people in Colorado ended up voting against this.
[00:03:57] A lot of the people that were kind of against this proposal from the start were very concerned about how this ban.
[00:04:07] And it was termed trophy hunting of big cats.
[00:04:10] So that would include mountain lions, bobcats, and lynx in Colorado.
[00:04:14] But they were concerned about how this ban would take the management of these wildlife populations away from Colorado parks and wildlife.
[00:04:23] And then also concerned about how the effects of that could kind of trickle down to a lot of other species in Colorado.
[00:04:32] One being the deer population.
[00:04:34] So if you look at California, they banned mountain lion hunting back in the 1970s.
[00:04:40] Because after that, the California mountain lion population kind of skyrocketed.
[00:04:45] And it's been increasing ever since.
[00:04:48] At least in terms of whenever you kind of zoom out on the graph, right?
[00:04:51] It's been increasing ever since.
[00:04:53] People were concerned that that same thing might happen in Colorado.
[00:04:57] And then also expressing concern about what does that mean if you have these 500, 600 mountain lions a year
[00:05:04] that are killed by hunters killing an additional deer per week each is roughly the average there.
[00:05:12] But an additional deer per week each in Colorado for years to come.
[00:05:18] Just with some napkin math, right?
[00:05:20] That starts off with about 25,000, 26,000 additional deer being killed in Colorado.
[00:05:28] So you can kind of see how that could trickle down to really impact this deer population.
[00:05:35] But yeah, so that won't be something that is a potential concern as of now as this ban on mountain lion hunting was not approved by voters.
[00:05:46] Proponents of that ban, a couple of the key reasons there is they wanted these species to just kind of naturally exist.
[00:05:56] And outside of this human management, additionally, some of the techniques that are used to kill these mountain lions by hunters are deemed as cruel.
[00:06:07] A lot of times dogs are used to essentially tree the cat and then the cats are shot out of the trees.
[00:06:13] Even with that tactic, it's still considered very difficult to hunt a mountain lion.
[00:06:17] I think it's something like 20% of the tags that get handed out to hunters each year actually filled with a kill.
[00:06:23] So a lot of intense back and forth on this topic leading up to the election.
[00:06:29] But I mean, now we know, now we know the result there.
[00:06:34] There were also some issues that were expressed by those that were against this by saying that it was banning trophy hunting.
[00:06:41] Trophy hunting specifically as by definition, right?
[00:06:44] Is banned in Colorado already.
[00:06:46] Anytime a hunter kills an animal, they have to dress that animal for human consumption.
[00:06:51] You can't just go out and kill an animal because you think its head would look good on your wall.
[00:06:56] So that's something that's already banned.
[00:06:57] That's something that a lot of experts in wildlife management kind of took issue with from the start with this proposal.
[00:07:03] Just because using that term trophy hunting, in their opinion, it felt like it would sway a voter one way or another.
[00:07:12] If a voter wasn't educated on the practice of mountain lion hunting in Colorado and how it does exist.
[00:07:20] The other thing I want to chat about in terms of what passed and what did not was kind of this idea of whether or not recreational marijuana should be legally sold in Colorado Springs.
[00:07:33] So obviously marijuana is legal to consume at a statewide level in Colorado, right?
[00:07:43] That's been, I think, about a decade, a little bit more than a decade that's been the case.
[00:07:48] But Colorado Springs has long been a holdout in allowing recreational marijuana sales.
[00:07:54] And while there are medical marijuana sales in Colorado Springs, your average person without that medical marijuana card can't just go to whatever pot shop and buy marijuana, right?
[00:08:06] And this is something that has been voted on multiple times in recent election years.
[00:08:13] And once again, it's kind of up in the air in terms of what this outcome will be.
[00:08:20] And I'll explain why that is here in a second.
[00:08:23] So basically there were two different questions that Colorado Springs voters were asked.
[00:08:30] There was question 300, which was whether or not the city should allow recreational marijuana sales at existing medical marijuana shops, right?
[00:08:41] And then there was question 2D, which would ban, if passed, would ban recreational marijuana sales at the citywide level via the city charter.
[00:08:53] Both passed.
