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Hundreds of Austin ISD students caught between a backlog and getting help

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:54:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Madalyn Betts has spent most of her life in special education classrooms, working through the challenges of having dyslexia, a speech impairment, and being on the autism spectrum. At 12, her aunt passed from a medical condition, and her grandmother died from coronavirus during the pandemic. Their deaths had a huge impact on Maddie. Her psychologist diagnosed her with social phobia and depression. She stopped going to Covington Middle School. Instead, she learned from her house as part of the Austin Independent School District homebound program. “Her anxiety popped up, and she was almost agoraphobic about going out,” Maddie’s mom Donna Betts said.  ‘She was struggling’: Austin ISD still working to finish delayed special education evaluations From home, the school’s special education services were inconsistent. State investigators with the Texas Education Agency found when Maddie was in seventh grade, the district violated special education requiremen...

UTMB researchers to use AI to study cultural barriers and cancer treatment

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:54:00 GMT

GALVESTON, Texas (KXAN) – The University of Texas Medical Branch said Monday its researchers will study the social and cultural barriers patients face when getting cancer treatment. According to the UTMB announcement, its researchers along with those from Texas Southern University in Houston got a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to use human-centered artificial intelligence to study those barriers to diagnoses and treatment in the United States. Many Americans have social and cultural hurdles that prevent them from getting timely cancer diagnoses and effective treatments, the announcement said. It pointed to a lack of transportation preventing women from being regularly screened for breast cancer which can increase the risk of a late cancer diagnosis that can be difficult to treat.“Such social factors, also called social determinants of health, are well-known but have been difficult to analyze and interpret despite the use of powerful machine learning methods...

No. 4 Westlake goes for another perfect regular season Thursday vs. Buda Johnson

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:54:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The No. 4 Westlake Chaparrals are one win away from a fourth consecutive perfect regular season, and they'll try to complete the feat Thursday against Buda Johnson at Bob Shelton Stadium in the KBVO Game of the Week.The Chaps will advance to the Class 6A-Division I playoffs as the district's top seed regardless of Thursday's result against the Jaguars, but a Jags upset and a Bowie loss to Lake Travis would put Johnson in the postseason. Johnson and Bowie are tied for the fourth playoff spot out of the district at 4-3. If both lose and end up 4-4, Bowie would get the nod to the playoffs via a 21-16 win Oct. 12.REPORT YOUR SCORE: We'd love to post your team's score on our website, but we need your help to do it. Email the score of your game to [email protected] and we'll get it on our websiteChaps senior running back Jack Kayser needed just three carries to rush for 94 yards in a 62-0 win over Bowie last week. Kayser scored on runs of 58 and 37 yards before calling it a ...

Mohonasen students honor classmate with custom parking spot

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:54:00 GMT

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Painting a parking spot at the Mohonasen High School parking lot is a senior tradition. It's a tradition that seniors this year decided to do in memory of one of their former classmates.Maddie would have been 16 this year, participating in the senior festivities. At age five, the kindergartener was diagnosed with an inoperable brain stem tumor. Maddie's mom, Erin Musto, says she lives with grief every day after losing her daughter. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Maddie's classmates remembered their friend this year by painting a parking spot in Maddie’s honor. Grace MacTurk, a senior and friend of the family, organized the act of kindness.“It’s important that she's remembered and she isn’t here to do it herself, so I think I wanted to be able to do it for her,” said Grace. Cosmetology teacher giving Albany students the hot tools to succeed Erin said, "I think one of the most special pieces ...

Crews responding to vacant house fire in north St. Louis City

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:54:00 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Crews are responding to a vacant house fire Thursday morning in St. Louis City. Our Bommarito Automotive Group SkyFOX helicopter is flying over the area located on the 5200 block of Palm in the Kingsway West neighborhood, where heavy smoke can be seen shooting from the roof. The St. Louis Fire Department is transitioning into 'defensive operations' as one firefighter was escorted out of the building and is being treated by EMS. Florida kidnapping victims rescued from downtown St. Louis hotel The extent of the injuries has not been revealed and the cause of the fire has not yet been reported. FOX 2 will update this story with more information as it becomes available.

