happened. i want to know what happened. it's hard for me to not know. >> reporter: her husband joshua spoke with 9 news shortly after the crash but his questions still remain. >> we really try to provide answers. >> reporter: sergeant mike says the investigation is inconclusive after determining the bus was in good working condition and an autopsy showed chopper had no drugs or alcohol in her system and >> a good portion of my job is to provide answer for loved ones. and it's troublesome when you're unable to do that. >> reporter: the county attorney ruled the 43-year- old's death an accident and police say this case is now closed. police also looked into whether carrie chopper's cell phone was used before the accident. there is no evidence she was on the phone. >> all joshua chopper has said >> i spoke to him today. he did not want to speak on camera. which is fine. he is dealing with the loss of the mother of his four children. he is just trying to get through it and these are answers he won't get. i think he will one day come to peace with what happened. >> we hope so. all right. victoria, thank you. as voters begin to fill out their ballots, some are hearing claims of fraud. the denver elections division wants to assure them there are several safeguards in place to protect the integrity of republican presidential nominee donald trump has been hitting the concept about rigs elections and wide spread fraud at many of his campaign stops. however they say it's impossible to rig analyst. the denver elections division says security is taken very seriously. ball lots are kept in locked rooms. and ballots are always sealed and checked out of each room before they are checked into another. >> listen to the fact that even our 24 hour ballot boxes are we also verify the signature on every single ballot we receive. as the ballots move from room to room within the building, they are moved by bipartisan teams under 24/7 camera. >> the denver elections division says anyone who handles ballots has to wear color coded vests. the final face to face debate in the race for the white house will be held tonight in las vegas. jobs an top we expect. and we can see confrontation over e-mails, vote rigging, and allegations of sexual assault. >> i'm kelly o'donnell in las vegas. for hillary clinton a chance to be the one that closes the deal trying to look as presidential as possible. while for trump this is the candidate. this is donald trump's last chance. he has a number of surprise guests for the debate tonight. is he going to use them to try to muddy the waters? suppress the clinton vote? or make a concerted effort to expand his base. >> we are tracking hillary clinton's closing argument. she is out with a positive ad today. her goal to stay above the fray, hold court, and look presidential. wi for. >> i will be looking to see whether there will be basic civility at the start of this debate, high drama. remember last debate hillary clinton and donald trump didn't shake hands. will they tonight? we'll find out. >> they did at the end. nbc's coverage of the debate ates tonight at 7:00. at least eight people were injured after a four alarm gas explosion happened this morning a contractor doing work in the area ruptured a gas line and reported the leak. fire crews responded and decided to evacuate a building 20 minutes before it exploded. eight firefighters were inside when the explosion happened. three firefighters, two police officers, and three others have nonlife threatening injuries. at least three surrounding buildings were damaged as well. authorities say that if not for the quick evacuation of the building, the higher. >> talking about a situation where time was of the essence. had those evacuations happened minutes later, this could be a much different situation. so that probably is the real success story in this. those guys got in there and recognized they had a potential threat of an explosion. they got those people out of the building. not of greater number. >> two of the injured firefighters has a broken leg. one will require surgery. firefighters got cooler weather on their side to help fight a wild fire in southern colorado that has destroyed five homes and forced the evacuation of more than 250 properties. the junkins fire has burned more than 25 square miles and started early monday. it started when strong winds blew a metal outbuildin power line. temperatures are expected to be only in the 50s in the area. the fire is still zero percent contained. a rock slide has forced the closure in both directions of state highway 133 and mcclure pass. they are trying to break up the massive bolders so they can clear the highway. there is no estimation when the season. the rap hoe basin says it will open at 9:00 sunday morning. they will run the black mountain express lift from the base. they have been making snow since october 3rd. loveland hopes to open in the next few weeks. conditions for making snow have been good this week. over in frisco temperatures were low enough for some natural snowfall. the government looks at students and military families as making sacrifices too. so they have teamed up with the national math and science institute. as nelson