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Officials investigating suspicious package in east Austin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin Police Department said it was investigating a suspicious package in east Austin.According to police, APD received a call at approximately 2:15 p.m. regarding a suspicious package in the 2300 block of Oracle Way.Austin Police officers responded and evacuated the building as a precaution, according to APD.As of 5 p.m., APD said the scene remained active and was under investigation.This is a developing story. Check back with KXAN for more details.

Travis County congenital syphilis cases are increasing, mirroring national trends

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Austin Public Health said that congenital syphilis cases in Travis County are expected to double in 2022 and 2023 since 2021, mirroring national trends. Congenital syphilis cases in Travis County increased by about 40% from 2018 to 2021. There were eight cases in 2018 and 11 in 2021, according to APH. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report Tuesday revealing that the number of babies born in the U.S. with syphilis in 2022 – over 3,700 – was 10 times higher than the number in 2012. Further, the report said that nearly 90% of those cases could have been prevented.Congenital syphilis occurs when a pregnant woman passes syphilis on to her baby. The disease can lead to miscarriage, premature birth, miscarriage and death, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. “The congenital syphilis crisis in the United States has skyrocketed at a heartbreaking rate,” CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Hour said in a press release. “New a...

Texas committee advances controversial immigration enforcement bill

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — A Texas House committee advanced a controversial border security bill Thursday that would enable state law enforcement officers to enforce immigration law, a power reserved for federal authorities.House Bill 4 would make it a state crime for non-citizens to cross into the United States illegally. It's a power currently reserved for federal law enforcement agents like border patrol, but the legislation would give any state peace officer the ability to arrest someone who enters Texas illegally or order them to return to the country of origin. The legislation's author — Rep. David Spiller, R-Jacksboro — says the legislation is necessary because the federal government is not doing enough to secure the border. "This bill is not about if someone's here illegally," Spiller said. "It's if they crossed into our state from a foreign nation at some illegal place—a place other than a legal port of entry."HB 4 also outlines protections for Texas law enforcement officers from ...

Sex trafficking, drugs and assault: Texas foster kids and caseworkers face chaos in rental houses and hotels

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

AUSTIN (The Texas Tribune) -- Some of Texas’ most victimized and vulnerable foster children are reportedly running away nightly, falling victim to sexual predators, consuming marijuana and threatening caseworkers with gun violence or sexual aggression.Those — and a litany of other disturbing claims — come from foster care watchdogs who say the state is renting four single-family houses in Bell County for children in its care that are chaotic, dirty and dangerous environments that threaten the health and safety of not just the kids, but also the under-trained and under-supported caseworkers who try to supervise them.The bevy of tragic incidents are detailed in a report filed in late October as part of a 12-year lawsuit against the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. It was written by watchdogs appointed by a federal court to monitor Texas’ progress in fixing its troubled foster care system.The report is riddled with troubling incidents, especially in Bell County, whic...

Thomas Friedman: I have never been to this Israel before

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

People warned me before I came to Tel Aviv a few days ago that the Israel of Oct. 7 is an Israel that I’ve never been to before. They were right. It is a place in which Israelis have never lived before, a nation that Israeli generals have never had to protect before, an ally that America has never had to defend before — certainly not with the urgency and resolve that would lead a U.S. president to fly over and buck up the whole nation.After traveling around Israel and the West Bank, I now understand why so much has changed. It is crystal clear to me that Israel is in real danger — more danger than at any time since its war of independence in 1948. And it’s for three key reasons:First: An array of enemiesFirst, Israel is facing threats from a set of enemies who combine medieval theocratic worldviews with 21st century weaponry — and are no longer organized as small bands of militiamen, but as modern armies with brigades, battalions, cyber capabilities, long-range rockets, drones and t...

Rehman, Ruby: American Muslims and Jews must stand together amid tragedies in Middle East

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

Two years ago, the two of us, a Muslim-American woman, and a Jewish-American man, wrote a book together, arguing that American Muslims and Jews cannot afford to allow the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to divide our faith communities here at home. We believe in that principle today as much as we did then; but as we watch with horror the ever-escalating war in Gaza and Israel, we are also acutely aware that the conflict poses a growing peril to tear our faith communities here in America irreparably apart.Indeed, the lines are being drawn. Members of the Jewish community feel that Muslims leaders have not gone far enough to denounce Hamas for its brutal, life-destroying rampage against 1,400 Israeli civilians, the deadliest one-day spasm of anti-Jewish violence since the Holocaust. They also feel threatened by the dramatic rise in antisemitic incidents across the U.S. including at pro-Palestinian rallies on college campuses.At the same time, American Muslims feel dread at the new wave o...

