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EMS: Overdoses down in Austin this spring compared to last year

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:15 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Overdoses typically spike in the spring, but Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) said that's not the case this year. Last year, the week before SXSW - two peopled died from overdoses and at least a dozen went to the hospital in what police called an "alarming" 48-hour period. DEA, APD address increase in downtown overdoses This prompted the Austin Police Department (APD) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to issue a poignant warning ahead of the festival. Over the past year, multiple city and county efforts have gone toward curbing overdoses and keeping the deadly drug fentanyl off the streets.This year, as ATCEMS crews go full throttle on SXSW safety efforts, the agency is happy to report overdose numbers are down. "They're not as high as last year, so that's a good thing," ATCEMS Commander Eric Gordon said. "I think public messaging and awareness is going really well. I think people are understanding the risk of that and how dangerous using those drugs...

Texas Rent Relief application portal closing early with more than 70K submissions

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:15 GMT

Editor's Note: The above video is a KXAN story from March 14 on the Texas Rent Relief portal.AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Rent Relief (TRR) application portal will close on Thursday after thousands of applications were submitted within the first 24 hours, according to a news release from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.More than 70,000 applications were submitted, according to a TDHCA news release. ‘I don’t want to be homeless’: Texas rent relief gets over 10K applications in just hours The TRR portal will close at 11:59 a.m., Central Standard Time, the release said.For comparison, the highest number of applications seen in a single day when the portal first opened in 2021 was less than 20,000, TDHCA said.Applicants who have started the application process but not yet completed must upload all documents and submit them by Thursday, the release said. However, submitting an application does not guarantee payment.TDHCA said closing the portal helps ensure program s...

Martin Ludden to step down as director of St. Paul Neighborhood Network

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:15 GMT

Martin Ludden, the executive director of the St. Paul Neighborhood Network cable access station and media center, plans to step down this summer after six years.Undated courtesy photo, circa April 2017, of Martin Ludden. (Courtesy of St. Paul Neighborhood Network)During his time at the helm of the nonprofit community media and technology center, Ludden built out new community-driven documentary programs and invested in the organization’s staff and infrastructure, in part by creating a paid family leave program.Ludden, a former public relations executive, also oversaw improvements to the nonprofit’s technology and facilities, including a comprehensive review of the organization’s policies and community impact, with a focus on diversity and inclusion. The center has served as a public forum in advance of St. Paul City Council and mayoral elections, as well as political referendums on organized trash collection and rent control.SPNN’s “Fresh Vantage” grants supp...

With extra DWI patrols for St. Paddy’s Day, don’t rely on luck to not get caught, cops say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:15 GMT

Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Gordon Shank talks about safe driving and avoiding DWIs during a busy weekend expected in downtown St. Paul with people gathering for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and to watch the NCHC Frozen Faceoff at the Xcel Energy Center. He was joined outside the Xcel Energy Center on March 15, 2023 by, from left to right, St. Paul Police Cmdr. Jeremy Ellison, St. Paul Police Cmdr. Chris Kasal and Mike Hanson, director of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Office of Traffic Safety. (Mara H. Gottfried / Pioneer Press)With a busy weekend expected in St. Paul for those celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and watching college hockey games, extra law enforcement will be out for DWI enforcement.“Our ultimate goal is a safe weekend for everybody — no serious injuries, no fatalities in St. Paul or across the entire state,” said Mike Hanson, director of the state’s Office of Traffic Safety. “… Because (even) if you ha...

Wisconsin Republicans offer exceptions to 1849 abortion ban, but Evers says it’s not enough

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:15 GMT

MADISON, Wis. — Republicans who control the Wisconsin Legislature unveiled a bill Wednesday that would create rape and incest exceptions to the state’s 1849 abortion ban and clarify when abortions that protect the health of the mother would be allowed. But the bill would not return the same rights that were in place under Roe v. Wade.The measure drew immediate bipartisan opposition, however.Democratic lawmakers said its introduction was a cynical ploy to deceive voters just three weeks before a pivotal Wisconsin Supreme Court election. And Democratic Gov. Tony Evers promised a veto.“I won’t sign a bill that leaves Wisconsin women with fewer rights and freedoms than they had before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe,” Evers said.Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu promised that the measure would not be taken up in the GOP-controlled Senate, noting Evers’ promise to veto it, saying: “This is not a topic to use as a political football.”The bill comes as a pending lawsui...

