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Austin council member back at City Hall after taking medical leave

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:11:44 GMT

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health complications, the National Alliance on Mental Illness offers resources and support services online. NAMI’s HelpLine is available from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET Monday through Friday via calling 800-950-6264 or by texting “Helpline” to 62640. Chat services are also available online. In a crisis, call or text 988.AUSTIN (KXAN) — An Austin City Council member returned to the dais Tuesday nearly two months after announcing she would take medical leave to focus on mental health treatment. Natasha Harper-Madison, who represents District 1 in east Austin, appeared Tuesday to once again lead the housing and planning committee as chair. At least two of her fellow committee members made comments to welcome her back to the meeting, saying how good it was to see her there. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Austin City Council member taking medical leave, points to mental health challenges At the conclusion of the committee meeting, she...

Pflugerville ISD superintendent named lone finalist to lead Harris County school district

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:11:44 GMT

PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — Dr. Douglas Killian, superintendent of the Pflugerville Independent School District, has been named the lone finalist in the running to serve as superintendent of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, CFISD confirmed in a Monday release. The school district is located in an unincorporated portion of Harris County, northwest of Houston.Killian has served as superintendent of Pflugerville ISD since 2017, per the release. He comes with 20 years of superintendent experience, previously serving in that leadership role at Hutto ISD from 2010-2017, Huffman ISD from 2006-2010 and at Poteet ISD from 2004-2006. Before serving as superintendent at those school districts, he also worked as an assistant superintendent at Poteet ISD from 2001-2004 and served there as interim superintendent from 2003-2004 before taking over the position full-time. Per the release, Killian will have to undergo a 21-day waiting period and is poised to begin working as CFISD's superintendent on Jan. 1, ...

Texas House gives initial OK for sending $1.5B for border wall construction

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:11:44 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The Texas House gave initial approval Tuesday to a bill that would send $1.5B to further construction of the border wall, one of Gov. Greg Abbott's key border security policies on the fourth special session call.Senate Bill 3 would appropriate more funding for the construction of the wall at the Texas-Mexico border, along with send about $40 million for “overtime expenses and costs” to increase law enforcement presence in Colony Ridge “to preserve public safety and security.” Colony Ridge is a Houston suburb that has become of concern to conservatives who say it is an attractive area for undocumented migrants to live. BACKGROUND: A Texas neighborhood became a target of the right over immigration. Locals are pushing back The expansions would primarily be in the Rio Grande Valley region, though exact locations and specifications of the wall remain uncertain. The funds would go directly to the governor's office to use for Operation Lone Star — Abbott's keynote...

David French: The new Republican Party isn’t ready for the post-Roe world

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:11:44 GMT

Ohio is not a swing state, not any longer. Donald Trump won it by 8 points, twice. It has a Republican governor, and while its senators are split between the parties, its U.S. House delegation is made up of 10 Republicans and five Democrats. And yet Ohio just passed an abortion-rights referendum by a margin of more than 13 points.There’s no way to spin this result. There’s no way to spin every other pro-choice result in every other red-state referendum. The pro-life movement is in a state of electoral collapse, and I think I know one reason.In the eight years since the so-called New Right emerged on the scene and Trump began to dominate the Republican landscape, the Republican Party has become less libertarian but more libertine, and libertinism is ultimately incompatible with a holistic pro-life worldview.I’m not arguing that the pro-choice position is inherently libertine. There are many millions of Americans — including pro-choice Republicans — who arrive at their position throug...

Starting pitcher Sonny Gray declines Twins’ qualifying offer, becomes free agent

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:11:44 GMT

Sonny Gray has declined the one-year, $20.325 million qualifying offer extended to him by the Twins, sending the veteran starting pitcher into free agency for the first time in his career and the Twins on the hunt for another starter to add to their rotation.Gray had long been expected to decline the qualifying offer in search of a multi-year deal on the open market.Now, it’s finally official.As compensation, the Twins will receive a draft pick for his departure if he signs elsewhere. If Gray signs a deal above $50 million, which is the most likely scenario, the Twins will get a pick between the first round and Competitive Balance Round A. If his deal is less than that, the Twins receive a pick after Competitive Balance Round B.Gray, 34, finished his second season in Minnesota with a 2.79 earned-run average across 184 innings pitched. His durability and consistency helped lead to him becoming a Cy Young Award finalist for the second time in his career. The award winner, expected to ...

