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DPS has made 12K traffic stops since APD partnership started, council briefing

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:02:32 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The leaders of the Austin Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety briefed city council Tuesday about how the now month-long partnership between the two departments is going. Ultimately, APD Chief Joseph Chacon said he is open to shifting the partnerships strategy, but also said the locations APD has asked DPS to patrol are the ones with highest 911 calls and have been identified using data. PREVIOUS: Nearly 200 arrests made since patrols started in Austin, DPS "We follow the lead of Chief Chacon, we're not in charge, this is his operation," said DPS Director Steven McCraw. For the first time, we've learned roughly how many people have been brought to Austin. McCraw said 80 troopers and roughly 20 special agents are in Austin as part of the partnership. It's the first time those numbers have been made public. The director also said DPS has made just under 12,000 traffic stops since the partnership began roughly a month ago in the county. Typica...

Austin Community College starts cybersecurity degree to meet local demand

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:02:32 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Community College is starting a new cybersecurity degree program this fall, as local job demand is expected to rise. The college's Bachelor of Applied Science in Cybersecurity program aims to meet Central Texas' anticipated job demand, ACC said. This will be the college's fourth bachelor's degree program. It will start in fall 2023 with up to 60 students. ACC said the program is designed for professionals with a related associate degree, people transitioning to a four-year degree or people in the workforce. It will have face-to-face, hybrid and distance education class options. ACC said cybersecurity is "one of the most in-demand careers in Central Texas," with 44% growth expected in the next 10 years. Texas Labor Market Information data shows demand for information security analysts in Texas is expected to increase nearly 50% from 2020 to 2030.“ACC is committed to working with local industry partners to ensure we prepare more individuals to respond to this va...

Elgin ISD adding metal detectors to all of its campuses following violent incidents

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:02:32 GMT

ELGIN, Texas (KXAN) - According to Elgin ISD, metal detectors have been ordered for usage at all of its campuses. In a statement sent to KXAN, the district said the metal detectors are handheld and no installation is necessary. The district has not sent out a letter to parents yet, but said one is in the works. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: ‘I don’t feel comfortable’: Elgin ISD parents have safety concerns after fight, district says no weapons involved This comes about a week after a fight broke out last Monday at the high school. Parents of Elgin High School students said they saw a video of a fight at school and heard a knife was used.Elgin ISD and Elgin Police said there was no weapon. In a letter, the district also explained that reports of a gun at school last Monday and Tuesday were not true.The district is also hosting a Safety Symposium and Community Forum on May 10. The district's website said it will be a panel presentation with a question and answer session at the Elgin High Scho...

Tim Walz signs law to improve safety conditions at oil refineries

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:02:32 GMT

Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill into law Tuesday that aims to improve the safety conditions for workers at oil refineries.Authored by Minnesota Sen. Judy Seeberger, the bill requires a percentage of contracted employees to be trained through a registered apprenticeship program in an effort to prevent accidents.The call for more worker training was emphasized by Seeberger in March when a St. Paul Park Marathon refinery spilled around 20,000 gallons of hot asphalt and sent two contractors to the hospital.“The safety of our communities and our workers is our highest priority, and this legislation is critical to making sure that those who are working in high hazard environments have the best training possible to prevent the risk of accidents,” said Seeberger, a Democrat who represents Afton and Cottage Grove, in a news release.According to a statement from Marathon, the two workers were released the same day and there were no environmental impacts to the area.“Workers in our oil refineries ...

Wild GM Bill Guerin reacts to another disappointment: ‘This season is not a failure’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:02:32 GMT

As the Wild officially put a bow on the 2022-23 season Tuesday afternoon, general manager Bill Guerin pushed back on the narrative that has long surrounded the organization. In his eyes, the fact that the Wild haven’t been out of the first round of the playoffs since 2015 shouldn’t be the main focus.“They’re not going to put our name on the Stanley Cup if we get to the second round,” he said. “They’re not going to get us a ring. You know what? That’s not our goal.”What is the goal?“We don’t sit here and say, ‘Oh god, we just want to win a round,'” Guerin said. “We want to win the Stanley Cup.”As much as Guerin understands that, yes, the Wild must get out of the first round to do that, his point is that this particular group has nothing to do with the disappointment over much of the past decade.“We have a lot of young players who are just getting going and they weren’t a part of that,” Guerin said. &#...

