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APD makes progress in recruiting 911 dispatchers, call-takers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) –  The Austin Police Department is making progress in hiring enough staff for its Emergency Communication (ECOMMS) center, according to a memo. Staffing shortages in the department have led to slower-than-normal pick-ups for emergencies in the last couple of years. APD said it has been “hyper-focused” in addressing the large number of vacancies, which has led to the implementation of some effective programs, per the memo. MORE: APD: Latest average 911 hold time was roughly 3 minutes There are 75 dispatchers and 104 call-taker positions available in the department. From October 2022, APD has been successful in filling 91% of the dispatcher roles and 69% of the call takers, per a city memo. Further, APD said it has hired new leadership, expanded its recruiting team, brought on new IT support members to bolster the division’s technology infrastructure and recently launched a comprehensive citywide and national recruiting campaign to fill the remaining vac...

Soucheray: The question remains: Where is everybody?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

Just two months ago, in a front-page story in this newspaper, we learned that St. Paul and Ramsey County officials, along with the St. Paul Downtown Alliance, were calling for more workers to return downtown. The COVID pandemic invented new ways to work, hybrid, flex, remote and Zoom. A ghostliness had settled over downtown, giving a whole new meaning to the old saw about shooting off a cannon at 5 p.m. and not hitting anybody.Even a professional curmudgeon knows that we will never return to the halcyon days of bustle and honking horns and newspapers hawked on the corner. And we don’t expect the old Christmas tinsel spread across Wabasha Street.This is about money, as in city, state, county and federal workers not putting theirs where their mouth is. We have our own version of the Fermi Paradox.Having lunch one day in the summer of 1950, Enrico Fermi, a physicist, asked a bunch of other smart guys at the table, “Where is everybody?”By which Fermi, intrigued by UFO reports and ...

Gophers will be without tailback Darius Taylor vs. Louisiana

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

The Gophers will be without star freshman tailback Darius Taylor for homecoming against Louisiana on Saturday, according to the Big Ten’s status report Saturday morning. ESPN’s Pete Thamel first reported the news.Taylor has been a sensation to start the season. The Detroit, Mich., native has rushed for 532 yards and is second in the nation with 133 yards per game this season. But he left the Northwestern game with a leg injury late in the fourth quarter.Without Taylor, the Gophers backfield will rely on Bryce Williams and possibly Sean Tyler and Zach Evans. Tyler did not have a carry against Northwestern, while Evans has not had a carry this season.Tyler has 30 carries for 136 yards this season, while Williams has 11 carries for 30 yards.Related ArticlesCollege Sports | Beer release, coupled with P.J. Fleck’s comments, becomes big help for Gophers’ players College Sports | ‘Special’ homecomings: It’s a family affai...

Sainted: Eric the ump, you help make our city great

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

SaintedMost years, our adult softball season highlights entail wild catches, miraculous hits after a dry spell, base running that doesn’t result in pulled muscles, and enjoying a few cold beverages with friends. This year, we have been lucky to add an extraordinary umpire named Eric to the highlight list.It’s rare to see a person truly care and connect with those around them, with no agenda beyond the joy it brings. As the umpire for our St. Paul Parks and Recreation 9 p.m. softball game this week at Dunning Field, Eric exuded a sense of humor, community pride and connected humanity with everyone in attendance. He asked our names and confirmed again, his smile was infectious and sincere, his willingness to stay late on a cold night despite the other team’s no-show was a reminder of the importance some still hold for doing the job well, no matter what.In speaking with him about his love for our city, his work within the rec centers and the public school system, his delight in familia...

Hudson Valley Dance Festival celebrating 10 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

CATSKILL, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Local and internationally regarded talent will grace the stage at the 10th Hudson Valley Dance Festival on October 7. The charitable performance is presented by Dancers Responding to AIDS and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Among the 470 organizations supported nationwide by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, there are 15 in the Hudson Valley, including the Albany Damien Center.NEWS10's Giuliana Bruno was joined by Corey Snide and Jenna Snide, co-founders of Capital Region Arts Initiative, a week before the festival to discuss their involvement from choreography, to raising funds through their own Trunk-or-Treat event. You can watch the full interview in the video player above.

