Five people died on Interstate 25 south of Pueblo on February 17 after wind-blown dust turned a Tuesday commute into a chain-reaction pileup. Thirty-six vehicles were involved. Seven were semis.
The National Weather Service had issued a high wind warning eight hours before the first collision. The warning forecast gusts to 65 mph. Instruments recorded 71 mph near the crash site. CDOT’s own policy calls for restricting high-profile vehicles at 60 mph, but no restriction was in place.
David Kirscht, 90, and his son Scott died in the same vehicle. Mary Sue Thayer, Karen Ann Marsh, and Thomas Thayer also died at or near the scene. The Colorado State Patrol’s Vehicular Crimes Unit is investigating.
One day earlier, Denver District Judge Sarah Wallace ruled that the Colorado Department of Corrections violated the state constitution’s ban on involuntary servitude by forcing inmates to work under threat of solitary confinement. The ruling in Mortis v. Polis is the first court enforcement of any state’s anti-slavery amendment. Voters banned prison slavery by a two-thirds margin. CDOC fought the lawsuit for four years.
That ruling landed inside a prison system already under federal investigation. The DOJ opened a civil rights probe into all 21 CDOC facilities in December, examining medical care, unsafe conditions, and excessive force against juveniles. The state’s prison vacancy rate hit 1.92 percent in August, triggering emergency measures. A youth facility in Golden was emptied in September after logging 448 incidents over the prior year.
Palantir Technologies relocated to Florida on February 17 without telling the governor. The company was worth $312 billion at the time of the announcement — more than every other Colorado company combined at its peak. Its SEC filing cited Colorado’s AI regulation law as a business risk. Governor Polis learned the news during an unrelated press conference.
Polis also appointed Susan Blanco to the Colorado Supreme Court that same day. Blanco does not appear in Colorado’s statewide voter registration database of 4.38 million records. The state constitution requires justices to be qualified electors — registered voters. The application she submitted no longer asks about citizenship.
On the water front, Colorado’s top officials spent the week disagreeing over mandatory cuts to Colorado River usage. Lake Powell is projected to hit dead pool by November. The Bureau of Reclamation’s latest study shows snowpack at 47 percent of median.
Democrats filed ballot measures to suspend Colorado’s independent redistricting commission and replace competitive maps with a pre-drawn 7-1 Democratic advantage. The effort has backing from former Attorney General Eric Holder’s redistricting committee and expects funding from House Majority PAC.
The Colorado Court of Appeals denied Tina Peters’ request for bond pending appeal, citing a missed filing deadline by more than 430 days. A Fremont County jury convicted Hanme Clark of murdering three Custer County neighbors in a property dispute and sentenced him to life without parole. And Colorado Parks and Wildlife ordered a public fish salvage at Juniata Reservoir near Grand Junction before the city drains it for dam repairs.
The week of February 14–20, 2026.
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