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Austin winner of 2023 national Disney contest advises future applicants

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:30:38 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – A winner of last year’s Disney Dreamers Academy Essay Contest said it was one of the best experiences of her life, and she encourages others to apply. U.S. High School students aged 13 to 19 have the opportunity to apply for the Disney Dreamers Academy, which gives driven students who “dream big” the chance to experience a four-day event at Disney World Flordia “designed to give young people the tools they need to make their dreams come true," according to Disney. Medha Pulluru, a 17-year-old Vista Ridge High School student, was one of 100 chosen out of 25,000 applicants last year. And hearing some of Pulluru's dreams she hopes to achieve, it is unsurprising to learn that she got a spot.  “I want to pursue a career in medicine [and] I hope to start a [pharmacutical] company in undergrad,” she told KXAN. “I'm really interested in research, so I hope to continue that. I want to be a neurosurgeon,” she continued. “That's kind of the plan as of right ...

After over 2 decades in business, Make It Sweet says it will close its doors

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:30:38 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Make it Sweet, a business that offers baking lessons and sells supplies, announced Friday it would close its doors for good Sept. 1, citing dramatic increases in the cost of operating a business. The business ran for 21 years in north Austin. In a release to its customers, store owners Jennifer and Randy Bartos said challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, quickly followed by disruptions in the supply chain, were too much for the business to recover from. MORE: Mr. Natural in south Austin closes "Randy and I have put all of our time and effort and personal resources into nurturing our business. However, when faced with these ongoing difficulties, remaining open is ultimately not viable," the release said. "We deeply regret any inconvenience that this closure may cause you. Our intent is to ensure a smooth transition for you by offering exceptional discounts on our remaining inventory until ourclosure date of [Sept. 1]. We will additionally be able to place...

Hays County Sheriff's Office eyeing new device to avoid deadly force

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:30:38 GMT

HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) -- The push to avoid excessive force during arrests continues across the country, and it could be coming to Central Texas in the form of a new less-than-lethal device.Bolawrap is a device that shoots out a wire at a suspect, tying them up before they can run away or cause problems.Anthony Hipolito says avoiding force is always a top priority when responding to a call."Officers don't go to work looking to use force," said Hipolito.Terry Nichols, director of business development with Bola Wrap says the device can help with de-escalation, and it can come in handy during a mental health emergency or if someone is looking for a fight."Now we have remote restraint technology like the Bola Wrap that allows us to retrain someone from afar," said Nichols. Critics question `less lethal’ force used during protests Each device has a green laser for aiming. Once fired the device lets out a loud bang.Instructors tell KXAN they train people to aim for the legs or chest ...

Ken Paxton's legal team moves to dismiss part of impeachment

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:30:38 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Attorneys for Ken Paxton in his impeachment trial are trying to get some of the charges against him dropped, KXAN learned on Friday.The suspended attorney general's legal team turned in a motion to dismiss Article 5 of the impeachment to exclude what they called inadmissible evidence.Article 5 states Paxton misused his power to break the law when it came to how outside attorneys are appointed. Paxton's team argued Article 5 doesn't contain an impeachable offense. The inadmissible evidence the other motion refers to is campaign donations made to Paxton in 2018, which the team claimed are irrelevant and politically charged. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asks for impeachment articles to be dismissed In two related motions filed to the Senate last week, Paxton’s attorneys argued impeaching him would usurp the will of voters — considering the majority of allegations were already public and Texans still reelected the attorney general. Paxton’s defense team cited stat...

Jury finds Minneapolis woman not guilty of intentionally hitting man with car in St. Paul

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:30:38 GMT

A Ramsey County jury has acquitted a woman of charges that she intentionally hit the father of her children with her car in St. Paul, sending him to the hospital, during an argument in 2021.Tishyra Dionne Hulsey, 51, of Minneapolis, was found not guilty of second- and third-degree assault last week following a two-day trial in Ramsey County District Court. Jurors deliberated for about 45 minutes before reaching the verdicts, according to court records.Hulsey was represented by attorney Seamus Mahoney, who said Friday that he argued it was an accident and that Hulsey testified as much during the trial.“She accelerated — she testified two or three car lengths — and shot forward and lost control of the car,” Mahoney said. “The jury believed her.”Dennis Gerhardstein, spokesman for the Ramsey County attorney’s office, said in a Friday statement: “While we are disappointed with the outcome, we respect the decision of the jury.”According to the criminal compla...

