AI Regulation in Congress, Rescued Horses as Therapy Partners, and Dry-Aged Local Beef

On the September 22, 2026 broadcast, guest host Dr. Jill Vecchio, a diagnostic radiologist, fills in for Kim Monson. Epoch Times Capitol Hill correspondent Nathan Worcester explains where proposals to regulate artificial intelligence stand in Congress, and Danielle Bartos, founder of the Parker nonprofit The Art of Rescue, explains how her nonprofit rehabilitates rescued horses and pairs them with mental health therapy clients. Justin Hundley of the Elizabeth Locker Plant tells listeners why the plant dry-ages its beef, and personal injury attorney Jon Boesen of Boesen Law explains why drivers should call the police after a crash that was not their fault.

Elizabeth Locker Plant Dry-Ages Its Beef for at Least 10 Days Before Cutting

Start listening at 15:32 – Hour 1

Justin Hundley, whose family owns and operates the Elizabeth Locker Plant in Elizabeth, Colorado, said more of his customers are paying attention to where their meat comes from, a second wave of interest in locally raised beef, pork and lamb after the first one during COVID.

Hundley said a family can call a local locker plant to buy a half or a whole animal and have it cut to order, down to the thickness of the steaks. Some customers now have liver and heart mixed into their ground beef to get the nutrition of organ meat, since not everybody likes the taste of liver. His plant does everything at one site, from harvest to cutting, and dry-ages its beef for a minimum of 10 days. He said the large packing houses generally cut and bag beef about 72 hours after harvest, and that Costco sells good beef but, as far as he knows, does not run a dry-aged program.

Hundley said dry aging lets water leave the meat, which concentrates the beef flavor, while natural enzymes begin to break down the muscle fibers and tenderize it, and that the first seven days of aging matter most. At 35 to 45 days the fat looks different, the texture changes a little and the flavor changes a great deal, and the plant sells beef aged that long. He said the plant uses no steroids, hormones or antibiotics, and he can drive about 16 miles northeast to see the animals it processes. Customers can reach the plant through its website, call, or visit the shop in downtown Elizabeth.

“We’re just a smaller operation, and like I say, we have total control from start to finish.”

Justin Hundley, Elizabeth Locker Plant

The Art of Rescue, a Parker Nonprofit, Rehabilitates Rescued Horses for Mental Health Therapy

Start listening at 31:16 – Hour 1

Danielle Bartos, a therapist and horse trainer, founded The Art of Rescue, a nonprofit in Parker, Colorado. It takes in horses with behavioral problems or past trauma, rehabilitates them and brings them into mental health therapy sessions. For years, farms in Canada kept mares pregnant so their urine could be collected for estrogen replacement drugs, and when that market fell away the mares and their foals were sold off, many of them to slaughter. Bartos’s childhood horse, whom she kept until he was 28, was one of those foals, and he led her into both horse rescue and equine therapy. An early internship at Colorado State University’s Temple Grandin Equine Center inspired her to start the nonprofit.

Bartos said horses are costly to rescue because they are large herd animals that cannot live alone, and a horse with behavioral problems can weigh a thousand pounds or more, so few people will take one on. Hay is getting more expensive, and a newly arrived horse often carries heavy veterinary costs after neglect. In therapy she works with clients facing anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, trauma, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and with children with autism. Horses respond at once to body language, energy, movement and even breathing, she said, and many of her clients would rather work beside a horse than sit across from a therapist in an office. She pairs each client with a horse partner suited to what that client wants to work on.

With fall arriving, Bartos said the rescue needs donations for vaccinations, winter hay and bedding, and that gifts go directly to veterinary care and feed. Donations can be made through the Venmo and PayPal links on the nonprofit’s website.

“I think the big thing with horses is that they are incredibly present animals.”

Danielle Bartos, Founder, The Art of Rescue

Skipping the Police Report Lets Insurers Dispute Fault

Start listening at 61:57 – Hour 2

Jon Boesen, founder of the personal injury firm Boesen Law, said the most common mistake he sees after a crash that was not the driver’s fault is failing to call the police to determine fault. When the other driver admits responsibility at the scene, often to avoid a ticket, many people skip the police report, especially when they do not think they are badly hurt. Boesen said the other driver’s account often changes after that driver talks with an insurance representative, and in more than 36 years of practice he has seen insurers dispute liability hundreds of times.

He described a minor accident of his own in which the other driver accepted responsibility, and Boesen offered to skip calling the police if the driver said so on video. The driver began making excuses on camera and stated full responsibility only on the second try. Boesen told listeners he was not suggesting they do the same. Nearly as common, he said, is waiving uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage to save money. Every week one or two new clients come to him after a serious crash with a driver who carried no insurance at all, and he said uninsured drivers cause a share of accidents far larger than their share of drivers. Without that coverage, an injured driver usually has no one to recover from.

Boesen directed anyone injured in an accident that was not their fault to call Boesen Law at 303-999-9999 as soon as possible, since the advice given at the start of a claim matters most.

“If I hadn’t done that, there’s no doubt in my mind he would have told his insurance company he wasn’t at fault.”

Jon Boesen, Founder, Boesen Law

Sen. Rand Paul Blocked Sen. John Kennedy’s AI Kill Switch Bill in September 2026

Start listening at 71:59 – Hour 2

Nathan Worcester, a Capitol Hill correspondent for The Epoch Times, said a burst of new AI proposals has so far produced no law. He described a media campaign in September around a perceived need to move swiftly on AI, after Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei published an essay, We Must Pace the Frontier, and Elon Musk agreed on X.

Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana tried to pass his AI Emergency Button Act, which he calls the AI kill switch bill, by unanimous consent, a procedure any one senator can stop with an objection. The bill would require AI developers to build a way to shut down their models, and Kennedy stressed that the decision to use it would rest with the companies rather than the government. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky objected. Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Josh Hawley of Missouri wrote the Artificial Intelligence Risk Evaluation Act, which would bar developers from deploying an advanced AI model until they comply with an evaluation program in the Department of Energy, and Worcester said the two senators wrote to their party leaders in both chambers asking for a floor vote, and none came. The House has left town and the Senate could leave soon, he said, with neither likely to return until after the midterms.

Worcester said he is skeptical of claims that AI has reached or will soon reach superintelligence, and he pointed to New York University mathematician Tristan Buckmaster’s accusation, reported by Fortune, that OpenAI essentially plagiarized his work on the Navier-Stokes equations. He said many of the calls for rules come from the largest AI companies, whose closed models could gain an advantage over open-weight rivals, and that the pattern looks like a risk of regulatory capture. His reporting is on his Epoch Times author page, and he posts on X as @NNWorcester.

“It does set off alarm bells when you see the industry itself pushing for regulation.”

Nathan Worcester, Capitol Hill Correspondent, The Epoch Times