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City of Austin spends roughly $500K a year cleaning up graffiti

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:44 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The City of Austin spent around $500,000 cleaning up graffiti in both fiscal year 2021 and 2022, data collected by KXAN shows. There are three major departments involved in the work, according to the city, though they may not be exhaustive. Of those departments -- Building Services, Transportation and Parks and Recreation -- PARD spends the most by far. The Austin PARD said in Fiscal Year 2022, its four full time employees and one supervisor scrubbed off more than 33,000 square feet of graffiti. Data the department provided shows it cost them $488,166, though data the city provided through a public information request was lower. That doesn't include the money it spent on contractors who helped with the work. They expect to clear out more graffiti than that in Fiscal Year 2023, where they have or expect to remove 126,839 square feet of graffiti. It would be like scrubbing the White House, which is 55,000 square feet, more than twice. PARD also said most the work they...

Big Ten hockey: Spartans aim to show Minnesota a different team on Saturday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:44 GMT

It would be understandable if Minnesota Gophers fans got a little excited when they saw Michigan State would be their team’s opponent for the conference semifinal game on Saturday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.After falling in their playoff opener at Notre Dame, the Spartans won their first two Big Ten playoff games, ever, on Saturday and Sunday, advancing to a date with the Gophers —with the winner of that one advancing to the conference title game.The Gophers had their way with Michigan State in the regular season, winning all four of their meetings by a combined score of 25-6, including two of Justen Close’s shutouts. And at 8 p.m. Saturday night, none of that will matter at all to the Gophers’ coach.“New slate. Doesn’t matter. I wish I could tell you that it does, but it doesn’t matter,” Bob Motzko said in his weekly meeting with the media.Even after coming off the high of that first playoff win, first-year Spartans coach Adam Nightingale knows what they will be up against in Mi...

NY Giant visits North Colonie to celebrate school breakfast

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:44 GMT

LATHAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- North Colonie Central Schools had a special visit from New York Giants running back Matt Breida for National School Breakfast Week. The week-long awareness event encourages schools to adopt new breakfast serving models to feed more children and combat food insecurity.Breida said school breakfast programs helped him make it to where he is today. Get all of the latest news, weather, sports, and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! "I think that what you guys are doing is awesome because I feel like breakfast is a very important meal of the day, and that helped me stay in school," he said. "Because when I started to eat in school, I wanted to be at school more. Instead of skipping school with my friends, I wanted to go to school and learn."According to the Food Research and Action Center, school breakfast is linked to improved test scores and academic achievement and has also been known to reduce tardiness and discipline issues.

BOCES celebrates women in trades

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:44 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Capital Region BOCES hosted a luncheon on Thursday to recruit the next generation of women in trade work. Technical, construction, and automotive careers have historically been male dominated, but the luncheon offered support to female students looking to break in.At the event, students interested in joining a trade were able to speak with graduates of the BOCES program who have found success in their field. Get all of the latest news, weather, sports, and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! "The program has helped me a lot because I have worked in a shop for a while, but it's given me the actual skills that are needed," BOCES student Riley Trudell said."It helped me broaden my horizons," DWM Project Coordinator Reagan Smith said. "I was nervous at first because I felt like I was gonna be outnumbered between men and women, and I was, like, you have to go in and own it."The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects skilled trade employment to grow by...

PHOTOS: 2023 Colorado high school basketball state tournament semifinals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:44 GMT

The 2023 Colorado high school basketball state tournament final four games for Classes 4A-6A take place March 9-10 at Denver Coliseum.Related ArticlesPreps | Dominant closing run lifts Holy Family girls into Class 4A state title game Preps | Colorado state basketball tournaments 2023 Final Four results and coverage, March 9 Preps | CHSAA state basketball Final 4 scouting report: Favorites, challengers, dark horses and underdogs Preps | Grandview’s Sienna Betts named Gatorade Colorado girls basketball player of the year Preps | Battle-tested Arapahoe eyes first state title in Class 6A girls Final 4: “We’re not done yet” Essynce Contreraz (13) of the Holy Family Tigers is introduced against the Lutheran Lions during the first half of the teams’ Colorado state high school basketball Final 4 showdown at the Denver Coliseum on Thursday, March 9, 2023. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denv...

