Category: CNN Regional

WBZ

By Matt Schooley

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    BOSTON (WBZ) — Massachusetts State Police arrested a Worcester resident after troopers say they were driving the wrong way on Interstate 95 and several communities on Christmas Day while under the influence of drugs.

Paulius Balciunas, 36, was arraigned in Newburyport District Court Friday on charges of operating under the influence of drugs, negligent operation, failure to stop for police, resisting arrest, and speeding.

It happened Thursday when Balciunas was allegedly driving south on I-95 North in Newbury.

Witnesses said the wrong-way driver used Exit 83 to get onto Scotland Road in a black Subaru Legacy. Balciunas was allegedly driving erratically, switching lanes, and driving in the breakdown lane on the wrong side of the road.

Troopers followed the Subaru on local roads. Officers from Newburyport, West Newbury and Groveland attempted to stop Balciunas, who police say refused to pull over.

The Worcester resident eventually passed the Newburyport rotary on Route 1, then stopped on High Street.

State police said Balciunas sat in the driver’s seat and waved an unknown item. He allegedly ignored police commands to get out of the car, show his hands and turn off the car.

Several minutes later, troopers approached the Subaru and pulled Balciunas from the car.

Balciunas asked for medical attention. The driver was taken to an area hospital by ambulance and treated before being brought to police barracks for booking.

Massachusetts State Police said they later determined Balciunas was allegedly under the influence of drugs.

No injuries were reported during the police chase.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Matt Schooley

Click here for updates on this story

    BOSTON (WBZ) — Massachusetts State Police arrested a Worcester resident after troopers say they were driving the wrong way on Interstate 95 and several communities on Christmas Day while under the influence of drugs.

Paulius Balciunas, 36, was arraigned in Newburyport District Court Friday on charges of operating under the influence of drugs, negligent operation, failure to stop for police, resisting arrest, and speeding.

It happened Thursday when Balciunas was allegedly driving south on I-95 North in Newbury.

Witnesses said the wrong-way driver used Exit 83 to get onto Scotland Road in a black Subaru Legacy. Balciunas was allegedly driving erratically, switching lanes, and driving in the breakdown lane on the wrong side of the road.

Troopers followed the Subaru on local roads. Officers from Newburyport, West Newbury and Groveland attempted to stop Balciunas, who police say refused to pull over.

The Worcester resident eventually passed the Newburyport rotary on Route 1, then stopped on High Street.

State police said Balciunas sat in the driver’s seat and waved an unknown item. He allegedly ignored police commands to get out of the car, show his hands and turn off the car.

Several minutes later, troopers approached the Subaru and pulled Balciunas from the car.

Balciunas asked for medical attention. The driver was taken to an area hospital by ambulance and treated before being brought to police barracks for booking.

Massachusetts State Police said they later determined Balciunas was allegedly under the influence of drugs.

No injuries were reported during the police chase.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

KCNC

By Austen Erblat

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    COLORADO (KCNC) — A recent thaw-freeze cycle, coupled with the high chance of a snowstorm, is making the avalanche danger jump from a level 1 to a level 3 this weekend, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

CAIC says avalanche danger has been low for much of the month.

Officials say that’s unusual and largely due to warm weather and a lack of snow.

They anticipate the danger level will rise from Level 1, where it is now, to Level 3 by Sunday.

“Most of the avalanches are going to be breaking on the old snow surface,” CAIC director Ethan Greene said. “So not huge avalanches, but big enough to injure or kill you. If you’re headed into the mountains, you should check the avalanche forecast. Make sure you know what the danger is, where you’re going, and if you’re going into avalanche terrain, make sure you carry rescue equipment.”

That equipment should include a transceiver, probe pole, and shovel.

As of Saturday morning, CAIC’s avalanche forecast showed “considerable” avalanche danger north of Steamboat Springs, moderate danger throughout the high country, as far west as Grand Mesa and as far south as the area just north and east of Pagosa Springs.

The rest of the state showed low or no danger, but the weather was set to change later in the weekend, highlighting the importance of checking that forecast.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Austen Erblat

Click here for updates on this story

    COLORADO (KCNC) — A recent thaw-freeze cycle, coupled with the high chance of a snowstorm, is making the avalanche danger jump from a level 1 to a level 3 this weekend, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

CAIC says avalanche danger has been low for much of the month.

Officials say that’s unusual and largely due to warm weather and a lack of snow.

They anticipate the danger level will rise from Level 1, where it is now, to Level 3 by Sunday.

“Most of the avalanches are going to be breaking on the old snow surface,” CAIC director Ethan Greene said. “So not huge avalanches, but big enough to injure or kill you. If you’re headed into the mountains, you should check the avalanche forecast. Make sure you know what the danger is, where you’re going, and if you’re going into avalanche terrain, make sure you carry rescue equipment.”

That equipment should include a transceiver, probe pole, and shovel.

As of Saturday morning, CAIC’s avalanche forecast showed “considerable” avalanche danger north of Steamboat Springs, moderate danger throughout the high country, as far west as Grand Mesa and as far south as the area just north and east of Pagosa Springs.

