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Homeowners frustrated with city after flood waters damage properties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:20:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Multiple homes located on Mearns Meadow boulevard became surrounded by a rushing river during Thursday night's torrential downpour after a nearby storm culvert became clogged with dead trees and debris. Homeowners in the area are cleaning up the mess and say they are frustrated with the city for not doing more to prevent this level of flooding. Severe flooding damageRyan Albright and his wife were enjoying their first night of their month-long European trip when their alarm system kept alerting them of movement outside their house. The movement Albright's security camera picked up was not a car or intruder. It was rushing water. "Water that's knee high or higher rushing down up against your house and there's nothing you can do," Albright explained. His mom and dad drove up from San Marcos to help with the beginning efforts of cleaning up. A cleaning crew at the house gave an estimate of $7,000 to just dry the floor boards in his home. Albright's neighbor, Scott Ste...

Georgetown man sentenced to life in prison in wife's death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:20:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A Georgetown man who plead guilty to murder this week in the 2021 death of his wife was sentenced to life in prison, according to court records.Travis Hall, 50, faced murder and tampering with evidence charges in the disappearance of his wife, Julie Hall. He pleaded guilty to murder Monday. The tampering charges were dismissed, documents state. Georgetown husband facing murder charge after investigation into wife’s disappearance In opening statements of the trial Monday, prosecutors said Hall allegedly beat Julie to death with a pipe wrench in their Georgetown apartment and then wrapped her body in sheets and put her into a suitcase. Prosecutors said video evidence shows Hall putting a heavy suitcase in their apartment complex's trash compactor. Williamson County prosecutor Mike Waldman said the compacted trash was taken to a Creedmoor dump where police searched but Julie's body was never found. Hall's defense acknowledged that this is not a typical case for the j...

Austin could get rid of minimum parking requirements city-wide this year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:20:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Austin City Council could strip mandatory parking minimums from its overarching zoning requirements this year. Council Member Zohaib Qadri intends to put forward a resolution next month that would change the city's land development code (LDC). Council item aims to limit parking lot requirements for bars to curb drunk driving Right now, the city mandates how many parking spots you're required to have on a property. Transit and affordable housing advocates have for years asked the city to strip those requirements from the LDC to promote different forms of transit and allow for developers and small businesses to utilize land differently. The resolution, if passed, would get the process started for the elimination of that requirement city-wide. It would also direct the city manager to look at ways to require developments to provide accessible parking spaces if it plans to build no on-site parking. It's something the city has already done. Since 2013, the downtown are...

‘Canceled’ Broadway star Laura Osnes set to perform in Burnsville

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:20:00 GMT

Controversial Broadway star Laura Osnes is returning to Burnsville, the town where she was born, to perform with the Minnesota Valley Women’s Chorale and Genesis Jazz Orchestra.The pair of concerts, which celebrate the 10th anniversary of the chorus, are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. May 5 and 6 at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. Tickets are $20 via mvwcsings.org.Osnes, 37, graduated from Eagan High School and studied musical theater at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point for a year before dropping out to pursue an acting career. She was playing Sandy in “Grease” at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres when she was chosen to compete in the 2007 NBC competitive reality show “Grease: You’re the One that I Want.” She won the show and went on to portray Sandy in a Broadway revival of “Grease.”Osnes went on to establish herself as one of Broadway’s brightest young talents, starring in “South Pacific,” “Anything Goes” and “Bandstand.” She received Tony Award nominations for her roles in “Bonnie an...

MN senator files ethics complaint over message with link to ‘disturbing’ video

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:20:00 GMT

Minnesota Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, filed an ethics complaint against Sen. Glen Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, over an email he sent to the chamber’s 34 Democrats containing a link to a video labeled “transgender surgeries on minor children.”Maye Quade said the video included images of “children’s genitalia” that Gruenhagen himself called “extremely graphic and disturbing.” Maye Quade said the email was against Senate rules because it amounted to a violation of “accepted norms of Senate behavior, that betrays the public trust, or that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor or disrepute.”Maye Quade mentioned the ethics complaint during a news conference Friday before the Senate was expected to debate legislation making Minnesota a refuge for families where transgender youth can receive gender affirming care.“This crossed the line,” Maye Quade said of the email.In response to the complaint, Gruenhagen said ...

