aggressively. now neighbors say they hope to learn why this happened. >> it makes me wonder what prompted them to do that. >> reporter: in conifer nick mcgill, 9news. >> the jefferson county sheriff's office says the son has given animal control permission to euthanize the dogs as early as this evening. some u.s. agriculture department offices in fort collins are among those closed around the country this morning because of anonymous threats. four buildings used by agriculture department agencies at the natural resources research center more than 1,000 people from several government agencies work at the campus near colorado state university. the threats are considered serious. offices have been closed in connecticut, maryland, north carolina and west virginia. the offices will be closed until further notice. a small town just outside denver known for its aggressive traffic ticketing exposed by 9wants to know is under scrutiny again. state investigators have been asked to see how mountain view may have mrs. used state grant money. investigative reporter jeremy we've confirmed there is an investigation into mountain view's police department which was apparently requested by the chief himself. it involves money that is supposed to go to dui enforcement, but something weird has been happening with that money prompting the state of colorado to freeze funds for that town. if you've never heard of mountain view, it's really easy to miss. he is only 12 blocks small -- it's only 12 blocks small with a population of 500 people just cdot tells me they have frozen thousands of dollars of grant money for mountain view because of potential misuse. we do know the jefferson county sheriff's office has been investigating potential fraud. the district attorney's office is also aware of the investigation and we're talking about tens of thousands of dollars here that is supposed to pay for dui enforcement. this investigation is still ongoing and the case may be handed over to prosecutor a spokesperson for mountain view's police department cooperating with the investigation but cannot say much at this point. just to be clear, nobody has been charged yet. to repeat, i was told the chief of mountain view asked the jefferson county sheriff to look into this when potential improprieties came up. you'll recall our investigation found the town of ticking drivers essentially for financial survival. nearly 50% of the town's budget replied on traffic tickets. we'll keep watching this to see where >> jeremy jojola reporting, thank you. rtd is punishing the company that it blames for problems on the train to the plane. it's withholding a portion of its payment to denver transit partners because of delays on the new a line between union a spokesperson for rtd says it chose not to pay $65,000. it's actually part of the contract. that is the maximum amount the department can withhold as a deduction for poor performance. rtd already paid $10 million. rtd has the option to deduct more for service problems in july and august. a decision on that could come by the end of the week. the a line has been delayed several times for various reasons since it opened in april. public works crews in colorado springs have been busy cleaning up and making temporary repairs after damage to roads and drainage systems caused by monday's severe storms. crews have been working to clear clocked drains and identify where theycan preven more flooding. eigh stuck in deep water. the city reports damage at several intersections. crews are having to prioritize repairs. the sub is encouraged to report road -- the public is encouraged to report road damage and clogged drains. we may not see quite as many storms this evening as yesterday. that said, there is still a chance denver could see heavy rain, lightning and strong winds. at higher elevations snow is a strong possibility in spots. in the metro area sun and clouds have been the order of the day. related traffic issues on i-25. we'll check in with meteorologist kathy sabine in a few minutes. it's not expected to impact the united states. it could head toward europe. a water main break in southwest denver forced crews to close westbound evans avenue through evening rush hour. this particular main was built in 1949 and the age is potentially a factor in what caused the break. it's a 12-inch diameter main at evans and galapago. three businesses are without water service. that service is expected to be restored later tonight. no homes are affected. finished until wednesday afternoon to the road. the race for the white house is tightening up, just six points separating hillary clinton and donald trump in a new national nbc news surveymonkey poll down from an eight point lead last week. in must win battle ground states including florida and ohio the race is tighter. an attorney for the state department says it will need until the end of september to release about 30 of hillary clinton's e-mails that may be related to the 2012 attack on the u.s. impound in benghazi. the attorney sa compound in benghazi of the attorney says the e-mails will be reviewed and any classified information removed. the e-mails were among thousands recovered during an investigation into clints on's private server. government lawyers say some of them were -- clinton's private server. government lawyers say some of them were not in the ones clinton provided. megan whitman endorsed clinton earlier this month saying she cannot support candidate has "exploited anger, grievance, xenophobia and racial division." the former ebay ceo ran unsuccessfully for california governor in 2010 spending $144 million of her own money losing to democrat jerry brown. researchers from the cdc say they have new evidence that the zika virus may cause hearing loss in babies. they tested hearing of a small group of infants with microcephaly and evidence of congenital infections. over 5% of those children