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Judge to consider holding Texas in contempt following new evidence, testimony in foster care case

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:10 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – A federal judge is considering holding the state of Texas in contempt of court over ongoing problems in the Texas foster care system. Following days of testimony at the latest hearing in a lawsuit that has lasted over 12 years, U.S. District Judge Janis Jack could decide to fine the state for not meeting some of her specific, court-ordered reforms. Lawyers representing thousands of children in the state’s care asked Judge Jack to go a step further and to consider placing parts of the system into what’s called a receivership – a mechanism typically used in corporate law, which allows a court appointee to take control of an entity. ‘Nightmare’: Former Texas foster care workers describe dangerous living conditions inside unlicensed placements For three days, they brought former caseworkers, a former foster child, and a child welfare expert to testify on specific stories and cases, as well as more broadly on the living conditions and experiences of kids in the system....

Mahtomedi man robbed of casino winnings in home driveway, charges say

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:10 GMT

A casino winner was assaulted and robbed of more than $38,000 in cash outside his house in Mahtomedi early Sunday morning, according to court documents.The 67-year-old man told police he returned home from Treasure Island Resort & Casino with about $38,100 in cash about 2:15 a.m. Sunday when a red pickup pulled up to his residence in the 700 block of Griffin Court.“Two black male occupants exited the motor vehicle, physically assaulted him, took the cash from him, and left in the red pickup,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Washington County District Court.While the man was being punched and kicked by the men, two women relatives came out of the man’s house, according to the complaint. The men threatened that they “were going to kill the girls,” and one pointed a gun at one of the women and said, “You (expletive) better go inside or we will kill you.”The men fled the scene, and the man who had been robbed took after them in his own vehicle, the complaint states.Deange...

Keeler: CU Buffs, Deion Sanders’ 4-8 season should be graded on “curve,” Kordell Stewart says

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:10 GMT

BOULDER — Kordell Stewart’s CU Buffs were a last-place football team this fall. He’ll give you that. But they were America’s last-place football team.“Prime and I spoke every single week,” Stewart, one of the greatest QBs in CU history, said of Deion Sanders, the Buffs’ ubiquitous coach and his good friend/confidant.“But it’s a learning curve, right? You’ve got to give him a chance to learn. If you give him a chance to learn what he has on the football field, then he has a chance to know how to go about his business next year.”I’d give him a B-minus overall. We got three weeks of rock-star scores, rock-star shootouts, rock-star sellouts and rock-star guests. I mean, Lil Wayne led the team out at Folsom Field for the Rocky Mountain Showdown, for pity’s sake.Then Oregon punched new money straight in the kisser. And that was that.Quarterback Shedeur Sanders literally broke his back trying to carry this offens...

Denver still plans to house 1,000 people before year’s end — with help from just one micro-community

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:10 GMT

The push by Denver Mayor Mike Johnston to move 1,000 homeless people off the streets by year’s end gained new urgency Tuesday as city officials detailed a schedule of coming encampment closures.And they confirmed that it will be converted hotels — not the micro-community sites in neighborhoods that have attracted the heaviest pushback — that they will rely upon most heavily to accomplish that goal. Just one micro-community is projected to open by the end of the month, on Dec. 31.“By the end of the month, we expect to have resolved as many as 12 total encampments and have more than 1,000 people indoors through these efforts,” Cole Chandler, Johnston’s top homelessness adviser, told members of the City Council during an untelevised meeting at city hall.As of Tuesday afternoon, the Johnston administration’s existing dashboard counted 584 people sheltered through the effort, which Johnston launched with an emergency declaration to combat homeles...

Al Michaels won’t call an NFL playoff game for NBC this season

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:10 GMT

By JOE REEDY (AP Sports Writer)Al Michaels won’t be calling an NFL playoff game for NBC for the first time since the network returned to televising the league in 2006.NBC confirmed to The Associated Press that Michaels won’t be working the playoffs. It was first reported by the New York Post.The 79-year-old Michaels was the voice of “Sunday Night Football” from 2006 through 2021 before leaving for Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday night package when his contract expired. He has called 11 Super Bowls, including five for NBC.Michaels retained an announcer emeritus role at NBC and called an AFC wild card game last year with analyst Tony Dungy when the Jacksonville Jaguars rallied from a 27-point, first-half deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers 31-30.NBC has three games during the wild card round Jan. 14-16, including one being streamed on Peacock. The Sunday night crew of Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth will call two games. Noah Eagle and Todd Blackled...

