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Texas wildfires: 'Home ignition zone' inspections can help prepare

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:51 GMT

CEDAR PARK, Texas (KXAN) -- Wind speeds combined with low moisture, dry trees, and possible dead limbs and vegetation left over from the winter freeze likely created ideal conditions for a Cedar Park wildfire to spread, according to experts."I'm intimately familiar with their operations," said Travis County Chief Fire Marshal Tony Callaway, who was previously a fire marshal in Cedar Park. "They have an excellent fire department that did an unbelievable job in their response yesterday and how they handled the situation that was thrown at them."On Tuesday, Cedar Park released new aerial video of the 50-acre Parmer Lane wildfire. It shows how the fire tore through grass and brush while appearing to stop short and spare dozens of townhomes and apartments. VIDEO: Drone footage shows scope of Cedar Park brush fire damage Callaway credits the emergency response on the ground, the good separation between the buildings and undeveloped land and how they were built. "It's going to be in reg...

Construction zone near Round Rock High School may affect commutes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:51 GMT

Round Rock (KXAN) – With Back-To-School, morning and evening rush hour traffic in Austin is about to ramp back up. KXAN Traffic Anchor, Erica Brennes, has been highlighting construction zones in or near school zones. One of those is the RM 620 Roundabout project in Round Rock, just west of Interstate 35.Round Rock ISD returns to school on Aug. 15, and the RM 620 Roundabout project from I-35 to Deep Wood Drive will likely impact commutes to Round Rock High School and Round Rock Christian Academy.That means it will be busy for Round Rock ISD students, parents and drivers who use RM 620 during their commute.The project is adding an overpass at Chisholm Trail and Lake Creek Drive, a roundabout at 620 and Chisholm Trail beneath the new overpass, widened lanes, new frontage roads and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations.If this is your route, TxDOT recommends planning for added delays through the construction zone."You'll have a school zone and a construction zone going on at the same ti...

UT researcher innovates new device to purify water from creeks, streams

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:51 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – In response to recent natural disasters that have left millions of Texans without water for extended periods, a University of Texas at Austin researcher was motivated to innovate a device that can purify water from streams in creeks in minutes. D. Emma Fan, an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, led a team that developed a mug-sized device that uses a small jolt of electricity to remove bacteria from water. They tested the device using water from Waller Creek in Austin and found that within 20 minutes, 99.997% of E. coli bacteria were cleared from the water sample. “I think we need to improve the resilience of society during these natural disasters because they [are becoming] more frequent because of climate change,” Fan said. “I have developed the technology in the last few years…We are very confident this [device] is working.” Fan said the key to the device's success is what is called a “branched” electrode – something Fa...

St. Paul City Council approves $21 million tax incentive for office-to-residential conversion at Landmark Towers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:51 GMT

Developer Chris Sherman of Sherman Associates said he’s little more than a week away from finalizing a deal to acquire the 26-story Landmark Towers office building off Fourth Street, the first step toward a complete office-to-residential conversion that will create 187 new units of market-rate housing downtown, filling commercial space that’s increasingly becoming vacant.“We need a transformation of our downtowns, and it needs to happen starting now,” said Sherman, calling the alternative more vacancy and more blight. “There’s a long, long list of office users who are at risk of not renewing their leases.”Eager to close on the sale, Sherman on Wednesday appeared before the St. Paul City Council with a $21 million ask — a “tax increment financing” request that generated several concerned remarks from the seven-member council, given the lack of affordable housing in the proposal.Still, they approved the new TIF district following a...

Review: Alanis Morissette jukebox musical ‘Jagged Little Pill’ is full of surprises

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:51 GMT

At first glance, there’s an obvious narrative to build around the music of Alanis Morissette, specifically her 1995 breakthrough single “You Oughta Know,” an explicit and fiery rebuke of a former lover.While the jukebox musical “Jagged Little Pill,” which opened its eight-show run Tuesday at Minneapolis’ Orpheum Theatre, does use that smash to superb effect, the show takes an unexpected approach in transforming Morissette’s songs into Broadway fodder.A former child star, Morissette swiftly rose to worldwide fame with her 1995 album “Jagged Little Pill,” the songs from which form the backbone of the musical. Her unique take on female rage drew in the masses, but in reality, the bulk of her catalog is focused on introspection, healing and love.As a lyricist, Morissette takes a very specific approach to her work and she’s never been afraid to mangle the English language along the way. As such, her songs seem like an odd fit for a song-and-dance adaptation.In a r...