Trudy Rubin: ‘From the river to the sea’ threatens to drown out any chance for peace

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:11:44 GMT

Words matter, especially when it comes to discussing Hamas’ brutal slaughter of Israeli civilians, or the massive civilian casualties in Gaza caused by Israel’s efforts to destroy Hamas leadership and tunnels with bombs.In that context, it is important to understand the meaning of the controversial phrase that thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been chanting, and whose use earned a censure resolution from the U.S. House of Representatives against Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the lone Palestinian American in Congress.Tlaib claims — and some demonstrators may actually believe — that the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a call “for peaceful coexistence” between Israelis and Palestinians. But that would require a willful ignorance of past and present realities.As I know from decades of covering the Israel-Palestine issue all over the Mideast region, the words “from the river to the sea̶...

‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ review: Big MonsterVerse fun on small screen

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:11:44 GMT

“Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” begins by taking us back to 1973.And to Skull Island.It is there and then we are reunited with John Goodman’s Bill Randa from the enjoyable 2017 movie “Kong: Skull Island,” making film recordings of what he sees, much of which is chaos. At one point, he turns the camera on himself and addresses someone, saying he can’t change the past — he can’t make up for his mistakes — but perhaps he can leave a “legacy.”Soon, he is running from one of those giant spider monsters we saw in the movie. Reaching the edge of a cliff and faced with what would seem to be certain death, he tosses the bag he is carrying into the water, and he — and we — watch it float away.A spider-like monster on Skull Island is shown during the opening moments of the series “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. (Courtesy of Apple TV+)Although the series is never quite this impressively thrilling again, these opening, well-constructed minutes of “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” — debuting with two of ...

CDTA offers free rides to shelters during a Code Blue

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:11:44 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Capital District Transportation Authority will now offer free rides to homeless individuals going to shelters on a Code Blue night. To be eligible for a free ride, the passenger must tell the operator the shelter they want to go to. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! A Code Blue is declared when temperatures are expected to drop below 32 degrees. A Code Blue may also be called if 12 inches of snow is expected. A Code Blue alert is in effect through Wednesday, November 15, with temperatures forecasted to drop into the low 30s. The CDTA partnered with the Homeless and Travelers Aid Society to make the free rides possible. In Albany, those in need can report to the Capital City Rescue Mission at 259 South Pearl Street, the Emergency Overflow Shelter at 646 State Street 12206 (Lutheran Church), or the IPH Safe Haven at 26 South Swan Street 12210.

Climate group holding Moreau biochar meeting

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:11:44 GMT

MOREAU, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Last week, the town supervisor who championed a controversial biochar fertilizer plant coming to town was voted out of office. With his replacement siding with those around the town opposed to the plant, the question lingers - what's next for Saratoga Biochar? Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! That question is the subject of a meeting - not connected to town government, but to some of the voices that have spoken out against the project. The Clean Air Action Network of Glens Falls is holding a community meeting on Thursday, Nov. 16, at Moreau Community Center. From 6 to 8 p.m., the state of the project is center stage.“People who would be impacted by this project are standing up for their rights in various ways, and action is underway on several fronts," said CAAN chairwoman Tracy Frisch. "Currently we are appealing a court decision in CAAN’s lawsuit against the town planning board for approving the project...

East Greenbush CSD implements new bus safety program

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:11:44 GMT

EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The East Greenbush Central School District rolled out a new program that allows the district to closely track bus ridership and students' locations while they're using district transportation. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! “For the most part, the drivers are reporting the cards, they tap they scan very easily," Dr. Wanda McQueen, Transportation Administrator for the East Greenbush Central School District, said. "They didn’t hold the students up.” McQueen said students scan their IDs on a pad as they get on and off of the school bus. From there, the student finder software shows what bus the student is on and where they were last dropped off. “It automatically sends the information through our zonar GPS ground traffic control system into our Transfinder routing system here at the transportation department," McQueen said. "It’s an RFID protected system, it’s completely confidential and no one o...