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How Austin's Event Operations Center keeps you safe during SXSW

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:33 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — As people flock downtown this week for South by Southwest, a joint effort between City and public safety staff monitors the crowds, ready to take action if need be."We have all of the public safety departments here in one location," said Brydan Summers, the consumer services manager for the Austin Center for Events. "We want to make sure we have all the right people in the room if we need to make decisions."The Emergency Operations Center is located on Barton Springs Road, about a block south of the river. There are also various mobile command centers set up downtown by the city's public safety departments. The Austin Police Department also has designated officers patrolling inside the street enclosures on Sixth, Rainey and Red River Streets.The Emergency Operations Center serves as a hub for transportation operations as well.You can view a full presentation of safety efforts, road closures and transportation plans here. KXAN is gathering additional information about...

Hole in the Wall employee injured in 'unfortunate accident'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:33 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — One Hole in the Wall employee was injured, and the building was damaged following an "unfortunate accident," bar owners said in a Facebook post Tuesday."An unfortunate accident has damaged our building and injured one of our staff. He's a trooper and hanging tough despite a road of recovery ahead of him," bar owners said in part.They added an upcoming benefit and fundraising efforts are in the works. KXAN is reaching out for more information on the incident. We will update this once we receive any more details.

Duluth mall suffers partial roof collapse in wake of 12-inch snowfall; no one injured

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:33 GMT

DULUTH, Minn. — The Miller Hill Mall in Duluth was evacuated Tuesday morning after a partial roof collapse. No injuries were immediately reported after the collapse, which was presumably caused by the weight of the season’s excessive snowfall.The collapse at Duluth’s biggest indoor shopping center was reported at 9 a.m. Tuesday near the Applebee’s restaurant, according to the Duluth Fire Department.Daylight is visible through a hole left by a partial roof collapse on March 14, 2023, at the Miller Hill Mall in Duluth, Minn. (Courtesy of Scott Skar via Forum News Service)Scott Skar, manager of the Barnes & Noble in the mall, told the Duluth News Tribune he was preparing to open the store when he heard a loud noise and felt the building shake at about 8:55 a.m. After looking through the gate at the mall entrance to the store, he saw snow in the courtyard hallway near Express.Skar called out to see if anyone was hurt, but did not get a response. He then called 911 ...

Willie Nelson is bringing his Outlaw Music Festival Tour to Somerset in June

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:33 GMT

Willie Nelson will kick off his 2023 Outlaw Music Festival Tour on June 23, across the border at Wisconsin’s Somerset Amphitheater.General admission lawn tickets are $35 and seats are priced from $189 to $69. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Ticketmaster. Citi cardholders have access to a presale that runs through 10 p.m. Thursday.The concert also features Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. In 2021, Krauss and the former Led Zeppelin frontman released “Raise the Roof,” their second collaboration. The pair’s first record together, 2007’s “Raising Sand,” won five Grammy Awards, including album of the year and record of the year for “Please Read the Letter.”Also on the bill: Minnesota bluegrass band Trampled by Turtles, Americana act Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway and Particle Kid, a.k.a. Nelson’s son Micah.Nelson, who turns 90 next month, recently won his 11th and 12th Grammy Awards and released his 73rd solo album, “I Don’t Know a Thing About L...

NASA Webb telescope captures star on cusp of death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:33 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The Webb Space Telescope has captured the rare and fleeting phase of a star on the cusp of death.NASA released the picture Tuesday at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.This image provided by NASA shows the star Wolf-Rayet 124, center, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope in June 2022. A surrounding nebula is made of material cast off from the aging star in random ejections, and from dust produced in the ensuing turbulence. The telescope captured the rare and fleeting phase of the star on the cusp of death. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team via AP)The observation was among the first made by Webb following its launch in late 2021. Its infrared eyes observed all the gas and dust flung into space by a huge, hot star 15,000 light-years away. A light-year is about 5.8 trillion miles.Shimmering in purple like a cherry blossom, the cast-off material once comprised the star’s outer layer. The Hubble Space Telescope snapped a ...

