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'This weekend was tragic:' Deadly Austin weekend highlights low APD staff numbers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:27 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Austin's deadliest weekend so far in 2023 has some searching for more public safety solutions.Police are currently investigating one homicide from Saturday, and three from Sunday. As Austin Police Department Cpl. Jose Mendez provided an update at one of Sunday's homicide scenes, he — in an uncustomary move — addressed how APD staffing shortages have and will impact these current investigations. APD: 1 dead after ‘verbal altercation’ near abandoned building in east Austin “I know that the detectives are somewhat overwhelmed due to having a shortage of them,” Mendez said. Homicide detectives have had to pull double duty helping out with patrol shifts as APD works to fill roughly 300 officer vacancies. "It doesn't matter if it's homicide or some other crime. All of these detectives are being forced to go work patrol and supplement patrol shifts, so these caseloads are not getting picked up by other detectives," Jennifer Szimanski, public affairs director for the Com...

Gov. Abbott's border buoys on Rio Grande face pushback

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:27 GMT

EAGLE PASS, Texas (Nexstar) — The state's latest attempt at deterring migrants from crossing the Rio Grande into the U.S. is being met by legal concerns from Congressional members to a local business owner who is already suing Texas over its deployment of buoys to the Texas-Mexico border.Last week, Texas began installing the buoys and razor wire near Eagle Pass. In early June, Gov. Greg Abbott announced the initiative by using a natural disaster declaration, touting it as another strategy in his Operation Lone Star to prevent migrants from crossing. State leaders said in turn, the physical deterrent would hopefully lead to fewer migrant deaths related to drowning while swimming across the Rio Grande.On Friday, the incoming secretary of foreign affairs for Mexico, Alicia Bárcena, said that the buoys violate various water treaties between Mexico and the United States. She told reporters that Mexico sent a letter to the U.S. in June, reminding federal leaders that Texas' flot...

True story of woman sex trafficked at 14 told in play at Concordia University Tuesday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:27 GMT

After being sex trafficked at 14 and managing to escape that life, Jennifer Gaines has devoted her life to helping women in the same situation.Her true story will be performed as a play, “The Survivor Story Spotlight,” at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 18, at the E.M. Pearson Theater at Concordia University in St. Paul.The play will be performed by several actresses portraying Gaines at different points in her life.“It’s my story,” she said. “It’s how it happened, some of the things that happened to me, how it affected me, and how I got out,” she said in an interview Sunday.The play also highlights the continuing need for more human trafficking prevention and victim-survivor services, she said.“We want people to understand the vulnerabilities that put children at risk of trafficking, the barriers that prevent victims from getting out of the life, the hurdles that keep survivors trapped long-term, and the truth that we all have a hope an...

Ramsey and Washington County’s food scrap recycling program to expand this fall

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:27 GMT

Maplewood Mayor Marylee Abrams got the news on Sunday that Ramsey and Washington counties will be soon expanding a pilot program and collecting food scraps from all residents in her city.On Monday, Abrams joined officials from the counties and the three other test cities — Cottage Grove, Newport and North St. Paul — to learn more about the expansion of the program and to tour a new addition at the Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy Center in Newport that was designed to support what will soon be the largest residential co-collection food scrap recycling programs in the state.The 24,000-square-foot addition, funded in part by $7 million from the 2020 bonding bill, is designed to sort more materials from the trash, including food scraps and organic-rich materials. Once the system is up and running to specifications, the food scraps will be composted. Eventually, officials say, the materials will be turned into renewable natural gas.“This is such a great opportunity f...

Capital Region Aquatics Center moving to Rotterdam

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:27 GMT

ROTTERDAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) — After ten years of planning and discussions for Mohawk Harbor, the Capital Region Aquatic Center will move to the Viaport Shopping Mall in Rotterdam. But Kara Haraden, President of Capital Region Aquatics Center, said signing the letter of intent to lease the 80,000-square-foot space is simple. “We still have work to do. We still have some fundraising to do; we need to get environmental done. We started that process. And there’s going to be permits and permitting that will take some time,” Haraden said. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! The $40 million aquatic center will offer water-related activities, including aquatic therapy, swimming lessons, and specialized programming for veterans, adults, children with special needs, and underserved populations. Officials are most excited about providing swimming lessons for all ages. According to the CDC,  half of the U.S. population can’t swim, and childre...