Gophers’ Terell Smith rallied to catch the NFL’s attention

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:15 GMT

Terell Smith lost his starting job with the Gophers multiple times during his five-year college career.But the Snellville, Ga., cornerback won it back last season and parlayed that peak into a standout performance in the East-West Shrine Bowl and an invitation to the NFL Scouting Combine. He refined his testing numbers at the Gophers’ Pro Day on Wednesday.Now, Smith presents tantalizing size (6-feet, 204 pounds), quality speed (4.41-second 40-yard dash) and improved physicality (38 tackles in 2022).“It was an up-and-down career,” Smith said Wednesday. “I started off hot and then play time dipped for some inconsistencies on my part, so I just had to work through those inconsistencies and just focus on getting better. It was a lot of adversity, but this program allowed me to fight through the adversity and come back.”Smith started 11 games as a true freshman in 2018 and it appeared Minnesota would have a lock-down corner for years to come. But injuries and poor play had Smith playing ...

Albany Catholic Diocese files bankruptcy

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:15 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Bishop Edward Scharfenberger announced on Wednesday the Albany diocese had no choice but to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, stating they simply do not have the money to go forward."This decision has not come in any quick or precipitous way. It's been a long haul to this point.” Get all of the latest news, weather, sports, and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! The filing means no more cases can be filed against the church, including the hundreds of child sex abuses cases. Yet the church said the bankruptcy is an effort to be able to settle abuse claim settlements."We attempted to settle as many cases as we possibly could with the resources that we had. We settled upwards of 50 cases. But we've reached the limit of our resources.”In addition to child sex abuse cases, the state's lawsuit over St. Clare's pensioners will be on hold. WATCH: Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany files for bankruptcy "It remains unresolved as to who actually was responsible f...

Home some call halfway house sparks debate in Hickman Mills neighborhood

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:15 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A home in the Hickman Mills United Neighborhoods is starting a debate.Nine people in a substance abuse program live inside, but neighbors and the Hickman Mills C-1 School District said they don't want them there.On New Beginnings Sanctuary’s website, it says the program is a 12 month, or more, sober living program that includes both faith-based and secular recovery programs."If you bought a house, would you want that house next door?” resident Bobbie Proctor said. “We just do not want it there, and the city knows better.” Top story: Report details fatal encounter between accused cop killer, Hermann police For months the company has been operating a sober living program in the house -- off Manchester Avenue in South Kansas City, Missouri.The city said the program is in an improper zoned space."We know that when you put those type of facilities around schools, there's schools close by and childcare centers close by, there's park areas,” Hickman Mills Superintende...

Independent air monitoring in Commerce City finds radioactive particles “that no one has had on their radar”

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:15 GMT

A year-long air monitoring project in Commerce City found there are more harmful pollutants in the air than people realize, and advocates say federal and state environmental authorities are not doing enough to regulate those emissions and protect people’s health.Those pollutants include newly discovered radioactive particles detected in a monitoring station positioned downwind from the Suncor Energy refinery. Detlev Helmig, a scientist who runs Boulder AIR, which performs the monitoring, said the airborne radioactive particles need more study to determine their source and exactly how much is being released into the air.“Here in the middle of an area with 2 million people we have a source of radioactivity that no one has had on their radar,” Helmig said.Cultivando, a Commerce City nonprofit that focuses on health equity in the Latino community, held a news conference Tuesday to discuss the findings of its air monitoring study. Cultivando was chosen to monitor air qu...

Northglenn homicide suspect arrested in Arvada after car crash is identified

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:15 GMT

A homicide suspect in a Northglenn case, who was arrested Tuesday by Arvada police after a car crash on Kipling Street, is identified.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Arrest made in death of truck driver staged to look like an accident in Weld County Crime and Public Safety | Jefferson County man sentenced to 30 years in prison for shooting death of his wife Crime and Public Safety | Jury finds Denver man guilty for role in killing of woman with AR-15 after fender-bender Crime and Public Safety | Denver jury convicts man of murder in the 2018 death of an infant Crime and Public Safety | Man killed in southeast Denver identified by medical examiner Camron Enrique Acosta, 18, is being held on investigation of first-degree murder for the shooting death of Leon Lorenzo Dean Guerra, according to a Northglenn Police Department news release.Guerra was shot on Jan. 7, 2022, in the 1300 block of Regina L...