garcia shows us a grant announced today is geared at getting kids in advanced placement classes. >> >> reporter: every classroom is different. especially for students like zach lacrosse. kids of parents often transferred by the military. >> reporter: more than 200 students here are from military families. >> ladies and gentlemen, let's thank them. >> reporter: the national math and science institute. >> we have the distinct mission of improving math and science outcomes for the country. >> reporter: the colorado education initiative. these groups are announcing a grant to academically support military dependents taking advance placement classes. to give students like lacrosse stability if they have to move again. >> school colors are going to change and mascots are going to change. but that ap class will be pretty consistent from location to location which is huge to a kid. >> reporter: they say ap classes give these students the best chance to succeed in college. >> once you have a certain sense of normalcy, it fits in. at least to some degree. >> i think it's very important that we make sure their parents sacrifice doesn't take away from their students opportunity to achieve in life. >> reporter: and make every classroom feel a little bit more the same. in colorado springs nelson garcia 9 news. >> the program offers saturday study sessions for students and professional development for teachers so they can be more effective. response to allegations that it put the squeeze on eastbound widow. >> several more days to go. several more days of the broncos to talk about how they are getting ready for monday volunteers are with us to answer questions. (303)698-0999. lines are open in a live facebook chat. the next time you fly and arrive ahead of your luggage you may be eligible to get your money back if new rules from posed -- if new rule proposed are adopted. the proposal is one of a series of steps in the obama administration. the obama administration is taking to boost protections for passengers. ask okay what core to stop jillian assange. john kerry had personally intervened last month. the state department denies that. assange has been in ecuador since 2012. they will continue assange asylum to safeguard his life. emergency landing ended the way we all hope they do with no one hurt and no crash. a landing prop problem forced a pilot to bring the plane down. the pilot was able to bring it in safely with just those mainlanding gear wheels. and landed it straight. no word on what caused the the store signs changed over night. it is part of a merger between the two grocery store chains. the former stores are in the process of remodeling. there is new addition to the m & m family. those that love caramel have reason to celebrate. however it will be a delayed satisfaction because caramel filled m & m's don't stores until may. there is no word yet whether it's a limited time offer. did you know there is a pumpkin spiced latte m & m? it could be permanent. they tried quite a few things. you thought there was just peanut m & ms, almond m & ms. >> i'm okay with the caramel ones. >> i'm not a connoisseur. >> you don't like the pumpkin spice? >> caramel you almost had me. >> although we are getting plenty of sunshine today. temps tonight will drop pretty far. >> freeze watch will remain in weather. i don't know about you. >> i'm fine with it. i'm ready for that transition. >> i know the ski resorts are more than ready for it. >> they are making snow like crazy and mother nature helping out. steam boat got around 6 inches of snow last night. abasin is talking about opening early. and so is loveland. it feels like fall in the city today. up in the high country it looks like er resort where they have picked up six inches of snow over nigh. no winter weather travel advisory. and as skies clear, winds let up, temperatures will drop like a rock. we held in the low 50s all day and then the last hour dia spiked 60. cooler than average but still a little bit warmer considering that northerly wind that has been blowing all day which is finally starting to ease. a freeze warning goes into effect for denver, the front and areas of southern colorado between castle rock and colorado springs and pueblo. freeze watch on the far eastern plains. that means tender crops and vegetation will need protection. we will look for lows in the 30s for more than one night during the extended period. still a north wind blowing out at dia with 56 degrees there. higher humidity values. you can feel the moisture here in the air. close to 60 here in the downtoar lightning coming in from the northwest over the northern mountains. not expecting anything in the way of accumulation. as our storm system moves south and east, it's triggering a line of severe storms outside of wichita, omaha, chicago, hail reports, heavy rain reports and possible travel delays. then we will set our sights on the next batch of cool air heading our way from the north and a third system moving on shore in the pacific northwest. with high pressure centered where it is while storm tracks so best chance of showers will be along that front through central texas and the north of us. and temperatures will start to warm. winds will go from the north to the southwest pushing us to the mid 60s tomorrow. we will go ten degrees warmer on friday. a few left over light snow showers over the northern peaks. isolated showers up around cheyenne and north plat and skies clear. winds continue to decrease and it will be one of the colder nights of the week. temperatures not getting any herr than 19-20,000 feet. teen in the mountains. 