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Giant hornet nest on City of Georgetown land keeps residents away from backyard

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:20 GMT

GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) — A giant hornet's nest hangs near a backyard fence belonging to the Grace family. The threat of it falling and cracking open has kept the family out of the space for months now and they haven't found a service willing to remove it.The pale-gray and white nest is about the size of a basketball and looks almost like it could be made out of paper mache.The hundreds of furry-buzzing bodies that crawl over its surface gave the hidden hive away to Monica Grace after leaves on the host tree fell off this winter.She reached out to KXAN via ReportIt to raise awareness about her hornet-removal struggles.The nest is on property owned by the City of Georgetown, according to Williamson Central Appraisal District records.KXAN.com reached out to the city about this issue, it encouraged any residents dealing with a similar nest to hire a private contractor to remove it.Grace said she has tried doing just that, but to no avail. She said that one company declined to perform ...

'Secret' Austin-area aerospace company, awarded $112M contract by NASA

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:20 GMT

Editor’s Note: The video above shows KXAN News Today’s top headlines for March 15, 2023.CEDAR PARK, TX (KXAN) - An Austin-area space transportation company will be heading to the dark side of the moon. Firefly Aerospace announced this week they've been awarded a contract by NASA to deliver goods to the far side of the moon as part of the space agency's return to the surface.The contract has an estimated value of $112 million and will include multiple deliveries. According to representatives with Firefly, this mission will debut the company's Blue Ghost spacecraft.The craft will land on the furthest lunar landing site, located on the "dark side of the moon." This is the side of the moon that does not face the Earth. Communications on this side of the moon are challenging.Part of Firefly's mission will be the delivery of the European Space Agency's Lunar Pathfinder satellite. According to the ESA, this satellite will assist with communications around the moon as missions to the surfa...

St. Paul to purchase first fully-electric fire truck in state

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:20 GMT

St. Paul will be the first fire department in Minnesota with a fully-electric fire truck, the mayor and fire chief announced Wednesday.Rosenbauer, a design and manufacturing company, has started the build process for St. Paul’s truck and delivery is expected by 2025. It’s planned to coincide with the completion of a new Fire Station 7 on the East Side.The city is submitting federal funding requests to support the purchase. Information wasn’t immediately available Wednesday about the cost of the fire truck.“It brings us all the critical green energy benefits of an electric vehicle, while meeting the high safety and efficiency standards we have for all our fire equipment,” Mayor Melvin Carter said in a statement.The city’s “Climate Action & Resilience Plan” focuses on achieving carbon neutrality in city operations by 2030 and citywide by 2050. “In addition to furthering climate goals, this investment helps reduce diesel emissions and...

St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Friday in St. Paul will march through downtown, end at Mears Park

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:20 GMT

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be held Friday in downtown St. Paul starting at noon at Rice Park and proceed to Rice Park.Marchers wear an Irish flag during the St. Patrick’s Day parade in downtown St. Paul on Thursday, March 17, 2022. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)After the parade, the Saint Patrick’s Association Inc. is holding an event — 2023 Ballpark Hooley — at nearby CHS Field. At 1 p.m. there will be live music by The Serfs and Northerly Gales, Irish dancers, as welll as the CHS Field concourse beer specials and food. Proceeds from ticket sales go towards funding future St. Patrick’s Day parades and area charities.General admission for the Ballpark Hooley is $5 in advance and $10 at the door. Children under 5 can attend for free. There also will be a VIP luncheon for $50, which includes general admission, an Irish buffet lunch, and cash bar with St. Paul’s Irish Royalty at CHS Field’s heated Securian Financial Club. For more information go to: w...

Mayo Clinic study: Minnesota’s death rate rose 17% during first year of pandemic

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:20 GMT

ROCHESTER — A recent Mayo Clinic study finds that Minnesota’s death rate increased by 17% in 2020. Predictably, COVID-19 was a major contributor to mortality, but deaths of despair also grew during the first year of the pandemic.The study, published Monday in BMC Public Health, used death certificate data provided through the Rochester Epidemiology Project and compared the 89,910 deaths recorded in 2018 and 2019 to the 52,030 deaths in 2020.“One out of every 10 deaths in the state was due to COVID,” said Dr. Rozalina McCoy, an endocrinologist, associate professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic and the study’s lead author. “That’s a lot. It’s one of the major leading causes of death.”While COVID-19 played a big role in that 17% increase in mortality across the state, McCoy’s team found that “deaths of despair” also increased in 2020. For this category, the researchers looked at overdoses and accidental poisonings, assault ...

