Texas schools explore safety solutions as lawmakers iron out bills and funding

Published Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:43:37 GMT

Texas schools explore safety solutions as lawmakers iron out bills and funding SAN MARCOS (Nexstar) — The Texas House is poised for a Monday vote on its omnibus school safety bill after the Senate passed another sweeping package, in an effort to harden school campuses and create more accountability in the aftermath of the nation's second worst school shooting in Uvalde.Meanwhile, school districts with the ability have been exploring safety systems from the private sector — whether it's silent panic alert systems or bullet-resistance glass windows. On Friday, a group of Texas school administrators attended a demonstration at the ALERRT Center in San Marcos. The demo was put on by a C-Bond Systems, a company that makes entry and bullet-resistant products. Mike Lanky, a representative for C-Bond's "Patriot Glass" product, said he believes this type of window would have saved lives in the private Nashville school shooting, where the suspect was able to break into the school after shooting through the glass entry door to let herself in."We're going to shoot through...

Twins excited to welcome Jorge Polanco back

Published Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:43:37 GMT

Twins excited to welcome Jorge Polanco back Jorge Polanco described himself as “muy excited” to be reunited with his teammates back on the field.And who could blame him?The Twins second baseman stayed back in Fort Myers, Fla., while his teammates traveled north to begin the season, rehabbing a bone bruise in his left knee, suffered last August on a slide at the plate.The injury, he said, stretched on longer than he anticipated because of a setback this spring. At this point, he said, there’s no lingering pain at all, and after completing a rehab assignment with the Triple-A Saints, the Twins welcomed him back to their lineup on Friday, optioning rookie Edouard Julien to make space on the roster.“I’m really excited to get back with the major-league club again,” Polanco said. “I’m just happy to be here.”And the Twins are happy to have him back.While Polanco briefly played through the injury, he ended up spending the last month of the 2022 season on the injured list and missed the first three weeks of this season, making his ret...

MN Senate OKs protections for transgender treatments, ‘conversion therapy’ ban, abortion

Published Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:43:37 GMT

MN Senate OKs protections for transgender treatments, ‘conversion therapy’ ban, abortion A ban on so-called conversion therapy for LGBT minors and protections for hormone replacement therapy and other treatments for transgender children are set to become Minnesota law.The Minnesota Senate on Friday approved those measures as well as a bill protecting people who get abortions in Minnesota from legal action by other states where the procedure is illegal.While the abortion bill was amended in the Senate and requires another vote in the House, the LGBT bills are headed to the desk of Gov. Tim Walz, who said he will sign them into law.‘Trans refuge’ billOn a 34-30 party-line vote, the Senate passed a bill blocking other states from interfering with gender-affirming treatments such as puberty-blocking hormones for transgender children in Minnesota.The move comes as many states across the U.S., including Minnesota’s neighbors, consider or enact legislation restricting gender-affirming treatments for minors. On Thursday, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed into law a ban in th...

75th annual tulip festival preparations

Published Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:43:37 GMT

75th annual tulip festival preparations ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -In less than a month, Mother's Day will be coming up. If you are looking for a way to spend the holiday, the 75th annual Albany Tulip Festival will be in full bloom. Washington Park may not be bustling with crowds yet, but parkgoers were surprised to already find beds of tulips in bloom. Annual Albany Tulip Festival dates announced "Beautiful. They've finally planted them for tulip fest, we're getting ready for that. The energy is just nice," stated parkgoer, Taylor Bock." "Its a wonderful time, it's a beautiful day. Why wouldn't we come out to downtown Albany?" said park enthusiast, Janel Mirel.Contrary to what visitors may think, the flowers are planted months before spring begins. Deputy Commissioner of the Department of General Services, Frank Zeoli, says a lot of care goes into how the flowers are planted at the park. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! "The tulips get planted actually in the fall....

Antonio Brown arrest ordered by judge over unpaid child support

Published Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:43:37 GMT

Antonio Brown arrest ordered by judge over unpaid child support MIAMI (NEWS10) -- Antonio Brown, the majority owner of the Albany Empire, has an arrest warrant out by a Florida judge for unpaid child support. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Court documents state the order was issued in Florida by a Miami-Dade County judge on April 14. Brown allegedly did not make payments he was required to make to his ex-partner Wiltrice Jackson. Brown reportedly owes $30,000.NEWS10 spoke with Brown's representation, who claims the former NFL player paid the child support in question and has heard back from the court that the issue is resolved. NEWS10 reached out to Miami-Dade County Court for confirmation of the payment but has yet to hear back.