[00:09:23] One vote that says yes to sales and one vote that says no to sales.
[00:09:26] In general, the ban from the city charter level will supersede the approval of recreational marijuana sales in existing medical shops.
[00:09:36] So it looks like recreational marijuana sales aren't coming to Colorado Springs anytime soon.
[00:09:41] There was a little bit of confusion around that as well.
[00:09:47] Essentially, in a breakdown that I was reading from the Colorado Springs Gazette report on it.
[00:09:51] But this question 300, which would have allowed recreational marijuana sales at existing shops was kind of misinterpreted by voters, or at least that's the belief here.
[00:10:04] In that those voters were voting yes to that in the case that recreational marijuana sales were passed so that it would almost restrict these sales to only the existing shops instead of having more recreational marijuana stores popping up.
[00:10:22] So that can kind of explain some of that vote there.
[00:10:27] In general, yeah.
[00:10:28] In general, yeah, it is interesting.
[00:10:29] Like we, you know, I mean, out there Colorado is headquartered in Colorado Springs.
[00:10:34] And yeah, I mean, recreational marijuana sales are not a thing here.
[00:10:40] Kind of, I would say you, you maybe see some of the effects of that.
[00:10:44] You don't see as much marijuana around town compared to a place like Denver, or at least you don't smell the marijuana in the air compared to a place like Denver.
[00:10:52] That being said, though, a lot of Colorado Springs residents, if they really want to buy marijuana, they can just go to Palmer Lake, you know, it's like, which is like 25 minutes north.
[00:11:02] They can go to Manitou Springs, which is literally, you know, butts up against Colorado Springs, essentially.
[00:11:08] Or they go down to Pueblo.
[00:11:09] So, you know, the weed's still there.
[00:11:12] The people that were kind of mad this didn't pass are kind of asking that question of why Colorado Springs doesn't take advantage of the tax dollars and the tax revenue that could come into the city if the city were to allow recreational sales.
[00:11:28] Meanwhile, the people that are against the weed sales in Colorado, and remember, Colorado Springs has a long history of being considered kind of this conservative pocket in the state of Colorado.
[00:11:40] But, I mean, you have people with concerns about the military presence here and whether or not that could create issues there if marijuana is more present.
[00:11:50] You have people that are just, in general, just, they look at Denver and just don't like what they see in Denver, and they are trying to keep Colorado Springs from becoming Denver.
[00:12:01] So, yeah, I mean, you see a lot of opinions both ways on that.
[00:12:05] But, either way, doesn't look like recreational sales will be coming, or recreational marijuana sales will be coming to Colorado Springs anytime soon.
[00:12:13] Apparently, in the future, there could be another vote to reverse this addition to the city charter, and then the residents could vote again on whether or not they want to allow recreational marijuana sales.
[00:12:26] But, yeah, for now, looks like it won't be a possibility.
[00:12:32] A big headline from this week is the snow that's moving into the state.
[00:12:36] We've gotten reports of 16-plus inches landing in pockets of very populated Colorado regions.
[00:12:46] So, the storm that moved into the state this week compared to storms that have happened earlier in this snow season, it really landed in this southern Colorado area, early south of I-70, and then kind of southeastern Colorado area even.
[00:13:04] So, the storms thus far this year have all kind of favored this southwestern region.
[00:13:08] This storm's kind of a switch from that.
[00:13:11] Two of the areas where you saw the biggest impacts, at least thus far, this storm's predicted to keep dumping snow until Saturday morning.
[00:13:18] But two of the areas that you saw some of the biggest impacts thus far is that stretch of I-25 between Castle Rock and Colorado Springs.
[00:13:26] That's one of the spots where we're getting reports of, you know, 16-plus inches.
[00:13:31] Obviously, in early season snow, the drivers aren't ready for it.
[00:13:34] So, that's been causing a bit of chaos there.
[00:13:36] Also, a stretch of I-70 that's east of Denver has faced some closures as well as a stretch that kind of goes west of Denver toward Empire.
[00:13:45] But this stretch east of Denver, some big snow totals have been dumped there.
[00:13:49] So, that's been causing chaos as well.
[00:13:51] I think the report, I'm recording this on Thursday, November 7th.
