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LIVE: Latest TxTag contractor penalized millions, but driver complaints persist

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:08:32 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Auto-payment issues, double billing, incorrect statements and customer service runaround — those are just some of the complaints KXAN has received, by the hundreds, from Texas Department of Transportation toll road and TxTag users.KXAN has uncovered TxDOT toll system problems for nearly a decade. During that time, the state agency has repeatedly vowed improvement.In this latest investigative effort, KXAN dedicated more than two dozen journalists to hold TxDOT officials accountable, fight for public records, catalog hundreds of tips and complaints, and sift through thousands of pages of vendor contracts. When TxDOT wouldn’t schedule an interview, we attended public meetings to question the agency’s top brass. One regional toll authority finds success in focusing on its customers. Explore» -->Despite years dealing with vendor hiccups and software glitches, TxDOT officials now say they’re seeing big improvements to TxTag and their toll road system — a system that imp...

Metro Transit breaks ground on the B Line from downtown St. Paul to Uptown Minneapolis

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:08:32 GMT

Metro Transit held a ceremonial groundbreaking on Monday for the B Line, a bus rapid transit route that will soon link Uptown in Minneapolis to the Union Depot transit hub in downtown St. Paul.Construction on stations and improvements east of Hiawatha Avenue are expected to get underway this spring, followed by stations west of Hiawatha Avenue a year from now. Service, which will largely replace the Route 21 corridor, the state’s busiest local bus route, is scheduled to roll out in late 2024.The goal is to improve travel times on the 11-mile corridor by up to 20% through bus-only lanes, transit signal priority, all-door boarding and advance or off-board fare payments.The groundbreaking, attended by U.S. Sen. Tina Smith and the St. Paul and Minneapolis mayors, among other dignitaries, was held at 2701 27th Ave. South in Minneapolis, a Lake Street stop served by the Route 21 and multiple bus routes located within walking distance of the Blue Line.

St. Paul files appeal in public records fight over Summit Avenue bike trail

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:08:32 GMT

On Thursday, a Ramsey County District Court judge appointed a compliance facilitator and gave the city of St. Paul two weeks to produce internal emails, text messages and documents related to the proposed Summit Avenue bike trail, as requested by bike trail opponent Robert Cattanach.On Friday, the city fired back with a legal appeal that says, in a word, no.The city’s seven-page filing with the Minnesota Court of Appeals seeks to overturn Ramsey County District Court Judge Patrick Diamond’s May 4 order on the basis that, since last July, multiple city departments have already produced nearly 2,500 pages of documents in response to Cattanach’s 18 records requests.Calling their records searches to date exhaustive, officials with the mayor’s office indicated in an email last week they would comply with any decision of the court pending the outcome of their legal appeal, but “duplicating work already conducted by city staff at taxpayers’ expense does ...

Capital Pride Parade and Festival 2023 announced

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:08:32 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Pride Center of the Capital Region has announced the 2023 Capital PRIDE Parade and Festival. The annual event, which is the largest pride celebration in the northeast outside of New York City and Boston, is scheduled for June 11. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! The festival will be held at Washington Park in Albany. The parade will kick off at 11:45 a.m., starting down State Street, onto Lark Street, and then Madison Avenue. Hosted by Fly 92.3's Shawn Gillie, this year will feature performances from Martha Wash, Nina Sky, and Erin Harkes' band Hark (formerly the Erin Harkes Band). Additionally there will be appearances from the Gay Men's Chorus, Carmie Hope & Frieda Munchon, and the Capital Pride Drag Revue. New York State invests $5M into local arts centers Capital PRIDE and the Capital Pride Parade and Festival benefit the critical programs and services of the Pride Center of the Capit...

Common Roots buys CH Evans Albany brewery

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:08:32 GMT

SOUTH GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Common Roots Brewing Company has come a long way since the fire. After losing its original space in a spring 2019 blaze, the South Glens Falls brewery has rebuilt, with a second building now on the rise across the street. Next, the company is looking to plant new roots further south. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Common Roots is set to purchase CH Evans Brewery at the Albany Pump Station. In a joint announcement on Thursday, the company announced that it would purchase the pump station building and take over operations starting in November.“We are both excited and humbled to be continuing the CH Evans legacy while bringing this historic building into the Common Roots family,” said owners Christian and Bert Weber in a release. “We are thrilled to be able to continue the historic operations at the Albany Pump Station while expanding the Common Roots brand there.” Queensbury restaurant ra...

