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GOP election losses in Virginia are likely to quiet the presidential speculation about Gov. Youngkin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:42 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Gov. Glenn Youngkin cast Virginia’s legislative races in monumental terms when he campaigned with a Republican candidate in one of the most competitive districts a few days before the election.The first-term governor with growing national recognition told a cheering crowd at a historic waterside venue that voters could help build on the “movement” he started with his own victory in 2021 by handing the party full control of the statehouse and keeping the “spirit of Virginia” alive.After Tuesday’s voting didn’t go as he had hoped, the rhetoric was less soaring.“I’m here,” he said at a postmortem news conference. “I’m not going anywhere.”The retired sheriff with whom Youngkin campaigned did win election to the statehouse, but Democrats retained their Senate majority and flipped the House of Delegates, wins that they said were powered by their promises to protect abortion rights. Youngkin, who is barred by the state constitution from ru...

Once a darling of Ottawa, Shopify increasingly distancing itself from city

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:42 GMT

For its 19 yearsin existence, Shopify Inc. has been synonymous with Ottawa. Founder and chief executive Tobi Lütke, who emigrated from Germany, built and grew the e-commerce software brand in this country’s capital and politicians just down the street on Parliament Hill never hesitated to sing its praises, often thanking Shopify for putting Ottawa on the map for tech innovation again.But these days, Ottawa is seemingly no longer the centre of Shopify’s universe. Many of its top-ranking executives, Lütke included, recently departed the city and several others never bothered to move there in the first place. They instead sprinkled themselves across Canada and the U.S. — the product of a pandemic-inspired permanent remote work evolution Shopify felt so strongly about that it dumped Ottawa as the headquarters on its press releases and replaced it with “Internet, Everywhere.” Shopify watchers say the decentralization away from Ottawa signals the company is turning...

REPORT: Kelly Oubre Jr. in stable condition after being struck by vehicle

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:42 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (KSNT) - Former Kansas men's basketball player Kelly Oubre Jr. is reportedly in stable condition in the hospital after being struck by a motor vehicle, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.The former Jayhawk has averaged 16.3 points per game for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2023.Wojnarowski reports that Oubre Jr. was walking outside of his home in Philadelphia when he was hit by a vehicle. Members of the 76ers organization, including general manager Daryl Morey, are with Oubre Jr. at the hospital.Wojnarowski reports that Oubre Jr. will miss significant time, but the injuries aren't season-ending. Local authorities are still investigating.Oubre Jr. was a 2015 first-round draft pick out of Kansas.

Jill Stein adds to Biden's 2024 problems

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:42 GMT

President Biden, already facing dismal approval numbers and multiple liberals looking to replace him, got more unwelcome news this week with the entry of Jill Stein into the 2024 race. Stein, who announced on Thursday that she would seek the Green Party nomination for the second time, is considered a fringe and intrusive figure to many Democrats who think she played spoiler to Hillary Clinton’s White House campaign against Donald Trump. Her third-party candidacy is now one of a half dozen bids from the left, center and independent spectrum that could damage Biden in the race, bringing attention to the president’s limitations as the Republican field primary shrinks. And it came the same day Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced he is not seeking reelection, raising speculation that he could also seek the Oval Office next year.Stein’s case for her candidacy, as she tells it, is to “offer a choice for the people outside the failed two-party system,” an increasingly domina...

Hate roundabouts? Avoid these states — they have the most

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:42 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — There are some 13,000 roundabouts in the U.S. (depending on what you consider a roundabout) — that works out to one roundabout per 25,531 people, give or take. Can you imagine 25,531 people all waiting to traverse through a roundabout?Thankfully, you’re likely never going to encounter such a situation. But depending on where you live, you may drive through more roundabouts in a day than someone in another state does in a year. If you aren’t familiar with what a roundabout is, let’s start there. What is a roundabout?Roundabouts, sometimes called traffic circles or rotaries, are circular intersections meant to “safely and efficiently” move traffic, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration explains. Traffic enters through usually-curved approaches, yields to traffic from the left, then proceeds into the counterclockwise flow around an island. DOT data shows roundabouts can reduce crashes that cause injury or death by roughly 80% ...

