school is tackling the space debate. 9news reporter maya rodriguez has the story at 4-50. as we celebrate at people who are making a difference in their communities. and in this case.. in the lives of children. 9news reporter maya rodriguez introduces us to a program that is helping hispanic students. aim for the stars. if you are interested in interested in learning more about the stem learning more about the stem programs offered by clace incorporate their curriculum into your science class. we've put up a link on 9news the dallas zoo is at ikea, we believe that everything - from your lamp to your couch - should work as hard as you do. that green living is something everyone can afford. that you can sacrifice everything but a good night sleep. and we believe your furniture should last happily ever after. debut of a new arrival. visitors got a peek at the zoo's new baby elephant. the baby and his mom cautiously stepped out to greet the crowds wednesday. his mother, milo, gave birth back in may after being rescued from swaziland. at 332 pounds, the calf is actually on the

maya rodriguez caught up with him. >> started in d.c.. >> reporter: over thousands of miles. >> we've been traveling now for roads. >> that has been the world's longest gate and that is so much fun. >> reporter: no one has seen more of national parks in 2016 than photographer jonathan irish and his traveling companion stephanie pain. >> i bet nobody has used this pass better than we have. >> reporter: this past january irish whose photographs has appeared in national geographic, embarked on the greatest american road trip national parks in all 50 states. plus u.s. territories like the virgin islands and american samoas. >> this is the greatest american road trip, but we can't road trip everywhere. there is places we have to fly to. >> reporter: now they are in colorado to visit the states four national parks. first stop rocky mountain national park. >> it's an hon forto be close to them. >> reporter: where the elk are out and about. >> you get to really se they breathe and their movement. it's amazing to be in their territory, in their nature. >> reporter: sometimes though nature can

maya rodriguez, 9news. >> the u.n. space mission on board the dream chaser is set to launch in 2021 and last for two weeks. the u.n. has not selected the countries that will participate yet. >> pretty neat. >>> a multi billion dollar deal will merge two giant retailers with stores in the denver area. show nearly takes out a crowd of spectators. >> that is scary. >> federal safety regulators >>> a close call for spectators at a monthly coffee and car show in houston. the man hit the gas, spun out and just missed a crowd along the curb. fortunately he did not hurt anyone, just i had own car. witnesses say if it 't witnesses say if it wasn't for the curb stopping the momentum of the car, the incident could have been much worse. >>> outdoor retail rivals cabella's and bass pro will combine in a $1.4 billion deal announced today. bass pro is paying shareholders $55.50 cash per share. the deal create uncertainty about jobs. the combined companies plan to unclear how many jobs might be lost. the town of sidney has about 7,000

maya rodriguez, 9news. >> ginsberg says after and check on the house. at 5:30 lester holt will be anchoring nbc nightly news from melbourne, florida, as hurricane matthew moves closer to the east coast. >>> temperatures were considerably cooler in the metro area. our biggest issue is do we need a jacket this weekend? danielle grant is in the 9news backyard. it's going to be colder tonight. >> we are looking at a situation possibility into this evening and overnight. you can see this will go into effect at midnight until 9 a.m. tomorrow morning encompassing really the entire i-25 corridor and points east as well. overnight lows dip to the upper 20s and low 30s. by tomorrow morning it will be brisk, certainly want the coat early on, but not so much in the afternoon. our average day for seeing our the latest november 15th. now we have clear skies, blue skies. our storm system is pushing out into kansas and oklahoma bringing them some severe weather. around here a few lingering snow showers up in the mountains. so again we're tracking a frosty start to the

maya rodriguez, 9news. >> audubon rockies is also trying out this program in wyoming. they are creating a label that ranchers would be able to use in marketing their products to show that they're helping to maintain more bird has been at habitat. >> it's certainly beautiful out there. >>> just in time for the weekend it is opening day for colorado ski season. >> folks are excited about that. also ahead a pediatricians group offers a new take on how much time your kid should be spending in front of video screens. >> a surprise visit to denver's >>> yeah, they're cheering, colorado ski season is underway, that's why. today. skiers and snowboarders lined up earlier to take advantage of the 1 run. the resort began making snow october 3rd. it has an 18-inch base. loveland ski area has been making snow. they expect to kick off their season sometime next week. last year both those two resorts opened first on october 29th. >>> the american academy of pediatrics put out new recommendations for the amount of screen time that is acceptable for children broken down into different

