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Rural school leaders criticize business incentive bill

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Superintendents of rural Texas schools on Monday criticized legislation that would incentivize corporate investment with property tax privileges, citing concerns the bill's exclusion of renewable energy projects would hurt their areas.House Bill 5 by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, aims to attract large manufacturing and energy operations to Texas by facilitating agreements between them and local school districts regarding property tax breaks.The bill is intended as an answer to the now-expired Chapter 313 tax abatement program, which provided property tax breaks to corporations before the legislature allowed it to expire last legislative session.Rural school district superintendents testified they agree the new economic development tool would benefit the state. However, they worry it would leave them behind because the latest version of the bill does not extend the same privileges to renewable energy projects."I would be testifying for the bill if the bill i...

Llano County to discuss future of public library in special meeting

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

LLANO COUNTY, Texas -- In a special meeting Thursday, the Llano County Commissioners Court will discuss plans to "continue or cease operations of the current physical Llano County Library System," according to the agenda. Llano County ordered to return removed books to its library system by federal court In a civil court case against Llano County, a federal court partially granted a preliminary injunction, ordering the return of books previously removed from the county’s library system in March.According to court documents, the county must also update the library system’s searchable catalog to reflect that the books were available for checkout and keep them from removing any more books.On Oct. 28, 2022, a lawsuit brought by Llano County residents was brought against their county government and library system in connection with “removed” books at the public libraries.According to a past KXAN report, attorneys for the plaintiffs said the books were targeted for removal due to their ...

Tyler Cowen: Where’s the best place to ride out the next cataclysm?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

The apocalypse is not nigh, as I have long maintained, but what about a cataclysm? I am talking about a sudden and extreme violent event: Just last month, an asteroid big enough to destroy a city passed between the Earth and the moon. The possibility of a nuclear exchange is greater than it has been in decades. Scientists are still studying the global impact of last year’s eruption of a super volcano in the South Pacific.If you fear that America is going to face a cataclysm of some sort soon, you may ask yourself where you should you ride it out. I have a counterintuitive answer: If you live in a dense urban area, stay put — especially if, like me, you live in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.The biggest advantage of the Washington region is that, in the case of a real catastrophe, it would receive a lot of direct aid. It’s not just that Congress and the White House are nearby — so are the Pentagon, the FBI, the CIA and hundreds if not thousands of government a...

Ramsey County announces $36 million in 2023 road projects

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

Ramsey County on Monday laid out its plans for the 2023 road construction season, detailing more than a dozen projects totaling $36 million.The county will resurface about 5½ miles of roadway, including portions of Cleveland Avenue in St. Paul and Falcon Heights, as well as Lexington Parkway, Randolph Avenue and Maryland Avenue in St. Paul, according to a news release. A complete list of projects, which are expected to begin in early summer, is available on the county’s website at ramseycounty.us/roadwork.Among the most significant is the $7 million reconstruction of North Cleveland Avenue between Como and Larpenteur avenues, which will include the addition of a bike lane in each direction and a multi-use path on the east side of the east side of the road, the news release said.The county also plans to complete work on the two-phase project that will connect Lexington Parkway with Shepard Road via what is now Elway Street. The extension will include new pedestrian and bicycle ...

Missouri Senate approves sales tax cut on diapers, guns, ammo, feminine hygiene products

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Legislation to exempt guns, ammunition, diapers and feminine hygiene products from sales tax is moving forward in the Missouri Capitol.It was a deal between political parties to approve the two tax cuts. Senate Democrats would not filibuster the legislation to exempt firearms and ammunition from sales tax as long as they could get a clean tax cut bill on diapers and feminine hygiene products, while giving tax credits to grocery stores built in food deserts."Your priorities tell you who you kind of are," Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, said. "We are fighting for working families, they [Republicans] are fighting to make sure you can buy unlimited rounds with no sales tax.”The upper chamber passed the two separate plans aimed at cutting taxes Thursday within minutes of each other.One bill, sponsored by Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, would drop local and state sales tax on the purchase of firearms and ammunition. Senate Bill 131 would also g...

