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Central Texas school districts call for more funding as lawmakers talk public education

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — School districts across Central Texas are banding together and asking the state for more money."School districts across the state are struggling," said Ed Ramos, Austin ISD chief financial officer.This comes at a time when teachers continue to leave the industry and some school districts are having to make major cuts."The funding is not there," said Thrall ISD superintendent Tommy Hooker.According to district leaders around Central Texas, inflation has risen roughly 17% since 2019, the last time Texas increased school funding. Texas lawmakers would need to add $14.5 billion to school funding just to keep up with rising costs. AISD teachers, staff could be getting a raise soon "We have a large task in public schools to fund initiatives for student success," said Hooker."Each school in the state currently receives $6,160 per student based on the average attendance formula which puts the state in the bottom 10 in per-student funding," said James Matlock with Hutto IS...

The legacy of Matt Dumba and what the Wild stand to lose

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

Even if Matt Dumba wanted to go back into the game last Friday at the Xcel Energy Center, his best friend Jonas Brodin wasn’t going to let that happen.They talked in the Wild locker room at intermission like they always do, only this time Dumba admitted to Brodin that he didn’t feel like himself after hitting his head along the boards. In that moment, Dumba’s health was the only thing on Brodin’s mind, and he immediately sought out trainer John Worley to make sure everyone followed protocol.When the Wild paraded out of the tunnel shortly thereafter, Dumba stayed in the back, sitting out the final 20 minutes of what might have been his last game with Minnesota. As most everyone knows by now, the Wild went on to lose Game 6 of their first-round playoff series against the Dallas Stars, ending their 2022-23 season.Asked about the exchange, Dumba’s eyes started to well up with tears when he talked about Brodin looking out for him when perhaps he wasn’t...

With a $17.5 billion surplus, MN DFLers disagree on how to raise tax revenue

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

With rebates for taxpayers, credits for families and new revenues, there’s a lot of similarities in how Democrats in the House and Senate want to change the taxes Minnesotans pay, but there’s also some key differences.The biggest discrepancies? The Senate proposal raises less new tax revenue than the House and it allows dozens of local communities to hike sales tax rates. The House version excludes those local sales tax request and adds in a new income tax tier.The conflicting ideas are coming into focus after the House approved a mammoth tax bill last week and the Senate is poised to do so Tuesday. So far, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which controls both chambers of the Legislature with a narrow majority, has struggled to attract Republican support.Democrats have pledged that about $3 billion in tax changes will be included in the next two-year budget. Their plans include rebates for taxpayers, expanded credits for lower-income residents and families and some help...

New York State Fair ticket and parking prices to increase

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) -- This past February, Governor Kathy Hochul proposed doubling admission and parking prices for the New York State Fair in her State Budget, and on May 1, she and state lawmakers made that proposal permanent.Tickets will now be $6 for adults instead of $3 and $10 per vehicle for parking instead of $5. This price increase brings ticket prices back to around what they used to be before they were lowered during the pandemic. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Since 2005, ticket prices were $6 for advance-sale tickets and $10 at the gate. It was in 2020 that the NYS Fair dropped its prices to $3, which was the lowest price since 1990. Although this price increase is more than pandemic prices, it isn't the highest it's ever been, rather in the middle range of NYS Fair admission prices of the past.The State Fair is also increasing fees for those who rent spaces for concessions and non-fair events by 1.5% for...

U.S. lifting COVID-19 vaccine mandate at Canadian border

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The U.S. will lift the COVID-19 vaccine mandate at the Canadian border next week, Rep. Brian Higgins (NY-26) confirmed on Monday.Now, Canadians entering the United States at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls and Queenston-Lewiston Bridge in Lewiston as well as across the country will no longer have to show proof of a COVID vaccination. The new policy will go into effect starting on May 11. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! This will end over three years of some sort of vaccine restrictions at the borders between the two countries. On October 1, 2022, Canada lifted its requirements to show proof of vaccination when entering the country.Before that, policies changed several times from the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, from the border being closed to testing requirements. With this change, there are no longer any sort of requirements."After 3 years of restrictions, we can ...

