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Officials responding to fire in Caldwell County

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:25 GMT

CALDWELL COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) -- Officials are responding to a fire in Caldwell County, the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office said on social media Wednesday.CCSO reported the fire shortly before 3:30 p.m. on Dickerson Road with reports of heavy smoke. The fire is being called the Plum Hopper fire.The fire is estimated at 35 acres and is 0% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest ServiceDrivers are urged to avoid the area.This developing story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Wildfire: 'Home ignition zone' inspections can help prepare

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:25 GMT

CEDAR PARK, Texas (KXAN) -- Wind speeds combined with low moisture, dry trees, and possible dead limbs and vegetation left over from the winter freeze likely created ideal conditions for a Cedar Park wildfire to spread, according to experts."I'm intimately familiar with their operations," said Travis County Chief Fire Marshal Tony Callaway, who was previously a fire marshal in Cedar Park. "They have an excellent fire department that did an unbelievable job in their response yesterday and how they handled the situation that was thrown at them."On Tuesday, Cedar Park released new aerial video of the 50-acre Parmer Lane wildfire. It shows how the fire tore through grass and brush while appearing to stop short and spare dozens of townhomes and apartments. VIDEO: Drone footage shows scope of Cedar Park brush fire damage Callaway credits the emergency response on the ground, the good separation between the buildings and undeveloped land and how they were built. "It's going to be in reg...

Extreme fire danger as Austin tallies another heat record

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Today holds the highest wildfire risk of the season so far, with parts of our area under a 5-out-of-5 "extreme" wildfire danger. This, while Austin recorded its 27th 105°+ day of the year -- an all-time record for extreme heat days. We have had 49 total 100° days this year -- a tie for the 9th most in a given year.Very high to extreme fire danger in parts of Central Texas Wednesday BLOG: When will 100º days end in Austin? A Red Flag Warning (also known as) Fire Weather Warning has been reissued for all of Central Texas this evening and again Thursday. Low humidity, gusty winds (25-35 mph) and dry conditions will allow any wildfire that starts to spread rapidly.Red Flag Warning issued to due elevated to critical fire dangerWe are seeing hints of at least a chance of rain beginning somewhere around Aug. 20, along with temperatures that may finally drop below 100°, but this is not yet a guarantee. Stay with KXAN and the First Warning Weather team for updates as the h...

CapMetro experiencing issues with Apple, Google Pay

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Wednesday, CapMetro said it was aware of an issue that users were having while using Apple Pay and Google Pay on the CapMetro App.CapMetro said riders should use a different payment method until it could resolve the payment issue.The metro system apologized for the inconvenience and said users should contact 512-474-1200 if they needed help.

David Redman: American education and great white fables

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:25 GMT

Recent battles over how to teach history in American schools have focused on views of America’s domestic racism, but that’s only one piece of the problem of how we view history. Our pre-college curriculums and popular histories are filled with stories of great white men who single-handedly changed the world. This heroification, however, is often as much a made-up history as the stories of Marvel heroes in the movies. Many of these supposed ground-breakers were in fact preceded by generations of people including persons from other cultures and nations.We’re taught that one man, James Watt, an 18th-century Scot, is responsible for steam power — but steam power was being used 2,000 years earlier in Egypt. American Thomas Edison “invented” the light bulb a century after it was in development by inventors such as Alexander Lodygin from Tambov Governorate of the Russian Empire, Italian Alessandro Cruto and the African-American inventor, Lewis Howard Lat...

Stephen L. Carter: When a thumbs-up emoji gets a defendant a thumbs-down

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:25 GMT

Social media is all atwitter — um, all a-X-er? — about the emoji at the heart of the federal court ruling allowing a securities suit to proceed against billionaire investor Ryan Cohen. To be sure, litigation following a corporate collapse sprouts like weeds, but in this case both my law professor and wordsmith sides are fascinated by the allegation that Cohen used an image of a smiling moon to boost the stock price of Bed Bath & Beyond, after which he started selling his significant stake.The law professor in me marvels at the way judges must now struggle with the collapse of formal language. The wordsmith despairs at … well, the collapse of formal language, the costs of which we will be some while counting.The lawsuit arises from events in August of 2022, when Cohen still held a massive position in Bed Bath stock. CNBC tweeted a link to a negative story about Bed Bath, illustrated by an image of a shopper:Cohen tweeted back, “At least her cart is full...

