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Texas sends enforcement letter to Houston school district, beginning takeover

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 12:31:14 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The Texas Education Agency sent an enforcement letter to the Houston Independent School District on Wednesday, informing school leaders the state plans to take over the school district, after years of low student performance at several campuses.The letter informs district leaders the state will send out applications to get a superintendent and a new board of managers, appointing them no earlier than June 1. The board of managers will consist of Houston-area appointees, functioning essentially as a school board. TEA Commissioner Mike Morath met with a group of lawmakers behind closed doors Wednesday morning to detail why his agency has to intervene by law and what the next steps look like.READ: TEA Letter to Houston ISDDownloadDemocratic lawmakers representing legislative districts that have Houston ISD campuses immediately criticized the state's move. RELATED: Bill aims to stop state takeover of HISD "We're extremely disappointed. We're outraged. It's a dark da...

Must see TV for Jets fans: Aaron Rodgers to appear on Pat McAfee’s show this afternoon

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 12:31:14 GMT

The Aaron Rodgers drama could be coming to an end early Wednesday afternoon.The superstar quarterback will be stepping up to the mic on “The Pat McAfee Show” at 1 p.m. ET on the ex-NFL punter’s show on his YouTube channel.The 39-year-old quarterback has been the hot-button issue this offseason as the NFL world — especially the Jets — wait on him to finally make his decision regarding his future. He could remain with the Packers, accept a trade to the Jets (or another team) or retire from football altogether.Gang Green has been in hot pursuit of the four-time MVP this offseason. Jets’ brass including owner Woody Johnson, GM Joe Douglas, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and head coach Robert Saleh flew to California last week to try and convince Rodgers to join them.“It is always interesting meeting important figures in the sport,” Rodgers said about meeting with the Jets. “It is always interesting, it’s all I’m giving you. That’s all I’m giving you.”“Stay tuned, it won’t be lo...

Buelow wins seat on West Lakeland Township board

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 12:31:14 GMT

John Buelow won a seat on the West Lakeland Township board on Tuesday night, defeating incumbent Marian Appelt by 21 votes.John Buelow (Courtesy photo)In the Seat A race, Buelow, the owner of Buelow Excavating, received 327 votes; Appelt, who was appointed to the board in November 2019 and elected to the board in March 2022, received 306 votes.“The big issue was roads and how we’re going to pay for them,” Buelow said Wednesday morning. “When I went out door knocking, roads and the town hall renovation project were the issues people wanted to talk about.”Buelow, 74, said he ran for office because he believed his “technical expertise,” particularly in road building, could help the township. Many of the township’s 45 miles of road – which were built along with housing developments in the 1980s and 1990s – are aging and need improvement, he said.“Quite a few citizens at the annual meeting were in favor of setting up an advisory board on the roads to try and move forward with this, and I...

Winter storm watch: Snow expected in Twin Cities Thursday, blizzard conditions possible elsewhere

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 12:31:14 GMT

Are you ready for more snow, Twin Cities?A winter storm watch begins at 1 p.m. Thursday for portions of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities, as well as parts of Wisconsin.How much snow could we get before the watch expires at 7 a.m. Friday?“We’ll have a better idea this afternoon,” said Paige Marten, meteorologist at the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service, in an interview Wednesday morning.(National Weather Service)Blizzard conditions are possible elsewhere, across southwest and south central Minnesota, the National Weather Service reports.Currently, here’s the forecast:“For the Twin Cities, the snow amounts aren’t going to be particularly outrageous, not more than three to five inches,” Marten said.As for the timing:“It’ll start out as rain tomorrow morning,” Marten said on Wednesday. “And then it will transition to snow around lunch time, if not a little bit later, then snow for the rest of the event. It&...

3 ways to get your income and other money without the wait

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 12:31:14 GMT

When someone pays you cash, you have it instantly. But if that transaction is done online, be prepared to wait days to receive it. Even direct deposits — while more timely — rely on a bank’s schedule, and processing can take days. That’s largely by design due to bank policies and the Automated Clearing House Network, which handles everyday transfers.“The Automated Clearing House is essentially the digitalization of the way checks were handled,” says Peter Tapling, payments industry consultant and managing director at PTap Advisory LLC. The ACH Network batches and settles payments together multiple times per day, Tapling says.Same-day ACH transfers exist, but it’s optional for banks to send them, which can include a fee, and most use cases are for businesses. The standard delivery time for consumers sending funds between bank accounts is one to three business days (weekdays minus bank holidays), based on NerdWallet’s analysis of ACH transfers.If you have savings, waiting a coup...

