this is 9news. good afternoon, thanks for joining us for 9news at noon. i'm tarhonda thomas here with kyle dyer. we begin with breaking news. >> the now former surgical technician who is accused of switching syringes at swedish hospital has been taken into custody here in denver according to the u.s. attorney's office, and 9 wants to know chris venderveen has been following this case closely. this guy is going to be in court in a couple of hours? >> 2:00 p.m. court hearing in federal court. it's going to be a very quick hearing is what we understand. u.s. marshal's office this morning in denver. rocky allen worked at swedish medical center as a surgical technician for a little more in january federal investigators believe he stole a syringe of the powerful narcotic fendt knoll and -- fentanyl and replaced it with an unknown substance.

tested for hepatitis b, hepatitis c and hiv, some of the test results are coming back. we have only heard of negative results so far. the indictment released today includes two federal charges, one for tampering with a consumer product and the other for obtaining a controlled substance by deceit subterfuge. two of the hospitals allen once worked at in arizona have offered free testing to a smaller number of patients, and 2900 patients have been tested here in colorado, at least passed the test by swedish. this has certainly set off a scare. we hope to learn more information. it's slowly trickling in because of confidentiality issues. a lot of this still confidential. >> and the questions are too, how long had he allegedly been taking those syringes, how many? >> that is an excellent question, one that federal investigators will be looking into as well. >> okay. all right. this afternoon 2:00. look forward to your report. thanks. another big story happening today, a second rock slide in 24 hours has closed glenwood canyon. shortly after westbound interstate 70 was able to reopen after crews cleaned up

fell yesterday, and cdot announced it would have to close again in both directions due to another rock slide this morning. matt renoux joins us a few miles from the slide. what are you seeing right now? >> reporter: we just got out of the canyon where cdot gave us a quick tour of the site which is an incredible sight to see. as you mentioned, two slides in the exact same place, if you're familiar with glenwood canyon, this is west of the glenwood tunnel. first that smaller slide and then a massive slide last night that just pulverized i-70. the top deck of i-70 which heads west has got boulders all over it, some of those rolled down onto the east coast deck beneath them, some of them into the colorado river so the interstate has been pounded by some massive boulders, there were two cars, vehicles involved in this slide, a car that was able to drive away and a semi that is still there. it got hit by some massive

cdot still trying to figure out how to get that semi out of here. it has just been mangled. so crews are trying to pull that semi out. on top of that, they are assessing the hillside to try and determine if it's stable or not and having just come out from in there and seeing small rocks still slide down that hillside, i can tell you they are still worried that that could still have more rocks come down onto the interstate. they are taking it very seriously, they have a lot of safety crews there, they are flying over by helicopter, trying to see what other parts of this hillside are going to come down onto the interstate. there is a lot of work that needs to be done before this interstate can open back up. not only does that hillside need to be stabilized, but then they've got massive boulders that need to be removed from i- 70 and then they've got to repair all the damage. in some cases these rocks punched holes into the interstate, that has to be fixed and then maybe they can start to open up some of this interstate but, tarhonda, there is a ton of work yet.

happen anytime soon it is not going to happen any time soon. there is an alternative route if you're heading along i-70 you turn north at wolcott, up to steamboat, over to craig and back down to rifle. about a 200-mile detour, normally about 3 1/2, four hours but with all the traffic more today. >> wow, a big detour for a big reason. so matt renoux, thank you. get a look at boulder. it doesn't seem to be as windy there. we got blue sky and some clouds and the temperatures continue to warm up. we are still in the 40s, but for the rest of the week every day just a little bit warmer. >> nice. going to be in the 70s, so belen de leon is in the back yard getting some presunshine going right now. >> yeah. >> soaking up the rays. belen, you lucky girl. >> feels nice out here and when we talk about temperatures in the 70s for the next few days in the forecast, that's about 25 degrees above our normal high. so, yeah, it's going to feel a whole lot like spring and less like winter.

right now because our weather headline has been the very strong winds. the high wind warning expired at midnight but we continue to see pretty strong gusts in and around the foothills. so you can expect to see those gusts still continue in the 30 to 40-mile-per-hour range, a- basin showing some clearing, all that fresh, new snow looks beautiful there on the mountain side but it's all but over across the state when we take a look at radar and satellite. we do have clouds that continue to filter in from the northwest, beautiful and sunny over the mile high city right now as our temperatures are currently in the upper 40s in the metro area, 52 out at dia, 40s in northern colorado and 40s also closer to the highs for today will manage to get into the 60s in some spots, though, very nice afternoon in store for you, could still be a little breezy at times come 3:00 temperatures at 60 degrees, and then around 6:00 we are talking about temperatures at 55. so 70s in the forecast for the next two days. could we break any record highs? give you the details in a few. >> my gut. i don't know.

