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Austin, Cedar Park fire departments knock out structure fire involving solar panels

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:27 GMT

CEDAR PARK, Texas (KXAN) — The Austin Fire Department and the Cedar Park Fire Department are responding to reports of a structure fire in the 10200 block of Fossmoor Street, AFD said in a social media post Monday.Per AFD, initial reports said there were flames visible under solar panels on the roof. Residents are asked to avoid the area as crews respond to the scene.In a follow-up social media post, AFD said the fire had been knocked down around noon Monday. Some personnel remained on scene to check for any possible hot spots.

Wild’s salary cap space is tight, but there will be room next season

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:27 GMT

The Wild have officially entered the dead zone this season, a two-year stretch during which the team carries $14.7 million in dead salary cap space, the result of buying out the contracts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.The Wild will start the regular season this week about $818,000 under the $83.5 million salary cap and it’s been a major topic of conversation during training camp because it made it nearly impossible to promote a forward to the NHL roster out of training camp.Instead, the Wild head into Thursday’s regular-season opener against Florida at Xcel Energy Center with two open roster spots, despite losing top-four defenseman Jared Spurgeon to an injury that could cost him weeks.Releasing Parise and Suter with four years left on their identical 13-year, $98 million contracts in July 2021 already has helped the Wild, freeing enough salary burden to sign center Joel Eriksson Ek to an eight-year, $42 million contract extension, for instance. It also will cost the Wild another $1...

Man serving life sentence for toddler’s murder in Maplewood suspected in Lino Lakes prison homicide

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:27 GMT

A 43-year-old man serving a life sentence for the murder of his girlfriend’s toddler in Maplewood is the suspect in the death of a fellow inmate of the Lino Lake prison, the Minnesota Department of Corrections said Monday.Steven Paul Patchen, 63, was found unresponsive in his cell at 10:30 a.m. Thursday and pronounced dead about an hour later. Patchen was serving a 19½ year sentence after being convicted of three counts of criminal sexual conduct in Anoka County in 2018.The Department of Corrections identified Kyle John Kelbel as the suspect Monday. Kelbel was convicted of first-degree murder in 2001 in the death of 2-year-old Kailyn Montgomery, his girlfriend’s daughter. The toddler died of multiple abdominal injuries. An autopsy also showed numerous bruises and scrapes on Kailyn’s scalp, face, torso, arms and legs.Kelbel has been transferred to the Oak Park Heights prison, the DOC’s highest security facility.Patchen was in prison after he was charged in 2017 with...

New Gophers women’s basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit wants ‘hard-hat mentality’ from her team

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:27 GMT

New Gophers women’s basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit saw a sign backstage at Big Ten Media Days at Target Center on Monday. She related it to her team.The sign said: hardhats available upon request. “I think’s what our team is at this point,” Plitzuweit said from the podium.Later, Plitzuweit added, “It’s who we are. That will be our identity throughout the course of not just this season, but through the course of our program. We talk about the first pillar is toughness. That is a hard-hat mentality.”Plitzuweit has begun reshaping a team that finished 11-19 overall and 4-14 in the Big Ten last season. Of the team’s 14 total players, 10 are freshmen or sophomores, including star guard Mara Braun, who was named preseason all-Big Ten by the conference’s coaches last week.Braun, Mallory Heyer and Amaya Battle shared what they view as the non-negotiable aspects of how Plitzuweit wants her team to play this season.“Playing hard; that is the main thing for her,” Heyer said. “If you ar...

Capital Region Jews react to attack on Israel

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:27 GMT

CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Some Capital Region community members are voicing concern over the Hamas attack on Israel on the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Yom Kippur War. NEWS10 spoke with some local Jews who have family ties to Israel. Asylees arrested in Colonie Rob Kovach, the President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York told NEWS10 that the folks here at home are fearful that their family may be caught up in the danger overseas.“We've had people go back and forth and sadly we have friends from the region who are from here and in the region, we know them well and some may have been kidnapped so certainly a tremendous amount of concern,” said Kovach. “Here in the community, I know of a local woman whose brother is among the missing and presumed kidnapped.”Kovach says that he too has family in the region and is concerned for their safety.  “My son, just actually moved to Israel in August. So, my daughter had moved there four years ago has bee...

