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Attorney General Ken Paxton is now suspended without pay after impeachment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- After Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was suspended last week after he was impeached from office, he will now be suspended with no pay, according to a letter from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.On Saturday, the Texas House voted 121-23 to impeach Paxton.The vote approved the 20 articles of impeachment that the House General Investigating Committee laid out Thursday. These articles were the result of a two-month investigation that began after Paxton asked to use state funds to settle a $3.3 million whistleblower lawsuit filed by four former employees who accused him of wrongdoing.The letter from the Texas Comptroller said in part, "Per the Texas Constitution Article 15, Section 5, 'all officers against whom articles of impeachment may be preferred shall be suspended from the exercise of the duties of their office, during the pendency of such impeachment."Furthermore, no salary payment may occur to Paxton while in suspended status, according to the Texas C...

Ocean waves detected, signaling an imminent El Niño pattern

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A phenomenon, called Kelvin waves, has just been detected in the Pacific Ocean -- a sign that the developing El Niño pattern is imminent. Significant El Niño pattern developing The International Sea Level Satellite, the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, detected these 2-4 inch ripples in the ocean that extend for hundreds of miles. These Kelvin waves occurring along the Equator are due to westerly winds that drive warmer sea water to the Eastern Pacific Ocean. The accumulation of unusually warmer water in the Eastern Pacific Ocean causes a weather pattern change due to a shift in jet streams. With a jet stream shifted further south, this could allow more storms to be driven into Central Texas.The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite is able to monitor ocean conditions by using a radar altimeter to measure the height of the ocean's surface.The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite pictured here detects sea level height data. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech What it takes fo...

Austin could limit Barton Springs Road vehicle traffic in 1-year safety pilot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The City of Austin could reduce vehicle traffic along Barton Springs Road to one lane in each direction as part of a proposed year-long safety improvements pilot.City leaders announced the proposal in a memo on Thursday, detailing planned safety upgrades to curtail serious injuries and fatalities along the roadway as a result of traffic crashes.The proposed pilot project follows a crash along Barton Springs Road in April 2022 that resulted in 10 people being seriously injured, per the memo.If approved, the pilot's planned safety improvements include:One vehicle lane in each direction between Azie Morton Road and South Lamar BoulevardAdditional vehicle lanes provided at the intersections of South Lamar Boulevard, Azie Morton Road to "maintain motor vehicle capacity" along Barton SpringsWiden bicycle lanes and add physical separations from motor vehicle trafficConstruct "safer and shorter pedestrian crossings on Barton Springs Road and side streets"Work to connect a fu...

Vote restored to MN felons on supervised release

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:00 GMT

More than 50,000 people with felony convictions on supervised release in Minnesota are now eligible to vote under a new state law.To commemorate the new law taking effect, a group of newly enfranchised registered to vote Thursday at Arlington Hills Community Center in St. Paul. Secretary of State Steve Simon, the state’s top elections official, said it was Minnesota’s “largest single act of enfranchisement” since the voting age changed from 21 to 18 half a century ago.“Our democracy faces a lot of challenges and a lot of threats. We have to protect it,” Simon said in remarks ahead of the registrations. “And I think what has happened today is part of that protection of democracy.”Simon, a Democrat, and organizers with Restore the Vote, an activist group that pushed for years to end the ban on felon voting, say the next step is spreading the word that people on parole or probation for felonies can vote.The first to fill out registration paperwork was Jen Schroeder, a...

Review: Minnesota Orchestra presents works of unity and strength

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:00 GMT

A theme of friendship marks Minnesota Orchestra’s “Park and Ainomäe Play Brahms” concert at Orchestra Hall, featuring the orchestra’s first associate concertmaster Susie Park and associate principal cello Silver Ainomäe. In the concert, there are two works that have at their heart an homage to a composer’s good friend.First, the two soloists play Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, which Johannes Brahms dedicated to his estranged friend, Joseph Joachim. The two had a breach in their relationship after Brahms took the side of Joachim’s wife, opera singer Amalie Marie Joachim, in their divorce. Writing the double concerto was a gesture of reconciliation. Joachim did perform the work, along with cellist Robert Hausmann, for whom it was also written.Ainomäe takes the first solo, performing a stern, intense line before being joined by Park in a gentle echo. They dive into virtuosic cadenza playing, then are joined again by the lively orchestra.The piece works much like a clo...