the battle to replace justice antonin scalia is reshaping the 2016 race for the white house. within hours of scalia's death this turned into a political battle. president obama has the right to appoint the next supreme court justice. democrats stand behind that but republican presidential candidates say the president should not be able to pick scalia's replacement no matter how moderate that person may be. >> we are one justice away from a radical five justice left wing majority. >> now last time i looked, the parenthesis. the president nominates, parentheses, except in an election year, that's not the way our system works. >> if the republicans refuse to even consider moderate choices the president could decide to fire up his own democratic base nominating a minority candidate or another woman. the president signaled through backing down. >> responsibility is described in the constitution are ironclad. there are no caveats. the constitution does not include exemptions for election years or for the president's

>> now, possible nominees to succeed scalia include srh srinivasan of washington, d.c. and -- about a dozen homes in boulder that were just repaired from the flood -- an 8-inch pipe burst last night and sent water gushing down the street. the homes that are affected are in norwood and oak avenues. cleanup crews used pumps to drain basements and the city has sent out a release that said it's probably going to take six to 10 hours to do all the repairs. the city is still trying to figure out why the break occurred in the first place. this morning the man who spent time on the fbi's most wanted list is now spending time in court. a preliminary hearing for him and two others accused in a series of local bank robberies. police arrested milo mason in january. before that he was on the fbi's most wanted list for more than a month. mason and two other men are

string of crimes in the denver metro area. those two other men, miguel sanders and tyrone richardson is also facing charges. police say all three of them wore their masks from the movie scream while robbing banks. they are also accused in a lakewood. in court this morning all three men were wearing jail jumpsuits and this bank surveillance the three americans abducted in baghdad last month have been freed according to the state department. iraqi officials say they have been handed over to the u.s. embassy and in good health. in january the u.s. embassy in baghdad confirmed that the americans had disappeared. iraqi authorities said they were kidnapped from a suspicious apartment. iraqi and western officials said that they suspected one of two powerful shiite militias was behind the kidnapping. pope francis has arrived for a mass in the heart of mexico's drug trafficking area. he arrived at a stadium full of people including nuns and priests.

did cruise through town on a 5- mile drive in the world famous pope mobile. thousands of people were waving the vatican flag and cheering as he passed by. so happy to get a glimpse of him. that is the next to the last day of the pope's pilgrimage to mexico and as is the case around the world, huge crowds there to greet him. >> absolutely huge. the misuse of a popular adhd medication is skyrocketing along with the number of er visits associated with this drug. we are going to talk about what parents need to know coming up. >> important information. but first, have you heard? we are going to have the perfect weather for a trip to the park, maybe eat lunch outside, golf. >> like it. >> anything outdoors.

everyone. you know, 70s sounds really nice in our forecast, but we still need that moisture across the state. looks like by the weekend we will have that chance for snow at least here on the front range and in the high country. that snow that fell in higher elevations, good snow, especially out in loveland, justin schaefer sent this in. powder day at loveland where in the past 48 hours they have had about 10 inches. copper mountain the same, a- basin seven, cooper eight and al dora 5 inches. we will take any snow we can get across the state. you will notice it's all done right now, very quiet, we have clouds over colorado but that's about it. that storm track is just slicing the central part of the country and bringing all that stormy weather to the south and also into new england states. look at those storm reports,

out in florida woke up to tornado warnings and tornado watches and, well, we have that winter weather that continues to fall in places like new york. back in colorado, much quieter, we are still dealing with strong winds in and around the foothills, 52 at dia, out here in the back yard, our temperatures are coming in at 46 degrees. so here is a look at where we stand right now with the temperatures in northern colorado, we've got 40s there, in the high country 30s and 40s, afternoon highs are going to look a little something like this, 50s in the forecast for lower elevations and this is still above average, we should be closer to 46 degrees this time of year so about 10 degrees or so above that. today 40s mainly for the high country and your futurecast is going to keep us dry for the rest of the day, into this evening, mainly clear skies in the city, tomorrow morning we are waking up to a mix of clouds and sun but free from rain or snow. now, throughout the rest of the afternoon we will get those warmest temperatures around 4:00, and then the sunsets and those temperatures start to dip under those mainly clear skies. tonight temperatures will drop to 31 degrees.

