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No connection found yet between Raul Meza and past cold cases, APD says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- As multiple agencies continue to investigate alleged serial killer Raul Meza, 62, the Austin Police Department said there is so far no connection between Meza and eight to 10 cold cases they began looking into after his arrest in May. Police: Man arrested in ‘multiple murders’, city official calls him ‘serial killer’ A grand jury indicted Meza last week on murder and capital murder charges in the deaths of Jesse Fraga, 80, and Gloria Lofton, 65.During a press conference where APD announced his arrest, investigators said he may be linked to several other area cold cases. During a one-on-one interview with APD Chief Joseph Chacon this week, he said the department has not yet connected Meza to any of those cases. "Really have no updates no changes in the statuses," he said. "Our cold case unit is looking at that in conjunction with the homicide unit to see if they can make some connections there to be able to file additional charges, but nothing right now on the hor...

Georgetown to vote on $130 million bond package in November

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) – Voters in Georgetown will decide on a $130 million bond package in a November election, the city announced Wednesday. The city council called for the election for the bond package, which would fund a new customer service center, improved Parks and Recreation Center, improvements to a local animal shelter and a new YMCA. Here are the bond propositions in greater detail, according to the city: Proposition A - Customer Service Center ($56 million): Funding for a new 80,000-square-foot Customer Service Center to consolidate numerous City services that are currently located in multiple offices throughout Georgetown, the city said. The new building would house services such as utility billing, fire inspection, customer care, planning, engineering, the City’s new 311 service, and other support services in one central location with ample parking.Proposition B - Parks and Recreation ($49 million): Funding for improvements to Georgetown Recreation Center o...

Texas A&M Forest Service opens grant applications for volunteer fire departments

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – The Texas A&M Forest Service opened emergency grant applications Thursday for volunteer fire departments in areas included in Governor Greg Abbott's wildfire disaster declaration.The Aug. 11 disaster declaration in 191 counties covers wildfires that began on July 24. Gov. Abbott issues wildfire disaster declaration in 191 counties across Texas “Volunteer firefighters are our first line of defense against wildfires in Texas,” said Wes Moorehead, Texas A&M Forest Service Fire Chief. “During this active summer season, these firefighters are responding to wildfires daily. They work in extreme conditions that not only challenge them physically but also cause their equipment to become worn and damaged.”A high volume of wildfires is expected to continue through next Sunday Aug. 26 for the eastern two-thirds of Texas due to underlying drought, critically dry fuel and periods of elevated to near critical fire weather, the Forest Service said. BLOG: TX Wildfi...

Crash on I-90 before Exit 25 ramp blocks left lane

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- According to 511 NY, a crash on the ramp before Exit 25 on I-90 eastbound has blocked the left lane at this time. Drivers in the area should expect delays when in the area.Check out NEWS10's traffic tracker. You can plan your route and see traffic delays in real-time!Little information is known about the crash at this time. Stick with NEWS10 as more information becomes available.

Disabled car in Schodack cleared

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

SCHODACK, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- According to 511 NY, a disabled car on I-90 westbound near Exit 10; Miller Road in Schodack, that closed one left lane of four has been cleared. Drivers in the area can expect a normal commute at this time.

Chinamans Canyon should be renamed, state board recommends

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

The 2.2-mile-long valley in Las Animas County northwest of Trinidad carrying the derogatory “Chinaman” term should be renamed, Colorado’s Geographic Naming Advisory Board unanimously voted Thursday.Board members accepted a proposal to change Chinamans Canyon to Toisan Canyon — a province in southern China where a majority of Chinese immigrants who came to the United States in the 1800s hailed from, many of them working on railroads and in mines across the country, the application for the name change stated.Peggy Lore, representing Colorado Asian Pacific United, submitted the proposal to “recognize the Chinese who were an integral part of the history of Colorado but who, with few exceptions, have remained faceless and nameless,” according to the proposal.Her proposal, submitted Feb. 6, 2022, led to the board’s vote on Thursday. Gov. Jared Polis created the state board in 2020, and it’s tasked with providing recommendations on name change prop...

Denver’s family-owned Kolacny Music to close after nearly a century on South Broadway

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

Family-owned musical instrument store Kolacny Music, which opened almost a century ago, will close at the end of September.Established in 1930, the store at 1900 S. Broadway in Denver has offered a trifecta of services – the sale, rental and repair of band and orchestra instruments – for decades. An announcement made in late July disclosed the news, pegging the closing date as Sept. 30.Co-owner David Kolacny confirmed that the owners of three nearby properties offered to buy the building, but he declined to identify their names or the final sale price.Kolacny’s grandfather, William, first started the business, then passed it on to Kolacny’s father, Richard. In the 1970s, Kolacny came on board, and has worked six or seven days a week for the past 45 years, alongside his sister, Donna, and his wife, Debbie.Financial reasons largely influenced the decision to shutter the store.“We never made a lot of money,” Kolacny said in a Thursday interview. “Our bookk...

More Colorado communities take “forever chemical” makers to court as contamination costs mount

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

CASTLE ROCK — They stand at least 30 feet tall and 10 feet across, eight giant baby blue tanks filled with what is this fast-growing town’s best defense against a glut of industrial cancer-causing chemicals that have been accumulating and percolating for half a century.Called GACs, short for “granular activated carbon” filters, the tanks at Castle Rock’s main water purification facility are effective at absorbing perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — toxic and pervasive chemicals known by the shorthand PFAS — and removing them from drinking water.“It just so happens that one of the things the GAC filters are good at is filtering out PFAS,” Mark Marlowe, Castle Rock’s water director, said this week. “It’s definitely a big challenge because these chemicals are fairly difficult to remove.”And expensive — which is why Castle Rock’s town council on Tuesday chose to retain the services of a...

Six spots to play games — like ping pong, bowling, bocce and minigolf — between a round of drinks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

High-tech ax-throwing stalls and state-of-the-art golf simulators have taken over the sprawling third floor of what was once an air traffic control tower for Stapleton airport.Related ArticlesRestaurants, Food and Drink | Winery with LoDo, Fort Collins locations takes space in Golden Restaurants, Food and Drink | A perfect weekend in Telluride Over Flyte — which opened earlier this summer — is the newest addition to the former aviation-themed eatertainment complex. The adjoining FlyteCo Tower is a brewery, coffee bar and restaurant that’s furnished with bowling lanes and putt-putt golf greens, pinball machines and dart boards.“Eat, drink, and have a good time; that’s the idea,” said Vinay Patidar, owner of Over Flyte. “You could spend a whole day here and never get bored.”Eatertainment venues continue to spring up around Denver and the ‘burbs, catering to the Chuck E. Cheese kids who have grown up and are today’s bar-goers.Robert Daniels, 5, bou...

Extra water will ensure good rafting on Colorado’s busiest river through Labor Day weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:42 GMT

An already excellent year for rafting conditions on the Arkansas River is receiving a boost to its flow levels through Labor Day, ensuring outfitters on Colorado’s leading whitewater river will have sufficient flows to operate through the holiday weekend.Because the water level must be drawn down at the Twin Lakes Reservoir to enable repairs on a power plant there, flows downstream through the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area will be augmented, according to Bob Hamel, executive director of the Arkansas River Outfitters Association. The Arkansas is far and away the rafting river in Colorado, accounting for nearly 248,000 user days in 2022, more than 45% of the state’s total number.It has been a good year for rafting already thanks to an above-average Colorado snowpack, a cool wet spring that kept runoff gradual and steady, frequent rain in early summer and now the monsoon. The added flow from the drawdown at Twin Lakes will be a boon for rafters.“We have some sup...