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Texas Senate unveils its priority school voucher-like legislation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:57 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — After passing a separate omnibus bill to boost teacher salaries and public school education funding, a Texas Senate committee unveiled legislation Tuesday that would create a program for private school subsidies.Senate Bill 1 would allocate $500 million toward the creation of an education savings account program, which was the primary education policy request on Gov. Greg Abbott's agenda for this third special session. The funding comes from Texas' general revenue and would be available for eligible pre-K through 12 school-aged children. Families of eligible students would receive $8,000 each year that they are enrolled in the program in an account. In order to qualify, they must have attended public school within the last year or are about to enter pre-K or kindergarten for the first time.Opponents have expressed concern that creating such a program will take away funding from public schools, which are accountable to the legislature. The bill's author, Sen. Brand...

Unprecedented Israeli bombardment lays waste to upscale Rimal, the beating heart of Gaza City

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:57 GMT

By ISSAM ADWAN (Associated Press)GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Collapsed buildings, mangled infrastructure, streets turned into fields of rubble.Scenes of violence and destruction in the long-blockaded Gaza Strip have filled the world’s airwaves throughout four wars and countless rounds of hostilities between Israel and Hamas militants. But this conflict, Palestinians say, is different. On Tuesday, following a night of intense bombardment, residents were struggling to grasp the sheer scale of damage inflicted on Gaza City’s upscale Rimal neighborhood, with its shopping malls, restaurants, residential buildings and offices belonging to aid groups and international media far from the territory’s hard-hit border towns and impoverished refugee camps.Israel has hit Rimal, also home to Hamas government ministries, in the 2021 war, but never like this. Israeli bombs blew out walls and ripped off roofs of upper-class apartment towers. They toppled trees that had line...

Fuller Road Volunteer Fire Department announces open house

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:57 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Fuller Road Volunteer Fire Department is hosting an open house on Thursday, October 12. In recognition of National Fire Prevention Week, firefighters will hold safety demonstrations and show attendees what happens when the fire department receives an alert. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Visitors can take a tour of the station and enjoy some cider and donuts. The event begins at 6 p.m. at 1348 Central Ave.

Music, food, special deals at Stuyvesant Plaza's Autumn Fest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:57 GMT

GUILDERLAND, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Stuyvesant Plaza in Guilderland is hosting Autumn Fest on Saturday, October 14 from noon to 3 p.m. The event features live music, food trucks, children's characters, games, sidewalk shopping, and in-store deals. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Children can meet the Frost Queen and the Little Mermaid in the patio area from noon to 2 p.m. Lennox will perform between Primal – Your Local Butcher and Rad Soap Co. from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Mocktails and bites will also be served by The Bar Without Boundaries.Store specialsBARE Blends: Fresh-pressed cider and mini fall smoothie bowls available, and buy-one-get-one half-off coupons on fall menu itemsBlaze Pizza: Garlic Sausage Pizza specialThe Book House: Grassroots Givers Book SaleDelmar Bootery: Boot and slipper saleFelthousen’s Florist: Buy 2, get 1 free mums and 20% off fall silksFootbeats: 10% off snowsuits, socks, hats and mittensJacob & Anthony’s: $...

Crash leads to gunfire along I-44 near Fenton, one struck

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:57 GMT

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. - Police are investigating a crash on Interstate 44 in St. Louis County that led to a road rage incident involving an apparent exchange of gunfire Tuesday morning. St. Louis County Police say two people reportedly exchanged gunfire in the eastbound lanes of I-44 in St. Louis County near Bowles Avenue. It happened after a crash during the 8 a.m. hour. Police say there was a minor crash between the driver of a pickup truck and another driver. The two drivers continued briefly for a moment before both pulled over along I-44. Local church group traveling through Israel still stuck in the Middle East Authorities tell FOX 2 that a gunfire exchange followed. One man was shot in the hand and ended up in the hospital with a non-life-threatening injury. The driver of one of the cars in the crash then headed toward I-270 and Gravois Avenue, where he reportedly called police about the incident. No one else was struck by gunfire, though the situation led to some traffic...

