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Mount Bonnell Crime: Are the cameras working?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:04 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Mount Bonnell is one of the most popular destinations for visitors, but when people leave their cars behind and head up to see the panoramic views, that's when criminals strike.This is just one of many popular locations that has had issues with car burglaries around Austin."We evaluated the crimes that were occurring in parks and within 50 feet of them and 70% of those crimes last year in 2022 were crimes against property," said LeAnn Ishcomer, park ranger program manager for the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department."It is close by, it's convenient, it is just a beautiful area," said Laurie Darilek when talking about Mount Bonnell.While the beauty attracts visitors, the number of cars left behind as people hike to the top is attracting thieves."We were unaware of the break-ins," John Darilek said. Security cameras up at some Austin parks, trails as part of pilot program to curb break-ins A quick scan of the parking lot at Mount Bonnell and you will see sh...

What happens if your catalytic converter gets stolen while your car is at a repair shop?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:04 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Several catalytic converters were stolen from a car repair shop in Travis County, according to the sheriff's office. The agency received the report last week from the Service King in the Round Rock area, and could not provide further information in order to protect the integrity of the investigation."There's been something like a 300% to 400% increase in insurance claims taken out for catalytic converter theft," said Rich Johnson, director of communications for the Insurance Council of Texas.Law enforcement across the country have raised the alarm about a spike in catalytic converter thefts. The act prompted a law change in Texas issuing harsher penalties for people involved in such crimes. Bill passes Texas Senate that would crack down on catalytic converter thieves When it comes to the part getting stolen while your car is at the shop, "it is going to be on you," Johnson said."It's just like parking at a garage downtown or a lot, there are signs everywhere sayi...

Tasty catfish tradition continues for Dripping Springs football

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:04 GMT

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas (KXAN) - Of the many growing suburbs around Austin, Dripping Springs has seen as much change as any, including to their athletic teams. With an influx of people, the Tigers have risen to 6A, the biggest division in Texas high school athletics. NEXT: Texas high school football Success has been there for the Tigers who had a very successful first full season in 6A last fall. With the change, there's been a constant.Since the 1990s, Dripping Springs has sold catfish at concession stands. It's an understatement to call the fish fry a hit."150 pounds of catfish and we always run out," catfish cook Paul Fushille said about a typical gameday.Fushille has an army working alongside him that starts early Friday - some even beginning Thursday before a home game. "People come from all over looking for it," Fushille said. "I knew about the catfish here long before my kids came to school here."The catfish sales benefit the Dripping Springs band. Luke Hassell, or 'Fish Co...

Minnesota Attorney General, citing ‘significant misunderstandings,’ issues another legal opinion about school resource officers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:04 GMT

Minnesota’s attorney general said Wednesday there have been “significant misunderstandings about the impact” of changes to state law for school resource officers and he issued another legal opinion.About 40 law enforcement agencies have paused their school resource officer programs. On Wednesday, after Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Public Schools announced they’d learned Eagan police would no longer provide school resource officers, the Eagan Police Department said it was evaluating the attorney general’s opinion and expected to make a decision Thursday.A change in state law this year says school resource officers can’t restrain students face-down or put a student in a hold that restricts their ability to breath or communicate distress, except when necessary “to restrain a student to prevent bodily harm or death to the student or to another.”Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a legal opinion on Aug. 22, at the request of the Minnesota Department of Ed...

St. Paul City Council approves 18-month contract extension for residential garbage collection

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:04 GMT

At the urging of St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw, the St. Paul City Council approved an 18-month contract extension for residential garbage collection, with price increases intended to reflect higher tipping fees and other costs passed along by a consortium of five trash haulers.The goal, said Kershaw, is to buy the city more time to negotiate for better rates and services for one-to-four-unit properties after the city’s recent request for proposals drew few viable responses.The council voted 6-0 on Wednesday to approve the short-term contract extension, despite reservations voiced by Council Member Jane Prince and general concerns raised over the status of negotiations with the consortium. Council Member Nelsie Yang was absent.Prince said she was “disappointed … Did we try in this negotiation for the next 18 months to get cart sharing or opting out, which were things that were really big requests, and the whole city expressed a desire to have?”Ke...

