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Inside the ‘OutLaw’ project: Collaboration, bias awareness and fairness

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:12:47 GMT

(KXAN) — How do you cover a story when you’re part of it? For LGBTQ+ journalists at KXAN, the record number of bills filed at the Texas State Capitol in 2023 restricting their community brought concerns – and presented an opportunity.After thorough discussion among newsroom leaders, we decided to lean into the informed, well-sourced reporting those journalists could offer, launching our sixth “Catalyst” investigative project to date. Knowing the topic was already highly-politicized and often emotional in legislative hearings and beyond, we wanted to take a multi-platform, extensive look – and produce it in a way our audience would know we are striving to maintain objectivity and fairness.It started with a broad look at the legislation proposed and analyzing the background, influence and outcome of each bill we focused our reporting around. Some measures passed, others progressed further than ever before. As our investigators tried to track down details on the players behind these po...

Listen to Catalyst podcast on LGBTQ+ issues

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:12:47 GMT

(KXAN) — This standalone season is a companion to our “OutLaw” project – exploring a record number of laws proposed in 2023 impacting LGBTQ+ Texans, including a repeated effort to repeal the state’s ban on homosexual conduct. KXAN’s team of journalists – many, members of that community themselves – share how they work to make fair, objective coverage decisions with this topic and also how their own experiences shape their reporting – including the murder of a gay college student two decades ago.Listen to the podcast here.

Body reported on 183A; northbound lanes shutdown, Cedar Park PD says

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:12:47 GMT

CEDAR PARK, Texas (KXAN) – Cedar Park Police say a body was found on Highway 183A Monday morning, and the northbound lanes of the roadway have been shut down. Police said on social media the lanes were shut down near Whitestone Blvd. through Crystal Falls around 6:53 a.m. "for a traffic incident."CPPD told KXAN the body was found near the Scottsdale exit. Police gave no other details.This is a developing story. Stay with KXAN for more details.

Williamson County residents protest monument, want it off courthouse grounds

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:12:47 GMT

GEORGETOWN, TEXAS (KXAN) – Williamson County residents gathered outside the Williamson County Courthouse Sunday to protest a monument to the Confederacy on the courthouse grounds.The groups sponsoring the protest want county commissioners to move the monument to the International Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery in Georgetown where they say several Confederate soldiers are buried. Group covers confederate monument outside Williamson County courthouse The protestors said the courthouse “cannot represent justice for all when a confederate monument remains on its grounds.”According to the press release announcing the protest, the groups sponsoring the event were Central Texas Methodist Federation for Social Action, Courageous Conversations of Georgetown, Georgetown Ministerial Alliance, GTX Connect, WilCo Patriots, San Gabriel Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and Wellspring United Methodist Church.Previous protestOn July 4, members of the Wi...

GasBuddy: Avg. Alb. prices drop 4.7 cents in last week

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:12:47 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Average gasoline prices in Albany have fallen 4.7 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.60/g Monday, according to GasBuddy's survey of 546 stations in Albany. Prices in Albany are 17.5 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and stand 38.0 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 4.2 cents in the last week and stands at $4.34 per gallon. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Albany was priced at $3.25/g Sunday while the most expensive was $3.99/g, a difference of 74.0 cents per gallon. The lowest price in the state Sunday was $2.59/g, with the highest being $4.99/g, a difference of $2.40/g.The national average price of gasoline has fallen 4.6 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.33/g Monday. The national average is down 24.8 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 42.6 cents pe...

The future of food is banking on climate-resistant seeds like the ones grown in Boulder

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:12:47 GMT

It’s not enough to just grow one’s own produce anymore; the first step is in planning for foods that can grow in a changing climate starts with which seeds are harvested during years of adaptation.“People are just beginning to learn more about not just who grows their food, but also which seeds do well as they adapt to inevitable climate changes,” said Laura Allard, operations manager at MASA Seed Foundation in Boulder.Allard, along with Rich Pecoraro, who founded the MASA Seed Project initially and is its agricultural director, run this foundation that includes 24 acres of farmed land in east Boulder year-round. The mission of the foundation is to grow organic seeds that become part of a bio-regional seed bank.“Our living seed bank belongs to future generations,” said Allard.The MASA Seed Foundation is working with the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Colorado Boulder. “It has been fascinating to see how important these aspects of biology are in this...

Coloradans grapple with the added financial burden as student loan payments resume

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:12:47 GMT

When Tracy Cunningham was 9, she’d walk down the street to pick up food for her family. Her mother was close with the owner of a deli in their hometown of West Milford, New Jersey, and he would leave leftovers from the day on top of a garbage can for them to eat.Years later, as Cunningham was preparing to graduate from high school, she was offered an opportunity she’d never before thought of in her years working to help support her mother and three sisters: college.“I was just always like, ‘How do I make it out?'” Cunningham said. “And then a recruiter comes in and sees me. For the first time, someone sees me and sees my potential. And then I’m in $30,000 of debt by the age of 19.”The debt Cunningham, now 33, accumulated attending Berkeley College in New York has followed her ever since — though like millions of Americans, her federal student loan payments were paused for nearly three-and-a-half years during the pandemic. That ca...

This Aspen park is the most peaceful place in Colorado | Opinion

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:12:47 GMT

Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s new series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we will offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).If you grew up in Colorado — and are of a certain age — then it’s almost a given that you listened to a lot of John Denver while riding in the back of your parents’ station wagon on road trips.His music was certainly the soundtrack to my family’s treks along Colorado’s country roads, from hits like “Rocky Mountain High,” “Sunshine on My Shoulders” and “Annie’s Song” to deeper cuts, like “Calypso,” “Fly Away” and “Grandma’s Feather Bed.”Associated PressFolk singer John Denver is shown in a undated file photo.One of those destinations every year was Aspen, John Denver’s home. My dad was a professor who attended a two-week conference there each...

Here’s where to get a turkey, stuffing and cranberry sandwich in Colorado

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:12:47 GMT

If you know what a Thanksgiving sandwich is, then your mouth is already watering. If you don’t, then let me explain. Alternately known as a Pilgrim or Puritan sandwich, or even a Thanksgiving leftovers sub, these fine delicacies are made with the centerpieces of the typical holiday dinner: turkey, stuffing and cranberries. Sometimes, they include gravy or onions or other ingredients, but the key is the combination of sweet. savory and salty — even sultry — flavors.I’ve seen the combo used on pizzas, in burritos and in dumplings, but its finest form is between two pieces of bread, something you can find at a handful of special shops around Colorado, including Pony Up, which opened in Lower Downtown five years ago as a late-night, restaurant industry-focused spot serving variations on the French dip.“When we originally decided on the French dip menu, we knew we wanted to eventually do a turkey and gravy dip for the holiday,” said Pony Up owner Angel...

Denver’s Eating Recovery Center ignored patients’ repeated suicide attempts, state investigation finds

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:12:47 GMT

Two young patients repeatedly attempted to kill themselves in a three-week span earlier this year at a leading Denver eating disorder clinic after a doctor told staff to ignore their behavior, a state investigation found.The two patients — aged 11 and 14 — arrived at the nationally renowned Eating Recovery Center’s Spruce Street clinic in Denver within a day of each other in early June. Both had histories of self-harm and suicidal ideation, in addition to their eating disorders. As their behavior escalated, lower-level staff raised concerns that they weren’t capable of caring for the patients.But the center’s leaders kept them anyway, in violation of the facility’s own policies, according to an investigation by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Top providers believed the patients’ behavior was an attempt to get out of treatment. They addressed the mounting suicide attempts via “therapeutic ignoring” and in...