Jamelle Bouie: The boys who cried ‘woke’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:33 GMT

As soon as it was clear that Silicon Valley Bank would not survive the weekend, conservative influencers and Republican politicians had a culprit in sight.Wokeness.“They were one of the most woke banks,” Rep. James Comer, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, said during a segment on Fox News.The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, also spoke to Fox News about the collapse of the bank, and he also blamed the bank’s diversity programs.“I mean, this bank, they’re so concerned with DEI and politics and all kinds of stuff. I think that really diverted from them focusing on their core mission,” he said.A Saturday headline in The New York Post declared, “While Silicon Valley Bank Collapsed, Top Executive Pushed ‘Woke’ Programs.” And over at The Wall Street Journal, Andy Kessler wondered if “the company may have been distracted by diversity demands.”On Twitter, a number of prominent conservatives took this message and ran with it. Donald Trump Jr. said that “SVB is what happe...

Michael Worobey: I called for more research on the COVID lab leak theory. Here’s what I found out.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:33 GMT

Recent reports that Department of Energy and FBI officials think the COVID-19 pandemic originated with a so-called lab leak appear to have provided all the “evidence” many require. As a scientist who has led or contributed to several peer-reviewed studies that tell a very different story, I’ve looked on with amazement at the growing divide between what the science shows and what much of the public — and a minority of the intelligence community — believe. But I’ve also watched with understanding for those who still suspect a lab leak because I started there myself.The nucleus of all lab leak conjectures — they are not a single hypothesis but a wide range of sometimes mutually exclusive speculations — was famously captured by the comedian Jon Stewart. “Oh, my God, there’s a novel respiratory coronavirus overtaking Wuhan, China — what do we do?” Stewart said during a June 2021 appearance on “The Late Show Wit...

Work on NYS budget continues despite snowstorm

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:33 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)--The hallways of the New York State Capitol were quiet on Tuesday. Session was not held because of the snowstorm, but it does not mean lawmakers were not working."We may not be in the capitol, but it doesn’t mean that email doesn’t work. I probably got about 75 emails to work through just from the morning," explained Assemblyman John McDonald. Governor Hochul on Monday issued a state of emergency encouraging state employees to work from home on Tuesday, if possible. The legislature heeded that warning. Assemblyman John McDonald is among the lawmakers who worked remotely."I have a meeting with a couple different agency heads on some items in the budget. Being Chair of Government Affairs, I actually have a much more important role, so I try to get up to speed. Some constituent matters, trying to schedule some meetings for next weeks and press events," explained McDonald.Senator Jim Tedisco worked out of his district office and said he was taking phone calls from ...

Belleville man sentenced for terrorizing women with firearm

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:33 GMT

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - A Belleville, Illinois, man appeared in federal court on Tuesday to be sentenced for brandishing and firing a gun during a 2021 incident in East St. Louis.Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois said Ladarius Roberts, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.According to court documents, Roberts and a friend, Kievonte Beasley, met two women in East St. Louis in January 2021. Prosecutors said when the women tried to leave their company, Roberts got angry.Roberts admitted to attacking one of the women and shattering the rear windshield of that woman's vehicle. Roberts and Beasley left in one car, with the women following in another car while on the phone with police dispatchers. Top story: Deadline for Kim Gardner to respond to ousting effort today During the 911 call, dispatchers could hear the sound of gunfire. One of the women said Roberts was shooting at them.Police eventually cau...

Two arrested for passing stopped school bus in mid-Missouri

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:33 GMT

MARIES COUNTY, Mo. - Authorities arrested two men for passing a stopped school bus while it picked up students in mid-Missouri. In Missouri, drivers are required by law to stop for school buses when the stop arm is extended on all two-lane roads, regardless of the direction of the drivers.Investigators say two drivers passed a school bus Monday with its stop arm out in Maries County. No one was hurt, but the bus driver informed police quickly after the drivers illegally passed. Both were arrested near Vienna city limits. Top story: Deadline for Kim Gardner to respond to ousting effort today Prosecutors have filed charges Paul Greene and Stanley Austrum. The Maries County Sheriff's Office says Green was driving with a revoked license out of Ohio. Both were charged with one misdemeanor for "failure to stop for a school bus that is receiving/discharging school children.""Placing children in harm's way because of poor planning or impatience on your part is beyond excusable and just p...