County will allow hamlet landowners to keep livestock on their property

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:20 GMT

By Erika MathieuSunny South NewsLethbridge County Council has approved changes to the Animal Control Bylaw which allows hamlet landowners to keep a limited number of livestock on their property, depending on the size of the land parcel.The changes to the Animal Control Bylaw was born out of a bylaw enforcement measure in 2022 where cattle were found on a residential acreage in the hamlet of Iron Springs. The bylaw permits the keeping of animals within hamlets based on parcel size with a maximum limit of five animal units.A delegation in 2022 brought the matter before council where it was noted that livestock were not permitted on properties within hamlet boundaries, regardless of the size of the land parcel. Accompanying this was a request for council to review the Animal Control Bylaw and consider amendments which would allow for a small number of “animal units” on residential parcels within hamlets which met certain land requirements.Following the delegation, administration brough...

The true increase to crop insurance rates: Horner

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:20 GMT

By Ian CroftLocal Journalism Initiative [email protected] the rumoured increase of crop insurance the Alberta government, and Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Nate Horner, immediately took action to address this by hosting a roundtable meeting on March 9.“The point of this round table today is just to continue clearing the air on some claims that were made… around crop insurance,” said Horner. “This is a very important program for Alberta farmers and we want to ensure that the proper information gets out. The claim that was made… was that crop insurance premiums would be rising by 60 per cent. We’ll just start there, that’s completely inaccurate. Crop insurance premiums will see a rise and it will be due almost entirely to the rise in value of the specific crop, or commodity that they are growing. A year-over-year change from last year. We’ve seen crop insurance go through a lot over the last two years, the program has really changed dramatically. It’s paid out $...

Lethbridge College first Canadian College to host upcoming national biotech conference

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:20 GMT

By Erika MathieuSunny South NewsLethbridge College is gearing up to host the Canadian Society for Bioengineering conference on campus this July.The national conference is expecting more than 200 agriculture and bioengineering students, faculty, research scientists and industry representatives to attend from July 23 to 26. The Canadian Society for Bioengineering/La Société Canadienne de Génie Agroalimentaire et de Bioingénierie (CSBE/SCGAB) will also be hold their annual general meeting (AGM) at this time. It is also the first time the conference will be hosted by any Canadian college.The CSBE/SCGAB has nearly 600 international members and operates as a technical society for scholars and professionals interested, “in the application of scientific and engineering principals for the sustainable production of food, bio-products and bioenergy.”Dr. Chandra Singh, senior research chair, Agricultural Engineering and Technology at Lethbridge College, is also the CSBE/SCGAB Alberta regional d...

Alberta Conservation Association collaborates with farmers for sustainable solutions

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:20 GMT

By Erika MathieuSunny South NewsProducers and conservationists are striking balance through collaboration.The Alberta Conservation Association’s (ACA) land management program works with agricultural producers to find sustainable solutions for land management which also takes into account the producer’s bottom line. In addition the ACA’s wildlife and fisheries programs sees ACA conservationists take on everything from fisheries access sites to native trout restoration in the eastern slopes as well as habitat development across the Province, with reach up north to the Peace River/St. Paul area.“When we are talking about habitat restoration or making things better for species at risk, we work hand-in-hand with the agriculture producer and we basically try to come up with solutions that are going to work for the producer, but also benefit the wildlife as well,” said Mike Uchikura, a riparian management biologist with the ACA.He explained there isn’t a universal template for this collabo...

WATCH: Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany files for bankruptcy

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:20 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- On March 15, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. "A chapter 11 debtor usually proposes a plan of reorganization to keep its business alive and pay creditors over time," according to the Federal Judiciary. Watch the news conference above at 2 p.m. Get all of the latest news, weather, sports, and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Parishes and Catholic Schools of the Diocese aren't a part of the filing, as they are separately incorporated under New York State’s Religious Corporations Law, according to the diocese. Even so, it is not clear how this filing could affect ongoing deliberations with the pensioners of St. Clare's.The announcement said that under the Chapter 11 filing, legal actions against the diocese would stop. That would let the diocese determine available assets, work with its insurers, and develop a plan to negotiate settlements with victims and survivors of sexu...