Month: December 2022

An avalanche caught four snowboarders on Berthoud Pass west of Denver, burying two and killing one. The 44-year-old victim was the first person to die in an avalanche in Colorado this winter  He and another snowboarder were fully buried when a slope near Winter Park fell. The slope, referred to as “Nitro Chute,” was located at about 11,500 feet.

The Grand County Sheriff’s Office said bystanders and family members were able to rescue one snowboarder but the 44-year-old was dead on the scene. The sheriff’s office shared in a press release: “The second subject, a 44-year-old male, was located and unfortunately, lifesaving measures performed by bystanders were unsuccessful and the male was pronounced dead at the scene. The Coroner’s Office is working with the victim’s family. The decedent’s identity and cause and manner of death will be released by the coroner when appropriate.”

The avalanche on Berthoud Pass was one of several triggered by riders on east-facing slopes the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (“CAIC”) was alerted of on Monday. A snowboarder in the same area of the pass triggered an avalanche earlier in the day. Several areas, including Park Range, Grand Mesa, Elk and West Elk Mountains, and the San Juan Mountains, are in an avalanche watch due to “very dangerous avalanche conditions” developing from Tuesday night into Thursday. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center tweeted: “You can trigger large and dangerous avalanches from below slopes or from a distance so be aware of steep slopes overhead or nearby parties. The most dangerous areas are wind-loaded, easterly aspects near and above the treeline.”

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The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday in a 5-4 vote that it will put off its decision on whether or not it will end Title 42 until at least June 2023, leaving the immigration rule in place until then. The court may consider arguments, largely from Republican-led states, seeking to keep Title 42 in place.  Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch was the only conservative to join three liberal justices in voting against a stay. With the decision, the court will begin hearings on Title 42 in February, with the expectation of making a ruling by the end of June.

Title 42 was established in 1944 to allow the government authority to reject migrants as a way to stop the transmission of contagious diseases. Former President Donald Trump enacted Title 42 in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was on the rise worldwide. With the rule in place, migrants, including some who may otherwise be able to start the process of seeking asylum in the United States, are instead deported in a much quicker manner. President Joe Biden attempted to end Title 42 after pressure from asylum seekers, human rights organizations and a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Nineteen attorneys general from Republican-led states joined to file an emergency motion to keep Title 42 in place.  Justice Gorsuch joined Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson with the opinion that the court should not act as “policymakers of last resort.”  He wrote: “Even if at the end of it all we find that the States are permitted to intervene, and even if the States manage on remand to demonstrate that the Title 42 orders were lawfully adopted, the emergency on which those orders were premised has long since lapsed. The current border crisis is not a COVID crisis.”

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Officials confirmed that a fourth electrical substation in Washington state was found vandalized on Christmas Day, this coming after three others were attacked earlier in the day which left thousands without power. According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, the vandals broke into a fenced area and destroyed equipment at the substation which caused a fire. First responders put out the fire and power was later restored, but as of press time officials say that no suspects have been taken into custody.

Earlier on Christmas Day, thousands of residents woke up with no power after three other substations were vandalized in the early morning hours.  The first substation was vandalized at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday followed by a second substation, according to Tacoma Public Utilities. Meanwhile, Puget Sound Energy reported vandalism that had happened at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday caused a power outage at one of its substations. Roughly 7,700 customers lost power, but had it restored by 5 a.m.

After the latest act of vandalism, it was reported that more than 10,500 Puget Sound Energy customers were without electricity across the region as of Monday morning. In all four cases, the sheriff’s office says someone forced their way into the fenced area surrounding the substations and damaged equipment to cause a power outage. However, it remains unclear at this time if all four instances are connected.

Several power stations have been attacked in Washington and Oregon in the last month. The attacks come as federal officials are warning that the U.S. power grid needs better security to prevent domestic terrorism, particularly after two substations were taken out by gunfire in North Carolina earlier this month leaving 40,000 people without electricity.

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The widespread winter storm across the nation has now caused thousands of flight cancellations for Southwest Airlines, leaving customers stranded, perhaps for days.  According to flight-tracking website FlightAware, approximately two-thirds of Southwest’s flights were canceled as of Monday afternoon, the most of any other airline. FlightAware said that 2,700 Southwest flights were canceled, and another 700 were delayed.  The Federal Department of Transportation said it would investigate the mass cancellations by Southwest, stating they were “concerned by Southwest Airlines’ disproportionate and unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays as well as the failure to properly support customers experiencing a cancellation or delay … As more information becomes available the Department will closely examine whether cancellations were controllable and whether Southwest is complying with its customer service plan as well as all other pertinent DOT rules.”

In a statement Monday, Southwest offered their “heartfelt apologies,” and said that its geography made it “uniquely vulnerable to the storm,” with half of the airports in which it flies affected by winter weather. The statement read: “We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S. This forced daily changes to our flight schedule at a volume and magnitude that still has the tools our teams use to recover the airline operating at capacity. We anticipate additional changes with an already reduced level of flights as we approach the coming New Year holiday travel period.”

Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in an internal message on Sunday that was reported by several media outlets:  “Part of what we’re suffering is a lack of tools. We’ve talked an awful lot about modernizing the operation, and the need to do that.”  In addition, Southwest spokesperson Chris Perry said the airline’s online booking and check-in systems are still operating, but were also jammed because of “abnormally high” volumes of traffic on their site and that they were “re-accommodating as many Customers as possible based on available space.”

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