Biden calls McCarthy to meet amid debt ceiling warning

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

President Biden on Monday called Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other congressional leaders to invite them to a meeting at the White House on May 9 to discuss the debt ceiling ahead of a looming deadline, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Hill. The president reached out to McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). McCarthy is currently leading a congressional delegation in Israel.Biden’s outreach came less than two hours after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned lawmakers that the U.S. government could default as early as June 1 if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling.Yellen’s letter is likely to ratchet up the intensity within Washington, D.C., around the matter as negotiations between Biden and McCarthy came to a standstill in recent weeks. Both have been locked in a standoff with neither side willing to cave.Administration officials...

Yellen says drop-dead date for debt ceiling is June 1

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

Lawmakers have until June 1 to raise the nation's debt ceiling, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote in a letter to congressional leaders on Monday.Yellen told lawmakers she expects the U.S. to no longer be able to pay all of its outstanding obligations by as early as June 1, ramping up pressure on Congress and the White House to come to an agreement. Yellen initially told lawmakers it was unlikely the federal government would exhaust the so-called extraordinary measures it has been using to continue paying its bills before early June. But now, citing recent tax revenues, Yellen said the deadline is expected to come sooner than expected.The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Congress’s chief nonpartisan budget scorekeeper, also warned on Monday there is “significantly greater risk that the Treasury will run out of funds in early June,” citing lower-than-expected revenue in April.“We now know that receipts from income tax payments processed in April were less than we anticipated in ...

St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office reeling after resignations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

ST. LOUIS – Two more prosecutors, in charge of the most serious cases, have now walked out of the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office. They are two former Kim Gardner employees who just last week took the brunt of contempt hearings brought by judges. Those prosecutors showed up without the backing of their boss, who did not appear at either hearing.Alex Polta and Chris Desilets both in front of judges last week and argued Gardner knew both their individual health challenges and their overwhelming caseloads.Desilets described to a judge Thursday how they’re often double booked.“Almost everyone has more than one piece of business in a busy circuit, and so with the inability to be two places at once, we are at one place on time, and the rest we are not,” he said.Desilets confirmed to FOX 2 that he resigned Monday. He added that it’s effective immediately. That means his 104 felony cases will now go to the last two remaining in the Violent Crimes Unit: Sai Chigarupati and Matt Field. ...

Missouri Senate OKs higher bar for constitutional changes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri voters would need approval from a majority of the state’s congressional districts or a 57% statewide vote to amend the state constitution under a proposal the Senate passed Thursday.Senators voted 24-10 along party lines in favor of the change, which would go before voters if passed by the House by the May 12 end of session.Currently, it takes a simple majority to amend the state’s constitution, which Republican lawmakers say is too low.Republican Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden said the proposal would “protect the constitution” without taking away voters’ access to ballot initiatives.“It doesn’t put up barriers that are so high that you can’t do it,” Rowden said.Voters in recent years have used ballot measures to enact policies that the GOP-led Legislature has either avoided or opposed, such as legal recreational marijuana for adults and expanded access to Medicaid.Amending the constitution instead of state law also makes it si...

Kiszla vs. Durando: Who gets blame for Avalanche’s flameout from Stanley Cup Playoffs?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

Kiz: Load up the van, let’s take the Avs to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard and tell them: Good job, boys. Go get ’em next year. Sorry, my friend. A champion deserves more respect than a condescending pat on the head. As defenseman Erik Johnson said after the Game 7 loss on home ice to Seattle, there are no participation ribbons in the NHL playoffs. So where does the blame begin for getting bounced from the first round? Go ahead and list the bad injury luck, but it’s hard for me to blame the cruel hockey gods for the disappearance of Valeri Nichushkin.Durando: Are we allowed to blame the salary cap for starters? There’s a reason only two teams have repeated as champions in the NHL’s cap era. The NHL is unsympathetic toward teams with sights set on a dynasty. Think about Tampa, which did pull off the elusive back-to-back. So close to a three-peat only to get slapped around by the Avalanche in a Cup Final then bounced in the first round this year. I don’...