it's almost time to turn on the lights in downtown denver. it marks the transition from thanksgiving to christmas. are hosting tonight's grand illumination. the weighted happy thanksgiving an early happy holidays to both of you.>>reporter: we never hear that voice in our head. i love being here with you. >>reporter: it's beautiful. this s probably one of my favorite places in denver and it will get prettier at about 6:30. temperatures right now are perfect. you don't need a hat or gloves.>>reporter: it's very

people are already here even though the festivities don't start until 6:00. people are used to this happening, it's the third year they have done the grand illumination since the renovated denver union station opened in 2014. people are enjoying the 3 atmosphere tonight, we are watching some ice sculpting, we of the handbell ensemble providing music.>>reporter: it's hard to believe this building is been around since 1881 we will have more coming up at 6:00. we will be back in a few minutes and we will be on stage.>> it's so nice to see you both. have fun out there. the botanic gardens are offering a light special that's called blossom of like. admission is $13. it starts tonight and runs through january 1. the

host its annual civil rights extravaganza. we are able to get a sneak peek, 60 acres of lights, 150 animated animal sculptures running through december 2 through theenew year. if you're waiting to catch a flight this weekend, get some ice skating in. denver international opened up a pre-ice-skating rink in the open-air plaza. that rink opens today and it will be open to the new year. this weekend means the first trip to the mountains for a lot. in vail and beaver creek open the opening of their seasons. there are 14 total ski areas open for business across colorado. i just had to let it out. i am so excited that these guys are open. we had such a slow start. vail and beaver creek have a great storm headed your way. fresh powder. if you are up there today and

we have it. i will show you the details. it was beautiful on the front rage, statewide for that matter. afternoon highs in the front rage were in the 60s. it will be mild tomorrow, we of mountain snow moving in for sunday. it will be cold and snowy next week even across the front page. at those jackets out. we aren't going to get out of the 30s for afternoon highs next week. soak up the warm. winds out of the south- southeast attend miles per hour. current temperatures in the 40s and 50s for the front range. if you're into kono 44. 44 castle rock. satellite that your has been quiet all day. a lot of high pressure in control keeping us quiet. we have a winter storm watch in effect for most western colorado and higher elevations. this is time sensitive.

telluride, the storm watch goes from saturday night through sunday night for 10 to 20 inches of snow. to the north from aspen toward steamboat will go from sunday morning to monday night for 8 to 16 inches of snow. the caveat is if you are traveling to the mountains and you need to make it back monday, you will have travel issues. usually, these watches are turned into winter storm warnings. as we watching this area carefully. eventually, the snow will move down to the front range by tuesday. in southwestern colorado to gunnison. the storm watch will take effect first tomorrow night and into sunday. future cast shows clouds by tomorrow evening and the snow

saturday night. it then covers all of western colorado by sunday morning. we could have sprinkles in the morning and denver, mostly rainfall spreading across the eastern plains. sunday, snowfall throughout western colorado with the storm watch is in effect and quite a few inches of the snow especially around aspen and toward montrose, we could see the nine inch mark and higher in local areas. for the lighting of union station, as we just saw lisa, we will have temperatures but clear ie the jacket. it's not snowing. tomorrow temperatures in the 50s and 60s and on the seven- day, look at the drop in the afternoon highs. once we get monday, we have a chance for flurries in temperatures in the 30s. we stay in the 30s through the end of the week. tuesday will be our light snow day. 32 degrees for a high and 17 for a low.>> slow start to a

now. the rollout of driverless cars as it some speed bumps. there is a new player on the oren lieberman puts the mobile i to the test. >>reporter: traffic will be so much easier to deal with if you didn't have to do the driving part. fully self driving cars have existed and science fiction. total recall introduced us to the robot that drove you around on mars. tom allowed them to make a daring get away. wesley snipes car could fix itself. the fantasy of tomorrow is turning into the science of today., manufacturers are taking notice. i'm in a self driving car for mobile i.>> i can switch this

the car is driving itself. both, the wheel and the speed.>>reporter: it looks after says -- effortless.>> it is effortless. generation self driving car allowing hands-free driving. >> i'm not flexible enough to move my legs or i would. >>reporter: it can switch lanes on its own. if we can do elaine transition. it has checked and it will do elaine transition.>>reporter: it uses cameras and sensors around the car. the system sees more of the road, the cars, the roads of the obstacles. this is where it says it's pulled ahead of the competition, the ability to improve take -- interpret the most complex situations.

driving faster. >> the idea is the system is collecting all information it needs for driving. >>reporter: over i has deployed self driving cars and pittsburgh with the safety driver just in case. google has self drive to cars. mobile i was produced a fully autonomous car by 2021, the car industry cars seriously. i asked their chief technology officer about the challenges ahead for self driving cars.>> i compared to sending a man to the moon. >> that's one small step for man.>>reporter: that is been done.>> driverless cars have not been done.>>reporter: the technology he says, is available but it's years away from being ready for the road.

complicated happens, the human needs to take control. they are not there yet in terms of the kinds of negotiation and strategy forming required to have a driverless car. >>reporter: self driving cars remain a work in progress. the biggest challenge is acceptance. would you fly in a plane without a pilot? probably not. why would you ride in a car without a driver. for that to happen, self exponentially safer than you behind the wheel. oren lieberman cnn jerusalem. >> it takes the fun out of being a backseat driver.

