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Cooling centers now open in Austin: How to find a location

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:51:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Cooling centers opened Tuesday in Austin with heat index values expected to range between 103°-113°, according to a City of Austin alert. First Warning Weather: No immediate end to dangerous heat and humidity A heat advisory was in effect from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Central Texas. Tuesday afternoon highs were expected to be near 100°."Due to extreme heat, all Austin Parks and Library facilities will serve as cooling centers during normal operating hours," the city's alert reads.Service animals will be permitted in the facilities.The addresses and hours for Austin Public Library facilities and Austin Parks are listed online.Severe temperatures audit It's the first week the city will see consecutive triple digit days since an audit came out about the city's response to severe hot and cold weather. The audit found the city's special operations plan for heat emergencies hadn't been updated since July 2020. But it also found that city facilities used for cooling cente...

Hutto QB Will Hammond competing in Elite 11 finals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:51:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The search to find the top high school quarterback in the country takes a turn through Hutto.Will Hammond, a senior for the Hippos and Texas Tech recruit, will take part in the Elite 11 finals — a high-level, invite-only quarterback camp held June 14-16 in Los Angeles. Hammond is one of 20 finalists who are competing to be named one of the Elite 11 signal-callers in the Class of 2024.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/newslettersElite 11 alumni include Quinn Ewers, Cade Klubnik, Austin Novosad, Sam Ehlinger, Hudson Card and Bryce Young among others. This year's field features three quarterbacks from the Lone Star State — Aledo's Hauss Hejny and Frisco Emerson's Michael Hawkins Jr. — along with Hammond.Hammond racked up 2,763 passing yards and 30 touchdowns for the Hippos last season, adding 828 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on the ground as the team finished 5-5 ...

State golf: Eastview leads Class 3A boys team competition after Day 1; McCauley, VanArragon battle again for girls title

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:51:00 GMT

The past two Class 3A girls golf state champions are entwined in a two-way duel heading into the final day of the 2023 state tournament.Blaine senior Kathryn VanArragon, the 2022 champion, leads by two strokes after firing a 6-under, 66 on Day 1 at Bunker Hills Golf Club in Coon Rapids. In her immediate vicinity is Simley junior Reese McCauley, the 2021 champion who finished third a year ago. McCauley shot a 4-under round of 68 on Tuesday.Lakeville South junior Jovie Ordal is in third place, five shots off the pace after an opening 71. Maple Grove leads the team competition after Day 1 with a score of 315, outpacing Wayzata by five.Eastview leads the Class 3A boys team competition with a cumulative score of plus-9, one shot better than second-place Edina.Spring Lake Park junior Jake Birdwell leads the individual portion of the boys tournament after firing a 6-under 66 on Tuesday. That leaves him two shots ahead of Cretin-Derham Hall sophomore Joe Honsa, and three up on Eastview seni...

State girls lacrosse quarterfinal: Lakeville South 19, Elk River/Zimmerman 9

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:51:00 GMT

Lakeville South senior Emily Moes controls against an Elk River/Zimmerman defender in the second half of a state girls quarterfinal matchup Tuesday in White Bear Lake. (Frank Rajikowski – Special to the Pioneer Press)Emily Moes and her teammates on the unbeaten Lakeville South girls lacrosse team haven’t been pushed all that often this season.But the defending state champions were for a fair chunk of Tuesday’s 19-9 victory over Elk River/Zimmerman in the state tournament quarterfinals at White Bear Lake High School.And Moes said that’s a positive.“I think this pushes us and adds some fuel to our fire,” said Moes, the 2023 East Metro girls player of the year and the state’s top goal-scorer. “It makes us go out there hungry for more.”More comes Thursday when the Cougars (17-0) meet No. 5 seed Benilde-St. Margaret’s in the semifinals at 5 p.m. at Stillwater High School. The Red Knights beat No. 4 seed Chanhassen 17-6 in another quarterfinal Tuesday in White Bear Lake.No. 3 seed S...

North America’s first known case of a rabid moose confirmed in western Alaska

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:51:00 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska state game officials say the first apparent case of a rabid moose in North America has been confirmed in western Alaska.The moose was acting aggressively and drooling near the community of Teller on June 2.The animal has been killed. Its carcass has been burned to prevent further spread to scavengers.Testing has revealed the moose had the Arctic fox rabies variant. The moose had a wound from a fox bite.The game department plans to test all dead wild mammals from parts of the state where rabies is generally present at a certain level among foxes.Related ArticlesNational News | Starbucks denies claims that it’s banning Pride displays but union organizers are skeptical National News | Playground slides doused with pool acid, injuring 2 children National News | The Great Grift: How billions in COVID-19 relief aid was stolen or wasted National News | Officials say driver lost control of gas-filled tanke...