Thousands of items donated to asylum seekers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:30:38 GMT

ROTTERDAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) — One local organization coordinated a donation drive on Thursday which allowed them to distribute thousands of items to asylum seekers on Friday. Organizers called it a wild success.Allies for Justice of Schenectady County organizer Liesha Sherman said migrant families have a tremendous amount of needs and she was excited to see people from around the Capital Region show up in droves.  Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! “It was amazing. It was hundreds and hundreds of people so that just feels overwhelming but it also feels right. That’s what Rotterdam is like,” said Sherman.She’s thankful the community helped tighten the gap and met some of their needs Friday. “They’re new to our country. They don’t have anything. A lot of them came across the border with just the clothes on their back. We met them last week and they were wearing flip-flops. They had holes in their shoes and so they just really had ...

Protests follow lengthy closure of St. Louis City pool

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:30:38 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Crowds gathered to protest over a closed public pool Friday as children and teens ask the City of St. Louis to reopen the swimming pool in Fairground Park.The pool closed in May after it was vandalized and damaged. With heavy cleanup and repairs anticipated, the pool did not open as planned on Memorial Day weekend. Entering the first week of August, it remains closed. Kids from Camp Sun Splash, ranging in age from 4 to 18, marched outside City Hall on Friday morning.  Prosecutor dropping child abuse charge despite daycare video “It’d been closed since camp started, and now we got to go to a different pool,” said Shaelin Smith with Camp Sun Splash.Velma Bailey is the founder of the St. Louis Torchbearers 2, which sponsors the camp. She said they’ve had to take four buses a day to get to a pool. The summer program is 10 weeks long, and they said it includes going to the pool often. “We just really be wanting the pool open because like I said that’s our schedule...

Billy Busch rips Bud Light during TMZ tussle

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:30:38 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- TMZ host Harvey Levin and Anheuser-Busch beer heir Billy Busch got into a heated discussion over the Bud Light controversy Friday. Busch said that people did not want to drink beer associated with a transgender person on the can. Levin argued that the motivation behind the boycott is prejudice.Busch is on a publicity tour for his new book Family Reigns: The Extraordinary Rise and Epic Fall of an American Dynasty. It is a firsthand account of the renowned beer family’s history, from its inception, to its remarkable growth, and to the eventual sale of the company. Prosecutor dropping child abuse charge despite daycare video The interview took an unexpected turn when host Harvey Levin asked him about the controversy over Bud Light. The beer brand's parent company, Anheuser-Busch, lost billions in market value after a brief partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney."I think my family, my ancestors, would be rolling over in their grave. They were very patrioti...

St. Louis named among best US cities to enjoy pickleball

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:30:38 GMT

ST. LOUIS - "What's the deal with pickleball?," FOX 2 Sports Director Martin Kilcoyne, in a Seinfeld voice, recently asked about its buzz in St. Louis. Pickleball, a paddle sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong, has gained popularity in recent years with players of all ages and abilities hitting the courts. And now, new research touts St. Louis among the best U.S. cities for pickleball enthusiasts. LawnLove.com recently released its 2023 "Best Cities for Pickleball" list, which ranked St. Louis as the sixth-best city in the nation and best in Missouri to enjoy the paddle sport. Seniors ‘running low’ on food, faced with broken elevators at St. Louis apartment building Factors considered in the rankings included access to pickleball courts and tournaments, the size of the pickleball community, and local interest in the sport. Lawn Love then assigned a "weight" for subcategories within that criteria, which helped in finalizing each city's score and overall ...

From hooper to road grader, Broncos TE Chris Manhertz has turned himself into “one of the better run-blocking tight ends” in NFL

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:30:38 GMT

Sean Payton saw basketball highlights sent by a friend and envisioned the next hooper-turned-tight end.Jimmy Graham Version 2.0, maybe.A red zone dynamo and matchup nightmare in the passing game.“No football experience,” Payton recalled. “He was a basketball player.”Well, Payton may have missed on the eventual role Chris Manhertz, the kid in the video, would fill, but not on the football chops.Eight years after a rookie try out, they’re reconnected.Manhertz, now 31, spent 2015 on New Orleans’ practice squad before Carolina scooped him up early in the 2016 season and kept him through 2020. Then he spent the past two years in Jacksonville before signing a two-year deal with the Broncos in free agency.His specialty is not 50/50 balls, the football equivalent of rebounding, but instead blocking.“I would say within the last five years, he has been one of the better run-blocking tight ends,” Payton said.How did that happen? Manhertz figured out while on the practice squad in 2015 that he ...