Teen dead after being trapped under sand at North Carolina beach

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:08:32 GMT

FRISCO, N.C. (WNCT) — A 17-year-old boy died Saturday after being trapped under several feet of sand at a beach in Frisco, North Carolina, according to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Family and friends were looking for the teen, who was only identified as being from Chesapeake, Virginia, and found him buried under several feet of sand. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Officials said law enforcement rangers responded at around 2 p.m. to a 911 call of a male teen trapped in a hole. The hole was dug in a back-dune area behind the primary dune and could not be seen from the beachfront, a press release from the park explained. Officials said the teen became buried after part of the adjacent dune collapsed into the hole.Rangers worked with family members to get the teen out while also performing CPR. Dare County Emergency Medical Services personnel and Hatteras Island Ocean Rescue staff assisted but the teen died at the scen...

Fatal shooting near Grand and Gravois in Tower Grove South

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:08:32 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Homicide detectives with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department are investigating a fatal shooting that occurred Monday afternoon in the Tower Grove South neighborhood.According to Sgt. Charles Wall, a police spokesman, the shooting happened prior to 1:50 p.m. in the 3600 block of South Grand Boulevard, near Gravois Avenue. Trending: 150 years later, Illinois bridge tragedy among nation’s worst Officers found the victim, an adult male, in a parking lot with a gunshot wound to the head.The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, Wall said. He has not been identified.Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to contact the police department’s Homicide Division at 314-444-5371. Tipsters who wish to remain anonymous or be eligible for a cash reward can call CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS.

Good Samaritan and Illinois first responders help save a life near I-64

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:08:32 GMT

O'FALLON, Ill. -- Police are sharing some good news about a group effort to save someone's life Sunday. A Good Samaritan and first responders helped restart someone's heart after a medical emergency on I-64.A couple was driving on the highway Sunday morning when they passed out. Their spouse, who was driving, pulled off of I-64 onto the shoulder of Green Mount Road. They called 911 to report that the victim was not conscious or breathing. Trending: 150 years later, Illinois bridge tragedy among nation’s worst A Good Samaritan stopped and started to help provide medical aid. Officers with the O’Fallon Police Department and Shiloh Police departments arrived and discovered the patient had no pulse. They helped provide CPR.An Automated External Defibrillator device was used to stabilize the heart's rhythm. The patient was taken to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

Jury finds Letecia Stauch guilty of murder in death of 11-year-old stepson Gannon Stauch

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:08:32 GMT

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children via APGannon StauchAn El Paso County jury on Monday concluded that Letecia Stauch was sane when she killed her 11-year-old stepson in the basement of the family’s Colorado Springs home three years ago.Jurors found Stauch guilty of first-degree murder, rejecting Stauch’s defense that she suffered a mental break and was legally insane when she stabbed and shot Gannon Stauch on Jan. 27, 2020.The 39-year-old will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.Stauch was also found guilty of tampering with a human body and tampering with evidence. She did not appear to visibly react when the verdict was read in El Paso County District Court on Monday.Gannon’s disappearance three years ago prompted national attention during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Letecia Stauch reported the boy missing on Jan. 27, 2020, saying he had gone to a friend’s house to play and never returned home, but a...

Candi CdeBaca says her comments about taxing white-owned businesses were taken out of context

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:08:32 GMT

Denver City Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca said she has been weathering a storm of criticism — some of which is racist and includes death threats — since an election forum on Thursday when she described a reparations strategy of taxing white-owned businesses.The barrage of hate speech particularly ramped up after a far-right and anti-LGBTQ social media account shared a clip of CdeBaca — who is running for reelection — at the forum, hosted by the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance.In that clip, CdeBaca discusses taxing white-owned businesses and offering the money to businesses owned by people of color.“Capitalism was built on stolen land, stolen labors and stolen resources,” CdeBaca, whose district covers much of Denver’s inner core, including Five Points and Globeville, said. “You could be collecting those extra taxes from white-led businesses all over the city and redistributing them to Black and Brown-owned businesses.”But CdeBaca told The Denver Post those c...