State volleyball: Mahtomedi falls 3-0 to hard-serving Delano in Class 3A quarterfinal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

The Mahtomedi Zephyrs fell to the Delano Tigers in three sets in a Class 3A volleyball quarterfinal Wednesday night at the Xcel Energy Center.The Tigers dominated in the majority of categories. Mahtomedi hung around at the start of all three sets, but Delano pulled away eventually in all of them, winning 25-10, 25-15, 25-17.The loss didn’t come as a total surprise, with Delano holding the No. 2 seed in the tournament and Mahtomedi being unseeded. Mahtomedi head coach Tia Schlundt said with a team as young as theirs, playing five sophomores, the inexperience showed and was a big factor.“I’d say we lost at our own game,” Schlundt said. “They’re a good team, but I would definitely say we started to kind of get rattled, just being young. Obviously, the noise, the fans, the lights, just the whole thing for these guys is new. And coming into that, it kind of starts to just chip away a bit. I think that was our biggest struggle tonight, was we defeated ourselves.”The Zephyrs competed stron...

Letters: Doubtful about this link to downtown St. Paul

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

A regional trail that does not link?In the Oct. 27 edition of the Pioneer Press, Fred Melo reported that the Metropolitan Council approved the highly contested, heavily debated Summit Avenue Regional Trail.Mr. Melo reported that “Supporters see the trail as an important east-west connection linking existing bike trails along the Mississippi River to trails closer to downtown.”But how can that be?The Summit Avenue Regional Trail is intended to be an east-west connection, linking  the Mississippi River Trail in the west to the Sam Morgan Trail in the east. However, a perilously steep incline up Kellogg Boulevard, through dense pedestrian and vehicle traffic (Xcel Center), in segment G of the proposed trail is the only link between the Sam Morgan Trail in downtown St. Paul and Summit Avenue.  As Andy Singer, one of the Summit Trail’s most vocal supporters, stated in the June 13, 2023, issue of streets.mn, the steep ride on Kellogg Avenue, part of this downtown link, i...

MSP airport undergoing $242 million upgrade of concourses, 75 gates

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is getting a $242 million makeover.Leaders with the Metropolitan Airports Commission said MSP’s Terminal 1 will undergo renovations in its concourses and 75 gate areas — what officials are calling the largest interior renovation project for gates and concourses since the airport opened in 1962.The project will provide a “brighter, more modern” design across the terminal. The commission will invest $182.5 million, with Delta  Air Lines, the dominant carrier at MSP, contributing $60 million.“We’re proud to work with and have the support of Delta to deliver an expansive interior makeover that will create an exceptional airport experience for Delta passengers as they make their way from security checkpoints to their gates,” Brian Ryks, CEO of the Metropolitan Airports Commission, said in a news release. “It’s another major investment to create brighter, more modern spaces that complement MSP’s award-winning customer service.”At a news conferenc...

State volleyball: Stillwater’s run ends in semifinals as New Prague moves on to Class 4A final

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:58 GMT

About 17 hours after completing a thrilling, two-set comeback to bounce third-seeded Rogers in the quarterfinals of the volleyball state tournament, Stillwater was back in action at Xcel Energy Center for a Class 4A semifinal match against second-seeded New Prague.And, just a couple of points in, Stillwater coach Sara Baumgard could tell her team was fatigued from the night before.“I don’t think we were as mentally sharp,” Baumgard said, “and that showed physically.”It’s a big ask to bounce back almost immediately from a marathon match to deliver the goods again the next morning. But Baumgard still credited much of Friday’s happenings in St. Paul to New Prague.The Trojans were dominant en route to their 25-11, 25-17, 25-18 victory over the unseeded Ponies. New Prague will face undefeated, three-time defending state champion Wayzata in the title match at 7 p.m. Saturday at Xcel Energy Center.“That was a lot different than last night, that’s for sure,” Baumgard said. “But honestly, ha...