Author: KRDO

Celeste Springer

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PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Interstate 25 closed in both directions near Stem Beach on Tuesday after a major crash. The Colorado State Patrol (CSP) confirmed that at least 30 vehicles were involved, and so far, there are four confirmed fatalities.

On Tuesday afternoon, CSP added that 29 people were taken to the hospital, though the agency did not disclose the extent of their injuries. State patrol says school buses were used to transport patients to the hospital.

As of late Tuesday evening, only southbound I-25 was back open.

A CDOT spokesperson said there were poor conditions at the time of the crash, as heavy wind had kicked up dust and dirt, though an official cause of the crash will still need to be determined.

On Tuesday afternoon, CDOT announced high wind caution on I-25 from Mile Marker 00 all the way to Mile Marker 163; from New Mexico to Monument.

“Reminder to drivers that even though conditions are dry, visibility can be very bad.  Drivers need to slow down and drive safe,” a CDOT spokesperson said.

The Colorado Department of Transportation says warning message boards had been activated since Sunday, alerting drivers about high winds and Red Flag conditions. However, officials say wind speeds had not reached thresholds required to close the interstate or implement high-wind travel restrictions before the dust storm rapidly moved into the area.

After visibility deteriorated, CDOT says high-wind caution measures were put into place.

One driver who spoke with KRDO 13 said the dust storm moved in with little warning.

“Usually, if the weather’s bad, we’ll pull over so that we miss it,” the driver said. “But there was no way of missing it. The visibility was clear, and then immediately it was just dirt and dark.”

The driver said her vehicle narrowly avoided being part of the crash.

“If we had been five minutes later, we would have been in that accident,” she said.

Strong winds continued pushing dust across the region throughout the afternoon, causing additional travel delays. Drivers rerouted onto frontage roads reported slow-moving traffic and poor visibility.

The Pueblo Fire Department said over 23 different agencies responded to the crash.

One of the vehicles in the northbound crash was a pickup hauling a gooseneck trailer containing goats. Four of the goats did not survive. Twenty-eight of the goats survived and have been safely removed from the scene.

The Pueblo Fire Department says there will be a victims’ reunification center at Pueblo South High School off Hollywood Drive.

First responders ask that you avoid the area.

Weather officials expect winds to calm later Tuesday evening, but authorities say northbound I-25 will remain closed until investigators complete their work and the roadway is cleared.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — While most drivers slept Monday night and early Tuesday morning, significant traffic impacts took place on Marksheffel Road between Barnes Road and Dublin Boulevard.

That stretch is the northern half of the ongoing widening project that started in the summer of 2023 along the city’s northeastern border, and covers nearly three miles from Dublin to North Carefree Circle.

In the overnight work zone around the Marksheffel/Stetson Hills/Huber Road intersection, Marksheffel closed for drainage work.

At the Marksheffel/Dublin intersection, crews established a new traffic pattern — leaving open lanes in the middle to create more space on the outside for road construction and installing traffic signals.

The overnight work started at 7 p.m. Monday and was scheduled to end around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Tuesday, drivers can expect more traffic impacts around the Marksheffel/Stetson Hills/Huber intersection; crews will pave over the drainage pipes installed overnight, and only one lane of Marksheffel will be open during that time.

Flaggers will be on duty to guide drivers through the area.

At the project’s expected completion later this year, Marksheffel will expand from two to four lanes, have a center median and new sidewalks, and extensive drainage upgrades to prevent road flooding that had been troublesome in the past.

The estimated construction cost is $55 million and includes widening Dublin approximately a mile west of Marksheffel.

The Marksheffel project coincides with other improvements, such as the recently completed Banning Lewis Parkway through the growing subdivision of the same name.

Eventually, Stetson Hills and Barnes will connect to the Parkway, and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is planning to build an overpass at the Stetson Hills/Powers Boulevard intersection.

Marksheffel now extends north to Vollmer Road, just south of Black Forest.

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Michael Logerwell

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – El Paso County is under a Stage 2 fire restriction. Parts of Pueblo and Fremont County could see their power turned off; Southern Colorado is already feeling the impact of fire danger without smoke filling the sky.

RELATED: Black Hills Energy on emergency shutoff watch in select counties due to fire danger

“I think we’re at a critical position with our fire danger,” said Cimarron Hills Fire Chief, Andrew York.

A quarter after 11:00 A.M. Monday, members of the Cimarron Hills Fire Department responded to a mutual aid request from the Falcon Fire Department.

