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Robert Blake, actor acquitted in wife's killing, dies at 89

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:40 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died Thursday at age 89.A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, "Baretta," had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court.Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake became better known as the defendant in a real-life murder trial, a story more bizarre than any in which he acted.In a 2002 interview with The Associated Press while he was jailed awaiting trial, he bemoaned the change in his status w...

DA denies claim the gun used in 'Rust' shooting was destroyed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:40 GMT

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) — Alec Baldwin’s attorney told a judge on Thursday that the state destroyed the gun used in the deadly “Rust” movie-set shooting. The announcment was made during a status hearing in the case against “Rust” actor-producer Alec Baldwin and the film’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. However, the New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney released a statement after the hearing stating that the gun was not destroyed.During the hearing, an attorney for Baldwin, Alex Spiro, said he received an email from the state that the defense would be receiving discovery Thursday. Spiro also brought up the fact that the firearm at the center of this case has been destroyed by the state. "That's obviously an issue, and we're going to have to see that firearm — or what's left of it," Spiro said. Local man who originally was offered armorer job on ‘Rust’ speaks out The New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney released the following statement:“The gun Alec Baldwin used in the s...

6 bills filed on school safety, funding and the teacher shortage — what you need to know

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:40 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Days before the bill filing deadline, Texas lawmakers announced a flurry of new bills aimed at solving some of the largest problems facing the state’s public schools: safety and its dwindling workforce.Here’s what you need to know.House Bill 11: Teacher pay and workloadThis bill, filed by Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, will attempt to codify many of the recommendations made by the Teacher Vacancy Task Force.The group of more than 40 public school teachers and administrators spent more than a year coming up with potential solutions to an overwhelming number of teachers quitting and retiring.One of the recommendations found in the bill is an increase in the state’s per-pupil funding – or basic allotment – from $6,160 to $6,210.The state would also adopt a new tiered structure, under this bill, to set the minimum salary for teachers. Right now, school districts can’t pay a first-year teacher less than $33,660 salary.  Dallas Independent School District placed a bil...

Multiple dead in Jehovah's Witness hall shooting in Germany

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:40 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Shots were fired inside a building used by Jehovah's Witnesses in the northern German city of Hamburg on Thursday evening, and several people were killed or wounded, police said.“We only know that several people died here; several people are wounded, they were taken to hospitals,” police spokesman Holger Vehren said of the shooting in the Gross Borstel district of Germany’s second-biggest city. . He said he had no information on the severity of the injuries suffered by the wounded. Police did not confirm German media reports, which named no sources, of six or seven dead.The scene of the shooting was the Jehovah's Witnesses' Kingdom Hall, a modern and boxy three-story building next door to an auto repair shop. Vehren said police were alerted to the shooting about 9:15 p.m. and were on the scene quickly. He said that after officers arrived and found people with apparent gunshot wounds on the ground floor, they heard a shot from an upper floor and found a fatally wounded ...

Study shows exercise plays a direct role in reducing breast cancer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:40 GMT

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KXAN) – It has long been understood that exercise can be beneficial in preventing some types of cancers, but only in recent years have scientists started to understand why.A team of Texas A&M researchers showed in a recently published paper that a hormone secreted by muscles during exercise can reduce tumor growth and even kill cancerous cells. “That was the cool and, I guess, groundbreaking news that we were able to show mechanistically – there is something released from skeletal muscle. When we put it on cancer cells, it slows the growth and sometimes kills them,” said Amanda Davis, a Clinical Assistant Professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine.When skeletal muscles contract during exercise, hormones called myokines are released. This hormone goes into the bloodstream and can suppress the growth of those cancerous cells. Davis said they also investigated whether this phenomenon occurred in both long-time fitness enthusiasts and exercise n...