experienced hearing loss in the inner ear found more commonly among the infants who had microcephaly and whose mothers developed a rash during the first trimester of pregnancy. experts say it's possible for children without microcephaly to face hearing loss as well. it's best to screen all children born to mothers affected with zika. it's a bus ride unlike any other to another planet. several hundred denver public school students got a chance to have. here's 9news reporter maya rodriguez. >> reporter: it looks like a school bus, but it's about to take these students on a ride to a whole other world. >> the mars bus is a virtual reality experience. >> go ahead, guys! >> reporter: called the mars experience, this retrofitted bus is the brain child of lockheed martin. as a way to bring the red planet down to earth. >> it's just like a once in a lifetime experience. >> three, two, one. >> repr: around, it gives students a virtual tour of mars. it's based on photographs gathered by nasa's rovers on the surface of the planet. >> the first person to go to mars is likely in middle school now. so it's initiatives like this that will inspire them to one day go to mars. >> reporter: from weather conditions to dust storms to to see and feel. >> how was the bus? >> the movement was probably ki of could feel the momentum going back and then as you go forward. >> whenever the bus actually went over a bump, you would actually go over a bump. >> reporter: for educators it's all about getting students interested in stem and stem careers while they're still young. >> in their early years when our kids are fertile for learning to expose them to stem sets the way, sets their passion for learning. >> reporter: an inspiration that may already be set in motion. >> if i could help get someone to any planet, that would just be awesome. >> reporter: maya rodriguez, 9news. >> about 440 middle school students at mcauliffe were able to ride the mars experience bus. lockheed martin will take the bus to other schools across colorado and across the country so that other students will get a chance to see it. i'm jealous. stunning images of the northern lights. >> actual scientific evidence that your dog may be analyzing and understanding everything you say to them. >> a colorado family whose yard has become home for a moose and ? ? ? you live life your way. we can help you retire your way, too. financial guidance while you're mastering life. managers and attorneys wh specialize in h-o-a law are with us today for h-o-a line 9. professional certified and accredited hoa managers and attorneys that specialize in hoa law are with us today for lawline 9. their advice is free until 5:30, 303-698-0999. northern finland last night. wanting to see the northern lights as clearly as possible he drove out into the countryside nearly 19 miles from the arctic city away from the city's lights. the gaseous particles and matter released by the sun's atmosphere make up the northern lights releasing colorful beautiful stunning streams into the sky. have you ever had that look with your dog where you kind of stare at each other for a ho every -- moment and they seem to hang onto every word you say? researchers in hungary trained dogs to sit very still in a functional mri scanner and then spoke words familiar and unfamiliar to the dogs in different ways, in a sing song good boy type of voice and in a neutral tone. brain scans showed the dogs processed those familiar words correctly regardless of tone and how they sounded suggesting the same way humans do, researchers say we're unique in our ability to use them. what started as a way to stop erosion quickly went out of control and has beco a massive dump site. dl roberts says that his father started using tires in the '70s as a base for a dam to battle erosion on their 17,000-acre ranch in colorado. an estimated 100,000 tires have since been dumped on the roberts ranch property near work will soon begin to remove them. the colorado department of health and environment has awarded a $495,000 grant to clean up the site. three houseguests in steamboat springs decided to stay a few weeks with their host family. nicole cosby says a mama moose and her two calves moved into her backyard on the east side of town. they showed up a couple weeks ago. she's taken pictures and videos over the last week from safely inside her house. cleaning because the moose are eating the trees in the yard and one of the calves likes to lick the windows. her family has lived in the house for 12 years and are giving the family some new room. state wildlife workers have posted signs to warn people and to this point people are steering clear of the area as they should. >> i saw a moose my second week in colorado and i didn't realize how rare that was. i kind of took it for granted. >> and how big ey active evening of stormy weather. >> where the heaviest rain is welcome back. i'm meteorologist kathy sabine outside in the 9news backyard where it's now mostly cloudy, but it turned out to be another lovely summer day. we'll see this trend continue most of this week, kind of warm with a late day thunderstorm. there are no big organized storm sys in the high country really make for a pretty scene. our high of 82 is below the average. typically we see highs around 85 degrees this time of year, nowhere near the record level. that's about where we'll stay the next few days. winds are east, northeast at 7, falling air pressure and just under 80 degrees at dia. in the 9news backyard winds are calm and straight up 80 degrees downtown, nice night to be out. denver metro area but nothing really happening over the city,h which is nice, compared to the weather yesterday in denver and colorado spring. this is a welcome break. areas that are seeing thunderstorms are seeing heavy, small hail and a flash flood warning continues through 6:30 tonight through cheyenne county and the kit