[00:13:55] So, I think the report from this morning was over 500 miles of roadway in Colorado has been closed due to the snow.
[00:14:02] And like I said, it's not even done yet.
[00:14:05] Colorado Springs is still under a winter storm warning from the National Weather Service until Saturday at like 5 a.m.
[00:14:12] And then, meanwhile, you have this entire stretch of I-25 that's south of Pueblo to Trinidad where they shut down the road in both directions for, I think, 100-plus miles.
[00:14:23] Trinidad, I mean, they still could get two more feet of snow before this thing's done.
[00:14:29] Report from yesterday was showing that up to like four to five feet of snow could land in some of that area like southeast of Trinidad.
[00:14:38] So, absolutely major snowstorm that's unfolding in early season too.
[00:14:43] I mean, first week of November out here on kind of the southern Front Range area.
[00:14:48] One of the most notable takeaways from this storm, I think, is what it does to the snowpack in this part of the state.
[00:14:55] So, the snowpack in this part of the state has been pretty minimal so far, on par with what the median is for the time of the year, so to speak.
[00:15:06] That said, with this most recent round of snow, that has shot up to about 242% of what the normal snowpack is for November 7th.
[00:15:20] With this storm continuing too, I would imagine that this will set an all-time high, at least since data was collected in 1992.
[00:15:30] It'll set a high for the snowpack at this point of the year in this Arkansas River Basin where you have places like Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Trinidad.
[00:15:38] So, that's definitely something that's noteworthy.
[00:15:40] You know, I mean, 32 years, and this could be some record-setting snowfall.
[00:15:48] So, something to watch if you're out on the roads.
[00:15:53] Travel has been described as something that could be impossible.
[00:15:59] Literally a direct quote from the National Weather Service.
[00:16:02] People always think we're exaggerating with these reports, but their direct quote is,
[00:16:07] travel could be very difficult to impossible.
[00:16:10] So, might be a good option to just stay at home instead of hitting the roads, at least through, you know, at least in a Friday night into Saturday morning.
[00:16:21] If you are hitting the roads, make sure you're prepared for some dicey conditions, especially after nightfall when all the snow is just going to kind of freeze on the road.
[00:16:28] So, watch out for that.
[00:16:31] And watch the snow report, the snowpack report.
[00:16:34] Very good year in terms of snowpack for this southeastern portion of Colorado.
[00:16:40] Another thing I wanted to touch on.
[00:16:41] So, I had not really heard much about this movie that's coming out, but it's called Elevation.
[00:16:47] So, maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't.
[00:16:49] But either way, it is set in the Rocky Mountains.
[00:16:51] It's filmed in Golden and Boulder, and it's described as a post-apocalyptic action thriller movie.
[00:16:59] Basically what happens, I think it's three years after some sort of apocalypse, unleashes monsters, etc.
[00:17:07] Across the American landscape or across the world.
[00:17:09] I don't know.
[00:17:10] Haven't seen it yet.
[00:17:11] But these monsters are out, and they're just killing humans everywhere.
[00:17:16] But humans are safe if they are above 8,000 feet of elevation for whatever reason.
[00:17:24] As the story goes, apparently these characters that have been living in this area above 8,000 feet of elevation for three years,
[00:17:33] they have to travel below 8,000 feet of elevation to save a boy.
[00:17:38] I think they're delivering medical supplies or something like that.
[00:17:41] But chaos ensues.
[00:17:43] Film star is Anthony Mackie, who is an actor that most people would recognize.
[00:17:48] I think his best-known role is as Sam Wilson, also known as the Falcon in the Avenger series.
[00:17:54] So, that's kind of notable.
[00:17:55] I believe this movie is coming out in theaters on November 8, I want to say.
[00:18:00] Might be worth checking out.
[00:18:02] Also, it was produced by Brad Fuller, who was involved with A Quiet Place and The Purge.
[00:18:08] Two movies that people seem to like, and they're pretty much household names.
[00:18:13] So, maybe this one will be the next one in his quiver of movies, so to speak, that is a hit.
[00:18:20] So, we'll see.
[00:18:21] But yeah, the movie is called Elevation.
