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How Williamson County is paying for ice storm cleanup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:51 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 Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:51 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 Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:51 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 Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:51 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 Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:51 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...

Monument damaged at Piasa Park in Alton

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:51 GMT

ALTON, Ill. - Vandals have knocked over and cracked the marble arrowhead at Piasa Park in Alton that described the legend of the Piasa Bird.“It was split in half where all the wording is, and some of these chunks came out," said Michael Haynes, director of Parks and Recreation in Alton. "It would not be easily repairable."On the limestone bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River just north of downtown Alton is a painting of the original pictograph of the Piasa Bird. The Piasa Bird is said to be a mythical creature from Native American mythology that lived near the Alton area. Trending: Ladue estate with luxury auto house sold in record-setting 8-figure deal The arrowhead, which was donated by the Illinois State Historical Society in the mid-1980s, is made of marble granite.Haynes said it isn’t the first time the arrowhead has been toppled. This time, though, it was broken, and he encouraged anyone with information about the vandalism of the arrowhead to contact the Alton Police De...

Man shoots wife, father-in-law, himself in Lincoln County domestic dispute

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:51 GMT

LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. - A Lincoln County father shot his wife, his father-in-law, and then himself as his four children watched. It was a horrifying end to a deadly domestic dispute.Lincoln County Sheriff Rick Harrell said 56-year-old Phillip Lee Foland shot and killed his wife Lauren Jennings Foland, 38, and her father Scott Preston Causet, 72, then turned the gun on himself.Investigators said the double murder-suicide happened at around 8:15 p.m. Wednesday in the 2500 block of Highway W. Police are still trying to figure out what led up to the deadly shooting. Police: Accused Schnucks shooter has medical condition, may be with girlfriend According to the police, Lauren and Causet had died on the scene. The suspected shooter, Phillip, was suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and had to be airlifted to the nearest hospital. He later died from his injuries.“There is no criminal history involving this address and no reports of previous domestic violence," Harrell said. "The t...

Clandestine living space filled with trash found in tunnel below highway flyover in Wheat Ridge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:51 GMT

People had been secretly living in a tunnel suspended from a highway flyover in Wheat Ridge and the space was cleared out this week with 120-cubic-yards of refuse removed, police said.A community services officer with the Wheat Ridge Police Department recently saw a person climbing into the tunnel, suspended from the Colo. 58 flyover above Interstate 70, near the intersection of West 44th Avenue and Youngfield Street, and followed the person, police said in a Thursday Facebook post.The police Facebook post includes a video of the space taken earlier this week.“It turns out people have been trespassing, living there, and storing excessive amounts of trash and property throughout the length of the flyover,” police said in the post.Items, including food, clothing, blankets, buckets and boxes, were removed and the narrow tunnel, which includes eight sections, has been cleared out.Related ArticlesColorado News | Denverites don’t like how the city is handling ...

Colorado laws to expand abortion access, protect providers and patients proposed in state Capitol

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:51 GMT

Colorado Democratic lawmakers introduced a package of three bills Thursday that, if passed, would increase and protect access to abortion and gender-affirming care in the state.The proposed laws expand upon lawmakers’ passage of a 2022 law codifying the right to abortions at any stage of pregnancy after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision guaranteeing the right to abortions.The bills are starting in the Colorado Senate and they aim to put a stop to disinformation and deceptive practices by crisis pregnancy centers; protect patients and providers who have abortions and gender-affirming care from threats from other states; and require insurance coverage for reproductive health care, as previously reported by The Denver Post.“Y’all felt the rage that so many of us experienced in our bodies and in our bones that the Supreme Court of this nation would so wholly undermine our ability to make decisions about our own bodies,” Sen. Julie Gon...

Man wanted in series of armored vehicle robberies arrested in Rancho Cucamonga

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:51 GMT

A man believed to be part of a crew that targeted and robbed armored vehicles across Los Angeles County was arrested in Rancho Cucamonga Wednesday night, according to the FBI.James Russell Davis, 34, is believed to be part of the “Chesapeake Bandits” allegedly responsible for a string of armed robberies.A federal warrant had been issued for his arrest back in February.The group was named after Chesapeake Avenue in the West Adams neighborhood, where the suspects are believed to have met and staged robberies, according to the FBI.The robberies then occurred in broad daylight, and the group has been linked to attacks with losses in the hundreds of thousands.Deneyvous Hobson, 36, had been arrested in connection with the incident, but authorities believe five others are part of the group. The other accomplices have not been identified.The group has targeted drive-thru ATMs and other businesses, including check-cashing locations, officials said.They allegedly take over armored cars when t...