How Williamson County is paying for ice storm cleanup

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:40 GMT

GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) — Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell said the county expects the bill for storm damage could reach $15-$20 million in just a few months.This week Williamson County Commissioners extended the county's disaster declaration, which gives it the opportunity to be reimbursed by the federal government for ice storm recovery costs. Williamson County extends disaster declaration until June after ice storm Currently, the county estimates it already spent $12 million on recovery, most efforts going toward brush pickup and disposal.Gravell said a lot of the money being spent for recovery has come out of a 'rainy day' fund.He said the county does not budget for emergencies per say, but has used this same fund for past disaster relief.Gravell said the county's commissioner's court has put money into that fund over the years it anticipated using for surprise expenses including disasters.Some of those recent disasters being the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 February freeze an...

Despite uptick in tech layoffs, Austin hasn't yet seen job carnage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:40 GMT

AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal)-- While reports of technology layoffs have become much more common in recent months, the Austin area has been spared from serious job market carnage."We're not seeing a lot of pain yet in Austin," said Thom Singer, CEO of the Austin Technology Council, a nonprofit advocacy group. "I don't know what's going to play out. There's a lot of smart people who are predicting this year is going to get worse. But so far, we're not hearing a lot of huge impact in the Austin market." (Listen to the full conversation with Singer in the podcast player at the top of this page, or on popular platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcast.)To be sure, the cloudy macroeconomic picture has led to tens of thousands of layoffs announced nationwide in the past few months, including by tech companies either headquartered in Austin or with signification operations here. Layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks reports of job cuts, has recorded at least 7,300 announced by locally bas...

Austin City Council approves measure to expand public charging stations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:40 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN)-- Due to the growing interest in electric vehicles, Austin City Council took steps Thursday to ensure the City of Austin has a "robust network" of public charging stations, according to a news release from the city.The council voted to direct the city manager to develop a plan for the equitable distribution of public charging stations, including direct current (DC) fast charges and Level 2 chargers, which the city said are more common in homes and workplaces, the release said.The resolution, brought by District 7 council member Leslie Pool, aligns with the goals of the Austin Climate Equity Plan- which calls for reaching net-zero community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 as well as the distribution of a mix of public charging stations throughout the city, the release said.“Making charging stations, especially fast chargers, more accessible throughout the city might nudge people who may be on the fence about electric vehicles to make the switch,” Pool said. “Havin...

Daylight saving time begins this weekend. Some want to make it permanent.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:40 GMT

Get ready to spring forward on March 12, at least one more time.Most of the U.S. will move the clocks forward by one hour on Sunday at 2 a.m. for daylight saving time, which will end on Nov. 5 of this year.The question is: Will this be the final time most Americans feel aggrieved over losing an hour of sleep?Daylight saving time is the result of a federal law applying to most of the United States; Hawaii, most of Arizona and U.S. territories in the Pacific and Caribbean do not follow daylight saving time. In March 2022, the Senate unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent, removing the need to change clocks twice per year. The bill stalled in the House of Representatives but remains alive.With permanent daylight saving time, there is more sun in the evening hours. The trade-off is less daylight in the mornings, especially in the winter months.Currently, 19 states have passed legislation to avoid the changing of clocks, but such l...

Granite City native smashes glass ceiling at Storm Prediction Center

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:40 GMT

NORMAN, Okla. - March is Women’s History Month, and we want to celebrate a woman originally from Granite City.Her name is Liz Leitman, and she is a meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. The Granite City High School graduate’s job is to assess the storm risk around the country. But it is a Lead Forecaster that issues thunderstorm or tornado watches. And those lead forecasters had always been men. That is, until Feb. 15, 2023.“Recently, I started training on the lead forecaster desk so I can assist in issuing those severe thunderstorm and tornado watches,” explains Leitman. “And that’s what I was doing on February 15 when I had the opportunity to issue the first watch issued by a female forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center.” Trending: Ladue estate with luxury auto house sold in record-setting 8-figure deal In the 70-year history of the Storm Prediction Center, no woman had ever issued a storm watch until Leitman. Why? Like many science...