Colorado judge sanctions DA Linda Stanley’s office over pattern of widespread discovery violations

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

11th Judicial District Attorney Linda StanleyA Fremont County District Court judge last week threw out a first-degree murder charge to punish prosecutors for failing to turn over information to defense attorneys — part of what the judge said is a pattern of widespread discovery violations by 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley and her staff.In a scathing 21-page order, Judge Kaitlin Turner listed 20 cases over the last two years in which prosecutors in Stanley’s office have failed to turn over discovery information to defense attorneys as required by law.The judge then found a similar violation had occurred in the murder case before her and ordered that the first-degree murder charge against defendant Joseph Tippet be reduced to a second-degree murder charge as a sanction for prosecutors’ misconduct.“This pattern (of discovery violations) has persisted despite the imposition of many and varied sanctions against the District Attorney and even despite...

Authorities locate at-risk missing man out of Compton

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

Authorities with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department on Monday located an at-risk man who had been missing out of Compton. Febronio Barajas Torres, 25, had last been seen April 7, at around 6 p.m., as he was walking northbound on Gibson Avenue towards Rosecrans Avenue. He was wearing a black T-shirt, blue jeans and black shoes.  The 25-year-old was described as Hispanic male, approximately 5 foot 11 inches tall, 170 pounds, with black hair, a mustache and hazel eyes. Torres has a scar on his left eyebrow, a tattoo of a palm tree on his right forearm and a skull on his left wrist, according to an LASD bulletin.  Febronio Barajas Torres, 25, was last seen on April 7, 2023, in Compton. (LASD)Authorities thanked the public, the media and deputy personnel for their efforts in locating Torres, though they did not provide any information on his condition or where he was found. An at-risk or critical missing person is defined as:- The missing person is a victim of crime or foul play- The m...

1st trailer drops for Disney's 'Peter Pan & Wendy'

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

Scene from the trailer of Peter Pan & Wendy. (DIsney)Disney’s first trailer for the upcoming Peter Pan live-action reboot, Peter Pan & Wendy, dropped on Monday, transporting fans back to Neverland once again.The film, which is based on both the J.M. Barrie novel and the 1953 Disney animated classic, “introduces Wendy Darling, a young girl looking to avoid boarding school who meets Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to grow up.“Alongside her brothers and a tiny fairy, Tinker Bell, she travels with Peter to the magical world of Neverland. There, she encounters an evil pirate captain, Captain Hook, and embarks on a thrilling and dangerous adventure that will change her life forever,” Disney says in the film’s synopsis.Peter Pan & Wendy stars Jude Law as Captain Hook, along with Alexander Molony, Ever Anderson, Yara Shahidi, Alyssa Wapanatâhk, Joshua Pickering, Jacobi Jupe, Molly Parker, Alan Tudyk and Jim Gaffigan.This will be the ninth official Peter Pan film in the Disney franchis...

This is where you can see the superbloom in California

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

Now that California's historic wet winter is firmly in the rearview mirror, many Californians are flocking to state parks to catch a glimpse of the spectacular superbloom.Many wildflowers have sprouted all at once, providing plenty of beautiful photo opportunities throughout the Golden State. The California Department of Parks and Recreation is recommending several places for people to see the colorful superbloom in person.Southern CaliforniaAnza-Borrego Desert State ParkAntelope Valley California Poppy ReserveChino Hills State ParkColonel Allensworth State Historic ParkEastern Kern County Onyx Ranch State Vehicular Recreation AreaRed Rock Canyon State ParkTule Elk State Natural ReserveNorthern CaliforniaMount Tamalpais State Park China Camp State Park Trione-Annadel State Park Sugarloaf Ridge State ParkLake Elsinore, a popular spot to view the superbloom, is closed to visitors this year to ensure "the safety of public land and wildlife," the city said. Officials want to prevent the...

4/20 festival returning to San Francisco Hippie Hill

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:10:32 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- 4/20 is turning into a three-day-long event in San Francisco. Every April 20, cannabis enthusiasts flock to Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park to light up and celebrate cannabis culture. Thousands are anticipated to gather in Robin Williams Meadow for music and entertainment from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also this year, the second-annual Evergreen San Francisco festival will stretch over April 20, 21, and 23 at multiple locations throughout the city, event organizers said. "From the counterculture movement in the 1960s to compassionate use during the AIDS crisis, cannabis played an important role in San Francisco’s history of progressiveness and activism. The Evergreen San Francisco festival highlights this legacy and puts a spotlight on the city’s regulated cannabis and social equity businesses. With iconic places throughout the city like Hippie Hill and The Castro serving as a backdrop, the festival gives visitors the opportunity to experience first-hand how we are r...