the storm surge and flooding caused most of the damage. 9news reporter maya rodriguez tells us about a colorado company that specializes satellites that developed a way to measure the impact of water after a natural disaster. >> reporter: this is haiti before hurricane matthew and after. the destruction was captured by mechanical eyes high above earth. >> we spent a lot of time thinking about how to convert pixels into useful information. digital globe captured the before and after images. they have four satellites circling the earth and offer up images like these to government agencies and first responders after a public disaster. >> one of the biggest problem in haiti is getting people resources who don't have access to clean water, food and medicine. knowing where the areas were and how many people are impacted allows humanitarian relief agencies to get the resources out to the people who need it most. it's problem. >> reporter: and they're using something newspaper, a so- called water algorithm that can help human eye pinpoint new bodies of water like these in north carolina, flo

here is 9news reporter maya rodriguez. >> reporter: it is the closest star to earth. and, arguably, the most important one. the sun. proximity, there is not much we know about it. >> we can still predict it a lot better. >> reporter: predicting the sun involves understanding its solar storms and flares which can affect tens of millions of miles to affect our satellites and electrical grids. >> people make jokes about weather forecasting and how accurate it is, but it is actually pretty good these days but we are not that good with space weather. >> reporter: and the effort is about to get a boost from solar spacecraft in 2018 to reach out and touch the sun. coming within just four million miles of the sun's corona. it will mark the first time a human spacecraft has ever visited a star. >> that is the closest we will be, 25 times closer to the sun than we are here at earth. >> reporter: several of the missions investigators are based at cu boulder and a cu built science instrument will be collecting data. >> almost all stars emit a into space. and, it is one of the fro

and asemia yam rodriguez -- and as maya rodriguez explains. >> whether from a soda fountain or this in a can f your sweet drink fix includar >> we're proposing a $0.02 per ounce tax on sugary drinks >> reporter: the proposal is an excise tax on distributors within boulder. supporters say if votes approve the measure, the tax could raise as much as $3.8 million a year. going toward unspecified programs that would promote a healthier lifestyle for kids. >> this is the first generation live a shorter life span than their parents because of the obesity oak determinic. >> reporter: there would be exceptions to the tax. it would not apply to diet soda drinks. 100% fruit juice or things like milk or milk substitutes. but opponents of 2h says the tax won't encourage healthier choices. >> it's lifestyles that make people healthy. it's not a tax. because if we are talking about chips and pizza and candy bars because they have way more sugar than a lot of drinks do. >> reporter: opponents warn while the tax would be applied to distributors and not to consumers. >> retailers have to decide do we e

mentally or physically disabled people to vote unless ordered by a court and as 9news reporter maya rodriguez tells us, there are several groups working to make sure everyone knows just that. >> reporter: at the colorado days leading up to the election are busy for dawn howard. >> we really work to encourage all people with disabilities in the state to vote. >> reporter: howard has cerebral palsy and is helping organize a phone bank to call some of the 2,000 disability coalition members. the reminder? go vote. >> there are some misconceptions, especially around people with intellectual >> reporter: but those are just that, misconceptions. >> we are one of a few states that does not limit a person's right to vote because of mental in capacity or because somebody has a guardian. >> reporter: jennifer levin is an attorney with disability law colorado. >> in colorado the only way you can be determined incapacitated to vote would be about if a court ordered that specifically saying you are incata >> reporter: but does that leave a lot to chance or the possibility of fraud? levin says the law makes

the ability to predict flash droughts has ald been tough, but as maya rodriguez tells us, it's about easier. >> this is the sorlt of drought which doesn't have any lasting commission. >> reporter: flash droughts like flash floods are sudden. dry conditions coming on without warning. a new study from the national study for atmospheric may be a way to better predict them. >> we also should look toward the ground in addition to the sky. >> reporter: and what comes from the sky, snow. snowpack. it's the added ingredient to an equation that could predict glad draughts months in advance. >> you have such a lack of snowpack, which influence our soil moisture. >> reporter: scientists found by looking at the moisturement, soil moisture, and analyzing snowpack, they could increase their prediction of a flash drought from one month in advance to four. in the journal of research atmospheres. >>> a warning about a powerful new sin thelic drug killing kids in several states. >> and the newest set of nominees for induction into the >>> a synthetic opioid twice as powerful as sharon linked to 50 dea

