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Billionaire surprises UMass Boston grads with $1,000 each 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:22 GMT

(The Hill) -- Billionaire Rob Hale surprised University of Massachusetts Boston graduates with gifts of $1,000 each at the school’s undergraduate commencement ceremony Thursday.  Hale, who was the school’s co-keynote speaker, and his wife announced that they will be giving each of the 2,000 undergraduates in attendance $1,000. Each graduate received two envelopes, one with $500 for themselves and another with $500 to give to an organization, family member or supporter. “These are turbulent times. You guys have survived. You have prospered. You are to be celebrated. You’ve overcome,” Hale said. “It’s not easy. We’re here. And we are proud of you. We want to share in that celebration with you. We want to give you two gifts. The first is a gift to you. The second is the gift of giving.”  Amanda Gorman says her inaugural poem has been banned by Miami-Dade school Hale’s announcement came just before the new graduates were set to walk the stage and was met with loud app...

Texas House committee recommends impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton, sets date to consider

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:22 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas House members will consider whether to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton on Saturday — two days after a Texas House committee voted to adopt articles of impeachment against him.The five-member panel of the House Committee on General Investigating agreed unanimously to move forward with impeaching Paxton on Thursday. Their decision came one day after they heard from a team of lawyers specializing in public corruption lay out extensive details about alleged misconduct by the three-term Republican official. House Resolution 2377 calling for impeachment has been filed and will be called up for consideration Saturday at 1 p.m. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Potential impeachment looms over AG Ken Paxton after investigative hearing The investigators said they began looking into Paxton in March after a proposal emerged to use state funds to pay $3.3 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed by four former employees who accused Paxton of wrongdoing. They ultimately said ...

An inside look at APD's downtown patrols

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:22 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- It's a Friday night downtown, around 11 p.m., and Officer Gavin Smart's Sixth Street night patrol shift is just getting started."Just trying to organize the chaos," he said, keeping his eyes focused on the crowds walking down the street.Within 10 minutes of us filming, officers arrested a man who allegedly picked a fight at a bar. He appeared inebriated and had a cut near his eye. MAP: Where have Austin’s homicides occurred in 2023? APD officers said, in some cases, they repeatedly arrest the same person on Sixth Street.Last week, when APD presented during the Downtown Austin Alliance's monthly safety update, the department said there hadn't been a shooting on Sixth Street in "months."Austin's Downtown Area Command sees it all."A lot of general assaults, robberies, aggravated assaults, stabbings, firearms - things like that," Smart said.According to a Sixth Street crime report obtained by KXAN, officers responded to 25 violent incidents between Jan. 1 and May 15....

Why Republican-led states keep leaving a group that verifies voter rolls

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:22 GMT

Matt Vasilogambros | Stateline.org (TNS)Eight Republican-led states this year left an interstate cooperative that seeks to maintain accurate voter registration rolls, and three more may join them — a move that election security experts say is fueled by conspiracy theories.Earlier this month, Virginia’s top election official said the state would become the latest to stop participating in the Electronic Registration Information Center, commonly called ERIC, because of concerns over privacy and confidentiality of voter information, among a list of other reasons.Other states with Republican-led legislatures may soon leave ERIC, including Alaska, Texas and Wisconsin, where lawmakers may propose or already have introduced legislation to leave the cooperative. Republican lawmakers in North Carolina and Oklahoma have also proposed legislation that would prevent their states from joining ERIC.Election security experts worry the move is part of a larger trend away from nonpartisan elect...

What’s in MN’s $72B budget: Tax increases for some, cuts for the poor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:22 GMT

The $3 billion in tax changes approved by the Minnesota Legislature include tax rebates, new and expanded credits, increases for corporations and the wealthy, as well as more aid to local governments.DFL leaders agreed to give about $1.1 billion of the $17.5 billion budget surplus back to taxpayers, but only to individuals who made less than $75,000 or households under $150,000 in 2021. At those limits, measured by federal adjusted gross income, eligible taxpayers and dependents will get $260 each, up to a maximum of $1,300 per household.Taxpayers can expect to get checks or direct deposits this fall.The child tax credit is expanded by $1,750 per dependent for families earning less than $35,000, with smaller credits as incomes rise. DFLers say the credit will cut child poverty by one-third.Minnesotans receiving Social Security will pay no state tax on benefits if their income is under $78,000 for individuals and $100,000 for couples. The modification means about 75 percent of senior...