The rest of the state showed low or no danger, but the weather was set to change later in the weekend, highlighting the importance of checking that forecast.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Joe Ruch

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    COLORADO (KCNC) — A tale of two forecasts is shaping up across Colorado this weekend.

The next system approaches with an atmospheric river currently impacting California, sending some leftover moisture into Colorado. Accumulating snow begins across the high country early Saturday morning, with impacts increasing by Saturday evening along the I-70 corridor and during peak ski traffic.

Confidence is high in the mountains. Most locations in the high country should see 4 to 8 inches, with 6 to 12 inches common at higher elevations. Snow totals closer to 12 inches are likely near Vail Pass and the Eisenhower Tunnel, while the far northern mountains, including Rabbit Ears Pass, could see up to 18 inches by Sunday morning.

Travel impacts are expected to be significant late Saturday night into early Sunday. Delays are likely, and overnight closures on Interstate 70 cannot be ruled out. If possible, delaying mountain travel until later Sunday morning is advised. Given how warm conditions have been recently, roads should improve relatively quickly once snowfall tapers off.

Forecast confidence decreases for the Front Range, including downtown Denver. The realistic range remains anywhere from a trace to 5 inches, but confidence is higher that snowfall will land somewhere in the middle of that range. Current projections call for 1 to 3 inches along the I-25 corridor, with up to 5 inches possible in the foothills.

The biggest challenge will be temperatures. Highs reach 59 degrees on Saturday, with snow arriving roughly 12 hours later. Much of the initial snowfall will be lost to melting, especially on roadways. While snow may fall for several hours overnight, one to two inches could melt on contact.

Expect a messy, slushy accumulation. Most roads should remain wet to slushy, with localized slick spots, especially on bridges, overpasses, and untreated surfaces.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Alan Gionet

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    COLORADO (KCNC) — A new report compiled by the University of Colorado’s Colorado River Research Group warns that threats to the river’s water supply are now so severe that they pose a significant risk to the water supply in seven Western states and tribal areas, potentially impacting the economy and governance.

The report is titled “Colorado River Insights 2025: Dancing with Deadpool.” It is a compilation of reports by a variety of experts looking at different aspects of high demand and supply shortages that have led to low water levels in places like Lake Powell and Lake Mead. These issues threaten both power generation and supply.

“What’s missing is urgency. The window for decisive, collaborative action is closing fast,” said Douglas Kenney, director of the Western Water Policy Program of the Getches-Wilkinson Center at the University of Colorado Law School and chair of the Colorado River Research Group.

This warning comes after more than two years of re-negotiation of a 100-year-old water use pact that sets aside water for use by Western States, native tribes, and even Mexico, missed a November deadline for cutting a deal. That deadline is now pushed back to Feb. 14, 2026.

“The Colorado River Compact of 1922 has some language in it about how much water must move from the upper states to the lower states, and we’re getting very close to dropping below the threshold specified in that compact,” said Kenney.

At a conference in Las Vegas, Kenney said he was reading the room, and there were still vast divides.

The lengthy report has a series of conclusions that paint an ugly picture of the future. Reservoirs that formerly stored four years of river flows are currently more than two-thirds empty. The report indicates that a single dry year or two could jeopardize hydropower, water deliveries, and even physical conveyance downstream as Lake Powell and Lake Mead fall below critical thresholds.

“The problem is that there is more water that’s been promised to people than has ever existed, and that will ever exist. I mean, it’s just a simple case of everyone can’t have what they were promised, and so the solution to that is everyone needs to agree to take less than they were promised,” said Kenney.

But the political will to do so has been hard to generate. The Upper basin states – those that use less water than they add to the river system, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico- are loath to give up rights to claim water for use. Colorado maintains that it has never used all the water it was allowed to under the 1922 pact.

Lower basin states are primarily consumers of Colorado River water. They are Arizona, Nevada and California. California is a major consumer, and much of the water goes to agriculture, over 70%. California uses more than 50% of the power from the Hoover Dam on Lake Mead. There are half a million acres of high water-consuming alfalfa, as well as winter vegetables and other crops, in the state’s Imperial Valley. Farmers are faced with the potential of growing less thirsty crops, but say they should not be alone in cuts.

The original pact was negotiated at a time when the Colorado River had more water, and there was far less population in the Western States. Experts in the report note that climate change has been part of the cause of reductions in available water.

“In the last 25 years, the flows in this basin are down about 20% from what they were the previous century,” said Kenney. “And that correlates quite closely with the fact that this basin got a couple degrees hotter. You know, the whole world got hotter, but parts of this basin got even hotter than that.”

The report indicates that more heat means more rapid evaporation of snowpack, so even if the snowpack is the same, less gets into the basin. Growing seasons are longer, and the vegetation takes more moisture for growth, rather than re-supplying the basin.

Kenney says the Federal Bureau of Reclamation may need to play a bigger role.

“I’ve been writing about this since 1991. I mean, my God, that’s 35 years ago,” said Kenney.

“This is just like driving a car at two miles an hour toward a cliff in the distance, and now we’re right up against that cliff, and we still don’t have the good sense to put our foot on the brake. I mean, it’s just so frustrating, because we’ve had so much warning that this was coming.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.