MN school segregation lawsuit returns to Supreme Court

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:02:32 GMT

The Minnesota Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a 2015 lawsuit that, if successful, could lead to an overhaul of policies that have allowed Twin Cities public schools to become segregated by race and family income.The plaintiffs in Cruz-Guzman v. State of Minnesota argue that school segregation in the Twin Cities metro violates the education clause of the state’s constitution, even if lawmakers did not intentionally cause the segregation. However, judges with the Hennepin County District Court and state Court of Appeals say otherwise.Now, the plaintiffs are asking the Supreme Court to weigh in on that question of intent, five years after the same justices revived the case following the district court’s dismissal.If the plaintiffs prevail at the Supreme Court, they envision three paths toward winning the case once it’s back in district court. Freed of the need to prove lawmaker intent, they could persuade a judge that the state has violated the constitution if:• There is ...

Layoffs at 3M’s Maplewood HQ rise to 1,100 with remote workers

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:02:32 GMT

3M Co. has advised state officials that it will lay off 1,100 employees from its Maplewood headquarters, including 500 out-of-state workers who operate remotely.The 1,100 employees noted in a WARN notice to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, or DEED, includes the 600 Minnesota-based layoffs announced last week. Overall, 3M’s restructuring actions will affect 6,000 positions globally, a cost-cutting move that follows sluggish sales figures around the world.3M, a Minnesota-based Fortune 500 company and maker of adhesives, medical and home cleaning supplies, building materials and more, said at the time it would take steps to “further simplify and strengthen our supply chain structure” and “streamline our go-to-market business models” to improve margins and cash flow.The company announced it would also “prioritize investments in high-growth end markets where 3M science gives us a clear competitive advantage.”3M, fo...

Timberwolves will play two preseason games in Abu Dhabi next season

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:02:32 GMT

The Timberwolves are set for an international trip during the 2023 exhibition season. Minnesota will square off with Dallas twice in a three-day span in October, with the games set for Oct. 5 and Oct. 7 at Etihad Arena on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, the NBA announced Tuesday.Atlanta and Milwaukee played preseason games in the Arabian Gulf last fall. Tickets for the games will go on sale “at a later date,” per the NBA, but games will air on NBA League Pass.“I’m pretty excited about it. I think in general it’s a market that the NBA is trying to reach out into,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told Paul Allen during his weekly appearance on KFXN-100.3 on Tuesday. “By all accounts, (Milwaukee and Atlanta) had an amazing experience, so we’re looking forward to it. And it should be a good opportunity to get a couple of good games in early against Dallas and a little bit of a cultural experience in for everyone, too.”Allen informed Finch of...

Loneliness poses risks as deadly as smoking, surgeon general says

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:02:32 GMT

WASHINGTON — Widespread loneliness in the U.S. poses health risks as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes daily, costing the health industry billions of dollars annually, the U.S. surgeon general said Tuesday in declaring the latest public health epidemic.About half of U.S. adults say they’ve experienced loneliness, Dr. Vivek Murthy said in an 81-page report from his office.“We now know that loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience. It’s like hunger or thirst. It’s a feeling the body sends us when something we need for survival is missing,” Murthy told The Associated Press in an interview. “Millions of people in America are struggling in the shadows, and that’s not right. That’s why I issued this advisory to pull back the curtain on a struggle that too many people are experiencing.”The declaration is intended to raise awareness around loneliness but won’t unlock federal funding or programming devoted to combatting the issue.Research shows that Americans, who have ...

Drop-in center for lawmaker's kids, comes under probe

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:02:32 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) -- The state is looking into a child care center at the Capitol designed for children of lawmaker's. Some are questioning if the center lacks proper protocol for supervising those kids. Since the beginning of this year, room 944A located in the Legislative Office Building, has been providing child care for parents who work in the legislature. This is completely tax payer funded. As previously reported by the Times Union, two legislative aids are in charge of the operations; however the proper licensure has been brought into question. Governor Hochul says because this is a drop-in center and not a daycare center, the the standards are different, "This is just a you know, a few hours a day, when you just have sort of a situation, you don’t have a babysitter so I think that was the premise behind it." Push for universal child care in NY Hochul said this is something the Assembly approached her office about last summer, which is when they put the Assembly in conta...