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NDP claims evidence is mounting that process for Ontario Place redevelopment was ‘rigged’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:43 GMT

Another rally has been held to oppose the province’s plans for Ontario Place at Queen’s Park on Monday, just hours after the NDP said it has “mounting evidence that suggests the Ford’s government’s process for this redevelopment was rigged.”“A rigged process that ultimately saw this public parkland handed over to a very particular private luxury spa company,” NDP leader Marit Stiles said.The NDP says a Freedom of Information Act request from Infrastructure Ontario shows that the government had plans to build a parking garage for the Therme Spa at Ontario Place two years before the public knew of the structure. The document is dated January 28, 2021, six months before it announced on July 30, 2021, that Therme and Live Nation were among the successful bidders for this project.“It suggests that Mr. Ford gifted a publicly funded half-billion-dollar parking garage to Therme and hid it from the public for two years,” S...

Northwestern St-SE Louisiana game moved up for Caldwell’s funeral

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:43 GMT

NATCHITOCHES, La. (AP) — Northwestern State’s home game against Southeastern has been moved to this Thursday night so that the contest won’t conflict with a wake and funeral services for recently slain Demons defensive back Ronnie Caldwell.Officials from both schools agreed to change the game time from Saturday after learning services for Caldwell were scheduled on Friday and Saturday in Austin, Texas. The new game time allows Northwestern State coaches and players to attend.Caldwell was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds by Natchitoches police officers who responded shortly after 1 a.m. last Thursday to a report of a shooting at an apartment complex near campus. The coroner’s office pronounced Caldwell dead at the scene.Police Cpl. John Greely has said no arrests have been made in connection with the case.The university had canceled last Saturday’s football game at Nicholls State.Caldwell played safety for the Demons after transferring from Tyler Junior College following...

Mayor Johnson reverses course on plans for southern border trip

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:43 GMT

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson announced Monday that he will not visit the country's southern border and will instead send a small delegation of city officials, reversing course on earlier plans. According to a statement released by the mayor's office on Monday morning, Johnson, as well as senior aides and key operations personnel, will stay in Chicago to "address the immediate urgency of adding shelter space to house thousands of new arrivals currently sleeping in police stations, airports or outside." Despite promises of plans, Chicago migrant crisis gets worse Johnson announced plans for a southern border trip earlier in the month, but in the statement sent out on Monday morning, the mayor reversed course, saying the delegation would be traveling to Texas without him beginning Tuesday.According to the statement, the mayor's administration is coordinating a delegation that will consist of city, state, faith and philanthropic leaders which will be led by Beatriz Ponce de Le...

What the Rite Aid bankruptcy filing means for customers, prescriptions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:43 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – The Rite Aid Corporation has filed for bankruptcy protection in order to reduce the company’s sizable debt and restructure. The move, announced Sunday, comes amid Rite Aid’s ongoing financial challenges, including those posed by opioid-related lawsuits.Rite Aid, however, has assured customers that it is not going out of business, and will continue to serve customers in-store and online.“We recognize the important role we play in serving you and meeting your healthcare needs, so we want to make sure you understand what this means for you,” Jeffrey S. Stein, the newly appointed CEO of Rite Aid, wrote in a letter addressed to Rite Aid customers on Sunday. LinkedIn laying off more than 660 workers In addition, Stein said customers would still be able to pick up prescriptions, get them delivered, or even accrue or use Rite Aid Rewards points.Rite Aid’s return policy will remain the same, and the stores are expected to “generally” offer the same products and selections, acco...

APD releases bodycam footage after man dies in police custody in northwest Austin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:43 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Austin Police Department has released body camera footage and 911 audio after a man died in APD custody death in northwest Austin earlier this month.APD identified the man who died as Reice Brown, 27. PREVIOUS: Man identified in APD in-custody death Brown was stunned by an officer Oct. 3 after police said he repeatedly hit himself with a metal object in front of them. He later was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The incident was recorded on two officers' body cameras.DISCLAIMER: Police body-worn camera footage has been edited for time and sensitivity. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Blood-covered man hitting himself walked Highway 183, stunned by APD, dies APD said the officer who deployed his weapon has roughly three years of experience with the department. In a news release Monday, police identified him as Officer Thomas Bores.The officer who arrived and helped Bores is Officer William Simonton, and the third officer who was o...

