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INSIGHT: Monarch butterfly migration underway in Central Texas

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:34:41 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- It is that time of year again: butterflies are migrating through Central Texas. On Monday, Andrea DeLong Amaya, director of horticulture at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, interviewed with KXAN Chief Meteorologist David Yeomans to provide insight as the monarchs continue making their way through this month.Read a full transcription of the discussion below or watch the interview in the video player above.YEOMANS: It's been a while since I've seen you. Great to have you on. So first, let's talk about the basics. How long can we expect to see the monarchs flying through our area?AMAYA: Well, they've been actually coming through our area a little bit over the last month or so. We should generally see them start to peak in in October, and then start to taper off in November. Because really, most of them are trying to get back to their roosting grounds in Mexico by the early part of November. And the drought has affected so many of us in so many different ways ov...

Oakdale drunk driver ‘robbed us of everything,’ mother of late teen says after sentencing

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:34:41 GMT

Mikala Jean Ness asked a Hennepin County judge to “grant me mercy” on Tuesday for driving drunk in Bloomington and hitting and killing 17-year-old Donald Gayton Jr. and severely injuring his 14-year-old sister, Mya, last January.Ness, of Oakdale, who drove away from the scene of the crash, asked Judge Julie Allyn before receiving her sentence “to see the person I was before this and the person I can become, and see that my actions were not a reflection of my true character.”Donald Gayton Jr. and his sister, Mya Gayton (Courtesy of Marsha Fugett)In July, Ness pleaded guilty to the three charges against her: two counts of vehicular homicide, and one count of criminal vehicular operation. There was no plea deal, and the 28-year-old faced a guideline prison sentence of between 41 and 57 months.Allyn went on to sentence Ness to 32 months in prison on two counts, saying, “I do see that you have immense remorsefulness for your actions.”Prosecutor Kali Gardner had asked Allyn to...

Alderwoman grabs mic after questions about her absence from meetings

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:34:41 GMT

ST. LOUIS – A longtime St. Louis alderwoman has not shown up to any of her assigned committee meetings since June, and she refused to discuss it by pushing the microphone away.Alderwoman Sharon Tyus has missed at least 11 different committee meetings, according to video copies of the meetings posted on the city's YouTube channel.Tyus represents the city's 12th Ward, including Annie Morris, who has lived in the Mark Twain neighborhood since 1968."I've watched this neighborhood go from beautiful to probably be nothing," Morris said.Morris said she's never met Tyus but believes it's important for north St. Louis to be represented at City Hall."I don't know her. I know Kingshighway used to be a very beautiful block and all these streets did, too," Morris said.According to the city's website, Tyus is a member of the Health and Human Development Committee but has recently been kicked off the Transportation and Commerce Committee.Alderman Shane Cohn, who represents Ward 3, is also the Chai...

St. Louis Airport reports busiest months in 6 years

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:34:41 GMT

ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Lambert International Airport just posted its two busiest months in the past six years.FOX 2 reviewed a key indicator of passenger traffic and found the trend is no fluke. It could be critically important to the airport’s future.People are bringing the place to life again.“I think (travelers are) just having to spread out, breathe a little bit and feel human again,” Monica Visher said.She was flying to Las Vegas from St. Louis Lambert on Tuesday.“Yes, it is noticeably busier,” airport spokesman Roger Lotz said. House makes history, removes McCarthy as Speaker It’s not just busier than last year, or the year before, or the year before that. It’s busier than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.The TSA tracks the number of passengers going through its checkpoints, a key indicator of travel originating from St. Louis Lambert.That number was 598,086 in June and 609,900 in July, the only two months to top 590,000 in the past six years. September is also up. The num...

St. Charles mayor pleased with progress of temp tag snitch plan

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:34:41 GMT

ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The mayor of St. Charles says a program to have citizens take pictures of vehicles with illegal temp tags and send them to the city is going far better than he anticipated.The illegal tags are a result of people who fail to pay sales taxes on recently purchased vehicles. Mayor Dan Borgmeyer says he got so many complaints from residents about the expired tags that he decided to do something.Borgmeyer put out the request at the end of August. Since then?“It's going amazingly; we're stunned. We’re over 1,500 (reports) right now," he said. "We’ve identified...it looks like somewhere around the 20% mark are from the City of St. Charles; the rest are all over the place."Borgmeyer said he didn’t have the police manpower to go after the temp tag violators, so soliciting help from the public was the next best thing. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Breaking News ...