Colorado consumers charge ahead with electric and hybrid vehicle purchases this year

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:54:00 GMT

Nearly one in four new vehicles registered in Colorado this year is either battery-electric, hybrid-electric, or hybrid, according to data released by the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association.Electric battery-powered vehicles accounted for 11.2% of all vehicle registrations in Colorado through Sept. 30 this year, up from 7.8% of the total in the same period of 2022. Hybrid vehicles accounted for a 9.2% market share, up from 7.3%. Plug-in hybrid vehicles remain a sliver of the market at 3.3%, up from 2.3%.Combined that works out to nearly 36,500 vehicles or 23.7% of all registrations in the first nine months of the year. The momentum toward electric accelerated in the past three months. In the third quarter, electric vehicles accounted for 13% of all vehicle registrations in Colorado, up from 10.2% in the second, according to the Colorado Auto Outlook.The Polis administration wants the state to have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2030. To help make that happen, the s...

Tattered Cover’s troubles remind us to shop at independent bookstores

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:54:00 GMT

The Tattered Cover declared bankruptcy in October, closing three stores and laying off at least 27 employees. While it takes steps to reorganize its debt and hopefully regain its standing as the queen of Colorado independent bookstores, remember that you can still show your love through purchases at our dear Tattered, as well as these other shops across the Front Range.Related ArticlesBooks | “Fourth Wing” is taking the book world by storm. Here’s what you need to know about Colorado’s Rebecca Yarros and the sequel “Iron Flame” Books | Letters: Columnist Mark Kiszla leaves his own big footprint in sports world Books | Garfield County leaders tell library to keep “pornographic materials” away from kids in latest salvo over Japanese graphic novels Books | Deion Sanders’ advice book “Elevate and Dominate” coming in March Books | “Tom Lake,&#...

Things to do this weekend: Emo orchestra, a timely Jewish Film Fest and Denver Arts Week

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:54:00 GMT

11th Boulder Jewish Film FestThrough Nov. 12. The Boulder Jewish Film Festival could hardly come at a more relevant time. Films that delve into the complexity and nuance of the Jewish experience during this moment of conflict also include works whose creators have been affected by the ongoing war with Hamas, producers said.Programmers of the Nov. 2-12 fest have responded to this moment by adding topical elements to the fest, they said, including a 5-film segment that celebrates Israel’s 75th anniversary and the short film “The Boy,” by Yahaz Winner, who died in a Hamas attack on his kibbutz, as well as “Sirens” (in the Shorts program).The centerpiece is the live-scored silent film “The Man Without a World” on Nov. 9, with closing-night film “Idina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage?” arriving on Nov. 12. And a dozen-plus more. All screenings at the Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St. in Boulder. Tickets: $18-$25 via thedairy.org/bould...

Gov. Jared Polis proposes full funding of education in budget — a first in 14 years — and more housing development

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:54:00 GMT

Gov. Jared Polis proposed fully funding Colorado’s public education system for the first time in 14 years Wednesday, even as he unveiled a budget plan that he said signaled a return to a normal — and tight — financial state of affairs.Beyond finally meeting the state’s constitutional education funding responsibility, Polis’ proposal also advocates for more than $136 million for his housing priorities, largely to advance his goal of building more across the state. The plan includes nearly $40 million for public safety; $75 million to address the state’s competency crisis, in which people waiting to be deemed competent to stand trial are backed up in state hospitals; and millions more in environmental, education and health care spending.It’s the first state budget proposal in several years that isn’t cushioned by significant COVID-19 pandemic aid from the federal government.Broadly, Polis said his budget prioritizes a handful of issues: ...

Colorado lawmakers seek ban on water-sucking, nonnative grass that’s planted only for aesthetics

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:54:00 GMT

Coloradans might have to say goodbye to verdant green medians full of grass if state lawmakers succeed in a plan to save water by banning new nonnative ornamental turf.A bipartisan draft bill approved Tuesday by the Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee would prohibit state government, local governments and homeowners’ associations from planting new nonfunctional turf, artificial turf or invasive plants on any commercial, industrial or institutional property beginning at the start of 2025.The proposed ban would not apply to residential lawns.The goal behind the proposed legislation is to reduce water use in the often drought-ridden state as Colorado becomes warmer and more arid. Nearly half of water used in cities and towns goes to watering lawns — most of which are planted with nonnative turf, said Lindsay Rogers, a policy advisor with Western Resource Advocates who testified on the draft bill during Tuesday’s hearing.“Our new bill makes a simple change...