5 people dead in massive car crash in Austin, driver charged
ABC News
(AUSTIN, Texas) — A man is facing charges after five people were killed and 11 were hospitalized in a collision involving 17 vehicles, including a semi-truck, in Austin, Texas, authorities said.
Solomun Weldekeal Araya, 37, has been charged with five counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault, according to Austin police.
The accident unfolded at approximately 11:23 p.m. on Interstate 35 southbound, according to Capt. Krista Stedman, public information officer for Austin-Travis County EMS. Crews arrived on scene to find multiple patients pinned in their cars, officials said.
Five people died at the scene: three adults, one child and one infant, authorities said. Eleven others were taken to hospitals.
“This incident was incredibly chaotic, and it was spread out over about a tenth of a mile,” Stedman said. “We were able to get all the critical patients off the scene within about 40 minutes and, considering how complex the scene was, that’s pretty impressive.”
The National Transportation Safety Board said it’s launched a safety investigation.
(NEW YORK) — Nineteen states from Nebraska to Florida are facing cold weather alerts on Friday morning as a relentless Arctic blast persists — but a warmup is finally on the way.
Friday marks the fourth morning in a row of record-low temperatures across the central U.S.
Cities across the Plains and the South broke or tied their record-low temperatures on Friday: Lincoln, Nebraska, at negative 17 degrees; Kansas City, Missouri, at negative 5 degrees; Memphis, Tennessee, at 15 degrees; and Birmingham, Alabama, at 17 degrees.
The warmup will begin this weekend across the Heartland and the South, with temperatures climbing to the 50s in Kansas City and 60s in Austin by Sunday. By next week, Kansas City will reach the 60s and Austin will warm up to the 70s.
The mild weather will even reach the north.
By Monday, Chicago could warm up to close to 50 degrees. By Tuesday, New York City could climb to 50 degrees and Washington, D.C., could rise to the balmy 60s.
(WASHINGTON) — A member of the DOGE team assigned to work at the IRS will not be granted broad access to Americans’ personal tax information, according to an agreement obtained by ABC News that heads off a request that had sparked concern within the IRS.
As ABC News previously reported, DOGE had sought broad access to an IRS system that contains the personal tax information of millions of Americans, a move that would have given them visibility into personal information including taxpayer names and addresses, social security numbers, details on how much individuals earn and owe, property information, and even details related to child custody agreements.
The terms of the DOGE employee’s temporary assignment at the IRS was laid out in a five-page memorandum of agreement between the Office of Personnel Management and the Internal Revenue Service. The memo states that the DOGE employee, Gavin Kliger, will be assigned to the IRS for a term of 120 days with the possibility of an additional 120-day extension.
In bold letters, the agreement states that “it is not the intention of this assignment for the Detailee to be provided or gain access to returns or return information … including any personally identifiable information associated with such taxpayer records.”
Instead, any information viewed will remain anonymous, the agreement said.
“Should access to IRS systems that contain returns or return information become necessary as part of the Detailee’s duties under this agreement, that access shall only be provided if it is anonymized in a manner that cannot be associated with, directly or indirectly, any taxpayer,” the agreement states.
Kliger has a host of duties while at the IRS, according to the memo. They include “surveying IRS software,” “identifying opportunities to modernize IRS technology and software,” and “implementing safeguards to prevent fraud.”
Kliger, who is technically an employee of the Office of Personnel Management, is also working across other agencies including OPM, USAID, and the State Department, sources told ABC News.
An IRS spokesperson did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment. A spokesperson for OPM declined to comment.
(NEW YORK) — Alaska’s Mount Spurr, an active volcano near the most populated region in the state, is getting even closer to an eruption, according to volcanologists.
Scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory measured “significantly elevated” emissions of volcanic gas coming from Mount Spurr, located in the Aleutian Arc in southern Alaska about 75 miles west of Anchorage, according to a statement released Wednesday.
In addition, elevated earthquake activity, ground deformations and newly activated fumaroles — or gas vents — at the volcano’s Crater Peak have been recorded, indicating that the probability of eruption has increased, researchers at the observatory said.
Small earthquakes have been occurring above ground at Mount Spurr since April, Matthew Haney, scientist in charge of the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Anchorage, told ABC News last month.
An overflight on March 7 measured about 450 metric tons per day of sulfur dioxide from Mount Spurr’s summit vent — an increase from less than 50 metric tons in December, according to the observatory.
Over the last month, more than 100 earthquakes per week have been occurring at the site as well. Ground deformation and collapse of snow and ice into the summit crater lake that formed during the unrest also continues, scientists said.
An increase in gas emissions confirms that new magma has entered the Earth’s crust beneath the volcano, indicating that an eruption is likely in the next weeks or months, according to the observatory.
While an eruption is “not certain,” it is the most likely outcome of the current unrest, according to the observatory. If the magma stalls and does not reach the surface, the unrest could instead decrease over the next weeks and months, similar to events from 2004 to 2006, researchers said.
Eruptions that occurred in 1953 and 1992 were explosive — lasting a few hours and producing ash clouds that were carried downwind for hundreds of miles, according to the observatory. The August 1992 eruption caused the Anchorage airport to close for 20 hours due to the wind and ash event that accompanied the eruption.
There is little geological evidence to suggest other past eruptions in the last 5,000 years, according to the observatory.
The volcano alert level for Mount Spurr as of Thursday was at “yellow” or “advisory,” indicating that the volcano is exhibiting signs of elevated unrest above known background level
Mount Spurr is monitored constantly due to its proximity to Anchorage, the most populated city in Alaska, Haney said. There are 11 remote seismic stations situated around Mount Spurr.
Primary hazards to south-central Alaska communities during eruptions at Mount Spurr include far-traveled airborne ash clouds and ashfall, according to the observatory.
Volcanologists will be monitoring for further increases in seismic activity, gas emissions and surface heating to indicate that an eruption is imminent, according to the observatory. The detection of volcanic tremor — a continuous shaking that can last for several minutes rather than short, small earthquakes — would like prompt the level to raise, Haney said.
Should monitoring data suggest that an eruption is likely within hours or days, the observatory will raise its alert level to orange or red.
