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'Trickle of closures': More children, less child care in Central Texas as relief funds end

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — In December 2019, after years of being a teacher and school counselor, Maria Dominguez decided to open Cielito Lindo, a home-based Spanish immersion child care center in north Austin. "I decided it was time for me to follow my dream," Dominguez said. "I had invested all my savings in opening my home-based care." Picture of Maria's Dominguez' home where she was a licensed home-based childcare provider (KXAN Photo/Arezow Doost)Picture of Maria Dominguez' home where she was a licensed home-based childcare provider (KXAN Photo/Arezow Doost)Picture of mural at Maria Dominguez' home where she was a licensed home-based childcare provider (KXAN Photo/Arezow Doost)Just months after Cielito Lindo opened, the COVID-19 pandemic started and Dominquez said she was in a state of unknown until she was able to get assistance through the child care federal relief fund. Dominguez told KXAN the relief fund not only helped her pay rent, bills, and teacher salaries, but it also allowed he...

Other voices: Biden shows presidential courage in Israel

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

Whether the matter is of formidable geopolitical import or merely a kid’s choir concert, showing up is one of the best ways to convey support.So the mere physical presence of President Joe Biden in Israel Wednesday conveyed far more than most statements or speeches. Moreover, it came with such a level of political risk that we don’t doubt for a moment that some White House advisers urged him to stay home.Those who are paid to worry about risk no doubt saw myriad red lights flashing. A full-throated defense of Israel and its right to defend itself hardly is the incontrovertible creed of the Democratic Party, especially given the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.Those who put together presidential visits like to control the circumstances to show off their principal at his best. But when an explosion rocked a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday night, the intended balance of Biden’s trip was thrown off.Biden had been scheduled to travel to Amman, Jordan, to mee...

Wentzville man involved in shooting, died

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

WENTZVILLE -- A person involved in a fight that escalated into a shooting incident has died According to the Wentzville Police Department, the victim was in an argument with another individual that led to the shooting. The incident occurred on Friday night on Evergreen Court. Law enforcement reports indicate that the victim sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Officers administered life-saving measures until medical personnel arrived on the scene, but the victim later died in the hospital. Detectives took the suspect into custody on the same night. They are actively working on charges and planning to submit them to the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. If you witnessed this altercation or possess any information relevant to the ongoing investigation, you can contact the Wentzville Police Department at the following number: 636-327-5105.

Fatal shooting in south St. Louis of 40-year-old woman

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- A woman in South St. Louis has died due to a shooting incident. According to St. Louis Police officers, the shooting occurred on Lindenwood Ave., close to Kings Highway.As of now, the police have not disclosed the victim's identity or identified any suspects involved in this incident. However, if you have any information and wish to maintain your anonymity, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-866-637-8477 to provide your tips.

Nearly 40 years later, one of Colorado’s longest-running Superfund sites still has no radioactive waste cleanup plan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

CAŇON CITY — Jeri Fry was 6 years old when she toured the uranium mill outside town where her dad worked.It’s the smell she remembers best, more than 60 years later: a deep sulfur odor that permeated the mill and sometimes wafted downwind to the neighborhood where she grew up, two miles away.“I remember my dad saying to not play in the water when we watered the lawn,” Fry said.Her father, the mill’s lead chemist, was a whistleblower who alerted authorities to the health consequences of processing the radioactive element. Now 68, Fry has been deeply enmeshed in the decades-long effort in Cañon City to clean up the mill site and the surrounding areas it contaminated. She cofounded a local group, Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste, to educate people, while she and other community members have spent thousands of hours reading planning documents and attending meetings.But nearly 40 years after federal regulators designated the mill and surrounding areas a...

Future of Colorado Air National Guard unit at Buckley is at risk as F-16s near retirement, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

The year 2028 looms large for the Colorado Air National Guard at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora.The guard’s F-16s — fighter jets referred to as Fighting Falcons — are getting old, with most expected to start running out of useful life in about five years. Many of them were built in the late 1980s, and while updates potentially could extend their use for another three to four years, the planes’ retirement is on the horizon.Local and federal elected leaders worry the planes’ twilight years could bring the eventual end of the flying mission for the Air National Guard’s 140th Wing — and, potentially, the closure of its active runway at Buckley. Three of Colorado’s members of Congress joined with Aurora city officials and local defense leaders recently in calling for the Pentagon to budget money to replace the aging fighter jets with new planes.U.S. Rep. Jason Crow and Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper warned that not doing so ...