Peak fall foliage in Central Texas coming soon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:42 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — While Central Texas isn't exactly known for vivid leaf colors in the fall, we do sometimes get treated to some beautiful fall foliage this time of year.During the first week of December 2022, we were treated to some rather beautiful colors, even in downtown Austin as seen from this photo below.Fall foliage in Austin near Riverside Drive and Interstate 35 (Courtesy: Julio Sattler)According to ExploreFall.com, our leaf color is in the "low" category right now with parts of South Texas experiencing little to no color change at all.Latest fall foliage conditions. Courtesy: ExploreFall.comBy mid-November we'll be trending closer to moderate color, especially in parts of the Hill Country.Foliage forecast by mid-November. Courtesy: ExploreFall.comWhen do colors reach their "peak" in Central Texas?According to ExploreFall.com, within 2-3 weeks from now we will arrive in what is normally "peak" fall color here in Central Texas. This map shows you that late November is when we...

Rain chances increasing today through Monday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:42 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Rain began during the overnight hours. At sunrise much of the rain was affecting parts of Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, and Travis Counties. Most totals prior to 7 a.m. ranged from .01" to .05".An upper-level trough of low pressure is pulling in moisture from the Pacific Ocean. This trough will move northeast during the next 48 hours allowing for a very good chance of rain tonight and Monday. Late night rain coverage with a few brief downpoursThe rain chances are highest from around 9 p.m. Sunday to 5 p.m. Monday during which time all of the area will be measuring rain. On the whole the rain will be light to occasionally moderate. However, pockets of brief heavy rain will be possible. You should prepare for an area-wide wet commute Monday morning. Allow yourself extra time due to the wet roads.Morning rain will affect your commuteThe precipitation begins to decrease in coverage during Monday night to Tuesday morning as the upper trough moves to our east. There may be som...

With third-string QB, Texas A&M clobbers Mississippi State to become bowl eligible

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:42 GMT

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Jaylen Henderson accounted for four touchdowns in his first career start and Shemar Stewart returned a fumble for a score to lead Texas A&M to a 51-10 rout of Mississippi State Saturday night.“Jaylen was outstanding in the game,” Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said. “I thought he had great poise... just played a really good football game.”MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newslettersThe victory makes Texas A&M (6-4, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) bowl eligible after failing to qualify in last year’s 5-7 season.Henderson threw for 150 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 60 yards and two more scores with Max Johnson out with a rib injury. Henderson, a transfer from Fresno State, is the third starting quarterback this year for the Aggies, who lost Conner Weigman to a season-ending foot injury after four games.Fisher said he watched Henderson befo...

Head of Aurora VA’s prosthetics department canceled veterans’ orders to eliminate backlog, ex-employees allege

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:42 GMT

In 2021, an employee with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Aurora alerted leadership to a troubling practice within the federal agency’s Eastern Colorado Health Care System, a vast network providing services for 100,000 veterans.The whistleblower worked for the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service, which supplies military veterans with artificial limbs, wheelchairs, surgical implants, glasses, hearing aids and other devices to help them live more functional lives.Many veterans, however, weren’t getting these services for up to a year — or at all, the whistleblower alleged. That’s because the head of the prosthetics department, Norma Mestas, was directing staff to delete orders as if they had never come in, three former employees who worked in the department told The Denver Post. The motive, they said: reduce wait times and backlogs to make it look as though the department was operating smoothly.The orders, up to 2,500 at one point, would remain untouched ...

Uinta Basin Railway is on pause, but another Utah project stokes worries along Colorado River about more oil trains

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:42 GMT

A proposed railway project that would bring a surge in the amount of oil transported along the Colorado River is on hold, but Colorado communities and lawmakers are now concerned about a different Utah project that would increase crude transports through the state.The proposed expansion of a rail transport facility could result in the shipping of a billion more gallons of oil each year on trains that run along the critical water source. At the Wildcat Loadout facility in northeastern Utah, waxy crude oil extracted from the Uinta Basin is transferred from trucks to trains that carry the substance east through Colorado to be refined on the Gulf Coast.If approved by the federal Bureau of Land Management, the expansion could more than triple the amount of oil transported from the facility from 1.3 million gallons per day to 4.2 million.Communities along the rail line, environmental groups and some members of Colorado’s congressional delegation have expressed concern about the pote...