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Kansas governor vetoes 4 anti-trans bills as overrides loom

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:42 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ Democratic governor on Thursday vetoed a sweeping set of anti-transgender measures, including a ban on gender-affirming care for children and teens, but Republican lawmakers who pushed them appeared to have the votes to override most of her actions. Gov. Laura Kelly rejected restrictions for transgender people in using restrooms, locker rooms and other public facilities; limits on where they are housed in state prisons and county jails; and even restrictions on rooming arrangements for transgender youth on overnight school trips.Her actions highlighted how her Republican-leaning state has become a fiercely contested battleground as GOP lawmakers across the U.S. target LGBTQ+ rights through several hundred proposals. Kelly narrowly won reelection in November, but the the Legislature has GOP supermajorities and conservative leaders who’ve made rolling back transgender rights a priority. The measures on bathrooms, jails and overnight school trips passe...

DePaul student journalists say university employees got rid of papers covering budget woes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:42 GMT

CHICAGO — DePaul University student journalists said university employees got rid of a number of newspapers after a recent article about the university's budget woes. The university's student paper, The DePaulia, comes out every Monday. But when it hit papers stands around campus last week, student journalists said the paper came off the stands in a way they weren't prepared for. Cause of death released for missing Navy sailor found in Lake Michigan The front-page story on April 10's paper put the spotlight on the university's $56.5 million budget gap for the 2024 fiscal year.Shortly after the story went public, DePaulia's Editor-in-Chief Nadia Carolina Hernandez said one of her editors reached out and said they saw DePaul employees on the Lincoln Park campus taking papers from the stands and putting them in a recycling bin. "We're just getting a bunch of other reports of front pages being ripped off of the paper and left in the stands completely empty," Carolina Hernandez said. ...

Illinois firefighters get hands-on training with electric vehicles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:42 GMT

WHEELING, Ill. — When it comes to fighting a vehicle fire these days, the how-to manual is changing. Gas and diesel-driven motors are now sharing the road with millions of electric vehicles and the batteries that power them. The best electric vehicles on the market At the MABAS Training Center in Wheeling, first responders are training on the do's and don'ts of extinguishing a fire on an EV. MABAS stands for the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, which offers a statewide mutual aid response system for firefighters and paramedics.The event was sponsored by General Motors in partnership with the Illinois Fire Service Institute. It is teaching firefighters how to approach and fight a fire on a high-voltage vehicle, from stabilization to venting flames and neutralizing the power. Joe McClain led the training and said the goal is to go across the country and provide key information. How do electric cars work? The training is a mix of classroom training and hands-on run-throughs of EVs.It ...

Colorado 20 year-old killed after rock thrown at car

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:42 GMT

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — Police say they've found a pickup truck and identified its owner in connection to a string of crimes Wednesday night that resulted in the death of a 20 year-old after she was struck and killed by a large rock while driving.The crimes happened Wednesday night starting at 10 p.m.According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, 20 year-old Alexa Bartell, of Arvada, was driving when one of the suspects threw a large rock either from a vehicle or the side of the road at her car. Fourth Marine recruit dies at Parris Island boot camp in two years Investigators say the rock hit Bartell and she was killed. Moments earlier, Bartell was on the phone with a friend when the call went silent. "Her friend was worried. So her friend used an app to track her phone, drove to the location where it looked like Alexa's phone was just sitting, just sitting still," JSCO Public Information Officer Jacki Kelley said. "She discovered that Alexa's car had gone off the ro...

Fourth Marine recruit dies at Parris Island boot camp in two years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:42 GMT

(The Hill) – A Marine Corps recruit died earlier this week during a physical fitness test at boot camp in South Carolina, according to the service. Pfc. Noah Evans, 21, of Decatur, Ga., died Tuesday at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, the Marine Corps said in a statement on Wednesday. Evans had been assigned to Mike Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, Recruit Training Regiment. His cause of death is currently under investigation. The military branch provided no additional details, including whether Evans had any prior medical conditions or the specific events around his death.  It’s finally happening. Twitter users bid farewell to blue checkmarks He is now the fourth Marine recruit to die at the base in two years, with 10 total deaths since 2000, the Hilton Head Island Packet first reported. In June 2021, Pfc. Dalton Beals, 19, of Pennsville, N.J., died as a result of extreme ov...