Biden expected to launch 2024 campaign as Republican rivals battle for top spot

Published Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:43:37 GMT

Biden expected to launch 2024 campaign as Republican rivals battle for top spot WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The 2024 presidential race is heating up. President Biden is expected to announce his re-election campaign soon and his Republican rivals are vying for support within their party. For months, Biden has dropped hints about running for re-election and he's expected to officially launch his campaign next week.  Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! "We have more to do, we've made a lot of progress," Biden said at an event this week. NewsNation Political Editor and The Hill panelist Chris Stirewalt says this moment is an important one for Democrats. "There's always significance when the sitting president announces for re-election. That doesn't make it surprising," Stirewalt said. "The thermometer for how warm or cool Democrats feel for him, we'll get a really good sense of that." On the Republican side, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also hasn't officially announced he's running, but he spen...

Pentagon shares newly released video of unidentified aerial phenomenon

Published Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:43:37 GMT

Pentagon shares newly released video of unidentified aerial phenomenon WASHINGTON (Nexstar) – This week, lawmakers heard from the head of the Pentagon office tasked with investigating UFO sightings, which the government now calls UAPS -- or unidentified aerial phenomenon. Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick runs the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, known as AARO, a unit within the Pentagon tasked with investigating unidentified aerial phenomenon.This week, Kirkpatrick shared newly released video with a Senate committee, saying an object spotted over the Middle East in 2022 remains unidentified. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! “If you squint it looks like an aircraft, because it actually turns out to be an aircraft,” Kirkpatrick said.Kirkpatrick said most unidentified objects are eventually identified as drones or other known objects, but a small percentage aren't resolved.Kirkpatrick told lawmakers his office can't answer decades-worth of questions all at once, so it's focusing specifically on obje...

Several St. Louis residents lose everything in apartment fire 

Published Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:43:37 GMT

Several St. Louis residents lose everything in apartment fire  ST. LOUIS - Some north St. Louis residents are homeless after a fire broke out in their apartment building.The fire occurred in the 2700 block of Howard Street, located in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood, around 8:30 a.m. Friday. Fire officials said when they arrived on the scene, a heavy blaze was coming from the building.“I woke up hearing the babies screaming saying, 'It's a fire, help,' I woke up and started grabbing my kids out," said Brandi Roberts.Residents were already evacuated from the building as fire crews arrived. Several families are without a place to stay and trying to figure out what's next after their possessions have been destroyed. Top Story: Missing Texas teens sold for sex in Missouri “I'm just trying to figure out where we're going to go. We don’t have nothing," Roberts said.Firefighters immediately attacked the fire aggressively to contain it. One unit was completely damaged, while several others had extensive smoke and water damage.“We had fire showing fr...

Ex-Aurora police officer found guilty of failing to stop partner’s excessive force under new state law

Published Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:43:37 GMT

Ex-Aurora police officer found guilty of failing to stop partner’s excessive force under new state law An Arapahoe County jury found a former Aurora police officer guilty of a misdemeanor Friday for failing to stop another officer from pistol-whipping and choking an unarmed man.Francine Martinez was convicted of failure to intervene — the first law enforcement officer to be convicted by a jury of the charge created under the landmark police accountability bill passed after the 2020 George Floyd protests.Martinez did not stop fellow former officer, John Haubert, from beating Kyle Vinson with his duty pistol, choking him and threatening to kill him, even though the man never attempted to hurt or threaten the officer.Haubert and Martinez were dispatched to a trespassing call on July 23, 2021, and contacted three men. Two of the men fled when the officers tried to arrest them on warrants, but Vinson stayed put, body camera footage of the incident shows.The man “was not striking, punching or kicking Officer Haubert” and was not making any life-threatening actions toward the officers...

Colorado Democrats weaken oil and gas permitting bill after facing opposition from Gov. Jared Polis

Published Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:43:37 GMT

Colorado Democrats weaken oil and gas permitting bill after facing opposition from Gov. Jared Polis Colorado Democrats stripped a massive oil and gas permitting bill of its most stringent measures late Thursday night in an effort to garner support from Gov. Jared Polis and to improve its chances of making it through a legislative session that is swiftly nearing its end.Almost all of the air-quality provisions of HB23-1294 that would have made it more difficult for oil and gas companies to receive new drilling permits were removed by the bill’s sponsors during a House committee meeting that ended after 10:30 p.m. and drew comments from nearly 140 supporters and opponents, the latter of which were led by the oil and gas industry.The new version of the bill was approved by the House Energy and Environment Committee on an 8-3 vote, with the three dissenting votes coming from Republicans.A provision that would have required state regulators to perform a modeling analysis of potential air pollution before companies applied for a permit with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Co...