one candidate appears to be leaving the presidential race. >> a toddler, found and saved in the middle of a busy street by a mailman in denver. >> mile high city is atop the best places to live. how we got there, and whether our popularity is causing problems. >> mark koebrich, retiring, and takes a look back. >> deadly crash, a 48-year-old woman walked across the street to visit her husband at work, was hit and killed by an suv. the crash happened about 7:30 right outside the swift meat packing plant. the woman that did hit the the

at major crash near the ramp to 225. at least 12 cars collided in the eastbound lanes. no one in any of the vehicles was seriously hurt. the day after super tuesday, both sides are looking at the. bernie sanders is vowing he will fight all the way to the convention, he won three states, including colorado, hillary clinton the won seven. she picked up 490 delegates to his 323. >> on the republican side, donald trump won 7 of the 11 states up for grabs. mitt romney is expected to go after trump hard in a speech tomorrow. trump said he will take part in a debate on fox news, one of the moderators will be megyn kelly. ben carson said he sees no path forward to the nomination. not clear if he suspended or what. his long time business manager

trump. he said that ted cruz have no path and they should drop out. the results didn't sends anyone candidates. google searches on tuesday looked for how can i move to canada, spiked 350%. you can decide which candidate sparked the searches. candidate need not worry about a wave of americans returning the border, the same thing happened right after the 2004 presidential election. strong gusts across the front range today, 50-70 miles per hour, made it tough to enjoy the sunshine. and you can see the strain that put on the flags in fort collins. tonight, the gusts are starting to die down, earlier though, some people had no choice but to find a way to work in the wind.

with the tough gets job of all -- tough gets job of all. >> reporter: you expect at whip did windy day story to start here we wouldn't live up to the cliche' if we department remind you to throw on a hat but on windy days, sometimes it's best to expect the unexpected. >> i would say, i wouldn't do it on a day like this. >> reporter: is it as windy up there as down here? >> it's winds year up here, and -- more windy up here. >> reporter: patrick and his partner lou have one of of the toughest gigs. >> there's a lot the squirrels spring. >> reporter: patrick is a climbing arborist. one who has to get the job done, even with gusts up to 50 miles

>> got a lot of movement up here. the branches are probably moving upwards of two feet back and forth. >> is he swaying? just look andrin. >> reporter: there is protection, ropes had helping him from not blowing away. >> feels like i'm on the ocean. in a boat in a storm. a little nauseous for sure. up and down. >> reporter: winds were any worse, he says he would get down. >> but for now, he will continue on the tightrope of timber, unexpected sight on a windy day. >> i hope my mom's not watching tonight! patrick wanted mom to know, and you, that he did get down safely. he says the only real weather that he won't venture up in is rain.

not brag,ing, that's reporting. taking into account affordability, good jobs, and quality of life. in a moment, on 9news.com, vote now, we're going to ask you about the biggest advantages and colorado. first, we want to know why you enjoy working and playing here. windy day -- >> i think it might be too strong. >> reporter: denver blows away the competition. >> warm weather, good vibes, nice people. world report agree. they looked at numbers from the census bureau, crime data, ranging the top 100 estimation, one. >> i moved here mostly for the culture and art snore we can moved here four years ago --

ago. >> we go total converts and events -- to the concerts, and events. >> reporter: there's a shared feeling that denver is somehow just a cut above. he left for about four years, but found his way back home. >> you go other places, and they have mountains but something about the rocky mountains is beautiful. >> reporter: is a man that, a mother of -- samantha, a mother of two, looks to the climate, and then the community. >> people are authentic and real. >> it's hike a hometown -- like a hometown. >> reporter: and this family, real close. no better way to spends a wednesday afternoon than together. >> i grew up here. >> reporter: their dad speaks little english, he said it all

