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St. Paul sales tax proposal stalls as MN House looks to regional tax for affordable housing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s pitch to voters to support increasing the city’s local sales tax for parks and road repair might not make it to ballot this November, given competing bills at the state Legislature.When the Minnesota Senate Committee on Taxes convened last week, the St. Paul mayor testified alongside counterparts from 18 other cities and counties pitching individual proposals to increase their local sales taxes to raise funds for roads, parks, public safety facilities or other favored projects.Don’t expect a similar showcase in the Minnesota House, at least not anytime soon. The House Committee on Taxes, chaired by state Rep. Aisha Gomez, DFL-Minneapolis, has declined to hear the same flurry of legislative bills, given somewhat clashing proposals for metro-wide sales taxes for housing and transportation.“The local option sales taxes … in a sense they are competing,” acknowledged state Rep. Mike Howard, DFL-Richfield, a lead author of...

Bail reform, housing holding up NYS Budget

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)--On Tuesday, the legislative leaders met with the governor for roughly two hours to talk about the state budget. The deadline has been now pushed back to April 10, with lawmakers expected to return to Albany after the holiday weekend, something they weren’t originally scheduled to do."I look at it as a negotiating tact," said Senate Minority Leader, Rob Ortt on Monday. Do I want to come back next week? No. Will I? Obviously. We will come back as we need to. If we have to sit here throughout all next week, then that’s what we got to do, because the public deserves a budget."Until a budget is passed, the lawmakers won’t get paid. According to Speaker Carl Heastie on Monday, working on a Bail Reform agreement continues to be a top priority."Right now, bail is now taking up pretty much all of the oxygen in the room and everything else is second, " explained Heastie. "Conversations are still being had, but I’d say it was bail and housing was 90%, bail itself now may...

One dead after pursuit leads to crash in north St. Louis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

ST. LOUIS - One person has died after a police pursuit led to a crash Tuesday afternoon in north St. Louis City. The crash happened in the 2 p.m. hour near MLK Drive and Cora Avenue. The St. Louis County Police Department tells FOX 2 one of its officers had pursued a vehicle connected to a robbery in north county, which later crashed in north city. Top story: Crash survivor claims St. Louis firefighter took wallet Eyewitnesses tells FOX 2 they saw police pursuing a red car that hit a blue car. Crews worked to remove occupants from both vehicles. Police have not yet disclosed any other potential injuries. A St. Louis County police spokesperson says the crash stemmed from a robbery at a Family Dollar around 1:30 p.m. Police responded to a report of a suspect stealing items and assaulting an employee. St. Louis County officers first noticed a suspect vehicle, a maroon Kia Optima, near West Florissant Avenue and Dunn Road. The driver sped away from officers. After that, county office...

Man gets life sentence in deadly shooting outside St. Louis nightclub

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

ST. LOUIS - A man was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole after a deadly shooting outside a St. Louis nightclub in 2019. Leron Harris, 28, of East St. Louis, was convicted by a jury earlier this year of first-degree murder and armed criminal action charges. Investigators say Harris shot Mark Schlemmer, 38, of Collinsville, as he was leaving a Halloween party with others. Schlemmer, 38, was fatally shot around 2:15 a.m. across the street from a nightclub off Washington Avenue. Top story: Crash survivor claims St. Louis firefighter took wallet According to court documents, Harris fired from a vehicle that had pulled up and attempted to block in the car that Schlemmer was in. Court documents allege that Harris was trying to shoot at someone else in the car, but instead hit Schlemmer.Harris was sentenced to life without parole for first-degree murder and 15 years for armed criminal action. Harris said in court Tuesday that he didn’t kill Schlemmer and plans to appeal t...

Amber Alert canceled after child found safe, suspect at large

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

ST. CLAIR, Mo. - A frightening ordeal for a Missouri family Tuesday, after a car thief stole their van, with a 1-year-old baby inside. The manhunt continues for the suspect, but there is some relief for the family, as the baby boy was found a short time later, still in his car seat.The Missouri State Highway Patrol issued an Amber Alert Tuesday morning after a silver 2019 Dodge Caravan van was stolen from a construction site.A notification was sent to mobile devices in the region. Members of the St. Clair Police Department and Franklin County Sheriff's Department searched the area by air and ground. Top story: Crash survivor claims St. Louis firefighter took wallet However, the suspect was not in the car for long, as the alert was canceled approximately 15 minutes later, with the child found safe in the vehicle.“To the suspect: you abandoned a 1-year-old child in a van, in the hot weather, in an unknown wooded area. Do the right thing and turn yourself in,” St. Clair Police Chief ...