20s and teens for lower elevations. freeze warning in effect over night tonight. nice rebound tomorrow. 50s in the high country. 60s for lower elevations. and this is a good travel day. grand lake will be chilly but it will be easy to get there tomorrow. in the denver metro area for tonight clear and cold. light winds and a freeze tomorrow the sun is up at 7:15. we look for temperatures to jump to the mid 50s. by lunchtime mid 60s. and then it's sunshine and 70s for friday and the weekend. a warm weather trend that will continue monday into next week. next system i'm tracking may bring a few light showers to us on tuesday. when broncos take the field, it is mild and dry with a kick off temperature of 65 degrees. we do not want weather to be mother nature is cooperating. she took my call. >> perfect excuse to call out of work and tailgate. coming up next. slow starts seem to be a common problem for denver's professional sports team. >> and the world series is starting to take shape without stocks ended higher 2.6% and settled at $51 a barrel in new york. dow finished 40.5 points good evening. the broncos biggest opponent the the first quarter. the defense is giving -- few a couple that with a struggling offense and denver's lost two straight games. the defense will face brock osweiler next and something tells me that it could cure the first quarter woes. >> you really can insure anything in this league. that is what i have learned. but what we're trying to do is find out why we are getting up hits so early and what we can do better offense. we want to figure that out just as much as everybody else does. once we do, i feel like that is when we click. it's really on us to figure it out. >> plenty to talk about on the broncos huddle that airs tonight at 6:30 on 9 news. rod mackey hosts the show with emmanuel sanders. >> the broncos had the day off. well most of the broncos did. emmanuel sanders here because we have the emmanuel sanders at 6:30. tough for you guys to bounce back. >> yes. we have ty davis one of the hardest hitting line backers. we will talk about getting back on the right track. some guy by the name of brock osweiler and houston texans. >> we have to get todd to get after brock. >> you have been hearing about that on the show as well. todd will talk about what he wants to do to brock. we will get it going. >> and you know what, you're on all the times are over and everyone is watching you guys. >> the whole world. so tune in, stay the whole show. it will be exciting. you will get a lot of details about what is going on this upcoming week. >> i moe you like to say all the -- i know you like to say all the games are big games, this big. >> it's still this big. >> it's all the same. we'll have much more coming up with emmanuel sanders on th we'll see you then. >> that is right. osweiler and the texans coming to town for a monday night show down. don't forget you can watch the game on channel 20. our coverage begins at 5:30 with a special edition of broncos tonight. the avalanche need to get things flipped around when it comes to the way they start games. they have played three times in this young season and trailed 2- 0 in all three of them. somehow they have managed to win two of those games last they turned their 2-0 lead into a 3-0 victory. >> this is the third game in a row we have gwynn up goals. and we are trailing from behind. eventually we will have to make sure we are ready and right off the bat get the veteran start and play with the lead. it comes with preparation. what do you do in the morning? what do you do in the afternoon? >> what in the name of jake taylor, vick vaughn, doe is going -- and pedro is going on? the indians are in the world series for the first time since 1997. they haven't won it since 1948. and get this, they will host game one on tuesday directly across the street. the cavaliers have their home >> how about that? >> so no more tulo? >> no tulo was the last out. >> now you pulled for the under dog. >> thanks. >> you knew he would interject. >> nbc nightly news is next and then after that is next with tonight from las vegas, wild drama, trump and clinton, the final showdown before the election. donald trump in need of a game-changing moment, unleashing more surprise guests to try to rattle hillary clinton. who is riding high in the polls. bracing for a barrage of attacks. nbc news exclusive as wikileaks releases more stolen documents. intelligence sources tell c news what the u.s. is doing to block the russians from making off with anything more. but what else do they already have? blown away -- a massive explosion rocks a big american city. firefighters injured as people run for their lives. and clearing the air -- from buying tickets to lost luggage. the new rules designed to ease your flying headaches.