>> happy! >> we wanted your opinion, vote now, we're asking two questions, what do you like most about living in colorado, here are the live results. laid back people, the weather and outdoors, pot and beer. >> we love those two together. >> so it's weather and outdoors, right? >> people are loving the weather and outdoors, we talked about the fact that the population growth does come with obvious issues. we would invite people to read the commentary i wrote. you can find it on 9news.com, and on our facebook page, all the transplants, many have come from very economically depressed areas, and those cities are wrestling with their own problems, but the presence of the transplants creates their own issues, and we can leverage that power, that economic force to help solve some problems,

most pressing issue is. affordable housing, traffic issues, or specifically in denver, issues with the homeless, that's tied to housing, ties to substance abuse and other issues. so we're curious out of all the issues, they are circulating where you would point the finger. people talking about housing, talking about traffic as well, those are two big universal issues. obviously impacted by the fact we have a booming population. the mail carrier made an unusual find along his route. a 2-year-old toddler wandering along the road, robert intensity said the girl was in a diaper standing in the median on zuni. and the several cars passed by. no one stopped, he did. he picked up the child, and when he didn't find an adult for the toddler, he called 911.

just walking down the street in diapers, and cars going by. so i just, i knew i had to get there as quick as possible so she wouldn't dart off in front of traffic. >> the child is home safe, deputies had to go door to door to finds the family. the adam county sheriff's office said the girl's grandfather was watching her. he didn't realize she was missing. she was missing for at least 30 minutes. the grand matter has been cited -- grandfather has been cited for misdemeanor child abuse. the sports authority has filed for bankruptcy. courting to the tieing -- according to the filing, they have more than $1 billion in debt. they are closing 1 who of the 463 stores. bloomberg news is reporting that sports authority is in talks with two rivals, dick's sporting good and model's. we are curious what will happen with the naming rights at mile high. that is still unclear. the broncos tell us nothing has

with sports authority. so far, frontier is the only one asking for direct flights from denver to cuba. frontier asked for four flights. 8 airlines are bidding on 110 potential flights from the u.s. to ten cuban cities. still ahead, scott kelly man. how much he grew, physically, during his year in space. then, who needs an elevator? when the skyscraper has a slide made of flask. >> mark koebrich's toughest stories. he will try to sum up his 40 years. >> will the wild wind stick around until tomorrow? >> and kobe bryant's farewell

. scott kelly is the most closely, studied man on earth. after returning from a year in space, he is being carefully observed to see how weight legsness changed his body. he is has grown as a man, literally, grown. gate at the compress our spine, and will -- gravity will compress our spine. new glass slide will be built on the u.s. bank tower, the tall less building in the l.a. school line t will take

the 69th and will open in june. no, no. the that's not going to happen for me. if you're afraid of the wind, it's gusty out here! i thought we might be past the peak of the wind, it's going to get we are, but in fort collins, blustery in larimer county and weld county. i think temperatures will be warmer tomorrow though. less wind, more sunshine. low 60s today, the average is 50 mid-50s up in the central mountains. we have sunshine, mid-30s between 6-9:00 a.m., and the headline is less wind. and the winds are decreasing a little out at dia, 40 there, we've been running milder downtown. our temperatures are close to 50 outside the studios. on the back side of that front that brought rain, did you have rain?

the snowiest month on average, winds was crazy, 45 miles an hour in fort collins, and 70 miles an hour in cheyenne. it's just been really, windy as the pressure gradient continues to ease, the winds will start to decrease. high pressure starting to shift, even with the next system moving on shore, much calmer day coming up tomorrow. and as the winds go from the authority west to southwest, we will see milder conditions. the pre-cip is outside our state aborder. the high -- state's border. the high winds warnings have been cancelled. the next system is bringing rain no san francisco, snow to the sierras, cast cascade -- cascade range. snow showers cruising through the great lakes, our system is a fast mover, it will bring the

from memphis to st. louis, cool air stays north, but with us, here this colorado, understand the influence of the big blocking ridge of high pressure, even the next system comes in, will come in as a die front on friday -- dry front on friday. you can see how we're in the one of dry air, with the best chance for pre-cip in the north west. southwest winds will get us into the mid-60s, but we's on the edge of that -- we're on the edge of that arctic air mass. western fringe of an interesting weather scenario. diminishing rain showers in the northeast, the in the high country, blowing snow, conditions will improve, but it's going to be cold. with clear skies. look for overnight lows tonight in the teens for many of the high mountain valleys, 8 28 for greeley. few clouds along the foothills, a mountain wave cloud, but the numbers way above average for

the average is 50, and we'll see numbers closer to that in the foothills. for tonight, windy, cool, forecast low at 0, -- 30. we'll look for a high near 65 tomorrow. dry front takes us down slightly, but only to warm up. high close to 70 sunday, ahead of a storm that could bring a chance of rain and snow monday into tuesday. cooler highs to kick off the early part of next week. but no big snow storms looming on the horizon. so stay low! and enjoy the looming dog days of winter. >> there's some sled doings -- dogs that want to work. 9news wouldn't be the same tomorrow as we congratulated mark koebrich on his retirement, we will miss his warmth, smile and laugh.

