License Plate Surveillance, Data Centers, and the Fight to Reclaim Freedom

On the May 27, 2026 broadcast, Car Coach Reports’ Lauren Fix traced a spreading citizen backlash against automated license plate readers, Karen Gordey reported that the Lakewood Citizens Alliance had filed a charter amendment to rein in surprise rezoning, sixth-generation rancher Trent Loos connected loyalty-card pricing, smart meters, and federal crop insurance to a wider erosion of independence, and Van Gogh exhibition spokesperson LaKendra Tookes described the immersive show now open in Denver. Carlton Jones of Radiance Power and mortgage specialist Lorne Levy added practical guidance on home power backups and reverse mortgages.

The Backlash Against License Plate Surveillance

Start listening at 33:18 – Hour 1

Lauren Fix of Car Coach Reports walked through her recent piece on the growing pushback against automated license plate readers, the camera systems often branded by the vendor Flock Safety. Fix said the cameras spread after the 2021 federal infrastructure bill set aside money that flows to towns, cities, and counties, and that residents frequently discover the equipment at their intersections only after it is installed.

The systems do far more than read a plate, Fix said. They capture the make, model, and color of a vehicle, bumper stickers, roof racks, and the driver, then send the data to centers that aggregate it with red light cameras and other feeds. She pointed to England, where some towns require permission to leave a 15-minute city and insurers adjust rates based on where and when people drive, as a preview of where the practice leads. Fix also noted that officials and police have reached the data they were not supposed to access, citing a California case in which a man tracked an ex-girlfriend.

Fix described the response taking shape across the country. Residents in San Diego filed a class action, Scottsdale and several small New York towns moved to remove or block the cameras, and the Institute for Justice is looking to get involved. Her advice to listeners was to press elected officials on Fourth Amendment grounds and to make removal a condition of their vote in November.

“They’re using this to control every aspect of your life.”

Lauren Fix, Car Coach Reports

Lakewood Citizens Push a Charter Amendment for Zoning Transparency

Start listening at 14:44 – Hour 1

Karen Gordey, owner of Radiant Painting and Lighting and an organizer with the Lakewood Citizens Alliance, said the group filed paperwork with the city clerk for a citizens initiative to amend the city charter. After the April 7 special election repealed Lakewood’s roughly 400-page zoning rewrite with about 62 percent of the vote, the charter route matters because an amendment approved by voters cannot be undone without another vote of the people, while an ordinance can be changed or scrapped by the council after six months.

The proposed amendment would add notification guardrails for large-scale legislative rezoning and protect single-family homes. Gordey said the alliance held the petition until the legislative session ended because lawmakers had repeatedly changed state law mid-effort, pointing to Rooted in Littleton, the Save Belmar Park fee-in-lieu petition, and Initiative 175, all of which she said were undercut after signature gathering began. The group needs signatures by August 1 and aims for the November ballot.

Gordey credited the campaign’s success to neutral language built with input from the far right and far left, an approach she said held a fractured city together. Kim Monson tied the effort to the broader pattern of the state legislature working to thwart the will of the people.

“And essentially, we’re branding this as transparency before transformation.”

Karen Gordey, Lakewood Citizens Alliance

Loyalty Pricing, Smart Meters, and a Crop Insurance Trap

Start listening at 73:38 – Hour 2

Trent Loos, a sixth-generation rancher from Nebraska, opened with a warning about individualized pricing. Two grocery chains in the United Kingdom have begun setting prices per shopper based on loyalty-card purchase histories, he said, so two customers can pay different amounts for the same gallon of milk. He urged listeners to shop only where prices are posted, to check receipts, and to pay cash for some purchases to push back on tracking.

Loos and Monson turned to Xcel Energy, whose largest shareholders Monson identified as Vanguard and BlackRock, and to the utility’s push for smart meters and use of eminent domain for transmission lines. Both linked the smart-meter campaign to data collection, variable pricing, and the power to shut off service remotely, and questioned why utilities did not defend reliable, affordable hydrocarbon power as data centers drive demand.

On agriculture, Loos said the price of corn has fallen below the cost of production, yet farmers across the western corn belt keep planting corn because federal crop insurance covers corn, soybeans, and wheat but not forage crops. The result, he argued, is government steering what gets planted. He closed with a lighter note on beef as the most nutrient-dense recovery food for athletes, tied to Nebraska’s run in the Women’s College World Series.

“But it’s government nudging and directing what is planted. And that is the end of agriculture as we know it.”

Trent Loos, sixth-generation rancher

Van Gogh’s Immersive Exhibition Comes to Denver

Start listening at 101:50 – Hour 2

LaKendra Tookes, a writer and comedian, former Saturday Night Live writer, and Access Hollywood correspondent, is the spokesperson for Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience at the Lighthouse ArtSpace near I-25 and 38th in Denver. The exhibition projects the painter’s work across the walls and floor of large galleries, set to an original score, so visitors move through the paintings instead of viewing them on a wall. Tookes pointed to a flower-pot installation that dissolves into a sequence of canvases and a floor-to-ceiling room that, she said, lets people step inside Van Gogh’s world.

Because May is Mental Health Awareness Month, Tookes connected the exhibition to Van Gogh’s own struggles and the toll that perfectionism takes on creative people. The lesson she drew, she said, was to keep making and sharing work and to trust that an audience will find it. Tickets are available through Fever’s Denver exhibition page.

“The people that are meant to love your work will find you, will find it, will love it.”

LaKendra Tookes, Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience

Preparing for Brownouts at Home

Start listening at 5:22 – Hour 1

Carlton Jones, owner of Radiance Power, offered low-cost options for riding out a brownout. Battery-backup light bulbs charge while in use and keep working when the power drops, at roughly 30 dollars each, and a UPS battery backup can keep a Wi-Fi router, a home computer, or a medical device running for a short window during an outage.

“There’s a couple of easy, affordable options you can do to get some of your basic necessities available during a brownout.”

Carlton Jones, Radiance Power

Reverse Mortgages as a Retirement Tool

Start listening at 63:29 – Hour 2

Lorne Levy, a mortgage specialist, said reverse mortgages can be a valuable tool for the right homeowner. The standard program is available at age 62, with newer second-mortgage products down to age 59 that let owners tap equity without monthly payments. Levy said seniors use the equity to pay off a current mortgage, fund retirement, help children with a down payment, or support estate planning, and that his office steers people away from a reverse mortgage when it does not fit.

“They should know that they’re a great, valuable tool for the right people.”

Lorne Levy, mortgage specialist