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Mayor-elect Johnson listens to community members concerns on safety

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

CHICAGO -- Introducing himself to constituents as he prepares for his new role, Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson crisscrossed the city.From coffee on the South Side to empanadas on the North Side, Johnson also met with some of Chicago's youngest residents.Mayor-elect Johnson took time Friday to answer questions students had for him at Hyde Park High School. Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson hires Chief of Staff Johnson addressing the criticism of the chaos groups of teens caused in the Loop earlier this month. Two teens shot, more than a dozen arrests, beatings caught on video – and scenes like this one of people dancing on vehicles.Mayor-elect Johnson also told the Hyde Park students that it’s the job of the city to protect its youth.The Mayor-elect also announced his transition team Wednesday.Former Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan, Professor at UIC’s School of Social Work Dr. Kathryn Bocanegra, former head of CPD’s office of constitutional policing Robert Boik, and Stat...

LIVE BLOG: Severe storms now moving across Austin metro, large hail and strong winds possible

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

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Severe storms are moving across Central Texas. The main concerns tonight are large hail and damaging winds. Isolated tornadoes are also possible.The Storm Prediction Center has placed most of the KXAN viewing area in a 3 out of 5 threat for severe storms, as another potent low-pressure system dives into the state.Current Watches and WarningsSevere Thunderstorm Warning for NW Bastrop, NW Lee, SE Travis and SE Williamson counties until 6 p.m. Ping pong ball size hail, 60 mph wind gusts possible.Severe Thunderstorm Warning for S Blanco, NW Caldwell, NW Gillespie, Hays and SW Travis counties until 6:30 p.m. Golf ball size hail, 60 mph wind gusts possible.Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Bastrop, NE Caldwell, Lee, SE Travis and SE Williamson counties until 6:30 p.m. Quarter size hail, 60 mph wind gusts possible.Flood Advisory for Milam County until 8:30 p.m. Minor flooding is possible in low-lying and poor drainage areas.Flood Advisory for Blanco, Burnet, Hays, Llano, Trav...

APD: 4 detained in weapons theft during SWAT call on South Lamar Boulevard

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

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Austin Police Department detained four people after a SWAT call on South Lamar Boulevard that involved the theft of several high-powered military firearms and rounds of ammunition. APD said a call came in at 12:21 p.m. from someone who said their unit in a storage shed was burglarized. The caller told police several high-powered military firearms were stolen along with several rounds of high-powered ammunition. The weapons were tracked to 615 S. Lamar Blvd., where officers and the SWAT team were dispatched. APD said SWAT was activated based on the initial information provided and the style of weapons stolen.After searching the area, SWAT located and detained four individuals matching the descriptions given by the person who called 911. APD said the person of interest is in custody and could be facing a charge of burglary of a non-residence. APD said officers located the people in a heavily-wooded area just east of a McDonald's in the area. APD is searching the a...

'It was scared, it was running around': Raccoons are running through McCallum High School

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

AUSTIN (KXAN) — McCallum High School is dealing with some unwanted visitors who just won't go away."This is not the first time me and Noah have reported on raccoons in the school," said Morgan Eye who is a journalism student at the high school.Noah Braun, who wrote a recent article about the raccoons said he has found articles from the past that show similar incidents. "There are articles you can find from the 90s, from the early 2000's and even the 2010s talking about this," said Braun.While there have been issues with raccoons in the past, recently the number of incidents has increased, according to journalism students at the school.A raccoon photographed at McCallum High School in 2022. Photo courtesy: Francie Wilhelm ‘When it rains, we have to set up trashcans’: McCallum HS students highlight daily struggles "Six catches and releases all within the same day is probably the most we have ever seen here at McCallum," said Eye.Braun says this week he heard a commotion outside his...

PHOTOS: Hail, severe storms hit Central Texas, Hill Country April 28

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

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Severe storms started moving through Central Texas and the Hill Country Friday afternoon. Hail and damaging winds swept across the area. KXAN viewers sent in photos and videos to show the damage caused by the storms. KXAN viewer Brien R. Aho sent the below time-lapse video of severe storms with hail and high winds moving through Liberty Hill. Viewers in several different locations across Central Texas also sent in photos of storm clouds. Storm clouds over Cedar Park on April 28, 2023. (KXAN Viewer Photo)Storm clouds over Liberty Hill on April 28, 2023. (KXAN Photo/Kristen Currie)Mammatus clouds over Cedar Park on April 28, 2023. (KXAN Viewer Photo)Weather heading into Lampasas April 28, 2023. Courtesy: Michelle SmallHail was also widespread in the area. Hail in Burnet on April 28, 2023. (Courtesy Madison Rygaard)Hail in Burnet on April 28, 2023. (Courtesy Madison Rygaard)Hail in Burnet on April 28, 2023. (Courtesy Madison Rygaard)Marb...