Local leaders want accountability from DocGo   

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:51 GMT

CAPITAL REGION (NEWS10) – Local officials and nonprofits expressed frustrations with DocGo on Tuesday night at a press conference. On Wednesday DocGo responded to some of News10’s questions about the lines of communication and services it’s provided. News10 has reached out to DocGo numerous times in the past, including calls out to its CEO, and it was Tuesday night when we received a response. DocGo’s statement said the press conference was the first time it had been made aware of any issues.The first bus arrived in Colonie, in the middle of the night, over memorial day weekend. Then weeks later more buses arrived in Rotterdam.In the statement released by DocGo, the company said it polled over 500 asylees in its care and 85 percent feel that they are ‘well supported’ in the program. Colonie Town Supervisor Peter Crummey disagreed.“If it’s such a great plan, why do you have to do it at midnight? That only underscores the problem,” said Crummey.When asked how DocGo is utilizing l...

After rollover crash, deputy fire chief reiterates importance of giving emergency vehicles their space

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:51 GMT

BLACK JACK, Mo. – Three firefighters from the Black Jack Fire Protection District are recovering after a rollover crash Tuesday evening on their way to a house fire.The crash happened just before 9 p.m. at the intersection of Old Halls Ferry Road and Country Club Court, about a mile away from Black Jack Fire Protection District Engine House 1.Deputy Fire Chief Paul Peebles said a car pulled out in front of the pumper truck. The driver of the pumper truck swerved in an effort to avoid hitting the car. The truck left the roadway and overturned.“Our main mission is to serve our residents and make sure we keep them safe. It's important that when we have lights and sirens going, people move over to the right,” Peebles said. “We do that for a reason. We’re trying to get there to save people.” Check the radar -- Storms expected Wednesday The firefighters were taken to a local hospital for their injuries, which were not life-threatening.“Very stressful, difficult job. It can be a fire tha...

How Broncos modernized player health, performance departments in Year 1 of Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:51 GMT

The day after he fired coach Nathaniel Hackett, Broncos CEO Greg Penner noted multiple areas he and the club’s new ownership group intended to overhaul.The coaching staff, of course, dominated the conversation that day because a search that eventually led to Sean Payton was about to shift into high gear.Penner, though, also noted he and his wife, Carrie Walton Penner, had been talking with NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills about potential explanations for Denver being among the most injured teams in the league for a multi-year period.As the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group hits its first anniversary of arriving in Denver on Thursday, Payton is the prize addition and the $100-plus million in Empower Field renovations the most expensive project to date. The results of those conversations and months of research on the injury front, however, have led to other key changes in the organization.“We’ve made lots of little investments, but the big structural change was, in the old...

Rockies lose game, series to Brewers on Ezequiel Tovar’s walk-off throwing error in 10th inning

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:51 GMT

After taking an early lead, blowing it, rallying to tie and then taking another lead in the 10th inning, the Rockies lost on a walk-off error Wednesday in Milwaukee.So it goes for Colorado in 2023.Rookie shortstop Ezequiel Tovar’s throwing error plated the winning run in the game and the series for the Brewers, ending the Rockies’ promising visit on a low note in a 7-6 defeat at American Family Field.Colorado wasted a 4-0 advantage and a strong bullpen performance in the process, and left manager Bud Black staring blankly out at the field from the top dugout step following Tovar’s decisive miscue.“We’re not scoring enough runs to really give us any room to breathe,” Black told reporters. “The bullpen is doing a good job of keeping us in games, and our starters are trying to hang in there. We need our starters to give us length, because we’re using our bullpen a lot.”Chris Flexen, making his third start for the patchwork Rockies r...

2 dead in a Russian attack on a Ukrainian city while a blast near Moscow kills 1 and wounds dozens

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:51 GMT

By DASHA LITVINOVA and EMMA BURROWS (Associated Press)TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A Russian rocket attack on Wednesday killed two people and wounded at least seven others in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, which is near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Ukrainian officials said. Although regional governor Yuriy Malashko initially said three people died in the attack on a residential area, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko later said two people died and one other person had been resuscitated.The city lies about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which has been occupied by Russian forces since the early weeks of the war. Shelling in the plant’s surroundings have raised persistent fears of a nuclear accident.In Russia, an explosion on the grounds of a factory that makes optical equipment for Russia’s security forces north of Moscow killed one person, wounded 60 others and left at least eight people unaccounted for, offi...