Lisa Jarvis: AI improves breast cancer detection. But will that save lives?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:25 GMT

A large, rigorous study in Sweden of artificial intelligence in breast cancer screenings suggests AI can help doctors detect cancers more efficiently. We need more such studies to determine when the technology has real value — and when it might have risks. And although the findings are incredibly promising, because Europe uses different processes and technologies for cancer screening, the U.S. needs to commit to running its own similar studies to guide doctors here.Previous large studies all looked back at old medical records to gauge whether AI was capable of detecting cancers as accurately as doctors can. This study is the first trial of its size to test AI in real time on real patients — and will one day tell the field whether it actually improves the health of women. All of this is critical information as the technology increasingly becomes integrated into health care.In the study, some 80,000 women in Sweden were randomly assigned to receive either a double reading,...

Letters: Is St. Paul leadership building a city that people want to live in?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:25 GMT

Share a little kindnessI read the obituaries. This is to everyone who read the memorial (Sunday, Aug. 6) for Brian Eldridge: Remember the Golden Rule and share a little kindness; especially to those less fortunate.Susan Rudisill, Wyoming A city that people want to live in?Is St. Paul leadership building a city that people want to live in?Recent census data show that St. Paul’s population decreased by 2.7% from 2020 to 2022. Downtown businesses are still not returning to in-office work requirements, putting small businesses at risk. Property taxes went up by almost 15% last year, and now they want to increase the local sales tax by 1%, making St. Paul the highest-taxed city in the state.Over the last five years, the City’s budget has increased by over 40% to $801 million.  The Parks & Rec portion of the budget has increased 26.9% over the same period to $68.4 million yet per Director Andy Rodriguez they have a $100 million maintenance backlog. Over the same period the Public...

Discovering Saratoga: Remembering Maple Leaf Mel

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:25 GMT

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Racing fans near and far came together this week to remember Maple Leaf Mel, a 3-year-old gray filly who collapsed to the track during the Grade 1 Test Stakes on Saturday. Fans on social media raised more than $3,000 to purchase flowers to fill the empty stall that housed the late Maple Leaf Mel. Discovering Saratoga: Zippy Chippy turns 30 The New York Racing Association released a statement Saturday night saying Maple Leaf Mel had a “catastrophic injury to her right front leg,” and that she was “humanely euthanized due to the severity of the injury.” The following morning, Pretty Mischievous trainer Brendan Walsh delivered the Test Stakes flower blanket to trainer Melanie Giddings' barn.On Wednesday, a new filly moved into the late Maple Leaf Mel's empty stall. Her name is Mel's Baby Sister.

Former San Luis Valley DA sues his disbarred successor for $5 million over bogus felony charge

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:25 GMT

Alonzo Payne, former district attorney for the 12th Judicial DistrictFormer 12th Judicial District Attorney Robert Willett filed a $5 million federal lawsuit Tuesday against his successor and the district attorney’s office after he was wrongly prosecuted for embezzlement.Willett’s successor, the now-disbarred former district attorney Alonzo Payne, brought the felony charge against Willett in March 2022, days after Willett publicly called for Payne’s resignation. Willett claims in the lawsuit that the baseless charge was filed “as an act of sheer retaliation” for his public criticism of Payne.Payne resigned as district attorney for the 12th Judicial District in the San Luis Valley in July 2022 after an investigation by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office found he repeatedly violated crime victims’ rights. He also was facing a recall effort led by the city of Alamosa. Payne was disbarred in September in part because of his investigation into and prosec...