work family will miss him. we wanted him to look back on some of his favorite and most memorable moments. >> i've always been a fairly gregarious guy, you've heard more than anyone, tell him to shut up! i'm just the kind of person, i think, that's fairly approachable, i love to hear people's stories as much as i like to tell them. when i first got here, it was the blizzard of '82. i stood in the middle of i-25 for 16 hours, there was no traffic of any kinds. i remember thinking, does this my gosh! i made a big mistake. >> january 28, two days before the super bowl. >> i covered super bowls, lot of the ones they lost and two of the ones they won, not the last

'93, i was out there, youth day, a remarkable thing. we started going around -- that was quite the moment, we did that for hours, and we met a lot of kids doing that. and i covered the olympics, went to atlanta, salt lake, and china. so i've been to the far corners of the world. it's been an incredible ride. >> mostly the people that have been through here, you know, have met some wonderful people, original photographers, chris wheeler. [ background noise ] we spends so much time here.

my grandkids. for some reason, they think i am it! they love me! sweetheart. >> we were from a small town, and it was a place to be from. in illinois, dick van dyke, and jerry van dyke, all the kinds of people that were there bayer left, that just -- but left. eventually, it was a place to be from, but a great place to grow up, and we just had -- my mother knew, i couldn't get the time of day out of her. she was a cookie. she still is. and you know, we're anxious to

spend time together. i met her almost 50 years ago, got a job in tv, and haven't seen her since. i'm in a position now, i just can't wait to wave good-bye for the last time. i think drew said, how can we miss you if you never leave? because i've been going for a long time! i've been on was out for a long -- way out for a long time. i've been ready for it for a long time. i'm anxious to start whatever is next, and get on with it. and try something different. i'll mitt you, and all -- miss you, and all of you.

from colorado sports leader. >> kobe bryant left denver so quietly, you hardly knew he was

nuggets beat the lakers, and bryant passing through town on his farewell tour, only played 11 minutes, made one basket for five points, and sat out the second half with a sore shoulder. nuggets win 117-107. >> last time here? >> i think it's important to get out and play, and show appreciation for all these years, you know? and had it not been the case, i wouldn't have played. i just wanted to get out. rockies lost the first exhibition game. rocks were sweeten by the dime banks -- were beaten by the diamondbacks. they lose 6-3. cu football team got blown right into the new practice facility today. it was extremely windy on opening day of spring ball in boulder, and since the conditions were too dangerous

the photography tour, and since its indoor facility is ready, they tried it out. >> we can't lift our towers up for the young men, and i wanted to have good film. i'm not going to let them up in that situation. they can operate them upstairs, like a joy stick, so when we have outside practice field, we will have those on a joy stick. >> when the avalanche begins a home stands tomorrow against the panthers, they will have a new goalie. >> back to back big losses for the avs, losses where the goldly wasn't at his best. >> he's not responsible, we're winning and losing as a team. it's a team game, and i believe in that. but, a key save here and there. >> something's got to change so

>> i want to play every game, i'm ready to play every game. i've been working really hard for that, and he's been playing well for us lately. so i just need to -- coaching staff, give me a chance to play. >> reporter: in the near future, for tomorrow, he will be a back up. the net is now calvin pickert's. >> absolutely. that's everything for me. and when i'm called upon, i feel confident in there. >> if pickert doesn't play well, the avs can always go to plan c. how about a player coach?

>> as you know, 9news anchor mark koebrich retired after quarterbacking our team to thousands of television ratings titles over the years, and so, that's why we have sketch the, being carried off the field. so tee time is when? noon? i want to sleep in! >> koebrich was walking done the hall, surrounded by coworkers, rob mackey, giving him the high-five. senate he -- he is probably mortified right now. offering up an apology letter.

that was good. >> blame it on the wind.

>> best wishes to mark koebrich, the first night of the rest of his life.