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Cash, connections, and conflicts of interest precede Paxton impeachment trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — As state senators prepare to decide the fate of Texas' top law enforcement official, many of them face a recent history of political activity tying them to the defendant as GOP mega-donors work behind the scenes to tilt the scales.PAC PressureIn June, campaign finance records revealed the pro-Paxton "Defend Texas Liberty" political action committee donated $3 million to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who will preside over the impeachment trial.The donation immediately prompted condemnation from some senators and observers concerned about the influence of money in the quasi-judicial process."All of the support that we've ever given to elected officials after a session has been because they fought hard to deliver conservative policy results for Texans," conservative activist and PAC leader Luke Macias said, framing the donation as a retroactive appreciation for the Senate's conservative record rather than a push for favorable Paxton treatment.Jonathan Stickland, the PAC's pr...

Humidity increases ahead of record breaking heat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Today into Labor Day Monday will both feature an isolated shower or downpour (less than a 10%) for our northern counties. Otherwise, expect very hot conditions to persist with increasing humidity. Expect "Feels-Like" temps to climb to as high as 108 degrees through the middle of the week.Increasing humidityWhile there is a chance for a spot storm through Wednesday, most of us won't get any rain for the next week or more.As rain chances subside, record heat returns to Central Texas. By Thursday through Saturday of next week our highs will challenge records.Not much hope for significant heat or drought relief in the near term. 2023 was Austin's hottest summer on record. What should we expect in September? Hotter, drier than normal weather is expected through at least the middle of September. BLOG: Could PDO mess with our wet El Niño? Austin Interactive Weather Stats (2023) FIRST WARNING WEATHER: Stay up to date with your Central Texas forecast, sign up for our...

New medical bill transparency law in effect; what you need to know

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

Michelle Ledesma at her home in Cedar Park reviewing the new medical bill transparency law. (KXAN Photo/Arezow Doost.This report is an update to KXAN’s “Medical Debt Lawsuits” investigation. Our team followed this legislation during Texas’ regular legislative session.WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Michelle Ledesma breathed a sigh of relief as lawmakers voted to send Senate Bill 490 to Gov. Greg Abbott.It was May and she had already been tracking the bill for months during the last regular session."I was getting email alerts," Ledesma said. "I started to follow each stage."It was the first time she had followed legislation this closely. Ledesma, who is from Cedar Park, added she realized the impact was wide reaching and not just personal.Ledesma explained in 2018 she was hospitalized for a severe bacterial infection. She said she had insurance but was billed more than $2,000 out of pocket. Two years after her treatment, she was sued by an area hospital for medical d...

Taylor man sentenced to life in connection with continuous sexual abuse of a young child

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — A man was sentenced Monday by a jury in Williamson County after finding him guilty of continuous sexual abuse of a young child, according to the Williamson County District Attorney.A release said Juan J. Banda, of Taylor, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.During the trial, the DA’s office said evidence was presented that between 2007 and 2012, Banda subjected four girls under the age of 14 to various forms of sexual abuse.“The case came to light in 2020 when one of the victims, now an adult, courageously reported the abuse to the Taylor Police Department. After the first report, a second victim also decided to come forward. Law enforcement later uncovered the existence of two additional victims,” the DA’s office said.According to the release, during the week-long trial, the jury heard testimony from all four victims about the sexual abuse they endured as children."Children are among the most vulnerable members of the ...

New program aims to help new families with food insecurity in Austin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new partnership program is aiming to reduce food insecurity for new families in Austin. Ascension Seton Medical Center, Farmshare Austin, The Cook's Nook and the Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health are working together in the new program called Food is the Best Medicine. As emergency food assistance nears end, 1 in 5 Texans face hunger According to a February poll from No Kid Hungry, a national campaign, two in five parents experienced food insecurity in the past 12 months. More broadly, 73% of Texans are having a harder time affording groceries than at the same time in 2022.The program will give families 120 meals; prepped fruit, vegetables and grain-forward meal kits; and a produce and pantry staples box, according to a release. Weekly provisions are delivered to each family's home. Participating families will also be part of a study with UTHealth Houston to measure the pr...