Former Texas guard transfers to Big 12 rival Kansas

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

After one season with Texas men's basketball, guard Arterio Morris entered the transfer portal in early April. Friday, he announced his next destination will be in Lawrence, Kansas with the Jayhawks.Morris, a 5-star recruit from Kimball High School in Dallas and McDonald’s All-American, averaged 11.7 minutes per game and scored 4.6 points per game. He scored 25 points against Louisiana on Dec. 21, shooting 9-for-11 from the field. He scored 20 points for the Longhorns in the Big 12 Conference tournament, including 10 against Oklahoma State in the opening round.Morris will head to Kansas after the Longhorns and Jayhawks were the top two teams in the Big 12 a season ago. He joins Rowan Brumbaugh as Longhorns to transfer out of the program this offseason.The former Longhorn had eight points in the Big 12 championship against Kansas, including an alley-oop dunk that was the highlight of the game. His teammate last year, Tyrese Hunter, made a similar jump the year prior, transferring wit...

For sale: A green thumb’s house on Summit Avenue (with a conservatory!)

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

A gardener’s masterpiece is for sale on St. Paul’s Summit Avenue — just in time for another growing season.Marge Hols, the former Pioneer Press gardening columnist, died last summer, about six months after being diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. She was 86.“Marge was the skilled gardener, I was the unskilled labor,” said her husband, David Hols, a retired attorney. “After Marge passed away, I realized it wasn’t practical for an 87-year-old to live alone in 4,000 square feet, and so I started making plans to move out.”The exterior of 1180 Summit Ave. in St. Paul, photographed in the summer of 2022. The English Tudor-style home, built in 1909, is on the market for the first time in decades. (Courtesy of Coldwell Banker Realty)An early photo of 1180 Summit Ave. in St. Paul, taken soon after it was built in 1909. (Courtesy of Brian Hols)George Van Slyck and his son, DeForest Van Slyck next to the 1180 Summit Ave. home in St. Paul. ...

Jordan Addison’s route to Vikings was his route running

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

During the leadup to this weekend’s NFL Draft, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell met with reporters and answered questions.One of them was about whether the Vikings subscribed to the traditional way of looking at NFL receivers, i.e. they should be tall and sturdy.“We have these conversations often in a way that we have to have an opinion on it, but we don’t think we know more than we know,” Adofo-Mensah said.If that wasn’t exactly clear, the Vikings made their feelings on the debate clearer on Thursday night when they used the 23rd pick on Jordan Addison, Southern Cal’s 5-foot-11, 175-pound leading receiver last season.The Vikings already have a prototype NFL receiver in 6-1, 195-pound Justin Jefferson, the NFL’s 2022 Offensive Player of Year after catching 128 passes for 1,809 yards and eight touchdowns. By spending their first-round collateral on Addison, Minnesota has come out hard on the smaller-can-be-better side.The team officially intro...

‘Peter Pan & Wendy’ review: A real-live adventure this time from Disney’s recycling bin

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

You could say “Peter Pan & Wendy,” the latest voyage to the Disney+ recycling bin, is an unexpectedly strong movie. But it’s not unexpected, so really, you shouldn’t call it that.The director and co-writer David Lowery has made nothing but interesting features, six so far, and while his latest (co-written by Toby Halbrooks) turns into a bit of a Lost Boy here and there in its brooding investigation of why Captain Hook, played by a happily camp-averse Jude Law, got that way, it’s a stirring adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s fantasy, now streaming.“Peter Pan & Wendy” starts where it ought to, in London at night. In Lowery’s film, the Darling family (Molly Parker and Alan Tudyk appear as Ma and Pa in the bookend sequences) is about to send a trepidatious Wendy off to boarding school. Like the eternal boy she’s been hearing about in stories most of her young life, she prefers not to grow up too quickly.The magical arrival of Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, and the whisking of the eager Dar...

MN Senate passes bill to legalize marijuana

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

The Minnesota Senate on Friday passed a bill to legalize recreational marijuana for adults. It’s the furthest along that legalization has ever gotten in the Legislature.Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said he’d sign legalization into law, but before a bill can get to his desk, the Senate and House will need to iron out differences between their proposals. The House legalization bill passed on Tuesday.Backers of legalization have not touted marijuana as a big money maker for the state, but instead point to the unequal outcomes for different groups in society and wasted law enforcement resources.“The prohibition of cannabis is a failed system that has not achieved the desired goals and has had incredible cost for our communities, especially our communities of color,” said bill sponsor Sen. Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville.Bill passes on vote of 34-33Legalization has passed in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor-controlled House before, but the GOP-controlled Senate never allowed bills to move forw...