The real reasons long trains keep derailing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

This story was originally published by ProPublicaBy Dan Schwartz and Topher Sanders, with additional reporting by Gabriel Sandoval and Danelle Morton, graphics by Haisam Hussein, ProPublicaJust before 5 a.m., Harry Shaffer’s wife called to him from across the living room, where he’d fallen asleep on the couch, exhausted from installing an aboveground pool. Did he hear that sound, that metallic screeching from up the valley? She opened the door of their double-wide trailer and walked outside as Shaffer closed his eyes.A moment later came a thunderous crack of splintering lumber. Debris shot through the living room. Shaffer opened his eyes again to find a hulking train car steps from where he lay. It had shorn off the roof, exposing the murk of the pre-dawn sky. He jumped up and ran outside and saw the garage next door in flames.Though it sat at the floor of a valley along a busy stretch of railroad tracks, the quiet town of Hyndman, Pennsylvania, hadn’t seen a major derailment in rec...

Play Free Slots: Updated List of the Best Free Online Slot Games in 2023 (No Download Needed)

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

Looking to play free slots?We’ve rounded up top online casinos with the best free online slots you can start playing as soon as you visit their sites.Each casino hosts hundreds of slot games that you can play for free — but we’ll cover 5 that stood out the most for us as well as everything else the casinos have to offer, including free spins and other bonuses for real money players.Ignition is the winner overall, thanks to 200+ games, a $3,000 welcome bonus, and a safe and secure environment for you to play for free and for real.But with 5 free slots sites to choose from altogether — you’re bound to find the perfect one for you.Best Free SlotsIgnition (A Night With Cleo): Best free slots site overallMyStake (Money Train 2): Best variety of slotsSlots.LV (Mythic Wolf): Best bonusesRed Dog Casino (Desert Raider): Best for new slotsDucky Luck (Hail Caesar): Great choice for jackpot slots1. Ignition (A Night With Cleo) — Best Free Slots OverallPros:$3,000 welcome bonus150+ carefully-sel...

Tiger Woods and his limp back at Masters, but for how much longer?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods is back at the Masters, along with his slight limp. It is not every step, every minute. But it is there. And as much hardware as he has in his mended right leg, the limp figures to be with him for as long as he plays the sport he once dominated.As for how long he keeps playing Augusta National? That’s a little harder to foresee.Woods conceded that each trip to the Masters — at his age (47) and with surgeries on both legs and his back over the last decade — makes him wonder if it’s going to be the last one.“I don’t know how many more I have in me,” Woods said Tuesday.This will be his 25th time playing the Masters, and Woods still is surprised there was a 24th. He was still recovering last year from crashing his car off a suburban Los Angeles road at over 85 mph, crushing bones in his right leg so badly he said doctors contemplated amputation.“I didn’t know if I was going to play again at that time,” Woods said. “For some reason, everything kind ...

Undercover Los Angeles cops file claims in photo backlash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

More than 300 undercover Los Angeles police officers filed legal claims against the city and police department Tuesday after their names and photographs were released to a technology watchdog group that posted them online.The watchdog group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition posted more than 9,300 officers’ information and photographs last month in a searchable online database following a public records request by a reporter for progressive news outlet Knock LA. Hundreds of undercover officers were included in the database, although it's not clear exactly how many because the database doesn't specify which officers work undercover.The officers were not given advance notice of the disclosure and the backlash has roiled the department. The inspector general is investigating Chief Michel Moore and the agency's constitutional policing director Liz Rhodes after an officers' union filed a misconduct complaint.While the city attorney’s office determined the agency was legally required to...

This is how much money you need to be 'happy' in California, study says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

Who wouldn’t be happy with having more money in the bank?A March study from Go Banking Rates and Purdue University unveiled how much money a person would need to make to be “happy” in each state based on multiple factors such as cost of living expenses.A Purdue University study from 2018 found that the average income needed to achieve “happiness” in the U.S. was $105,000; experts at Go Banking Rates used that figure to rank states that require the least to the most amount of money to achieve “happiness.” This is where California residents can find the cheapest homes Researchers noted that ‘happiness’ is subjective, so that these numbers won’t apply to everyone.In California, the minimum salary needed to be “happy” is $145,635, with experts citing that the state’s “notoriously high cost of living” was one of the primary factors behind the high amount.Massachusetts and Hawaii were the only states with a higher salary requirement than the Golden State.Researchers found that in Massac...