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DeSantis super PAC tackles tricky task of organizing support for him in Iowa without the candidate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa (AP) — LaTomah Hauff stopped at the red-draped table on her way into Dean’s Classic Car Museum to jot her contact information on a sign-up sheet to hear more about Ron DeSantis. The 75-year-old retired speech pathologist had driven an hour to hear the Florida governor speak in northwest Iowa last Saturday. She was one of more than 600 Iowa Republicans who filed into the exhibit hall and past the display’s brochures about DeSantis and cards to sign pledging support for him in next year’s Republican presidential caucuses.The display, with all the earmarks of a presidential campaign, was the work of Never Back Down, a super political action committee promoting DeSantis while he moves toward a 2024 bid.It was also an early glimpse of how this group — able to receive unlimited sums from wealthy donors, unlike a presidential campaign — plans to build a network of supporters necessary to compete in the caucuses. Essentially, it’s a caucus campaign that,...

NFL great Jim Brown sought solutions in a lifetime devoted to activism

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

Jim Brown’s legs, ever-churning and sturdy as tree trunks, helped propel him to fame on the football field. His voice once he left the gridiron — every bit as powerful.In many ways, Brown, who died Thursday night at 87, used his platform as one of the greatest football players of all time to fight for people very much like him: unsatisfied with the status quo, tired of the withering degradation of racial inequality and, ultimately, never easy to shoehorn into one single, tidy category. Brown was an activist who sat alongside Bill Russell and Muhammad Ali and was on par with Olympic fist-raisers Tommie Smith and John Carlos.Brown was a punishing, once-in-a-lifetime running back who saw more in his journey than football and the cutthroat business it was becoming. He was a fighter for poor minorities, abhorring the gang violence that had taken over in his adopted home of Los Angeles and working for decades to help disadvantaged inner-city kids.Even at the height of his activism, ...

8 shot in overnight shootings on South and West side

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

CHICAGO — Police are investigating incidents where eight people were shot within two hours on the city's South and West Side.A man was driving near the 6500 block of South Kenwood Avenue when he heard shots and felt pain. He sustained a gunshot wound to the cheek and was transported to a hospital in good condition. Around 2:09 a.m., a 22-year-old boy was driving a car near the 4700 block of South Ada Street when he saw a group of individual standing on the sidewalk. He heard shots and felt pain. He self-transported to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the right lower leg. He is in good condition. Boy, 17, shot and killed on Northwest side A few minutes later, a 32-year-old man was standing on a sidewalk near the 1300 block of South Springfield Avenue when he was shot in the hip. He is in good condition at Mount Sinai Hospital. Three individuals were shot while travelling in a car near the 6700 block of South Eberhart Street around 1:27 a.m. A 32-year-old man sustained a gunsho...

ATCEMS: 1 dead following crash involving pedestrian in south Austin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin-Travis County EMS reported a traffic fatality overnight Friday into Saturday in south Austin.ATCEMS responded to a collision involving a vehicle and a pedestrian at 3:34 a.m. at the intersection of East Stassney Lane and South Interstate 35 Frontage Road heading north.First responders said medics attained a “Deceased on Scene” pronouncement for an adult patient from the incident.According to ATCEMS, there was no other information available, and it was no longer on the scene.

Cooler air today and tomorrow from this morning's cold front

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Severe thunderstorms roamed the Hill Country Friday night. Hail was an issue for a few areas. Valley Spring, northwest of Llano, reported hen egg-sized (2" in diameter). There were two reports of walnut-sized hail (1.50" in diameter) at Cherokee (San Saba County. Friday night/Saturday morning rain totals found the higher numbers in the Hill Country. There were many areas that measured more than an inch, topped 2.48" at a gauge 6 miles east-northeast of Willow City (Gillespie County). More beneficial rain for the Hill Country Central Texas Rain Totals Most areas east of I-35 did not measure as much. Based on this morning's radar it looks like the additional rain this morning will range to between .05" and .10". INVESTIGATION: LCRA didn't plan for climate change until KXAN investigation Saturday afternoon will be mainly dry with most highs below normal. North winds near 10+ mph will keep today's temperatures on the cooler side. Today's normal high is 88°Highs to...

