5 dead in pile-up crash in Colorado involving over 30 vehicles, including multiple semis: Police
Stock image of police lights. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images
(PUEBLO, Colo.) — At least five people are dead following a pile-up crash involving dozens of vehicles in Colorado that occurred as high winds blew dirt, making for low to zero visibility, authorities said.
The incident occurred around 10 a.m. local time Tuesday on I-25 near Pueblo, which is about 40 miles south of Colorado Springs, authorities said.
Over 30 vehicles, including seven semis, were involved in the crash, according to Colorado State Patrol.Pickups pulling horse trailers, SUVs and passenger vehicles were also involved, according to Maj. Brian Lyons with Colorado State Patrol.
The pile-up occurred during “adverse weather conditions,” Lyons said, with heavy winds blowing dirt and causing “brownout” conditions.
“Visibility was next to nothing,” Lyons said during a press briefing Tuesday.
There were four fatalities in separate vehicles — two men from Walsenburg, Colorado, and two women, one from Rye and one from Pueblo — authorities said Tuesday.
A fifth person who had been transported to a hospital later succumbed to his injuries, Colorado State Patrol said Wednesday.
Another 28 people were transported to area hospitals, with moderate to serious injuries, Colorado State Patrol said.
Authorities were working to account for everyone in the vehicles involved in the crash, Lyons said.
One of the vehicles was a pickup hauling a gooseneck trailer containing 32 goats, Colorado State Patrol said. Four of the goats died, while the rest were safely removed, it said.
Northbound I-25 was closed for several hours as crews worked to clear vehicles, before reopening late Tuesday.
“Due to low visibility, drivers are urged to delay traveling until conditions improve,” Colorado State Patrol said. “If travel is necessary, avoid I-25 in this area, use caution, and reduce speed.”
High wind warnings were in effect for the region on Tuesday. The National Weather Service in Pueblo warned that “significant blowing dust” was possible on the plains, where gusts could be up to 65 mph. Gusts of at least 85 mph were also forecast for mountain areas, it said.
The Fulton County Jail is seen on August 23, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(ATLANTA) — Former Fulton County Jail detainee Rashaad Muhammad detailed what he said was a harrowing experience being held at the Atlanta, Georgia, facility from August 2025 to February of this year.
After being arrested on Aug. 11, the 33-year-old — who used a cane to walk and took medication regularly for a blood condition — alleged at a press conference last Friday that he was repeatedly denied medical care as his physical condition rapidly deteriorated for more than two weeks.
As he allegedly experienced symptoms like vomiting bile and losing the ability to stand up, Muhammad said his requests for medical attention were ignored for several days and he ultimately experienced septic shock. After being transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, he fell into a coma and both of his hands and legs were amputated.
In a statement to ABC News, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said Muhammad spent 177 of the 188 days he was in custody “at Grady under hospital care.”
“For days, I’m in the corner by myself suffering. Nobody’s checking on me. Nobody’s coming up to you,” an emotional Muhammad told the press. “I’m back there. I was tired, so I’m trying to tell the officer, ‘Hey officer, I need to, you know, it’s getting bad.’ Nothing.”
He alleged that officials in the jail ignored his condition, even as he asked for medical help each day.
“I’m begging the sheriff to let me see the provider … I can’t get up. Every time they do head count, you have to stand by your door,” he said. “It got so bad to the point where I couldn’t even get up. I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to the officers but I just couldn’t get up. So they just started, they’d see me, they didn’t, I didn’t have to do headcount. But that’s when I knew it was bad.”
Muhammad had been charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault and firearm possession. According to court records, the warrant alleges that he drove up to the victim, got out of his car and fired multiple shots at the victim, then drove off.
At the press conference, Muhammad and his attorneys described this as a case of self-defense. All charges were dropped earlier this month. It’s unclear exactly why the charges were dropped.
“For them to drop the charges is another slap in the face, because I was there for no reason. I didn’t have to be there,” Muhammad said.
An attorney from the Georgia Public Defender Council represented Muhammad at the time.
“This case raises serious questions about humane treatment in custody and emphasizes the importance of testing allegations through a fair adversarial process that ultimately resulted in Mr. Muhammad’s charges being dismissed,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement to ABC News.
The prosecutors in the case did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
The Fulton County jail system has been the subject of scrutiny for years, drawing national attention in 2022 over the death of LaShawn Thompson in a bed bug-infested cell. In response to a series of reports of inmate abuse and neglect, including Thompson’s death, the Department of Justice launched a civil investigation into the Fulton County jail system in July 2023.
“We need to know why Fulton County did what they did in choosing their health care provider,” Muhammad’s attorney, Eric Hertz, told the press. “We need to know why a bottle of pills which he had on him when he was originally arrested, why they didn’t let him take that with him, why they didn’t carefully give him the antibiotics as he needed them.”
In a statement to ABC News, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said it cannot comment on or release information about Muhammad’s medical condition or treatment due to privacy laws.