Judge sends Steve Bachar’s rejected plea deal money to ex-wife, creditors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:27 GMT

A Denver judge has ordered that $174,000 belonging to accused fraudster Steve Bachar must be split among people he owes $5.5 million to rather than be returned to him.District Court Judge Kandace Gerdes’ order ends a four-month-long dispute involving a restitution check, a theft victim who didn’t want it and several unrelated victims who did.In March, Bachar turned over $174,370 to the Denver District Court as part of a plea agreement for felony and misdemeanor theft. The money was supposed to go to Jamie Lindsay, a 74-year-old North Carolina man who Bachar had admitted stealing $125,000 from.But Judge Eric Johnson unexpectedly rejected the plea agreement at Lindsay’s request March 10, scheduled a September trial, and ordered that the money be given back to Bachar. Then, before it could be returned, two companies and a person who are owed about $5 million by Bachar filed motions to garnish that $174,370 of erstwhile restitution.That put Nikolaus Zender, clerk of the Denver District ...

Five weeknight dishes that feel weekend fancy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:27 GMT

By Margaux Laskey, The New York TimesI’m writing this from the passenger seat of a minivan that’s barreling down the highway to pick up my kids from summer camp. While I cannot wait to squeeze them and hear all about their adventures (Dramatic thunderstorms! Wildfire smoke! Tween breakouts!) I won’t lie: I’ve enjoyed the break. My husband was gone for part of the time, too, so I’ve been cooking and eating according to my whimsy and absolutely no one else’s.It was dreamy. The recipes below are just the sort I enjoyed. Low effort — I had “Ted Lasso” episodes to binge-watch — easy enough to scale down for one, big on flavor and fun to eat.1. Puttanesca Chickpea-Tomato SaladThis recipe turns tomato salad into a meal by marrying creamy beans with some of the briny, salty ingredients found in pasta puttanesca, including tomatoes, capers, olives and garlic. While Parmesan isn’t traditional to puttanesca, coarsely chopped pebbles of it add bursts of umami to this salad. Feel free to o...

 L.A. residents demand change after fireworks explosions destroys homes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:27 GMT

South Los Angeles residents are demanding change after a botched fireworks explosion in 2021 injured 17 people and displaced 80 others. Many residents marched from West 27th Street in South L.A., one of the streets impacted by the explosions, to the Newton Police Station a mile away. On June 30 2021, the Los Angeles Police Department opted to detonate some illegal fireworks that were leaking and deemed unstable to move from a South L.A. backyard. What was meant to be a safe detonation ended in an explosion that impacted the homes of nearby residents. Today, several of those homes are boarded, covered in red tags, and are uninhabitable. A botched fireworks explosion in 2021 injured 17 people and displaced 80 others. (Source: KTLA)An L.A. Times investigation reports that technicians who were in charge of the fireworks ignored warnings that too many fireworks were being discharged at the same time. Residents, who are still displaced from their homes, and supporters are calling for acco...

Alameda DA to charge Bay Area prosecutor, her biggest political critic, with interfering in police shooting case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:27 GMT

OAKLAND — Alameda County District Attorney announced Monday that she intends to file a misdemeanor charge against one of her former prosecutors — and loudest political critic — for allegedly interfering in the prosecution of a San Leandro officer who killed a man.In an email to her staff, DA Pamela Price announced that she will prosecute Butch Ford, a current San Francisco prosecutor and former Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County, with a misdemeanor. Price said Ford “breached several professional rules and codes of conduct” by providing “confidential work product information” to the attorney for Jason Fletcher, a San Leandro officer with a pending manslaughter charge for the 2020 on-duty shooting death of Steven Taylor.Ford resigned earlier this year in a blistering letter that blasted Price as an unethical DA who flouts victims rights, and spoke publicly at an anti-Price rally outside an Oakland courtroom. He was placed on administra...

Rain pauses SF Giants’ game against Reds tied 2-2 in eighth inning

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:27 GMT

Going for their sixth win in a row, the Giants were positioned to retake the lead late Monday evening against the Cincinnati Reds when weather got in the way.The opener of their three-game series in Cincinnati entered a rain delay in the top of the eighth with the score tied at 2. It has not been announced when they plan to resume the game.But San Francisco had runners at second and third and one out after a pinch-hit walk from Joc Pederson and Wilmer Flores’ second double of the game. The Reds had tied it in the bottom of the seventh on an opposite-field home run against Logan Webb.This grounds crew member was eaten by the tarp pic.twitter.com/G0m80IQHO2— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) July 18, 2023All of the game’s four runs came on four solo home runs: opposite-field shots by the Reds’ Matt McClain in the first and Jonathan India in the seventh, and no-doubters from Austin Slater in the third and Flores in the sixth. Slater’s traveled 442 feet, the...