Austin serial killer: Servant girl murderer terrorized city in 1800s

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- While current Austin is known for its music scene and its cultural life, there is also some dark history. In the 1880s, a killing spree ensued in Austin, according to an excerpt from the novel "The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America’s First Serial Killer," which was published in a 2016 Texas Monthly article.A total of seven women were murdered and the boyfriend of one of the victims was attacked with knives, axes, bricks or iron rods, the article said.The murders happened over the course of one year, beginning in December 1884.The Austin Police Department at the time was "baffled" by the murders taking place and tried using different tactics to find evidence at each crime scene, according to a documentary about the murders on PBS.But who were the victims, why were they murdered and why did these murders go unsolved? Numerous theories have circulated, according to the documentary.Who were the victims?Mollie SmithOn New Year's Eve night in 188...

Twins’ Rocco Baldelli: We’re sticking with Jax

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Hundreds of feet from the action, in the bullpen in left field, Jhoan Duran was preparing himself in the seventh inning. It would seem he was preparing to face superstar Shohei Ohtani.But he didn’t.Twins manager Rocco Baldelli opted to let Griffin Jax face Ohtani, after he already had given up a single and a triple, wiping away the Twins’ one-run advantage. Jax’s 3-2 pitch to the star came close to clipping the corner but was called ball four. Jax was left in to face the next hitter, too, and surrendered the go-ahead run on a Hunter Renfroe single in the Twins’ 5-4 loss on Friday night at Angel Stadium.“Jax needs to, in his role, needs to go out there and pitch and find his way through innings,” Baldelli said. “ … He’s a key member of our ‘pen, and we’re going to lean on him still at times, even though he’s not throwing the ball as well as he can. … I know it was not an easy decision, but we’re going to let him pitch in this situation.”So, what situation was ...

A $12 million ancient Mexican artifact has been seized in Colorado. Now the “Earth Monster” is headed back home.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

The Mexican delegation stood on the tarmac Friday afternoon near Denver International Airport, waiting under hazy skies for a forklift to deliver a wooden box, the contents of which archaeologists have been searching for nearly two decades.Inside that box — 95 inches tall, 46 inches wide, emblazoned with the Mexican flag — sat a 2,000-pound, elaborately carved stone from the ancient Olmec civilization, a precursor to the Mayans who thrived more than 2,500 years ago near the Gulf of Mexico.The prized relic, known as Monument 9 or the Earth Monster, was carefully crafted between 800 and 400 B.C. out of volcanic rock, archaeologists believe. Its wide mouth represents the door to the underworld.“This is one of the pieces we have been looking for for the longest time,” said Jorge Islas, Mexico’s consul general in New York.Authorities believe the stone artifact was stolen in the late 1950s or early 1960s from the central Mexican state of Morelos. It was last ...

ChatFished: How to lose friends and alienate people with AI

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

Five hours is enough time to watch a New York Mets game. It is enough time to listen to the Spice Girls’ “Spice” album (40 minutes), Paul Simon’s “Paul Simon” album (42 minutes) and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 (his longest). It is enough time to roast a chicken, text your friends that you’ve roasted a chicken and prepare for an impromptu dinner party.Or you could spend it checking your email. Five hours is about how long many workers spend on email each day. And 90 minutes on the messaging platform Slack.It’s a weird thing, workplace chatter such as email and Slack: It’s sometimes the most delightful and human part of the workday. It can also be mind-numbing to manage your inbox — to the extent you might wonder: Couldn’t a robot do this?In late April, I decided to see what it would be like to let artificial intelligence into my life. I resolved to do an experiment. For one week, I would write all my work communication — emails, Slack messages, pitches, follow-ups with...

Pixel 7A review: We’re running out of reasons to splurge on a “pro” phone

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

Not long ago, there were plenty of compelling reasons to spend upward of $900 on a smartphone. Nowadays, you’ll have to come up with an excuse to pay that much.I ran out of reasons to splurge and stopped buying fancier phones with the “Pro” moniker over the past two years. That’s not just because I’m frugal. Cheaper phones have increasingly become indistinguishable from high-end ones, and the few features that set them apart rarely justify the extra cost.Google’s new budget phone that arrives in stores this week, the Pixel 7A, is the latest testament to the maturation of the smartphone market, and it presents an opportunity to save money. The entry-level handset, priced at $500, is in many ways on par with its premium counterpart, the Pixel 7 Pro, which cost $900. And based on my testing for a week, I would recommend the budget model for most Android users.Bear with me as I break from the tradition of reviewing a phone’s features. Putting the Pixel 7A’s value into perspective requir...