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State employee union rallies for raises, cost-of-living adjustments

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:47 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Members of the Texas State Employees Union (TSEU), Texas AFL-CIO chapter and Texas Communication Workers of America (CWA), as well as retirees and supporters, held a Lobbying Day at the Texas State Capitol on Wednesday.The TSEU is asking lawmakers for:a $10,000 per year raise for all state employees and university workers;a pension increase for retired state employees; and,more funding and staff for state services and universities. The day began with a march; union members and supporters gathered at Woolridge Square before walking to the capitol. RELATED: UT social work students to protest unpaid field placements At the capitol's south steps, TSEU leadership and representatives from other allied unions spoke at a rally.TSEU President Judy Lugo said high worker turnover and an increased cost of living have made state workers' already hard jobs "near being impossible.""We are here today, along with many allies, to bring the simple message to our elected leaders: Pay...

'A ripple effect': Make A Wish eyes $150K fundraising goal to support Central Texas kids

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:47 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Sixteen years ago, a Disney cruise commercial inspired then-four-year-old Sam Benesch to request a Make-A-Wish trip to Florida to meet all his favorite Disney characters. Now, years later, Benesch is a Make-A-Wish program intern working to help other Central Texas children's dreams come true.For nearly 40 years, Make A Wish Central & South Texas has helped grant more than 5,500 wishes to children diagnosed with cancer, diseases and other health complications. Now, the organization is rallying the public to support World Wish Day on April 29, with a monthlong goal of raising $150,000 to help grant 20 wishes for area children. RELATED: Austin FC grants 7 year old’s Make-A-Wish, signs him as honorary player For recipients, their families and their healthcare teams, each have said receiving a wish has helped renew hope and excitement in kids as they battle life-threatening conditions, giving them something to look forward to and greater motivation to stick with the...

Dripping Springs dances into 6A boys soccer semifinals after up-and-down season

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:47 GMT

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas (KXAN) — Coming off a Class 5A state title game appearance a year ago, the Dripping Springs Tigers boys soccer team barely made the playoffs in its first year in Class 6A this season. Needing to win their last two games in district play to edge Westlake for the fourth and final playoff spot, the Tigers (14-11-2) did that and then won their next five postseason games to advance to the 6A semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday. They'll take on Allen at Birkelbach Field in Georgetown.MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newslettersFor a team that had an overall losing record before the massive late-season tear, Tigers head coach Josh Hill likened his team's attitude to the classic line from the 1985 cult classic film, "The Goonies.""Never say die," Hill said about his team. "There were so many opportunities for us to pack it in and say this wasn't our season, but every ti...

New streaming app to ‘Max’ programming from HBO, Discovery

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:47 GMT

Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled a streaming service Wednesday combining iconic HBO programming such as “The Sopranos” with a mix of unscripted TV series in a push to reap more subscribers from what so far has been a muddled media merger.The $16-per-month service, called Max, will be released May 23 in the U.S. and automatically replace the company’s existing HBO Max service in what is being promised as a seamless transition. Max will gradually become available in the rest of the world, with Latin America next up on the slate.The existing Discovery Plus app featuring reality and unscripted series such as “Fixer Upper” and “Naked and Afraid” from a collection of TV networks will continue to be offered. That’s even as all that programming is made available within the new Max app, which will be marketed with the tagline “The One To Watch.”The transition comes a year after the completion of a roughly $43 billion deal that spun off the AT&T’s WarnerMedia Division that includes HBO, CN...

St. Paul shoplifter sentenced for shooting liquor store worker over 6-pack of beer

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:47 GMT

A Minneapolis man was sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison Wednesday for shooting a liquor store employee over a six-pack of beer last year in St. Paul.Jalen William Dyson, 29, was charged with attempted murder in connection with the daytime shooting at Park Liquors on Snelling and Hague avenues. A February plea agreement called for a 130½-month prison term, which was handed down by Ramsey County District Judge Jacob Kraus.Jalen William Dyson (Courtesy of the Ramsey County sheriff’s Office)According to the criminal complaint, liquor store workers reported that a man wearing a full face mask left without paying for a six-pack of beer at 3:45 p.m. on Jan. 23.A worker who followed the shoplifter out of the store told him, “I’ll take that stuff back that you took,” when the man, who was later identified as Dyson, turned and shot him twice from five to seven feet away. The worker was wounded in the abdomen, in tremendous pain when police arrived and had surgery to repair damage t...