[00:18:23] Check it out.
[00:18:24] I know I will be seeing that in theaters.
[00:18:27] Sounds pretty interesting.
[00:18:29] And I tend to love those post-apocalyptic...
[00:18:32] Post-apocalyptic...
[00:18:33] Post-apocalyptic...
[00:18:34] Can't talk today.
[00:18:35] Need to get a drink of water here real quick.
[00:18:37] But yeah, tend to love those post-apocalyptic thrillers.
[00:18:41] So, another rule change that has come to Colorado and definitely worth chatting about
[00:18:46] because it will impact all Colorado drivers
[00:18:48] is this rule that starts on January 1st
[00:18:52] where you cannot use hands-free devices while you're on the road.
[00:18:57] I.e. cell phones, right?
[00:19:00] That also includes when you're at a stoplight or if you're stopped in traffic.
[00:19:03] So, it's meant to cut down on distracted driving.
[00:19:06] And the penalties for it can actually lead to like a license suspension and hundreds of dollars in fines.
[00:19:12] So, it'll be something where it's, you know, it's maybe worth breaking that habit over.
[00:19:17] I think the last CDOT report on cell phone use among Colorado drivers
[00:19:22] was something like 75% of Colorado drivers report using their phone while they're driving.
[00:19:28] So, something that impacts a lot of people with this rule.
[00:19:32] So, I'm going to break down the penalties for this real quick
[00:19:34] just because it's worth kind of worth chatting about, I think.
[00:19:37] The first violation of this rule, the first citation for breaking this rule
[00:19:42] results in a $75 fine and two license suspension points.
[00:19:47] That said, with this first violation, you're able to get that dismissed
[00:19:50] if you provide proof that you've purchased some sort of a hands-free device
[00:19:54] that will let you not use your handheld device while you're driving in the future.
[00:20:00] The second offense, however, is really where things start to stack up.
[00:20:03] So, if you get a second offense in a 24-month period,
[00:20:07] you're going to pay a $150 fine and get three license suspension points.
[00:20:12] After that, every subsequent offense is a $250 fine and four suspension points.
[00:20:17] So, if you get caught doing this four times,
[00:20:21] you could face a license suspension in Colorado.
[00:20:25] I think the suspension rules are 12 points in a 12-month period
[00:20:28] or 18 points in a two-year period.
[00:20:31] So, I mean, you can see where that would add up.
[00:20:34] So, yeah, something to pay attention while you're on the road,
[00:20:36] and especially on January 1.
[00:20:38] Maybe start getting used to it now.
[00:20:39] Start getting used to not using your phone while you drive.
[00:20:42] I know after we reported on this a little bit,
[00:20:45] but it's been something that's been on my mind
[00:20:47] any time I think about using my phone while I drive.
[00:20:49] So, something to pay attention to.
[00:20:51] You don't want to get all those fines and those license suspension points
[00:20:55] because that would really be a downer to get your license suspended
[00:20:58] simply because you were just using, you were texting while driving, right?
[00:21:03] And something else that's maybe noteworthy with this too
[00:21:06] is it's not just texting using your phone in that communication sense.
[00:21:10] It also includes things like using Google Maps while you're driving.
[00:21:13] So, definitely something to be aware of there.
[00:21:17] There are some exceptions for it if you're reporting an emergency, for example.
[00:21:21] But either way, the best course of action here come January 1st and now.
[00:21:27] You know, no one likes distracted drivers,
[00:21:29] but come January 1st, don't use your phone while you're driving.
[00:21:33] All right, got some wolf news for you.
[00:21:36] We've covered wolves quite a bit on this podcast,
[00:21:39] but it does seem to be a topic that people are interested in.
[00:21:41] So, going to be brief with this one.
[00:21:43] But last month, I think it was the last week of October,
[00:21:48] maybe Wednesday or Thursday,
[00:21:49] a report was released that showed not a lot of wolf movement in Colorado
[00:21:53] compared to the movement that took place in the month prior.
[00:21:57] Basically, it showed that wolves still active, you know,
[00:22:00] in Grand County, Route County, Summit County, I think Larimer County.
[00:22:04] But not a lot of movement.