Transgender inmate to move to Minnesota women’s prison after settling lawsuit against DOC

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:00 GMT

Christina Lusk, a transgender woman who last year sued the Minnesota Department of Corrections over her treatment in a men’s prison, has reached a settlement that includes a move to the women’s prison in Shakopee and access to gender-affirming health care.Lusk, a 57-year-old serving a sentence for drug possession, had been fighting for those rights since she was incarcerated in 2019. She filed the lawsuit against the DOC in Ramsey County District Court in June 2022.Christina Lusk (Courtesy of Gender Justice)As part of the settlement finalized this week, Lusk will receive a $495,000 payout, which includes about $250,000 in legal fees and costs.Lusk was represented by Jess Braverman and Christy Hall of Gender Justice in St. Paul and Sharon Roberg-Perez and Rebecca Bact of the Robins Kaplan law firm in Minneapolis.“Thanks to Christina Lusk’s willingness to speak out, transgender people in custody will now have expanded access to the housing and health care they need, and th...

Billy’s on Grand liquor license hearing draws dozens of residents

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:00 GMT

A crowded meeting room on the third floor of St. Paul City Hall served as the backdrop for a liquor license hearing on Wednesday involving a bar that has operated on Grand Avenue for decades and came under new management during the pandemic.Wesley Spearman, proprietor of Billy’s on Grand, acknowledged to city staff that there had been “hiccups” since his group reopened the bar and restaurant in 2021. The bar, a frequent source of police calls, was fined $500 by the city about two years ago and then $1,000 in May 2022, leading the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections to seek an upward departure — a full license revocation — after a third alleged license violation.Spearman said those violations are technically attached to the old liquor licenses held by previous proprietor Randall Johnson, which his management group was utilizing under a lease. The DWD Group applied to the city for liquor licenses of its own, with the goal of starting fresh w...

U.S. Route 20 renamed in New York

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:00 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -U.S. Route 20 reaches from Massachusetts to Oregon, covering 3,365 miles. In 2017, a foundation out of Bend, Oregon led the drive to rename Route 20 to the Medal of Honor Highway. Montgomery County updates police dispatch center Governor Hochul signed a bill renaming New York’s portion of the highway in July of 2022. “This bill is a testament to New York State’s commitment to honoring the sacrifices made by our veterans and ensuring that their legacy lives on," said Senator of the 23rd District, Jessica Scarcella-Spanton. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! According to the Medal of Honor Society, 676 New York veterans have been given the honor. Strict guidelines are put in place to make sure members of the armed forces who truly deserve a medal earn one. “That distinguishes themselves by gallantry and intrepidly at the risk of their own life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in action aga...

Twin sisters named co-valedictorians at Madison High School

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:00 GMT

MADISON, Ill. – It’s double success for twin sisters in the Metro East. Ariana and Briana Straughter graduated from Madison High School, earning top honors for the class of 2023. It’s the first time in the district’s history with twin co-valedictorians.The twins spent four years motivating each other, and sharing this honor has always been their dream.“We have encouraged each other continuously, we have studied together, made sure our projects were good together, and we have always received feedback from our teachers,” said Ariana, who is the older sister by one minute.Briana and Ariana used their commencement address to deliver a message of hope to their fellow graduates.“To never give up and strive for greatness,” Briana said. ‘Drought alert’ declared in Missouri, some relief possibly on way for St. Louis Briana and Ariana’s teachers and grandfather said all of their hard work paid off.“They were normal, but everybody is normal until given the opportunity to be something differe...

Orange air quality alert days pose risk to those with lung conditions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:00 GMT

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – Thursday’s bad air quality is due to high ozone content in the ground air, as well as a lot of pollutants and allergens in the air. Orange air quality alert days are unhealthy for people with lung conditions.“Mostly, the patients are preexisting patients that already have lung problems, are just feeling a lot more symptoms. A lot more coughing, a lot more wheezing, a lot more breathlessness,” said Dr. Shiraz Daud, a pulmonologist at Missouri Baptist Medical Center. “So, we’re getting lots of calls about that.”Daud says if the air quality if affecting you, stay indoors and use an air filter. If you have to be outside, there are things to consider.“Sometimes a mask can be helpful. Try to stay away from things that are really bad for the lungs, such as exhaust from cars, cigarette smoke, very polluted areas, grass, weeds, mold,” he said. “Those things just make it worse in this bad time.”Persistent exposure to bad air over time can pose serious health concerns.“...