A St. Paul Park refinery spilled 20K gallons of asphalt. Could legislation avert such incidents?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:47 GMT

Nearly 500 barrels of liquid asphalt spilled at Marathon Petroleum’s St. Paul Park refinery at the end of March and left two contractors injured.The incident happened on the afternoon of March 20 during maintenance repairs when approximately 20,000 gallons of hot asphalt leaked from a tank, according to a report received by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.Two men at the refinery were taken to the hospital for asphalt burns, according to officials at the Washington County sheriff’s office. At the time alarms at the refinery went off, said Sandi Dingle, mayor of St. Paul Park, in an email, but there was no evacuation of the public.The asphalt was contained and did not leak into the surrounding environment, according to a statement by the MPCA. Once it hardened, the material was disposed of and no further action was required, the agency said.A statement from Marathon said the two injured — who were contractors — were taken to the hospital and released the same day.Ma...

Seth Masket: Americans say they’re sick of the major parties, but they don’t vote that way

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:47 GMT

It’s the year before a presidential election, which means it’s once again time for a group to call for a unity ticket of a Democratic and a Republican for president and vice president or for an independent candidate to avoid the dysfunction of the parties entirely.This happens just about every four years. There are lessons to learn from past seasons, especially in these extremely polarized times.The current effort by the “No Labels” group to get a presidential ballot line in all 50 states for 2024 is being treated as something of a novelty, but we’ve seen something like this in most modern presidential elections. Just four years ago Unite America was proposing a bipartisan unity ticket for 2020, pushing the major parties to commit to having a vice presidential candidate of a party different from their own. (They even floated the idea of a John Kasich/John Hickenlooper ticket.)In 2012, there was Americans Elect, which wanted to use a “nonpartisan, ...

Other voices: The U.S. again reels from classified leaks. This time, Ukraine’s at stake

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:47 GMT

The gaping holes that Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden poked into what America assumed were secure, firewalled troves of classified data taught Washington a sobering lesson about the importance of keeping secrets leakproof.It seems Washington needs a refresher course.The Pentagon is scrambling to find the source responsible for a tranche of leaked documents, the release of which reveals timely information that could severely compromise Ukraine’s bid to defeat Russian forces. The task of tracking down the culprit or culprits is now in the hands of the Justice Department.In the short term, there’s a good deal at stake. The leaked data includes maps revealing the potential location of Ukrainian air defenses as Kyiv braces for what is expected to be a bloody, challenging escalation in fighting this spring in the country’s eastern Donbas region.The leaked data also exposes the level of concern felt by both Kyiv and Washington over Ukraine’s dwindling stockpile o...

Ashish Thakrar: Why are we denying people with opioid addiction the most effective treatment?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:47 GMT

When you receive a scary diagnosis — for cancer, heart disease or other serious illness — one of your first calls is probably to a doctor who can offer the full range of evidence-based care. But if your diagnosis were for opioid addiction and you came to see me, an addiction specialist, federal regulations written half a century ago would bar me from prescribing the most effective treatment: methadone.The U.S. lost more than 100,000 people to overdoses in 2021 in a crisis now dominated by fentanyl and other synthetic drugs. That’s more than twice the number of deaths at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in 1995. When officially tallied, overdose deaths in 2022 will also exceed 2020 levels.Last month, the FDA made naloxone — the safe and effective drug that can reverse an overdose as it’s happening, of which Narcan is the best-known brand — available over the counter. If manufacturers set an affordable price, expanded access to naloxone could sav...

Resident: Cars ticketed, towed with 30 minute warning

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:47 GMT

TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Bettina Giallanza, 33, of Lansingburgh, recently moved to the Capital Region from Florida. She said she was in for a rude welcome when she was ticketed by the city—and her neighbors towed—with almost no warning. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Giallanza lives near Jimmy's Pizza and Hot dog Charlie's, a couple streets east of the bridge to Van Schaick Island. Her Ring security camera footage, taken at around 8:10 a.m. and 8:46 a.m., paints a mysterious picture. Check out the earlier video: Several cars towed in Albany after no parking sign altered At 8:09 a.m. there is no sign, but at 8:46 a.m.—with towing and ticketing already underway—a sign is there. Take a look: The white vehicle in the footage was reportedly towed; Giallanza's was not. Though she was ticketed for $50, she was able to move her car in time. She has contested the ticket ...