High demand for roof repair after hail hits St. Louis region

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:20:00 GMT

TROY, Mo. - Roofing companies and insurance adjusters are getting a lot of calls this week after numerous storms producing large hail rolled through the St. Louis region. Roofing companies have some warnings for homeowners dealing with damage. “[The hail] came in, and it was pea size, and then it was quarter size, and it was crazy,” said Troy resident Taylor Jones. Trending: Is it legal to collect rainwater in Missouri & Illinois? Another round of hail-producing storms rolled through the St. Louis area for the second time in five days, causing significant damage to roofs and siding. Lincoln County was among one of the hardest hit areas on Thursday. These latest storms hit less than a week after severe weather struck on Saturday, producing hail larger than golf balls just west of St. Louis. “With the storms that have moved through, obviously we’re seeing a real explosion in business right now,” said Kerry House, owner of Lane House Roofing and Exteriors. With all the damage, re...

3 children, 2 adults hurt in north St. Louis County highway crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:20:00 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Three children and two adults are hospitalized after a highway crash Thursday evening in north St. Louis County. The crash happened around 7 p.m. Thursday, near the meeting point of Interstate 270 and Interstate 170. Each of the five people involved suffered serious or moderate injuries, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. MSHP reports that a 61-year-old woman was driving a car with two-year-old boy, eight-year-old girl and 10-year-old girl during the collision. The driver lost control of the vehicle, struck a guardrail, then struck another car as she attempted to reenter the roadway. Top Story: Missing Texas teens sold for sex in Missouri The driver in the other car, a 38-year-old man, then struck a concrete median barrier. All five involved in the crash were hospitalized, and the toddler was airlifted to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital for treatment. MSHP states in the report that neither driver was using a seat belt. Troop C, which covers much of t...

Lyft gears up to make ‘significant’ layoffs under new CEO

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:20:00 GMT

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE (AP Technology Writer)SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Lyft is preparing to lay off hundreds of employees just days after new CEO David Risher began steering the ride-hailing service with a eye of driving down costs to help bring its fares more in line with its biggest rival, Uber.Risher, a former Amazon executive, informed Lyft’s workforce of more than 4,000 employees in an email posted online Friday that a “significant” number of them will lose their jobs. It came at end of his first week as Lyft’s CEO.The note didn’t specify how many people would be jettisoned, but The Wall Street Journal reported that at least 1,200 employees will be laid off. The report cited unidentified people familiar with the cost-cutting plans.San Francisco-based Lyft declined to provide additional details Friday, but said more information will be released next week.Risher, who had been a Lyft board member before being recruited to replace co-founder Logan Green, ...

Tired of neutral? Ceiling wallpaper brings color, style to any room

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:20:00 GMT

Making home improvements doesn’t always require significant renovations — or major expense.Sometimes small changes can make a big difference.After years of white or beige walls, the maximalist decor trend is back. And leaving your ceiling plain can be a missed opportunity.Ceilings are often overlooked in interior decor, but the right paint or wallpaper can take the look of any room to a new level.For example, consider transforming an overlooked fifth wall in your home with wallpaper.“Wallpaper is our go-to for high impact. We also consider the ‘fifth wall’ (ceiling) whether we paint it a fun color, wallpaper it, or add another texture, it’s not to be forgotten,” says Andrea Schumacher, who owns Andrea Schumacher Interiors in Denver and recently published “Vibrant Interiors: Living Large at Home,” a coffee table book available through her website or Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Serena & Lily.Using wallpaper can add vibrancy, color...

Judge stays on Catholic bankruptcy despite church donations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:20:00 GMT

By JIM MUSTIAN (Associated Press)NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge refused Friday to recuse himself from the New Orleans Roman Catholic bankruptcy after an Associated Press report that he donated tens of thousands of dollars to archdiocese charities and consistently ruled in favor of the church in the contentious case involving nearly 500 clergy sex abuse victims. U.S. District Judge Greg Guidry told attorneys in the high-profile case that a panel of federal judges he asked to review the possible conflict determined no “reasonable person” would question his impartiality despite his contributions and longstanding ties to the archdiocese. Guidry read from the opinion of the Washington-based Committee on Codes of Conduct, which noted that none of the charities he donated to “has been or is an actual party” in the bankruptcy and that Guidry’s eight years on the board of the archdiocese’s charitable arm ended more than a decade before the bankru...