Suspects held family at gunpoint in Rancho Cucamonga home invasion

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:10 GMT

A Rancho Cucamonga family is shaken after being held at gunpoint by two home-invasion robbers who remain on the loose Tuesday morning. Deputies responded to a robbery on the 5800 block of Rolling Pasture Place at around 12:30 a.m.Two armed male suspects entered the home and took items while holding the family at gunpoint, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.Residents are stunned and concerned as the typically quiet Inland Empire neighborhood is now the scene of an investigation.“All I’ve heard is that they were hurt, held at gunpoint, that they were tied up and that the brother or the son was hit in the head,” said Kristin Berzins, a neighbor.Residents in the neighborhood woke up to find deputies going door to door searching for surveillance video and other evidence that could lead them to the suspects' whereabouts.A Rancho Cucamonga family is shaken after being held at gunpoint by two home-invasion robbers who remain on the loose on Dec. 12, 2023. (KTLA...

Man charged with vandalism, hate crimes for antisemitic graffiti

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:10 GMT

A 32-year-old man has been charged with vandalism and hate crimes in connection with antisemitic drawings and graffiti on public and private property, including a Jewish synagogue, in Burbank and Glendale, authorities announced Tuesday. Klinton Allister Dion, a transient known to frequent Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, El Segundo and Los Angeles, faces two counts of vandalism of religious property.  Prosecutors also charged the 32-year-old with 10 counts of hate crime since they believe the antisemitic vandalism was done to intimidate and deter people from “freely exercising their religious beliefs,” a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office stated. Klinton Dion is seen in undated mugshots provided by the Burbank Police Department. According to authorities, Dion left behind drawings of an Iron Cross and a swastika, both Nazi symbols, at an IHOP in Glendale on Nov. 24.  “Approximately two hours later, he allegedly vandalized Temple Emanu El in...

Pod of hunting orcas, calves spotted off Los Angeles coast

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:10 GMT

Whale watchers off the Palos Verdes Peninsula were treated to a rare sight on Monday when they spotted a pod of orcas.Harbor Breeze Cruises posted photos on Facebook and said this was their first sighting of orcas in two years.This pod of a dozen or so orcas, which the Orange County Register reported "typically spend time off Mexico traveled up to Southern California," also included a pair of calves when spotted on a trip that departed at noon, according to Harbor Breeze.A pod of about a dozen orcas was spotted off the Southern California coast on Dec. 11, 2023. (Harbor Breeze Cruises)A pod of about a dozen orcas was spotted off the Southern California coast on Dec. 11, 2023. (Harbor Breeze Cruises)A pod of about a dozen orcas was spotted off the Southern California coast on Dec. 11, 2023. (Harbor Breeze Cruises)A pod of about a dozen orcas was spotted off the Southern California coast on Dec. 11, 2023. (Harbor Breeze Cruises)A pod of about a dozen orcas was spotted off the Southern...

Far-right Polish lawmaker blows out Hanukkah candles in parliament

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:10 GMT

By Vanessa Gera | Associated PressWARSAW, Poland — A far-right lawmaker in the Polish parliament on Tuesday extinguished candles on a menorah that were lit for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, creating disruption and scandal as a new pro-EU government was beginning its work.All major political forces quickly denounced the unprecedented incident by Grzegorz Braun, one of the most controversial lawmakers in parliament, and said there would be no tolerance for antisemitic and xenophobic behavior in the parliament.Braun, a pro-Russian member of the Confederation party, has in the past falsely claimed that there is a plot to turn Poland into a “Jewish state” and has called for homosexuality to be criminalized.The speaker of the parliament, Szymon Holownia, called the act “absolutely scandalous” and excluded Braun from the day’s parliamentary session, expressing hopes that “he will not return soon.” He said he was reporting him to prosecutors.The p...

Russian man flies from Denmark to LAX with no ticket or passport

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:10 GMT

Associated PressLOS ANGELES — A Russian man who flew on a plane from Denmark to Los Angeles in November without a passport or ticket told U.S. authorities he didn’t remember how he got through security in Europe, according to a federal complaint filed by the FBI.Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 4 via Scandinavian Airlines flight 931 from Copenhagen. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer could not find Ochigava on the flight manifest or any other incoming international flights, according to the complaint filed Nov. 6 in Los Angeles federal court.He was charged with being a stowaway on an aircraft and pleaded not guilty in a Dec. 5 arraignment. A trial was scheduled for Dec. 26. A federal public defender representing Ochigava, who remained in custody Tuesday, didn’t immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.The flight crew told investigators that during the flight’s departure,...