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‘It’s hard to focus’: Schools say American kids are hungry

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — America’s schools say kids are hungry — just as pandemic-era benefit programs have lapsed. There is growing concern about the effects on kids’ ability to learn. Congress temporarily made school meals free to all American schoolkids, but since that ended last fall, the need has only seemed to grow. Soaring food prices are adding strains on families who are seeing reductions in multiple kinds of financial assistance. One federal program that ends this month had given nearly 30 million Americans extra food stamps during the pandemic. School cafeterias typically don’t turn away a hungry kid, but debts for unpaid school meals have been rising — showing the level of need, and raising questions about how schools will keep feeding everyone, without federal money to do it. The neediest kids are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, as before the pandemic, but qualifying for those benefits requires applications that haven’t been necessary for several years. “Pro...

Will it take market crash for Congress to raise debt limit?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s one way to force President Joe Biden and Congress to solve the looming crisis over the debt limit: a financial market crash.That’s a view held by several economists and a former White House official, mindful that Congress rarely acts unless an emergency forces lawmakers to.“For that drama not ending in tragedy, key actors have to play their roles,” said Daleep Singh, who was Biden’s national security adviser for international economics and deputy director of the National Economic Council. “Market participants have a lead role of playing the victim. They have to produce pain. They have to produce a sea of red on their Bloomberg screens because politicians need to look at those screens.”Republicans and Democrats have been dancing around each other about the need to raise the government’s legal borrowing authority. Biden tried to edge closer on Thursday by releasing his budget plan that cuts deficits by $2.9 trillion over 10 years, an o...

Tractor-trolley in Pakistan falls into canal, killing 10

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — A tractor-pulled trolley transporting villagers to a shrine fell into an irrigation canal in eastern Pakistan, killing at least 10 people, a rescue official said Saturday.Ahmed Kamal, the head of the rescue service in the Dera Ghazi Khan district of Punjab province, said 27 of the 46 people onboard the trolley were rescued after the Friday accident by the time the operation was suspended due to darkness. Five bodies were retrieved and some of the rescued were injured, he said. Kamal said another five bodies were retrieved when searchers began again Saturday. He said the dead included three children and seven women. Nine people were still unaccounted for Saturday.Such incidents often take place in Pakistan where transportation infrastructure is often substandard, especially in rural villages, and people largely disregard safety standards. The Associated Press

Peel police officer, 2 others injured in Brampton crash; SIU investigating

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

The province’s Special Investigations Unit has been called in after three people, including a Peel police officer, were taken to hospital following a crash in Brampton. Just after 1 a.m. Peel police said one of its cruisers collided with another vehicle in the area of Main Street North and Vodden Street East in Brampton. The cause of the crash has not been released. Police said the officer sustained minor injuries in the crash and that two people in the other car were taken to a local hospital.In an update Saturday morning, police said one of those taken to hospital had been transferred to a trauma centre but that their injuries were considered non-life threatening. The SIU is a civilian law enforcement agency that investigates incidents involving an official where there has been death, serious injury, the discharge of a firearm at a person or an allegation of sexual assault.

Trump vs. DeSantis: Florida pastors mull conservative issues

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

DORAL, Florida (AP) — Several of Florida’s conservative faith leaders have the ear of two early frontrunners for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination – former president Donald Trump, who lives in Palm Beach, and Gov. Ron DeSantis. The clergy’s top political priorities are thus likely to resonate in the national campaign for the religious vote, even as both men’s agendas are still being weighed from the pulpit. The faith leaders’ key issues include education, especially about gender and sexuality, and immigration, a particularly relevant matter in Florida, which is a destination for hundreds of thousands of newcomers and home to politically powerful Latino diasporas. Trump made reducing illegal immigration a strong focus of his previous campaigns, often with strident rhetoric, and has discussed building on his legacy in a second term. DeSantis, who isn’t yet a candidate but is widely expected to run, has taken a more careful approach with immigration de...