[00:22:06] That said, this first week of November, a new map was released.
[00:22:11] And this new map shows that wolves have traveled south of I-70
[00:22:15] for the first time since their December 2023 reintroduction, right?
[00:22:19] And these are only the collared wolves that they're tracking.
[00:22:21] Obviously, they can't really track wolves that, you know,
[00:22:25] don't have the collars on.
[00:22:26] But a GPS ping did ping south of I-70 in Lake County.
[00:22:30] So, just chatted a little bit about Lake County,
[00:22:33] but that's in terms of the election.
[00:22:35] But Lake County, home to Leadville, as I said.
[00:22:38] So, that's something that's interesting.
[00:22:39] Wolves are on the move.
[00:22:40] They've gone across I-70.
[00:22:42] So, just something to pay attention there.
[00:22:45] No other really big wolf news from last month to cover.
[00:22:49] But that's definitely something noteworthy people have been asking.
[00:22:52] When are wolves going to cross I-70 for a long time now?
[00:22:54] So, now we have our answer.
[00:22:57] I also wanted to cover the potential for a second Buc-ee's coming to Colorado.
[00:23:03] So, Buc-ee's being an enormous gas station slash convenience store out of Texas
[00:23:12] gets a ton of hype any time a new Buc-ee's opens.
[00:23:16] It has, like, some sort of, like, this cult following, so to speak.
[00:23:19] And, I mean, I went up to Buc-ee's.
[00:23:21] We chatted about it a few episodes ago.
[00:23:22] But I went up to the Buc-ee's when I was coming back from Fort Collins a few weeks ago.
[00:23:27] And, I mean, I wanted to hate it and think it was overrated.
[00:23:31] But I absolutely had a great experience.
[00:23:33] Bought a ton of Buc-ee's merchandise for some reason.
[00:23:39] And bought a lot of food and everything was great.
[00:23:42] So, I mean, I'm a fan of Buc-ee's.
[00:23:44] And this new Buc-ee's that is, it's in the very, very early phases of this, right?
[00:23:50] But this new Buc-ee's that is kind of being, you know, we'll call it felt out, so to speak.
[00:23:59] Investigated.
[00:24:00] Are they going to put a new Buc-ee's in?
[00:24:02] This new Buc-ee's could be coming between Colorado Springs and Denver at Palmer Lake.
[00:24:09] Right off I-25, Palmer Lake.
[00:24:12] Very, very small town.
[00:24:14] Kind of a pretty quiet town.
[00:24:15] I think it has 2,500 residents or so.
[00:24:18] But it's between this highly trafficked, or it's along this highly trafficked stretch of highway.
[00:24:23] So, basically what happened is a developer reached out to the town of Palmer Lake.
[00:24:30] And was trying to feel out if they were able to annex some land to pull it in the city.
[00:24:39] And this land was along County Line Road and I-25.
[00:24:43] So, that's the stage they're at.
[00:24:45] Is this land even usable for Buc-ee's?
[00:24:49] Could they make it work?
[00:24:51] And that question is going to go to the, you know, get citizen feedback.
[00:24:54] And then be voted on whether or not this developer behind Buc-ee's could be eligible for annexing this land.
[00:25:01] And then, you know, there's a whole, whole process there.
[00:25:05] But either way, months from now, a year from now, however long it is,
[00:25:09] there might be a Buc-ee's between Colorado Springs and Denver.
[00:25:13] And if you were listening to the last podcast where we chatted about this,
[00:25:16] I think we touched on it.
[00:25:18] But, personally, I think somewhere in that stretch would be a perfect place for Buc-ee's.
[00:25:22] I would probably stop there every single time I was going back and forth between those two major cities in Colorado.
[00:25:29] So, I mean, hey, maybe we get a Buc-ee's here soon.
[00:25:32] We'll see.
[00:25:34] But, yeah, so that's about all I've got for you today.
[00:25:37] Pretty brief podcast episode, but wanted to get those headlines out to you.
[00:25:41] Once again, I am Spencer McKee.
[00:25:43] And thank you so much for listening to the Out There Colorado podcast.
[00:25:47] We'll see you next week.