Southern Baptists Move to Purge Churches With Female Pastors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:51:00 GMT

NEW ORLEANS — The letter in October came as a shock to Linda Barnes Popham, who had been pastor of Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, for 30 years, the first woman to lead her congregation. She had served in ministry even longer, since she started as a pianist at age 16.But now, she read in the letter, officials of the Southern Baptist Convention had received a complaint about her church being led by a woman. The denomination was investigating, it said.She replied at length, listing her qualifications and her church’s interpretation of the Bible that affirmed her eligibility to lead. Church deacons, including men, rallied to her defense.Convention officials decided to expel her church anyway, along with four other congregations that have female pastors, including one of the most prominent in the country, Saddleback Church, based in Southern California.“I never believed this would happen,” Barnes Popham said of the move to expel her church, as ...

Bill in California legislature aims to keep incarcerated parents closer to their children

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:51:00 GMT

A bill that would require incarcerated parents in California to be housed in facilities closest to their children is one step closer to becoming law.Assembly Bill 1226 advanced out of the Senate Public Safety Committee and will now head to the Senate Appropriations Committee, according to the bill's author, Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco).Haney's bill would require the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to make a concerted effort to house California inmates closer to their children or children in their legal care. Haney says the bill will require CDCR to "respect the rights of minor children to remain in contact with their incarcerated parents."Inmates with children who are currently incarcerated would also have the ability to request transfer to the facility closest to their custodial children."In a large state like California, there are thousands of incarcerated parents who are placed more than 500 miles from their children," a spokesperson for Han...

New York man found guilty of kidnapping 68-year-old woman with dementia in West L.A.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:51:00 GMT

A 51-year-old man from Bronx, New York, is facing the possibility of life in prison after he was found guilty on federal criminal charges in connection with the kidnapping of woman with dementia outside of a West Los Angeles medical center, authorities announced Tuesday.  The kidnapping occurred at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center located at 11301 Wilshire Boulevard on the morning of July 19, 2021, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office.  The 68-year-old female victim and a friend were approaching their car outside the VA facility when Johnny Ray Gasca unexpectedly appeared and pushed the victim toward his pickup, which was parked nearby. “Gasca then picked [the victim] up and threw her into the rear portion of the truck’s passenger compartment,” the release stated. The 52-year-old man then fled the scene with the victim.  The victim’s friend, who witnessed the kidnapping, told agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Gasca...

Conflicts between neighbors, group homes persist in California's 'Rehab Riviera'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:51:00 GMT

A grand jury in Orange County is making a series of recommendations to grapple with the growing conflict between group treatment homes and neighbors in what is known as “The Rehab Riviera.”Some of the most common complaints include noise, smoking, traffic, trash, relapses, vomit, and "curbing" - when residents are kicked out of a home for bad behavior or their source of payment runs out.The panel was created in 2022 in response to numerous city council and town hall meetings in which residents complained of an “over-saturation” of group homes with very little oversight, according to the grand jury’s report, which is titled "Welcome to the Neighborhood."“Orange County has some of the heaviest concentrations of group homes and sober living residences in the nation,” the panel said. “The densities are more than the local population can bear and residents believe the influx of the group home residents seriously impacts their neighborhoods.”According to the California Department of Publi...

Cursing John Fisher, Oakland A’s fans hold out hope their team stays put

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:51:00 GMT

OAKLAND – Alternating chants of “sell the team” and “(expletive) John Fisher” — in reference to the Oakland A’s owner — filled the air Tuesday afternoon as over a thousand amped-up fans in green and gold gathered for a pregame tailgate in the Coliseum’s south parking lot hours before their favorite team’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.The event began at 3 p.m. Tuesday, with a few dozen people arriving more than 3½ hours before the first pitch. Tailgate organizers and members of the Oakland 68s fan group gave away hundreds of green T-shirts that read “Sell,” and after an hour, the assembled crowd swelled to several hundred people.The Coliseum parking lot, which is usually mostly empty for weekday home games, also rapidly filled up, providing something of a festive atmosphere for ardent followers of the team.“We do it to keep the A’s in Oakland,” said Oakland 68s member Jorge Leon, one of the organizers of the event. “That’s the whole end goal, to try to put ...