African American English Dictionary gives first look at 10 words, including ‘bussin’ and ‘old school’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:22 GMT

Brian Niemietz | New York Daily NewsA dictionary comprised of words created or redefined by Black people released a list of 10 words that will appear when the book is published in March 2025.Topping the list is “bussin,” which is an adjective and a participle. The word, according to the definition revealed to The New York Times, can be used to describe a lively event or anything impressive. It can also describe tasty cuisine like “chitterlings,” a dish made from pig intestines.The Oxford Dictionary of African American English will also include “old school,” or its variant “old skool” — characteristic of hip-hop or rap music born in New York City as the 1970s rolled into the ‘80s — as well as the term “kitchen,” which the book defines as “the hair at the nape of the neck.”Harvard University African American history professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. is editing the endeavor, which he plans to grow to 1,000 definitions by its first printing.“We are endlessly inventive with language, and w...

What’s in MN’s $72B budget: Universal leave and paid sick time

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:22 GMT

Two new paid time-off benefits were created by the Legislature: a universal leave program that will launch in 2026, and an earned sick and safe time requirement that starts sooner.Workers will be eligible for 12 weeks of paid leave for medical reasons or to care for a family members. A lot of the recipients are expected to be workers taking time off after a pregnancy or to bond with a new child.Workers could take both family and medical leave in the same year with maximum of 20 weeks in benefits with some exceptions.A 0.7 percent payroll tax that could be split with workers would raise about $1.4 billion a year to pay for the program’s benefits and the 400 workers the state will need to hire to administer it.Workers would receive a portion of their salary while on leave with a minimum benefit of $200 and a maximum of about half of state’s average weekly wage, which is currently just under $1,300. Estimates show most workers would receive between $400 and $600 per week.Th...

What’s in MN’s $72B budget: Public-option health care and protecting abortion rights

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:22 GMT

Lawmakers took the first steps to create a public insurance plan in the latest health care budget. State officials must first study expanding MinnesotaCare, currently only for the working poor, and ask for federal permission.It would be a few years before a public option is available and the most likely one is the elimination of income limits for the state medical plan. This year lawmakers also decided to eliminate immigration status as a barrier to applying for medical assistance.Lawmakers also created a prescription drug affordability board that will use a mix of state and federal data to keep drug prices down. It includes out-of-pocket limits on medicines used to address chronic conditions like diabetes and asthma.There wasn’t enough support in the Senate to approve a nurse staffing bill with committees to help set patient to caregiver ratios. But lawmakers did agree to take a stronger approach to addressing workplace violence and to do an in-depth survey exploring why nurs...

What’s in MN’s $72B budget: Legal pot, more cops, gun control, fewer ‘no-knock’ warrants

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:22 GMT

Minnesota will have two new gun laws after a decade of stalemates in the Senate. Expanded background checks will be required for purchases and transfers of handguns and assault-style weapons.A new extreme risk protection order will be available to family and police to petition to take weapons for people deemed dangerous under a new red flag law. A court will decide whether to remove weapons and for how long.Local communities will share $300 million in one-time aid to attract and retain public safety officers. Judges and their staffs will get raises and new money will help crime victims and to intervene with at-risk teens including grants to community groups.It will be much tougher for law enforcement to obtain a no-knock warrant with new requirements that police prove there is no other way to safely conduct a search or an arrest.The public safety bill caps most probationary terms at five years and allows prisoners to apply to be released after about half their sentence is served.Pen...

What’s in MN’s $72B budget: Billions more for infrastructure, housing, workforce

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:22 GMT

A $2.6 billion infrastructure and capital investment bill was the biggest bipartisan agreement of the legislative session. It came after Republicans refused to put up the votes earlier in the year to approve state borrowing for repairing roads, bridges and government owned buildings.GOP lawmakers agreed to the bill after Democrats said they would send another $300 million in emergency funding to nursing homes.The capital investment bill includes $1.5 billion in state borrowing for repairs and maintenance and about $1.1 billion in cash from the $17.5 billion budget surplus. The cash bill includes about $400 million in grants to nonprofits for repairs and other projects.Highlights include $25 million to repair the Kellogg Boulevard/Third Street bridge in St. Paul. In Ramsey County, there’s $3.2 million for water treatment, $5 million for the Bruce Vento Regional Trail and $6.2 million for the Park at RiversEdge.Almost $320 million of the two bills will go towards renovations at ...