we are going to live to breaking news. >> at this point time they are asking for privacy. we asked to grant we will be releasing further information, the investigation part of it is being completed by the douglas county sheriff's office. deputy chief steve johnson will answer your questions and provide a statement regarding that.>> thank you major garcia. my name is steve johnson. i'm chief deputy. here on behalf of douglas county sheriff's office. as the major mentioned, we will

criminal investigation. yes, there is a criminal investigation that is ongoing at this point. we have as many resources as we need to have out here, conducttng this investigation. we will do the follow-up that is needed from their. we have at this point, just started. we are in the very, very early stages of this investigation. we are detaining this point. i don't have any information to give you on him or identify him at this point. he is being detained. we are working with him. we are looking at the camera footage. >> chief deputy -- deputy talking about the investigation into the colorado trooper killed this afternoon. emphasizing this is a criminal investigation. they say they have the driver of the semi that hit the trooper in custody. we will stay on top of this

york city, a massive apartment firefighters forced firefighters to tried a maneuver using a rope to rescue an 81-year-old man from the fifth floor. we have a report on the daring rescue now deemed the miracle on 90 3rd street. >> this is the job you see once in a 20 year career.>>reporter: as a manhattan building a united. more than 200 members of the fdny braced toward it. these five men among them. >> the roof was on fire, there was fire in the shaft, it was fire all around. >>reporter: the firefighters never met before, that day and 81-year-old man trapped in his home about them together. >> frank called me and told me that we had a guy at the window.>> my thought was the fire escape, but issue could

escape. >> we grabbed a rope and andy and steve came up and we went to work. >>reporter: a rope rescue is dangerous and has not been attempted in five years. it's considered a last resort by firemen standards. they knew they had to do it. within seconds, jim hooley was being lowered down scaling the bulk -- building.>> he was buin yelling, i'm burning. i could see him.>>reporter: the rope is beginning to burn, the firefighters successfully lowered them to safety. just seconds before the rope snapped. >> we looked back up and saw that the rope was on fire and

we savedda guy's life. a group of guys work together in a seamless fashion and saved this guy's life.>>reporter: that feeling came again when the firefighters met the man that they saved. jim duffy.>> i said, thank god it was a miracle. i called it a miracle on 93rd.>> that's a catchphrase.>> we deal with a lot of tragedy in this job and through the course of a career, more tragedy then you would like to ever see. this is definitely a win.>> wow. how about that. the fire was caused by an overloaded electrical cord. building will have to be torn down. the firefighters had send out a fundraising site for mister duffy wants his rehab is

is competent. he is accused of a june 2015 shooting death of nine people at the african methodist can start -- church. the judge called the jury selection so we could undergo a complete competency evaluation. jury selection will begin monday. march come this half-hour,

the search to find a suspect accused of scamming a business and mesa county. this man walked into a maverick gas station and scammed some cashiers into giving him more change than he was do. he's one of those guys, employees say who was very smooth with his money and the cashier could not keep up. he walked away with hundreds of dollars more than he was supposed to. for those of a certain age, this is a powerful and a personal loss. actress florence henderson, who played carol brady on "the brady bunch" has died. she died of heart failure last night in the hospital in los angeles. she was arguably the most famous, beloved tv mom. she started her role as carol brady

her own mother left her family when she was a little girl in the actress later said that carol brady was essentially, the mom she always wished she had. let's begin with the broncos. they are finally getting healthy on the defense side. we introduce you to the new a struggle.>>reporter: during this holiday week, thomas gafford was hunting, so too were the broncos, they were seeking a long step in with casey kreiter out with a injury. they called them, he jumped on a plane and now key member of the broncos in a potential low-scoring game. >> there's no way to know that opportunity will present itself.>>reporter: it came at the expense of darius kilgo he was cut to make room and it helped that will this back and he told me he wasn't missing this sunday's game. >> we know how good we can be in there have been a lot of

it will be un.>>reporter: they aren't only getting healthier but stronger. this play count will go up to 50 this week. is looking to the expanded role. >> i'm excited about that.>>reporter: history is on the broncos side, they haven't lost to the chiefs in denver in back-to-back seasons since 2000. the ipod wasn't invented yet. back to you in the studio.>> i have the ipod. this could be awesome. the buffaloes have a chance to win their first subdivision title along with an invitation to the conference championship game. what if they lose?>> in my eyes, if we don't win saturday, we don't become the champs. we just won a bunch of games and it's cool but that's not our goal. we still have work to do.>> the air force academy just upset

a good weekend for football. let's look at this interesting transitional forecast. it's more. we go from the 50s in the 60s back into the 30s for an entire week. we have chances for snow showing up on monday and into tuesday. those overnight lows will be in the teens. will have significant snow in the mountains starting south western colorado and 10 to 20 inches of snow for monday. fr v sunday into monday. travel might be an issue on

with prism tv from centurylink, you can get over 320 channels, whole home dvr, plus you can watch on your devices. and the best part is, you don't have to deal with cable. we love not having cable. but, paul, babe, when -- when was this headshot taken? oh, uh, i don't know. recently, i guess? uh... okay. yeah. [ chuckles ] so, like, recently, recently.

the trip was involved in the crash. sadly, he died at the scene. >> breaking news this hour, black bands across the badges of colorado state troopers to play. the trooper was killed on i 25 in castle rock. we are live at the scene. what a sad story. >> reporter: just about as sad as it can get. as most of us are spending time with our families be thinking about him. he is leaving behind two elementary aged school children. a lot of flashing lights and a