Texas man fired at police before surrendering to FBI for Jan. 6 charges: officials

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:42 GMT

A Texas man charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol allegedly shot at law enforcement ahead of his first court appearance and has been hit with an additional federal firearm charge, officials said. Nathan Pelham, of Greenville, Texas, has now been charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, in addition to the four misdemeanor counts related to his alleged participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas said in a release. According to the attorney’s office, Pelham, 40, is a previously convicted felon.The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia charged Pelham with the Jan. 6 misdemeanors earlier this month. An FBI agent notified him of the charges on April 12 and told him to self-surrender five days later, which he agreed to do, according to the release. But on the night of the April 12, local law enforcement went to Pelham’s residence for a welfare check “in response to...

Man accused of shooting 6 year-old in NC arrested

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:42 GMT

GASTONIA, N.C. (WJZY) - The suspect in a Tuesday shooting of a family — including a 6 year-old girl — in North Carolina has turned himself into authorities in Tampa, Florida, police in Gaston County, NC said Thursday.Robert Louis Singletary, 24, reportedly turned himself into the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office shortly before 7 p.m. Thursday. He did not have any identification with him and is scheduled to have a court appearance in Hillsborough County on Friday, in reference to extradition back to North Carolina. Singletary is believed to be responsible for shooting and injuring several people the night of April 18, in the 4700 block of Grier Street. He had been the source of a manhunt since.(Photo courtesy of the White family)The mother of the 6 year-old victim told Nexstar's WJZY that the suspect started shooting after a child walked into his yard to retrieve a basketball that a group of kids had been playing with nearby."I heard the 'pow, pow, pow, pow,' and I thou...

APD investigating airline employee death as accidental

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:42 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — An American Airlines employee died Thursday at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, and the Austin Police Department are investigating the incident as accidental, according to AUS officials.At approximately 2 p.m., APD officers responded to a crash incident at AUS, APD Public Information Officer Destiny Silva said during a media briefing at the airport. Airport communications contacted the City of Austin 911 communications requesting emergency services. APD said an airline employee was operating a ground service vehicle that struck a jet bridge.When APD and Austin-Travis County EMS arrived they found the man suffering from injuries in the area where planes park to pick up and drop off passengers. The man died at the scene.Silva said APD Vehicular Homicide Unit is investigating the death as accidental.“We are devastated by the accident involving a team member at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS). Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and our l...

LIVE BLOG: Hail reported as storm sweeps through

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:42 GMT

(KXAN) -- Severe weather with the potential for hail is expected throughout Central Texas Thursday afternoon and evening.According to the KXAN First Warning Weather team, storms will initially carry a high risk for large hail, but as individual storms develop into a line the hail threat will transition to a straight-line wind risk. KXAN First Warning Weather forecast A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for all of Central Texas until 10 p.m. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are favorable for the development of storms.Weather ResourcesHow to talk to your kids about severe weatherWatches vs Warnings: Understanding how a storm is madeTraffic mapLive Central Texas radarCentral Texas rainfall totalsDownload KXAN Weather AppSign up for KXAN daily forecast newsletter and severe weather alerts newsletterFollow along in our weather blog belowSevere weather live blog7:50 p.m.Flash Flood Warning including Austin TX, Round Rock TX and Cedar Park TX until 10:45 PM CDT7:45 p....

Is pickleball becoming too popular? 'Turf wars' break out in south Austin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:42 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – There is no doubt that pickleball is exploding in Texas. In the U.S., The Sports and Fitness Industry Association said that participation in the sport nearly doubled in 2022, seeing a year-over-year increase of around 85% and a 158.6% increase over the last three years. At the South Austin Recreation Center, the increase in participation in the sport is overwhelmingly clear. Matt Winebright started playing three years ago. He said he started seeing the courts get more crowded during the COVID lockdown. “I think pickleball was starting to become more popular,” he said. “But then it turned into a sport people could still play – even when tennis nets were down, basketball hoops were boarded up and the gyms were closed.”Pickleball was invented in the 1960s by three dads living in Washington state, according to USA Pickleball. It’s sort of like a cross between ping-pong and tennis and takes up about half of the space as a traditional tennis court. Courts at...