Renewed calls to find Illinois woman missing nearly one year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:57 GMT

JERSEY COUNTY, Ill. - The Jersey County Sheriff's Office has renewed calls for help in finding an Illinois woman who went missing nearly one year ago. Jersey County authorities are searching for 40-year-old Kaila Vatole. She was last seen Jan. 8, 2023 at a home on Little Piasa Road in Dow, Illinois, a rural community that's roughly an hour north of St. Louis. The sheriff's office says there have been several extensive searches in the area this year, though they have been unable to find Vatole. Authorities are asking farmers and hunters around the Metro East to pay attention for any clothing items or personal belongings. Local church group traveling through Israel still stuck in the Middle East Vatole is described as 5 feet, 3 inches tall and 110 pounds with hazel eyes. She has multiple tattoos, including a prominent tattoo on her neck. The sheriff's office shared the following photos of Vatole with FOX 2: The sheriff's office adds that Vatole has a medical condition. She has also...

Brendan Malone, longtime NBA coach and father of Nuggets coach Michael Malone, dies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:57 GMT

Brendan Malone, a longtime NBA coach and the father of Nuggets head coach Michael Malone, has died, the team announced Tuesday. He was 81.Malone won two NBA championships as an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons in 1989 and 1990, and he was on the Orlando Magic coaching staff that won an Eastern Conference title in 2009. He was instrumental in designing and coaching the “Bad Boy” Pistons’ “Jordan Rules,” widely regarded as one of the most effective defensive strategies against Michael Jordan in his prime.Malone had stints in various roles with the Knicks, Pistons, Raptors, Pacers, SuperSonics, Cavaliers and Magic over the course of a 30-year career coaching in the NBA. He was Toronto’s first head coach in franchise history, helming the Raptors during the 1995-96 season, and he served as Cleveland’s interim head coach in 2004-05. He also was briefly a part of his son’s inaugural Sacramento Kings coaching staff in 2013, though he ul...

Road to Mount Blue Sky summit closed for season from Echo Lake

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:57 GMT

The road leading to the top of the newly renamed Mount Blue Sky has closed for the season.The first nine miles of Mount Evans Road from Echo Lake to Summit Lake closed Tuesday.That portion of the road typically stays open about a month longer than the top portion of the road from Summit Lake to the top of Mount Blue Sky, which closed the day after Labor Day.The road is scheduled to reopen next year on May 27, 2024.Mount Blue Sky was officially renamed from Mount Evans last month, honoring the Cheyenne and Arapaho people.The Arapaho people are known as the “Blue Sky People,” and the Cheyenne people “have an annual ceremony marking the renewal of life called ‘Blue Sky,’” according to the petition submitted by the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes and the Wilderness Society, a nonprofit conservation organization.The road to the top of the mountain closes seasonally and reopens based on weather conditions. This year, a strong El Niño is expected, which could bring above-average snow to southe...

CU Buffs two-way football star Travis Hunter has “serious chance” to play vs. Stanford Friday, coach Deion Sanders says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:57 GMT

BOULDER — Travis Hunter could be back sooner than planned.A week after pumping the brakes on the return of his two-way star, CU Buffs football coach Deion Sanders said Tuesday at his weekly news conference that there’s a “serious chance” Hunter, his cornerback/wide receiver, could play against 1-4 Stanford on Friday night at Folsom Field.“It goes by how he looks, how he performs in practice,” Sanders said of Hunter, who returned to practice recently. “He has to be in shape. I don’t want him to be a liability. I want him to be a tremendous asset.”Hunter, a sophomore transfer from Jackson State, hasn’t played since the first half of the Rocky Mountain Showdown against CSU on Sept. 16. The defensive back left the game after taking a first-half hit from the Rams’ Henry Blackburn, a shot that drew ire for Blackburn and his family through social media. Hunter reportedly suffered a lacerated liver on the play.Sanders said last wee...

Bedbugs are becoming a big headache in Paris ahead of Olympics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:53:57 GMT

Conrad Quilty-Harper and Albertina Torsoli(Bloomberg) — A rash of bedbug sightings across France is causing paranoia among travelers and becoming a sore spot for the government as Paris prepares to host the Olympics next year.Videos that appear to show the bloodsucking insects crawling over seats on the Paris Metro and a high-speed train have gone viral on social media in the last few weeks, and some Metro passengers posted videos on TikTok vowing to stay standing.Public transport operator RATP, which runs Paris’s subway, trams and buses said in an emailed statement it had investigated, but ”no cases of bedbugs have been confirmed to date.”Early in September, cinema chain UGC released a statement saying it was deploying dogs to detect bedbugs after “questions” from customers at its Bercy theater.While it’s unclear whether infestations are up significantly, it has become a political issue in France, which is currently hosting...