John Demma: Self governance? E pluribus unum? They’re on us

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

“In free governments,” Ben Franklin said, “the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns.”Ben’s wisdom byte poses a reckoning for our grand experiment in self-governance:Are We The People (the “bosses”), capable of reconciling our social, economic and political differences? (In service to sustaining our experiment while safeguarding it from haters, conflict exploiters, toxin spreaders and takeover by ruler-servants?)By Ben’s measure, We The People are the ultimate keepers or losers of our self-governance and shared sovereignty. Why? Because power, Ben says, originates with We The People, and flows (with our continuous consent) from us to our subordinate ruler-servants.Blaming our grand experiment’s troubles on ruler-servants damns us as incapable of settling our differences.It places us at risk of losing our sovereignty at the speed of growing unreconciled differences.We The People are tracking toward subservience by ruler-servants (and wannabes) whose hi...

Colorado trucking company in I-25 crash that killed 5 family members tried to buy insurance hours after wreck

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

The Arvada trucking company involved in a fatal crash last year on Interstate 25 that killed five members of the same family tried to purchase insurance less than two hours after the collision, according to court documents.A June 5 complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for Colorado by a Wisconsin insurance company, alleges the truck involved in the crash was not insured at the time of the June 13, 2022, wreck in Weld County.The crash — which killed Halie Everts, her fiancé Aaron Godinez, their 3-month-old daughter Tessleigh Godinez, and Aaron’s parents Emiliano Godines and Christina Godines — occurred at 1:27 p.m.At 2:49 p.m., Lucky 22, the now-defunct trucking company, made the request to add the involved truck to its policy, Artisan and Truckers Casualty Co. alleged in the complaint.9News first reported the company’s insurance request.The insurance claim comes amid serious questions about the trucking company’s safety history before the fatal crash....

Is Delta-8 Great For Everybody? — Analyzing Delta-8’s Average Safety Profile 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

Interest in hemp-derived delta-8 THC is almost on par with CBD oil. Indeed, if you’ve recently visited a CBD shop, hemp dispensary, or CBD website, you’ve probably noticed delta-8 items. It seems like American consumers can’t get enough of the psychoactive cannabinoid in e-juices, gummies, and tinctures.Although delta-8 has become increasingly prevalent in the US market, that doesn’t mean it’s an ideal supplement for everyone. Since delta-8 THC is such a new substance, there are a lot of questions surrounding its safety profile. Although many people report good results using high-quality delta-8 products, there are some concerns people should know about before diving into delta-8 extracts.Can Every Healthy Adult Safely Take Delta-8 Products?According to most university-backed surveys, delta-8 THC produces a slightly less intense experience than delta-9 THC. Even though delta-8 is psychoactive and will bind with the brain’s CB1 receptors, it appears to have less intensity compared wi...

Silicon Valley billionaires’ land grab for utopian development draws fury, fears

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

Kathy Threlfall received two offers from a group of ultra-wealthy Silicon Valley investors to buy her Solano County farm and a two-story farmhouse built by her great-grandparents that’s “a little cocky-wobble” with age. The would-be buyers, a who’s-who of Silicon Valley billionaires, are snapping up farmland and suing neighbors to construct their vision of utopia north of Antioch and east of Vallejo.Threlfall, 75, is retired from cattle ranching, but still takes comfort in the rolling hills and farms surrounding her 240-acre property about three miles northwest of the Sacramento River. The landscape, green in winter and spring and golden now, fills her with a sense of home, community and “belonging somewhere.”Now, the uber-rich folk from out of town, operating under a secretive company, Flannery Associates, and its just revealed parent, California Forever, are bringing change, stress and turmoil, Threlfall said.She said no deal to the investors sh...

Santa Clara County: Use of tear gas, pepper spray on mentally ill inmates raises concerns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:28 GMT

A new report condoning the use of tear gas and pepper spray in Santa Clara County jails is raising concerns among criminal justice reform advocates who argue the county’s correctional officers shouldn’t be using chemical agents on mentally ill inmates.“This population of folks should not be in a county jail,” Silicon Valley DeBug community organizer Jose Valle said. “We should not be incarcerating mental illness. For the amount of money that’s being invested in military chemical weapons such as tear gas or tasers or anything of the like, that money could be reinvested into actual non-carceral treatment for these folks.”The report was commissioned earlier this year by the Board of Supervisors who asked the county’s office of correction and law enforcement monitoring to assess the use of tear gas and pepper spray in the jail and determine whether other alternatives could be used to gain inmate compliance and if current policies could be improv...