Missouri judge tosses lawsuit to stop highway patrol from seizing slot machines

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:34:41 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Less than 24 hours before the state of a trial to decide if slot machines that offer cash prizes are illegal, the judge dismissed the case.We've all seen them inside convenience stores and truck stops: video lottery terminals. Torch Electronics wanted the courts to stop the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) from seizing these machines. Then, the Missouri Gaming Association intervened, saying these games are already illegal. Instead, a Cole County judge tossed the lawsuit."What the judge, I think, ultimately said was if I'm going to throw out Torch, I'm going to throw out the Gaming Association and put the whole case on ice," Marc Ellinger, attorney for the Missouri Gaming Association, said Tuesday.A lawsuit filed by Torch Electronics back in 2021 asking a judge to protect the company, which is a vendor of slot machines, from future police investigations can no longer move forward."He doesn't think the courts are the right place to resolve this," Chuck Hatfie...

National Night Out events across St. Louis

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:34:41 GMT

ST. LOUIS – St. Louis hosted dozens of block parties across town Tuesday evening in celebration of National Night Out. The City of St. Louis confirms 115 block parties registered for this year’s event.FOX 2 stopped by two on the city’s north side, where residents came out in droves.“St. Louis needs this!” Kae Chris said. “We need these kinds of events to bring people together.”Organizers say National Night Out has evolved over the years here in St. Louis. Shaughnessy Daniels, director of civic engagement for the Great Rivers Greenway project, said it’s now about more than just meeting your local police officers.“We want to make sure that people’s voices are heard and that they get to be part of the process,” she said. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News SIGN UP NOW ...

Keeler: Who is CU Buffs football sensation Omarion Miller? A kid with Snoop Dogg in his corner and a father and grandpa forever in his heart

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:34:41 GMT

BOULDER — In a span of 72 hours, Omarion Miller got kissed by Michael Irvin and blessed by Snoop Dogg. In other words, your typical three-day weekend on Planet Prime.“He sent me a picture (Monday),” said Eddrener Long, mother of Miller, the CU Buffs’ stellar freshman wideout who lost to USC but won the internet. “He was just like, ‘It’s crazy that it’s just blown up like this.’“They all were asking, ‘Who is Omarion Miller?’ Now they know.”Who is Omarion Miller?Holy heck on wheels, for starters. The freshman out of Vivian, Louisiana, ran a 4.58 in the 40-yard dash as a prep and turned up in Boulder this summer with a 6-foot-5 wingspan.His coaches growing up likened him to a baby version of former LSU stars Terrace Marshall Jr. and Ja’Marr Chase, so maybe, in hindsight, we should’ve seen that breakout game against the Trojans coming. Over the course of a second half, basically, the 6-foot-2 teen ...

L.A. County Public Works employee arrested on child pornography charges

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:34:41 GMT

A 62-year-old man who works for Los Angeles County has been arrested in San Bernardino County on charges of producing, possessing and distributing child pornography, authorities announced Tuesday.  Steven Frasher, a resident of Redlands, was taken into custody after an investigation that led to the search of his residence, according to a news release from the San Bernardino Police Department.  Detectives with SBSD’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Specialized Crime Unit received a tip that the 62-year-old was downloading child pornography on the internet and using an online storage account to save the images, police said.  “Additionally, the suspect was found to be in possession of numerous images of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) on his electronic devices,” the release stated.  Frasher, a public information officer at the L.A. County Department of Public Works, according to Kerjon Lee, the department's chief of strategic communications a...

East Bay prep football coach claims he was wrongly placed on administrative leave

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:34:41 GMT

OAKLEY – Freedom High football coach Zachary Sims spoke out on Tuesday, one day after being placed on administrative leave for the remainder of the season because of an incident that unfolded after a game last Friday.“Both the decision and its timing is very concerning and surprising,” Sims wrote in a statement to the Bay Area News Group. “The decision demonstrates a clear lack of judgment and understanding, as it came just a day after I had reached out to Principal Steve Amaro regarding safety concerns on campus, the latest in a series of serious safety incidents that have happened at Freedom in the past 12 months.”In a follow-up response to this news organization, Sims said the latest incident happened after Freedom lost at home to rival Liberty 41-0 on Friday night.“I was approached personally by a belligerent person after the game on the field,” Sims wrote. “I made multiple attempts to deescalate the individual and felt my safety was at risk the whole time as this is not the fir...