Butler, No. 20 SDSU survive Colorado State 64-61 in MW Tournament

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:44 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Lamont Butler scored 16 points and No. 20 San Diego State held on to beat Colorado State 64-61 in the Mountain West Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.The top-seeded Aztecs (25-6) never led by more than five points in the second half, and Isaiah Stevens’ 3-pointer gave the eighth-seeded Rams (15-18) a 59-58 lead with 1:42 left. Jordan LeDee and Matt Bradley each hit two free throws to give San Diego State a 62-59 lead with 16 seconds remaining.“We knew this would be a hard game,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said. “I told the guys whether we made them efficiently or not, we made the plays when the game was on the line. Whether it was the play, or the play after the play, I thought we made enough important ones.”Stevens made a layup to pull Colorado State back within 62-61, but Nathan Mensah sealed the game with a free throw and a block at the basket to send the Aztecs into the semifinals, where they will play fifth-seeded San Jose State on Friday.San Diego ...

Suspected DUI driver in custody after hours-long standoff in Compton

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:44 GMT

A suspected DUI driver who led authorities on a chase before a four-hour-long standoff was finally taken into custody late Thursday afternoon in Compton.The pursuit began as an attempted traffic stop shortly before noon in the area of Lime Street and Rosecrans Avenue where the authorities say the driver of the white pickup truck failed to yield.The driver eventually ended up in a dead end on Poplar Street next to a wash with deputies behind him and nowhere to go.Authorities surround a pursuit suspect in Compton on March 9, 2023. (KTLA) Alleged DUI suspect in custody after hours-long standoff in Compton on March 9, 2023. (KTLA)Deputies deployed tear gas, forcing the suspect to jump out of his truck. He was immediately taken into custody. March 9, 2023 (KTLA)A driver suspected of DUI who led authorities on a chase was arrested after a four-hour standoff in Compton. March 9, 2023 (KTLA)Aerial video from Sky5 showed deputies make several attempts to get the driver out of the pickup. At ...

Here’s what Biden’s budget would do – if it had a chance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:44 GMT

By Chris Megerian | Associated PressWASHINGTON — With Republicans in control of the House, there’s no chance that President Joe Biden’s new budget plan will become law as it stands. Instead, the financial blueprint that he announced Thursday in Philadelphia will serve as a political talking point for a president preparing to run for reelection.“I just laid out the bulk of my budget,” Biden said during a stop at a union training center. “Republicans in Congress should do the same thing. Then we can sit down and see where we disagree.”Many of the key proposals are designed to draw sharp contrasts with Republicans.Some of the highlights of Biden’s plan:BIDEN EMPHASIZES FISCAL RESPONSIBILITYBiden’s budget covers the next 10 years. Overall, he expects an additional $4.7 trillion in tax revenues and $800 billion in savings from making changes to government programs. Biden also wants $2.6 trillion in new spending. That leaves him with an esti...

Walgreens pushes back on California contract cancellation over abortion pill plans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:44 GMT

Walgreens said Thursday that California Gov. Gavin Newsom is unfairly targeting the pharmacy over plans for dispensing abortion pills in other states that it says are no different than those of its competitors.Newsom this week said California “won’t be doing business with Walgreens — or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk” after the pharmacy indicated last week it would not dispense abortion pills 21 states where attorneys general warned they would consider it illegal.Newsom’s office Wednesday announced the state won’t renew a contract for “specialty pharmacy prescription drugs” mostly used by the state’s correctional health care system that has paid Walgreens $54 million as part of an ongoing “review of all contracts between the state and Walgreens.” Newsom said California will “will explore other options for furnishing the same services.”Walgreens said in a stat...

Cal fires Mark Fox: Five candidates to revive a program adrift in changing college sports landscape

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:44 GMT

Cal dismissed coach Mark Fox on Thursday in a move surprising only in that it required 19 hours from the conclusion of the worst season in school history to the announcement of Fox’s termination.The writing has been on this wall since the invention of writing.Fox was a questionable hire from the start, as athletic director Jim Knowlton spent just three days looking for a replacement for Wyking Jones in the spring of 2019 and allowed an East Coast-based search firm, Collegiate Sports Associates, to guide the process despite its questionable track record for West Coast hires.The first red flag: Fox was unemployed at the time, having been fired by Georgia a year earlier.The second red flag: Fox had no ties to Cal.Every Bears fan in captivity — at least, those who haven’t been driven away by six dreadful years under Jones and Fox — should hope Knowlton doesn’t retain CSA this time around.Then again, Pete Newell at the peak of his powers would only get the Bears to medi...