Picture of the grass fire from the CMFD social media account.

The fire only burned around 12 acres, but not due to a lack of fuel.

“When you start looking at our fuel moisture, if you look at even just the mountains that have had very little snow this year. So our snowpack is down a lot from what it normally is. We just haven’t had the moisture through the winter. We didn’t really have a lot of moisture last year either,” said Chief York.

Two years in a row with subpar precipitation and increased wind gusts are why El Paso County Sheriff Joseph Roybal enacted stage 2 fire restrictions on Monday, and why many fire departments, including CMFD, brought in extra staff for Monday.

“The current conditions create an extreme risk for wildfires, which can spread rapidly and threaten lives, homes, and critical infrastructure,” said Sheriff Roybal.

For residents of El Paso County, that means some activities are prohibited:

Open Burning & Fires: All open fires and open burning are prohibited. This includes campfires, warming fires, charcoal grill fires, and the use of wood-burning stoves (except as noted below).

Fireworks: The sale and use of all fireworks is strictly prohibited.

Outdoor Smoking: Smoking is prohibited outdoors. Smoking is only allowed within an enclosed vehicle or building.

Explosives: The use of explosives is prohibited.

Fire conditions like these also affect firefighters. “There’s the mindset of getting out there quicker and getting things rolling,” said Cody Schauer, a firefighter with CMFD.

Schauer was one of the CMFD firefighters who responded to the mutual aid request out in Falcon.

“All of us that are on the brush [fire truck], we’re already in our greens and our equipment for fighting wildland fires. Anything that goes out will start rolling that way even before we’re dispatched. Just so, if they do need us, we’re already almost there,” Schauer said the department also spends more time briefing on fire conditions.

“There’s a heightened awareness of everything going on,” Schauer said.

Power Concerns

Elsewhere in Southern Colorado, different precautions have been undertaken.

“The safety of our customers, employees, and communities is our highest priority,” said Campbell Hawkins, Vice President of Colorado Utilities for Black Hills Energy. “Our Emergency Public Safety Power Shutoff program, or PSPS, is a critical tool for wildfire prevention and used as a last-resort measure to protect lives and property and will only be activated in areas with elevated wildfire risk.”

Black Hills Energy is putting customers on alert. Their power might get shut off on Tuesday.

“We recognize that shutting off power, even to reduce wildfire risks, has broad impacts,” said Hawkins.

The energy company said on Monday that isolated portions of Crowley County, Fremont County, Otero County, Pueblo County, and the cities of Cripple Creek, Victor, and Westcliffe in Teller County are under an Emergency Public Safety Power Shutoff Watch.

That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen or even that it’s likely. It means that if fire conditions persist or worsen, Black Hills could temporarily shut off power to approximately 5,400 customers in these areas from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday to mitigate the risk of electrical infrastructure becoming a source of wildfire ignition.

Black Hills is asking that customers in those areas, who have been notified, have a backup plan for medicine that needs to be refrigerated or medical equipment that is powered by electricity.

To keep up to date on updates from Black Hills, click here, or you can find them on social media.

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Mackenzie Stafford

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – The Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) confirms it is investigating an incident where a dog was shot, and KRDO13 has learned the incident has left neighbors at odds. The department says it got the call just after noon on Friday.

Police say the dog is in stable condition.

On Monday, KRDO13 spoke with the owner of the dog and the man who fired the gun.

The owner of the dog, Vincent Harlow, tells KRDO13 he came home on Friday to Animal Law Enforcement at his door. He says they told him there was an altercation between dogs. Harlow says he got through to the backyard to find his dog, Wednesday, lying in her dogbed in a pool of blood.

He says they rushed her to the animal hospital in disbelief.

“We just laid down all the seats in my truck flat and slid her in like it was a mini ambulance sort of thing, to give her as much comfort, which was not much use crying every time we hit anything. Halfway to the ER, she got real quiet. And that’s when I started to get really nervous because she wasn’t making any noise. And by the time we got there, she wasn’t even like, she didn’t look like she was like a dog anymore. She just looked like she was going to be like, be gone,” said Vincent Harlow.

Harlow says Wednesday already had emergency surgery and needs another. He says the veterinarian told them the bullet fractured her humerus and hit her other leg, needing stitches.

The neighbor who discharged a firearm, Wayne Karbowski, says he didn’t want to fire his gun, but felt like he had to. He says his young son, Atticus, had opened the back door and called to him.