Proposition HH debate features property taxes, TABOR refunds and dueling predictions of the future

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

Backers of Proposition HH are keeping their message simple in ads, portraying it as the best chance Colorado has to reduce the size of historic property tax hikes that are due to hit next year because of mounting surges in property valuations across the state.But the measure is anything but simple. The complex ballot question also would tinker with state tax refunds, attempt to make local governments whole for lost property tax revenue and significantly boost education funding, which long has been shortchanged by lawmakers.The many tentacles of the most prominent and wide-impact measure on the Nov. 7 ballot give opponents plenty to attack. If voters approve Proposition HH, they argue, property taxes still will go up next year — though not by as much as they would’ve otherwise — but now the state will hold back more from refund checks mandated by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. It amounts to an unnecessary grab at taxpayers’ wallets, they say.The party in...

Prep football roundup: Wilcox beats SHP, Berkeley edges Hayward in OT

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

No. 10 Wilcox 28, No. 24 Sacred Heart Prep 21Tyson Bonilla scored on a 38-yard run late in the fourth quarter to break a tie and send visiting Wilcox to a victory over Sacred Heart Prep on Saturday in Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division play.The outcome sets up a league championship game on Friday night when Wilcox plays host to Los Gatos.They are the only Bay teams without a league loss.Wilcox had to play catch-up to turn back Sacred Heart Prep, which led 7-0 in the first quarter, 14-7 in the second and 21-14 in the third.Bonilla’s 8-yard pass to Maulidi Saleh evened the score 21-21 with four minutes left in the third period.Jamontay Amataga’s 14-yard run and Saleh’s 3-yard run accounted for Wilcox’s other touchdowns.Saleh also intercepted a pass and Romeo Castillo had a dominant game on Wilcox’s defensive line.SHP scored on Jack Stevens’ 6-yard run and Jack Scully’s 21- and 29-yard passes to Charlie Stuart.Wilcox improved to 6-2, 4-0.SH...

Previewing the West: Which contenders give Warriors biggest problems?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

The Warriors made swift changes to their roster and to their mentality after a disappointing ending last season. Jordan Poole, out. Chris Paul, in. Teenage rookies replaced by rookies with more college seasoning. Steph Curry and coach Steve Kerr  brewing up the team chemistry that was lacking last year.The championship window remains open, but hardly as wide as it once was and not for much longer. Curry is 35. Klay Thompson and Draymond Green will turn 34 in the spring. Paul is 38.The Western Conference has at least 12 teams with legit playoff expectations. Which of those are the biggest obstacles to a fifth championship in the Curry-Klay-Dray dynasty?Let’s break it down.Sure-fire contendersDenver Nuggets (53-29)Nikola Jokic and the reigning NBA champions will have some championship fatigue but are still the betting favorites to win the West. The Nuggets were the No. 1 seed last season led by the scoring and passing of Jokic, the evolution of Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr...

A migrant family’s odyssey: 7,100 miles from Venezuela seeking new life in San Jose

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

They walked and hitchhiked, rode buses and boats and sneaked onto a freight train. They passed through nine countries in nine months — a perilous, exhausting journey that began in January when they fled their home in Venezuela and spanned more than 7,100 miles before reaching San Jose last month, a city where they knew no one but were told they might find help.They slept on cardboard mats on streets or in tents at transit stations and worked odd jobs for quick cash. They fended off robbers who stopped their Mexican train with rocks and bottles and slogged through a Colombian jungle passing bodies of fallen migrants who’d perished along the way.As if the odyssey weren’t grueling enough for Keila and her husband, Keiner, both 31, the couple made the unthinkable journey to the United States with their three young daughters — Sophia, 10, Thailyn, 6, and Sinay, 5. On Sept. 30, when they and seven others arrived to everyone’s surprise in San Jose, the government off...