maya rodriguez talked with friends and colleagues of the group who live is matthew! >> reporter: the eye of the storm. a place that the most vulnerable and comofb risched nation in -- impov rishd nation in the americas finds itself in, with 145 mile per hour winds. >> they're not prepared for this wind. >> reporter: as a colorado haiti project in luciville, they work and wait for word on their friends and community of 30,000 people they work with, >> we have lost contact with a lot of our people. only this one program manager through facebook, he's been able to reach us >> reporter: and the situation he described is grim. >> he said there's lots of devastation to home, lots of trees are falling down. >> reporter: the nonprofit has been working in haiti for more >> the area is very rural. only a few concrete buildings that have a second story. in an 80-mile radius. >> reporter: it's a school they built, and many have sought refuge from the storm. what comes after may be just as dangerous, including the destruction of crops and spread have gone disease. >> we're concer

department of health now saying it's too soon to tell if anything toxic was released. 9news reporter maya rodriguez here to tell us what happened today. >> reporter: refinery officials and firefighters tell us a power outage led to that release and in the last hour the state department of health put out their statement saying they can't tell at this point whether that release was hazardous or not. this started around noon today. repairs -- xcel was working on repairs and the power outage happened. that led to the yellowish smoke. a suncor spokesperson told us it was a claylike material they use as a catalyst that was actually released, but again the colorado department of public health and environment says they do not have enough information yet to determine whether it was hazardous, but they add it does not appear to pose an immediate risk to the an automated emergency call to people within 2 miles of the refinery advising them to shelter in place. >> when we get an unusual event, you have your everyday normal operations at refineries, other businesses. when something goes wrong, we never know how

. >> reporter: maya rodriguez, 9news. >> looking good, donna. hospital in colorado to get the technology to treat strokes. she's looking great up and walking. that's encouraging. >>> it's awfully warm out there even though the clouds were a little bit deceiving earlier >>> welcome back, everyone. we're taking a live look at sky9. the brushfire is now 100% contained. nice to hear, but we still have plenty of smoke left just sitting across the metro areas and that will cause some problems for some folks throughout the next couple hours just because it's tough on your lungs when you're outside. if you don't have to be outside, i wouldn't. we do have a wildfire smoke health advisory in place. this will last us around the denver metro tomorrow morning. on top of the fire and winds we had we're talking about record breaking temperatures, too. that new record of 82 degrees crushing our old record last set back in 1994. this has been an extremely warm month. so far we're in the running for the fifth warmest october on record. a slew of 80s across easter

. >> reporter: maya rodriguez, 9news. >> for more information about the work that the group taps does or if you'd like more information about their programs, we put it a link on 9news.com. >>> what the elephants do about a giant pu denver zoo. >> a warning for homeowners about a costly problem usually not covered by homeowners insurance. >> and a lakewood 7-eleven sells a lotto ticket worth >>> a 7-eleven in lakewood sold a lotto ticket worth nearly $10 million. the colorado lottery said someone purchased the ticket last night at the 7-eleven at 9200 west alameda avenue. it matched all six numbers, 3, 4, 5, 9, 14, 36. the unusually large lotto grand prize is the re consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner. that winner has 180 days to claim the prize. lotto is one of colorado's in state jackpot games with a starting jackpot of 1 million bucks. drawings are every wednesday and saturday at 7:35 p.m. >>> a warning for homeowners, there are hundreds, potentially thousands of homes in this country that are crumbling at the foundation. homeowners are watching their concrete basement wal

department of health now saying it's too soon to tell if anything toxic was released. 9news reporter maya rodriguez here to tell us what happened today. >> reporter: refinery officials and firefighters tell us a power outage led to that release and in the last hour the state department of health put out their statement saying they can't tell at this point whether that release was hazardous or not. this started around noon today.

in sidney, nebraska, maya rodriguez, 9news. >> and cabela's did not respond to our request for comment. bass pro told 9news that they could not comment beyond this initial announcement of the merger which they said they intend to continue favorable connections in sidney. >>> getting medical help doesn't always require a drive to the doctor's who was anymore. in fact, -- doctor's office anymore. in fact, many americans can get help from their own office. it's called telemedicine and it allows patients to be seen virtually by a medical professional without taking the time to physically go to the doctor's office. last year about 20 million people received some sort of remote healthcare and now there are a growing number of healthcare kiosks in the workplace. >> the kiosks are a great benefit for the worker. it gives them a private place medical problem, but it brings something additional in these kiosks because you can equip them with thermometers and scales and high definition medical instruments and cameras to really, really help the provider on the other end see better than they could