“It is important to note that of the 188 days Mr. Muhammad was in custody, 177 of those days were spent at Grady under hospital care,” it said. “During his time at the Fulton County Jail, he was under the medical care of NaphCare.”
NaphCare is a private, for-profit correctional health care company based in Alabama. A 2024 report released by the Justice Department after LaShawn Thompson’s death noted “ongoing issues” with the company’s staffing at the jail, but its contract with Georgia state was ultimately renewed until 2027.
At the press conference on Friday, attorney Ben Crump noted that the same medical provider was involved in both Thompson and Muhammad’s situations.
“We need answers, and we need Fulton County to act. This is deplorable, this is horrific, this is egregious,” he said. “And worst of all, this is inhumane. We don’t treat human beings like this.”
In a statement to ABC News, NaphCare said “Fulton County jails represent one of the most difficult environments” where the company provides care in the U.S.
“Despite the challenges, we have been extraordinarily successful in improving care and saving lives, maintaining accreditation by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, and working with federal court monitors to implement reforms under a federal court consent decree,” the company said.
NaphCare noted that it has “cared for tens of thousands of patients, and have had thousands of positive patient outcomes” in the time it has been contracted to work at the jail.
It also addressed Muhammad’s case specifically.
“We are also deeply saddened by and sorry for the suffering and losses that Mr. Muhammad experienced,” the company said its statement. “We understand that he has a right to file a lawsuit against us, and we will respond to the allegations in court filings and will not comment to the news media outside of the ongoing court proceedings.”
Muhammad’s legal team called for accountability and a full investigation into the conditions and medical care within the jail.
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured this image of an X5.8 solar flare peaking at 9:23 p.m. EDT, May 10, 2024. (NASA)
(NEW YORK) — A moderate geomagnetic storm could bring northern lights displays to U.S. states further south than usual, forecasts show.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a storm watch for a G2 geomagnetic storm due to a coronal mass ejection expected to begin Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET and continue until Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.
A coronal mass ejection is a massive eruption of solar material and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere.
Auroras can occur when the charged particles from the sun clash with the atoms and molecules in Earth’s upper atmosphere — causing those atoms and molecules to emit a glow that appears as a spectrum of light in the night sky.
In the U.S., northern lights could be visible in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire or Maine, according to the NOAA aurora viewline map.
A G2 storm can also impact high-latitude power systems, spacecraft operation and high frequency radio propagation, according to NOAA. Fluctuations to weak power grids and minor impacts on satellite operations can occur as well.
Migratory animals could possibly be affected by geomagnetic storms, according to NOAA. A 2023 study found that inclement space weather may cause fewer birds to migrate during the disturbances — likely due to more difficulty in navigating — and NASA has researched whether solar storms cause an increase in marine mammal strandings, possibly due to similar navigation issues.
The month of March is often an active month for northern lights displays.
The weeks before and after the spring equinox on March 20 are considered “aurora season,” as geomagnetic storms are more likely due to the way solar wind interacts with the Earth’s magnetosphere, according to EarthSky.org.
The spring equinox comes as the solar maximum comes to a close. The sun’s 11-year cycle peaked around late 2024 and has continued to emit strong solar activity and geomagnetic storms, leading to an increase in aurora displays.
The best time to see the northern lights in the U.S. is generally between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. local time, and traveling to the darkest location possible is recommended for the best viewing, according to NOAA.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services building is seen on March 27, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Department of Health and Human Services announced it is cutting 10,000 jobs and closing offices aimed at cutting $1.8 billion (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration took steps this week to reinstate hundreds of health and safety officials who had previously been dismissed in widespread layoffs, granting a major win for advocates of workplace safety.
The newly reinstated employees belong to the National Institute of Safety and Health, or NIOSH, a small federal office within the Department of Health and Human Services that’s focused on protecting coal miners from black lung respiratory disease. Critics of the Trump administration have accused the government of stripping away key protections for miners in its bid to reinvigorate the coal industry, ABC News has previously reported.
“This moment belongs to every single person who refused to stay silent,” Dr. Micah Niemeier-Walsh, an industrial hygienist at NIOSH and the vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees outpost in Washington, D.C., said Wednesday following news of the reinstatements.
In April 2025, hundreds of NIOSH officials were terminated as part of a so-called Reduction in Force, or RIF. Under pressure from lawmakers and labor organizers, the administration brought back some officials months later, and on Tuesday, hundreds more received an email saying the prior “notice is hereby revoked.”
“You are not affected by the RIF and remain employed in your position of record,” according to an email obtained by ABC News.
The reinstatement “ensures the continuation of critical programs that protect all working people, including mine safety research, chemical hazard assessment, and research on emerging occupational risks,” read a statement from AFGE, the federal workers union.
Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that “the Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services — whether it’s supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases.”
Nixon confirmed that the reinstatement applies to all NIOSH officials except those who voluntarily left government.