Coldest morning since March early Tuesday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:43 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Beautiful autumn weather continues with mild days and brisk nights. As surface high pressure settles directly over Texas tonight, conditions will be ideal for radiational cooling, leading to our coldest night since Mar. 20.Forecast low temperatures drop to the middle 40s in Austin and the 30s in the coldest rural valleys. Since we saw some rural readings as cold as 35 degrees in the Hill Country early Monday, we may see a few unpopulated creeks and valley bottoms drop to freezing early Tuesday morning. This will not be a widespread first freeze, however.Forecast low temperatures Tuesday morningHigh pressure in the upper atmosphere will build over the southwestern U.S. this week, leading to a continued dry northwesterly flow aloft. We are not expecting any precipitation in Central Texas for the next week.Surface winds start to blow from a warm southerly direction late Tuesday, leading to a rapid warming trend this week into the weekend. Daytime temperatures top 90 de...

Austin baby, mother receive lifesaving heart care

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:43 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Giving birth is tough enough for most mothers.Yet, Austin native Micaela Allen said she had a tougher time than most could have ever imagined.Her newborn daughter, Anderson, was rushed into live-saving surgery immediately after being born at the Dell Children’s Medical Center."It was definitely crazy with Anderson having a procedure on the day she was born,” Allen said. Austin doctor changing children’s lives in Kenya Anderson was born with a congenital heart defect, just like her mother.In a full circle moment, Allen’s childhood cardiologist, Dr. Karen Wright, entered the delivery room as the on-call cardiologist, and the two were reunited for the first time in 20 years.Dr. Karen Wright (left) provided lifesaving care on her former patient Micaela Allen’s (right) newborn baby Anderson.Although there were many unknowns about Anderson’s condition at birth, Allen was immediately put at ease seeing a familiar face that she trusted to care for her daughter."There was j...

US congressman urges FAA to address safety issues at Austin airport

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:43 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) --- It's been busy at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport lately.On Sunday, officials said in a social media post that more than 35,000 people are expected to depart from AUS on Monday. It could mark a top-five, record-breaking day at the airport. RELATED COVERAGE: Austin airport braces for record-breaking travel post-ACL Along with those travel numbers increasing, concerns for safety are on the rise as well. Letter to the FAA On Monday, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, urged Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) acting Administrator Polly Trottenberg to address low air traffic controller staffing levels at AUS.In the press release, Doggett specifically called on the FAA to: Increase both the number and training of air traffic controllersAdvance the ranking of AUS to a level 10 terminal facilityExpand airspace levels surrounding AUS'Near misses' In the letter, Rep. Doggett referenced a number of incidents between aircraft at AUS.He listed the follo...

How many scooter crashes did ATCEMS respond to last fiscal year?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:43 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Throughout fiscal year 2022-23, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services assisted 169 patients involved in electric scooter and micro-mobility crashes. While only representing a minute threshold of ATCEMS' total FY23 patients, officials are cautioning better safety practices from those riding scooters around town.Between July 1 and Sept. 30, ATCEMS responded to 48 cases related to micro-mobility cases — marking just 0.16% of the 29,423 patients seen by ATCEMS during that same time period. On Monday, ATCEMS Division Chief Kevin Parker told the City of Austin's public safety committee head and face injuries were the most prevalent ones treated, and most of them were consistent with people not wearing protective gear. RELATED: Austin trauma surgeon says 95% of traumatic scooter injuries involve alcohol "We're very supportive of wearing helmets, wearing any type of protective equipment," Parker told the committee. Among the 169 patients seen in FY23, 132 of them...

Big dreams of a community hub, but the future of the St. Paul Sears site is up in the air after back-to-back sales

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:43 GMT

A sports and digital arts-focused charter school that would come complete with an adjoining community sports complex. A wellness center. A “3D theme park” geared toward entrepreneurs. A hotel and parking ramp. And an international designation as the cornerstone of a “World Cultural Heritage” corridor.All of that could, in theory, take root on St. Paul’s Rice Street, alongside food courts, a mix of housing and other new additions to the shuttered Sears department store near the Minnesota State Capitol building.The future preservation and redevelopment of the Sears building remains uncertain following back-to-back property sales this spring, but new owners are advertising ambitious and wide-ranging plans hand-in-hand with local partners from the Twin Cities Chinese and Southeast Asian community.They are the latest concepts in a decade-long progression that has seen the 17-acre site reimagined every few years for a varying mix of office, retail and residen...