Federal agents in Kansas standoff after gunfire exchanged

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Federal law enforcement agents were involved in a standoff at a Kansas apartment complex Friday evening after a suspect and an agent exchanged gunfire while authorities attempted to serve a warrant, police said.John Lacy of the Overland Park Police Department said the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI attempted to serve a felony warrant around 5 p.m. at the Villa Medici apartments, WDAF-TV reported.Officers barricaded the suspect into the complex and the man fired a gun at agents before running into an apartment, Lacy said.A U.S. Marshal returned fire but it was unclear if the suspect was hit, police said.The man remained inside the apartment as of 7 p.m. Friday, the station reported.Overland Park in Johnson County, Kansas, is about 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Kansas City, Missouri.The Associated Press

How to get to, from South by Southwest for 2023 festival

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The 2023 South by Southwest Conference & Festivals kicks off Friday, with a week-and-a-half's worth of keynote speakers, pop-ups, film screenings, concerts and other festivities planned. But with that comes the big question: How do I get to and from the festival?Road closures, impactsSeveral downtown-area roads will be fully or partially closed for the duration of SXSW, per the city's 2023 spring festival season guide. Here's a breakdown of those road closures and impacts, for drivers navigating downtown during the multi-day stint.SXSW shuttle systemSXSW operates a free shuttle route that runs from the Austin Convention Center and most SXSW venues throughout the event series. The shuttle can be picked up outside the Austin Convention Center along Trinity Street.Here are the shuttle run times:Friday, March 10: 10 a.m.-2 a.m.Saturday, March 11: 9 a.m.-2 a.m.Sunday, March 12: 9 a.m.- 2 a.m. (Daylight Savings Time)Monday, March 13: 9 a.m.-2 a.m.Tuesday, March 14: 9 a...

Back on the temperature roller coaster

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The final day of Central Standard Time is dawning with low clouds and fog reducing the visibility to under a mile at several locations east of I-35. Much warmer air will be felt today as high temperatures this afternoon peak in the upper 80s to some low 90s. The morning clouds will clear to abundant sunshine especially during the middle- to late-afternoon hours. Today's normal high is 72°. The record high for today is 92° first set in 1955 and tied in 1967.The next cold front will slip south during the overnight hours. It comes through with no rain. Winds will come out of the northwest to north after it's departure. Overnight lows will be in the middle/upper 50s to low 60s.Sunday is the first day of Daylight Saving Time. Sunrise Sunday morning will be at 7:44. The sun goes down at 7:37.Scattered clouds and the sun will blend during the day. Many highs will be in the lower to middle 70s. The temperature roller coasts continues on a downward slide with highs in the up...

Lawmakers ask for state park to temporarily reopen before permanent closure, sale to private developer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Lawmakers have asked the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to consider temporarily reopening a state park before its sale to a private developer later this summer.Fairfield Lake State Park, about 70 miles east of Waco, closed at the end of February after almost 50 years in operation. The site is not owned by the state, but rather leased by Vistra Energy, which operated a coal plant on the lake until 2018.The company is selling the land to a private developer, Todd Interests, which plans to turn the land into an exclusive community with multi-million dollar homes and a private golf course, according to the Dallas Morning News.The Parks and Wildlife Department was given a 120-day termination of lease notice on Feb. 13, meaning the state would have to vacate the property by June 13. TPWD decided to close the park to the public at the end of February to ensure the department had time to close all operations on the property. ‘Not constitutional’: Lawmakers hear how ef...

Colorado’s Independence Pass “John Doe,” found in 1970, identified as lost legendary skier Gardner Smith

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:25 GMT

A body found in the tundra atop Colorado’s Independence Pass in 1970 has been identified as legendary ski racer Gardner Paul Smith, a Beat-era adventurer who, before he went missing at age 39, was revered as a free-and-easy companion.“Whatever is right, friend,” he would say.Now the daughter he abandoned, who since childhood has wrestled with “a frustrating mystery,” is appealing for details from the end of his life “chasing winter” worldwide.“Obviously it is good to have closure,” said daughter Jeanne Gaida, a 60-year-old Texas real estate agent, in an interview this week. “I feel sad that he seemed to have had a lonely, tragic ending. …..“I’m still sorting it out. I am just sad – sad that he was alone,” said Gaida, who interpreted his “whatever is right, friend” expression as evidence of a kind and tolerant man who accepted others’ thinking.Smith’s exhumed remains sat for years in the Leadville office of a former co...