Bones in a box: Mystery of missing Illinois veteran solved

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

MATTOON, Ill -- In 2017, mysterious bones discovered in a military footlocker in Wyoming were positively identified as those of Joseph Mulvaney, a World War II veteran of the Illinois National Guard. After his National Guard service, Mulvaney took a job with the railroad but disappeared in 1963 in Des Moines, Iowa. His children were initially told that he had simply wandered off. However, a different story emerged through his granddaughter, Shelley Statler, and an unexpected discovery with a grocery bag.  Curiosity Revealed a Mystery:Joseph Mulvaney and his parentsIn Thermopolis, Wyoming, Newell Sessions had been a good neighbor to “Gabby” or also known as “David Tanner." It would be revealed that is name was actually John Morris. In 1986, Morris entrusted Sessions with a footlocker to hold while he was out of town, but Morris disappeared for six years without reclaiming it. On Halloween in 1992, Sessions finally managed to open the securely padlocked footlocker ...

On the brink of a government shutdown, the Senate tries to approve funding but it's almost too late

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is on the brink of a federal government shutdown after hard-right Republicans in Congress rejected a longshot effort to keep offices open as they fight for steep spending cuts and strict border security measures that Democrats and the White House say are too extreme.With no deal in place by midnight Saturday, federal workers will face furloughs, more than 2 million active-duty and reserve military troops will work without pay and programs and services that Americans rely on from coast to coast will begin to face shutdown disruptions.The Senate will be in for a rare Saturday session to advance its own bipartisan package that is supported by Democrats and Republicans and would fund the government for the short-term, through Nov. 17. But even if the Senate can rush to wrap up its work this weekend to pass the bill, which also includes money for Ukraine aid and U.S. disaster assistance, it won't prevent an almost certain shutdown amid the chaos in the...

Newsom faces challenging decision in Feinstein replacement

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is faced with a difficult decision over who will fill the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) seat after her passing Friday at age 90. Feinstein, the longest-serving woman in the Senate, died after three decades in the upper chamber. The pressure is now on Newsom to appoint a replacement to temporarily serve as senator for the Golden State until voters elect their next choice in 2024.  Newsom has said he will pick a Black woman to fill the seat, though he has also signaled he wants to stay above the fray in next year's Senate race — drawing rebukes from Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), one of the declared candidates, in the process. “He has a big political calculation to make,” California-based Democratic strategist Kate Maeder said of Newsom’s “huge task at hand” in picking a replacement to follow Feinstein’s “titan” legacy representing her state.  “Choosing her replacement is no easy ...

Contra Costa County judge shows no leniency to man convicted of killing two girls in 2018 crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

A man accused of killing two young girls while driving a stolen truck received no leniency Friday from a Contra Costa County judge, who had been tasked with reconsidering his sentence after an appellate court tossed one of the man’s five convictions.Noe Saucedo, 29, saw his potential prison term effectively reduced by only a few years after Judge Rebecca Hardie imposed the stiffest possible remaining sentence against him during an emotional and tear-filled hearing inside a Pittsburg courthouse.Calling the case “profoundly disturbing and sad,” Hardie said she saw few — if any — mitigating factors suggesting Saucedo should walk free anytime soon. She also expressed regret that that she couldn’t do more to help ease the enduring pain felt by the girls’ parents.“These little girls will never go to school, have a wedding, find love — and that’s not going to change today,” Hardie said.During the hearing, the girls’ father, Jesus Cardoz...

East Bay firefighter with pending child porn case allegedly drowned in mysterious boating accident. The feds aren’t so sure

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:33 GMT

OAKLAND — Charles Johnathen Harris ‘ legal and personal problems had been stacking up last March. But a week after he was indicted of federal charges of possessing child pornography, and in danger of losing his Alameda County firefighter job, he got one small amount of relief.A magistrate judge on March 14, 2023 lifted requirements that Harris remain on home detention and submit to location monitoring by a pretrial services officer, court records show. Just three weeks later, Harris was gone.To Harris’ family and lawyer, he died a tragic death before he had a real chance to demonstrate his innocence in a court of law.The U.S. Department of Justice isn’t so sure. Citing her many unanswered questions, a federal prosecutor convinced a judge in April to issue an arrest warrant for Harris, should he turn up alive. Now, five months later, the case and the warrant remain active, newly obtained court records reveal.The mystery centers on Dutton Island, a remote marsh...