“And I looked outside, and the neighbor’s dog was out there, and it was like one of these neighborhood super pinnacle moments where everything kind of slowed down. The dog jumped at him, and Oreo (Karbowski’s dog) jumped at the dog. And then I pulled Atticus back in the house. I looked outside, and Oreo was being attacked by two of his Rottweilers outside,” recounted Karbowski.

Karbowski says he pulled his son inside and went to retrieve his gun.

“I didn’t want to shoot the dog in front of my kid and kill the dog. I couldn’t kill the dog anyway because I didn’t want to hit my dog. So I went to shoot at the ground beside the dog because the other dog was circling around behind me, and I guess it ricocheted back up into its shoulder, and he yelped. All the attacking stopped,” stated Karbowski.

Wednesday’s owner disputes this claim. Harlow tells KRDO13 the veterinarian determined the gunshot went through the right shoulder and exited at the elbow.

An excerpt of the veterinarian report provided by Harlow.

Karbowski says his dog, Oreo, was bitten in the fight.

“I had to take him to the vet. He got some meds. He got heavily medicated that night. Yeah, but I probably didn’t spend anywhere near what they probably had to. Yeah, that’s unfortunate,” said Wayne Karbowski.

However, Wednesday’s owner, Harlow, says his dog is not aggressive and wouldn’t have tried to attack Karbowski or his dog.

“I couldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it. I just I’m adamant that I know this, my animal would have never done anything like that,” said Harlow.

He says his three girls will sleep with the dog, paint her nails, and even put her hair in ponytails without a problem. Harlow got emotional sharing what it was like to tell his children that their dog had been shot.

“They just started breaking down, screaming, crying, saying no, no, no, no, no. Why would they do something like that? Why would they do that? She’s such a sweet dog. And, it was just really heartbreaking just to hear your children, I had never heard my kids cry like that, ever,” recounted Harlow.

Both neighbors say the fence came down due to the other.

Animal Law Enforcement confirmed to KRDO13 that it is actively investigating the incident and is working in coordination with the Colorado Springs Police Department. They say that because this remains an open investigation, we’re not able to confirm specific details related to the case at this time.

Harlow’s family is raising money to afford an additional surgery for their dog, Wednesday, on this verified GoFundMe.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — It’s been nearly three months since construction of the four new bridges on South Circle Drive ended, and the remaining step of the overall project is to tear down the last piece of the old bridges.

That demolition work will require closing Hancock Expressway under the new bridges for four weeks, starting Monday.

The final segment of the old eastbound bridge is on the north end of the new structures, between two of the four new structures.

Workers began placing closure signs on Hancock shortly after 5:30 a.m.

Just south of Hancock are several pieces of heavy equipment and piles of broken concrete and twisted metal from the old bridges.

The old bridges were built in 1963 and were among a dozen in the city rated in poor condition.

According to the city’s project website, the new bridge construction process relied on advanced project planning and design, innovative materials, and construction methods to reduce the time and effort required to replace the previous structures.

The benefits of the construction approach for the four bridges included improvements in safety, quality, durability, social costs, and environmental impacts.

This strategy reduced traffic and mobility impacts, onsite construction time, and weather-related time delays.

The overall project cost around $45 million, financed by sales tax revenue from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA).

Finally, the city said that other closures may be necessary this spring so that crews can install new water lines.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – World-class Lithuanian Magician, Rokas Bernatonis, broke his third card-throwing world record last week before returning to Cosmo’s Magic Theater in Colorado Springs for a show.

Rokas broke the record for longest playing card throw, making it into a 10-foot basketball hoop. He threw the card from past half-court.

Rokas setting his third Guinness World Record in card throwing. Video credit to Rokas.

“It’s hard trying to prove to people that there’s no magic. It’s just a paper playing card, but they’re like, ‘the air conditioning is helping you!’ Like, no, it’s a Guinness World Record,” Rokas said. “They’re like, ‘It’s paper, it’s so light!’ And I’m like, ‘Exactly, that’s why there’s a world record for that.'”

Rokas first performed at Cosmo’s last year. He thoroughly fooled KRDO13’s Bradley Davis, and now he is returning for another couple of weekends on his U.S. tour.

“I learned that magic is not really magic tricks. It’s what you bring with magic tricks, which is joy, laughter, and amazement,” Rokas said. “You can bring magic to people without doing magic tricks. Just be nice.”