Source: Vikings trade for running back Cam Akers in deal with Rams

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:04 GMT

As soon as running back Cam Akers was placed on the trade block, the Vikings started to feel like a potential landing spot.Not only did head coach Kevin O’Connell have a past relationship with the Akers, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has shown a willingness to take a swing on players that haven’t panned out.So, it was hardly a surprise that the Vikings acquired Akers on Wednesday night in a trade  with the Los Angeles Rams. A source confirmed the deal to the Pioneer Press.Originally a second-round pick by the Rams in the 2020 NFL Draft, Akers had a strong rookie season, then tore his Achilles tendon the following summer. Though he was able to make a pretty speedy recovery in the grand scheme of things, Akers hasn’t looked like the same player since then. He had 188 carries for 786 yards and 9 touchdowns last season.Why did the Vikings make the move? Look no further than the fact that they only have amassed 69 yards on the ground so far this seaosn.As much conf...

Finally with the Vikings, offensive lineman Dalton Risner vows to do whatever is needed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:04 GMT

Dalton Risner made some waves on social media a couple of weeks ago.Maybe the NFL’s most coveted free agent on the market at the time, Risner posted a picture from the airport, sending multiple fan bases into a frenzy as they theorized where Risner might be headed.The funny thing is Risner was simply heading back to his house after touching down at Denver International Airport.“I’m like, ‘I’m going to try and make something up, man,’ ” Risner said with a laugh. “One of these GMs has to have a Twitter, right?”In the end, Risner was able to strike a deal with the Vikings this week, bringing 62 games of NFL experience to a team that desperately needs help on the offensive line. He visited the Vikings about six weeks ago and met different members of the front office including, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, as well as head coach Kevin O’Connell. That made his decision pretty easy for Risner when they finally called back.&#...

Minnesota added 4,400 jobs in August; unemployment rate at 3.1%

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:04 GMT

Minnesota added 4,400 jobs in August, marking six consecutive months of growth in the labor force, according to the state Department of Employment and Economic Development.Employment in the state grew at 0.1% over the month, matching the U.S. rate.More than 3,200 people entered the labor force in August, and the labor force participation rate remained steady at 68.5%.The unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage points to 3.1% in August.DEED said Minnesota’s job growth likely remains restrained by an extremely tight labor market and the high rate of labor force participation. The national participation rate, at 62.8%, is nearly 6 points lower than Minnesota’s.Seeing job gains in August were the large sectors of Construction; Education and Health Services; Leisure and Hospitality; Manufacturing; and Other Services.The losses were in Financial Activities; Government; Information; Professional and Business Services; and Trade, Transportation and Utilities.Related ArticlesBusiness | ...

Wild goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt enters camp with ‘a lot of things to prove’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:04 GMT

Wild prospect Jesper Wallstedt is unlikely to earn a spot on the NHL roster in training camp, which starts Thursday at TRIA Rink in downtown St. Paul. Not with Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury around.Those two veterans backstopped the Wild into the playoffs last season, and Gustavsson signed a three-year, $11.25 million contract extension on July 31 after going 22-9-7 with a 2.10 goals-against average and .931 save percentage in 2022-23.That doesn’t mean Wallstedt, the Wild’s first-round pick in the 2021 entry draft, will be spinning his wheels in camp. After playing in 38 games for AHL Iowa last season — going 18-15-3 with a 2.68 GAA, .908 save percentage and one shutout — he’s in line to get his first regular-season action as a potential injury replacement this season.“I definitely feel like I have a lot of things to prove,” he said.Wallstedt, who turns 21 in November, spent his summer working in his hometown of Västerås, Sweden, after playing three games in the IIHF World C...

Producers looking to the sky for snow after hard summer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:04 GMT

By Anna SmithSunny South NewsLocal Journalism Initiative ReporterWhile he’s fortunate to irrigate his potato crops, Forty Mile Councillor Allen Kuizenga admits that without a hard winter with heavier precipitation, even irrigation will be in trouble come next year.“This is a bad one. This is where we had two and a half inches of rain all year from April 1,” said Kuizenga. There were other parts of the county that received even less, approximately one inch of precipitation, throughout the entirety of the growing season.While they were ultimately found to not meet all of the requirements for a state of agricultural disaster, the County still saw it as a necessary measure, said Kuizenga, to help raise awareness of just how bad the situation had become for dryland farmers in the area.And now, should things not change, the drought is likely to impact irrigation growers net year as well.“The supplies or the water reservoirs are all empty, and if we don’t get a significant amount of snow t...