gusts in and around the foothills, 30 and 40 miles per hour, winds here in the city from five to 15 miles per hour. now, with the dry, warm and windy weather headed our way, there's already some concern for fire danger, a fire weather watch that most likely will be upgraded to a warning is going to be taking over for the southern part of colorado and to the southeast where gusts could get up to 40 miles per hour and humidity is going to drop to less than 90% so certainly something we need to watch out for in the next several days, could get record high temperatures, tomorrow and thursday we start to dip after that and that next chance for slight rain and snow appears in

well, the fact that young adults can misuse adhd medication not exactly breaking news but a new study is bringing it back into the headlines. researchers have found that the number of prescriptions for adderall d'change between -- did not change between 2006 and 2011 but the nonmedical use of the stimulant rose 67%. emergency rooms went up to, a lot, by 156% during the same time period. a significant percentage of adderall misuse cases were among college students who took it to stay awake and focus while studding -- studying, the majority got it from family

one in eight children are living with autism and today a group of experts said there is not evidence to recommend all infants and toddlers be screened for the disorder. this task force made the announcement after reviewing existing studies on autism. it is often diagnosed in children around the age of 2 when the symptoms are first noticed by parents, teachers and doctors. the earliest it's found, the treatment can be more effective. that's why there was the push to require screening to begin at 18 months old, which would be great for children on the spectrum. they can get the treatment earlier, but today this group of experts said it's not necessarily important to screen all toddlers in this country. >> wow. continuing research. about 15 million americans take medicine to deal with heartburn and acid reflux and some of those medications are now connected to a different health issue. there are concerns that medications like nexium, prilosec and prevacid could

study looked at patients 75 and older. it found that those two took the medication -- who took the medication regularly had a 44% increased risk of dementia. >> being 34 years old, even if dementia wouldn't hit me for another 40 or 50 years it definitely concerns me that that could be part of my future. >> if you have heartburn that is mild and it's possible to come off these drugs, then it's probably best to do so at this point. >> definitely worth taking into consideration. so last week researchers said those drugs may be linked to kidney disease and bone fractures as well. nbc talked to two of the drug makers that recently were in the news and they said generally the medicines are safe but they warn to avoid drug interactions with different medications, so it seems like there's always a new study out and some of them are so troubling. >> 44% risk of dementia is huge, a big risk. >> and that's already risk in my family so hearing something like that makes me think -- >> and those are drugs that a lot of people take.

>> yeah. a popular national park in nevada and california has turned from a valley of death to a valley of life. look at all that yellow. we will be right back.

a man in aurora has a big mess to clean up after an suv slammed into his home. the man who runs the place said around 6:30 last night the suv home. police tell us the man in the car and the man inside the house have minor injuries. nothing life threatening. the man who lives there says the person tried to put the car in reverse and to leave but he was stuck and couldn't back out. police say they do believe alcohol and or drugs were involved here. >> kind of figured that out. look at that accident. are you sick of snow? are you ready for spring? >> sure. >> i am. especially going through stores and seeing the spring wardrobe out. check out this early bloom

the national parks east of the sierra nevada, the park ranger says it's extremely rare to have a good bloom in death valley. some of the flowers are kind of always there but he said a big boom like this only happens about once a decade. the park ranger predicts the bloom could become a superbloom. that's when conditions are just right for all the little seeds out there to sprout at the same time. the ranger also says it's the time when death valley goes from being a valley of death to a valley of life. not quite earning its name there. >> looks good. >> that's not death at all. that's beautiful. >> could be even more of a bloom than that? >> yeah. can you imagine? >> i'd like to see it. >> if you can go there and get pictures, share them with us. we are getting a glimpse at the "sports illustrated" swim suit edition. >> lindsey vonn has snap shops inside the issue. this is her first time in the swim suit issue. ronda rousey is also in the issue. she is one of the magazine's

it's her, ashley graham and hailey clausen. >> ronda rousey athletic, body, ashley graham who is a plus size model and hailey clausen which is a traditional body type. we will be right back. would you be -- think it's crazy for a kid to be driving this around your neighborhood? not my little kids. >> we will have the story

here's a tesla that i know i could afford but i couldn't fit inside. radio flier, the toy company best known for the classic red wagon, they have upped their game, partnered with tesla to create a crossover of sorts, a mini version of a tesla. >> look at that. >> same look and with a lithium

it only goes 6 miles an hour. starts at about $500 each and it will be out in may. >> okay. alarm too. >> it is. [ laughter ] >> that is so funny. near record breaking temperatures for tomorrow and also thursday i think we could break it, chance for snow this weekend. >> this weekend. >> yeah. have a great day, everybody. enjoy the warmth out there.

gwen sitting on blake's lap. katy and orlando confirming they're dating. breaking couples news from grammy weekend. >> now on "extra." gwen and blake, katy and orlando, avril back together with chad? it's grammy couples palooza. >> love you. >> a.j. and tracy inside all the parties. >> best of the best. >> plus, a mega music wedding. guess who tied the knot in front of guests, including oprah and stedman.