Mizzou alumni group produces video to prevent hazing at fraternities

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:27 GMT

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Two years after a horrific hazing incident left a University of Missouri-Columbia freshman blind and unable to talk or walk, 16 fraternities at the university have produced and released a video designed to reduce and prevent future tragedies.The video, called "Arm Yourself to Say No," will be shown to incoming pledges, fraternity members, officers, and other student groups during the fall semester.“Although aspects of the video are emotionally charged, the aim of the production is to effect a change in behavior among the groups to which it is targeted," said Bob Selsor, president of the Mizzou Greek Alliance. The 26-minute video shows the dangers of hazing and the consequences for those who participate in such behavior.The Mizzou Greek Alliance was formed in 2022 by 16 campus fraternities to enrich the experience of Greek student life, foster safe practices within the organizations, advocate campus-wide support for fraternities by modernizing their culture and p...

Editorial: Congress is no longer even limping forward

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:27 GMT

The United States Congress – a powerful legislative body tasked with keeping our country running — has been limping along for almost exactly a decade, held back by an extremist wing of the Republican Party quashing any hope of bipartisan moderation.That fringe element – metamorphosed from the Tea Party to the Freedom Caucus — won the day last week with its successful ouster of Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy who is now just a regular representative. Never before has a speaker lost his or her position through what is effectively a vote of no confidence. It’s tempting to look at McCarthy’s fall and applaud the shaking up of a power structure that is failing the American people.But make no mistake – the architect behind this chaos is not interested in actually governing or reducing the deficit or fixing immigration or developing a sound international policy to keep our enemy Russia in check.Rep. Matt Gaetz may be saying in public that he is driven by the laudable desire...

Denver’s leaders want to give you money to host a special event downtown

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:27 GMT

Denver leaders hope to take a small bite out of the big foot traffic problem the downtown area is still facing with a $350,000 grant program announced Monday that’s designed to bring more special events to the heart of the city.Unique ideas big and small are welcome.City officials are working with the Downtown Denver Partnership on the grant effort that will offer applicants between $500 and $25,000 if their proposals are approved.The application window will open Monday, Oct. 16.  Applications and more information will be available at thisismydenver.com/grants. Submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis to get as many ideas off the ground as possible before the end of the year, said Kourtny Garrett, the partnership’s CEO.“This could be a performance, a block party, a community mural. Let’s all get creative in the city,” Garrett said.The primary goal is to provide a jolt of energy and activity to the city’s economically vital urban core. Retai...

Former Clear Creek County ski area lists for $7 million

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:27 GMT

For $7 million, you can buy 373 acres, including a former ski area in Clear Creek County, about 45 miles from Denver off Fall River Road near Idaho Springs.The Slopes at St. Mary’s Glacier sits 10,000 feet above sea level south of St. Mary’s Glacier and southwest of St. Mary’s Lake in the Silver Creek valley.Listed for sale by Kristin Michas, Josh Jackson and Les Pfenning with LIV Sotheby’s International Realty, the property abuts the federally owned and protected Arapaho National Forest and James Peak Wilderness. The realtors declined to name the LLC that owns the property.Potential land uses could include a terrain and training park for athletes or an all-season adventure park offering indoor and outdoor facilities for snowboarders, skiers, skateboarders and mountain bikers. It also could become a more conventional ski and snowboard resort.“This area is ripe for the picking for a bold developer,” Jackson said. “It’s a chance to create an outdoor playground with unencumbered access...

Chiefs are keeping a watchful eye on Travis Kelce’s ailing ankle with Broncos up Thursday night

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:50:27 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Travis Kelce has been in the spotlight the past few weeks thanks largely to his new relationship with Taylor Swift.He’ll be in the spotlight this coming week because of his ankle.The All-Pro tight end hurt it during the first half of the Kansas City Chiefs’ win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.Kelce managed to return in the second half and had a couple of big catches down the stretch in the 27-20 victory, but the Chiefs now have a short week to get him healthy before they face the Denver Broncos on Thursday night.“When you have any type of injury you have to go through and say, ‘OK, this is what we think is going to happen based off of Travis,’ or whoever the player is,” Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said Monday.“We listen to where we think things are, we have to put together what we think is going to happen and then have that contingency plan.”The Chiefs (4-1) should have an idea of what that looks like.Kelce had not missed a game to injury sin...