Rokas performed a shortened version of one of his tricks live for KRDO13 this morning. The video is attached. We will have the full story during our 12 p.m. newscast.

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Luke Victor

Tonight: Quiet conditions expected tonight. Temperatures will fall into the 30s for most—a jacket will be needed out the door in the morning.

Monday: Another warm day on tap, in fact, it’ll be even warmer than Sunday. We’ll see a bit of a breeze develop in the afternoon, with winds up to 25 mph. This will lead to fire danger on Monday afternoon. Be fire aware and safe throughout the day!

Tuesday: It is going to be a big day of active weather across Colorado: heavy mountain snow, with dry and very windy conditions along and east of I-25. This will lead to significant fire danger on Tuesday afternoon. Winds will be out of the west from 45-60 mph. 

The rest of the week: We’ll be much cooler on Wednesday through the weekend. Snow will continue in the high country most of the week, too, bringing much needed powder to the mountains. I-25 and points east should not expect significant snow at this time.

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Marina Garcia

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – No price is too high for a loved one, right? After all, it is Valentine’s Day.

But if you were out shopping for a last-minute chocolate set, you may have noticed higher prices and smaller portions.

This is due to a cacao shortage, and local shops say choosing quality over quantity is a balancing act.

You can blame it on the rain and extreme weather in the western parts of Africa, which has caused raw cocoa bean prices to rise, a rise that can be felt thousands of miles away in southern Colorado.

A local business owner says supply problems have eased up after peaking last year, but still, chocolate prices remain elevated.

A holiday like Valentine’s Day is crucial for business, says business owner of Cacao Chemistry, Samantha Lang.

“They say make hay while the sun is shining. That’s what today is,” says Lang.

It’s an issue that has impacted production and costs. However, Lang says they’ve worked hard to ensure consistency. 

“Prices are sticky. So they’re going to stay high for a long time. There was a shortage in africa, which led to a lot of it,” says Lang. “We’re trying to, you know, innovate and make sure that we don’t compromise the integrity of our product.”

Lang says you may notice smaller packages, but that’s to avoid using fillers in their chocolate.

“You don’t need a lot of chocolate. You need the right chocolate,” says Lang.

Our news affiliates at ABC News spoke to an analyst who says, given the weather permits it, chocolate prices could fall later this year as manufacturers find cost relief.

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Scott Harrison

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Crews that are building a pair of roundabouts between US 24 and Peterson Space Force’s north gate will spend the second federal holiday in the past month working on the project.

Southbound Peterson Road, between the highway and the gate, will be closed Saturday, Sunday, and Monday for the Presidents’ Day holiday; the same road was also closed for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

A roundabout will eventually be on each side of the highway, as part of a $15 million project to improve traffic flow into, out of, and around the installation.

Construction was supposed to start last May, but began last month, as officials awaited final approval of the funding.

Other expected benefits of the project are improved access for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit buses.

The construction also coincides with Peterson’s intent to reconfigure its north gate to eventually return it to more of a full-time operation; it was the main gate until the redesigned west gate opened in 2007 and was upgraded again in 2023.

However, there are mixed emotions about the project among people who travel through, or work in, the area.

“I don’t think Colorado taxpayers should be footing the bill for the base to fix their traffic issues,” said Kathy Farmer, a nearby resident. “They can build dedicated lanes. They don’t have to build a roundabout because when most people get in them, they don’t know what to do.”

Brian Scott, co-owner of the Dairy Queen in a shopping center east of the project zone, said that he’s not sure how construction has impacted his business because crews began working in the winter, when there are fewer customers and less traffic.

“It seems that what I’ve lost in customers has been balanced by construction crews coming here to eat,” he observed. “Things have slumped a bit here at the strip mall since the base’s main entrance switched from the north gate to the west gate. But the project may bring more regular hours in and out of this side, and would really help this strip mall quite a bit. It’s encouraging, for sure.”

Late Friday morning, crews seemed to be getting an early start on the closure; they blocked the lanes with concrete barriers and began tearing up the pavement.

The project’s expected completion date is early next year.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – A group of 25 woman-owned businesses are collaborating for the first-ever Galentines market at Coati on Valentines day.

The market is on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The vendors range from art, jewelry, food, coffee, sweets, balloons, hair care, self-care and more. It’s free to attend. A barre 3 instructor will lead a free 45-minute signature workout class at 10 a.m.

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