carson area. 1 to 3 inches of rain has fallen. these storms are capable of producing brief heavy rain and small hail. overly optimistic about the amount of precipitation we'll see in the next 24 hours. there's a front lurking to the north of us. it will eventually drop through. temperatures behind it are not terribly cold. the scattered showers coming in as the monsoon moisture rotates across the southwest. the areas in blue and purple are where we amy the worst of the rain, the potential for flooding growing across el paso and south of albuquerque and southeastern colorado. year. we're sandwiched between the meet to the west and the south and a nice day coming up. the storms are rotating tonight like spokes on a wheel and we'll continue to see the chance for an isolated storm. in denver skies will clear. the heaviest storm will be off to the east. there will be a little cloud cover and fog on the eastern plains when you wake up tomorrow. we have a dry air in play tomorrow and any amount of moisture with the heating of the day and you'll get a up of thunderstorms develop. the severe weather threat appears low tonight and tomorrow. we'll drop to 39 in kremmling. that looks like fall, doesn't it? 53 in denver and 58 in the pueblo area, highs near 90 out west. temperatures are comfortable up and down the front range this time of year. 68 degrees in blackhawk, 72 in the grand lake area. in denver tonight a few clouds out here, may still see a brief shower, rumble of thunder. skies clear overnight. 6:20 a.m. a.m. door, mid-50s. mid-70s by lunchtime, low 80s tomorrow. that front will cool us off a couple degrees if it does push through. you won't notice much in the way of heavier thunderstorm activity until friday. temperatures trending upward toward the 90-degree mark moving into saturday afternoon and sunday, really a beautiful forecast coming up for the three-day holiday weekend. some of the pictures coming in on facebook and twitter have been spectacular. alas, adele, the dog days of summer still upon us. what's over there. >> they know what you're saying apparently. >> clearly they can. >> jonathan, i know you love that picture, too. >> it's beautiful. thanks. the broncos release one of the more familiar names on the roster. >> and we'll take you to tim tebow's major pleaded guilty stocks close lightly lower, wall street slowing down as supper winds down. hershey was down slipped 1% after it was hit with a huge tax bill from from colorado's sports leader here's drew soicher. >> hi, everybody. quinton colquitt was released as the team trimmed its roster down to 75 men. the much less expensive rookie colquitt was the longest tenured player on the broncos. now that title belongs to wide receiver demaryius thomas. quarterback mark sanchez is still on the squad, but that could change any minute. the broncos reportedly discussed trading sanchez with both the cowboys and vikings. mark has fallen from first string to third. however, he's still a wonderful teammate and supports trevor siemian who beat him out for the job. >> as a competitor, you're disappointed that things went also understand that there's an emotional side to it and a competitor's side and also a teammate side and me enjoying my time here and really respecting this organization and respecting trevor as a friend and player and teammate, the most important thing to do is move forward and help this team. if things don't work out the way you wouldn't, you can't just act like -- want, you can't just act like a cry baby. it's not right. i don't think that's the way to class. nuggets made a trade today of joffrey lavern to kansas city in exchange for a couple second round draft backs. this week's prep rally honor roll ends with a play going viral around the world. 9news prep reporter taylor temby takes the time to list them just in case you missed them. >> go to war! ?[ music ] ? >> reporter: arvada kicks off our first honor roll of the fall season. pitcher denae house makes the diving catch for the out near home plate. monarch goalkeeper hank molly knows something about reflexes. his read off the corner kick is spot on. his save helps the coyotes defeat smoky hill 2-1. zoey robbins drills a home are homer for thomas jefferson to take no. 3 and help the spartans win their first game of the season. we head to castle rock. douglas county quarterback stone slaybaugh will find howard. 80 yards to the end zone ties the game with pewter. there's a very good chance you've already seen this ek's top play along with the millions who helped make it go the rebels. unfortunately this got called offsides, but who cares? this could very well be the play of the year. we have ranked them. now it's your turn. go to 9news.com/hss to vote for your favorite play. strange but drew, it really happened. former broncos quarterback tim tebow held a baseball workout scouts today, made some pretty good contact at the plate and showed above average speed, but was extremely awkward in the outfield. strange but drew. >> oh, who cares. let's let him play baseball. >> so much fake outrage over this. how dare he embarrass the game. >> oh, stop. >> hey, this dude is allowed to do whatever he wants chasing his dream. he didn't call the media out there, just invited some scouts to take a look. that? come on. >> greatest ever. i would love it. >> i think it's great. rockies could use him. >> think we're out of time. >> i think so. >> nbc nightly news is next and that is followed by next with breaking news tonight. hurricane watches and warnings just issued. a triple threat up and down the eastern seaboard and all the way to hawaii, bracing for impact. also breaking, isis says the leede leader at the top did the u.s. just take out the major strategy it is at the top of so many attacks. a governor under fire for a profanity laced rant and repeated racist and inflammatory remarks. and a prep school rape case that gripped