CBS News
Part of Wyoming highway collapses in landslide, blocking crucial commuter transit route
Part of Teton Pass, a crucial highway weaving through the mountains of western Wyoming, collapsed Saturday morning in a massive landslide that severed the primary transit route between two cities in the region. Officials have not shared a timeline for the repairs process but said they expect the road will remain closed long-term, potentially jeopardizing almost half the workforce in and around the tourist hubs Jackson Hole, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park.
The Teton County branch of the Wyoming Department of Transportation announced early Saturday that the road at milepost 12.8 on Teton Pass had “catastrophically failed” and shared several images on social media that showed the extent of the damage. Officials said crews were trying to build a detour around the initial collapse when the landslide broke down further and effectively destroyed a whole section of the surrounding highway. No one was injured.
“WYDOT is now reviewing a long term solution and repairs, and more information on planning efforts will be available soon,” the department said in their announcement. At the time, crews were also working to clear debris from another mudslide at the 15th mile mark on Teton Pass.
Carved into the Teton mountain range and running for about 17 miles, Teton Pass is the only direct route between Victor, Idaho, and Jackson, Wyoming. Despite being notoriously treacherous at certain times of year, and typically closed during those times because of weather-related safety concerns, the highway provides vital access to Teton County, which includes Jackson, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, for workers who commute there from eastern Idaho.
“We understand this highway is a lifeline for commuters, deliveries, medical care access and tourism, especially with limited alternatives and the summer season upon us,” said Darin Westby, the director of the Wyoming Department of Transportation, in a statement after the collapse. “WYDOT engineers, surveyors and geologists mobilized quickly to try to maintain highway viability as long as possible, but catastrophic failure could not be avoided.”
Westby said the Transportation Department was at the site and “decisively engaged on fixing the road and restoring connectivity to the Teton Valley.”
In a study completed last January on the safety of the Teton Pass corridor, the Federal Highway Administration acknowledged that the highway “offers a critical connection for commuters and recreationists traveling from Victor, Idaho, and Jackson, Wyoming.” The trip, from one end to the other, would ordinarily take around 30 minutes or so in a car, or slightly longer on public transit. Because of the steep mountain landscape, alternate routes send travelers on a lengthy detour that takes roughly three times as long and covers some 85 miles.
The Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board said businesses in the city, as well as Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, would all remain open in a message shared on its website in the wake of the Teton Pass collapse. The board also recognized that closing the highway indefinitely will likely have consequences for workers living in Idaho and commuting to Teton County, who make up about 40% of the county’s workforce, according to that message.
“Although businesses will do their best to support employees and commuters, and will work to remain open and maintain normal operating hours and services, it is expected that the workforce will be affected,” the travel and tourism board said. “As a community, we ask visitors and locals to exercise patience and understanding if you experience longer than normal wait times or interruptions in services.”
CBS News
84-year-old Texas man accused of killing roommate and her dog in “very, very brutal attack”
An 84-year-old Texas man has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly killing his roommate and her dog, authorities said.
Police in Austin, Texas responded to a deceased person call at a home in the city’s University Hills area on Monday afternoon, according to a news release from the department. Austin Police Department officers found a dead woman and dog inside the home. The woman was later identified as Linda Mlsna, 83, the department said.
APD detective Israel Pina described the scene as a “very, very brutal attack,” according to CBS affiliate CBS Austin. It’s the 63rd homicide in the city this year, police said.
While investigating Mlsna’s death, homicide detectives found that her roommate was unaccounted for. Jack Moore was a mutual friend of Mlsna’s son, CBS Austin reported, and had stayed on as a roommate when Mlsna’s son moved away. Lupita Diaz, a neighbor who lived across the street from the home, told CBS Austin that Mlsna had begun having issues living with Moore.
Austin Police Department
“It was probably like a month ago that she told me she didn’t feel comfortable with him around,” Diaz said.
The APD’s Tactical Intelligence Unit and the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force arrested Moore on an unrelated warrant related to carjacking, CBS Austin reported. Investigators found that Moore had been using Mlsna’s credit cards to make purchases after her death.
Moore confessed to killing Mlsna and her dog, taking the credit cards and formulating a plan to flee the country during an interview with detectives, the APD said.
Moore was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder and booked into the Travis County Jail. He is being held on $1 million bail, CBS Austin reported. The station also reported Moore has a criminal history and has served prison time, but police told the affiliate that there had been no domestic violence-related calls to Mlsna’s home.
“We shouldn’t underestimate anyone. He’s 84 years old,” said Pina. “But you just can’t predict who is dangerous and who is not. It is disturbing that you never know, when you have someone living with you, who you’re actually bringing in unless you thoroughly vet them, or you’ve known them your entire life.”
More aid workers, health care staffers, delivery personnel and other humanitarians have been killed in 2024 than in any other single year, the United Nations reported Friday.
Bloodshed in the Middle East has been the single biggest cause of the 281 deaths among humanitarians globally this year, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“Before the year is even over, 2024 has become the deadliest on record for humanitarian personnel worldwide,” OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said. He told reporters in Geneva the figure surpassed the previous record of 280 deaths for the whole of last year.
Adel Hana / AP
Humanitarians “are working courageously and selflessly in places like Gaza, Sudan, Lebanon, Ukraine and so on. They show the best humanity has to offer, and they are getting killed in return — in record numbers,” he said.
“These numbers will send shockwaves around the humanitarian community, especially on the front lines of the response,” he added.
The U.N. said the figures come from the Aid Worker Security Database, a U.S.-funded project run by a Britain-based group called Humanitarian Outcomes.
A total of 268 of the humanitarians killed — including from non-U.N. organizations like the Red Cross and Red Crescent — were national staff, while 13 were international staff.
Some 230 aid workers have been killed in occupied Palestinian areas, the database showed Friday. It did not break out whether that was Gaza or the West Bank.
Laerke said the threats to aid workers “extend beyond Gaza, with high levels of violence, kidnappings injuries, harassment and arbitrary detention” reported in Afghanistan, Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine, Yemen and elsewhere.
Fatima Shbair / AP
OCHA said a total of 333 humanitarians have been killed since the latest conflict between Israel and the militant Hamas group erupted when the militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250.
The death toll in the Gaza Strip from the 13-month-old war has surpassed 44,000, local health officials said Thursday. The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
84-year-old Texas man accused of killing roommate and her dog in “very, very brutal attack”
More aid workers have been killed in 2024 than in any other year, U.N. says
Illinois Supreme Court overturns Jussie Smollett conviction in hate crime case
84-year-old Texas man accused of killing roommate and her dog in “very, very brutal attack”
More aid workers have been killed in 2024 than in any other year, U.N. says