Conservative wildlife management through the decades

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 12:31:14 GMT

Editor:In the 1970s and early 80s Peter Lougheed created Alberta’s first government departments for protection of the environment.As part of this, he hired a handful of Fish and Wildlife habitat protection biologists and positioned them around Alberta to ensure industrial developments were done in ways that protected wildlife habitat. That was Alberta’s ‘CONSERVE-ative era’ of wildlife management.In the late 1980s and 90s the Getty and Klein governments continued to establish approval and referral processes and maintained an effective Fish and Wildlife Division to serve Albertans. This was Alberta’s ‘con-SERVE-ative era’ of wildlife management.From the mid 1990s to 2010 there was an erosion of the Fish and Wildlife Division. Habitat protection biologists were eliminated. Industrial referral systems were dismantled. Habitat development was privatized. Up until that time, the Fish and Wildlife Division had paid for itself with hunting and fishing license revenues being similar to annu...

Drag has always been mainstream

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 12:31:14 GMT

From Japanese Kabuki, to Greek and Roman theatre, and Shakepeare’s Elizabethan stage, despite claims that drag performance is a trend on the rise, the history shows drag has been practiced across cultures and eras.Consider that in recent decades, drag has been near-constantly employed by male comedians and actors alike. While not all performances in this context are inherently “at the expense” of any one group, it seems a bit coincidental that the recent hysteria surrounding drag seems to be an issue now that queer people are the individuals leading mainstream drag performances. Now that queer drag art has carved out space as a mainstream phenomenon where the tired “man in a dress” is not in and of itself the entertainment value, some people are pushing back.Last week, the State of Tennessee passed Senate Bill 3(a)(1): “It is an offence for a person to engage in an adult cabaret performance: (A) On public property; or (B) In a location where the adult cabaret performance could be vi...

Bill 8 passes first reading

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 12:31:14 GMT

By Erika MathieuSunny South NewsThe Alberta Firearms Act, or Bill 8, passed first reading during the March 7 meeting of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.On March 1, Joseph Schow, MLA for Cardston-Siksika announced three bills to be tabled in the spring legislature. Among the bills announced, was Bill 8, “the Alberta Firearms Bill”, which would give the Province a framework to regulate issues relating to sale, seizure, and licensing, and pushes back against the federal government’s Bill C-21.Federal and provincial governments share jurisdiction over the regulation of firearms in Canada, but Bill 8 details the parameters and responsibilities of the province’s Chief Firearms Officer and grants him the authority to enact regulations aimed to counter the authority granted to the federal government and its agents relating to the seizure of restricted firearms and accessories proposed in C-21.If passed, the Chief Firearms Officer would be granted the flexibility to “administer the Canad...

Council considering association participation policy

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 12:31:14 GMT

By Nikki JamiesonSunny South NewsThe following are briefs from the March 7 regular Meeting of Coalhurst town council.FCM Convention attendanceMayor Lyndsay Montina proposed that she and one council member attend the upcoming Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Toronto this May. Montina said they have not attended an FCM conference since the council came into office, and she believed there was a lot of opportunities in attending the conference, such as connecting with different elected officials and gaining an understanding of municipal issues on a national scale, networking and setting up meetings with other municipalities that are undergoing innovative projects that they may want to consider bringing to Coalhurst.The cost to attend, including registration, flight, accommodation conference events and incidentals such as ground transportation and meals, would be budgeted at $4,000 per person.Coun. Heather Caldwell noted FCM has increased its interest in smaller munici...

Coalhurst remuneration policy passed

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 12:31:14 GMT

By Nikki JamiesonSunny South NewsFollowing months of discussion, Coalhurst town council has adopted a new remuneration policy.Previously, during council’s regular Dec. 6, 2022, meeting, they voted to postpone deliberation on the policy pending more information from the CAO regarding the comparator municipalities and a report to council at the Jan. 17 council meeting. When the matter returned to council, council passed a motion to refer the matter relating to Council Remuneration to the Policy Bylaw Risk Review Committee, and that the committee return to council with a recommendation no later than May 2.At a Feb. 13 Policy Bylaw Risk Review Committee meeting, several amendments were made to the policy, regarding salary changes, word changes, added definitions and to add parameters for an annual review of the policy. Council had voted during their Feb. 21 meeting to accept the draft policy as presented and postpone a decision to adopt the draft policy to a future meeting of council.“I...